The Book of Samuel is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books that constitute a theological history of the Israelites and that aim to explain God's law for Israel under the guidance of the prophets.
Saul was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BC, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tribal society ruled by various judges to organized statehood.
Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venerated as a prophet in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In addition to his role in the Bible, Samuel is mentioned in Jewish rabbinical literature, in the Christian New Testament, and in the second chapter of the Quran. He is also treated in the fifth through seventh books of Antiquities of the Jews, written by the Jewish scholar Josephus in the first century. He is first called "the Seer" in 1 Samuel 9:9.
Goliath is a Philistine warrior in the Book of Samuel. Descriptions of Goliath's immense stature vary among biblical sources, with the Masoretic Text describing him as 9 feet 9 inches (2.97 m) tall. Goliath issued a challenge to the Israelites, daring them to send forth a champion to engage him in single combat; he was ultimately defeated by the young shepherd David, employing a sling and stone as a weapon. The narrative signified King Saul's unfitness to rule, as Saul himself should have fought for Israel.
Shekel or sheqel is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly 11 grams —and became currency in ancient Tyre and Carthage and then in Hasmonean Judea.
Shallum of Israel, was the fifteenth king of the ancient Kingdom of Israel, and the son of Jabesh. The Shallum dynasty, or the House of Shallum was an ephemeral dynasty, represented only by Shallum.
Michmas was an Israelite and Jewish town located in the highlands north of Jerusalem. According to the Hebrew Bible, it belonged to the Tribe of Benjamin. It was the setting of the biblical Battle of Michmash, recounted in 1 Samuel 14. Michmas was inhabited during the Second Temple period, when, according to the Mishnah, its fine wheat was brought to the Temple.
Jabesh-Gilead, sometimes shortened to Jabesh, was an ancient Israelite town in Gilead, in northwest Jordan. Jabesh is mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible primarily in connection with King Saul's battles against the Ammonites and Philistines.
The Battle of Elasa was fought in April 160 BCE during the Maccabean Revolt between Judean rebels led by Judas Maccabeus and an army of the Seleucid Empire under the command of Bacchides. The battle resulted in the triumph of the Greek Syrian forces, the defeat of the Maccabees, and the death of Judas Maccabeus.
Jonathan Apphus was one of the sons of Mattathias and the leader of the Hasmonean dynasty of Judea from 161 to 143 BCE.
Gorgias was a Syrian-Seleucid General of the 2nd century BC, in the service of Antiochus Epiphanes.
Mizpah was a city of the tribe of Benjamin referred to in the Hebrew Bible.
The Samuel scroll is a collection of four manuscript fragments containing parts of the Book of Samuel which were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.
1 Samuel 17 is the seventeenth chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the first part of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter contains the battle of David with Goliath, the Philistine. This is within a section comprising 1 Samuel 16 to 2 Samuel 5 which records the rise of David as the king of Israel.
The Davidiad is the name of an heroic epic poem in Renaissance Latin by the Croatian national poet and Renaissance humanist Marko Marulić. Likely finished in AD 1517, the poem, as its Latin title suggests, details the ascension and deeds of David, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, who is said to have reigned c. 1010–970 BC.
1 Samuel 11 is the eleventh chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the first part of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter describes Saul obliterating the army of Nahash king of Ammon and liberating Jabesh-Gilead, thereby convincing the people about his ability to lead, and causing them to appoint him king. This is within a section comprising 1 Samuel 7–15 which records the rise of the monarchy in Israel and the account of the first years of King Saul.
1 Samuel 13 is the thirteenth chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the first part of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter contains Saul's act of disobedience after his coronation. This is within a section comprising 1 Samuel 7–15 which records the rise of the monarchy in Israel and the account of the first years of King Saul.
1 Samuel 14 is the fourteenth chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the first part of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter contains Saul's actions against the Philistines. This is within a section comprising 1 Samuel 7–15 which records the rise of the monarchy in Israel and the account of the first years of King Saul.
War in the Hebrew Bible concerns any military engagement narrated or discussed in the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Tanakh or Old Testament of the Bible. Texts about war in the Hebrew Bible are part of the broader topic of The Bible and violence. They cover a wide range of topics from detailed battle reports including weapons and tactics used, numbers of combatants involved, and casualties experienced, to discussions of motives and justifications for war, the sacred and secular aspects of war, descriptions and considerations of what in modern times would be considered war crimes such as genocide or wartime sexual violence, and reflections on wars that have happened, or predictions, visions or imaginations of wars that are yet to come.
