With critical scholarship and theological sensitivity, Walter Brueggemann traces the people of God through the books of Samuel as they shift from marginalized tribalism to oppressive monarchy. He carefully opens the literature of the books, sketching a narrative filled with historical realism but also bursting with an awareness that more than human action is being presented. Finding three influences essential to the books of Samuel, Brueggeman explores the influence of political power, social pressure, technological possibilites; the influence of David's personality; and the influence of Yahweh. Brueggemann uses literary analysis to show how the writer of Samuel describes God's actions in human history. He is not so much interested in how the books of Samuel were put together, as in how they communicate God's care to his people.
