On this episode we discuss “First Samuel,” the eighth book of the Old Testament. We mostly focus on the distinction between Saul and David. Why did the former fail to hold on to God’s blessing and establish himself as a successful king, while the latter succeeded? What does it say about the nature of God and God’s relationship to the Hebrew chosen people that they are allowed to have the king they are clamoring for even though God and the prophets clearly regard kings as a bad idea? Is the best way to approach the bible as theology, politics, or literature, and can those approaches even be separated? We also spend a fair bit of time trying to think through the meaning of the Israelite tribe establishing a proto-monotheisic theology among a group of polytheistic tribes, most whom (especially the Philistines) are more powerful than they are, at least until King David comes along.