1 & 2 Samuel for Normal People: A Guide to Prophets, Kings, and Some Pretty Terrible Men

Give yourself permission to read 1 & 2 Samuel honestly.

1 & 2 Samuel is home to some of the most beloved stories in the Bible. It is here we find such Sunday School classics as David defeating Goliath, Saul descending into madness, and David’s unashamed dance before the ark of the covenant.

But what do we do with the rest of 1 & 2 Samuel—those stories that don’t make it onto our Sunday School favorites list? The stories of Michal. Jonathan. Abigail. Bathsheba. Amnon. Tamar. Rizpah. The stories we are so often encouraged to ignore.

And what do we make of the man at the center of them? The one after God’s own heart.

These are precisely the stories and questions Dr. Aaron Higashi explores in this accessible, funny, and heartfelt commentary. Through rigorous biblical scholarship, thoughtful application, and ingenious footnotes, Higashi centers the stories we so often overlook and critically assesses the ongoing legacies of the stories we choose to celebrate.

Integrating humor and insight, this is a commentary for anyone who has cringed in church while David’s character is celebrated from the pulpit. Who has questioned the example of a king who failed so miserably as a father. And has wondered at the heart of a God reflected in a man such as this.

Dr. Aaron Higashi is an adjunct instructor at Grand Canyon University. He received his B.A. in philosophy from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (2008), his M.A. in biblical studies from Providence College (2010), his S.T.M. from Chicago Theological Seminary (2011), and his Ph.D. in Bible, culture, and hermeneutics with an emphasis in Hebrew Bible from Chicago Theological Seminary (2021). Aaron is interested in the relationship between ideology, moral philosophy, and biblical interpretation, and shares biblical scholarship with a popular audience @abhbible on TikTok. Aaron lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with his pediatrician wife and three young daughters, where he does jiu-jitsu, drinks too much coffee, plays video games, and tries to discuss biblical interpretation at parties and other social events where it's probably not cool to do so.