The two '''Books of Samuel''' ({{lang-he|''Sefer Shmuel'' ספר שמואל}}), ''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 BC by combining a number of independent texts of various ages.{{sfn|Knight|1995|p=62}}{{sfn|Jones|2001|p=197}}
Samuel begins with the prophet [[Samuel]]'s birth<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Samuel|1:1-20|NKJV}}</ref> and [[Yahweh|God]]'s call to him as a boy. The story of the [[Ark of the Covenant]] that follows tells of Israel's oppression by the [[Philistines]], which brought about Samuel's anointing of [[Saul]] as Israel's first king. But Saul proved unworthy and God's choice turned to [[David]], who defeated Israel's enemies and brought the Ark to Jerusalem. God then promised David and his successors an everlasting dynasty.{{sfn|Spieckerman|2001|p=348}}