1 Samuel

1 Samuel begins with a prayer: Hannah, childless, asks for a son and gives him to the temple's service. That boy, Samuel, will be the last judge and the prophet who anoints the first two kings. The book narrates the people's insistence on a king "like all the nations", Saul's choice and decline, and David's unlikely rise — the youngest son who tends the sheep and brings down Goliath with a sling. The final section is a long pursuit: Saul, consumed by jealousy, hunts David through the wilderness, and David twice refuses to kill him when he has the chance. It is a book about power, envy and what it means to lead without being corrupted.