Introduction

Abstract This introductory chapter begins by presenting some small vignettes from the books of Samuel, highlighting the central contentions of the monograph: that, in 1 and 2 Samuel, animals are implicated in societal power dynamics, and that their treatment intersects in complex ways with the treatments of marginalized humans. The chapter explains the rationale for the monograph and its particular topical, textual, and hermeneutical focuses. It lays out some preliminary compositional and text-critical issues and the monograph’s general policies on these matters: they will be examined where relevant to the central topics but will not be focalized. The chapter finally provides an overview of the chapters to come.