1 Samuel 16: Election Day

The word “election” is a homonym, which means it has two different meanings. Politically speaking, it’s the action of choosing a leader. Theologically speaking, it’s when God chooses a person to receive salvation, grace and/or fulfill his purposes. 1 Samuel 16 could be considered an election because it’s both.

Even if you pick up the story of David right in the middle of 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel 16:1 fills you right into the story. God has rejected Saul, not once, but twice. The first time God rejects Saul is when Saul performs a sacrifice instead of Samuel performing the sacrifice. God punishes Saul by taking away his dynasty (1 Samuel 13). The second time God rejects Saul is when Saul does not follow through with God’s orders to totally destroy the Amalekites. God punishes Saul by taking away his position as king (1 Samuel 15). And that’s exactly where the story of David picks up. In fact, the transition flows quite smoothly. 1 Samuel 15 closes with the sentence, “And the Lord was grieved that He had made Saul king over all of Israel.” And as you will be able to tell from the first verse of 1 Samuel 16, Samuel, who has been reporting to Saul everything the Lord tells him to, shares in the same grievance. The book of Samuel doesn’t tell the reader how much time passed from the end of chapter 15 to the beginning of chapter 16, but the reader can figure out that whatever time passed, the Lord got over it a whole lot faster than Samuel. The Lord has moved on and is ready to pick the next king. Once again, take a little bit of time to go back and read 1 Samuel 13 & 15, or more specifically, 1 Samuel 13:14 & 15:28 respectively. Each time God punishes Saul, he already has in mind a new candidate. And the candidate search will lead him right to the house of Jesse.

Samuel, at first, doesn’t want to go because he’s stricken with fear. Samuel remembers that he pronounced God’s judgment against Saul right to the face of Saul. Samuel remembers clear as day telling Saul that his descendants won’t be king, and Saul will be king no longer. Surely if Saul found out Samuel was meeting with another man, he would realize Samuel is anointing another king and would go out to kill both Samuel and the king-elect! But note that the holy Lord does not suggest that Samuel lie or do anything deceiving. God sends Samuel to perform his normal priest duties around the nation of Israel (in this case, perform a sacrifice), and along the way, God will point out who the new king is.

The fear continues when Samuel finally arrives in the town of Bethlehem. When Samuel arrives, the elders tremble in fear. A priest like Samuel does most of his work in the cities and more densely populated areas. They rarely visited the rural regions. If Samuel was there, they thought, he must be bringing judgment, either from the Lord or King Saul. Samuel reassures them that his only business is to perform a sacrifice. But in order to perform a sacrifice in Bethlehem, he needs everyone to be consecrated. So everyone consecrates themselves, but Samuel himself consecrates Jesse and his sons, for Samuel has something special in plan for them.

So pretty much, the sons of Jesse line up and pass by Samuel, oldest to youngest. The firstborn is Eliab, and so he’s naturally the first to pass by Jesse. When Samuel sees him, Samuel thinks to himself that this trip will be short and sweet, for surely Eliab is God’s chosen one. Being the firstborn, Eliab is most likely the tallest, strongest and best looking. (context clues from1 Samuel 16:7). This has to be the chosen one! After all, God chose Saul, a tall, dark and handsome man last time…right? But as Samuel’s about to anoint his choice, God tells him to hold on to his oil, because God’s going to make a profound statement. Check it out.

1 Samuel 16:7-

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.”

Obviously, the theme verse for the book of Samuel as a whole would be the Davidic Covenant, as found in 2 Samuel 7:7-17. But if I had to choose a theme verse for 1 Samuel alone, I would choose 1 Samuel 16:7 because it becomes a theme in book of 1 Samuel. Any time the Bible mentions a physical description of someone or something, it does so to give it a symbolic meaning or to make some kind of point. The book of 1 Samuel is riddled all over with these. This verse, paired alongside the stories of the two kings, is the best example. Think about the dualistic dichotomy I said the books 1 & 2 Samuel were trying to show us – the difference between the bad king and the good king.  Remember the Israelite people thought that Saul would make a great king because he looked like a king – tall, dark and handsome (1 Samuel 10:23,24). Yet he becomes a terrible king because he will not listen to God but only himself. Then comes along David, who, while he has a few handsome features, is short and ruddy. This does not sound like someone who you would picture when you pictured a king. And yet he ends up becoming the greatest king of Israel and Judah. Why? It all goes back to this verse. God shows his people that what makes a great king is not his looks, but his heart.

On a similar note, this verse helps answer another important question: “If God is all-knowing, and if God predestines, why did God choose a king who would fail him and be a bad king? Well, first of all, I’d bring you to back to the overall book, how it shows a dualistic dichotomy between a good king and a bad king. You don’t know how good something is until you know how bad it can be. Saul shows us how bad it can be in order for us to see how good of a king David is. Second, pertaining to this verse, I reminder you who really chose King Saul. It was the Israelites! Go back to 1 Samuel 8. When the people ask for a king, they ask for the wrong reasons, and ultimately reject God as king. So, as Romans 1 says, God handed them over to their own evil devices. Not only did the Lord give them a king, like they wanted, he gave them a king just like they wanted! He gave them a king that seemed like a good king by human standards. And by the time we get to the end of 1 Samuel, I’ll admit to you, he still looks like a good king by human standards! But he fails to be a good king by God’s standards. This time around, the people won’t choose a king, but God will choose the king, by his standards.

Before I move on, I like to use this verse as a good application verse. It always seems like the people who are good looking. The good looking ones are the popular kids in the high school. The good looking ones get the job before the ugly ones. There’s even a pick-up line that goes something like, “You’re hot, so you must be taken” because it seems like the handsome men and the pretty girls get the significant others while the ugly people stay single. So we feed into this. We spend tons of money on beauty products, such as makeup, haircuts, manicures, pedicures and even plastic surgery. Then we spend even more on clothes, making sure we’re wearing the latest fashions, to look even better. But the Lord truly believes in the old adage, “It’s not what’s on the outside that matters, but what’s on the inside that counts. The Lord sees past all layers of clothes and beautification, and he sees the heart. The Lord knows that while the fruit peel might look beautiful, the fruit might be rotten. If this is the way the Lord thinks and feels, shouldn’t we think and feel the same way? If we don’t, the consequences can be dire. Choosing the hotter date over the ugly date could mean rejecting a nice, kind and gentle date for a date that treats you like property, only caring what he/she gets out of it. Hiring the better looking employee could end up picking a lazy employee over a hardworking one. And, just like Israel, it could mean picking a bad leader over a good leader. Let’s be like God. Let’s decide never to base our decision on how people look, but where their heart is.

The process of passing by Samuel continues with Abinadab, Jesse’s second son, and Shammah, Jesse’s third son. Neither of them are the chosen one. The process continues with four more of Jesse’s sons, all yielding the same result. Samuel thinks he has a problem here. The Lord definitely told Samuel that God has chosen a new king from the family of Jesse. Yet Jesse had seven of his sons pass by Samuel, and God gave a “no” to all of them! So Samuel asks Jesse, “Are you sure these are all of your sons? Are these all the sons you have, or do you possibly have more?” Jesse seems to brush off his last son, saying something along the lines of, “Well, we do have the short, young one, babysitting the sheep out back.” Even Jesse seems to not believe his little David could be the next king. But Samuel is perplexed and excited. This has to be the one. Samuel tells Jesse to go get him, for they will not sit down at the sacrifice’s table until everyone is truly there.

Enter David. The Bible describes David as ruddy and small (the word we translate as “youngest” in verse 11 could also mean “small” in Hebrew). The Jewish historian Josephus recorded David to be ten years old at the time of this event, but most modern-day scholars believe fifteen would be more accurate. This description doesn’t sound like one of a king. But the second Samuel sees David, God immediately says to Samuel, “Anoint him. He’s the one.” Interesting enough, the Bible never records any words between Samuel and David before, during or after the anointing. Perhaps the action alone was enough for David to know what was happening.

If you’re anything like me, or any other person, you’re probably asking, “Where’s the proof? What proof do you have that David is now king and Saul is not?” Well, that’s what the second half of 1 Samuel 16 is for.

Now if you’re reading the 1984 edition of the NIV, like I am, there’s a section heading splitting the two halves of the chapter. But remember those headings weren’t there when the text was originally written. It’s a shame they put it there, for I believe verses 13 and 14 go together very well. I’ll put them together for you.

1 Samuel 7:13-14-

So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah. Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.

Here we need a quick lesson on the role of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. Our Christian doctrine on the Holy Spirit is that the Holy Spirit rests on all who believe. That’s very much New Covenant thinking from the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit rested only on special people for special tasks. Such people were priests, judges, kings and prophets. The Holy Spirit would rarely leave the person because those tasks were usually lifelong tasks. But here we have an interesting case. The Holy Spirit does leave Saul. But why does he leave Saul? God has rejected Saul as king. Saul is no longer king. Since the special person Saul no longer has his special task of being king, the Holy Spirit leaves. Now the Holy Spirits rests on David. Why? David is now king. He’s now the special person with the special task. So the first proof we have that David is the new king is that he has the Holy Spirit.

Why verse 14 usually gets more attention is the phrase “evil spirit from the Lord.” Christian doctrine has always stated that God is holy and righteous, and has nothing to do with sin or evil. So how then can an evil spirit be from God? First, as the footnote points out, the Hebrew word can mean “evil,” but can also mean “harmful” or “injurious,” or even “morally corrupt.” But I think we need a more theological answer to a theological question. For the answer, I’m going to use the Theological Interpretation of Scripture and borrow a passage from Luke 11:24-26.

Luke 11:24-26-

²⁴ “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ ²⁵ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.”

In this passage, Jesus explains to his disciples that it’s no good to just merely cast out a demon, but the essential part is to put in the Holy Spirit. For without the Holy Spirit vacating that empty spot, the demonic powers come back worse. Take that second part, and that’s what happened to Saul. God the Holy Spirit left Saul. When the Holy Spirit vacated and left a void in Saul’s heart, an evil spirit jumped on the chance to infect the present king of Israel, maybe in hopes to stray the Israelites further from God.

Any way you interpret that passage, verse 15 clearly explains that the evil spirit tormented Saul. The Hebrew word for torment can also be translated “tortuned,” “terrified” or simply “startled.” Saul’s attendants, most likely household servants, take note of how this evil spirit is infecting Saul. They then speak a jussive, which is a first person plural command. Some have suggested it’s a nice and respectful way to give a command, but in this context, I believe it’s kindly commanding the king to give a command, for they can do nothing without the king’s permission. Their suggestion is to find a harp player to play soothing music from the harp (or lyre) when the evil spirit comes upon Saul. The Old Testament hints that the Israelites believed the harp had power in the spiritual world, for even Elisha calls for someone to play the harp for him (2 Kings 3:15). Saul agrees with the idea and makes it an official command. It seems like one of the servants had this plan from the start, as he already has a person picked out for the job. It’s David!

Sure enough, David comes into the king’s presence when Saul gets attacked by the evil spirit. David plays his harp, and it works! It works so well, and Saul is so pleased, Saul puts David in the service as an armor-bearer. This was a position only for someone close to Saul. David does seem close to Saul, for verse 21 says Saul liked David very much. Some translators even believe the verse should say Saul loved David! Either way, Saul appreciates what David does for him. Chapter 16 ends mentioning that this happened many times to Saul and every time David would come in, play his harp, and the problem would be solved.

So let’s talk about the passage in its near context by itself. What’s this passage trying to tell us? I see this passage as spiritual warfare. The Holy Spirit has left Saul. In its place, an evil spirit has entered and began messing with the reigning leader of Israel. No one would want their leader to be possessed by an evil spirit, especially when it is God’s people. What are the Israelites suppose to do? In comes David. David is now filled with the Holy Spirit Saul once had. Through David’s harp playing, the Holy Spirit fights off the evil spirit within Saul, and the Holy Spirit wins! Even when God is not with the reigning king of Israel, he is still watching out for his people, protecting them from the evil forces of the world.

As for David, his role is much bigger. This event is the second proof that David is the next king of Israel. First of all, God has empowered David with the Holy Spirit to serve him, such as fighting evil spirits. Second, David’s success at fighting evil spirits has promoted David into the service of the royal family. Already David has footing in the palace, even though he is still far from king. Already God is making David the new king. So what’s the proof David is the new king? The Holy Spirit is upon David, and it is empowering David to do God’s work!

We’re not done with our proofs yet. In the next chapter, look out for more proof that David is the new king of Israel. Also look for how physical descriptions continue to play into the narrative.  In the next two chapters, look to see how David becomes more and more the king, and how Saul becomes less and less the king. Also, in the next two chapters, look for the continuing battle between the Holy Spirit within David and the evil spirit within Saul.