Books of Samuel: Difference between revisions

The '''Books of Samuel''',{{efn|In Hebrew, 1 and 2 Samuel together comprise simply the "Book of Samuel" ({{hebrew|ספר שמואל}}, ''Sefer Shmuel''). For purposes of chapter and verse numbering, the book is treated as divided into two parts: 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel.}} ''1 Samuel'' and ''2 Samuel'', form part of the narrative history of [[Ancient Israel|Israel]] in the [[Nevi'im]] or "prophets" section of the [[Hebrew Bible]]/[[Old Testament]], and are considered by many biblical scholars to belong to the [[Deuteronomistic history]], a series of books ([[Book of Joshua|Joshua]], [[Book of Judges|Judges]], Samuel and [[Books of Kings|Kings]]) which constitute a theological history of the [[Israelites]] and aim to explain [[Torah|God's law for Israel]] under the guidance of the prophets.{{sfn|Gordon|1986|p=18}} According to Jewish tradition, the book was written by [[Samuel]], with additions by the prophets [[Gad (prophet)|Gad]] and [[Nathan (prophet)|Nathan]];<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Chronicles|29:29|9}}</ref> modern scholarly thinking is that the entire Deuteronomistic history was composed in the period c. 630–540&nbsp;BC by combining a number of independent texts of various ages.{{sfn|Knight|1995|p=62}}{{sfn|Jones|2001|p=197}}