Authorship of Samuel

The Books of Samuel (1–2 Samuel, originally one book) are anonymous, and the prophet whose name they bear cannot be their sole author: Samuel's death is recorded partway through the first book (1 Samuel 25:1), while the narrative continues to the end of David's reign.

The Chronicler reports that the acts of David were written ‘in the records of Samuel the seer, of Nathan the prophet, and of Gad the seer’ (1 Chronicles 29:29), and Jewish tradition accordingly names these three prophets as the contributing authors. The finished work is best understood as a later compilation that wove together such prophetic records.