Not As Man Sees

When God looks at things, he has a very different perspective than us. 1 Samuel 16 gives us a case study (if you will) in how different.

When All We See Is Backwards, God Sees Forwards

It starts with God’s call to his prophet:

1 Samuel 16:1 ESV

1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”

Juxtaposition between 15:35 and 16:1

Samuel called to stop grieving over Saul and go anoint a son of Jesse

God no longer regretting but is now moving forward

Samuel depressed in 15:35?

A key word here is “provided.” Taken from the root “to see, look,” there is a sense that God has searched out the land of Israel and found a king in whom he is pleased. He has found what he has been searching for, and has “provided” a king.

And notice the next phrase, too: “provided for myself...” This is not a king primarily for Israel - it’s a king dedicated to God. God places this king within his dominion, almost using a possessive sense. “This king” God says, “is my king.” As Saul has rejected God’s word, God has rejected Saul and will now install a new king - a more faithful king - into the office. But Samuel isn’t quite sure about this plan:

1 Samuel 16:2–3 ESV

2 And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.”

When All We See Are Problems, God Sees Solutions

For Samuel, there is a major problem with anointing a son of Jesse as king…there’s already a king! And Samuel isn’t exactly on good terms with the current king. It must have been very tempting for Samuel to just say, “Sorry, God. I can’t. Saul won’t let me.”

But even when the prophet is problem-focused, God has a solution: take a sacrifice. Since Samuel would be fulfilling his duty as priestly-prophet by offering a sacrifice to God, and since there was no specific place where that offering had to occur, it gives Samuel the “cover” he needs.

Isn’t it interesting that God often protects his people when they are doing his will. Sometimes it’s supernatural - just as Daniel or his three friends. Sometimes God’s methods are much more ordinary. But no matter how, God often opens the way for his people to obey his commands. That’s what he’s doing here.

So Samuel follows God’s command:

1 Samuel 16:4–5 ESV

4 Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” 5 And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

Look’s like Samuel isn’t the only one worried - the elders of Bethlehem get antsy when Samuel arrives at the gate. They know the situation between Saul and Samuel, and they do not want to be ground zero for a showdown! But Samuel assures them that he is not there to cause trouble. Instead, he has come to sacrifice to God, and they should prepare themselves. That sets the scene for another way God’s perspective differs from ours:

1 Samuel 16:6–7 ESV

6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

Ah! This is a major difference between God and man!

When All We See Are Externals, God Sees the Heart

Samuel saw Jesse’s eldest son, Eliab, and immediately concluded that he was the one God chose. Perhaps this is because Eliab was strong and handsome. Certainly his position as first born gave Eliab an edge in God’s mind. We know from 1 Samuel 17 that Eliab was a man of war, one that followed Saul into the battle. Surely his skills and the honor of being first born, and maybe even his appearance, all added up to being the measure of a great king. At least, so says Samuel.

But not God. You see, God doesn’t judge the merits of an individual based on externals. He doesn’t only approve the handsome man or beautiful woman. He doesn’t only find favor in the first born. He doesn’t require skills in battle to be useful in his service. No - God is much more concerned with the heart of the person than with his resume.

When God looked past the externals of Eliab - and with the other sons of Jesse, he saw something that made him look elsewhere. We don’t know exactly what; all we know is that God was looking for someone else. He was looking for a king who had the right heart. While we have our lists of everything we want in a leader, a spouse, a boss, God wants men and women who love him. Thank God he doesn’t require good looks or massive brains, or I’d be disqualified immediately!

So Samuel has the seven sons of Jesse brought before him, but none of these are the one God has chosen. God said it would be a son of Jesse, but he’s said no to all of them.

1 Samuel 16:11 ESV

11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.”

So there is one more son to see, but he is out tending the sheep. I imagine that they would wait quite a while before this son could be brought. Not only would someone have to go get him (he could be anywhere within a couple of hours away from the town), he’d probably need to “freshen up” before coming to the sacrifice. After all, sheep and sweat is not a very good combination of smells!

1 Samuel 16:12–13 ESV

12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

But when he does arrive, he is worth the wait. He is a handsome young man, but more than that he has the heart God is looking for. This will be God’s king - so Samuel anoints him with oil and God anoints him with his Spirit.

Notice something else in verse 13: He says that the Spirit of the Lord “rushed upon David from that day forward. This is not the first time the Holy Spirit rushes upon a man. He rushed upon several judges, and even rushed upon Saul twice. But this is the only time that the Spirit is said to rush on someone “from that day forward.” The Spirit does not come upon David for a short time, but for a more permanent indwelling.

It’s a preview of coming attractions, for this was not the only one from the house of Jesse indwelt by God’s Spirit:

Isaiah 11:1–10 ESV

1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. 6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. 9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

If you look at the uses of the word for spirit in the OT, you’ll find that they are used a lot in 1 Samuel 16 and in Isaiah 11. In fact, the word is used more here (per 1,000 words) in these two chapters than anywhere else in the OT.

When All We See Is Death, God Sees Hope

God does not see as man sees. When we only see backwards, God can see forward. When we only see problems, God sees solutions. When we only see externals, God sees the heart. And when we only see death and decay, God sees hope and life eternal.

Pray