The stories of Samuel, Saul and David are among the most memorable in the Old Testament. Yet the lives of these individuals are bound up in the larger story of God's purpose for his people. V. Philips Long explores the meaning of the biblical history of Israel's vital transition from a confederation of tribes to nationhood under a king. He shows how attending to the books of Samuel repays their readers richly in terms of literary appreciation, historical knowledge and theological grounding.

The Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries have long been a trusted resource for Bible study. The introduction to each volume gives a concise but thorough description of the authorship, date and historical background of the biblical book under consideration. The commentary itself examines the text section by section, drawing out its main themes. It also comments on individual verses and deals with problems of interpretation. Written by some of the world's most distinguished evangelical scholars, they continue to aim at the true meaning of the Bible and to make its message plain to readers today.

V. Phillips Long is Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Regent College, Vancouver, and an ordained teaching elder in the PCA. His books include The Reign and Rejection of King Saul: A Case for Literary and Theological Coherence, The Art of Biblical History, the co-authored work A Biblical History of Israel, and the 1 and 2 Samuel volume in the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary. He is the author of a number of scholarly and more popular articles, commentary notes and reviews, and has served on a variety of translation projects (NLT, ESV, Message).