Samuel understands well that people of faith cannot withdraw from public questions. He understands well that every decision about God brings along with it an implicit decision about sociopolitical-economic power.

This narrative concerns the attractiveness and danger of political-economic monopoly. The narrative witnesses the ways in which such monopoly may be sanctioned by Yahweh, but in the very act of sanctioning such monopoly is critiqued. The subtlety of the chapter and the delicacy of Yahweh suggest how problematic the issue of power and faith finally is.

The narrative does not propose a final resolution to the matter. It only insists that the question is an urgent one, not to be settled easily or simply.

from First & Second Samuel