1 Samuel 16:1-7

Samuel Goes to Bethlehem

1 Now the LORD said to Samuel, "¹How long will you grieve over Saul, since ²I have rejected him from being king over Israel? ³Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to ⁴Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have ⁵selected a king for Myself among his sons."

2 But Samuel said, "How can I go? When Saul hears of it, he will kill me." And the LORD said, "⁶Take a heifer with you and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.'

3 "You shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and ⁷I will show you what you shall do; and ⁸you shall anoint for Me the one whom I designate to you."

4 So Samuel did what the LORD said, and came to ⁹Bethlehem. And the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said, "¹⁰Do you come in peace?"

5 He said, "In peace; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. ¹¹Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." He also consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

6 When they entered, he looked at ¹²Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD'S anointed is before Him."

7 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, ¹³but the LORD looks at the heart."

1 Samuel 16:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 16

In this chapter Samuel is ordered to anoint a king among the sons of Jesse of Bethlehem, 1Sa 16:1-5 all whose sons were made to pass before him, excepting David, 1Sa 16:6-10 who being then with his father's sheep, was sent for and was anointed, 1Sa 16:11-13, after which the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and he became melancholy, and it was advised to seek out a musician for him, and David was mentioned to him as a proper person, 1Sa 16:14-18 upon which he was sent for, and acted as a musician to Saul, and also became his armourbearer, which was the first rise of him, 1Sa 16:19-23.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Samuel 15:35
• 2. 1 Samuel 13:13, 14; 1 Samuel 15:23
• 3. 1 Samuel 9:16; 1 Samuel 10:1; 2 Kings 9:1
• 4. Ruth 4:17-22
• 5. Psalms 78:70, 71; Acts 13:22
• 6. 1 Samuel 20:29
• 7. Exodus 4:15; Acts 9:6
• 8. Deuteronomy 17:14, 15; 1 Samuel 9:16
• 9. Genesis 48:7; Luke 2:4
• 10. 1 Kings 2:13; 2 Kings 9:22; 1 Chronicles 12:17, 18
• 11. Genesis 35:2; Exodus 19:10
• 12. 1 Samuel 17:13
• 13. 1 Samuel 2:3; 1 Kings 8:39; 1 Chronicles 28:9; Luke 16:15

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "say to you"
• [b]. So with Gr; Heb He does "not" see "what man sees"