The two Books of Samuel () are part of a series of Old Testament books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings) making up a theological history of the Israelites that affirm and explain God's law for Israel under the guidance of the prophets. According to Jewish tradition the book was written by Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan. Modern scholarly thinking is that the books originated by combining a number of independent texts of various ages when the larger Deuteronomistic history (the Former Prophets plus Deuteronomy) was being composed in the period c.630-540 BCE.