David Anointed as King

In short

In contrast to Saul (in yesterday’s lesson), David was chosen as king many years before he was actually inaugurated as king. This is the story of that choosing or anointing. It happens because of Saul’s disobedience to God. 1 Samuel 16:1-14.

Why it is important

This was foreshadowed in 1 Samuel 13:13-14. Even before Saul failed with the Amalekites, he failed to wait as the LORD (through Samuel) had asked, and the Lord told Saul that it would be the end of his kingdom (meaning his descendants would not continue being royals).

Main characters

• Saul, current king of Israel
• David, future king of Israel
• Samuel, the prophet who anointed them both

What is in this story

Saul had failed to “devote to destruction” the nation of Amalek (1Sa 15:18-19) and God rejected him from being king (1Sa 15:23) in favor of someone “better than you” (1Sa 15:28).

In 1 Samuel 16,

1. Time for Samuel to anoint a new king (v. 1)
2. Go to Bethlehem to sacrifice and invite the elders of the city and Jesse and his sons (vs. 2-5)
3. Samuel thinks the first son, tall and handsome, is the one, but God says, No (vs. 6-7)
4. Not the next six sons, either (vs. 8-10)
5. Finally, David is brought in from the field (v. 11)
6. God says, That’s the one (v. 12)
7. The Spirit of the LORD “rushed upon David” (v. 13) but left Saul (v. 14)

Things that are not so well-known

• This was all before the story of David and Goliath (chapter 17)
• After Samuel sees the first son of Jesse, the LORD says, “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” (v. 7). But David was attractive, too (v. 12).
• At this point I was going to say, “but he was not tall.” But I am actually at a loss to prove that David was short. I mean, sure, he was shorter than Goliath or probably even Saul, but there is no justification that I see for the idea that David was shorter than his brothers, for example*.
• No mention of David’s reaction (whereas Saul had plenty to say when he was chosen to be king)
• Samuel is afraid of being ratted out to Saul (v.2) and the elders of Bethlehem are afraid of Samuel (v. 4). It seems the showdown in chapter 15 was well-known among the people.

Theology and doctrine

It’s funny that Saul considered himself a nobody, yet he came from a rich family (1Sa 9:1), while David’s family was apparently well-known, as Jesse needed no introduction when he comes up in conversation with Saul (1Sa 16:18). And David thinks well of his own ability (1Sa 17:36) but credits the LORD (1Sa 17:37).

My point is, godly leaders know that they are up to the task. I mean, if they were not sure of what they were doing, how could they give advice and lead? It’s not arrogant to know that the LORD is on your side. Unless you are wrong – like Saul was in his later years.

Footnote

* David was the youngest of eight sons (1Sa 16:10-11), so if he was still in his teens (a huge maybe), then perhaps he was not his full height yet, and therefore shorter than his brothers. But he was old enough to kill a lion and bear (1Sa 17:34-35), so it’s not like this was a pre-teen David, I wouldn’t think. We could go on about this for a while, but I just don’t think there is much to go on to say how tall or short David was.