This study, focusing on issues relating to the theory of narratology, takes its starting point in the Books of Samuel, especially the so-called succession story of David that has been described both as the best historiography of antiquity and as the first novel. The aims of the investigation are to assess the applicability of narratology to new fields and to analyze important biblical texts and some literary interpretations of these texts. These two objectives are related: Are there inconsistencies in these interpretations that can be explained by the fact that the common theory of narratology has been applied to texts that could better be comprehended in another way? First the study will discuss the limits of a narrative and the relation between single stories and the macro-structure that it has become a part of. A second section will deal with the distinction between fictional and non-fictional narratives. What is the relation between ancient and modern historiography and between ancient historiography and fictional narratives? How shall the language game of the Books of Samuel be described and what are the possibilities and problems with the application of the common theory of narratology to these texts? The theoretical issues and the questions regarding the form of the text and its fictional or non-fictional status are finally related to so-called literary interpretations of the Books of Samuel in three nods: interpretation, characters and the voice of the narrator.