Both the first and second books of Samuel describe the role of Samuel as a prophet of God in guiding and disciplining the people of Israel.
In the first book of Samuel we see God appoint Saul as the first king of Israel, but as his power and authority grew, he sought to rule the nation under his own ideas, without the authority and leadership of God.
God having sent Samuel to express his disapproval of Saul’s behaviour took away his spirit from Saul, leaving Saul a very unhappy and jealous man. As a result Samuel the prophet was sent by God to anoint David as king, and to become Saul’s successor. As God said he was appointing a man “after his own heart” referring to David as “my servant”. When Saul saw how God extolled faithful David, he tried on many occasions to kill him. Saul hounded David day and night but the Lord was protecting David.
We read in the last chapter of the first book of Samuel how David’s best friend Jonathan and Saul meet a tragic death. So in contrast after David’s time for mourning for both Saul and Jonathan, this second book is where David is now free to reign, without the torment of Saul.
Initially David was only made king of Judah (Chapter 2) but later was invited to be king of all Israel.
While David led Israel with the Lord at the helm, Israel always won the battles whenever a surrounding nation sought to fight them.
But when we get into the centre of the book (Chapter 11) David lets himself down badly. He sees a lady washing herself, the wife of one army officer (Uriah), and his lust got the better of him. David commits adultery with this lady Bath-Sheba, putting her husband in the front line of one battle to get him killed to cover up his misdeed. But God sees it and sends Nathan another of Gods prophets to David to highlight his sinful act. The child born to David and Bath Sheba dies as a punishment of his misdeed.
The book continues to describe his reign of Israel, culminating in his last said words, at the end of the book.
Further studies to this book will be given at a later date.
