Midrash Shmuel (aggadah)

Midrash Samuel (Hebrew: מדרש שמואל), an aggadic midrash on the books of Samuel, is quoted for the first time by Rashi in his commentary on I Sam. ii. 30. In his Ha-Pardes (ed. Constantinople, p. 24b) Rashi again quotes from this midrash (xvii. 1; ed. S. Buber, p. 48a), saying that it is entitled "'Et la-'Asot la-Adonai"; it probably derived this name from Ps. cxix. 126, with which it begins. The midrash is entitled also "Aggadat Shmu'el (Rashi, in his commentary on Sukkah 53b, s.v. "Ahaspa"; Tos. Soṭah 42b, s.v. "Me'ah"; et al.), and the name "Shoḥer Ṭob" has been erroneously given to it (in the editions of Zolkiev, 1800, and Lemberg, 1808 and 1850); the error is because in the Venice edition of 1546 the midrash was printed together with the midrash on the Psalms, the title of the latter, "Shoḥer Ṭob," being taken to refer to both.

The midrash contains haggadic interpretations and homilies on the books of Samuel, each homily being prefaced and introduced by a verse taken from some other book of the Bible. It resembles most of the other haggadic midrashim both in diction and in style; in fact, it is a collection of sentences found in such midrashim and referring to the books of Samuel. The editor arranged the sentences in the sequence of the Scripture passages to which they refer. The midrash, however, does not entirely cover the Biblical books; but as it contains all the passages quoted from it by other authorities, it may be assumed that, with the exceptions mentioned in the following sentence, it never contained any more than it does now and that its present form is that into which it was cast by its compiler. In two places only have passages been added by later copyists: ch. iv. 1 (ed. S. Buber, p. 27b; comp. note 7) and ch. xxxii. 3 et seq. (comp. ed. Buber, notes 9, 17, 19).

...
Wikipedia