The Story

Samuel the prophet was sad. King Saul, Israel's first king, had disobeyed God, and God had rejected him as king. But God did not leave His people without a plan. One day God spoke to Samuel and told him to stop mourning: fill your horn with oil and go to Bethlehem, to a man named Jesse, "for I have provided me a king among his sons". Samuel was afraid — if Saul heard of it, Saul would kill him! But God told him to take a young cow and say he had come to offer a sacrifice to the LORD, so off Samuel went.

At Bethlehem the elders of the town trembled when they saw the old prophet coming. Samuel said he had come peaceably, to sacrifice to the LORD. He invited Jesse and his sons to come to the sacrifice — and that is when the choosing began. Jesse's oldest son, Eliab, walked in first. He was tall and strong and handsome, and Samuel thought in his heart: "Surely the LORD’s anointed is before him." But God whispered to Samuel that He had not chosen Eliab. A king might look fine on the outside, but God told Samuel the words of our memory verse: "man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart".

Then Jesse called his next son, Abinadab, and he passed by. God said: "Neither hath the LORD chosen this." Then Shammah passed by — not chosen either. One by one, seven of Jesse's sons walked in front of Samuel, big, strong young men, every one of them looking like a king. And one by one, God said no to all seven. Samuel was puzzled, and he asked Jesse: "Are here all thy children?" Jesse answered that there was one more, the youngest of all — "There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep". The youngest son had not even been invited to the feast. He was out in the fields, looking after the sheep.

Samuel would not sit down until the boy was brought. So a messenger ran out to the fields, and soon in came David — a young shepherd with bright, healthy cheeks and kind eyes. And God said to Samuel: "Arise, anoint him: for this is he." Right there, in front of all his big brothers, Samuel poured the oil on David's head. And something wonderful happened: the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. The shepherd nobody had thought of was God's chosen king.

David went back to his sheep — but not for long. King Saul had become troubled and unhappy, and his servants looked for someone who could play beautiful music to soothe him. One servant said he had seen a son of Jesse who played the harp wonderfully, a brave young man, "and the LORD is with him". So David was brought to the king's house, and whenever Saul felt troubled, David played his harp, and Saul was refreshed and felt well again. God's chosen king was already at work — quietly, faithfully, with sheep, with a harp, and with a heart God loved. And one day, from this shepherd boy's family, would come the greatest King of all: the Lord Jesus.