(a.) A JHstory of Samuel, contained in 1 Sam. i-vii, which seems to conclude naturally as a separate and independent narrative, in which Samuel is altogether the principal person.
(&.) A Ilisturi/ of Savl, comprised in the following portions: 1 Sam. viii ; x, 17-27; xi ; xii; xv ; xvi; xviii, 6-14; xxvi; xxviii, 3-25; xxxi. The materials derived from this source are interwoven with others de- rived from a third source, viz. :
(c.) A History of I) arid, from which have been de- rived the following portions: 1 Sam. xiv, 52; xvii; xviii, in part; xix; xx ; xxi, in part; xxii; xxiii; xxiv; xxv; xxvii; xxviii, 1, 2; xxix; xxx; 2 Sam. i-v; vii; viii.
((/.) Another History of Saul, from which 1 Sam. ix; X, 1-16; xiii; and xiv have been drawn. This is re- garded as an older and more strictly historical docu- ment than b, that being considered as of much later origin, and as founded on tradition.
(p.) Lastly, « Jiinrpaphy of Bar id, embracing fidl de- tails of the second half of his life, and recounting his familj' history (2 Sam. xi; xii, 1-25; xiii-xx).
The relation of 2 Sam. xxi-xxiv to the preceding portions seems to be that of a supplement or appendix of matters not related in chronological order, nor having any close connection with each other.
There is doubtless very much hypercriticism in this account of Thenius. So far as authorities or sources are (pioted in the books themselves, the matter is much more simple. To only one work is direct reference made, viz. to the book of the upright (Jasher), TES "iC"''!! (2 Sam. i, 18), elsewhere also quoted only once (Josh. X, 13), and, as both the quotations are in verse, tlie work is thought to have been a book of poems. See Jashei!, Book ok.
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There are, however, certain parts of the books of Samuel which must have been derived either from ver- bal tradition or from some written documents, such, for instance, as the following poetical pieces : the song of Hannah (1 Sam. ii, 1-10) ; David's lamentation over Saul and Jonathan (2 Sam. i, 19-27) ; David's lament over Abner (iii, 33, 34) ; Nathan's parable (xii, 1-4); a song or psalm of David (xxii, 2-51 [Psalm xviiij) ; the last words of David (xxiii, 1-8). To these must be added the lists of names and genealogies, etc.
It is said in 1 Chron. xxix, 29, "Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer." The old opinion as to the authorship of Samuel, to which we have already alluded, was founded on this quotation. The prophets were wont to write a history of their own times. That Samuel did so in reference to the great events of his life is evident from the state- ment that he " wrote the manner of the kingdom in a book, and laid it up before the Lord" (1 Sam. x, 25). The phrase bs;^"a'j "^f^li "words of Samuel," may not refer to our present Samuel, which is not so compre- hensive as this collection seems to have been. It does not, like the treatise to which the author of Chronicles refers, include '' the acts of David, first and last." The annals which these three seers compiled were those of their own times in succession (Kleinert, Aechtheit d.Jes. pt. i, p. 83) ; so that there existed a history of contem- porary events written by three inspired men. The por- tion written by Samuel might include his own life, and the greater part of Saul's history, as well as the earlier portion of David's career. Clad was a contemporary of David, and is termed his seer. Probably also he was one of his associates in his various wanderings (1 Sam. xxii, 5). In the latter part of David's reign Nathan was a prominent counsellor, and assisted at the corona- tion of Solomon. We have, therefore, prophetic mate- rials for the books of Samuel. Hiivernick (§ IGl) sup- poses there was another source of information to which the author of Samuel might resort, namely, the annals of David's reign — a conjecture not altogether unlikelv, as may be seen by his reference to 2 Sam. viii, 17, com- pared with 1 Chron. xxvii, 24. The accounts of Da- vid's heroes and their mighty feats, with the estimate of their respective bravery, have the appearance of a contribution by Seruiah, the scribe, or principal secre- tary of state. Out of such materials — ample and au- thoritative, some of them written and some of them oral — the books of Samuel appear to be made up (Bun- sen, Bibdtcerk, pt. ii. p.49G ; Karo, De Fontibiis Librorum qiim feruntur Samuelis [1862]).
V. Antiquily. — The external evidence carries the book only to the age of the Ptolemies, when the Sept. version was made, or possibly to the age of Nehemiah, if we may trust the apocryphal account of the foundation of a librarj^ by the latter (2 Mace, ii, 13). But the internal evidence is much stronger. The high antiquity of the books of Samuel, or of the sources whence they were principally derived, in comparison with that of the Kings and Chronicles, appears from the absence of reference to older sources or authorities in the former, such as is fre- quently made in the latter. It hence appears that the compiler did not live at any great distance from the events which he relates, and therefore does not deem it needful to refer his readers to sources already known to them ; while the original sources have for the most part all the marks of having been written by persons con- temporaneous with the events described. Against this opinion as to the early age of the books of Samuel, va- rious objections have been brought. The phrase "unto this day" is often employed iu them to denote the con- tinued existence of customs, monuments, and names whose origin has been described by the annalist (1 Sam. V, 5; vi, 18; xxx, 25), This phrase, however, does not always indicate that a long interval of time elapsed be-