who was the first king of israel according to the bible
Saul Saul (/sɔːl/; Hebrew: שָׁאוּל, Šāʼûl; "asked for, prayed for"; Latin: Saul; Arabic: طالوت‎, Ṭālūt or Arabic: شاؤل‎, Ša'ūl), according to the Hebrew Bible, was the first king of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE,[1] marked a transition from a tribal society to statehood.[2]
Saul The biblical accounts of Saul's life are found in the Books of Samuel.
Books of Samuel Samuel begins with the prophet Samuel's birth[5] and God's call to him as a boy. The story of the Ark of the Covenant that follows tells of Israel's oppression by the Philistines, which brought about Samuel's anointing of Saul as Israel's first king. But Saul proved unworthy and God's choice turned to David, who defeated Israel's enemies and brought the Ark to Jerusalem. God then promised David and his successors an everlasting dynasty.[6]
Old Testament The first five books – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, book of Numbers and Deuteronomy – reached their present form in the Persian period (538–332 BC), and their authors were the elite of exilic returnees who controlled the Temple at that time.[10] The books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings follow, forming a history of Israel from the Conquest of Canaan to the Siege of Jerusalem c. 587 BC. There is a broad consensus among scholars that these originated as a single work (the so-called "Deuteronomistic history") during the Babylonian exile of the 6th century BC.[11] The two Books of Chronicles cover much the same material as the Pentateuch and Deuteronomistic history and probably date from the 4th century BC.[12] Chronicles, and Ezra–Nehemiah, were probably finished during the 3rd century BC.[13] Catholic and Orthodox Old Testaments contain two (Catholic Old Testament) to four (Orthodox) Books of Maccabees, written in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC.