The Heart of the Matter: God's Secret Election
Introduction: The World's Measuring Tape
We live in an age that is utterly besotted with the outward appearance. We are a culture of the resume, the photo-op, the sound bite, and the curated social media profile. We judge books by their covers because we have forgotten how to read. We select our leaders based on their charisma, their height, their jawline, and their poll numbers. And so we get the leaders we deserve. We get a parade of Sauls, impressive on the outside, but hollow within. And when they inevitably fail, we are shocked, and we grieve.
This is precisely where we find the prophet Samuel at the beginning of this chapter. He is grieving over Saul. Saul was the people's choice, the man who looked the part. He was head and shoulders above everyone else. But God had rejected him, and Samuel is stuck in political mourning. But God does not grieve as men grieve. God is never surprised. He is never thwarted. His purposes are not derailed by human failure. And so He comes to Samuel with a course correction that is also a foundational lesson in divine evaluation. God tells Samuel to stop weeping over what is finished and to get on with what God is doing next.
What God is about to do is not just a regime change. He is about to teach Samuel, and all of Israel, and us, the fundamental difference between Heaven's criteria and the world's. He is going to show us that the training ground for true leadership is not the palace, but the pasture. He is going to show us that He does not look for the man who stands out in a crowd, but for the man whose heart is entirely His, even when no one is looking. This chapter is a radical indictment of all our fleshly methods of evaluation. It is God taking our human measuring tape, snapping it in two, and throwing it in the fire.
The Text
Then Yahweh said to Samuel, “How long will you be grieving over Saul? 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 see among his sons a king for Me.” But Samuel said, “How can I go? Saul will hear of it and will kill me.” Then Yahweh said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh.’ And you shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will make you know what you shall do; and you shall anoint for Me the one whom I say to you.” So Samuel did what Yahweh said and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said, “Do you come in peace?” And he said, “In peace; I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Set yourselves apart as holy and come with me to the sacrifice.” He also set apart Jesse and his sons as holy and invited them to the sacrifice.
Now it happened, when they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the anointed of Yahweh is before Him.” But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Yahweh has not chosen this one either.” Next Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Yahweh has not chosen this one either.” Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “Yahweh has not chosen these.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all the young men?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is shepherding the sheep.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him, for we will not turn around until he comes here.” So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And Yahweh said, “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 Yahweh came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.
(1 Samuel 16:1-13 LSB)
Sovereign Mission, Human Fear (vv. 1-5)
We begin with God's bracing command to a grieving prophet.
"Then Yahweh said to Samuel, 'How long will you be grieving over Saul? 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 see among his sons a king for Me.'" (1 Samuel 16:1)
God's question is a rebuke. Samuel's grief, while understandable, has become a form of disobedience. He is lingering on a past failure while God is initiating the future. Notice the absolute sovereignty here. God has rejected Saul. That is final. And God has already selected the replacement: "I see among his sons a king for Me." The Hebrew is literally "I have seen for myself a king." This is not a search committee. This is a divine appointment. The choice has already been made in the councils of Heaven. Samuel's job is not to select, but to anoint the one already selected.
But Samuel, the great prophet, is afraid. "How can I go? Saul will hear of it and will kill me." This is not an irrational fear. Saul is a paranoid and vindictive man. But fear of man is never an acceptable reason to disobey a direct command from God. God does not rebuke Samuel's fear, but rather gives him a strategy. He is to take a heifer and announce a public sacrifice. This was not a lie. It was a legitimate prophetic duty, and it provided the perfect cover for his secret, secondary mission. God's purposes are often accomplished within the matrix of ordinary, faithful duties. You go to worship, you go to work, you care for your family, and within that framework of faithfulness, God directs your steps for His greater purposes.
The arrival of Samuel in Bethlehem causes a panic. The elders tremble. This tells you everything you need to know about the spiritual climate under Saul. The arrival of a man of God should be a cause for rejoicing, but in a corrupt regime, it is a cause for fear. Samuel calms them and calls them to consecrate themselves for worship. The central business of God's people is always worship, and it is in the context of this consecrated worship that the new king will be revealed.
The Divine Rejection Slip (vv. 6-10)
Here we come to the central lesson of the passage. Samuel is about to learn that God's draft picks are not like the NFL's.
"Now it happened, when they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, 'Surely the anointed of Yahweh is before Him.' But Yahweh said to Samuel, 'Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.'" (1 Samuel 16:6-7)
Samuel sees Eliab, the firstborn, and he is immediately impressed. He is likely tall, strong, and kingly in his bearing. He looks like Saul. Samuel's mind immediately defaults to the world's metrics. He makes the same mistake the people made a generation before. And God issues one of the most important correctives in all of Scripture. God's gaze penetrates past the surface. He is not impressed with height, with strength, with beauty, or with a resume. He looks at the heart.
What does this mean? The "heart" in Scripture is not a reference to sentimental emotions. It is the seat of the will, the intellect, the character, the very core of a person. To look at the heart is to see a man's true loyalties, his hidden motives, his integrity, his humility, and his fundamental orientation toward God. God sees reality. We see the packaging.
To drive the point home, God has Jesse parade seven of his sons past Samuel. One by one, the best and brightest of the family are presented. Abinadab. Shammah. And four others. With each one, the divine verdict is the same: "Yahweh has not chosen this one either." God is systematically demolishing every human standard of evaluation. He is making it clear that His choice is not based on birth order, on appearance, or on Jesse's own estimation of his sons. He is clearing the stage for a king who will be entirely His choice, not man's.
The Overlooked Shepherd (vv. 11-13)
The line of candidates is exhausted, and Samuel is perplexed. God sent him here to anoint a son of Jesse, but all the sons have been rejected.
"And Samuel said to Jesse, 'Are these all the young men?' And he said, 'There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is shepherding the sheep.'" (1 Samuel 16:11)
This is a stunning detail. The chosen king of Israel was not even considered important enough by his own father to be called to the feast. He was an afterthought. He was out in the field, doing the dirty, dangerous, and lowly work of a shepherd. But this is precisely where God forges His leaders. David's faithfulness was being proven in obscurity. He was learning to lead, to protect, to fight, and to govern, not in a classroom, but in the wilderness with the flock. He was protecting sheep from lions and bears, which was the perfect preparation for protecting Israel from her enemies. God calls men who are faithful in the small things.
So they send for him. And when he arrives, we are given a description: "he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance." It is crucial that this description comes after God has established His principle. God is not a Gnostic; He is not against physical blessings. The point is not that God chooses ugly people. The point is that His choice is utterly independent of these external factors. He was chosen for his heart while he was still out in the field. His appearance is just an incidental detail.
And then comes the divine confirmation: "Arise, anoint him, for this is he." The search is over. Samuel takes the horn of oil and anoints David "in the midst of his brothers." This was a private anointing, a secret consecration. His public reign was still many years and many trials away. But from that moment, the decisive thing happened: "the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily upon David from that day forward." This was the true coronation. The oil was the sign; the Spirit was the substance. This was the divine empowering for the task to which he had been called. This is what Saul had forfeited through disobedience, and what David now received by grace.
The Greater David is Here
This entire story is a magnificent portrait that finds its ultimate fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we miss this, we miss the whole point. David is the great type, but Christ is the great antitype.
Like David, Jesus was overlooked and despised. He was from Nazareth, a town of no reputation. The religious leaders, the Eliabs of that day, looked at Him and saw nothing to desire. He was not the conquering political messiah they were looking for. He was the humble shepherd.
Like David, Jesus was faithful in obscurity for years before His public ministry began. He was the carpenter's son, submitting to His parents, learning the Scriptures, growing in wisdom.
Like David, Jesus is the true Shepherd-King, the one who fights the lion and the bear, Satan and death, to save His sheep. He does not just risk His life for the sheep; He lays it down for them.
And like David, Jesus was anointed. At His baptism, the Spirit of God descended upon Him, anointing Him for His messianic task. He is, in fact, the Christ, which means "the Anointed One."
The ultimate lesson of this passage is that God looks at the heart. And when God the Father looked across all of human history, He found only one heart that was perfect, one heart that was utterly faithful, one heart that was pure. And that was the heart of His Son. Our only hope of being accepted by God is not by trying to make our own hearts presentable, but by being united through faith to the one whose heart is perfect. We must be found in Christ.
Therefore, let us apply this lesson. In our churches, let us stop being impressed by the world's metrics of success. Let us not look for the slick CEO, but for the faithful shepherd. In our families, let us train our children to value character over charisma, and integrity over image. And in our own lives, let us be concerned not with our outward reputation before men, but with the state of our hearts before the living God, who sees all things.