The Anointing of David

Welcome to the king portion of our The Prophet and the King worship series. The greatest king of Israel is about to take the stage. He’s waiting just off stage. Yet there’s a lot happening in this ancient story. We’ll take this text in four sections, each one with something to teach us in our day and age.

Part One: In The Weeds or Blown. 1 Samuel 16:1-3
16 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do, and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.”

Samuel is stressed. Or overwhelmed. He’s grieving Saul and he can barely manage. God says, “Go to Bethlehem and see Jesse.” The Monday Bible Study Group rightly asked, “Well, who is Jesse?” All we know is he’s from Bethlehem and he has sons. God has chosen the next king out of that group. That’s all we know.

Samuel can’t think straight in his grief. I’m sure you’ve all been there. If you haven’t, one day you will be. I’m not sure of which exact emotion Samuel is feeling. My therapist assigned me Dr. Brene Brown’s Atlas of the Heart. I have found great value in that book. It helps name emotions so that we can identify them as they come up.

In the first chapter, Dr Brown talks about the difference between being stressed and being overwhelmed. When she was getting her degree, Dr Brown worked as a server in a high-end restaurant. They had two phrases they would use as shorthand. Industry language.

If a server came into the kitchen and said, “I’m in the weeds.” others would ask how they could help. And the response would be something like, “Give refills to table 1 and bring bread out to table 2.” That sort of thing. It means that the server was stressed and at the limit of what they could functionally handle. They were still functioning, but they needed help.

Yet if someone would come in and say, “I’m blown.” No one said anything. The person would go outside to take a break, or go cry in the bathroom for ten minutes. The rest would look at the orders, and take over from there. That’s being overwhelmed. You were stressed beyond your functioning threshold and the only antidote to that was to do nothing for a little while. This is why sabbath is a command. It’s why sabbaticals are needed. If you haven’t planned your vacation, please do so soon.

Part Two: We Come in Peace: 1 Samuel 16:4-5
Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

When Samuel shows up, the elders meet him trembling asking, “Do you come in peace?”

They are in the weeds as well. They are stressed as they must have known about what was happening with Saul, the narcissistic and corrupt king. They’re just a small town, so they were able to largely stay out of all the drama. But now here comes Israel’s high priest, and he looks stressed out. Why is he here? What is he doing?

When we’re stressed or overwhelmed, we can be suspicious of everyone’s motives. Maybe you’ve been there. All you can think about is work and if you’re going to get that project done on time or make quota, or whatever. Maybe you can’t see past your grief. Maybe you’ve been burned one too many times. Maybe you’re awash in all the outrage, shock, and noise that is just going to keep coming.

“Do you come in peace?” Honest question. A good question. I would like to think that 90% of people, or higher, can answer yes. Yes, they do come in peace.

Yet advertisers don’t. They come to have you buy what they’re selling. The news and tech don’t. They come to keep you watching and keep you clicking and doom scrolling.

Listen, technology extends a human capacity. I just got that reminder from Rob Bell on his recent podcast. He says. “You can get down on your knees and dig a hole with your hands. Or you could use a shovel and do it a lot faster.”[1] Are you using technology or is technology using you? If you can’t put down your phone, then you know your answer. If you text and drive, then you know your answer. If your TV is permanently tuned to your outrage channel of choice, then you have your answer. If how your living is making you more stressed and overwhelmed and barely functioning, then you know your answer.

Samuel and all of Bethlehem are grounded in the ritual of sacrifice. There was a liturgy to it. There is a tradition there. Frankly, it’s what we’re doing now. Tradition is how information gets passed from one generation to another, and this takes many forms: it’s what you do at a certain time in a certain way. This building, what hymns we sing, when we sit, stand, pray, and how we gather. When I’m feeling in the weeds or blown, our Sunday rituals help ground me.

Find your grounding. Become a radical. Radical means, “return to the roots.” What roots you and grounds you when there’s anxiety in the system? Liturgy helps with that. There’s a rhythm and comfort in the process, even when the words are challenging in places. Samuel follows tradition and liturgy of sacrifice. He listens to God. He doesn’t have a master plan but takes it step by step—anointing oil in hand, trusting that clarity will come. When we’re in the weeds, the way out isn’t having all the answers at once—it’s taking the next faithful step.

Part Three: Sees the Heart: 1 Samuel 16: 6-10
When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely his anointed is now before the Lord.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him, for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.”

God doesn’t see as we see. We look on outward appearance. Ain’t that the truth.

We are vane creatures. Research shows that physical traits like height and attractiveness significantly impact earnings and opportunities due to societal biases. According to the Journal of Applied Science, taller individuals, particularly men, earn approximately 2.5% more per inch of height annually over 5’10”, with taller men more likely to hold leadership roles—about 58% of Fortune 500 CEOs are over 6 feet tall. Similarly, attractive people earn 3-4% more on average, with those in client-facing roles earning up to 10-15% more, as documented by economist Daniel Hamermesh in Beauty Pays. These advantages stem from perceptions of competence, likability, and leadership potential associated with these traits, known as the “Halo Effect.” These biases also extend to hiring, promotions, and networking opportunities, reinforcing disparities despite equal qualifications.[2]

But God sees the heart. That’s good. Rabbinic tradition[3] portrays Saul as someone with a fundamentally good heart that became corrupted under the pressures of kingship, insecurity, and the temptations of power. In contrast, David’s heart, though not without flaws, is presented as ultimately aligned with God because of his humility, repentance, and faith. The lesson of “God sees the heart” is a reminder that true leadership requires inner integrity, humility, and the ability to remain faithful to God’s will, even in the face of great challenges.

Jesse’s sons are paraded before Samuel and he’s ready to jump at the first one that comes his way. Same with our own tendency to judge success by outward appearance, which can overwhelm us into unhealthy comparisons or false assumptions.  The one who is picked is a “nobody,” seemingly not even worth considering, not even in the room yet. Yet God sees him.

Part Four: The God of Nobodies: 1 Samuel 16: 11-13
11 Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him, for we will not sit down until he comes here.” 12 He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. The Lord said, “Rise and anoint him, for this is the one.” 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

Now he had a great complexion, beautiful eyes, and was handsome. Of course he was. Jesus was too probably. Good genetics. God knows we wouldn’t listen otherwise. We’re vain and easily influenced by appearances.  Here is the youngest. The one herding sheep, the ancient entry level job. Not even important enough to get an invite. Yet this is the one whom  Samuel anoints. The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David. That’s when he’s named, that’s a heck of an entrance! The greatest king of Israel’s history. This is like no other king narrative. No virgin birth like Roman Emperor Augustus. No natal star seen at its rising like Buddha. No signs or wonders, just a stressed-out prophet coming to an anxious town. The only other example like this story I can think of is the Sword in the Stone and King Arthur.

This God of ours is a god of nobodies. A god of the overlooked, the outcast, the oppressed and downtrodden. If you want to find God, get close to those folk. God came to a bunch of nobody slaves in Egypt and chose them. They asked for a king, and while not part of God’s initial plan, they got what they wanted. This is as high as Israel gets, and it’s maybe the minor leagues when it comes to empires and kingdoms. It’s not the major league of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, or Romans. They were like the Browns. Or the Toledo Mudhens. Yet the impact this nation has. The impact the descendants of those who followed this king cannot be told. Especially when it comes to Jesus. When God is born among us, it’s to nobodies in the town of their ancestor David. O Little Town of Bethlehem! God then pal’d around with fishermen and tax collectors and just average everyday people. Men, women, and children. And they changed the world.

Maybe you feel like Samuel—grieving, stressed, unsure what’s next. Maybe you feel like the elders of Bethlehem—on edge, bracing for bad news. Maybe you feel like David—a nobody, overlooked. But the good news is this: God meets us there. Whether you’re in the weeds or completely blown, help is on the way. Step by step, the Spirit moves, and the world changes. Become a radical. Return to your roots of what grounds you the most. It will help you do what the situation that faces you calls for and help you hurry off to Ramah, or wherever the Spirit takes you. And that my friends, is very, very good news for our day. Amen.

Works Cited

[1] WHAT WE DO 2025 TALK. The Robcast, posted on 1/23/2025. Listened to on 1/28/25.

[2] Timothy A. Judge and Daniel M. Cable, “The Effect of Physical Height on Workplace Success and Income: Preliminary Test of a Theoretical Model,” Journal of Applied Psychology 89, no. 3 (2004): 428–441. Daniel S. Hamermesh, Beauty Pays: Why Attractive People Are More Successful (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011). Richard E. Nisbett and Timothy DeCamp Wilson, “The Halo Effect: Evidence for Unconscious Alteration of Judgments,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 35, no. 4 (1977): 250–256.

[3] Rashi. Commentary on the Torah and Prophets. Translated by Rabbi A.J. Rosenberg. New York: Judaica Press, 1990. Talmud: Sanhedrin 20b. In The Babylonian Talmud, translated by I. Epstein. London: Soncino Press, 1935.and Shemot Rabbah 31:9. In The Midrash Rabbah: Exodus, translated by S.M. Lehrman. London: Soncino Press, 1939.

 

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