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First Samuel chapter 16. The last two Sunday evenings
we saw the fall or decline or rejection of Saul by the Lord
in chapter 15. So we have the anointing of David
here tonight. David is anointed in verses 1
to 13 and then he meets Saul in verses 14 to 23. And essentially
what we have in 1 Samuel, the God of history, the Lord of Providence,
is focusing here in this book on two men, the decline of one
and the rise of the other. And it's not simply in terms
of their political savvy or their ability to navigate the contours
of the administration of a kingdom. The focus is more inward. Saul
was a wretch and a rebel against the living and true God. David,
however, is a man after God's own heart, not a sinless man,
but rather a submissive man, and therefore we see God's blessing
upon him. So beginning in chapter 16 at
verse 1, Now the Lord said to Samuel, How long will you mourn
for Saul, saying, I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?
Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse the
Bethlehemite, for I have provided myself a king among his sons.
And Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill
me. But the Lord said, Take a heifer with you and say, I have come
to sacrifice to the Lord. Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice
and I will show you what you shall do. You shall anoint for
me the one I named to you. So Samuel did what the Lord said
and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled
at his coming and said, Do you come peaceably? And he said,
Peaceably, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Sanctify yourselves
and come with me to the sacrifice. Then he consecrated Jesse and
his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. So it was when
they came that he looked at Eliab and said, Surely the Lord's anointed
is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel,
do not look at his appearance or at his physical 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. So Jesse called
Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, neither
has the Lord chosen this one. Then Jesse made Shammah pass
by. And he said, neither has the
Lord chosen this one. Thus Jesse made seven of his
sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, the
Lord has not chosen these. 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. So he sent him 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. And 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.
But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing
Spirit from the Lord troubled him. And Saul's servants said
to him, Surely a distressing Spirit from God is troubling
you. 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. So Saul said to his servants,
provide me now a man who can play well and bring him to me.
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. Therefore,
Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, send me your son David,
who is with the sheep. 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. So David came to Saul and stood
before him. And he loved him greatly, and
he became his armor-bearer. Then Saul sent to Jesse, saying,
Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in
my sight. 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.
Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father,
thank you very much for the Word of God. We thank you for the
history of Israel and the dealings of a gracious God with the covenant
people. We thank you for David, that
wonderful king, that king after your own heart, or that man after
your own heart, who is typical of his greater Son, even the
Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you for that one
that came into this world, sinners to save. and how we praise You
and bless You that You've included us in this wonderful plan of
salvation. We would ask, Lord God, that
as the Gospel is preached throughout the earth, more and more sinners
would come to know Him as Lord and Savior. Forgive us now for
all of our sins. Guide us by Your Holy Spirit.
Help us to understand the written Word, and may it affect us, and
may it be a means of edification in our own hearts and lives.
And we ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. So as
I said, the focus has been on Saul up to this point. Now the
direction changes or the spotlight changes, and it will focus on
David. Though Saul will not be gone,
Saul will indeed engage in a great deal of oppression and persecution
in terms of David. David not only has to face the
Philistines, but he has to face Saul as well. And so when we
come to this particular section, will notice that when the Spirit
comes upon David, that doesn't mean the absence of trials. It
is actually the opposite. When the Spirit comes, the difficulties
come. And so this is one thing that
we ought to appreciate in this passage. We'll draw that out
a bit more during the course of our exposition. So as I said,
the chapter breaks down into two sections. First, the anointing
of David in verses 1 to 13, and then secondly, the meeting with
Saul in verses 14 to 23. In essence, We have God choosing
David, and then we have Saul inadvertently and unknowingly
choosing David himself. So let's look first at this anointing
of David. We notice that the prophet Samuel
is sent to Bethlehem according to verses 1 to 10. The situation
is found in verses 1 to 4. There is the mourning of Samuel.
Notice in verse 1, the Lord said to Samuel, How long will you
mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over
Israel? The obvious connection is to
chapter 15 at verse 35. So we will allow, for the moment,
a bit of mourning on the part of Samuel. Certainly, Israel is now in a
very deficient situation. Their king has been rejected.
Their king is no longer the favored one of God Almighty. And therefore,
the nation as a whole will suffer if this in fact persists. So Saul is mourning over this,
but God now commands him to go to Bethlehem. Notice what he
says in the middle of the verse. fill your horn with oil and go,
I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided
myself a king among his sons. Now go back for a moment to chapter
13. We already see this announced that Saul was not going to be
the one from whom a dynasty of kings would follow. Because of
Saul's rejection of the Lord, the Lord ultimately rejects him.
In 1 Samuel 13, verse 13, and Samuel said to Saul, you have
done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment
of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, for now the Lord
would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now
your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself,
here it is, a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded
Him to be commander over His people, because you have not
kept what the Lord commanded you. And then in chapter 15,
as we saw last week, specifically in verse 26, But Samuel said
to Saul, I will not return with you, for you have rejected the
word of the Lord and the Lord has rejected you from being king
over Israel. And as Samuel turned around to
go away, Saul sees the edge of his robe and it tore. So Samuel
said to him, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you
today and has given it to a neighbor of yours. who is better than
you. So this is the man after God's
own heart. This is David, the one that is
distinguished, the one that is to be chosen and anointed, and
the one that will ultimately occupy the throne and reign over
a united kingdom. Under David there is great blessing,
but under David as well there is great warfare, because David
was in fact a man of war, and he is the one that basically
vanquished the enemies of Israel to establish the kingdom. So
we have this command by God to go to Bethlehem, and then Samuel
registers this complaint in verse 2. Notice what it says. Samuel
said, how can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill
me. That is not an unfounded suspicion on the part of Samuel
with reference to Saul. No king wants to see somebody
be a replacement. And as well, later on in chapter
22, when Saul gets wind that the priests at Nob tried to give
safe harbor or did give safe harbor to David, Saul ordered
the massacre of those priests at Nob. So Samuel's fear or Samuel's
concern is not without warrant in this particular instance.
Nevertheless, God assures him that what goes on is of the Lord,
and certainly he needs to be obedient, and he needs to be
compliant to this. So God tells him to take a sacrifice,
go to Bethlehem, and that being the foil, then call or invite
the man Jesse and his sons, so God could identify the particular
king of the sons of Jesse. Now certainly there are many
things in this chapter that are sort of foundational for the
rest of the Bible. The root of Jesse. Jesse is mentioned
in the book of Ruth. Jesse is mentioned in Isaiah
the prophet. Jesse is mentioned in Matthew
chapter 1. Bethlehem as well is rich in
biblical symbolism as being the place from whence Messiah will
hail. In many respects, brethren, what we have in 1 Samuel chapter
16 is the origin of the Messiah according to his humanity. With
the distinction of David as the king over Israel, we know that
it's Jesus who will come from that line, the line of Judah,
the specific family or lineage of David. And so what we find
going on in here is most glorious in terms of redemptive history. So he goes to sacrifice and then
notice what we find specifically in verses 4 and 5. So Samuel
did what the Lord said and went to Bethlehem and the elders of
the town trembled at his coming and said, do you come peaceably?
Why would they do that? Why would they have this fear?
John Gill explains. For he being now an old man and
seldom went abroad, they concluded it must be something very extraordinary
that brought him there. And they might fear that as he
was a prophet of the Lord, that he was come to reprove them or
denounce some judgment upon them for their sin. Kind of like when
you're a kid and you are told that you must go to the principal's
office. Typically, you are paralyzed
with fear at the thought of having to go see the principal. Because
usually it's not the case that you go see the principal and
they say, I want to give you a chocolate bar and hail you
for being such a wonderful student. It's the same sort of thing as
when you're driving down the street and the RCMP is behind
you. You're doing everything right, but there's nevertheless
this nagging fear that they're going to get you. So the elders
in Bethlehem are curious as to why Samuel wants to come. Samuel
says, we're going to have this sacrifice, and I want to see
the sons of Jesse in particular in order to distinguish and identify
the king, the man, after God's own heart. Now notice the search
for the king in verses 6 to 10. We have the first son, this man
called Eliab. Verse 6. So it was when they
came that he looked at Eliab and said, Surely the Lord's anointed
is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel,
Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature. This
is one of the issues that affected people with reference to Saul.
Saul was a man who stood head and shoulders above everyone
else. Saul was a formidable looking character. Saul was one that
if you looked at, you'd say, yeah, he ought to be the king.
He's a strong, fit, well, physically able man. Well, Samuel has that
same mindset with reference to this son Eliab. So Eliab comes
and Samuel says, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But then
notice the principle that God the Lord gives in verse 17. 7.
Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because
I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as
man sees. That doesn't mean there's some
different way about the object that is perceived or seen. Rather,
the emphasis follows. For man looks at the outward
appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." Now that is an
absolutely crucial distinction that we need to understand. David
didn't look all that great. Not that he was ugly. Verse 7
tells us that he, or verse 12 rather, tells us that he was
ruddy, he was handsome, and all that sort of thing. So God's
not about, find the most gross looking character and let's exalt
him to be the king. No, that's not the issue, but
the issue also isn't it's the physical appearance that is the
measure of a man. It is what's going on in the
heart of the man. Our brother indicated with reference
to the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Imagine if you didn't
know Paul was Paul. Imagine if you didn't know he
was the great apostle to the Gentiles, that he was a theology
machine, that he knew scripture, that he knew theology, that he
was the one who wrote the book of Romans, and he came to interview
for a particular job at a particular church. And in this interview
process, he reports to the people that are interviewing him the
things that Ryan said. Verse 1 of chapter 2 in 1 Corinthians,
And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence
of speech. So he's going to tell you in
this interview committee, I don't really speak that well, kind
of like Moses. Moses says, I don't have the
oratory skills to stand before the king of Egypt and demand,
let my people go. So if you had this Paul the Apostle,
and then he says, I don't really have a lot of wisdom either,
according to human wisdom. One thing I do do is I preach
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm also riddled with weakness,
fear, and much trembling. My speech and my preaching, they're
not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but they do come
in a demonstration of the spirit and power. I would suggest that
in these mega churches, they're looking for these polished, well-able
men to serve and function in that capacity as celebrity pastor. We wouldn't have the Apostle
Paul. We would reject the Apostle Paul. We would say, oh no, you've got
to be a skillful orator. You've got to be able to speak
like an angel. You've got to have the boldness
and the earnestness and the stability and the surety. You need to be
a CEO. You need to lead men. You need
to have all of these requirements in order to function properly
in this capacity. We would reject Jesus as well
as Jews did in the first century. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. When we saw him, we hid, as it
were, our faces from him. There was nothing alluring about
him. There was nothing attractive about him. You didn't say, wow,
look at that fellow. He ought to function as the Messiah
of Israel. No, we often focus on the externals
to the neglect of what's really going on inside the heart of
a man. And the Lord says as much. Don't look at Eliab just because
he's an impressive physical specimen. Rather, it's a matter of the
heart. Those are the persons that will serve God and serve
him faithfully and dutifully. Dale Ralph Davis makes this observation. He says the text, 1 Samuel 16,
7, then contains a warning to prophets and others among God's
people. It provides a revelation of our
need. It shows us the discernment we
lack. Only God's wisdom is adequate for directing His kingdom. There
is at least one thing we can seek to do. Beware of the impressiveness
of external appearances. Now, if the man is a man after
God's own heart, and he is additionally ruddy, bright eyes, and good-looking,
well, win-win. But it's not the case that we
neglect the man after God's own heart, provided he is ruddy,
he has bright eyes, and he is good-looking. Brethren, the most
important thing is what is inside a man's heart, and that's what
God looks upon. And that's why I say, for instance,
in a New Covenant situation, we look at 1 Timothy 3 and Titus
chapter 1, because it doesn't say if the man is six feet tall. I've often thought it's not good
to be under six feet tall in this present world. I always
feel keenly shorter than all of my, especially Dutch brethren,
in terms of height. But with reference to 1 Timothy
3 and Titus 1, there's no physical thing, no physical demand. He's
got to have 18-inch guns. He's got to have a barrel chest. He's got to be able to bench
press 225 for reps. That's not in there. It's virtue. The measure of a man is what
he is before God and what he is before others in terms of
graces and gifts provided to him by the living and true God.
So we go back to 1 Samuel chapter 16, and even Samuel himself falls
into this. He sets his eyes upon Eliab,
and he says, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. So God
issues that necessary corrective. It isn't what's outside in a
man, but rather it's on the inside. And then he surveys the other
sons according to verses 8 to 10. So Jesse called Abinadab
and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, neither has the
Lord chosen this one. Then Jesse made Shammah pass by, and he
said, Neither has the Lord chosen this one. Thus Jesse made seven
of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, The
Lord has not chosen these. And Samuel said to Jesse, Are
all the young men here? Notice that Jesse didn't trot
David out. He trots out the others, but
he doesn't even conceive of the possibility that the youngest
among them would actually be the one that God the Lord would
use. Samuel has to ask, is there another
brother? Samuel has to ask, is there another
son? So as far as Jesse is concerned,
he's not even going to bring up this son, David, because obviously
it's not going to be the youngest, obviously it's not going to be
the one that simply is the shepherd boy, obviously it's not going
to be the one who's too young at this particular time and perhaps
hasn't distinguished himself in the manner in which the other
sons of Jesse had. So Samuel investigates. 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.
Well, we know the story, we understand the situation, that David is
in fact the man after God's own heart. And that's what we find
there in verse 11. Samuel said to Jesse, send and
bring him, for we will not sit down till he comes here. So he
went and brought him in. Now he was ruddy with bright
eyes and good looking. Kind of intriguing, isn't it?
On the one hand, God says, I don't look upon the external man. And
then we have this description of the external man. Again, it's
not the case that as long as he's godly, he can look terrible.
He can look horrible. No, certainly there are gifts
and graces necessary, even in terms of the administration of
a kingdom, that a man, a physical man, ought to present himself
well. He doesn't have, you know, hair all over the place, and
he's not, you know, scratching himself and smells and all that
sort of thing. So there is a sense where the
man needs to at least be able to visit with other kings and
dignitaries and not offend them with his stench and those sorts
of things. 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. This is
the one. Again, Davis says, Yahweh is
about to find the man after his own heart, which does not mean
a sinless heart, as subsequent events will show, but at least
a submissive heart in contrast to Saul. That is what you need
to keep in your mind as we move through the David narratives.
David is not a perfect man. When we get to 2 Samuel, we will
see that in spades. We will see David do horrific
and terrible things. So the idea of a man after God's
own heart does not mean a sinless man, but as Davis says, it means
a submissive man. Saul did not have that. Saul
was not a believer. Saul was not walking in union
with God Most High, whereas David was. And then we see this anointing
in verse 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 down to Ramah." Now we have this massive contrast
between verses 13 and 14. As we move into this next section,
the meeting with Saul, David meets with Saul, we see that
the Spirit has departed from Saul according to verse 14. Now we take that idea from a
New Covenant perspective and say, does that mean that Saul
lost his salvation? Did he receive the Spirit when
he believed the gospel, and now he is destined to hell? No, this
isn't salvific. The Spirit of God came upon Saul
to enable him to administrate the kingdom of God on earth.
The Spirit of God doesn't simply save sinners. The Spirit of God
also activates or energizes certain men to conduct a specific function
or role within the context of either kingdom or church. So
do not understand this. as if Saul somehow was saved
and then he lost his salvation. No, it was the Spirit of God
on him to engage in the task of the work of being the king
over Israel. So the Spirit comes upon David,
but David as well had the Spirit in a salvific sense. Remember
in Psalm 51, when he is rehearsing his sinfulness before God. when
he is confessing his wretchedness before God in the case of Bathsheba
and Uriah. He says, take not thine Holy
Spirit from me. That's salvation. David knew
the Lord. David had the Spirit in that
sense of being a redeemed sinner. Redeemed because he looked in
faith to his greater son, Jesus Christ. But in this particular
section, with reference to the anointing by Samuel, he is receiving
the Spirit in order to enable him to govern the kingdom that
was on earth at that particular time. So in this meeting with
Saul, we see in verse 14, the Spirit of the Lord departed from
Saul, and then intriguingly, and the distressing Spirit from
the Lord troubled him. This is a bit of one of those
theological conundrums. The margin is correct. It is
literally an evil spirit from the Lord. That gives some persons
cause for concern when they read that, but I suggest that it ought
not. It simply underscores the reality
that our God is in the heavens and he does whatever he pleases.
He is sovereign over evil spirits. He uses evil spirits in his providence
to bring this meeting together such that Saul will meet with
David and David will enter into the very royal court in Gibeah. So when we see that distressing
spirit from the Lord or that evil spirit from the Lord, again,
the reality is that God is over all things. He is sovereign over
all things, and the idea may be that the spirit is evil or
bad because the effects of his possession are negative and destruction
for the object. You'll see that distressing spirit
or that evil spirit again in chapters 18 and chapter 19. Now
notice what the servants of Saul say. It's intriguing, as you
go through these narratives, oftentimes the servants of kings
are very perceptive. The servants of kings oftentimes
make very good recommendations. The servants of kings have a
lot on the ball when it comes to navigating through these particular
junctures. Well, verse 15, Saul's servants
said to him, surely a distressing spirit from God is troubling
you. Again, that's a very perceptive theological remedy on the part
of these servants. I'm not so sure if I saw somebody
flipping out or I saw somebody in his condition, I would automatically
conclude that it was a distressing spirit from the Lord. I'm not
sure I'd have that wherewithal, but in this instance, these servants
had it. And their suggestion, Let our spirit, or rather, 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." Music calms the
savage beast, essentially, is what these servants are saying.
John Gill's comment here is very intriguing. He says, music being
a means of cheering the spirits. We'd all agree with that, at
least to some degree or other. Have you ever been struggling
on a Lord's Day morning? You feel the spiritual equivalent
of a dead fish, and you're dragging, and you're moping, and you come
into the house of God, and we call out a hymn or a psalm, and
we start to sing, and what happens? You start to come back to life.
The fish breathes, the fish lives, the fish wiggles. You're still
a fish, but you're not a dead fish. And that music has had
a great remedial benefit upon your own soul. So he says, music
being a means of cheering the spirits and removing melancholy
and gloomy apprehensions of things, and so of restoring to better
health of body and disposition of mind. That's why I suggest
in the public worship of God, we need to be careful with reference
to music. Not that it's bad, not that it's
wicked, not that it's evil, but it can detract our attention
from the true and living God. It's supposed to assist us in
singing the praises of God. It's not supposed to entertain
us and make us to be consumed with it. It's a means to an end.
The worship of our triune God, it is not the end in and of itself. So I would suggest the churches
that have the big bands and the guy that can shred on the electric
guitar. That takes attention away from
God, and it may produce in the hearer something of a good feeling,
but that's not necessarily a good thing. Brethren, it's truth coming
through the mind to the heart that ought to encourage and strengthen
the people of God. Certainly music can be an aid
and an assistance to that, and we ought not to relinquish our
view of that, but at the same time be cautious with reference
to this approach. So back to Gil. He says, and
that music has had such an effect on the bodies and minds of men
is certain from observation and experience in all ages. Again,
I'm reading this more out of a, it's just kind of interesting
what he says in this connection. Music has been found to be medicine
to various diseases, not only for the curing of the bite of
vipers. Again, not sure if I got bit
by a viper, I'd turn on Beethoven, but according to Gil, this is
a helpful thing. and of the tarantula, but for
easing the pains of the sciatica and for helping persons laboring
under the disorders of the frenzy. And Pythagoras used to compose
the mind and remove the perturbations of it by the use of the harp,
the thing here advised to." So whatever's happening in the history
of the world, according to John Gill, is certainly happening
in this particular passage. The servants of Saul understand
that he has this evil spirit from the Lord. That evil spirit
promotes in him distrust. There are instances where he
wants to take his javelin and throw it at David or throw it
at people. It produces in him that sort
of consternation, that agitation, that idea that things are not
right. And so the servants wisely say,
you need to find a harpist. Well, isn't that intriguing that
in the providence of God, David, the one that's just been anointed
to be king and successor of Saul, happens to be an accomplished
harpist. It's an amazing thing, isn't
it? Brethren, if you ever doubt the providence of God, may I
suggest to you, read your Old Testament. Not that you won't
meet with it in the New Testament, but you will be face-to-face
with it constantly in the Old Testament, as instances like
these happen time and time and time again. How do we get David
in the royal court in Gibeah? God sends a distressing spirit,
an evil spirit, to disturb Saul. Saul's servants rightly identify
his malady and then rightly prescribe the remedy and thus David is
in the presence of the king of Israel. So notice in verse 17,
so Saul said to his servants, provide me now a man who can
play well and bring him to me. Look at verse 1. God says, fill
your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse the
Bethlehemite, for I have provided myself a king among his servants. Saul is unknowingly inviting
into the royal court his own replacement. Saul is unknowingly
inviting into the royal court his own replacement. Again, providence,
God governs all his creatures and all their actions. The malady
comes, the remedy is prescribed, David is the man with the harp
and the one who is able to soothe and to calm this man, and this
man responds with love. He loves David. Now, that love
is short-lived, to be sure. He doesn't love him forever and
ever and ever. Amen. But rather, at least in
this instance, he loves him. So then we have this meeting
in verses 18 to 22. We have the recommendation of
David in verse 18. Then one of the servants answered
and said, please, when you read this, think providence. This
isn't luck. This isn't fortunate. This wasn't,
wow, I can't believe things like this happen. The biblical authors
are showing us that God is sovereign. The biblical authors are demonstrating
that God does orchestrate all events. Then one of the servants
answered and said, look, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite,
who is skillful in playing. And then notice, a mighty man
of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person,
and the Lord is with him. And brethren, what the servant
says here is sort of overarching in the David narratives. The
Lord is with him. That's what makes him a man after
God's own heart. God loves him. God communes with
him. David loves God. David communes
with him. There is that reciprocity. The
Lord is with him, and David is with the Lord. Again, for all
of David's sins, and for all of David's faults, and for all
of David's problems, of which there are a whole multitude,
He never turns from the living God. He never rejects Yahweh. He never follows after idols.
He never goes a whoring from God, but he maintains fidelity. That's what it means to be a
man after God's own heart. Psalm 51, when David is confessing
his transgression, it's as if David gets on the side of God
to condemn David. In other words, he sees things
according to God's perspective, and thus, God is well pleased
with this man, David. So we have this instruction given
of the request for David in verse 19, the response of Jesse in
verse 20, the blessing of David's presence in verse 21, and then
the approval of Saul. Notice in verse 22, then Saul
sent to Jesse saying, please let David stand before me, for
he has found favor in my sight. This is an intriguing situation. As I said earlier, unknowingly,
he has now approved of the man that's going to take his job.
He doesn't know this yet. He doesn't understand the unfolding
of God's providence. But for now, suffice to say that
David is the man after God's own heart. He's been anointed.
And all that needs to obtain is the death of Saul ultimately
and the institution, the formal institution or installation of
David as the king. And then there's the summary
statement in verse 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. So I want to
make a few observations in terms of practical application. In
the first place, please do not miss Sovereign Providence. God
orchestrates. God moves. God governs. God doesn't
haphazardly rule. God isn't deistical. God doesn't
just get this creation going and then leave it on its own
and then revisit it at the end. God is intimately involved each
and every day, not just in the selection of King David over
Israel, but in our lives as well. the Westminster Shorter Catechism
in defining providence. It's God's holy, wise, powerful,
preserving, and governing all his creatures and all their actions.
So it's not just David, it's not just Saul, but it's all his
creatures and all their actions. And I would suggest, brethren,
that those who have a problem with this are cheating themselves. They are gypping themselves.
They are, in essence, shooting themselves in the foot of a rich
and glorious benefit that the people of God have enjoyed throughout
the history of the world. Isn't it wonderful to know that
whatever transpires is under God? Do you want to live in a
world where there's persons that are off the leash, as it were?
Do you want to live in a world where there are persons that
are autonomous, that are independent, that are doing the sorts of wickedness
they're doing without having God over them? I certainly don't. Whatever comes to pass, whether
good or ill, we have this great confidence that God is over all
things. Let that be a balm, let that
be a tonic, let that be a cordial to your hearts when you recognize
that God is over all things. The big things, the small things,
the seemingly insignificant things, He's over it all and that has
always served as a great benefit and a blessing to the people
of God. The second observation, we looked
at this, the internal consideration of God. He doesn't look at Eliab
and say, oh yeah, he's great because he's fit and he's strong
and he's built. No, he looks after David because
he's a man after his own heart. It's about the heart, brethren.
It's not what we present on the outside, though that should be
consistent with what is on the inside. If the inside is right,
the outside will be right. Jesus taught this, remember?
The Pharisees were those who took pains to clean the outside
of the cup, but inside it was filthy, and it was disgusting,
and it was wretched, and it was vile. They would whitewash the
tombs, and yet those tombs were filled with dead men's bones.
So as long as, in the mind of the Pharisee, everything on the
outward was okay, It didn't really matter what the n-word was about.
No, the Lord Christ tells us, what we find here in 1 Samuel
16, that God looks upon the heart. That is where we ought to spend
our efforts and our energies. Not to suggest you burn your
hair care products or get rid of your soap, but certainly,
brethren, you ought to tend to the inner man. How much time
do we spend on the outer man relative to the inner man? How
often do we conclude in the morning, I better get up early because
I need a shower. I better get up early because
I need to look presentable. I better get up early because
I need to seek God in private. Does that ever come to pass?
Will we ever get up extra early so that we can shower? but that
we can also spend time in the presence of God, because it's
not just the hair, it's not just the appearance, it's not just
eating properly, it's not just pumping iron, but it's also what
we are before God in private communion. The third observation
is the presence of the Spirit of God. Notice verse 14. I'm sorry, 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. How do the health, wealth, and
prosperity, so-called preachers, handle the coming of the Spirit
in an individual's life? Well, it's simple. Once you get
the Spirit, once you're one of God's children, then you're a
child of the King and everything is easy street. It's going to
be wonderful. You'll be healthy. You'll be
wealthy. You won't be wise because you're following fools as preachers,
but you'll have everything that they consider to be something
important. But as I suggested earlier, the Spirit comes upon
David. That does not mean the absence
of trouble. Davis again says, the gift of
God's Spirit is not merely gracious. Listen to this, because I think
we have a bit of the health, wealth, and prosperity in us.
We may not say Benny Hinn or Kenneth Copeland, our favorite
teachers, or Creflo Dollar, or some of these other weirdos,
but there is in us this idea that I'm the child of the king,
and therefore, no bad thing should ever happen to me. No difficulty
should ever be in my path. I'm a child of the King. It ought
to be easy street from here on out. I've told you before, my
sister used to live in Garden Grove, right next to a street
called Easy Street. Well, in the minds of many people
that are Christians, when they have the Spirit, they assume
that they'll be living on Easy Street. Listen to Davis, "...the
gift of Yahweh's Spirit is not merely gracious, it is severe. God equips David but for conflict,
one that will frequently make spying, tingling brawls with
lions and bears seem dull." Remember that. In the next instance, next
chapter, 17, David is going to go to battle in the Valley of
Elah against Goliath. What does he say for his experience?
He says that as a shepherd, I used to protect the flock in such
a way that I killed bears, I killed lions with my bare hands. So whatever we do say about David
as a physical specimen, he certainly was strong. A man that can pull
apart one of those beasts certainly has got some physical bearing
that is formidable to some degree or other. But this is what Davis
says, one that frequently, the difficulties that he will face
make spine-tingling brawls with lions and bears seem dull. No
sooner does the spirit touch David than he is catapulted into
endless trouble. the envy, anger, and plots of
Saul from chapter 18 on. David, the man with the spirit,
will be hunted and betrayed, trapped and escaping, hiding
in caves, living in exile, driven to the edge, right to the end
of 1 Samuel. We must see this larger view
of verse 13 in context of the whole. The spirit comes and the
trouble begins. Not just David, brethren. Turn
to David's greater son in Matthew chapter 3. Matthew chapter 3. We see another instance, the
spirit comes, the trouble begins. Matthew chapter three, verse
13. Then Jesus came from Galilee
to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent
him saying, I need to be baptized by you, and are you coming to
me? But Jesus answered and said to him, permit it to be so now,
for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.
Then he allowed him. When he had been baptized, Jesus
came up immediately from the water. And behold, the heavens
were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending
like a dove and alighting upon him. And suddenly a voice came
from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased. So the Spirit comes upon the
Lord Jesus. John tells us, without measure,
Christ is endowed according to his humanity with the Spirit
for the function as mediator, the mediator of the new covenant.
Now look at chapter 4 and verse 1. Then Jesus was led up by the
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. So you
see, the reception of the Spirit does not vanquish the challenges
and the hardships and the difficulties associated with living in a sin-cursed
world. That is simply false, that as
children of the King, we're never going to have any problems, we're
never going to have any trials, we're never going to have any
afflictions, we're never going to have any hardships. That's
not New Testament Christianity. Read the end of Hebrews chapter
11. to see what the people of God endured for the kingdom of
God. Or consider Paul's words in 2
Timothy 3, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will
suffer persecution. Or remember in Acts 14, I know
it's going back a long ways to that first missionary journey
on their way back to Antioch. They stopped at the various churches,
and they strengthened the brethren, and Paul preaches as a sermon,
we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. Again,
Davis makes this observation. If we remember David and his
descendant, we begin to understand that this conflict is not a sign
of our sin, but a mark of our sonship. See, the health, wealth,
and prosperity guys get it exactly opposite. The fact that there
is hardship, the fact that there is trial, the fact that there
is affliction is a sign of God's approbation. All those I love,
Jesus says to the church in Laodicea, I rebuke. In other words, brethren,
if we are living without any discipline, if we are living
without any issues, if we are living without any trials or
hardships, the Apostle in Hebrews 10 may conclude that we are illegitimate,
because all those whom the Father loves, He chastens. And that
chastening is sore, that chastening is painful, that chastening smarts,
but that chastening is an indicator that God is for us. And again,
that's the gist. He says, if we remember David
and his descendant, the Lord Jesus, we begin to understand
that this conflict is not a sign of our sin, but a mark of our
sonship, that we are not under God's displeasure, but His discipline. The wilderness is not the sign
of the Spirit's absence, but the scene of His presence. God
treats us as sons, perhaps, so we can later tell stories of
angels who supported us, or of Yahweh who redeemed my life from
all distress. So it is just the opposite in
the Christian life. Those who are Christ will understand
something of the suffering and the hardship and the trial that
the man of sorrows went through on behalf of his people, according
to his humanity in the role of mediator as of the New Covenant. And then finally, the significance
concerning the Son of God in 1 Samuel chapter 16. In the first
place, I already mentioned this. The man Jesse of the tribe of
Judah would forever be associated with the Messiah. That's the
whole point of the book of Ruth. The whole point of the book of
Ruth is to take us to that genealogy at the end. That genealogy that
is essentially repeated in Matthew chapter 1 to show the connection
between Jesus and David and Abraham as well. So this man, Jesse,
figures large in redemptive history. The hometown of Jesse, Bethlehem,
would forever be associated with the Messiah. Israel's vindication,
Israel's redemption, Israel's blessing originates, according
to humanity, in a cradle in Bethlehem. Thirdly, we have the anointing
of David would be forever associated with the Messiah. There's just
way too many texts to start looking at the scriptural connections
between David and the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at his earthly ministry.
He's called Son of David. Persons of faith recognize that. They understood that he was in
fact the Messiah. They rightly interpreted the
messianic prophecies and promises and saw the connection between
David and David's greater son. And then the final observation
is the typical significance of David with reference to the gospel. Think about this for a moment.
1 Samuel 13, God says he's going to get a man who's after his
own heart. David was, in fact, a man after God's own heart.
But David was sinful. David had issues. David had problems. David had enough to do to negotiate
with reference to himself. He isn't the public figure. He
isn't the federal head. His son, rather, is. The Son
of God is a man after God's own heart as well, but without sin. And as we just read in Matthew
chapter 3, He fulfills all righteousness. Why? So that He affirms and confirms
that He's God's man, but as well so there's a righteousness to
impute to us who stand in desperate need. And not only is he a man
after God's own heart to perform God's own righteousness, to impute
it to God's own people, but he is that spotless Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world, according to John 1 29. So David most certainly is a
type of Christ. We ought never to mitigate against
that. We ought never to underestimate that. But remember, the type
isn't the anti-type. We live in light of the antitype
which is Christ. We live in light of David's greater
son. We see the contours of redemptive
history. It'll be ratified in covenant
to David in 2 Samuel chapter 7. God the Lord will promise
that from your loins one will rise up, one will sit upon the
throne, and his reign will have no end. So all of redemptive
history is heading that way from David's vantage point. David
understands redemption by Christ. David celebrates justification
by faith alone. But that doesn't occur because
of David. It occurs because of the Messiah
who would come from the line of David. And if you haven't
believed on that one, He alone is the one who brings the forgiveness
of sins. I think that sometimes we look
at 2 Samuel 11 and 12 when we say, why in the world would David
have done that? Why in the world would the scriptural
author included that? I think it's a sign or a signification
that it is in fact the Word of God. If we were David's biographers,
we might just want to sort of bypass the whole Uriah and Bathsheba
incident. I mean, that doesn't reflect
well on our hero. But the biblical authors put
that in under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to underscore
this great lesson. There's one hero in the Bible,
and it ain't David. It's David's greater son. Again,
earthly speaking, humanly speaking, David was a great king, and in
that sense, we could call him a hero. But in terms of redemption,
in terms of the reconciliation of God and sinners, the Bible
presents to us one man that is holy, harmless, and undefiled.
One man through whom the blessings of the covenant of grace come
to us, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. So Christ is in 1 Samuel
16, just like he's in the rest of the Bible. Let us pray. Our
Father, we thank you for your Word, and we thank you for this
anointing of David. We thank you for this story concerning
David and Saul. The one serves as a great warning
to all of us to check our hearts and to never let the seeds of
apostasy grow or develop. The other serves as a great encouragement
as to what a man after God's own heart looks like. Again,
not a sinless man, but a submissive man, a man that is ruled and
governed by the spirit of the living and true God. Help us
likewise to be such men and women. Help us likewise to be commended
to the to God and to the Word of His grace, and help us, Lord
God, to grow in edification and strengthening, help us to ponder
that blessed inheritance that we have in the future, and help
us to glorify You and to encourage one another. And we pray this
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. We'll close with a brief
time of meditation.
