God regretted making Saul the King of Israel, so he sent the prophet Samuel to Bethlehem to the household of Jesse to anoint the next king from among Jesse’s sons. When Samuel saw the firstborn he thought, “Surely God will choose him.” Eliab looked the part of a king. He was tall and handsome like Saul. Last Sunday I promised that I would tell you whether he was the one to be anointed king and why or why not. Well the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his handsomeness or his height, because I have rejected him for I see not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Samuel then told Jesse that God had not chosen Eliab.
So Jesse made Abinadab pass before Samuel. And Samuel said, “God hasn’t chosen him either.”
So Jesse made Shammah pass before Samuel. And Samuel said, “God hasn’t chosen him either.”
So Jesse continued with each of his seven sons that had been made ready for the sacrifice that Samuel said he had come to do. And Samuel said, “God hasn’t chosen these either.”
Now Samuel was really confused. He knew that God said that one of Jesse’s sons would be the next king. But God was saying that it wasn’t any of these. So if it was one of Jesse’s sons and it wasn’t any of these sons then who could it be? The only other possibility was that Jesse had a son who wasn’t there. Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all of your sons here?” And he said, “The only one left is the smallest, but (now pay attention to this detail because it is important) he is keeping the sheep.” Samuel hears this and he thinks that is the same training that Moses had before leading Israel out of Egypt.
And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down until he is here.” And when the smallest son of Jesse came in Samuel saw that he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. It was not the son that he would have guessed, nor apparently was it the son that Jesse would have expected or he would already have been there, but God told Samuel to get up and anoint him for this is the one who will be king. And Samuel took his horn of oil and anointed him while his brothers were gathered all around them and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon that smallest son of Jesse from that day forward. His name was David.
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