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Scripture: I Samuel 16:1-13
Key Verses:
I Samuel 16:6-7
6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Observations
Context
- Samuel, the judge and spiritual leader of Israel, had just informed King Saul that God had rejected him as king.
- Continually taking matters into his own hand, Saul had failed to obey God.
- The last straw was plundering the Amalekites and capturing their king (Agag) instead of wiping them all out.
- Samuel ran Agag through with the sword himself after confronting Saul.
The Text
- After confronting Saul, Samuel is now afraid for his life.
- God tells him to snap out of it, and go see Jesse of Bethlehem. One of Jesse’s sons is to be anointed as the next king.
- After all that had happened, the elders of the town of Bethlehem trembled at the sight of Samuel, until he told them he came in peace.
- When they brought the eldest son of Jesse, Eliab, Samuel thought he would be the choice. He certainly looked the part of a king.
- But God told him no. Outward appearance does not matter to God. The heart does.
- One by one, seven sons passed by Samuel. All were passed over.
- The youngest son, David, was out tending sheep. Jesse and the others never considered that David might be the one.
- The called for David, and he was brought in front of Samuel and chosen.
- He was anointed as the future king in front of all his brothers.
- The spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.
Interpretation
Setting
Bethlehem is a small town south of Jerusalem. It was here that Jesus would be born, centuries later. Jesus would be a descendent of David.
Genre
Narrative description.
Author
The author is unknown, but they had access to the records of the kings and possessed a thorough knowledge of the life and times of Samuel and the events surrounding the first kings of Israel.
Takeaways
- God looks at us differently than we look at each other.
- He has a clear view into our hearts.
- Jesse and his sons assumed they knew what Samuel was looking for. They knew Saul, the first king chosen, had been head and shoulders above everyone else, and was handsome as anyone.
- But it’s weird, because the text also says that David also was glowing with health and fine features. Perhaps as the youngest, they had not noticed his maturation?
Imagine
What did David’s seven older brothers think? Especially the oldest, Eliab? I bet dinner that night in the Jesse-household was a tense affair.
If you read the David-and-Goliath story in I Samuel 17, Eliab and David do not get along.
Correlation
- Deuteronomy 17:18-20 – Before they had kings, Moses describes how future kings of Israel should act – their hearts need to be right with God.
- Luke 2:4 – Joseph, the step-father of Jesus, went up from Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.
- Psalm 147:10-11 – A song that describes how God delights not in the great warriors and mighty horses, but in those how fear him and put their hope in him.
Application
Generic Applications
- The heart is more important than outward appearances.
Personalize it
- What are my first impressions of people based on? Their physical stature, their reputation, their eloquence, or their character?
Bible study methodology adapted from Searching the Scriptures with permission from Tyndale House:
Swindoll, Charles, Searching the Scriptures. Tyndale House Publishers, 2016.
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