Samuel Anoints David
1The LORD said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, a since I have rejected him as kingover Israel? b Fill your horn with oil c and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem d because I have selected a king from his sons.” 2Samuel asked, “How can I go? 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.’ e 3Theninvite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will let you know what you are to do. f You are to anoint for Me the one I indicate to you.” g 4Samuel did what the LORD directed and went to Bethlehem. h When the elders of the town met him, they trembled i and asked, “Do j you come in peace? ” k 5“In peace,” he replied. “I’ve come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves l and come with me tothe sacrifice.” m Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. 6When theyarrived, Samuel saw Eliab n and said, “Certainly the LORD’s anointed one is here before Him.” 7But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature, because I have rejected him.Man does not see what the LORD sees, o for man sees what is visible, p but the LORD sees the heart.” q 8Jesse called Abinadab r and presented him to Samuel. “The LORD hasn’t chosen this one either,” Samuel said. 9Then Jesse presented Shammah, s but Samuel said, “The LORD hasn’t chosen this one either.”10After Jesse presented seven of his sons to him, Samuel told Jesse, “The LORD hasn’t chosen any of these.” 11Samuel asked him, “Are these all the sons you have? ” “There is still the youngest,” t 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.” 12So Jesse sent for him. He had beautiful eyes and a healthy, u handsome appearance. v Then the LORD said, “Anoint him, for he is the one.” w 13So Samuel took the horn of oil, anointed him x in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the LORD took control of David from that day forward. y ThenSamuel set out and went to Ramah. The heart of the matterHe grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. (Isa 53:2) Isaiah was speaking about Jesus: he was describing our Lord seven hundred years before he was born. The Bible says there was nothing in his appearance that would have attracted us to him. Think about that. Jesus was not physically attractive in any way. That doesn't mean he was unattractive, but neither did he possess striking features or a majestic presence that would have turned heads. Jesus was Mr Normal; he was Mr Average. Even though he was God, he didn't have a superhuman physique that set him apart from other men. Jesus was average height and average build. That is why Judas, his betrayer, said, 'The one I kiss is the man; arrest him (Mat 26:48).' There was nothing about our Lord, physically, that made him stand out in a crowd. There was a reason for that, and it was a scriptural reason. God looks at the heartWhat were Samuel's thoughts when he went to Bethlehem to anoint the new king of Israel? When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, 'Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord.' But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.' (1Sa 16:6–7) Man looks at outward appearances but God looks at the heart. Our hearts are infinitely more important to God than our physical features, and who had a heart more pure and perfect than our Lord's? Samuel had been sent to Bethlehem to anoint the new king of Israel; the man he anointed was David. Eliab was obviously a fine looking man because God said, 'Do not look at his appearance or his height.' King Saul (who was king of Israel at the time) was also a fine looking man who stood head and shoulders above everyone else (1Sa 9:1–2), but his heart was not right before God. God didn't choose Eliab but chose his younger brother David to be king. It's true that David was handsome and of fine appearance (1Sa 16:12), but that was not the reason he was chosen. As we've seen, God doesn't look at outward appearances, he looks at the heart; and the body he gave his Son demonstrated that. Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. (Pro 31:30) Physical beauty is very fleeting. Nowadays some women resort to surgery as they age because they cannot bear to see their beauty fade, however the heart is the important thing as far as God is concerned. What the heart representsWhat does the Bible mean when it talks about a person's heart? Is it talking about the physical organ that pumps blood around our body? No, not at all. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. (Deu 6:4–6) God doesn't want us to love him with all of our blood pump. The heart, in this sense, represents the real us: the centre of our thoughts, our feelings and our emotions—particularly the emotion of love. Even the secular world accepts that definition and uses the heart to portray these things. What symbol is used to represent love in the world? A heart. After God's heartWhen God rejected Saul as king he told him he had chosen a man after his own heart to replace him (1Sa 13:14). That man was David. We need to ask ourselves whether we are people after the Lord's heart as King David was. We certainly should be. But what does it mean to be a person after the Lord's heart? Act 13:22 tells us: After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: 'I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.' A man or woman after God's heart is someone who will do everything he wants them to do. They are so devoted to the Lord they want his will to be done in their lives more than anything else. They are zealous to obey and to do the will of God. God occupies first place in their hearts. Heart attitudesAre our hearts on earth or in heaven? 'Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.' (Mat 6:19–21) In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus showed how important the human heart is in receiving and obeying God's word: 'But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.' (Luk 8:15) Simon the Sorcerer, having just been saved (Act 8:13), needed a change of heart: When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money and said, 'Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.' Peter answered: 'May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.' (Act 8:18–21) Our hearts must be right before God can use us in his kingdom. His Spirit in our heartsWhen we are born again we become a temple of the Holy Spirit (1Co 6:19), but do we know in which part of our body the Holy Spirit dwells? Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2Co 1:21–22) The Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts. His laws in our heartsThis is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. (Heb 8:10) It's easier for Christians to obey God under the New Covenant than it was for his people to obey him under the Old Covenant. Under the Old Covenant God gave his people a series of laws, written on papyrus and stone, which they tried to obey with their sinful nature. That was impossible. Under the New Covenant God has written his laws on our hearts and has given us his Spirit so we can obey them. Guard your heartsWe began this study with Jesus; let's end it with Jesus. Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: 'Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. 'Then I said, "Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, O God." ' (Heb 10:5–7) David (a type of Christ) was chosen by God because he would do everything God wanted him to do. When Jesus came into the world he did everything God wanted him to do—perfectly—even to dying for our sins on a cross. God prepared a body for his Son and you can be sure it was exactly as Isaiah had predicted. There was nothing in our Lord's appearance that would have attracted us to him, because the beauty and majesty of our physical bodies are not important—it's the heart that matters. The world in which we live puts so much emphasis on the way we look. Are we dressed correctly? Have we got the latest fashions? Are we using the best skin creams and lotions? These are worldly things designed to improve our outward appearance, but they don't impress God. God looks at the heart. Brother or sister, is your heart right before God? We need to examine our hearts regularly to make sure nothing has crept in to divert us from our sincere and pure devotion to Christ (2Co 11:3), because the human heart is deceitful and difficult to understand (Jer 17:9). Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. (Pro 4:23) The Hebrew word translated 'wellspring' in that verse meansthe starting point and the end. That means the human heart is the alpha and omega; the beginning and the end—the most vital part of our being as far as eternal life is concerned:
Michael Graham June 2004
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