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1 SAM UEL 16
page 259
has killed the sons of many mothers, now your
mother will be childless.” And Samuel cut Agag
to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal.
34 Then Samuel went home to Ramah, and
Saul returned to his house at Gibeah of Saul.
35 Samuel never went to meet with Saul again, but
he mourned constantly for him. And the Lord
was sorry he had ever made Saul king of Israel.
Samuel Anoints David as King
Now the Lord said to Samuel, “You have
mourned long enough for Saul. I have
rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask
with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man
named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected
one of his sons to be my king.”
2 But Samuel asked, “How can I do that? If
Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”
“Take a heifer with you,” the Lord replied,
“and say that you have come to make a sacrifice to the Lord. 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice,
and I will show you which of his sons to anoint
for me.”
4 So Samuel did as the Lord instructed. When
he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town
came trembling to meet him. “What’s wrong?”
they asked. “Do you come in peace?”
5 “Yes,” Samuel replied. “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Purify yourselves and come
with me to the sacrifice.” Then Samuel performed the purification rite for Jesse and his
sons and invited them to the sacrifice, too.
6 When they arrived, Samuel took one look
at Eliab and thought, “Surely this is the Lord’s
anointed!”
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge
by his appearance or height, for I have rejected
him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you
see them. People judge by outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart.”
8 Then Jesse told his son Abinadab to step forward and walk in front of Samuel. But Samuel
said, “This is not the one the Lord has chosen.”
9 Next Jesse summoned Shimea,* but Samuel
said, “Neither is this the one the Lord has chosen.” 10 In the same way all seven of Jesse’s sons
were presented to Samuel. But Samuel said to
Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.”
11 Then Samuel asked, “Are these all the sons
you have?”
“There is still the youngest,” Jesse replied.
“But he’s out in the fields watching the sheep
and goats.”
“Send for him at once,” Samuel said. “We
will not sit down to eat until he arrives.”
12 So Jesse sent for him. He was dark and
handsome, with beautiful eyes.
And the Lord said, “This is the one; anoint
him.”
16
16:9 Hebrew Shammah, a variant spelling of Shimea; compare
1 Chr 2:13; 20:7. 16:14 Or an evil spirit; also in 16:15, 16, 23.
13 So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had
brought and anointed David with the oil. And
the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon
David from that day on. Then Samuel returned
to Ramah.
David Serves in Saul’s Court
14 Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and
the Lord sent a tormenting spirit* that filled
him with depression and fear.
15 Some of Saul’s servants said to him, “A tormenting spirit from God is troubling you. 16 Let
us find a good musician to play the harp whenever the tormenting spirit troubles you. He will
play soothing music, and you will soon be well
again.”
17 “All right,” Saul said. “Find me someone
who plays well, and bring him here.”
18 One of the servants said to Saul, “One of
Jesse’s sons from Bethlehem is a talented harp
player. Not only that—he is a brave warrior,
a man of war, and has good judgment. He is
also a fine-looking young man, and the Lord is
with him.”
• Presence of God
1 S A M U E L 16:14
Here we see that God’s Spirit left Saul.
God does not want to abandon any
person, so a severed relationship with
him begins with our actions, not his. God
will not leave us except by our request,
demand, or continued neglect. God
made every effort to build a relationship
with Saul: He made him king, he sent
wise counselors like Samuel and David
his way, he performed mighty miracles
for him. But Saul never cared much,
doing his own thing, willfully disobeying,
and outright neglecting the God who
gave him all he had. Finally the point
came when God withdrew his Spirit
from Saul. Now Saul had no chance
to return to God.
Worshiping other gods—idols, money,
sex, power, personal pride—is a
powerful statement to God that we
have abandoned him, that we have
declared these other things to be more
important than he is. Leaving almighty
God for lesser gods is an insult to the
one who made us and sustains us daily.
But God will continue to pursue us
until it becomes clear that we have so
utterly abandoned him that no amount
of pursuit on his part will change our
callous hearts.