Samuel Commissions David

If you've got your Bible, turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 16 as we look at the last episode in the life of Samuel.

It really isn't truly the last one, it's the last one while he's alive. The last one happens after he dies in 1 Samuel 28. But we talked about that last. Last week, but this is the last official event in Samuel's life. He is mentioned periodically throughout the rest of the book, but only in passing, not in detail. So, this really is the last major event. Samuel's life. And if you've been with us over the last several weeks, you've had the opportunity to study this man. And you know, I take great delight in studying the Old Testament and especially characters in the Old Testament.

For many years now, we have been going through the Old Testament on Wednesday nights and studying different individual men and looking at their life and how it is God uses them. And I can't think of a better way to understand man than to understand the men of the Old Testament. If you study the men of the Old Testament and come to understand how it is they deal with life, how they deal with their wives. How they deal with situations they encounter, how they handle conflict, you then begin to understand how a man is to do those kinds of things.

The best leadership training for a man is to study the men of the Bible. That is the best leadership training for men. Study the men in the scriptures because God has put them there for all to read, for all to see, for all to hear. And he puts them there with all of their frailties so that you can look at your life and examine your life in light of what God did in their life.

So they become measuring sticks for us. They become the opportunity for us to measure our life against how God deals with their lives and how we are to respond. Whether it's Moses, who is the greatest leader in Israel's history, to Nehemiah or to David or to Samson or to Gideon or to Joshua or to Joseph, all these different men. Daniel, Shadra, Meshach, and Abed, all these men in the Old Testament. God has put them there for us to learn and to understand. How we can be men of God. Samuel is one of those men, and we have had the privilege of studying his life over the last several weeks, several months.

And I wonder if I was to ask you the question, what is the one thing that stands out most in your mind about Samuel? How you'd respond? What is the one thing that you learn most about Samuel? How would you respond? Because when you look at Samuel, you realize at the very outset that he's a man of supreme character.

Supreme character. Think about this. At the age of three, his mother puts him with the priest, Eli, who's corrupt. Who has two boys that are corrupt? And yet, somehow, that did not affect Samuel. Somehow, being raised under the auspices of Eli His mother seen him once a year. He did not bec infected with the evils of Eli and his boys. That is absolutely amazing. This young boy grew up and was sensitive to the call of God. Excuse me, he was sensitive to what God would do in his life. And God used him in a great and mighty way.

It goes to show you the power and influence of a godly mother. Hannah was a woman of prayer. We've studied her. And yet, her prayers did not end when Samuel was born. Her prayers probably became more intensified after he was born, and she released him into the care of Eli. And so the power of her prayers for her son, excuse me, over all those years. Preserved him, protected him, watched over him, so that when he was twelve, thirteen, fourteen. And he hears the call of God in his life, he then is able to respond.

He was a man of great character. Thank you. On top of that, he was a man of great communion. He would commune with his God. And all throughout the story of Samuel, you see him all the time praying to God. That's what he did. He would spend time on his knees. He would spend time crying out to the Lord. And so you learn from Samuel the importance of character and the importance of communion with the living God. Because without that, How on earth would he ever be able to do the things that he did? Because not only was he a man of communion, he was a man of communication.

He'd be able to communicate the truths of Scripture to Israel. Because he was Israel's judge. And so, as a judge, he would proclaim the truth, he would teach the truth. His life was to embody that truth so that the nation would learn. The truth about God. And so he would communicate that truth. But on top of all that, his whole ministry was summed up in the fact that he was a man of confrontation. He had to continually confront the nation and Saul. So whenever you're reading about Samuel, you see him confronting the nation because of their idolatry, their immorality.

Confronting Saul because of his iniquity. And so you learn from the man at the very outset that this is what his ministry was about. If he didn't commune with God, he couldn't communicate his God. And if he can't communicate his God, how can he confront those? Wh live in rebellion against his God. And that was, in a nutshell, the life of Samuel. That's what his life was about. And I would pray that over our time of study together that you would have learned at least something, one thing. Interest.

Excuse me. If you learn one thing from the men that we have studied over the years. Just one principle, one. You would have come up with at least ten or twelve different principles that could govern the way you learn your life. And if you do that, you're going to be one strong man of God. You'll be a great leader because the men in scripture are there for a reason. Oh, yeah, we had the history of Israel, we had the stories surrounding Israel. But it's much more than that. It's about the power of God run through these men.

So that others will see the uniqueness of their God. And that's what God wants to do in your life. God wants His power to be unleashed in your life so that others will see the Lord God. And worship the God you ser. So tonight we find ourselves in the last event. In Samuel's life. 1 Samuel chapter 16, verses 1 to 13. It's a very familiar passage of Scripture. Let me read it to you.

Then the Lord said to Samuel, How long will you grieve over Saul since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehem for I have selected or provided a king for myself among his sons. But Samuel said, How can I go? When Saul hears of it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. You shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you sh do. And you shall anoint for me the one.

Whom I designate to you. So Samuel did what the Lord said, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the city came trembling to meet him. And said, Do you come in peace? He said, In peace, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves. And come with me to the sacrifice. He also consecrated Jesse and the sons, his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice. When they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, sure the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord 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 the Lord looks at the heart. Then Jesse called Ab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, The Lord has not chosen this one either. Next, Jesse made Shema pass by, and he said, The Lord has not chosen this one either. Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord has not chosen these. And Samuel said to Jesse, Are these all the children? And he said, There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is tending the sheep.

Then Samuel said to Jesse, Send and bring him, for we will not sit down until he comes here. So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the Lord 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 the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel arose And went to Ramah. A very familiar story that most of us know about because it has some very familiar verses in it.

But let's look first of all at the conditions surrounding the comm of David. And then we'll look at the injunction, and then we'll look at the selection in that commission.

But first of all, the conditions. What is it about the situation that makes it so unique? And that is the conditions. Because, number one, you have the mourning of the prophet Samuel.

He's mourning. Why? Well, number one, because of the rebellion of Saul, and number two, because of the rejection of Saul.

The Bible tells us, Now the Lord said to Samuel, How long will you grieve over Saul? How long are you going to do this, Samuel? How long are you going to keep crying, Samuel? What are you going to do, Samuel? You need to stop mourning and start mo. As long as you're mourning, you're not moving. Stop mourning. It's time to move. Now you think that's a little harsh, but it really isn't. But think about Samuel for a minute. He was a man of great character. He loved the Lord. And even in the harsh confrontation he had with Saul, he was grieved in his spirit.

Because think about it. He was the man of transition. He was the last judge. He was going to transition Israel from the period of the judges, which had lasted over 400 years. to now the period of the kings, the monarchy. That's what God had called him to do. And from the outset of his ministry, when he was twelve or fifteen, way back earlier in First Samuel, when he confronted Eli the priest, His whole ministry was about confrontation.

And yet, it never pleased him to do that because he knew. That people's sin grieved the Lord. And he was grieved over the fact that Saul had rebelled against the Lord. I think down deep, Samuel wanted Saul to succeed. I mean, Samuel's up in years now.

Earlier, we read where he was an old man, somewhere in his mid-6. Don 't want to offend anybody, but that's what the scriptures say. So, what can I say? And so now he's in upwards of his 70s. He's going to die soon. He knows time is short. And he's thinking, if I'm transitioning to the kingship. And the people are left with Saul. What's going to happen to them? See, he was the spiritual influence in the kingdom. S was not. And yet he's going to die. And is he going to leave the kingdom of Israel?

Under the direction of a man like Saul, who rebels against the Lord, who rejects the word of the Lord, and then leads the people into rebelling and rejecting the word of the Lord. Oh, he was he was upset. And rightly so. But you know, when things are the darkest. The bleakest. God is going to inter. God's going to do something great. So, God has a plan. God's never left without a plan. God's never left without a man to fulfill his plan. God knows exactly what he's going to do. And so the conditions were such because everything in the nation was bad.

And Samuel knew that. Not only the mourning of the prophet, but the misery of the people. People were in misery. Why? Remember what Proverbs 29 says? Proverbs 29, verse number 2? When the righteous increase, the people rejoice. But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. How true that is. How true that is. Look at the nations of this world.

When a wicked man rules, the people groan. Now look at families. When a wicked father rules, the family groans, right? Surely there's not happiness there. And so, in Israel's case, you had King Saul. He was a wicked man. In fact, the Bible says this in 1 Samuel 14, verse number 29.

Then Jonathan said, My father has troubled the land. Think about that. Jonathan, son of Saul, says, My dad, yeah, he's brought lots of trouble to the land. You know, what would you think if your son was to go around telling people, yeah, my dad, he's brought trouble to our family. Our dad, he's brought trouble to our church. Yeah, my daddy's brought trouble to his workplace. But Saul brought trouble to the land, the people of Israel. And so you had the misery of the people. They're not happy, but they were warned, right?

They were warned by Samuel early on. That your request for a king is only going to be bad for you. Nevertheless, give us a king. We want a king like all the other nations have. That's what we want. So give us a king. And so they got a king. And God gave them the desires of the heart. And sent leanness to their soul. And there's a bare in the land, a bare in the souls of the people of Israel. Because they got what they wanted. And their ruler was a wicked man. He was an evil man. St wonder Samuel was mourning.

On top of that, you have the menace of the Philistines because they still are causing trouble and they will cause trouble in Israel until David kills The three brothers of Goliath. Okay, we know he slays Goliath in 1 Samuel 17, right? But until he kills the three brothers of Goliath, Who are also Philistines, there's always going to be a problem with the Philistines. But yet, King David would be the one that would rid Isra of the Philistine. Involvement. And so those were the conditions. And that was what was happening.

And so the prophet Samuel is mourning. And God says to him, It's time to stop mourning. It's time to start moving. Moving in the direction that I want you to go, Samuel. You have one more mission to accomplish. You have one more thing to do, and I need you to do this. So the Lord says to Samuel. Since I have rejected him from being king over Israel, fill your horn with oil and go, and I will send you to Jesse the Bethlemite. For I have selected a king for myself among his sons. Wow. This is point number two: the injunction in the commission.

I have selected, I have provided, I have provided a king for myself. A dual meaning. One, Immediately there's going to be a king, but ultimately there's going to be an eternal king, for a greater son of David is my true k. But I have provided, I have selected, I have seen A k for myself. The word is Yere, used thirteen hundred times in the Old Testament. 1 times is translated to see, be seen, or behold. It's a word of vision. Four times is translated to provide. One of those four times is right here.

Because God se, He knows exactly what to provide. He knows exactly the time to provide it because he sees the condition of people, the land, the situation. And he says to Samuel, I will send you to Jesse, for I have seen a king. For myself among his sons, God knows exactly what to provide. At the right time. I don't know what's going on in your life personally, your family. I have no idea. But I do know this, that God sees what's going on and God has a plan to provide. Maybe it's going to be a provision of grace or a provision of mercy, a provision of strength.

I have no idea. But I do know that our God, my God, your God, shall supply all of our needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus. Our God is the great supplier of man's needs. And whatever is going on in your family, however dark it may be, or your workplace, however dark it may be, or even your own personal life, however dark or bleak it might be. God says, I have seen and I will provide because I have a plan and it runs right on course.

And with Samuel, that's the way it always, always was. And throughout the scriptures, that's the way it always is. Because God knows exactly. What we need. And so he says, I'm sending you to Jesse the Bethlehem because I have seen. A king for myself. But Samuel said, verse 2, How can I go? When Saul hears of it, he will kill me. That's kind of out of character for Samuel. For the fear of the man, for the fear of man is a snare to trap. It's unlike Samuel to fear what Saul would do. But Saul accentuates the fact that Saul is on this downward spiral.

And as you get later on in 1 Samuel chapter 13, into chapter 14, and you read about Saul's life, this downward spiral only continues on for several years before his ultimate death at the end of 1 Samuel. He just gets worse and worse and worse. He doesn't get any better. Since the Spirit of the Lord has departed from him, since God has rejected him as being king over Israel, he just becomes more hardened. more calloused, more cold to the things of God. And so right so, Saul Samuel would fear, for Saul is on this downward spiral.

And yet, God assures him there's nothing to be afraid of. He says, And the Lord says,'This said, a heifer with you and say, have come to sacrifice to the Lord Now, some people have a problem with that. Say, well, it seems like the Lord's being a little deceptive there. That God is asking Samuel to be deceptive in what he's doing. Not at all. Because really, in ultimately, what he's going to do is he's going to consecrate the people of Bethlehem. He's going to consecrate. Jesse and his sons, he actually is going to offer a sacrifice, and he's going there to have a worship service.

And in the midst of that service, He is going to anoint the next king of Israel. God has already told Samuel, and Samuel has already told Saul. That God has chosen someone after his own heart. He's rejected you as king. God has already chosen another man. So, Saul knows this. He just doesn't know who it is. And so, God says.

To Samuel, you will take a heifer, you will offer a sacrifice, and you will consecrate the people. And so it says in verse number three.

You shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. I will send you and I will show you. If you don't go, I can't show. So you must go. I'm going to send you. Once I send you, I will show you. A despondent spirit never prod a dedicated spirit. A despondent spirit never produces a dedicated spirit. It only produces a degenerating spirit. So God says to Samuel, stop mourning.

Stop mourning, start moving. Why? Because it's important for Samuel to realize that to mo means he has to depend upon the Lord. And a dependent spirit always produces a dedicated spirit. But a despondent spirit will never produce A dedicated spirit, only a de spirit. It gets worse and worse and worse. It moves further and further away from what God has for it. So God grants Samuel the opportunity to mourn for Saul, but now the time for mourning is over. The man has rejected me, Samuel. He's rebelled against me, Samuel.

I've already chosen another man, Samuel. So I will send you, and I will show you who that man is. But if you don't go, I can't show. So you got to go. So he does. And it says Samuel did what the Lord said, came to Bethlehem, and the elders of the city came trembling to meet him. Why do you think that is? Why are't they afraid of Samuel? Well, word's already out. He's chopped up King Agag, he's cut him to pieces. Word has gone out that Samuel, this old man, has wielded a sword and sliced and diced King Agag to pieces.

So now he's showing up in Bethlehem. And the Bethlemites, they're a little anxious. They're a little worried. They're a little concerned that now Samuel's show. It's like the pastor showing up at your house unannounced. You're like, what are you doing here? Who died? Who's dying? Am I in trouble? Did I sin? Why are you here, Pastor? See? Samuel, why are you here? Why are you showing up in our city? Have you come in peace? That's the question. Remember, the nation was a nation of idolaters. People who rejected the Lord.

They weren a nation of people who loved the Lord and wanted to serve the Lord and honor the Lord. They were led by a king who was wicked. S had to continually confront them on their wickedness, their immorality, their idolatry, and that's the characteristic of the people. So the man of God shows up, the prophet of God shows up, and they're a little nervous. Because if he gives them the wor, God, and God's word, as Jeremiah 2 says, is like a hammer or a fire. It 's going to come down on them. What kind of word is He going to give us?

Is he here to pronounce condemnation upon Bethlehem and the Bethlehemes? Is he here to pronounce judgment upon the people of Bethlehem? Samuel, why are you here? And Samuel puts their hearts at ease. He simply says, Oh, in peace, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. So consecrate yourselves. Come with me to the sacrifice. He also consecrated Jesse and his sons, invited them to. The sacrifice. He puts them at ease, knowing of their fear. Samuel's on a mission. And that mission is to accomplish God's plan.

And the peace of God will be seen in the person He is going to anoint as the next king of Israel. So you move from the conditions surrounding the commissioning of David to the injunction concerning the commissioning of David to lastly the selection in the commissioning. Of David. That's what it says. When he entered, okay, he looked at Eliab and thought, sure the Lord's anointed is before him. This has got to be the guy. This has got to be the man. They've gone through the sacrifice. He knows that he's going to Jesse's house.

So as he sits there, Eliab comes in. Now he is the firstborn son. Okay? He is the right to the inheritance. So, of course, he's going to come out first.

And he comes out, and Samuel sees him, thinking, wow, this must be the guy. Now you would think that Samuel would have learned from Saul that just because he was head and shoulders above everybody else and good looking, that he's probably not the God. But no, like you, like me, we are taken by people's appearances. A man has always been taken. By appearances. It began in the garden with Adam and Eve. They were taken by appearances. Ached and Joshua 7, taken by the appearances of the gold and the spoils of Jericho.

Man is always taken by appearances. We like what we see. And Samuel saw Eliab and thought, man, this guy, he must be the next king of Israel. Who else could it possibly be? Did you know that the number one cosmetologist in the world is Satan?

Did you know that? You didn't know that, did you? He is the author behind Cosmopolitan Magazine. But he is the number one cosmetologist in the world.

He decorates things in such a way they become so appealing to us that we are completely enamored by them. So much so that we're willing to throw out all of our convictions based on what we see. And so here comes Eliab. And Samuel, this great man of God, who loves the Lord, who knows that God's going to show him the next king of Israel, is thinking. This has got to be the man. But it's not. And God is quick to respond to Samuel when he says, But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature because I have re him.

Wow. I have rejected him. For God sees not as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearances, but the Lord looks at the heart. And so God, at the outset, helps Samuel to realize: I'm looking on what's on the inside. You're looking on what's on the outside. You're looking at what people can see. I'm looking at what people need to see, and that's the heart of a man, because that's the true character of the individual. And so God quickly erases in Samuel's mind that this is the next king of Israel.

So then Jesse called Abin and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, The Lord has not chosen this one either. Now, it doesn't say anything about the appearance of A, and maybe he was kind of short and scrawny. And Samuel said, I'm glad the Lord didn't choose him. He's not going to work for us anyway. I don't know. It doesn't say that, but who knows? And then it says that he brought out Shema. He passed by, and he said, The Lord has not chosen this one either. And so they bring out all the seven sons that are in the house.

For Samuel to observe. And Samuel says to Jesse, Well, I haven't chosen any of these guys. Do you have anybody else? Do you have another son? There must be another son. Now, there is a temptation here for Samuel to compromise. Well, it's got to be one of these. It's the son of Jesse, so I guess I can just choose one. You know, line them all up, and I'll just go eeny, meeny, mighty, mo, you know, and just choose one. No? He might be tempted to compromise, but he doesn't. So he asks, Is there another son?

Listen to what Jesse says. He says, Seamus said to Jesse, Are these all the children? He said, There remains yet the youngest. And behold, stand, excuse me, stand amazed. Be amazed at this that he Is te sheep. Now, think about that. David wasn't even inv to the consecration service. He wasn't even invited to the sacrifice. This is what Jesse thinks of David. He wasn't even a part of the family's worship. He's tending sheep. Have you ever met a shepherd? They don't smell the best. Okay? They don't dress the best.

They're always holding sheep. They're always tending sheep. They're always with the sheep. So they smell. Like sheep, right? That's what they do. But on top of all that, listen to what First Chronicles chapter 17: says.

It says, Now, therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture. From following the she. Wait a minute. I thought David was a shepherd. Do shepherds follow sheep or do they lead sheep? He says, from following the sheep, to be leader over my people Israel. He reminds David from his place of obscurity. He reminds David from where he comes from. David is on the backside of Bethlehem. He is not allowed to be a part of what the family is a part of.

And so when Samuel comes to anoint one of the sons of Jesse, David's nowhere to be found. So Samuel says, Do you have any other children? And Jesse says, Well, I have a boy. He's tending sheep. He's the youngest of the family. And so David says, go get him. Samuel says, go get him. We're not going to sit down until he comes. So they got to go get him. And they got to bring him in. And that's exactly what they do. It says in verse 12. So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance.

Isn't that interesting? Eliab had a handsome appearance, but he was rejected. David also had a handsome appearance. God's not against appearances. Just don't make sure you judge people based on appearances. See that? Because what was on the inside of David was what counted. And so the Lord said, Arise. Anoint him, for this is he. This is the man. This is the guy. Same who took the hoard of oil, anointed him in the midst of his brothers. How humiliating must that have been for them. Especially for Eliab.

And remember when David shows up at the Israeli camp? When they're fighting the Philistines and Goliath is mocking the nation, and Eliab is upset because David is there? What are you doing here? Why'd you come here? He despises David. And here he's anointed king. Of Israel. He's probably fifteen, maybe sixteen years of age. Not very old at all. You see, as obscure as David was on the backside of Bethlehem, unseen by man, but always seen by God. God knew ex who he wanted. And David learned so much on the backside of Bethlehem.

Evidently, he learned more than his brothers learned because his heart was being cultivated. Interesting thing is that God says, I have chosen a man after my he.

I look at the heart, man looks on the outside. So there was something unique about the heart of David. Because David's heart was being cultivated where nobody could see him. David's walk with God was being cultivated on the backside of Bethlehem. You see, what David did in the dark revealed who he was in the light, a man after God's own heart. Evidently, he wasn lazy. He wasn't fooling around, you know, playing marbles with stones in the back while the sheep were just running around doing whatever they wanted to do.

No, he was doing what he was supposed to do. He was. Tenacious, he was disciplined, he was committed, he was dedicated. And although he wasn't seen by anybody but God, that's all who needed to see him. And God chose him. Thus, a new era begins. And it will be 13 years before David is anointed a second time.

As king only over Judah, it will be another seven and a half years before he is king over all of Israel. 20 years from this point until he becomes king over all of Israel. He will spend thirteen years running from Saul, hiding in caves, ducking spears that are thrown at him. But God had prepared him. God had molded this man. And the Bible says these words.

In the book of Psalm 78, verse number 70. He also chose David his servant. and took him from the sheepfolds, from the care of the ooze and the suckling lambs he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them with his skillful hands. Interesting. At this point in First Samuel 16, everything changes.

Yet nothing has changed. Everything changes. We've got a new king, but really nothing changes. David will rise from obscurity to slay Goliath. And the people will sing, David has. Or Saul has killed his thousands, David his ten thousands. And the jealousy of Saul will just erupt. Like fire in his heart. And David will run and h. And continued to be used by the Lord to write psalms and to be used to gather his little band of men together who followed him. But David. Knowing he's anointed king of Israel, never ascends the throne until it's time to do so.

And that's only under the direction of God. He had the right because he was the king. He could have overthrown Saul, destroyed him. But that wouldn't have gone well with the people. It would have been difficult for David as a leader. That's why when he was anointed king over Judah 13 years later, He didn't do anything with the rest of Israel until they recognized him as their king. And then he would ascend the throne of Israel and rule the nation. As their king. But Samuel has fulfilled his purpose.

He came to transition. The nation from a period in which over 400 years they were judged by people like Barak, Gideon, Samson, Samuel. That time was over now.

And the period of the monarchy had been ushered in. And this king, David, would have a greater son. His name would be the Lord Jesus. And he would be the king of kings and lord of lords. And he is the one we worship and the one we adore. But God used Samuel to transition the nation, to help show them the direction. And this is really basically the end of Samuel's ministry. He has fulfilled this purpose. He has been used by God in a mighty way. And I would trust that over our time together, you would have learned much from this man and grown not just to love the man.

But to love the things about the man that need to be evident in your life and mind. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you, Lord, for tonight a chance to once again look at the word of the Lord and to marvel at what it is you do and how you do it.

For truly you are a great God. You alone are worthy of praise. We thank you for Samuel, this great man of God, a chance to study his life. And all the men that we have studied over the years have shown us the kind of men you choose and use. We thank you for that in Jesus' name. Amen.