Samuel Addresses the People: Using speeches like this one of Samuel’s to indicate important staging points, such as the end of the age of the judges, is common in the so-called Deuteronomic History. There are particular parallels here with the way in which Moses hands over power to Joshua and with Joshua’s final speech (Deut. 31; Josh. 23).

This speech is included because it makes points of which the reader is expected to take note. Whether it records Samuel’s words or is a later composition does not affect that fact. However, its combination of passion and ambiguity fits with Samuel’s position.

12:1–2 Samuel realized that the appointment of Saul meant a fundamental change in his own position. He had been acting as the primary national leader, carrying out a mixture of priestly and prophetic…