Chapter 15 opens the third of three Acts in the drama of 1 Samuel; the sun is beginning to rise on “Twilight Kingdom.” Having closed the curtain on Saul’s reign with the official record of his exploits in 14:47-52, from this point on, Saul’s fall will serve as the backdrop of David’s rise.
The priority of the human king who serves over Yahweh’s kingdom is that he must obey God. However, just as he had done in chapter 13, King Saul again disobeyed God’s clear instruction; this does not amount to merely a different expression of faith, but it is rebellion, arrogance, and idolatry.
In chapter 16, Yahweh sends the prophet Samuel to discover and anoint the man after His heart. One by one, Jesse brings seven of his sons before the prophet, and for all of them Samuel’s response was, “the Lord has not chosen these” (16:10). With each rejection, God confounded human wisdom and earthly standards, finally settling on the most unlikely son of Jesse. Yahweh could see what man could not – the heart. As He tells Samuel in verse 7, “for the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Ultimately 1 Samuel 16 directs our hearts and minds to David’s greater Son, rejected by the builders, but chosen by God (Ps 118:22-23). He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him … He was despised and we esteemed him not (Isaiah 53:2-3). Man chooses based on the outward appearance, often missing “the Chosen” by God.
