Introducing David: The focus again moves, this time from Saul to David. Saul remains in the picture up to 2 Samuel 1, and his influence is felt after that in the ongoing tensions between the north and the south in Israel. But from this point Saul is a secondary character. Samuel, who had resigned his commission as national leader (ch. 12), is recalled to anoint David. Samuel’s return underlines the portrayal of Saul’s reign as being a pause before the genuine new age arose in Israel with David’s enthronement. The writers convey the impression that Saul’s reign could have been the new beginning. But because Saul failed, at least in the view of the Deuteronomic historian, to grasp that kingship in a theocracy meant complete obedience to God, his reign became an intermission.

It is interesting…