THE BOOK OF 1 SAMUEL
A tale of two hearts
1 Samuel 16:1-13 SCC
1/18/15
We all are to be servants. Throughout the Old Testament
there is a title "the servant of the
Lord." It is the highest title that anyone can have. Moses
was the servant of the Lord. Joshua was the servant of the Lord. David
was the servant of the Lord. Even the Messiah is the servant of the
Lord. The expression describes the faithful believer who is loyal to the
spirit of the Law as well as to the letter of the Law. To catch a glimpse of
what it means to be a servant of the Lord, look at the life of King David, the
man after God's own heart, and see him in contrast to King Saul. King
Saul had an auspicious beginning, chosen by God to be king in Israel.
Saul was a mighty warrior, every inch a king. But God replaced Saul with
David. And according to the Scripture, God called David "my servant." He never called Saul that; Saul never rose
to that level. What is it that made David a true servant?
GENUINE HUMILITY IS THE FOUNDATION OF SERVICE FOR THE LORD
Our
first contrast is in the account of David’s being
anointed to be king after Saul had been rejected.
Saul would have perceived Samuel’s act of anointing
another man king as treason v2-3.
Evidently Samuel had gained a reputation as an executioner since he had killed Agag v 4. Samuel
came to Jesse to anoint the son whom the Lord had chosen v 5. Samuel judged Jesse’s sons by their external qualities just as the
Israelites judged Saul acceptable because of those characteristics v 6. Verse 7 clarifies how God evaluates
people, namely, on the basis of their hearts
(affections), not their appearances or abilities.
Jesse paraded all his sons in front of the prophet, but none
of them impressed v 8-10. It
is unusual that Jesse did not have David present for Samuel’s inspection since
he too was one of his sons. This may suggest that Jesse did not think as highly
of David as he did of his other sons (Psalm 27:10 where David wrote of his
parents forsaking him). Was David a neglected or even an abused child that his
father viewed more as hired help than as a son? Jesse reveals two very common mistakes parents make. (1) he didn’t have an equal appreciation for all of his
children. And (2), he failed to cultivate a mutual self-respect among them.
Jesse saw his youngest as nothing more than the one who tended the sheep v 11.
Finally, the other son, David, was summoned from taking care
of the sheep v12. Unlike Saul
he was not an impressive warrior, head and shoulders above everyone else, but a
ruddy youth. But David was the "man
after God's own heart"--the one that the Lord chose. So then,
what was there that the Lord saw in the heart of this young man? We get our
first clue after David was anointed. The prophet anointed David in the
presence of his brothers, and the Holy
Spirit came upon him from that day forward v 13.
PT: What does it mean
to be a person after God’s own heart? It means that you are a
person whose life is in harmony with the Lord. What is important to Him is
important to you. What burdens Him burdens you. When He says, ‘Go to the
right,’ you go to the right. When He says, ‘Stop that in your life,’ you stop
it. When He says, ‘This is wrong and I want you to change,’ you change it.
What an amazing opportunity to step into the spotlight, to
seize the power! The Lord Himself said, "He is
the one!" v 12. Imagine, the King of Israel! With all
his brothers looking on! But David went back to take care of the sheep
at Bethlehem (1 Sam 17:15),
even after Saul had sent for him to be with him and play for him. Rather than go and assume the crown, David
simply returned to his responsibility of taking care of the sheep. God
had something great for Him to do, but he had his responsibilities to perform,
and he would wait for the Lord to place him in that position of power.
In contrast to Saul we see a man who is a humble servant,
obedient to the Lord. In fact, Saul early on in his reign usurped the
duties of Samuel 13:11-12, but David
remained obedient to the Lord. He
was not presumptuous. We have many King Saul's--people who serve God,
but who get carried away with their own importance, promote their own
authority, and are always overstepping their bounds to seize power for
themselves. And they usually leave a trail of destruction, using and
hurting people along the way. This is not spiritual leadership but pagan
power.
So, genuine humility is the foundation of service to God.
We have a pattern recorded in Philippians 2, that Jesus, being in the form of
God, did not consider being equal with God a thing to be grasped. He emptied Himself. That is the mind we
are to have. The servant cannot be greater than the master, and the
master emptied himself. Verse 13 records Samuel’s departure for his home in Ramah. At this point
in the book he becomes a minor figure who no longer plays an active role in the
progress of events. His anointing of David was the climax and capstone of his
career.
GOD
IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD 14-23
Saul had no idea of what had taken place. He does not know Samuel has
designated and anointed David as his replacement, or that the Spirit, which God
had given him, has now been given to David v13.
What he does know is that things are very different than they were. He never
sees Samuel again 15:35. He does not
sense the Lord’s presence and power, through the Spirit v14. He does experience a very different spiritual phenomenon
though. An “evil spirit from God” now
comes upon Saul, terrorizing him v 14.
He seems to have spells terrorized by this spirit and times that are more
normal v 15.
Saul’s servants believe that soothing music will have a beneficial
effect on Saul, and they recommend he find a man skilled at playing the harp so
that when the spirit overtakes him, the musician can play soothing music and
calm his troubled spirit v 16-18.
Saul approves of this idea and summons David. The request is made of Jesse,
since David still lives under his roof v19.
From Saul’s words spoken to Jesse, it is evident that Saul is aware of David’s
role as the sheepherder as well. Jesse sends David, along with gifts of food,
to the king where David begins to serve as the king’s attendant v 20-22. Every time the evil spirit
from God tormented Saul, it would depart when David played music for Saul v 23.
Why would God send
“an evil spirit” to torment Saul?
Satan and demons can do nothing without God’s permission. Job suffered
at the hand of Satan, only because God allowed it. So the author could speak of
this here as “an evil spirit from the
Lord.” This may not be all that different from what we find in the New
Testament. The evening meal was in
progress, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot,
Simon’s son, that he should betray Jesus Jn
13:2. And after Judas took the piece of
bread Satan entered into him Jn 13:27.
This evil spirit may have been a demon that afflicted him
periodically. In any case Saul’s evil bent was by the permission and plan of
God. Just because God uses something
does not means he approves of it. God used the Godless empires of
Babylon and Egypt to carry out His work, but that did not mean that He approved
of them. God will use the antichrist during the Tribulation and Satan at the
end of the Millennium. That does not mean he approves of them. Instruments of
God included false prophets. God used Nebuchadnezzar’s divination and David’s
lying. Why
do you think God did that? I
don’t know but again, don’t confuse what God uses with what pleases God. The bottom line is
that God is sovereign, and nothing takes place that is contrary to His divine
purpose and plan. An evil spirit can torment a man only because God allows it,
and in that sense, it could be said that it is “an evil spirit from the Lord.”
APPLICATION:
This
story of how David first met Saul and how he came to the royal court tells us
something about how God works and our inability to know the details of that.
1. David did not
engineer it. David was no ruthlessly ambitious man, determined to rise up the social
ladder—any more than Saul himself had been. David’s hands were clean. He was
tending sheep not ambitious to be a king. God swoops right in and does what he specializes.
How could he know that?
2. God overruled to bring David to
court through the sheer chance that one of Saul’s courtiers knew something
about him and brought him to Saul’s attention [cf. Joseph]. So it was God, not
David, who was responsible for the young man’s first steps towards the throne.
How could he know that?
We also learn
something about the character of God we are to pursue.
Humility
is the root of virtue. The question is, where does virtue come from? What is its ultimate source?
Pride says, “Man.” Humility says, “God.” Humble people see God as the source
and themselves as a channel of power. Humility
sees people as distributors (channels
rather than sources or reservoirs) of the glory of God. The best good there could ever be is to display the glory of God.
David was humble thus a man after Gods own heart.
Pride
is the root of all evil. It
is about pride that the Bible differs most sharply with the world. The world
may agree that theft, murder, adultery, and drunkenness are wrong. Unbelievers
may even admit to such vices. But I've
never heard an unbeliever say his sin was pride. Pride is independence from
God. To be proud is to focus on your status or achievements or those of
others--independent of God. You cannot be proud and know God. Why does the
world stress pride over humility? Because pride succeeds
in this life. Humility succeeds in the next life. Remember the fall of Satan was pride. There is no
such thing as good pride. No one will ever be proud in heaven. Why would we
think it is valuable on earth? God opposes the proud.