Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Book Overview - 1 Samuel

by E.W. Bullinger

1Sa

1 AND 2 SAMUEL

THE STRUCTURE OF THE TWO BOOKS AS A WHOLE. *

THE WHOLE.

1 Samuel 1:1 - 1 Samuel 7:17 RULE UNDER THE JUDGES.

1 Samuel 8:1 - 1 Samuel 24:25. RULE UNDER THE KINGS.

1 Samuel 8:1 - 1 Samuel 24:25. (Above) RULE UNDER THE KINGS.

1 Samuel 8:1 - 1 Samuel 1:27. KING SAUL.

1 Samuel 2:1 - 1 Samuel 24:25. KING DAVID.

1 Samuel 2:1 - 1 Samuel 24:25. (Above) KING DAVID.

1 Samuel 2:1 - 1 Samuel 4:12. KINGDOM DIVIDED.

1 Samuel 5:1 - 1 Samuel 24:25. KINGDOM UNITED.

* It is necessary that the two books should be treated as one; because, in the Hebrew Canon (as given in the MSS. and early printed editions of the Hebrew text) the two are, and always have been, presented and reckoned as one book.

They were first divided, and treated as two, by the Septuagint Translators (cent. 3 B.C.). And this division has been followed in all subsequent versions.

Probably, scrolls were more or less equal in length; and, as Greek requires at least one-third more space than Hebrew, one scroll was filled before the translation of the one long book of fifty-five chapters was completed. Hence, the poor division. Of the thirty-four Sedarim (or cycles for public reading), the twentieth begins with 1 Samuel 30:25 and ends with 2 Samuel 2:6, showing no break in the texts. The same applies to the so-called Books of Kings; for Kings also made a long book of forty-seven chapters, and came to be divided the same way, the four being numbered respectively the "First, Second, Third, and Fourth Book of the Kingdom" 1; and, in the Vulgate, "of the Kings". In no Hebrew Manuscript or early printed edition is the book found divided into two. The thirty-five divisions, called Sedarim, are numbered throughout without regard to any division:the nineteenth beginning with 1 Kings 22:43 and ending with 2 Kings 2:14. This division must have been governed by the exigencies of the parchment, or the break would not have been made in the midst of the reign of Ahaziah and the ministry of Elijah.

The one book, Chronicles, consisting of sixty-five chapters, came under the same treatment. There are twenty-five Sedarim (or cycles for public reading), of which the eleventh begins with 1 Chronicles 28:10 and ends with 2 Chronicles 2:2, showing no break in the text. For the division of the book Ezra-Nehemiah, see note on p. 616.

1 The Structure of these four "BOOKS OF THE KINGDOMS" may be exhibited thus:

2 Samuel 2:1 - 2 Samuel 4:12. The Divided Kingdom.