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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]]).
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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