Year 1, Week 30, Day 4 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 30, Day 4

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of 1 Samuel 16.

Today’s reading introduces David, the next King of Israel. 1 Samuel 16 describes two scenes, both of which involve David. 1 Samuel 16 first records the anointing of David as King. The selection of David, the youngest of Jesse’s sons, comes as a surprise; but the LORD sees something no one else does: “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” (1 Samuel 16:7). While David has been anointed as Israel’s new king, there will be a slow transition before Saul is gone and David is publicly installed as king. 1 Samuel 16 next records the aid that David provides to Saul, who is in a tormented state as a result of the LORD’s doing. Saul, who does not seem to be aware of the fact that Samuel had anointed David as King, desires to have David in his service: “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.” And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him” (1 Samuel 16:22-23).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is the LORD’s ability to see and grasp what no mere mortal can see or grasp: “O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether” (Psalm 139:1-4). Saul had the look of a king: “And he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people” (1 Samuel 9:2). But the LORD takes into account deeper factors than mere outward appearance. David, on the other hand, did not have the stuff of which kings were thought to be made. David was thought, even by his own father, to be the least likely of all his brothers: “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” (1 Samuel 16:11). As David was retrieved, he did not have what would have been judged a kingly look, but the LORD intervened: “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” 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” (1 Samuel 16:12b-13a). The LORD was not primarily concerned about birth order nor mere appearance; the LORD was interested in the bent of the heart: “The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people” (1 Samuel 13:14). As David would later say to his son Solomon: “the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought” (1 Chronicles 28:9b).

Mere appearance can result in serious misjudgment: “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment” (John 7:24). Jesus would personally know the experience of being wrongly judged on the basis of mere external judgment: “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men…and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not…we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:2-4). But God sees what is otherwise unseen: “no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 5:13). And what God the Father saw in His Son was much different than what most others saw: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Matthew 17:5b). The Father knew what His rejected Son would accomplish: “As many were astonished at you—his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand” (Isaiah 52:14-15).

Jesus, the Son of God, the son of David, expressed a perfect heart before God through His perfect service on behalf of His people. Jesus is the King who serves. David will give us a preview of what a servant king consists of. David has been anointed as King and empowered by the Spirit. And what did David do to start out as the LORD’s anointed, Spirit-empowered King? David served: "So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.” One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the LORD is with him” (1 Samuel 16:17-18). This is not the assignment that we would commonly envision that the LORD’s king would perform. Consoling a defrocked king? Is that the legitimate work of God’s king? Not only does the LORD see what no man can see, the LORD often assigns a task for his people that no man can make sense of.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe