1 Now the LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons." 2 And Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me." And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.' 3 "Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you." 4 So Samuel did what the LORD said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, "Do you come peaceably?" 5 And he said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice." Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice. 6 So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, "Surely the LORD's anointed is before Him." 7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 8 So Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one." 9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one." 10 Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen these." 11 And Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all the young men here?" Then he said, "There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here." 12 So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!" 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.
The Lord Has Provided Himself a King (vv. 1-5)
Samuel, You Have Wept Long Enough
Samuel devoted his life to the Lord and to his people. Early in his life a mantle of heaviness was laid upon his shoulders – the corruption of the priestly family and God’s judgment upon it; idolatry among the people; the constant Philistine threat. Now, nearing the end of his life and ministry, Saul had broken his heart (15:35). He may have felt a personal attachment to Saul as God’s anointed king, much like David later did. But there was more. Saul’s disobedience and rejection meant that God’s people were again leaderless. Worse, their rejected leader is a rebel and cut off from God’s favor. Who knows what damage he will do? Already Samuel has grown afraid of Saul, whose descent into madness now began in earnest (v. 2). Even with all this, Samuel’s grief had become excessive. The Lord told him to stop mourning for Saul. It was not wrong for him to grieve, but it was wrong for him to allow grief to paralyze him. It is time for the grieving to end. Despair is Satan’s tool, and we must fight it. If grief is hopeless, it is sinful and must stop (1 Sam. 4:13). If grief prevents us from obeying the Lord, it has become sinful. Our loving Father is not writing a tragedy of grief, but a redemption of glory and grace, and therefore of joy. Yes, Samuel, Saul has proven to be a great disappointment. But, Samuel, the Lord has provided himself a king. Saul will not prevent the Lord from blessing and guiding his people.
And it is the same with us. Many are our sorrows in this world. Our Lord told us that we shall have tribulations (John 16:33; Acts 14:22). He does not forbid our grief. “Blessed are those who mourn.” When we are separated by death from loved ones and friends, we shall grieve. We shall cry over our sins and those of others. The wickedness of the children of disobedience is a heavy burden upon our souls. Their schemes, perversity, and wars are like bombs hanging over our hearts. Only the Lord’s mercy prevents them from falling upon us. It is an unfeeling madman who goes through life giddy with his own plans and pleasures. We are also to “weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15). Yet, a time comes when the weeping needs to end. And one way we can wisely harness our grief is obedience. This was the Lord’s cure for Samuel’s grief – go anoint my king. This is an important truth. Grief can become a bottomless pit. The way we climb out is to obey the Lord. We may be slippery with our tears, barely crawling, but we must hear his voice again. Part of our obedience is to trust him. Another is to do his known will even when we are sad. Sadness grows into depression when we use our sadness as an excuse to disobey the Lord. We can obey him even while we are sad – did not our Lord Jesus Christ?! He did not go to the cross happy. His sacrifice was an act of obedience to the will of his Father. The joy came later (Heb. 12:1-2). We cannot wait to obey the Lord until the good feelings come.
Samuel, Go Anointed My King
The Lord is working out his purposes constantly. We may be crying, but he is moving forward. What is sad to us is part of his joyful plan – for us, for all his people, for the heavens and the earth (Rom. 8:18-25). As you groan, weeping believer, remember this! The purposes and power of our great Lord have not stopped because we have cause to cry. So, Samuel, I have provided myself a king among the sons of Jesse. Still far from joy, Samuel was fearful at this command – Saul will kill me! Apparently, Saul was already going a little mad. When the Lord leaves a rebellious man, the pit of misery is bottomless. What an incentive to hold fast to Christ (Col. 2:19)! Samuel’s former protégé has become a terror to God’s prophet and to God’s people. The Lord told Samuel to go to Bethlehem to make a sacrifice – not duplicity, but concealment. The Lord is never obligated to tell us his whole mind.
Samuel obeyed. What a great difference between Saul and Samuel! Saul had every promise of God’s presence and power to help him conquer his enemies, but he disobeyed the Lord’s voice. Samuel was grieving and afraid, but he obeyed the Lord’s voice. Let us follow Samuel’s good example. Are we sad? Let us obey the Lord, as our Savior did in his sorrow (Heb. 5:8). Are we afraid? Let us trust and obey the Lord (John 16:33). When Samuel came to Bethlehem, the elders were a bit shocked to see the old prophet. It was not apparently his custom to visit them, but he quickly assured them he came to offer a sacrifice. He told the leaders of Bethlehem to sanctify themselves – we cannot worship the Lord without prepared hearts. He also called Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice. The reign of David will begin with the blood of God’s sacrificial substitute. Our Savior’s kingdom is built upon the blood of this same covenant (Heb. 12:24), once for all shed for us on the cross.
The Lord Looks upon the Heart (vv. 6-13)
This Must be the Lord’s Anointed – NO!
Eliab, Jesse’s oldest son, entered the room. He was outwardly impressive, like Saul. Samuel thought this must be the Lord’s anointed. It is disheartening that Samuel repeated the previous mistake, but perhaps his heart was still clouded by all that had happened to him. Wisdom fails even the best of men, and absolute trust is due to the Lord alone. But the Lord used Samuel’s failed judgment to teach him and us a most profound truth. Man judges by what he sees; the Lord sees the heart. Eliab was tall and strong, but the Lord has refused him. He is unfit to be king of Israel. It is not that the Lord wanted an ugly king, but it is the heart that makes a man. Even during the old covenant era, the Lord constantly aimed at the heart – you need a new one, a circumcised one, a soft and teachable one. The rest of antiquity was obsessed with outward beauty, colossal building projects, and military dominance. All these were short-lived, tyranny-feeders. For his people, he rejected every human standard of potential leadership. He looked only upon the heart. The same is especially true now, as our Savior’s kingdom is built not with swords and cathedrals but with a new heart, the new birth that none but God the Spirit can effect (John 3:3-8; 2 Cor. 3:3). The Lord does not choose many high and mighty, the rich and connected, the famous and beautiful, but the lowly and despised things of the world (1 Cor. 1:28-32). He hates what men highly esteem (Luke 16:15).
Therefore, the Lord must let Samuel reveal Israel’s king, for the Lord only can read the heart. And only a man after his heart can rightly lead his people – or be a good father, or pastor, or elder. Now, David had not made his own heart fit to be king. A heart fit to lead is a heart tamed by God’s grace. A heart pleasing to the Lord is a heart made new by his Spirit. A man after God’s own heart is a man who is humbled over his sins, seeks mercy, and craves righteousness in fellowship with the Lord. We have barely learned the lesson of this verse. Our eyes focus upon beauty, our ears upon good words, but the Lord judges men’s heart. He knows what is in my heart, and in yours. We shall stand before him and give an account, not of what men have seen, but of what the Lord has seen. Let us come humbly before the Lord and ask him to plunge his cross into the wicked abyss of our filthy, hard hearts. Only he can give us a new heart. We must ask him and ask him in faith. Looking to His beloved Son, the Father will take away our stony, rebellious hearts, and gives us a teachable heart of flesh. He is faithful and good.
David Anointed and Filled with the Spirit
When all Jesse’s sons had been presented, but the Lord had rejected them all, Samuel concluded that Jesse must have another son. David was not called to this interview. The family did not think David worth calling. Shepherds were not despised, but David was the youngest of the family, an afterthought, perhaps, to his older and stronger brothers. Samuel would not sit down until he was brought in – the prophet’s commission must be accomplished then and there, for the Lord had directed him to Jesse’s house. David was hurriedly fetched from the sheep. He came in – he was ruddy, or reddish, with striking eyes. He was not unattractive, but Saul and Eliab were definitively better looking! Immediately, the Lord told Samuel, “Arise, and anoint him, for this is he.” This is my king. Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the presence of his family. The Lord had raised up a horn of salvation in the house of his servant, David (Luke 1:69). The anointing was joined with the filling of the Holy Spirit – a unique fitness and empowerment for office. It was not a new birth, for unlike Saul at his anointing, David was already a child of God. He was a sinner from his mother’s womb, as he confessed (Ps. 51:5), but he also hoped in God from his youth. The Spirit might rebuke and chasten David, but the Spirit never left David. He was the King the Lord wanted – not the people, not Samuel.
The Lord Reveals Himself to Us
In David’s Obscure Origins and Ordinariness
In David’s anointing to be a king, the Lord’s story of redemption takes a major step forward. Christ Jesus is revealed in new and wonderful ways for our salvation. Already the Christ has been revealed as the “seed of Abraham” (Gen. 12:1-3; Gal. 3:16), the Lamb the Lord will provide (Gen. 22:8), the great priest and prophet (Deut. 18:15). Now, in David, the Lord begins to complete the Messianic picture. Our Savior will be a king, but not a worldly king like Saul, but a man after God’s own heart. It is seen in David’s obscure origins, from a previously unknown family in Israel – but also from Judah. He is called from the sheepfold. There is nothing particularly striking to commend him. Isaiah will later build upon this: “he has no form or comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him (Isa. 53:2). Our Savior’s work will come not from outward glory that will cause men to flock to him, but the inner working that subdues men’s hearts. Men do not know what they need, but the obscure Messiah knows. His reign is not about keeping up appearances – oppressing the world with human traditions while claiming to be the true and ancient church. The kingdom of our Savior is within – in a heart like his, in “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom. 14:17). Because he is lowly, the lowly and obscure and hated by the world will find in him the truest Friend and the best Savior. We can come to him with nothing, for he came with empty hands that were nailed to the cross to save us.
In David’s Pastoral Preparations
David must have had some military training (16:18), though perhaps Saul’s courtier exaggerated David’s talents. On the other hand, his being a man of valor may have been his courage as a shepherd. He had defended the flock from wild and vicious animals. The point being made here, however, is that like our Savior, David’s preparation was pastoral. It was with the sheep he had learned the virtues that made him a godly king. He was not taken first from the battlefield but from the sheepfold. He was not a mighty general but a humble and gentle shepherd. Our Lord also remained at home, serving his family, until he was called to begin his ministry. He was a carpenter by trade. Perhaps he spent time, like his cousin John, in the wilderness, communing with God. David spent many nights under the stars with the sheep, communing with the Lord. Since he is this kind of Savior and King, all his disciples must learn to serve and take the lowest seat, to be ignored, like David, if only they can please the Lord.
In David’s Heart for God
From the beginning of this narrative, the Lord has been preparing Samuel and Israel for a “king after his own heart” (13:14). A heart after God is a heart that desires to please him, loves him, and therefore obeys him. It is a heart that hungers and thirsts after righteousness, not from fear of punishment in the hereafter or bad consequences now, but for the joy of obedience, the delight of pleasing the Lord (Col. 1:10), a humble but sincere desire for his glory to fill the earth and our individual lives. A man after God’s own heart loves God’s people and loves God’s truth and covenant. It is a heart that weeps over its sins, as David did, craving only mercy and desiring that the Lord not take away his Holy Spirit. Why is this? A man after God’s own heart craves God – it does not want God only or mostly for what the Lord can do for us, but it wants him – to worship him in the beauty of holiness, to be with him where he is. It cries, like Moses, “Lord, show me your glory.”
David’s heart was not perfect with the Lord, but a type of our Savior’s heart for his Father. “I always do those things that please my Father” (John 8:29). “Thy will, not mine, be done.” “I have meat to eat that you know not of – to do the will of him that sent me” (John 4:32,34). In David’s heart, our Lord reveals his own heart. He has this heart not for himself alone, but for us also! He wants us to have the joy of the Father’s love, the “in your presence is fullness of joy” hope secured to us by the resurrection. Where can we find a heart after God’s? It is from Jesus Christ, from union with him, from pouring out our failings to him and confessing our sins to him. It is a gift from him as we walk in the Spirit so that his heart bears fruit in us (Gal. 5:22-23). As our Mediator, his passion for his Father’s business, his Father’s law, his Father’s will – these things are revealed to encourage us that sin will not finally destroy us. Sometimes, it feels like sin will win at last, despite our best efforts, tears, and groanings. The realization and conviction of sin can fill us with great grief, so much so that we doubt we have a saving interest in Christ. Look to him, weeping believer! His heart is your heart. It is his perfect heart after his Father that is counted for us as righteousness. It is because his heart was perfect that his sacrifice retains to this moment its saving power. Do not doubt it but receive him and rest upon him alone for salvation. There is no other Savior. He is Yahweh our Righteousness. He is the Horn of Salvation in the House of David.
In David’s Anointing and Filling
This is really the point of the anointing and the bestowal of the Spirit. We know David’s history. He did not always walk with the Spirit. He could not give the Spirit to anyone else. He was a great warrior, the Lord’s king and prophet, but he was not a good father. His notorious adultery and murder cannot be erased from our corporate memory. Ironic that the man after God’s own heart is also a warning of how low such a man can fall. Thus, this bestowal of the Spirit points us to the Lord Jesus Christ. He truly is anointed with the Spirit “beyond measure” (Ps. 45:7; Heb. 1:9; John 3:34). And why is he as our Mediator so full of the Holy Spirit? To give the Spirit to us. Faith in Jesus Christ is not a static, one and done thing. It is living. It unites us to the living Savior. From him, we receive a share of his gift, his Spirit in us (Eph. 4:9), so that we may bring forth the fruits of righteousness (Phil. 1:11). The Spirit is the bond between Christ and us (2 Cor. 3:17). The Holy Spirit is the One by whom the Lord Jesus comes to us – by the Word, in prayer, through the fellowship of the saints, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and especially his living voice in the preaching of his Word.
When you think of David being anointed with the Spirit, think of the Lord Jesus receiving the full anointing when he was publicly anointed by John to be our prophet, priest, and king. Think of him now in heaven, advocating for us before the Father, guaranteeing that as we ask the Father for the Spirit, he will give him to us. He was anointed so that we may be anointed – not once only, not for charismatic utterance or spiritual ecstasy, but so that we can walk as our Savior walked. This is the joyful and eternal life: keeping your little home flock for Jesus Christ; honoring him and learning to serve him when the world ignores you; learning the great gain of godliness with contentment. Ask the Father, the Lord Jesus told us. Ask him for the Spirit (Luke 11:13). Jesus Christ purchased him for us and promised him to us. He is the greater David who now reigns in heaven over all things for the sake of the church. He will not stop giving and sanctifying and unifying until all his foes are subdued beneath his feet. Then, he will return, and we shall see him, be made like him, and be with him forever. No more tears, sorrow, pain, or death. No more hungering or thirsting after righteousness, but fully possessing and being possessed by the love of God in Christ.
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