Journeying In Grace

1 Samuel 16:1–13 (NIV)

1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”

2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’

3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”

4 Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”

5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”

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 people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.”

9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.”

10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.”

11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”

12 So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”

13 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 powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.

The prophet Samuel is the person chosen by God himself to institute the monarchy of Israel.

He was born in 1105 BC

His father was Elkanah, who had two wives, Peninnah and Hannah

Peninnah had children but Hannah did not

Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, Elkanah loved her and treated her better than Peninnah

Peninnah treated Hannah harshly - no children = a curse from God - harassed Hannah until she would not eat or drink

Elkanah went up yearly to Shiloh to worship and offer sacrifices to God

Hannah also went to worship at Shiloh

One year, Hannah was weeping and praying in her heart - her lips were moving, but no sound came from her mouth - She promised God that if He would give her a son, she would dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life

Eli, the priest, was sitting in his chair by the doorpost of the temple - he thought she was drunk and chastised her

She told him she wasn’t drunk, but that she was pouring out her soul to the Lord

Eli then told her to go on her way and may God grant her what she asked for

Elkanah and Hannah went back home, and she later conceived and bore Elkanah a son

They named him Samuel, meaning “Because I asked the Lord for him”

As soon as the boy was weaned, Hannah took him to Eli and dedicated him to the Lord - He lived in the temple from then on

Hannah then offered up a prayer of song and thanksgiving to God for answering her prayer - “The Magnificat of the OT”

Samuel ministered under Eli, whose two sons were corrupt and wicked

The Word of the Lord was rare in those days

Later, Samuel heard the call of God - three times he thought it was Eli calling him

The fourth time, Samuel asked the Lord to speak - that his servant was listening

God then told Samuel what He was going to do to the house of Eli because of the sons’ wickedness and his failure to restrain them

The next morning Eli called Samuel and had him tell him everything God had said and not hold anything back

After hearing the news, Eli admitted that God was the Lord; let it be as he said

The Lord was with Samuel from that time on, and all his words came to pass

Everyone from Dan to Beersheba realized that Samuel was a prophet chosen by God

Some time later, the Israelites went out to fight the Philistines

The Philistines thoroughly routed the Israelites who turned and fled

Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed, and the Ark of God was captured by the Philistines

When Eli was told about the Ark being captured, he fell backwards off his chair and broke his neck and died

Thus, everything prophesied by Samuel concerning the house of Eli came to pass

While the Ark was in the possession of the Philistines, calamity fell upon them

They placed the Ark by Dagon, their God - the next morning, Dagon had fallen on his face

He was set back up by the Ark, but the next morning, Dagon had fallen over again, but this time, his head and hands were broken off

God also afflicted the Philistines with tumors and rats

Things got so bad that the Philistines sent the Ark back to Israel along with gifts of gold tumors and gold rats

It wound up at Beth Shemesh, but some of those people looked inside it, and God killed 70 of them

Israel turned back to God, and He helped subdue the Philistines

Samuel served as prophet and judge after this and made a regular circuit throughout Israel for the rest of his life

When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders, but they were wicked, accepting bribes and perverting justice

Israel’s Elders came to Samuel at Ramah and asked him to appoint a king over them like the other nations had to lead them into battle and rule over them

Samuel warned them about the dangers of having a human king - God was supposed to be their leader, but they insisted

When Samuel talked to God, He told him to give them what they wanted - a king - They were not rejecting Samuel but God Himself

Saul, a handsome man standing a head taller than everyone else, was looking for his father's donkeys

When they couldn’t find them, his servant told him about Samuel being in the nearby town and suggested that they go see him to learn which way to go

As Saul and his servant entered the town, They saw Samuel walking toward the high place to offer up sacrifices

God had told Samuel the day before that He was going to show him who the king was to be

When Samuel saw Saul, God told him that Saul was the man to be anointed as king over Israel

He also told him that the donkeys had been found

The next day, Samuel took a flask of olive oil and anointed Saul king over all Israel

At that time, God changed Saul’s heart, and he began to prophesy along with the other prophets

Samuel then called the people up to Mizpah and publically proclaimed Saul to them as their king, and the people shouted “Long live the king”

They though they had it made now

The Ammonites came up against Jabesh and ordered them to surrender - Jabesh wanted to make a treaty

The only way the Ammonites would consider a treaty is if they could gouge out the right eye of every man there and disgrace them

When Saul heard of it, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he became very angry

He mustered together 330,000 men to go fight the Ammonites

That army utterly destroyed the Ammonites

Samuel exhorted the people to follow God and not to turn to idol worship and warned them of the consequences

Israel attacked the Philistines again, and they gathered a mighty army to fight back, and all the Israelites were hiding in caves and thickets

When Samuel didn’t come to him in seven days and his men began to scatter, Saul took the burnt offering and offered it up to God himself - something he was not supposed to do as it was against God’s command

When Samuel got there, He told Saul that the kingdom would be stripped from him and to a man after God’s own heart

When the time for battle came, not a soldier had any weapons - the Philistines had taken them from them - Only Saul and Jonathan had any

Jonathan and his armor-bearer went up against the Philistines and routed them

God sent a panic among them and Israel defeated them again

Saul later built an altar and offered up sacrifices again

He had to fight all the nations around him

At the Lord’s request, Samuel told Saul to go up against the Amalekites and destroy them and everything they had

But Saul and his army kept the king, Agag, alive and kept the best of the livestock - disobeying God again

Saul then built a monument to himself at Carmel

Samuel then went to Saul and told him that God had rejected him as king due to his disobedience

As Samuel turned to leave, Saul grabbed the hem of his garment, and it tore

Samuel then told Saul that just as he had torn his garment, the kingdom would be torn away from him

Samuel had Agag brought before him and killed before everyone there

After Samuel left, he never went to see Saul again, although Saul mourned for him

Samuel mourned for Saul, but God told him to get up - He had rejected Saul

God told him to fill his horn with oil - He was sending him to Jesse, who lived in Bethlehem

Samuel was afraid that if Saul heard about it, he would kill him

God told him to take a heifer and tell everyone that he had come to sacrifice

He was to invite Jesse to the sacrifice and God would tell him what to do

When Samuel saw Eliab, he thought surely he was the one

But God told him not to go by appearance - that God looked at the heart

Next came Abinadab, but God rejected him

Then came Shammah, but he wasn’t the one either

Seven of Jesse’s sons passed by, but none of them made the cut

Samuel asked if that was all his sons

Jesse said no, the youngest is tending sheep

Samuel told them to send for him, and they did

They would not sit down until he got there

When David got there, he was handsome and ruddy in appearance

God told Samuel to rise up and anoint him as the new king of Israel

Samuel anointed David with oil in everyone’s presence

The spirit of the Lord was upon David from that time on

The spirit of the Lord left Saul and an evil spirit came upon him

David was chosen to stay with Saul as his armor-bearer and to play the lyre whenever the evil spirit tormented Saul

Again the Philistines assembled for war against Israel

Philistines were on one hill with Israel on another with a valley between them

Goliath was their champion - he was 9’ 9” tall with a bronze helmet on his head

His bronze armor weighed 5,000 shekels - about 125 lbs

Bronze greaves protected his legs

Bronze javelin on his back

Spear like a weaver’s rod - head weighed 600 shekels - about 15 lbs

Daily he came out to taut Israel - challenging them to send a man against him one on one

Defied Israel and their God morning and evening for 40 days

Saul and his army were terrified

David had been going between Saul and looking after his father’s sheep

One day, Jesse had David take some food and supplies to his brothers and find out how they were doing

David arrived one morning just as Goliath was shouting his usual insults at Israel’s army

David heard this while the others were fleeing

David asked what would be done for the one who killed Goliath and who was this uncircumcised Philistine to mock God and His people

David was brought before Saul and he told him he would fight him

When Saul objected, David told how he had killed the bear and the lion with his hands when they tried to attack his father’s flock

Goliath would be like the bear and the lion

Saul gave David his blessing

David tried on Saul’s armor, but it was too big and heavy for him

David went out with a sling and 5 smooth stones - it only took 1

As Goliath taunted David, David ran toward him and hit hin on the forehead with the first stone - it sank into his forehead and he fell face forward dead

David took Goliath’s own sword and cut off his head with it

When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they turned and fled - Israel pursued them and killed them, then plundered their camp

David became Israel’s young hero and Saul became jealous and afraid of him

From then on, Saul had no peace - David lived in God's grace and flourished

What about you and me?

Are we disobeying God and suffering from His judgments or wrath like Saul

Or are we living in God’s grace as Samuel and David did?

We need to follow God daily and live in His grace as we go along our journey

Benediction - Beloved, may the blessing of God’s mercy go before you, behind you, and all around you as we journey in grace, reflecting the Light of new life wherever we go. Amen.