1 Samuel part 8 16 – 17
Tonight as we continue on in 1 Samuel we are introduced to David who is to become God’s new chosen king.
1 Samuel 16:1 Now the
LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have
rejected him from reigning over
Now Samuel was toward the
end of his life at this time and we can see that he still hurting because God
had rejected Saul as being King. Now God is ready to reveal to Samuel who will
become the new king. Apparently Samuel was afraid Saul would kill him if just
came around him so God gives him the way on how to enter into Saul’s domain without
losing his life.
1 Samuel 16:4 So
Samuel did what the LORD said, and went to
Now why were the elders so scared of Samuel? Well, are not told specifically but you get the idea that they were afraid that Samuel was coming to cause problems. Now God is going to choose one of Jesse’s sons to become the new future king but they do this process discretely.
1 Samuel 16:6 So it
was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab (e lie ab) and
said, "Surely the LORD's anointed is before Him." 7 But the LORD said to Samuel,
"Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I
have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man
looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
Now in past lesson when I
have used these verses I have pointed out how it is important that we not look
a persons outward appearance and make a rash judgment about them but that we
should get to know them well enough to what is in their heart. We should do our
best to do this because this is what God does. However this another lesson that
we can learn from this concept and that is as God’s Children we need to make
sure that our hearts look good to God. We can put on a good show on the outside
and fool a lot of people but we cannot fool God.
Psalm 44:21 Would
not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.
Basically we are an open book
that God can read without any problems so as Christians we must learn to have
hearts that are pure which requires us to work on how we think.
2 Corinthians
10:5 …bringing every thought into
captivity to the obedience of Christ,
The
only way that we can ever hope to have the kind of heart that God wants us to
have is by making God’s Word and prayer apart of our daily life. The less you
pray and the less you meditate on God’s Word the more corrupt your heart will
become. We have seen what happened to King Saul in our past lessons who started
out with the right kind of heart that was attuned to God but later on his heart
turned cold toward God. We must be
careful today that we don’t follow in his path.
1 Samuel 16:8 So
Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said,
"Neither has the LORD chosen this one." 9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by.
And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one." 10 Thus Jesse made seven of his
sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not
chosen these." 11 And
Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all the young men here?" Then he said,
"There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep."
And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him. For we will not sit down
till he comes here." 12
So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and
good-looking. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is the
one!" 13 Then Samuel
took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the
Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and
went to Ramah.
Not only was Samuel
looking at the outer appearance so was Jesse. When he was told to bring all his
sons he didn’t even include his youngest son David. Now David is described and
being a handsome young man and it says he is ruddy. This means that he was
either red headed or fair skinned or both. Well David was God’s choice so
Samuel anointed him and he received the spirit of God.
1 Samuel 16:14 But the
Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the LORD
troubled him. 15 And Saul's
servants said to him, "Surely, a distressing spirit from God is troubling
you. 16 "Let our master
now command your servants, who are before you, to seek out a man who
is a skillful player on the harp; and it shall be that he will play it with
his hand when the distressing spirit from God is upon you, and you shall be
well." 17 So Saul said
to his servants, "Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him
to me."
You see David had
received the spirit of the Lord and Saul lost the Spirit of the Lord because
the Lord was no longer with him. Now when some read this passage they see God
sending Saul a literal evil spirit but it that what is really meant here? I
don’t think so. I believe just in the same manner that Bible talks about God
hardening the Pharaoh’s heart. The distressing spirit that Saul had was just
his own sinister attitude. When a person chooses to go against God and do
things there own way they are going to be open to the influence of the devil
and to having a depressed troubling attitude.
Some have also
thought that this evil spirit that Saul had was maybe a demon but again I
cannot agree with such a view because where do you ever find in the Bible where
a demon can be driven away by soothing music? You cannot. Again, this points me
to believe this evil spirit was simply Saul sinister attitude he developed
since God had left him.
1 Samuel 16:18 Then
one of the servants answered and said, "Look, I have seen a son of Jesse
the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a
man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the LORD is with
him." 19 Therefore Saul
sent messengers to Jesse, and said, "Send me your son David, who is with
the sheep." 20 And Jesse
took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat, and
sent them by his son David to Saul.
21 So David came to Saul and stood before him. And he loved
him greatly, and he became his armorbearer.
22 Then Saul sent to Jesse, saying, "Please let David
stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight." 23 And so it was, whenever the
spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with
his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit
would depart from him.
Now one thing we
need to keep in mind is in the OT we find the that the writers will give
summary of events and then in preceding chapters they will fill in the details
of their summary. Well, what we have here in these verse. The events that take
place here most likely cover a time period of several months. But within this
summary we see that King Saul and David meet and not only does David play his
instrument for Saul to sooth his distressing spirit he also becomes his
armorbearer. We also learn in the relationship that Saul loved David and appreciated
him. However, I think we all know that this love that Saul had for David would
later turn into to extreme jealousy.
Now our next chapter
deal one of the most well know stories in the Bible, David and Goliath. There
are many great lessons that can be taught from this story. However because this
story is told so many times I think there are some details that are lost from
the actual story that we forget about sometimes. Let us begin.
1 Samuel 17:1 Now the
Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered
together at Sochoh, (sow kow) which belongs to
It has been estimated by
biblical scholars that over 20 years had passed since the Philistines had been
defeated at Michmash and now they are ready fight again but this time they have
their giant Goliath. Now you will notice that we are given his height which is
roughly somewhere between 9 and 10 feet tall. Now a cubit is approximately 18
inches long and was measurement made between a man elbow to the tip of his
middle finger. And a span was measured 2 different ways. Sometimes it was the
width of the palm other times it was distance between the tip pf the thumb and
the pinky while the fingers were spread out. Anyway you look at this was one
big man.
5
He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat
of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of
bronze. 6 And he had bronze
armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. 7 Now the staff of his spear was
like a weaver's beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred
shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him.
Now all the armor that he
was caring has been estimated to weigh somewhere around 200 pounds. It would
take a very strong man to haul around such heavy armor.
8
Then he stood and cried out to the armies of
So here we see
Goliath is just have a good ole tie rubbing fear into the children of
1 Samuel 17:12 Now
David was the son of that Ephrathite of
At this time we see
that David was playing the role of a reporter for his father. We also learn
that Goaliah had been taunting the children of
1 Samuel 17:23 Then as
he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by
name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines; and he spoke according to
the same words. So David heard them.
24 And all the men of
I really think that
David was ashamed of his people when he seen how scared they were of this one
man. David was man who believed in God and understood that no one could defeat
his people with him on their side. That is why he made the statement. For
who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of
the living God?"
Now Eliab who was the one
brother that Samuel originally thought God would choose as the future King get
mad at David and is courageous words. He tries to make David out to be
insignificant by basically saying who are you to say such things don’t you have
some sheep to take care of instead. He was doing his best to belittle his
brother and make it out like he had evil heart but that was not the case.
1 Samuel 17:31 Now
when the words which David spoke were heard, they reported them to Saul;
and he sent for him. 32 Then
David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him; your servant
will go and fight with this Philistine."
I really like what David
says here to King Saul because he doesn’t what him our the children of
1 Samuel 17:33 And
Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to
fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his
youth." 34 But David
said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a
lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after it and struck
it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me,
I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. 36 "Your servant has killed
both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them,
seeing he has defied the armies of the living God." 37 Moreover David said, "The
LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear,
He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to
David, "Go, and the LORD be with you!"
At first Saul didn’t
think that David could go against the Giant and win. However he convincing him
by sharing with how he killed all of the different kinds of animals and most
importantly that God was him helping him win these Battles and he was confident
that God would help him defeat Goliath.
1 Samuel 17:38 So Saul
clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also
clothed him with a coat of mail. 39
David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them.
And David said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these, for I have not
tested them." So David took them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his
hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them
in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand.
And he drew near to the Philistine.
Now I want to point
out a few things at this point. First of all David is not some young boy as
some stories depict him instead he is a young man. Now if you will remember
Saul was the tallest man among the children of
1 Samuel 17:41 So the
Philistine came, and began drawing near to David, and the man who bore the
shield went before him. 42
And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he
was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking. 43 So the Philistine said to
David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the
Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44
And the Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh
to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!" 45 Then David said to the
Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a
javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the
armies of
It almost like Goliath
was insulted that they sent out this young good looking man with no armor. But
David assures him that this is no joke and tells with all confidence that not
only will he take his life he will take his head as well. Again we can see just
how much faith David has in God as he say this battle belongs to Lord and he
will deliver you into my hands.
1 Samuel 17:48 So it
was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David
hastened and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 49 Then David put his hand in his
bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in
his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face
to the earth. 50 So David
prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the
Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of
David. 51 Therefore David ran
and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and
killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that
their champion was dead, they fled.
Within these verses are
some more details that are general lost in the telling of this story. First of
all we see that Goliath was coming toward David when he hit him with the stone.
Now We need to remember that Goliath had all this armor on but one place that
was exposed was his forehead that was just below his helmet. When David make
this perfect shot it cause the Giant to fall on his face. Now from the text I do
not believe that that this stone killed the giant but that it knocked him out
because if you will notice it says that David took Goliath’s sword and kills
him and cuts off his head. To me when I read this, this tells me that David ran
him through with sword first then he next action was to cut off his head just
as David said he would when went to face this giant and when they saw how David
had destroyed their mighty warrior they
ran away.
1 Samuel 17:52 Now the
men of
Everyone was excited
about David victory including Saul but next week we will see his excitement
turn in turn into pure jealousy. We learn from the lesson: make sure you have
right kind of heart, and that the battle belongs to lord.