1 Samuel 16

1 Samuel 16 (Listen)

David Anointed King

16:1 The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for 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 And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.” 4 Samuel did what the LORD commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” 5 And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before him.” 7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” 8 Then 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 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen these.” 11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest,¹ but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” 12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the LORD said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

David in Saul’s Service

14 Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him. 15 And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.” 17 So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.” 18 One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the LORD is with him.” 19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.” 20 And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul. 21 And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. 22 And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.” 23 And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.

(ESV)

1 Samuel 16 Commentary

In 1 Samuel 16, Samuel mourned for Saul but the Lord told him it was time to move forward because He had already chosen a new king (1 Samuel 16:1). Though Samuel feared Saul’s reaction, God provided a cover by sending him to Bethlehem under the pretense of a sacrifice (1 Samuel 16:2-3). When Samuel arrived, he expected to find the next king among Jesse’s older sons, but God reminded him that He looks at the heart, not the outward appearance (1 Samuel 16:6-7).

After rejecting seven of Jesse’s sons, Samuel asked if there were any others. The youngest (David) was out tending sheep, and when he arrived, God confirmed that he was His chosen one (1 Samuel 16:11-12). Samuel anointed David, and from that day, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him powerfully (1 Samuel 16:13).

Meanwhile, the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and he was tormented by an evil spirit (1 Samuel 16:14). His servants suggested finding a musician to soothe him, and one of them recommended David, describing him as skilled, valiant, and favored by God (1 Samuel 16:15-18). Saul sent for David, and the young shepherd entered his service, first as a musician, then as his armor-bearer (1 Samuel 16:19-21).

Though Saul did not yet know it, the one who played for him in his distress was the very one God had chosen to take his throne. Yet, even in this, David remained faithful, serving where God had placed him for the time being (1 Samuel 16:22-23).

A Dangerous Plan

Samuel loved Saul. He wanted so badly to see him live a fruitful life. But there are moments when God asks us to move on. The time for mourning was over. God had a greater plan. What do we do when the people we’ve invested in decide to disconnect? It would have been easy for Samuel to doubt God’s plan. It seemed like a dead end. But in that moment, God was firm and steady. Get up, Samuel! I have a greater plan!

God tells Samuel to go and anoint one of Jesse’s sons from Bethlehem. This troubled Samuel. In those days, it would have been abnormal for Samuel to go on such a journey without it being reported back to Saul. This is why God tells Samuel to take a young cow with him as a sacrifice. Samuel was a levitical judge and was permitted to make sacrifices.

Some commentators have noted that such a sacrifice was used to atone for an unsolved murder in a rural region (Deut 21:1-9). If true, this would not have raised any suspicion from Saul. This also could explain why the elders of Bethlehem were trembling to see Samuel arrive with a young cow. They may have wondered if his arrival was due to an unsolved murder.

The point is that Samuel obeyed the Lord even though it was a dangerous task. Despite the ups and downs of King Saul, Samuel’s faithfulness to the Lord is admirable. He continually obeyed the voice of God even when he didn’t know the entire plan. This theme of exercising faith before understanding is a continual theme in Scripture that has a lot of crossover in the New Testament (Mat 14:28-31; Joh 2:19-22; 2 Cor 5:7).

Jesse’s Son

God does not directly tell Samuel who he will be anointing. That is for Samuel to figure out along the way. Is this not how God still operates today? Often, He keeps us on a “need to know” basis. Samuel only knew the next step before him, but he faithfully followed. When arriving at Jesse’s house, Samuel is impressed by the appearance of Jesse’s firstborn son, Eliab. Previously, God had told Samuel to anoint Saul, who was taller than his peers. The Lord reminds him that he doesn’t look at outward appearances, but rather, the heart.

This illustrates another theme in Scripture. God will not count his church, but weigh it. There are many churches today that fixate on numbers, finances, and buildings as a measurement of “success” in ministry. God has never been concerned with numbers. We saw a prime example of this with Jonathan back in 1 Samuel 14. In fact, many times God intentionally restrains Israel’s numbers to protect them from being filled with pride (Jdg 7:2-7; Deut 7:7; 2 Sam 24:1-10).

At the end of His ministry, after Jesus ascended to heaven, He had 120 followers (Act 1:15). This statement is not meant to minimize Jesus’ ministry, but rather, to highlight His priorities. He was concerned with spiritual depth, not flashy numbers.

We see the same with David. He is a lowly shepherd boy and the last person anyone would expect to be Israel’s next king (1 Cor 1:27).

“When David, the youngest of the sons in Jesse’s family (cf. 1 Chr 2:13–15), was selected as the Lord’s anointed, he joined a venerable crowd of Torah patriarchs selected by God in a way that confounded social norms. Other men who were not firstborn but who were selected by the Lord over their more socially powerful older brothers include Seth, Noah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Ephraim, Moses, and perhaps Abraham. It seems that the biblical record deliberately creates the impression that Yahweh prefers to use disenfranchised members of society—earlier in 1 Samuel the barren woman Hannah and the child Samuel—to do his most significant work (cf. Mark 10:31; 1 Cor 1:27).”

The New American Commentary

David was anointed (*mšḥ) three times in his life: by Samuel (1Sa 16:13) here at Bethlehem, by the men of Judah to be “a king over the house of Judah” (2Sa 2:4), and by the elders of Israel to be “a king over Israel” (2Sa 5:3).

New International Commentary – Old Testament

David & Saul

Scripture states that David was filled with the Holy Spirit from that day forward. In the very next verse, we learn that an evil spirit is sent to torment Saul. This begs the question, why? Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit when he was anointed as king but after his repetative pattern of sinning, the Spirit left him. However, we know in future chapters that David will also sin, but the Holy Spirit remains. So, what is the difference here?

• David was filled with the Holy Spirit from the day of his anointing (1 Samuel 16:13), and in the very next verse, the Spirit departed from Saul and was replaced by an evil spirit from the Lord (1 Samuel 16:14).
• Saul and David were both sinners, but their responses to sin were different. Saul repeatedly disobeyed God, justified his actions, and shifted blame (1 Sam 13:11-12; 1 Sam 13:13-15, 1 Sam 13:20-21). David, when confronted with sin, responded with genuine repentance (2 Sam 12:13; Psa 51:10-12).
• God rejected Saul because of his persistent disobedience. In 1 Sam 15:22-23, Samuel tells Saul that obedience is better than sacrifice and that rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft.
• David’s repentance kept him in God’s favor, though he still suffered consequences. While David committed grievous sins (adultery with Bathsheba, arranging Uriah’s death), he humbled himself before God, and his repentance was sincere (Psa 51:1-12).

Later, David fully understands that the Lord can remove His Spirit from his life. In Psa 51:11, David pleads with the Lord not to remove His Spirit from him. Saul’s ultimate downfall was his continual pattern of rebellion against God without genuine repentance.

It is interesting to consider how God was showing His favor upon David. Right after being anointed, he was selected to play the harp for Saul in order to help calm his spirit.

“His fame as a musician brought him to the notice of King Saul, who did not at the time know that David had been anointed to be his successor. David became Saul’s armor-bearer. This brought David into close association with the king and his counselors, so that unknowingly Saul helped train David for his future responsibilities as king.”

Henry Hampton Halley