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First Samuel is a national autobiography of the Hebrew people. David Jobling reads 1 Samuel as a story that is complete in itself, although it is part of a much larger narrative. He examines it as a historical document in a double sense: firstly, as a document originating from ancient Israel, and, secondly, as a telling of the past. Organizing the text through the three interlocking themes of...

does not like the people’s request. He sees in it a rejection of himself and everything he has striven for. Still, he dutifully takes it to YHWH. YHWH’s response to the people’s request is self-contradictory. YHWH first states that the people have rejected him but not Samuel (8:7), and then instantly retracts this by saying to Samuel, “Just as they have done to me … they are now doing to you” (v. 8). This symptom of confusion has not been sufficiently attended to by commentators. It is a signal that
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