The Book of I Samuel is a rugged, harsh and epoch recounting of the transition from the darkest moment in Israel’s history to a monarchy.

Israel is lost, and there are no leaders who can bring them back to their covenant with the Lord on Mt Sinai.
We get a taste of their wickedness in the form of Eli and his evil children pastoring and priesting over the nation. 
But, through the faith of Hannah, God brings a savior to the nation, and the book is named after him...Samuel.

Samuel will oversee the transition of Israel from a tribal state loosely held together by judges, to a unified kingdom ruled by David in Jerusalem.

Samuel will anoint Saul as King, and later anoint David. 
But in this book there will be the rising and falling of many individuals and leaders. It’s like reading a biblical “Games of Thrones” before such a movie was ever even thought about.

There will be a couple of major themes that will tie the book together as a cohesive story. The biggest is probably that God opposes the proud but exalts the humble, and the second is that God will (in fact must if he wants to save us) work through human evil to accomplish His will..ultimately culminating to a New Testament figure...a truly righteous King who will forever sit on the throne of David.

There is ALWAYS a problem with human crowns. We must give them up to meet the only one upon whom the crown may rest.