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Hannah had no children, and her rival teased her every year at Shiloh. She prayed to the Lord with tears and promised to give her son back to Him. Eli the priest blessed her. God remembered Hannah, and she named her son Samuel. When he was young, she brought him to serve the Lord at Shiloh.
Hannah praised God in a song: no one is holy like the Lord, and He lifts up the poor. Samuel served the Lord as a boy, and Hannah made him a little robe each year. But Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were wicked priests who treated the Lord's offering with contempt. A man of God warned Eli that God honors those who honor Him.
One night God called the boy Samuel, who thought Eli was calling him. After the third time, Eli told him to answer, Speak; for your servant hears. God told Samuel that He would judge Eli's house. Samuel told Eli everything. Samuel grew, the Lord was with him, and all Israel knew he was a prophet.
Israel lost a battle to the Philistines and brought the ark of the covenant into the camp, hoping it would save them. The Philistines fought hard, Israel was defeated, Eli's sons died, and the ark was captured. When Eli heard that the ark was taken, he fell and died. His daughter-in-law named her baby Ichabod, saying the glory had departed from Israel.
The Philistines put the ark of God in the temple of their god Dagon at Ashdod. Two mornings in a row, Dagon was found fallen on his face before the ark, and the second time he was broken. The Lord's hand was heavy on the Philistine cities, and they suffered from tumors. They sent the ark from city to city and finally asked to send it back.
After seven months, the Philistines sent the ark back to Israel on a new cart pulled by two milk cows. The cows went straight to Beth Shemesh, showing that the Lord had done this. The people rejoiced and offered sacrifices. But some men looked into the ark, and God struck them, so the people asked who could stand before this holy God.
The ark stayed at Kiriath Jearim for twenty years, and Israel mourned after the Lord. Samuel told the people to put away their foreign gods and serve the Lord only, and they did. At Mizpah they fasted and confessed their sin. When the Philistines attacked, Samuel prayed, the Lord thundered, and Israel won. Samuel set up a stone called Ebenezer, saying the Lord had helped them.
When Samuel was old, his sons did not walk in his ways. The elders of Israel asked Samuel for a king to judge them like all the nations. Samuel was displeased and prayed. The Lord said the people had not rejected Samuel but had rejected God as their king. Samuel warned them what a king would take from them, but they still wanted a king.
Saul, a tall and impressive young man from Benjamin, went looking for his father Kish's lost donkeys. When they could not find them, his servant suggested asking the man of God in the city. The Lord had told Samuel the day before that He would send a man from Benjamin to be prince over Israel. Samuel welcomed Saul, fed him as an honored guest, and spoke with him on the housetop.
Samuel poured oil on Saul's head and told him the Lord had anointed him to be prince over His inheritance. Samuel gave him signs, and all of them happened that day. God gave Saul another heart, and the Spirit of God came on him. Later at Mizpah, Saul was chosen by lot, but he was hiding among the baggage. The people shouted, Long live the king!
Nahash the Ammonite surrounded the city of Jabesh Gilead and made a cruel threat. When Saul heard the news, God's Spirit came mightily on him. He called all Israel to follow him, and they came out as one man. Saul led them to rescue Jabesh. Afterward Saul refused to punish those who had doubted him, saying the Lord had rescued Israel. The people renewed the kingdom at Gilgal and rejoiced.
Samuel asked the people whether he had ever cheated or oppressed anyone, and they said he had not. He reminded them how the Lord had saved them again and again. To show their sin in asking for a king, Samuel called to the Lord, who sent thunder and rain in wheat harvest. Samuel told them not to be afraid but to serve the Lord with all their heart, and promised he would not stop praying for them.
Jonathan attacked a Philistine garrison, and the Philistines gathered a huge army. Israel's soldiers hid in caves and trembled. Saul waited seven days at Gilgal for Samuel, but when Samuel did not come and the people began to scatter, Saul offered the burnt offering himself. As soon as he finished, Samuel arrived and said Saul had acted foolishly and his kingdom would not continue. The Lord had sought a man after His own heart.
Jonathan and his armor bearer climbed up to a Philistine garrison, trusting that the Lord could save by many or by few. God gave them a sign, and the Lord sent a great trembling among the Philistines. Saul had made a rash oath that no one could eat until evening, and Jonathan, who had not heard it, ate some honey. When Saul wanted Jonathan put to death, the people rescued him, because he had worked with God that day.
The Lord sent Saul to bring judgment on the Amalekites and destroy all they had. Saul won the battle but spared King Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle. He told Samuel he had obeyed, but Samuel heard the sheep bleating. Samuel said that to obey is better than sacrifice. Because Saul rejected the Lord's word, the Lord rejected him from being king. Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord grieved that He had made Saul king.
The Lord sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse's sons as king. When Samuel saw the tall Eliab, he thought this must be the one, but the Lord said He looks at the heart. Seven sons passed by, but none was chosen. The youngest, David, was keeping the sheep. Samuel anointed him, and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily on David. Later David played the harp for Saul when an evil spirit troubled him.
Goliath, a giant champion of the Philistines, defied the armies of Israel for forty days, and everyone was afraid. David came to bring food to his brothers and heard Goliath's challenge. He told Saul that the Lord who saved him from the lion and the bear would save him from this Philistine. David refused Saul's armor and went out with his staff, five smooth stones, and a sling, in the name of the Lord. David's stone struck Goliath, and he fell. The battle is the Lord's.
Jonathan loved David as his own soul and made a covenant with him, giving him his robe, sword, bow, and sash. When the women sang that Saul had slain his thousands and David his ten thousands, Saul became angry and jealous. He tried to pin David to the wall with a spear, and David escaped. David behaved wisely, and the Lord was with him. Saul tried to have David fall by the hand of the Philistines, but David succeeded, and Saul's daughter Michal loved him.
Saul told Jonathan and his servants to kill David, but Jonathan spoke good of David, and Saul swore that David would not be put to death. Later Saul threw his spear at David again, and David escaped. Michal let David down through a window and put an image in his bed to fool Saul's messengers. David fled to Samuel at Ramah. When Saul's messengers and then Saul himself came to take David, God's Spirit came on them and they prophesied.
David asked Jonathan why Saul wanted to kill him. Jonathan promised to find out at the new moon feast and to send a signal with arrows. They made a covenant of loving kindness between their families. At the feast Saul was furious that David was missing, and he threw his spear at Jonathan. The next morning Jonathan shot arrows beyond the boy as a sign that David must flee. David and Jonathan wept together and parted in peace.
David fled to Ahimelech the priest at Nob and asked for bread. The only bread there was the holy show bread, and the priest gave it to him. David also took the sword of Goliath. Doeg the Edomite, Saul's chief herdsman, was there that day. David then fled to Achish king of Gath, but he became very afraid and pretended to be insane, and Achish sent him away.
David escaped to the cave of Adullam, and his family and about four hundred men in distress gathered to him. He took his parents to the king of Moab for safety. Saul accused his servants of plotting against him. Doeg the Edomite told Saul that Ahimelech had helped David. Saul ordered the priests killed, and Doeg killed them. Only Abiathar escaped to David, who told him to stay, for he would be safe with him.
David asked Yahweh and went to save the city of Keilah from the Philistines. When Saul planned to come, God told David the men of Keilah would hand him over, so David and about six hundred men left. Saul sought David every day, but God did not give David into his hand. Jonathan went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God. The Ziphites betrayed David, and Saul nearly surrounded him, but a messenger called Saul away to fight the Philistines.
Saul took three thousand men to seek David in the wilderness of En Gedi. Saul went into a cave where David and his men were hiding. David's men urged him to strike, but David only cut off the skirt of Saul's robe, and even then his heart struck him. David called out to Saul and showed him the cloth, saying he would not stretch out his hand against Yahweh's anointed. Saul wept and said David was more righteous than he.
Samuel died, and all Israel mourned him. Nabal, a rich but surly man, insulted David's young men when they asked for food, even though David's men had protected Nabal's shepherds. David set out with four hundred men to take revenge. Nabal's wife Abigail, who was intelligent, hurried to meet David with gifts and humbly asked him not to avenge himself. David blessed Yahweh for sending her. About ten days later Yahweh struck Nabal and he died, and Abigail became David's wife.
The Ziphites told Saul where David was, and Saul came with three thousand men. At night David and Abishai went into Saul's camp, where Saul lay sleeping with his spear stuck in the ground at his head. Abishai wanted to strike him, but David said no one can stretch out his hand against Yahweh's anointed and be guiltless. They took the spear and the jar of water, for Yahweh had sent a deep sleep on the camp. From a hilltop David called out, and Saul said he had sinned and blessed David.
David said in his heart that he would perish one day by Saul's hand, so he went with his six hundred men to Achish king of Gath. Saul stopped looking for him. Achish gave David the town of Ziklag, and David lived in Philistine country a year and four months. David raided Israel's old enemies, but told Achish he had raided parts of Judah. Achish believed David and thought he would be his servant forever.
The Philistines gathered to fight Israel, and Achish said David would go with him. Samuel was dead, and Saul had sent away those who had familiar spirits. When Saul saw the Philistine army he was afraid, and Yahweh did not answer him. Saul disguised himself and went to a woman at Endor who had a familiar spirit. Samuel told Saul that Yahweh had torn the kingdom from him and given it to David because he did not obey, and that Israel would be given into the Philistines' hand. Saul fell to the ground in fear.
The Philistines gathered at Aphek to fight Israel, and David and his men marched in the rear with Achish. The Philistine princes asked why these Hebrews were there and remembered the song about David's ten thousands. They feared David would turn against them in battle. Achish told David he had been upright and good in his sight, but the princes did not want him. So David and his men rose early in the morning and returned, and the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
When David and his men returned to Ziklag, the Amalekites had burned it and carried off the women and children, though they killed no one. The men wept until they could weep no more and spoke of stoning David, but David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God. He asked Yahweh, who said to pursue. With help from a hungry Egyptian servant, David found the raiders and recovered all. He ruled that those who stayed with the baggage should share alike, and he sent gifts to the elders of Judah.
The Philistines fought against Israel on Mount Gilboa, and the men of Israel fled. The Philistines killed Jonathan and two other sons of Saul. Saul was badly wounded by archers. When his armor bearer would not kill him, Saul fell on his own sword, and his armor bearer died with him. The Philistines dishonored Saul's body, but the valiant men of Jabesh Gilead traveled all night, took the bodies of Saul and his sons, buried their bones under the tamarisk tree, and fasted seven days.