I SAMUEL

    1 and 2 Samuel are mostly concerned with the reigns of King Saul and King David.  The date of David's accession to the throne is approxiamately 1000 B.C., so that the books of 1 and 2 Samuel cover the period of time from about 1050 B.C. to 960 B.C., Saul and David each reigning for forty years.

     Taken in conjunction, these two books demonstrate the contrast between Saul and David.  Saul began well and piously, and in some respects was an able ruler, keeping the enemy Philistines at bay for most of his reign.  But he ended poorly, having forsaken the path of strict obedience to God's commands, and he ended his life in suicide.

     David, always a man of battle, and sometimes lapsing temporarily from obedience to God, nonetheless repented of his sins and began, with God's blessing, a golden age of Israelite glory.  God selected David's dynasty to continue on the throne of Israel forever, culminating eventually in the reign of Jesus hrist.