The First Book of Samuel

by Peter R. Ackroyd

Ackroyd's introduction summarizes the place of the 1st Book of Samuel in the Hebrew canon, its relationship with history & its theological purpose. The main divisions of the text are those provided by the New English Bible, but the text is further subdivided for the purposes of commentary which draws out the kind of significance indicated in the introduction. Short passages of text & the editor's commentary are interspersed so readers don't have to refer to another part of the book to find the commentary. A final brief section asks what is the theological message today of this account of the beginnings of the line of David, of Samuel's role as judge & of Saul's as king.
General Editors' Preface
Editor's Preface
List of maps & plan
The footnotes to the N.E.B. text
1 What the book is about
2 The divided 'book' of Samuel
3 The larger work to which the book of Samuel belongs
4 How did the book come to be written?
5 The purpose of the book
6 History & interpretation
7 The first book of Samuel as a theological work
8 The text of the book & its interpretation
The message of the book
A Note on Further Reading
Index

Genres: Religion

252 pages, Paperback

First published September 24, 1971

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the basic text used for David Jobling's course on the exegesis of I Samuel, taught at the Union Theological Seminary of New York during the first semester of 1973/74. It wasn't exciting, but it did the job of covering the text, pericope by pericope. The class itself concentrated just as much on exegetical method, particularly structural exegesis, as on the text itself.

[Rob McMonigal · Rating 4 out of 5]

At its best, the Cambridge series does a great job of combining understanding the historical context and integrating the faith discussion that comes out of the book. While some of the volumes don't quiet hit this balance, this edition does.

First Samuel is an interesting work, because it clearly is a set of traditions that a compiler/compilers had to find a way to reconcile into a cohesive narrative. There are many points, especially in the Saul-David relationship, where the story doubles back on itself. But the main point holds--Israel wants a King on earth, and they will soon learn that to have a human ruler means having all the flaws of humanity in charge, rather than just God's grace.

Well structured, with a lot of context and comparison, this commentary is exactly what I want as I read through the Bible book by book.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Jobling was a junior professor of Biblical Studies at Union Theological Seminary who hailed from the U.K. He was dating Mary, a senior student two doors south in Hastings Hall and, so, would have meals in our common, third-floor kitchen. I thought myself a fair whistler, but David was better. Together, we'd whistle favorite classical symphonies as we did the dishes.

The personal connection was one reason I took David's course on the books of Samuel. The other reason is that they're obscure, at least to me. Who talks about First Samuel anyway? Besides, David talked the course up as an experiment in semiotics and structural criticism--hot stuff back in the day of 'Semiotext'.

As it happened, the course was pretty good. First, the methodology was new to me--though not very impressive, intellectually speaking, just an adjunct to traditional Form, Redaction, Source etc critical methods. Second, the students were a cut above the usual, most of them being specialists in the Hebrew canon and, so, challenging and provocative. Third, the material of the books themselves was more relevant to my own Christian canon concentration than I had expected. Jesus was of the house of David, after all, and Samuel is all about Israel's ambivalence about kingship.

At the end of the year David got a tenure-track job teaching at some university in Canada. I should look him up before logging out tonight.