Commentary on the Second Book of Samuel

Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Title and division of books in the Bible The now known four books of Kings in the ancient Jewish codex of sacred books consisted of two books: one of them (which included the current first and second books of Kings was called “Sepher Shemuel,” i.e., “The Book of Samuel,” since its content is the story of the prophet Samuel and Saul and David, anointed by him for the Jewish kingdom; the other (which included the current third and fourth books of Kings) was called “Sefer Melachim”, i.e. “Book of Kings”, since its content is the story of the last common Jewish king Solomon and the kings of the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel. The current division of the above-mentioned books into four appeared primarily in the Greek translation of the LXX, where they received the names: – Βασιλείων πρώτη (βίβλος), i.e. “The First Book of Kings”; – Βασιλείων δευτέρα – “The Second Book of Kings”; – Βασιλείων τρίτη – “The Third Book of Kings”; – Βασιλείων τετάρτη – “The Fourth Book of Kings.” Then it was adopted by the Latin translation of the Vulgate, where the titles of the books received the following form: – “Liber primus Samuelis, quem nos primum Regum dicimus” (“The First Book of Samuel, which we call the First Book of Kings”); – “Liber secundus Samuelis, quern nos secundum Regum dicimus” (“The Second Book of Samuel, which we call the Second Book of Kings”); – “Liber Regum tertius, secundum Hebraeos primus Malachim” (“The Third Book of Kings, according to the Jewish account, the First Book of Melachim - Kings”); – “Liber Regum quartus, secundum Hebraeos Malachim secundus” (“The Fourth Book of Kings, according to the Jewish account – the Second Book of Melachim - Kings”). However, in the canonical reckoning of the books of the Old Testament, the Orthodox Church retained the Hebrew division of the books of Kings into two books, combining together the First and Second Books of Kings, as well as the Third and Fourth Books. Contents of the Books of Kings. The First Book of Kings tells the story of the prophet and judge of the Jewish people, Samuel, and the first Jewish king, Saul. The Second Book of Samuel tells the story of the second Jewish king, David. The Third Book of Kings tells about the third Jewish king Solomon, about the disintegration of the Jewish monarchy into two kingdoms - Judah and Israel - and about the kings of both kingdoms, ending with King Jehoshaphat in the kingdom of Judah and King Ahaziah in Israel. The Fourth Book of Kings tells the story of the remaining kings of Judah and Israel, ending with the Assyrian captivity in relation to the kingdom of Israel and the Babylonian captivity in relation to the kingdom of Judah. The period of history of the Jewish people, embraced by the narrative of all four books of Kings, exceeds 500 years. Writers of the Books of Kings. The original writers of the First and Second Books of Kings were the prophets Samuel, Nathan and Gad (1 Chronicles 29:29). One of the prophets of later times looked through the records of Samuel, Nathan and Gad, supplemented them (1 Samuel 5:5,6:18,9:9,27:6; 2 Samuel 4:3) and gave them a unified, complete form. The original writers of the Third and Fourth Books of Kings were the prophets and writers who followed Nathan and Gad, who left behind records with titles associated with them: “The Book of the Works of Solomon” (1 Kings 11:41); “The Chronicle of the Kings of Judah” (1 Kings 14:29,15:7,23,22:46; 2 Kings 8:23); “The Chronicle of the Kings of Israel” (1 Kings 14:19,15:31,16:5,14,20,27,22:39; 2 Kings 1:8,10:34). One of the last Old Testament prophets (according to the testimony of Jewish and Christian antiquity - the prophet Jeremiah), and perhaps even the great scribe and collector of the canon of Old Testament sacred writings, Ezra, looked through these records and brought them into the form in which they have reached our time. You might be interested in: