History Literature / BooksOfSamuel

The ninth and tenth books of Literature/TheBible. Justforfun/TheOneWith [[DavidversusGoliath David and Goliath]].

The ninth and tenth books of Literature/TheBible. Justforfun/TheOneWith DavidAndGoliath.

The ninth and tenth books of Literature/TheBible.

* IncestantAdmirer: Amnon was heavily attracted to his half-sister Tamar. When he managed to get her alone, he tried to coerce her into having sex with him. Tamar protested and he eventually raped her, which would later indirectly cause him to get murdered by Absalom.

* PlayingSick: Amnon in 2nd Samuel plays sick at the suggestion of his friend so that he could lure his half-sister Tamar into being alone with him, requesting for her to come and make cakes that he could eat out of her hand. This ultimately led to him raping Tamar and him also being killed by his half-brother Absalom.

* HundredPercentHeroismRating: David! So much so that when he was the head of Saul’s armies before becoming king, the women of Israel sang, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter David his ten thousand]]!”

* DarkIsNotEvil: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_of_Endor The Witch of Endor]] is a necromancer, a practitioner of dark arts forbidden by YHVH Himself. She's also portrayed as a kindly old woman, making sure King Saul has [[ComfortFood something to eat]] when the spirit she summons - the prophet Samuel, whom one assumes can be counted on for accuracy - prophecies his death.

->''“Further, say thus to My servant David: 'Thus said the LORD of Hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be ruler of My people Israel, and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut down all your enemies before you. Moreover, I will give you great renown like that of the greatest men on earth.’”''

The first book provided the inspiration for the famous ''Art/{{David}}'' sculpture, while Creator/JosephHeller's ''Literature/GodKnows'' -- with a litle {{meta|fiction}} -- retold the Books of Samuel as a whole.

* HundredPercentHeroismRating: David! So much so that when he was the head of Saul’s armies before becoming king, the women of Israel sang, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter David his ten thousands]]!”

-->''How the mighty have fallen in the midst of battle!''

* AltarDiplomacy: A variation of this trope occurs in 2nd Samuel chapter 3, where Abner son of Ner makes a treaty with King David to transfer rulership of all the other tribes of Israel to David on the agreement that David's first wife Michal (who was given over to another man when David was on the run and presumed to be dead or a deserter) would be returned to him. Michal was then brought to David with her second husband following behind crying, until he was told to return home.

* PinnedToTheWall: In 1 Samuel 18, King Saul tries unsuccessfully to "pin David to the wall" with a javelin.

* CombatByChampion: DavidVersusGoliath, the most famous example in history.

* RejectedApology: Saul repents to God for leaving Amalekite genocide incomplete, but Samuel informs him that God won't accept it and has now rejected him as King of Israel.

* AProtagonistShallLeadThem: The central narrative of the Books of Samuel is David’s ascent from being an overlooked shepherd boy in his father Jesse’s home to Israel’s greatest king.

** Saul's son, as well as his grandson through Jonathan, were almost certainly originally named “Ishbaal” and "Meribaal" (“Baal exists” and “Baal contends”) as they appear in the Books Of Chronicles before getting censored to Ish-bosheth and Mephibosheth (“man of shame” and "from the mouth of shame") by the writers of the Books of Solomon because they didn't want to mention Baal's name, even as part of someone else's name as it'd raise questions on whether Baal-worship was tolerated in Saul and David's kingdom.

** Saul's son, as well as his grandson through Jonathan, were almost certainly originally named “Ishbaal” and "Meribaal" (Baal exists and Baal contends) as they appears in the Books Of Chronicles before getting censored to Ish-bid Heth and Mephibosheth (“man of shame” and "from the mouth of shame") by the writers of the Books of Solomon because they didn't want to mention Baal's name, even as part of someone else's name as it'd raise questions on whether Baal-worship was tolerated in Saul and David's kingdom.

** Saul's grandson and Jonathan's son was almost certainly originally named "Meribaal" (Baal contends) as it appears in the Books Of Chronicles before getting censored to Mephibosheth ("from the mouth of shame") by the writers of the Books of Solomon because they didn't want to mention Baal's name, even as part of someone else's name as it'd raise questions on whether Baal-worship was tolerated in Saul and David's kingdom.

** Saul's grandson and Jonathan's son was almost certainly originally named "Meribaal" (Baal contends) as it appears in Literature/BooksOfChronicles before getting censored to Mephibosheth ("from the mouth of shame") by the writers of the Books of Solomon because they didn't want to mention Baal's name, even as part of someone else's name as it'd raise questions on whether Baal-worship was tolerated in Saul and David's kingdom.

* {{Bowdlerize}}: David's adulterous affair with Bathsheba and subsequent murder of her husband Uriah is downplayed in most retellings of the story for children as David wanting to marry Bathsheba, but after finding out that she is married to Uriah, orders for him to be killed in battle so that he could legally marry Bathsheba. The same accounts also downplay or leave out entirely David's [[{{Polyamory}} multiple wives]] before Bathsheba.

* LikeADaughterToMe: Nathan the prophet in his parable of the rich man and the poor man in 2nd Samuel chapter 12 says that the poor man's lamb, whom he nurtured, was "like a daughter to him" -- which made what the rich man did with the lamb all the more heartbreaking and heinous in David's eyes, saying that such a man that did this "is a son of death." The real stinger is Nathan telling David, "You are that man!"