CHAPTER 16

(1063 B.C.)

JESSE THE BETH-LEHEMITE

¹And the LORD said unto Samuel (interrupts the great Prophets negative thoughts), How long will you mourn for Saul (Samuel was mourning and, at the same time, God was planning the greatest moment in Israels history; the truth is, we have nothing to mourn, for, at this moment, God is planning great things for us; we must remember that!), seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? (The Lord rejects all who will not obey His Word.) fill your horn with oil (a Type of the Holy Spirit), and go (if the Holy Spirit is present, it is always in order that a mission be accomplished), I will send you to Jesse the Beth-lehemite: for I have provided Me a king among his sons (of course, that was David, but, above all, the provision was the Greater Son of David).

²And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me (the flesh always tries to kill the Spirit; the two cannot abide; this work of the flesh demanded by Israel will hinder and, quite possibly, delay the work of the Spirit; how so much the Church deprives itself because it follows the ways of man and not of the Lord; it is said that the very work of the flesh which causes us so much difficulty and problem is, in fact, created by our own design). And the LORD said, Take an heifer with you, and say, I am come to Sacrifice to the LORD (the selection of David centered up in the Sacrifice of Calvary, and this was the real mission of the Prophet).

³And call Jesse to the Sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do: and you shall anoint unto Me him whom I name unto you (if it is to be noticed, the Lord did not divulge to Samuel as to which of Jesses sons He would choose).

⁴And Samuel did that which the LORD spoke, and came to Beth-lehem. And the Elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Do you come peaceably? (They feared the Prophet, because they knew that whatever he said always came to pass. But this time, they had nothing to fear.)

⁵And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come with Me to the Sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the Sacrifice (the Lord is calling the entirety of mankind to Come to the Sacrifice, which refers to coming to the Cross; there is no Salvation or Victory outside of the Cross of Christ).

DAVID CHOSEN

⁶And it came to pass, when they were come (Jesse and his sons), that he (Samuel) looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORDs anointed is before him. (This was Davids brother, and he looked the part of the king. This shows us that even a great Prophet like Samuel cannot trust his own intuition. To have done so would have grossly violated the Will of God. We must ardently seek God concerning His Will, as it regards all things, both small and large.)

⁷But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart (and only God knows the heart of man).

⁸Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither has the LORD chosen this.

⁹Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither has the LORD chosen this.

¹⁰Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD has not chosen these.

¹¹And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all your children? And he said, There remains yet the youngest, and, behold, he keeps the sheep (a Type of Christ as the good Shepherd). And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. (David was the youngest, and apparently his father Jesse thought it would be useless to bring him into the house. Generally, those who are totally rejected by men are the very ones whom God chooses.)

¹²And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy (red-haired), and withal of a beautiful countenance (the Hebrew says, with beautiful eyes), and goodly to look to (to look at, handsome). And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. (It is believed that David was probably about 15 years of age at this time. It would be years before he would take the throne, but this is the beginning of the glory days of Israel.)

¹³Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren (this was Samuels last and crowning work; he would train the man who more nearly than any other approached unto the ideal of the theocratic king, and was to Israel the Type of their coming Messiah; it was Samuels wisdom in teaching his young men music which gave David the skill to be the sweet singer of the Sanctuary; and we may feel sure also that when David arranged the service of the House of God, and gave Priests and Levites their appointed duties [I Chron. 23:26], the model which he set before him was that in which he had so often taken part with Samuel at Ramah, with, of course, the Lord guiding it all Smith): and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward (which would be the means by which all things good were accomplished in Davids life; Davids name would be the very first human name in the New Testament and the very last human name in the New Testament; in fact, the Messiah would be referred to as the Son of David, because He would come through the lineage of Davids family [II Sam., Chpt. 7]). So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD DEPARTS FROM SAUL

¹⁴But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. (The Spirit of the Lord did not arbitrarily depart from Saul, but did so because Saul no longer wanted God. Because the Holy Spirit was not wanted, an evil spirit was allowed to go to Saul and trouble him, but only because of Sauls rebellion.)

¹⁵And Sauls servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubles you.

¹⁶Let our lord now command your servants, which are before you, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon you, that he shall play with his hand, and you shall be well. (Verses 14-23 do not follow the previous part of the Chapter in chronological order. Actually, this latter Passage comes between 19:9 and 19:10, to show the contrast between the two spirits of Saul and David and the success of one and the failure of the other. Quite possibly, the attendants of Saul had learned the value of consecrated music from Samuel.)

¹⁷And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me.

¹⁸Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite, who is cunning (skillful) in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him. (Williams says, God did not at once set David upon the throne as He had done in the case of Saul. He had first to be tested, and humbled, and made to feel his dependence on God, and the sufficiency of God to uphold him and maintain him. Hence, at the outset of his career, he is brought face-to-face with Satan. So was it with the Blessed One, of Whom David was a Type. His public life began with an encounter with the Devil. It was thus, and by his subsequent sufferings, that David was molded and trained to be the channel through which the Psalms were given to the world.)

SAUL SENDS FOR DAVID

¹⁹Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David your son, which is with the sheep.

²⁰And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid (baby lamb), and sent them by David his son unto Saul.

²¹And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armourbearer (it was apparently after the combat with Goliath that Saul sent to Jesse, and asked that David might be always with him, at least until his jealousy intervened).

²²And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray you, stand before me; for he has found favour in my sight.

²³And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. (When we read this Verse, we are actually reading the very first mention of Gods use of music for worship, for refreshing, and for healing. In fact, music is one of the greatest healing agents on the face of the Earth, and it is derived from the 23rd Verse, So Saul was refreshed, and was well; however, for such to be, it has to be music that is ordained by the Lord and, thereby, sanctified by the Spirit.)