1 & 2 Samuel - One Book: Biblical commentaries by their nature tend to concentrate on the meaning and significance of individual sections. However, it is important that we also see what are essentially close-up or limited-range pictures in their wider context. In order to understand and appreciate the details of the individual stories we need to know something of the nature and structure of the book as a whole as well as its place in the canon of Scripture.

There is no doubt that 1 and 2 Samuel should be seen as one book. Although the old Greek translation of the Hebrew text (the Septuagint, usually abbreviated LXX) is in two parts, the division seems arbitrary, and the split did not occur in the Hebrew text until the advent of the printing press in the fifteenth century. This original unit…