1 Samuel 16:1

DAVID ANOINTED AS THE FUTURE KING , AND HIS FIRST INTRODUCTION TO SAUL . ( 1 Samuel 16:1-23 )

EXPOSITION

CHOICE OF DAVID AS SUCCESSOR TO SAUL ( 1 Samuel 16:1-13 ).

How long writ thou mourn? The grief of Samuel was prolonged almost to a sinful extent, nor can we wonder at it. We who see Saul's whole career, and know how deeply he fell, are in danger of discrediting his high qualities; but those who were witnesses of his military skill and prowess, and saw him and his heroic son raising the nation from its feebleness and thraldom to might and empire, must have given him an ungrudging admiration. Both David's dirge ( 2 Samuel 1:19-27 ) and Samuel's long mourning, and the unqualified obedience which he was able so quickly to extort from a high-spirited people unused to being governed, bear decisive testimony to his powers as a ruler and commander in war. But God now warns Samuel to mourn no longer. Saul's rejection has become final, and God's prophet must sacrifice his personal feelings, and prepare to carry out the purpose indicated in 1 Samuel 13:14 ; 1 Samuel 15:28 . We must not, however, conclude that Samuel's sorrow had only been for Saul personally; there was danger for the whole nation in his conduct. If wilfulness and passion gained in him the upper hand, the band of authority would be loosed, and the old feebleness and anarchy would return, and Israel become even more hopelessly a prey to its former troubles. Samuel, therefore, is to go to Bethlehem and anoint there a son of Jesse. As this place lay at some distance from Ramah, and out of the circuit habitually traversed by Samuel as judge, he probably had but a general knowledge of the family. Evidently he had no acquaintance with David ( 1 Samuel 15:11 , 1 Samuel 15:12 ); but as Jesse was a man of wealth and importance, his reputation had probably reached the prophet's ears.