God Sees (1 Sam. 15.34-16.13)

It is a well used device in a mystery story. There is a note or something on which a case hinges and it must be found. The problem is where is it? The criminal has chosen a very good hiding place for it. The area has been searched and searched but there is no sign of the object. It would appear that the criminal will get away with the crime and no one will be the wiser. But as in the story The Purloined Letter there is someone who tries to figure out what is going on. They put themselves in the shoes of the criminal and wonder what they would do and where they would hide the object if were theirs to hide. Then that someone does figure it out. The solution to the case is so simple. The object or the note or the person has been hidden in plain sight. Where better to hide something than in the last place that anyone would look somewhere right in front of them ? And so, the detective or the hero of the story finds what is missing and solves the case. It is so simple. Everyone was looking right at the object, but they failed to see it.

Our text today is about not seeing what is right in front of people. There are many who do not see properly even though they are looking right at what is to be seen. And so, they miss the significance of the event that takes place in this text.

But first, as always, some context to what is happening.

Saul was the king and was leading the people in some victories over their enemies. His kingdom though has not united the 12 tribes of Israel with Judah and some of the others not yet under the umbrella of the monarchy. And even with his victories, Saul makes some mistakes: once he does not wait for Samuel to make a sacrifice, another time he threatens to kill his son Jonathan and is only stopped by the men in his army. So, there are some unsettling traits that are coming to light in the life of Saul. But he is still the king and the people are following him.

Then comes the moment of truth. Saul is told to go and wipe out a group known as the Amalekites. This was to be a total ban on all life human and animal. Saul follows directions…up to a point. He kills everyone except for the king and takes the animals for a…sacrifice. Samuel is told about this by God. He goes and tells Saul that he has been rejected by God to be king because he disobeyed the command of the Lord. And that brings us to our text for today.

Samuel is grieving over Saul. Perhaps it is because he was the one who anointed Saul. Maybe it was because he saw what the people wanted and what it brought them to. Perhaps it was just that he liked Saul and was sorry to see this happen to him. Whatever the case, Samuel is grieving. The text also tells us that God was sorry, or regretted, that Saul had been made king with God’s blessing.

Then God tells Samuel it is time to move on. Saul has been rejected as king and it is time to stop grieving for him and to go, fill his horn with oil and anoint the next king. God has seen, or provided, a new king among the sons of a man named Jesse in Bethlehem.

Samuel is frightened by this. He states that Saul will kill him if he finds out about this mission. And why would Saul kill him? Well, for starters, anointing a new king would amount to treason. Saul is effectively being told here that his kingdom is no longer going to be in his family any longer, that his time as king is at an end. No king would appreciate this and so Samuel has a right to be frightened.

But God gives Samuel a cover story: he is to say that he is going to Bethlehem to give a sacrifice. This is not an outright lie as God can not lie. But it is a bit of subterfuge to make sure that Samuel is safe in the mission that he is to undertake.

And so, Samuel heads south. Now Bethlehem was not at this time under the control of the kingdom. It was in Judah which still maintained its independence. This was part of the reason Samuel is frightened. He has to go through the territory that is controlled by Saul to get to Bethlehem. But go he does and has no trouble in getting to his destination.

When he comes to Bethlehem, the elders of the town/village come out to meet him and they are trembling. Their question is one that asks if Samuel comes in peace or does he mean to bring harm upon the people of the area. They know the reputation of Samuel and know that he can bring peace or destruction on them all. After all, he still hears the Lord speaking to him and he was the king’s confidant at one time. So, it is quite understandable that they have come out with fears of what might happen when Samuel comes into the town.

Samuel allays their fears and tells them that he does indeed come in peace. He is there to make a sacrifice and a have a meal with Jesse. The elders are to sanctify themselves and Samuel does the same for Jesse and his family after inviting them to the sacrifice and meal.

When Jesse and his sons come (it is always the men. Ever notice that the women are always excluded?) Samuel looks and sees the oldest, Eliab, and decides that this the Lord’s anointed one. He was probably tall, handsome and carried himself well. He must have looked like a king to Samuel. So, Samuel takes his horn and then is stopped by God. God tells him this: “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”[1]

And here is the crux of the whole passage. The word looked that describes what Samuel does is just that, looked. The word that is translated as looked in verse seven is actually “see”. God is saying: for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they see the outward appearance, but the Lord sees the heart. God tells Samuel that he is looking and not seeing. When humans “see” someone or something they often just see the appearance of what is before them. When God sees, God is not looking at the reputation of a person because that is only what other people think. Instead, God is seeing the character and the will of the person. God is seeing what is on the inside, what makes a person tick and what makes a person who they are. God has rejected Eliab even though he looks to be the most qualified of them all because of something that only God could see.

So, Samuel looks to another son, Abinadab, who is also rejected. Then a third, Shammah, is also rejected. Jesse has four other sons pass before Samuel and for each one Samuel hears “No. Nada. Uhuh. Nope.” It must have driven him to distraction. It must have confused Jesse to no end as he really did not know what was happening. Or maybe he was just introducing his boys to a famous and holy man.

Finally, after seven are brought before him, Samuel asks if these are all the sons Jesse has. This question must have surprised Jesse as he says to the effect, “Well, no. There is another. But he is the youngest and not really that important. He is just tending the sheep. Why?” Samuel tells him that they will not sit down to eat until the boy is brought to him.

Now, it must have taken some time to get the boy there. First, someone was sent to find him. Second, they then had to find him and he may not have been in the place they initially thought that he was. Finally, they had to bring him back to place where they were going to eat. This whole scene of sons has a bit of a comical bent to it. I mean, the food must have gotten cold while they were waiting.

But the youngest son comes. We are told that he is tan and handsome with bright eyes. And here, Samuel is told, here is the one to anoint. Here is the new king.

And so, Samuel anoints this young man with oil in front of his family. There were probably jaws dropping and incredulous looks. These people knew what this meant. This meant that this one, this youngest was to be king over them. And it is interesting that the youngest is chosen. See, throughout the stories of the First Testament the younger is chosen over the older: Abel over Cain, Isaac over Ishmael, Joseph over Reuban. Here again the youngest is chosen over the older ones. And not only that, he is number eight in a culture that sees the number seven as the “perfect” number.

When Samuel anoints him the Spirit of the Lord comes upon the young man. I like how the TANAK and Robert Alter translate this. They say that the spirit “gripped” him, as if it will not let him go. And here we find out who the young man is, David. This is the one who it is said was a man after God’s own heart. This is the one who would now be king, the one chosen by God rather than by the people.

We are all a lot like Samuel. We look but we do not see. We judge by appearances but miss the character that is in a person. We think we know people because we are “so close to God”. But what do we miss when we only look? Country singer Marty Robbins did a song The Cowboy in a Continental Suit that told the story of cowboys snickering at a city slicker who came to break a bronco. They figured that he would be thrown and hurt or killed. Instead, the man breaks the bronco without any trouble. There is a line that says ‘never judge by what they wear’ to state that one never knows what is underneath the appearance of someone. Again, what do we miss when we look but do not see?

Samuel must have wondered why God sent him to Jesse’s family. This was a family that, unlike that of Saul, was not known as wealthy or powerful. Jesse’s grandmother was from Moab and in his family line there was a prostitute and a woman who got pregnant through questionable means. This was a family with skeletons galore in the closet. And here he was asking for the youngest son to be brought to him. A young man who was a shepherd no less. This was the line that would bring a king? What was God looking for?

We need to ask that same question today. What does God see in the least of these: the poor, the immigrants who speaks little English, the elderly, those of a different race than us? When we look at many of these, we see only the appearance that we want to see. But God sees the heart and is willing and able to use these least of these when we would want to keep the status quo. These are the ones that we are confused like Samuel in seeing the ones we would think be the best be passed by. But when we finally humble ourselves to God, we will see that God indeed uses the least of these, that the first will be last and the last first, that a humble carpenter from a nowhere town was to be the savior of the world. When we finally open our eyes what will we “see”? Amen.

[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print.