I Samuel 16:1-13

‘From The Sheep Pen To The Palace” • 11.6.07 • Autonomy, Authority And The Man Of God, Session ^#9

Intro.

- Chapter 16 begins with God regretting that He had made Saul the King of Israel.

- God’s regret does not necessitate surprise or violation of sovereignty. The writer uses the word anthropomorphically to describe a broken heart that was similar to that of Samuel’s.

- God is moved by Saul’s obstinance and though He has warned and given time, Saul would not repent. But now, it’s time for Samuel to let go and move forward with the man of God’s choosing.

• I Samuel 16:1 : “Now the Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing 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.’”

- Samuel must be careful because of Saul’s watchful eye, so the Lord gives Him the plan.

- There will be a sacrifice to be made and Samuel will do so with the house of Jesse.

- At the house of Jesse, Samuel is introduced to Jesse’s sons, all except the youngest.

- In this famous chapter, we know that God overlooked each of them without giving any preference to their appearance and that the one that was overlooked was the one that God preferred.

• I Samuel 16:12,13 : “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!’ 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.”

- This passage is a familiar one and one is hard pressed to find anything original.

- Today we will put ourselves in the shoes of these three men that we see today. Each is facing the conflict between God’s will and their own.

I. Samuel, The Conflicted Prophet (v.1-3)

II. Jesse, The Perplexed Parent (v.10-12a)

III. David, The Annointed Prince (v.12b,13)

Text

I. Samuel, The Conflicted Prophet (v.1-3)

• I Samuel 16:1-3 : “Now the Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing 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.’ And 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 name to you.’” : All indications point to Samuel being unwilling to let go of Saul. Samuel had invested in Saul emotionally and spiritually. He may have felt that Saul’s failure was his own failure to lead correctly.

- Please note that God is not rebuking Samuel for mourning. There are seasons when mourning a loss is not only appropriate, but healthy.

- To refuse sadness or mourning is not only unhealthy, but it robs us of God’s comforting and healing presence in our life.

- But Samuel’s mourning had gone beyond healthy and appropriate. It was now paralyzing him, having gone from mourning with hope to mourning with despair.

- No matter how Samuel prayed or how hard he besought the Lord, the Lord had made His mandate clear.

- This was a dark time for Samuel, conflicted by his own emotions over the command of God.

- He was not the first. Many of the great men of God experienced the same thing.

- The most notable example being Elijah, who had experienced a wonderful victory on Mt. Carmel, killing all of the prophets of Baal, but then ran for refuge at the threat of a woman!

- Most of us understand!!! But Elijah went out into the wilderness with this thought:

• I Kings 19:4 : “But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!’”

- Forty days and nights later, his mood had not improved.

• I Kings 19:10,14 : “So he said, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.’”

- In both of these places, God comes and speaks to these men before they go to Him.

- To me that is so beautiful. There are times when we run to Jesus and then there are times when He comes and meets us. He does that here with Samuel.

- We do well to remember that the Lord does the same with us.

• Psalm 42:5-8 : “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me; Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, And from the heights of Hermon, From the Hill Mizar. Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me. The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me--A prayer to the God of my life.”

- Samuel is conflicted because of his love for Saul, and then his love for his own life.

- Notice how he balks at God’s call to go to Jesse, noting that Saul would kill him for treasonous behavior.

- Samuel shows a hesitancy that we have not seen from him before. NOW he fears another!?

- This is the same man who we have just witnessed taking another man’s life for the sake of God! Perhaps it had worn on him psychologically more than we can imagine.

- Whatever the case, and we cannot say conclusively, God met Samuel in the place of His fear and accomodated him with a plan.

- It’s a curious thing that God proposes. God proposes that Samuel take a heifer for an atonement sacrifice, the details of which can be seen in Deuteronomy 21:1-9.

- What truly interests me here is how wonderful God is to help the weak faith of His people!

- Whether it’s seen here in the cover that He provides for Samuel or the spokesman that He provides for Moses, God sees the weakness of our faith and meets us where we are!

- There is an amazing story found in the book of Mark, which sees a Father who has brought his demon possessed son to be healed by the Lord Jesus.

- His son had been possessed since childhood and Jesus was the last resort.

- Jesus asked him if he had faith so that his son could be healed. Imagine that moment, your own son convulsing and you as a Father helpless to do anything and yet being honest, knowing that you have seen everything tried and nothing has happened. What the father of this young man says is simply profound:

• Mark 9:24 : “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!’”

- In the story, you will see Jesus took him the rest of the way.

- Maybe you have been paralyzed by depression or fear. The Lord comes to you now and bids you to look not at yourself, but at His work, and calls you to follow despite your fear.

II. Jesse, The Perplexed Parent (v.10-12a)

• I Samuel 16:10-12a : “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 and brought him in.” : This section has presented problems for me for so many years.

- Jesse has freely had each of his boys go before Samuel the prophet, including one that may have been from a concubine or a slave born within his house.

- I say that because Jesse is only accounted with having seven sons according to I Chronicles 2:15, which identifies David as the seventh son!

- The common contention has been in almost every sermon that I have ever heard has been that David is so insignificant and ordinary that his remembrance slipped the mind of his own Father!

- Most have given this as the reasoning because of the obvious focus that the text puts on physical appearance.

- God Himself admonishes Samuel that He looks on the heart and not the stature in verse 7.

- But, even David is called handsome, bright eyed and then is called a mighty man of valor, and a man of war in the very next section! The thought that he did not fit the bill doesn’t make sense.

- The next thought is that the keeper of the sheep was too lowly a person to be the King.

- Was Jesse offended by His own son’s occupation?

- The current King was a shepherd himself prior to taking office and similar great men were also shepherds. In fact, Israel’s economy was built on this trade!

- Was David just too young or irresponsible? Again, I point us back to the life of Joseph and the very dangerous conditions that accompanied this line of work. This also does not satisfy me.

- Let me say that what does make sense is that David is the youngest son and likely the one that was the most favored! I believe that this plays out in a few chapters with the reactions of his own brothers to him.

- I believe that Jesse would have had it another way! “Oh God, you can take any of the others, just leave David out of it!”

- Again, this is not without precedent, as we have already seen the favoritism was common among the people of Israel.

- But when God comes calling, sometimes it’s our favorite stuff that He wants!

- It may be nothing to give your money, but don’t come asking for my time!

- Time may be your luxurious gift, but giving up pride might be the cutting sacrifice.

- God once asked me to lay my drums on the altar. Talk about taking my career, my identity in the church and my pride all in one swoop! I believe Jesse is asked the same thing here.

- God says, “Lay down your identity, your will, your plan, your agenda, right here where the knife cuts the cleanest!” Can you do that? The Bible tells us that Jesse sent and brought him in!

III. David, The Annointed Prince (v.12b,13)

• I Samuel 16:12,13 : “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!’ 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.” : What a wonderful moment.

- In this moment, God shows that His ways are not our ways!

- He shows that the least shall be first, that the servant shall be the ruler of all!

- He shows us that the way up is the way down!

- David is not looking for this, and I imagine that he was a little confused why he had been taken from his responsibilities! It was time for a radical promotion!

- I wonder what he knew at this moment. I wonder if he knew that this was coming. I wonder if God and David had talked about this time when He would exalt and lift him up?

- Here we see a sovereign act of God on behalf of His favored son.

- God ignored the order of age, the popular pick, and the simple conventional wisdom, because God’s wisdom to know what man fits the bill beats man’s criteria every time!

- What did God see in David that set him apart from his brother’s?

- Let me suggest some general basics that I believe follow every man that God annoints and promotes for service. Let’s begin with what’s nearest in proximity.

- First, the annointed man shows faithfulness in the little things!

• I Samuel 17:28 : “Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger was aroused against David, and he said, ‘Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.’”

- To Eliab it was too low a job, with such few sheep and no glory to be found out in the wilderness. To David it was His Father’s sheep and his responsibility!

- Before God exalts a man to high places, He first tests them in unknown and small places!

- Second, the annointed man shows courage in the face of fearful situations.

• I Samuel 17:34,35 : “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, 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.”

- Out in the wilderness, just a few sheep? Who wouldn’t understand if I just ran and saved my own life!? Not men that God annoints for service!

- Finally, the annointed man shows contentment with where God has him.

• Psalm 23:1 : “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.”

- I could write this another way: The Lord is with me, what else do I need!?

- He is with me, leading, guiding, choosing all for His name’s sake!

- Are these things that mark your life privately? If you would be publicly His, they must be!

Conclusion

- As we look at these men, we seem to know them personally. We have been in their shoes!

- Perhaps you have been in the thoes of depression or fear. Let God meet you where you are at, and let Him heal your heart. He will!

- Maybe there is something that you wish God would not ask from you! Give it and watch God give back in greater measure than you could have ever imagined.

- Maybe you’re about to be God’s man and have no idea! God is about to annoint you for His service in some area.

- You might not see it today or tomorrow, but if you continue to be faithful, courageous and content with the Lord, God will bring it to pass!