24 God Chooses David as King [1 Samuel 16:1–13]
The Bible passage: [1 Samuel 16:1–13]
The Story:
Saul turned out to be a bad king. He did everything the way he wanted to, ignoring God’s will for how His people were to live. He did all the things God had warned about.
Samuel had met with Saul after a previous incident of disobedience and told Saul, “The Lord has found a man loyal to Him, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not done what the Lord commanded.” [1 Samuel 13:14]
A short time later, the Lord said to Samuel, “How long are you going to fret over Saul, since I have rejected him as Israel’s king? Fill your horn with oil and go. Go to Bethlehem to a man named Jesse. I have selected Myself a king from his sons.”
Samuel replied, “Saul will hear about it and kill me!”
The Lord answered, “Take a young cow with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will let you know what to do. I will show you who to anoint.”
Samuel did what the Lord told him to do and went to Bethlehem. When the elders of the town saw him, they were frightened and asked, “Do you come in peace?”
He replied. “I’m here to sacrifice to the Lord. Purify yourselves and come with me.” Samuel invited Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice.
When they arrived, Jesse introduced his sons to Samuel one at a time, starting with the oldest and going in age order. After each one, Samuel thought, “This must be the one,” but each time God told Samuel that this was not the one.
The Lord told Samuel, “Do not look at outward appearance. Humans do not see what I see. You look at what is visible. I see the heart.”
Samuel asked Jesse, “Do you have any other sons?”
“There is the youngest,” he answered, “but right now he’s tending the sheep.”
Samuel told Jesse, “Send for him. We won’t sit down to eat until he gets here.”
Jesse sent for him. He had beautiful eyes and a healthy, handsome appearance.
Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Anoint him. He is the one.”
Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in front of his brothers and the elders of Bethlehem. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on David from that day forward.
Samuel then returned to his home.
The Lessons:
- Anointing is something like laying on of hands. Oil was usually put on the person’s head. This was done to show that they were designated by God for some specific purpose.
- God looks at the heart, not the outward appearance of a person. While David and his brothers were all attractive men, God had told Samuel that He had found a man loyal to Him. The term literally means, “After My own heart.” This doesn’t mean that David was perfect. We will be talking about some of his failures. What it means is that he desired to be like God.
- David didn’t actually become the king yet. That came later.
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