Life of David – 1 Samuel 16

“David, A Man After God’s Own Heart”

Shepherd: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

Shepherd 1 Samuel 16:1-13
Vs. 1-3 Fill your horn and go.
Vs. 4-10 The Lord has not chosen these
Vs. 11-13 This is the one

Intro

We start now a study through forty chapters of the Bible, covering most of three books and glimpses of 73 of the psalms. Unlike most of our teaching, we are going to focus primarily upon one individual, though we are still going to do so in a verse-by-verse manner. Our attention will be drawn to the life of Israel’s greatest king, David! From before our chapter today, God had a design for which He calls into His service. I suppose greatness is something most of us at times dream of. Yet there is something that I’ve noticed about greatness as it relates to us mortals, that is, we ascribe it very differently than God does:

We recognize it in outward things. That is to say, we tend to evaluate greatness upon a person’s deeds rather than their character!
Second, we wait to ascribe greatness only after a person’s deeds warrant such applause. It is for this reason that the Hiseman trophy is awarded after the season is over. What we fail to realize is that greatness is not awarded; it is rather forged.

You see, though you and I aspire for greatness, we seldom ever attain it because we may yearn for the product but will do everything to avoid the process! David is a man whose greatness was in his inward character forged by going through the process. But don’t miss understanding me; he was nonetheless a man who made mistakes and failed miserably.

Fill your horn and go.

Vs. 1 The story before us opens with God speaking to an aged prophet and judge Samuel. The Bible records this man’s life by calling him the 1st of the prophets but the last of the judges. He was born into a household where his mother Hannah had been barren, and year after year, when she went up to the tabernacle at Shiloh, she wept before the Lord in her bareness. Finally, she made a vow before the Lord that if He would open her womb and give her a male child, she would give him to the Lord.

So after he was weaned while still a boy, he went to live in Shiloh with Eli the priest. Samuel grew up ministering before the Lord as well as observing the corruptness of Eli’s sons because their father would not correct them. He too made the mistake of appointing his sons as judges over Israel, but they also did not walk in God’s ways. So the nation, fearing Samuel’s death, asked for a king to judge them.

God’s word was that the people had not rejected Samuel but rather God. And so they sought a mighty man, one that was head and shoulders above his peers, Saul. Saul was a people’s choice but not the Lord’s choice, as he was a man moved by his passions (unlawful sacrifice in chapter 13 and partial obedience in chapter 15) and not a passion for the Lord. Samuel’s disappointment at Saul’s failure to obey the Lord was a morning process.

God’s choosing of a person is entirely different from what we choose. God delights in using the most foolish thing He can find. Yet with that said, I’ve discovered several things about God’s choosing of David that surprised me:

Gen. 49:10 “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.” Way back in Jacob’s prophecy concerning his son’s is this statement concerning Judah. Yeh so? Well, Saul was not from Judah but rather from the tribe of Benjamin, of which Jacob prophesied, “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.” Simply put, it appears that God already had a specific tribe in mind for a king, and it was clearly not the tribe of Benjamin.
Ruth 4:12 “May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring which the LORD will give you from this young woman.” Now right here in this blessing pronounced at the marriage of David’s great grandparents of Boaz and Ruth the Moabite is an interesting prophecy. You see Perez was the illegitimate offspring of Judah with Tamar; further we are told in Lev. That it takes 10 generations to remove this from a genealogy. Well, guess who is the 10th from Perez? You’ve got it, David.

My point? Well, though God clearly chooses His servants from a different standard than humans do, He knows who He has in mind long before we do! There are no accidents in God’s plan’s none of this “being in the right place at the right time stuff.” This is further brought in the 13th chapter of 1st Samuel, as God declares to Samuel, “The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart.” As such, then God’s preparation upon the heart and our willingness to receive such training as being from His hand are the most important things we can recognize.

Brothers, there is a time to mourn over our failures, the “shoulda’s, woulda’s, and coulda’s.” In fact, I think that a time of reflecting on what we have done wrong can lead to real spiritual growth. Yet we can become trapped in obsessing over our failures or the failures of others and become stuck and unwilling to move forward with the Lord. The truth is God will not allow His work to die with our failures, and it was time for Samuel to quit focusing on what wasn’t working and start moving on what God was going to cause to work.

God does not ever close one door that he does not open another, and often it is the closing of one that causes us to step through to greater blessings! So I imagine that Samuel must have become excited as God had rejected Saul, but He had also told him to “fill his horn with oil” as God was going to provide a king for Israel himself. Don’t you find that true in your own life? God often allows you to go after things your own way, and then you see them fail only to send you down a road of His choosing that turns out to be a greater blessing?

We are given where this king was going to be from two perspectives:

Ancestry: The king was going to be coming from among the sons of Jesse. As I said, Jesse’s grandparents were Boaz and Ruth, and as we shall see, David is the 8th son from this family; they had two daughters as well.
Geographically, Bethlehem was the city where the beloved Rachel had died giving birth to Benjamin. How interesting is that, as Saul’s ancestry is from this tribe and his reign has just ended? It was on these hills that David’s grandmother Ruth gleaned the fields that Boaz purchased, hence the name “house of bread.” Further, Jesus will be born in the same small hamlet.

Vs. 2-3 Much has been made of this passage as if God is telling Samuel to lie. First off, Samuel needed to pass through Saul’s ’hometown’ on the way to get to Bethlehem, and the act of anointing a king above him would be seen as an act of treason.

The clearest explanation of God’s words to Samuel is to take out his concerns and simply read what God has to say. “I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided myself a king among his sons. 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.”

You see Samuel’s concern caused him to interrupt what God was going to tell him anyway. It is not as though God was not aware of Saul’s anger and the problem that Samuel’s anointing of a son of Jesse would cause. “You know Samuel, you’re right, I wasn’t thinking; let me think; take a heifer with you!” So was this a lie? Well, no, it was completely the truth, just not all the truth! The invitation of Jesse to the sacrifice would have been seen as an honor but nothing more.

The Lord has not chosen these

Vs. 4-5 This may seem a bit odd of a response to Samuel’s arrival from the elders of the town until you realize that calamities usually followed on the heels of his arrival. Not to mention that at the failure of Saul to kill Agag, the king of the Amalekites, he took up the sword himself and hacked him into pieces.

Samuel lets them know that he has come there for peaceable reasons, then tells them all to set themselves apart to be ready for the sacrifice and then partake in the meal with Samuel.

Vs. 6-10 Apparently Elias was quite the physical specimen, as Samuel thought that his selection was over quickly. Samuel’s evaluation was upon sight and not faith. I think this is what we often do as we size up people, don’t we? We look at their appearance, even their talents, and say, “Hey, that one right there is the right pick!” But God warns Samuel as well as us that to pick upon what we see is a foolish way of choosing a leader.

There have been numerous studies that reveal companies that rely upon a person’s physical appearance and how they carry themselves. God looks well beyond what we see in a person’s heart, and He has been grooming David since birth. Can you imagine Samuel’s and Jesse’s surprise as each one of these men was brought before them and the Lord said none of the above? From 1 to 7, and not a single bite, as they were not what God was looking at. Ok, then what was God looking for?

This is the one

Vs. 11 There are several things that stand out about David:

His name: You see, this is the first time the name appears in the scripture; it simply means “the beloved one.” Based upon David’s psalms, it appears that the youngest of 10 children was close to his mother. In Psalm 116:16, he describes himself as “the son of Your maidservant.” I can’t be sure, but looking at the names of the seven brothers you have: Eliab = “God is father.” Abinadab = “father is noble.” Shimea = “fame” Nethanel = “God gives.” Raddai = “treading down.” Ozem = “strength.”
I’m kind of thinking that David’s mom named him. This is further brought out in my mind by the fact that David was not even to the sacrifice, and when Samuel asks Jesse if there are any more sons rather than mentioning his name, he says, “Oh yeah, the least is out there keeping the sheep!” Now with that said, David later on makes sure that both of his parents are protected against Saul’s wrath. There seems to be through adversity a tenderness that stays with David. Simply put, brokenness and humility were wrought in his character instead of pride.
His occupation: Tending sheep was the lowest position usually given to a servant. The fact that David is doing it shows that he was from a poor family and that he had no position in the family. With that said, David excelled at his job as Davis fought a lion and a bear that would dare take one of those lambs. Furthermore, his time in the hills of Bethlehem was not wasted taking care of sheep, as sheep must be led, not driven. David also spent large amounts of time contemplating the Lord, as psalms 8, 19, 23, 39 indicate.
Vs. 12 His appearance: It is thought by most that David was probably around 15-16 years of age. He was red-headed, fair skin with light eyes, and a good-looking fellow. But God had done a work in His heart.

Based upon the six verses in Psalm 23, we can tell several things about the work of God in David’s heart:

Vs. 1: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want”: believing heart

Vs. 2: “He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.” Patient heart

Vs. 3: “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Holy heart

Vs. 4: “Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” Confident heart

Vs. 5: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over”: Grateful heart

Vs. 6: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Fixed heart

The anointing of David is interesting, as Samuel anoints him, then leaves him and goes home. There was no attempt to place David on the throne, and it would yet be another 25 years before he would reign. David’s life will have three anointings; this one here is private, and there in Joseph’s writings it is said that Samuel leaned over and whispered into his ear, “You are the next king.” Then in 2 Samuel 2 he will be anointed before Judah, and in the 5th chapter of 2 Samuel he will be anointed before the whole nation. Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, and in fact, there are three such symbols:

Oil: To refresh the spirit

Fire: To cleanse the soul

Dove: To make gentle the heart

David’s secret—right here we see that “the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward.”

David, A Man After God’s Own Heart.”

1 Samuel 16:14-23 Singer:

Vs. 14-18 Relief from distress

Vs. 19-23 From being with sheep to standing before the King

Intro.

David’s life can be divided into five sections, the first four of which are found in 1st Samuel; the last is found in 2nd Samuel.

Shepherd: 1 Samuel 16:1-13
Singer: 1 Samuel 16:14-23
Soldier: 1 Samuel 17
Servant: 1 Samuel 18-31
Sovereign: 2 Samuel 1-24

For the most part, when we think of David, we tend to think of him as Israel’s greatest king; however, the early part of his life is that which developed his ability to rule. David seemed to discover what F.B. Meyer spoke about the secret of life when he said, “The main end of life is not to do but to become!” This is best summed up in Samuel’s words to the disobedient Saul in 13:14: “The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people.”

It seems to me that God is always developing people whose chief aim in life is to have above everything else a heart for God. It is these folks that God raises up to stand in the gap (Ezek. 22:30). Their development is through the fire of trials, as God will keep us there until He sees His reflection.

We have seen David as the teenage shepherd in a home where he was the youngest and appears to have been overlooked by his father and brothers. Simply put, it was adversity and obscurity that David majored in growing up. I have often heard it said that life boils down to choices, but the outcome depends far more upon how we respond to those choices than whether they were right or wrong decisions!

I watched the tail end of a football game in which the color commentator made a statement about an embattled quarterback as he said, “Much of this player’s future will be determined upon how he responds to his failure!” The choice I find in my own life is whether or not I will become “bitter” or “better.” Clearly, clearly David chose the latter!

Relief from distress

Vs. 14 It has well been noted that the timing of the departure of the Spirit of the Lord from Saul is at the same time in which the Spirit of the Lord came upon David (verse 13). Yet this verse brings up some challenges.

First we have the departure of the Spirit of the Lord from a believer. Well, perhaps Saul was not a believer? This would be problematic in as much as we are told in 1 Sam. 10:6–9 that “the Spirit of the LORD came upon him and he prophesied; furthermore, we are told that God gave him another heart.” Yet clearly in Rom. 8:9, “you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” Why even David cried out in Psalm 51:11, “Do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.” So how do we reconcile this? A study of the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers in the O.T. and the N.T. will reveal a difference.

In the O.T., the Holy Spirit was selective in whom He came upon, and His work was temporary.
While we see in the N.T. that the Holy Spirit is universal indwelling all who trust in Jesus and His work is permanent. So for you and me, the continual presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is a great comfort. We are told in 1 Cor. 6:19-20 that “our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in us… therefore we are to glorify God in our body and in our spirit, which are God’s.”

That is not to say that we cannot grieve the Holy Spirit, as clearly Paul admonishes the Ephesians in Eph. 4:30, “not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” As such, these passages of scripture have no place in the practical life of the N.T. believer.

The second great challenge this verse brings up is found in the phrase “a distressing spirit from the LORD troubled him.” James said of God in 1:13,17 that “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone,” and “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights.” Clearly, this verse before us would seem to contradict the clear statement of James. Here then are the biblical facts:

God is sovereign and over all, including the spiritual realm.
Saul had the free will to choose what he wanted.
God loved Saul and sent the Holy Spirit upon him to equip him to lead the nation.

Putting this all together suggests that those gifts of God, which came upon Saul enabling him to lead, were taken from him and given to David. Why? Well, it is my opinion to get Saul to repent and recognize that the relief from his torment was to be only found in a relationship with God and not in ruling a nation. Simply put, Saul’s problem was that God did not rule him, so God allowed him to rule without His influence.

Saul did not want to follow God’s rules and perhaps thought he did not need the Spirit of the Lord upon him to lead. Saul became what every man is apart from the Holy Spirit’s influence: fearful, jealous, angry, and bitter. Satan delights to fish in troubled water, and when a person rejects the Spirit’s influence over their lives, madness is sure to follow. There is little doubt that if Saul were alive today, he would be diagnosed with a mental illness. One wonders how many today have driven themselves mad simply by rejecting God’s influence upon their lives.

Vs. 15-16 Apparently Saul’s servants could visibly see the change in their king’s demeanor as he was no longer the leader that was head and shoulders above his peers. His servants suggest an interesting remedy, “music.” Music? Perhaps the thought was, “Music tames the savage beast; why not the troubled Saul?”

The problem with this council is that it only seeks to divert the distress temporarily instead of eliminating it altogether. Now God will use this counsel to bring the young shepherd into the place, but nonetheless, why not encourage repentance? Music is a gift from God and has the capability to stir emotions both towards the Lord as well as away from Him.

Marx and Lenin both recognized its influence over people and said, “Give us the musicians and the poets, and we will change the nation.” It is for this reason we Christians’s need to seek to be worshipers before we are warriors, as David was.

Always seeking to bring people into the presence of God so that they may have an encounter with His love, peace, and holiness. It is no accident that we see David in his humility, where he learns to worship God before he becomes a soldier, servant, or king. If a person is not first and foremost a worshiper of God, he will not be much good at anything else. Why? Well, the source of everything we do is found in our relationship to our Father in Heaven.

Vs. 17 The plan sounds good to Saul, and he says, “Provide me a man who can play well!” I suggest to you that this verse is quite revealing of Saul’s heart in that he sought an entertainer, someone who, for a limited amount of time, could take his mind off his troubles. Saul wanted to be medicated, numbed from his own rebellion instead of delivered altogether.

Go back and look at what God wanted in Exodus 28, and you will see that God required far more than an entertainer. In fact, two things stick out in that chapter:

Four times we are told that God wanted the priest to “minister to me.” It is the chief purpose of the worshiper to do so towards the Lord and not to entertain people. Every song sung, every voice lifted, and every instrument played is done first and foremost for an audience of one!
Second, the priest was to wear before the Lord a breastplate with the names of the 12 tribes etched into 12 different stones. Yeh so? Well, think of this, and what does it tell you? It tells us that God would have every worshiper carry over their hearts a love for people! Further, this love is to include the differences and diversity, which are brought out in the 12 different tribes.

In the 10th chapter of 1 Samuel, we notice that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul while they were playing a “stringed instrument, a tambourine, a flute, and a harp before him,” in other words, there was worship present. Now this tells me two important things concerning the Spirit’s empowerment upon our lives:

The person who worships is going to have a heart in the right place to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.
You can’t simply by playing worship music have an encounter with the Holy Spirit. In other words, the work of the Spirit cannot be manipulated or manufactured.

Here’s my point. Worship music may be an instrument that leads our heart towards the Lord, but its mere presence does not guarantee a righteous heart! Saul appears to be seeking an “emotional moment” instead of a “spiritual transformation.”

Vs. 18 One of the servants of Saul speaks up here suggesting David and, in so doing, gives six characteristics of what a worshiper (and in David’s case, worship leader) has. But before we get at these, allow me to make some observations:

These six characteristics came from observations made by others. This was not David’s resume; no, these qualities were clearly visible in his life. What’s more impressive is that they will be visible throughout his life. Go with me to the very end of David’s life in the 23 chapters of 2 Samuel and hear how the nation mourns for the soon-departed David as they call him “the sweet psalmist of Israel.” Did you see that? Not the mighty king, the great warrior—no, the most impressive quality of David’s life was seen in his devotion towards the Lord! I suggest to you that before everything else in David’s life he was a worshiper, and any and all success came from this great truth!
This list of six qualities is in reverse order from the least important to the most important. Why do I say that? Well, look at them, and I think we would all agree that having the “Lord with him” is the most important.
“Who is skilled in playing?” This of course has to do with technical ability, but when you think about it, this ability lies more with attitude than it does with talent. How so? Well, take a gifted person who is unwilling to practice and improve on their gifting, and you will have a talented player but not a skilled player. I believe that it is important to notice that becoming a worshiper is something you and I can grow into, something that we can practice and improve in. All of which suggests that we need to spend time getting better at worshiping the Lord!
“A mighty man of valor”: Now this is an interesting quality; would you not agree? What it tells me is that though you and I need to be worshippers before we are warriors, make no mistake about it, a worshiper is in the middle of a battle field! We worshippers’s need to “put on the full armor of God,” ready to do battle with our egos and flesh. Not afraid to deal with conflicts and contentions, we can approach our lives cowardly, accepting areas that would defeat us in our desire to worship the Lord. No, we need to boldly deal with the attitudes of our hearts that would hinder us from true worship.
“A man of war”: Again, this quality found in David is interesting; as David had not yet fought the giant, there was no evidence that he had battled anyone save the lion and the bear that stole his father’s lamb (17:34–35). So how could they recognize David as a man of war? Well, I suggest to you that a true worshiper of God is a man of war in as much as he makes war in his worship against an unseen realm.

He’s not against flesh and blood but against the prince of darkness, the world system, and his own flesh. David had won many a victory in praise as he pluck the strings of his lyre long before he took up those stones in his sling. Don’t pass over the truth of this saint, “Could it be we lie defeated on the battlefield of life because we have not taken time in the battle of worship?” Why else is our quiet time so disturbed?
“Prudent in speech”: David knew not only what to say but when to say it! Worship begins inwardly, but it cannot remain there, hence the importance of being a person who knows what to say and when to say it. David would reveal his inward heart by being a man not overtaken by his emotions or passions; he could just be quiet or say the right word that would lead others to want to know of His devotion! Music is one of those areas where everyone has an opinion not only on style but also on everything that surrounds it. All too often, the body of Christ has fought over content rather than having a right heart!
“And a handsome person”: Now we may be tempted to say that very few of us would qualify if appearance is necessary for being a worshiper. Yet I think we narrow this far too much. You see, I think this speaks of two things, both balanced:
First, I think this speaks of coming before the Lord presentable. In 1st Peter 3:2-4, as Peter speaks to women who are trying to win their unbelieving husbands to the Lord, he exhorts them to do so by the “hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.”
Second, I believe that as we worship the Lord, it is our invisibility next to the Lord’s visibility that is beauty! It is when His character and nature are seen in our lives that we become beautiful, and this is what people saw in David! It is for this reason in the N.T. that we Christians are told continually to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ!”
“And the LORD is with him”: David had a clear visibility of the Lord’s presence in and upon his life. No matter what we may say of the above five qualities apart from this one, none of them would matter. David had learned early on that spending time in the presence of God was what made sense of life. Oh, his earthly father and brothers may not have thought much of him, but out there on the rock-lined hills of Bethlehem, amongst those sheep all alone, God met him. He was the “beloved” secure and not alone. I suggest to you that we truly learn to be worshippers when we are stripped away and hidden on a hill. It is there that we learn that what we have we can be thankful for, as in Him we are safe! We see that “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” (Eccl. 3:11).

From being with sheep to standing before the King

Vs. 19-23 David is summoned from the pasture to the palace, yet I find it comforting that after Samuel’s anointing, David simply returns to the sheep. In fact, even after being summoned to the palace, he splits his time between the palace and the pasture! That tells me that David was content to allow the Lord to raise him up as well as keep him up. In other words, David saw in the work of God upon his life the wisdom of the Lord’s processes! Between the 16th chapter and the 17th chapter, David grows and matures to becoming a man, as Saul does not recognize him (17:58).

Further, David grew in his ministry as he stood out as the worship leader, and then in verse 21, we are told he becomes Saul’s armor bearer. This may not mean too much to us, but this was a soldier’s chief assistant, and their success in battle depended upon the faithfulness of their armor bearer, kind of like a parachute packer for a skydiver! David learned much in these days about what it meant to be king and what it did not mean from Saul. Saul, on the other hand, found comfort from David’s ministry but did not learn the key to peace as seen in his life.

We must not ever become so old and set in our ways that we cannot learn from others, even those who are under us, what it means to worship the Lord! Now one final note concerning what comforted Saul as David played. Look at David’s Psalms, and you will discover that they are scripture set to music. Yeh so? Well, this tells us that it is possible to be comforted by the word and yet remain unchanged, untransformed by its truths. Oh God forbid in our case!