The Book of Samuel is older than the Torah

It is a bold claim to state that all or part of the book of Samuel is older than the Torah.  Biblical scholarship believes in the Documentary Hypothesis, in which we have various sources: J, E, P, and D.  The J stands for the Jehovah (or Yahweh) source, the E stands for the Elohim source, the P stands for Priestly source, and the D stands for the Deuteronomic source, meaning that Biblical scholarship believes that the last source of the Law of Moses was the Deuteronomic History, the books of Deuteronomy through Kings, written by a single author our group of authors.  I am going to give clear evidence, from the book of Samuel itself, that the author of the book of Deuteronomy is not the same author (or authors) of the book of Samuel.  I am also going to argue that the authors of Samuel and Kings, have material that is highly contradictory of the book of Deuteronomy, showing ancient Israelite religion (of the Northern Kingdom of Israel) and not the Judaite religion presented in the Torah (or law of Moses) itself. 

The book of Deuteronomy, beginning in chapter 12, states twenty-one separate times, that Israel will only be allowed to worship in the "place that YHVH will chose."  The text of Deuteronomy is very clear, worship can only be at the Tabernacle, which will one day rest in a place that YHVH would choose, which Judaism has clearly maintained is on the temple mount in Jerusalem.  While there are twenty-one of these commands in the book of Deuteronomy, let me (for reasons of brevity) list the first three passages stating that worship can only be at "the place YHVH will chose":

Deuteronomy 12:5 "Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish His name as a dwelling. To that place you shall bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the LORD."

Deuteronomy 12:11 "Then the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name—to that place you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the LORD."

Deuteronomy 16:16 "Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed."

The Author of Samuel (and the Author of Kings) shows prophets and prophetic messages with an opposite message of Jerusalem and Temple ONLY

1 Samuel 1:24:  "And she brought him with her when she had weaned him, with three bulls, and one ephah of meal, and an earthenware jug of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord, to Shiloh, and the child was young."  The Hebrew for "House of YHVH" is בֵית־יְהֹוָ֖ה and here most readers interpret this as the Tabernacle at Shiloh.  However, the context of 1Samuel chapters 1-3, prove that this was a different TEMPLE than the Tabernacle.

1 Samuel 3:3b-12: "And the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down, in the Temple of the Lord, where the Ark of God was.  The Lord called to Samuel, and he said, "Here I am." And he ran to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you have called me." And he said, "I did not call. Go back and lie down." And he went and lay down. And the Lord continued to call again to Samuel, and Samuel arose, and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you have called me.'' And he said, "I have not called, my son. Go back and lie down." Now, Samuel had not yet known the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.  And the Lord continued to call Samuel for the third time; and he arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." And Eli understood that that the Lord was calling the youth. And Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down. And it shall be, if He will call you, that you shall say, 'Speak, O Lord, for Your bondsman is listening.' " And Samuel went and lay down in his place.  And the Lord came and stood, and He called as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for Your bondsman is listening."  And the Lord said to Samuel, "Behold, I am about to do something in Israel, about which the two ears of everyone who hears it, will tingle. On that day, I shall execute against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his household, beginning and ending." 

A careful reading of this passage, especially in the original Hebrew language, would show that this is not the Tabernacle.  Not only is the word "temple" used in this passage (בְּהֵיכַ֣ל יְהֹוָ֔ה) but the description of the Temple (or Tabernacle) in Samuel does not match the description given in the book of Exodus.  Starting in Exodus chapter 25, HaShem tells Moshe to build the Tabernacle "exactly according to the pattern I showed you." (Exodus 25:40) The Tabernacle in the Torah, has an outer courtyard, and then you get to the Tabernacle itself, which has two rooms, a room with a menorah, table of showbread, and an altar of incense, as well as the Holy of Holies which contains only the Ark of the Covenant. There are only two rooms in the Tabernacle, and the Holy of Holies can only be entered once a year.  In this passage in Samuel, we see Samuel and Eli both sleeping in their own rooms in the "heychal" (or Temple), which means, we have a holy place that is clearly not the Tabernacle.  1 Samuel 3:3 is very clear that they are lying down in the "Temple" (or Tabernacle), the same Tabernacle that houses the Ark of the Covenant.  In order for Samuel and Eli to be sleeping in separate rooms, this is impossible, considering the Tabernacle of Moses has only two rooms, one of which can only be entered once a year at Yom Kippur.  Therefore, the final redactors/compilers of the books of Deuteronomy through Kings, fail here (and in many places to come) to remove the earlier Israelite Yahwistic religion from Judah's later re-written history.  Solomon has not built the Temple at this time, nor has Solomon been born, and the Tabernacle is still up in Samuel and Saul's time.   Please note, I should also point out, if I were to have quoted the rest of 1 Samuel chapter 3, you would see in verse 15 that there are "doors" in the Tabernacle.  However, the Tabernacle of Moses did not have doors, but was 100% curtains.  Therefore, the final form of 1Samuel chapter 3, and many other passages in Samuel, show that a later Judean redactor(s) edited the books of Samuel and Kings, and way too often, accidentally left many contradictions to the Torah in the text.  This is a clear indication that Bible scholars are not 100% correct on their JEPD theory.  The Deuteronomic author(s) could not have written Deuteronomy and Joshua through Kings.  Joshua through Kings contradict the book of Deuteronomy in too many places for this to be the case. 

Until the book of Deuteronomy was written, the idea of only ONE place of worshipping YHVH was foreign to the Israelites (in the North and the South).  The book of Genesis is seen by scholars today as a means of showing that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob built altars and worshipped YHVH in many places like Bethel, Shechem, Hebron, and Beer Sheva.  But later, when Judean scribes outlasted the scribes of the Northern Kingdom, the Judean scribes edited much of the history from Judah's point of view, leaving many contradictions in the Northern Kingdom's older texts.  Saul needs to be disgraced, and without divine birth.  Saul's divine birth story is taken from him and instead given to Samuel.  This promotes Saul as a bad king, not chosen by G-d to be king forever.   When Israel "asks" for a King, they get a man named "Shaul", which in Hebrew means "asked."  A clear reading of 1 Samuel chapter 1, shows that the story of the Prophet Samuel's birth, is most likely a redacted story of Shaul's birth (King Saul's birth.)  1 Samuel 1:26-28 states: "And she said, "Please, my lord! As surely as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here with you, to pray to the Lord. For this child did I pray, and the Lord granted me my asking/request, which I asked of Him.  And I also have lent him to the Lord; all the days which he will be alive, he is borrowed (asked) by the Lord." And he prostrated himself there to the Lord."  Look at the Hebrew text of 1 Samuel 1:27 in particular: אֶל־הַנַּ֥עַר הַזֶּ֖ה הִתְפַּלָּ֑לְתִּי וַיִּתֵּ֨ן יְהֹוָ֥ה לִי֙ אֶת־שְׁאֵ֣לָתִ֔י אֲשֶׁ֥ר שָׁאַ֖לְתִּי מֵעִמּֽוֹ  See the words in which I made bold, both of which is from the verb "to ask".  If this was the story of the birth of Samuel, which of course it is changed into being, the word play would be about HaShem HEARING Hannah asking for a child.  (Samuel means
"G-d hears").  However, the word play is not on Samuel's name, but on Shaul's (Saul's) name.  This passage of Samuel's birth has word plays on the name of Saul, not Samuel. This text implies that the story of Hannah giving birth to Samuel most likely was originally a story of Hannah giving birth to a son, whom she "asked" for, and her child was given the name "asked" (Saul).  We have clear redacting of earlier stories here, stories that are probably older than the final redaction of the Torah, which Judean scribes most certainly finished the final form of the Torah, as well as the final form of the books of Samuel and Kings.  But we see way too many examples where the text shows signs of revision and redaction.  Even the prophet Samuel, considered the last great Judge, and the Judge who anointed King David, Samuel communes with G-d, but yet he sins, massively.  Samuel builds an altar in his home of Ramah, offering sacrifices.  This is a blatant violation of twenty-one passages in Deuteronomy claiming that sacrifice can only be done at the "entrance to the Tent of Meeting" (Leviticus 17:1-7) as well as "the place that YHVH will choose."   1Samuel 7:17 "And his return was to Ramah, for there was his house, and there he judged Israel, and he built there an altar to the Lord." Please note, many argue that building an altar does not imply sacrifice.  However, the Hebrew word for "altar" is מִזְבֵּ֖חַ.  We normally translate "mizbeach" in Hebrew as "altar" but this word literally means "sacrificial place."  The verb "to sacrifice" and the noun for "altar" have the same root in Hebrew.  Altars are places where sacrifices were laid.

We other passages that clearly contradict the Deuteronomic law of worshipping YHVH only at the Temple/Tabernacle.  Here is a partial list:

1 Kings 18:30 “And Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me," and all the people came near to him, and he repaired the torn down altar of YHVH.”  In this passage, Elijah is doing a sacrifice on Mt. Carmel, which is a violation of the Torah.  Elijah also built a torn down altar to YHVH, and Elijah never questioned the Israelites for having an Altar to YHVH on Mt. Carmel.  If this was sinful, why did Elijah just build a completely new altar in a different location on Mt. Carmel?

1Kings 19:14 Elijah said, “I have been zealous for the Lord, the God of Hosts, for the Children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, they have torn down Your altars, and they have killed Your prophets by the sword, and I alone remain, and they seek to take my soul.”  In this passage, Elijah has no idea that altars outside of the Jerusalem Temple is sinful, contrary to the Torah of Moses.  Elijah is in distress that Israel has destroyed all the altars. This is the OPPOSITE of the book of Deuteronomy, which says all the altars to YHVH must be destroyed except the altar in the Tabernacle/Temple.  Elijah is clearly not knowledgeable of what the book of Deuteronomy says.

1 Samuel 9:8-19 “The lad answered Saul again, and said, "Behold, I have in my possession a fourth of a shekel of silver, and I shall give it to the man of God (Elohim), that he may tell us our way." Formerly, in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God (Elohim), he would say, "Come and let us go to the seer (ro’eh)," for he who is called a prophet (navi) today, was formerly called a seer (ro’eh). As they were going up the ascent to the city, they found young maidens coming out to draw water, and they said to them, "Is the seer (ro’eh) here?" And they answered them and said, "He is. See, he is before you. Hurry now, for today he has come to the city, for the people will have the sacrifice of the day in the high place (Bamah).   When you come to the city, straightway you will find him, before he ascends to the high place (Bamah) to eat, for the people will not eat until he comes, for he will bless the sacrifice, and afterwards the invited guests will eat. Now go up, for at this time, you will find him.” And they went up to the city. As they were coming into the midst of the city, behold, Samuel was coming out toward them, to ascend the high place (Bamah). Now, YHVH had revealed to Samuel one day before Saul's coming, saying, "At this time tomorrow, I shall send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be a ruler of my people Israel, and he will save My people from the hand of the Philistines, for I have looked upon My people, for their cry has come to Me."  And Samuel saw Saul, and the Lord said to him, "Behold, the man about whom I said to you, 'This one will rule over My people.' "  And Saul approached Samuel inside the gate and said, "Tell me now, which is the house of the seer (ro’eh)?" And Samuel answered Saul, and said, "I am the seer (ro’eh), and you shall eat with me today, and I shall send you away in the morning, and all that is on your mind, I shall tell you.” It is clear from this text that Israel had seers in High Places, and even Samuel had no problem going to high places. This is despite Deuteronomy stating veneration can only be done at “the place YHVH will chose” 21 separate times, as well as Leviticus chapter 17 making clear that sacrifices can only be done at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting (the Tabernacle).  This text shows the last Judge, Samuel, not having knowledge of the Mosaic law for sacrificing only at the Temple/Tabernacle. 

Here is a list of Altars built, where non-Priests made sacrifices away from the Tabernacle, in contradiction to the Torah, in Samuel and Kings: Samuel: (1 Sam 7:17) Saul: (1 Sam 14:35) David: (2 Sam 24:18-25, 2 Samuel chapter 6) Solomon [For The Temple]: (1 Kin 6:20-21) (1 Kin 7:48) (1 Kin 9:25) Elijah: (1 Kin 18:30-39).