Commentary Compass

For Commentary Compass, I use 2020 or later as the threshold for a “recent” commentary. That is deliberately restrictive. I am not interested in calling a book recent merely because it still feels contemporary, and I do not want to fill a list with mediocre works simply to create the appearance of a crowded field.

Samuel is a good example of why that matters. Many of the strongest commentaries remain older: Firth appeared before 2020, Tsumura’s two NICOT volumes straddle an earlier period, Davis is older still, and important works by Auld, McCarter, Brueggemann, Hoffner, Chisholm, Morrison, and others remain highly useful.

The post-2020 field is therefore relatively thin. Among the works we have examined, only a small number are strong enough that I would recommend them simply because they make a significant contribution beyond what earlier Samuel literature already provides.

1. V. Philips Long — 1 & 2 Samuel — Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (2020)

Rating: ★★★★★

Long is not merely my favourite recent Samuel commentary; he remains my highest-ranked commentary on Samuel overall.

That is remarkable given the constraints of the TOTC series. Long does not have the space available to Tsumura, Firth, Hoffner, or McCarter, yet he repeatedly uses concise literary and historical analysis to solve problems that much larger commentaries leave unresolved.

His most important contribution concerns Saul. Long argues that the apparent incoherence between Saul’s anointing in 1 Samuel 10 and his rejection in chapter 13 disappears once Saul’s original charge is read carefully. The sequence of designation, intended demonstration, and confirmation explains why the Philistine position mentioned in chapter 10 matters, why Saul’s failure to act matters, why Jonathan’s subsequent attack is significant, and why the wait at Gilgal becomes a genuine test of royal obedience. That interpretation materially improves the coherence of the narrative and answers one of the strongest arguments used by commentators who regard Saul as unfairly treated.

Long also represents an important methodological contribution to recent Samuel scholarship. He neither returns to precritical harmonization nor assumes that literary tension proves multiple incompatible sources. He reads Samuel as literary art, historical representation, and theological testimony simultaneously.

The limitation remains size. Readers needing exhaustive discussion of Qumran, Hebrew syntax, or the history of scholarship will want Tsumura, Firth, Hoffner, or McCarter nearby. But if a reader asks which post-2020 commentary genuinely improves upon the existing literature rather than merely updating bibliography, Long is the clear first choice.

2. Marvin A. Sweeney — 1–2 Samuel — New Cambridge Bible Commentary (2023)

Rating: ★★★★½

Sweeney’s commentary is the strongest recent alternative for readers who want a substantially different interpretive angle rather than another version of standard Samuel exegesis.

His governing concern is leadership. He reads Samuel through questions of political strategy, military judgment, royal legitimacy, statecraft, geography, succession, and the consequences of a ruler’s ability—or inability—to control the institutions and people around him. His engagement with Machiavelli and Sun Tzu is therefore not simply an attempt to make the commentary sound contemporary. Those works give Sweeney analytical categories for asking why Saul fails, why David succeeds, where David later loses control, and how political decisions generate consequences beyond a ruler’s intentions.

This is especially useful in the David narratives. Sweeney makes readers pay attention to military geography, political consolidation, family politics, the inability to discipline Amnon and Absalom, and the practical consequences of delayed or indecisive royal action. His compositional model is also highly distinctive, including his reconstruction of northern material and a Jehu Dynastic History behind portions of the larger narrative.

I would not follow all of those source-critical proposals, and the external political framework can occasionally dominate rather than illuminate the biblical text. Long is considerably more reliable as a primary commentary, and Firth remains stronger overall despite being older.

What Sweeney adds to the literature is precisely the perspective that can make him valuable alongside those works: he forces the reader to take the political intelligence of Samuel seriously rather than treating kingship only as an abstract theological category.

3. John Goldingay — The Theology of the Book of Samuel (2024)

Rating: ★★★★★ as a theological companion; ★★★★½ if judged as a commentary

Goldingay’s book requires a qualification from the outset: it is not a conventional verse-by-verse commentary. I would not buy it instead of Long, Firth, or Tsumura if I needed primary exegetical coverage.

Within its actual purpose, however, it is the most important recent theological companion to Samuel that I have examined.

Goldingay’s distinctive decision is to allow Samuel’s theology to unfold in something like narrative order rather than reorganizing the book immediately under systematic headings. Yahweh prepares, designates, rejects, protects, establishes, disciplines, and continues to engage kings and people. This makes theological development visible in a way that static discussions of “monarchy,” “covenant,” or “providence” often miss.

He is particularly useful on divine responsiveness. Samuel contains difficult statements about Yahweh regretting an action while elsewhere insisting that God does not change his mind like a human being. Goldingay refuses both to explain the language away as if God’s response were unreal and to conclude that the divine purpose is unstable. He treats the language analogically: God genuinely responds within relationship while remaining principled and faithful in character.

The book also gives sustained attention to kingship, divine protection, judgment, promise, and the complicated relationship between human decision and divine sovereignty.

Readers from a more tightly confessional tradition will want to evaluate some formulations carefully, and the book cannot settle textual or historical questions. Yet as a recent second-stage work—something to read after the primary exegesis—it contributes something that standard commentaries do not.

The Recent Field Is Still Thin

The most important conclusion may be that newer does not mean better.

A reader beginning a Samuel library today should not restrict the search to post-2020 works. David Firth remains one of the best comprehensive commentaries. Tsumura remains indispensable for philology and textual criticism. Dale Ralph Davis remains exceptional for literary-theological exposition. Chisholm remains unusually rich in intertextual insight. Auld, Hoffner, McCarter, Brueggemann, Morrison, and others still contribute things that recent volumes have not superseded.

That is why I would rather recommend three genuinely significant recent works than produce a longer list simply because additional titles satisfy a date threshold.

Bottom Line

V. Philips Long is the clear best recent commentary on 1–2 Samuel—and, in my current ranking, the best commentary overall for the balance of originality and usefulness.

Sweeney is the recent work I would add if I wanted a markedly different political and leadership-oriented interpretation. Goldingay is the recent theological companion I would read once the primary exegetical work is already in place.

If choosing strictly by quality rather than publication date, however, I would still build a Samuel library from several generations of scholarship rather than privileging recent books. The strongest contemporary foundation remains something like Long + Firth + Tsumura, with Davis and Chisholm adding dimensions that newer publications have not displaced.