Books: The Undoing of Saul

THE PROPHET & THE KING (382 pp.)—Shirley Watkins—Doubleday ($3.95).

The Prophet is Samuel, aging and fallible last of the theocratic judges who ruled Israel until the 11th century BC The King is Saul, chosen by God, through a reluctant Samuel, to expel the Philistines and elevate Israel to "a nation among nations." Though young King Saul won peace and freedom for his countrymen, he was never able to win Samuel's trust or break the old prophet's hold upon a primitive, God-haunted people The story of the conflict between king and kingmaker, man and God, has...