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According to Jewish tradition the book was written by Samuel up until 1 Samuel 25, where Samuel dies, and the remainder by the prophets Gad and Nathan.<ref>Talmud, [[Bava Basra]] 14b, 15a</ref> Critical scholars from the 19th century onward have rejected this idea, and instead argue that Samuel, like many other books of the bible is a composite work that developed into its current form (or forms) over several centuries.
[[Martin Noth]] in 1943 theorized that Samuel was composed by a single author as part of a history of Israel, the [[Deuteronomistic history]], made up of ([[Deuteronomy]], [[Book of Joshua|Joshua]], [[Book of Judges|Judges]], Samuel and [[Books of Kings|Kings]]).{{sfn|Klein|2003|p=316}} Although Noth's belief that the entire History was composed by a single individual has been largely abandoned, the theory in its broad outline has been adopted by most scholars.<ref>Tsumura, at pp. 15–19.</ref> The current scholarly consensus argues for multiple authors active over a considerable period, culminating in the mid-6th century.{{sfn|Klein|2003|p=316-317}} These 6th century authors and editors drew on many earlier sources, including (but not limited to) an "ark narrative" (1 Samuel 4:1–7:1 and perhaps part of 2 Samuel 6), a "Saul cycle" (parts of 1 Samuel 9-11 and 13–14), the "history of David's rise" (1 Samuel 16:14-2 Samuel 5:10), and the "succession narrative" (2 Samuel 9–20 and 1 Kings 1–2).<ref>Knight (1991), p.853</ref> The oldest of these, the "ark narrative," may even predate the Davidic era.<ref>Tsumura, p. 11.</ref>
While the bulk of the narrative in Samuel may have been completed by the 6th century, further editing was apparently done even after that. For example, the silver quarter-shekel which Saul's servant offers to Samuel in 1 Samuel 9 almost certainly fixes the date of this story in the Persian or Hellenistic periods.<ref>Auld, p.219</ref>
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