16:1-23

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1Sa 16:1-19:24

THE RISE OF DAVID

David brought to the royal court (1Sa 16:1-23)

When told by God to go and anoint a king to replace Saul, Samuel feared to, lest Saul kill him. God therefore told Samuel to keep the matter secret (1Sa 16:1-3).

Reassured by this additional word from God, Samuel went to Bethlehem, where he met the leading men of the important families in that area (1Sa 16:4-5).

The outcome of Samuel’s visit was that he anointed David, youngest son of the family of Jesse. Anointing was a way of marking out people for other important positions besides kingship, and Samuel gave no indication to the onlookers why he had anointed David.

For David’s sake, as well as for Samuel’s, Saul was not to know that Samuel had already anointed David as Saul’s successor. Many years would pass before David actually became king (1Sa 16:6-13).

Now that the special power of God’s Spirit came upon David (see 1Sa 16:13), it departed from Saul.

Troubled by his own jealousy and sense of insecurity, Saul became emotionally and mentally unstable.

Meanwhile David matured. He became skilled in speech, writing and music, and learnt to be a brave fighter through having to defend his flocks from wild animals and Philistine raiders (1Sa 16:14-18; cf. 1Sa 17:34-36).

The next step in his preparation for kingship was his introduction to Saul as one who could play music to relax the king’s troubled nerves.

The outcome of this was that eventually he became a permanent member of the royal court (1Sa 16:19-23).