The Kingdom
- When
- c. 1100–1010 BC
- Written by
- Unknown; tradition names Samuel, Nathan and Gad
- Chapters
- 31
The big idea
Israel moves from judges to kings. Samuel anoints Saul, Saul fails through disobedience, and God chooses David, a man after his own heart.
Themes
- Prayer and calling
- God looks at the heart
- Obedience over sacrifice
- Friendship and loyalty
Memory verse
For the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
Key passages
- 1–2Hannah’s prayer
- 3Speak, for Your servant hears
- 8Israel asks for a king
- 16David anointed
- 17David and Goliath
Links to other Scripture
- Luke 1:46–55Hannah’s song and Mary’s
- Acts 13:21–22A man after my own heart
- Matthew 12:3–4David and the holy bread
- Hebrews 11:32Samuel and David
Read the text
Choose a chapter to read it here in the King James Version. Verses with a dotted underline have notes from Bible scholars. Tap one to open them.
Notes from
Chapters
King James text and the commentaries of Henry, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Gill, Clarke, Calvin, and Keil and Delitzsch are in the public domain. Tyndale Open Study Notes are used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license, from tyndaleopenresources.com. Texts were reformatted for this site.
Journal prompts
Keep a journal or notebook for your study. Write your answers there, in your own words.
- Where do you see Christ in this book?
- Hannah poured out her soul in the temple, and Eli thought she was drunk. When did you last pray with that little regard for how you looked?
- God told Samuel that he looks on the heart. What does he see in yours right now?
- David faced Goliath with five stones and a name he trusted. What is your giant, and what is in your hand?
- In one sentence, this book is about…