There is no way of knowing precisely how old Samuel had become at this point, but the context suggests that he was at least old enough to be unable to fulfill his functions as a leader of Israel. It is also clear that by this time he had more than one adult son.

He made: literally “he set [or, put],” in the sense of “appointed” (Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Since verse 2 states that Samuel had two sons, one may translate verse 1 as follows: “he made [or, appointed] his two sons.” Some languages, however, will use a causative form of the verb “become.”

The word judges is a participle in Hebrew, used as a noun. On the meaning of this verb, see 4.18 and 7.6.

The Hebrew preposition translated over may be translated in various ways, depending on the context. Some interpreters consider the area over which they served to be central here and translate with a word indicating location such as “in Israel” (Good News Translation). Others see the preposition here to be indicating “for the benefit of.” Klein, for example, says “for Israel.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .