Bible Commentaries
1 Samuel 16

Verses 1-54

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DAVID CHOSEN AS SAUL’S SUCCESSOR,

AND HIS INTRODUCTION TO THE COURT OF SAUL

1 Samuel 16:1-17:54

The rejection of King Saul introduces as his successor the most remarkable man of the Hebrew monarchy, or of any other monarchy. Apart from the history of David, we cannot understand the Psalms, and apart from the Psalms, we cannot understand the history. A great number of these Psalms, written by David himself, reflect and expound his own life experiences, and forecast the experiences of Christian people of all subsequent generations. Most of the others were written by his singers and their successors. There is for every Psalm an historic occasion and background.

Again, apart from David’s history, we cannot understand the marvelous development of the messianic hope from his time on. In like manner, in his own time and later, the great prophetic utterances root in his history, with their promises and foreshadowings. Indeed, the proofs of a high order of spiritual life in the old dispensation, and of the spiritual import of the Mosaic law are most abundant in David’s life, his worship, and the literature arising therefrom.

To take away the history of David, removes in an important sense, the foundation of the New Testament. This connection with the New Testament may be abundantly found in references to the history of David, and the exposition of it by our Lord and his apostles. Fortunately for the preachers of our day, there is a rich and trustworthy literature concerning this most notable king of history. Indeed, in view of this literature, so easily obtained, that preacher is inexcusable who remains in ignorance concerning David. No exigency of life, whether arising from poverty, sickness, or any other cause, can excuse the preacher who fails to study, in a thorough and systematic manner, the life of David.

The reader will recall the books recommended when we commenced this harmony; not a multitudinous and costly list for great scholars, but a list for students of the English Bible, all cheap, all good, all easily obtained, and it was stated at that time that when we came to the history of David, other books of like character would be named. Some, indeed, of the very best of these we reserve until we come to the study of the Psalter. The preacher who has in his library choice books on the law, the Psalter and the prophets is equipped for Old Testament exposition, and prepared to undertake the study of the New Testament. Every Sunday school teacher and every layman engaged in any public activity of kingdom-service should have these books. Now to these already named, to wit: Josephus, Edersheim, Dean, Geikie, Stanley, Hengstenberg, and to the three commentaries – Kirkpatrick on Samuel in the Cambridge Bible, Blaikie on Samuel in the Expositor’s Bible, and Murphy on 1 Chronicles – we will add and especially commend a little book entitled David King of Israel, by W. M. Taylor, author also of the famous book of the parables. It will be observed that the textbook has for its third part of Saul’s reign this appropriate heading: "The Decline of Saul and the Rise of David," and that this history is found in 1 Samuel 16-31, supplemented by only five passages from Chronicles (1 Chronicles 10:1-14; 1 Chronicles 11:13-14; 1 Chronicles 12:1-7; 1 Chronicles 12:16-18; 1 Chronicles 12:19-22) only thirty verses in all.

There are special items of interest touching David, which appear in the various genealogical tables of both Testaments, to wit:

1. His ancestry is clearly traced back to Adam, and his posterity forward to our Lord.

2. Twice is his descent marked from one of twins struggling in the mother’s womb, the history in each case remarkable. You will find the history in Genesis 25:21-26; Genesis 38:1-30.

3. On the maternal side are two foreigners, Rahab the Canaanitess and Ruth the Moabitess, thus connecting both David and our Lord with the Gentiles.

4. He came in the line of all the promises from Adam to his own time.

5. He came in the royal line according to the prophecy of his dying ancestor, Jacob: The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, Nor the Ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes: And unto Him shall the obedience of the peoples be.

6. His birthplace and home is Bethlehem, and it was the birthplace of his greater son, our Lord.

There is some difficulty in determining his place in the family, that is, whether he was the seventh or the eighth son of Jesse. The scriptures that furnish an explanation of statements that he was the seventh son and the eighth son are 1 Samuel 16:10-11; 1 Samuel 17:12; 2 Samuel 17:25; 1 Chronicles 2:15; 1 Chronicles 27:18. This section presents eight sons, of whom David is declared to be the youngest, and in the next chapter it expressly says that Jesse had eight sons, and again affirms that David was the youngest; but 1 Chronicles 2:15 makes David the seventh. A careful examination of all these passages yields this explanation: He was the seventh son of Jesse by his first wife, but younger than another son of Jesse by his second wife; therefore he was the seventh son in the sense meant, and yet he was the eighth and the youngest son of Jesse.

As we progress in the history, we will find other members of David’s kindred becoming quite prominent in the history, and some of them adding much to the troubles and tragedies of his life. His three oldest brothers are mentioned in this section as being in Saul’s army, and Elihu, another brother, when David organized the kingdom, becomes captain of the tribe of Judah. Amasa, the son of his sister, Abigail, is a very prominent figure in the history, and with Abishai, Joab, and Asahel, sons of his sister, Zeruiah, have much more to do with his history. One of his uncles, Jonadab, becomes an occasional counselor in his reign, and one of his brothers becomes a mighty champion.

Our story commences under the following conditions: First, Saul, under two great tests, failed to comply with the kingdom charter, losing the dynasty by the first, and his personal right to reign by the second, but he is yet king de facts though not de jure. That means he is king in fact, but not in right. Jehovah has utterly withdrawn from any communication with him, and an evil spirit is leading him to ruin. The Philistines still wage war against him. Samuel, the aged prophet, has withdrawn from him, and is teaching in his school of the prophets at Ramah. Jehovah has already announced to Saul, not only the loss of the throne to his dynasty and his personal rejection as king, but that the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and commanded him to be captain over his people; but so far there has been no designation of this man, and you must particularly note that after the designation his rule does not commence until Saul has wrought out his own ruin.

The section opens with Jehovah’s designation of the man by lot, and his anointing by Samuel. Samuel’s fear that Saul will kill him if he anoints a successor is assuaged by Jehovah’s directions as to the method and purpose of the anointing. It is not the divine purpose to bring about a division of Israel under rival kings; therefore Samuel must go to Bethlehem to offer sacrifices, which would not attract Saul’s attention; then the designation by lot there, with the anointing, are private acts. The object of this is to begin the preparation of David for the kingly office, which he is not to assume until the time designated by Jehovah. At no time while Saul lives does either the Spirit impress David to assume the kingly office for which he has been anointed, nor does David of his own motion conspire against Saul, or in any way seek to weaken his authority. This time the basis of God’s choice is not physical stature and strength, as in Saul’s case, but the state of the heart in God’s sight.

The choice surprises everybody but God. Neither Samuel nor the family, nor David himself would have judged as Jehovah judged. Seldom indeed can parents, brother or sister point out the member of the family who shall become illustrious, nor does the illustrious one himself always anticipate his future honor and position. A boy often aspires to great things, and imagines most vividly the glories that shall rest on him when he shall have the world in a sling, and vividly pictures to himself a homecoming when all the other members of his family shall find shelter under his wings, and all the neighbors who had failed to recognize his budding genius shall stand with mouths agape, while salvos of artillery, unfurled banners, flower-decked streets proclaim his honor, while bands are playing "See, the Conquering Hero Comes!" But time, the great revealer, shows these egotistical fancies to be as "the airy nothings" of a dream.

A boy in East Texas offered to take me from one preaching place to another, in order, as he stated, to tell me that he would be the governor of Texas, but I haven’t heard from him since. Shakespeare says, "Some men are born great; some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them," but being born to a high honor, or having it thrust upon you, will only add to your unfitness and make your failure more conspicuous, if you have not the character and training to wear it well.

It may be that some one of my readers, in casting his horoscope, has seen himself a preacher cutting a wide swath, salary of $10,000 a year, no building able to hold his congregations, and glaring headlines in the great dailies announcing that he is "shaking the foundations of hell and opening the portals of heaven."

Some of my admiring friends, judging from my great knowledge of the history of wars, predicted that I would at least become a corps commander, should a war arise in my time. A war came and left me a high private, while only such "little" men as Lee, Jackson, Stuart, and the Johnstons on one side, and Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, and Thomas on the other side, wrote their names in the niches of the temple of fame – but these "little" men were all trained at West Point.

The history we are studying makes it evident that Saul had neither the character nor the training to become a great ruler, but David had both. Woe to any of us who under-estimate the knowledge of these three things: (1) a right state of heart toward God, (2) the discipline of preparation and training, and (3) dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit.

Only men of great heart, great preparation, and great power with God achieve anything worth while in the ministry. David’s early life in the fields and valleys and mountains, with its isolation and loneliness given to meditation and reflection, put him near to nature’s heart and impressed him with the fact that an individual man is insignificant in the scheme of God’s great universe, and hence taught him to sing: "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him?" and also taught him to sing, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge." His occupation gave him the shepherd’s heart, and evoked that sweetest of all hymns: "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want," and that same shepherd office called out high courage that made him triumph in solitary grapple with the lion and the bear that would prey upon his flock, and gave him a matchless skill with the sling that would one day smite down a boasting giant.

The hardships of this calling in such a field gave him toughness of fiber and power of endurance. He could bear hunger and cold and heat without fainting. He himself says that he became as "fleet of foot as a wild gazelle," and could conquer a goat in climbing a mountain. His association with the school of the prophets gave him devotion of spirit, and developed that natural cunning of fingers that struck the strings of a harp in a way never equalled by any other hard. His music would not only charm a serpent, soothe a savage breast, drive away melancholy, but would dispossess the devil, and above all things, with his anointing, the Spirit came upon him, and was never taken away from him. Only once he let Satan prompt him to do a disastrous thing, and once only through sin was he constrained to pray, "Take not thy Holy Spirit from me, and renew a right spirit within me."

Apart from this early life preparation, before he appears in public and begins to reign so long and so well, there awaits him a novitiate of training under sufferings and persecutions such as seldom fall to the lot of man. His personal appearance is described in 1 Samuel 16:12 and 1 Samuel 17:2, as ruddy of face, brilliant of eye, very handsome in his person. We are able to distinguish the Spirit’s power that came on David from the same power on Saul. In Saul’s case, it was only occasional, and finally utterly withdrawn; in David’s case, the "Spirit abode on him from that day forward." An old writer thus distinguishes between a sinner and a saint: "The Spirit visits a sinner, but dwells with a saint; and conversely, Satan visits a saint, but dwells with a sinner." A very fine thought. Here we come upon a controversy: What was the occasion of David’s first introduction to the court of Saul? Was it the harp-playing of 1 Samuel 16:14-23, or was it the slaying of Goliath and the consequent victory, as told in 1 Samuel 17? If the first, how do you account for Saul’s ignorance of David when he appears on the second occasion, 1 Samuel 17:55-58, that is, Saul’s asking Abner, "Who is this young stripling?" and Abner’s saying, "I don’t know." They don’t seem ever to have heard of him. Some critics contend that 1 Samuel 16-17 are from different historic sources, and that they contradict each other flatly and irreconcilably in giving the occasion of David’s introduction to the court of Saul. Moreover, they say that if the harp-playing precedes the other, then the ignorance of not only Saul himself, but of the whole court concerning David and his father, is inexplicable, especially as in the nature of the case there could be no great interval of time between the two events, since David is, in the second, twice called a "stripling."

The possibility of two sources is conceded, but not the certainty of it. It is the custom of inspired writers to repeat on new occasions enough of the past history to make clear the context. The court of Saul was ignorant of David and his family on both occasions. The first time, only one of the servants knows anything about David and his family, and his skill of song and speech, and Jehovah’s presence with him. The servant’s word about David, and his family would make no great or lasting impression on Saul and his court. The chief thing with them was the curing of Saul, and when after several harp playings, the cure seems permanent, the human helper returns to the care of his flocks and is swiftly forgotten. You will understand their ignorance from the fact that Samuel’s anointing of David was not in the public eye, but in private, and the spiritual endowment that followed would be known only by a few neighbors having knowledge of David’s shepherd life; none of it was known abroad. His ministrations and harp playing were in the sick room and not before the court. Moreover, Saul himself, while possessed of an evil spirit, suffered from mental aberration, which naturally impaired his memory, and while the record of the harp playing shows that Saul loved the healer, we all know by experience how grateful to the physician is every patient in the moment of relief, but if we continue well, how easily the physician passes out of our memory and life, until we get sick again. It is somewhat like the old proverb: When the devil is sick, The devil & saint would be; When the devil is well, The devil of a saint is he!

Solomon says in his penitential book, "There is no remembrance of former generations," (Ecclesiastes 1:11). But there is no need to quote this general reflection of Solomon, since one of the most striking characteristics of human courts is that presence only keeps one in mind. Absence obliterates you from the memory of the great, to whom yesterday is a "long time ago," and with whom the new man or the new event fills all the vision. As an illustration of the characteristic of kings to forget their benefactors, the great Earl of Stratford, himself a notable illustration of this fact, said, when his death warrant was signed by the ungrateful Charles I, "Put not your trust in princes," so we needn’t concern ourselves about the contradictions the critics are so ready to find.

In all literature no book can be found more natural, more true to life, more vivid and simple in its records of past events, than 1 Samuel. Each event is recorded as by an eyewitness in its own independent setting, absolutely devoid of any strain to appear consistent with previous statements. Any lawyer will tell you that the evidence of a witness is to be distrusted when he labors to harmonize one statement with another. He is sure to tell a lie when he does that.

Our conclusion, then, is fixed that the harp-playing preceded the Goliath incident. Indeed, the evidence is positive that David did not continue at Saul’s court on his first introduction. You were told in 2 Samuel 17:12 that he would only come when there was the sickness, and then go back to his home; but after his second introduction, as you learn from 1 Samuel 18:2, Saul did not allow him to go home any more.

Sir Walter Scott, in one of his romances, makes the harp playing of a beautiful girl drive away the temporary madness of a highland chief. In which romance is this incident related? I will ask also, What did Shakespeare say about the man devoid of music? Can you answer that? The question also arises: How do you explain the healing of Saul? The answer is obvious. The Spirit of the Lord in David’s music was greater than the demon possessing Saul.

Other items on the designation and anointing of David we need not discuss further, nor the healing of Saul by David’s playing the harp, but something should be said about the fight with Goliath and the victory that ensued.

We have before us a giant indeed, and we learn from other parts of the Bible that there was a family of these giants. This man was not the only one of the family. You would have a hard time carrying his spear, and you would be unable to carry his armor. The two armies came face to face, with just a ravine between, one on each hill. The one that advances has the task of going down hill under fire, and coming up a hill under charge; therefore Goliath, the giant, according to custom, steps out and challenges anybody in Israel to test the fate of the two nations on a single combat, and in order to provoke a response, he, according to the usual custom, curses the gods of the people that he challenges. This happens for forty days in succession. Israel is humbled; the Philistines triumph. About that time, Jesse wants to send some rations to his three boys in the army, just like parents sometime send provisions to students in school, and David is appointed to carry them, and when he gets there, he hurriedly puts the provisions with the baggage of the army, and rushes to the front. He wants to see the fight, and he hears a shout and beholds that giant come out and repeat his insulting and blasphemous challenge, and he inquires why somebody had not responded. His older brother says, virtually, "You had better go back and be tied again to your mother’s apron string. What’s a little boy like you doing on a battlefield where men only ought to be?" David responds that nothing he has said was out of place, and leaves the brethren, who did not believe in him, as the brothers of our Lord did not believe in him, and goes and mixes around among the soldiers and urges that somebody in the name of Jehovah could smite that giant, and that he is willing to undertake it.

Saul, who had offered an immense reward to anyone who would accept the challenge and defeat the giant, including even his own daughter for a wife, hears of David’s offer and sends for him. He is surprised to see a boy – a mere stripling – and he says: "You? You can’t fight this giant." David says, "Sire, I can. I am the shepherd of my father’s flock, and when a bear and a lion came out to prey on the flock, I fought them unarmed, and when they reared up against me, I took them by the mane and slew them." Saul was a much bigger man than David. He said, "I am willing to let you go if you will put on my armor." David put it on and took it off, saying that he could not fight in Saul’s armor. What a text for the preacher! ever try to fight as some other man fights. Don’t try to preach like Brother Truett. You can’t do it. Don’t imitate him.

So David marches down against Goliath with nothing but a sling. He picks up in that ravine five pebbles. It excites the scorn of the giant that a boy unarmed should be sent against him, and he says, "Come up here and let me give your flesh to the fowls of the air," and again curses Jehovah. David never stops, but runs to meet him, puts a stone in the sling, whirling it around; it flies and smites the giant in the middle of the forehead, and buries itself in his brain.

The text says that the giant so struck fell on his face. Why did not he fall backwards? It is a notable fact, witnessed a thousand times on the battlefield, and in executing men by shooting, that when the firing squad fires and the bullets enter the man’s heart, he always falls on his face, never backwards. It is one of these natural things that continually creep into Samuel’s narrative that makes one know it is a true story. I have seen thousands of men fall in battle, and I never saw a man shot through the brain or heart that did not fall forward. David rises up, takes Goliath’s sword and cuts his head off, places the head at Jerusalem for the present, puts the armor in his tent, and here comes the question that you may answer: When does Goliath’s sword appear again in the history? What did he do with it, and where does it come to light again? With the fall of the giant the Philistines are panic-stricken and the Israelites encouraged, and the fight joins, and it is in the book of Chronicles that we learn a fact not stated in Samuel. That passage about Shammah does not belong there where the harmonist puts it, but the one about Eleazar may be rightly placed. The fight was waged in a plat of ground full of barley. Eleazar stands with him and does great exploits, and so they put the Philistines to rout, and Eleazar afterwards, when David becomes king, is one of his mighty men. The victory is very great, and David returns and Saul appropriates him. He is never more allowed to go back to his father’s house.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the general theme of the Harmony’s third part of the reign of Saul?

2. What part of 1 Samuel covers the theme?

3. How much does 1 Chronicles supplement?

4. What is the present section?

5. What new book is commended?

6. What is the importance of the history of David, and its relation to the Psalm, the Mosaic law, the larger messianic hope, the prophets, and the New Testament?

7. What is the richness of the literature on David, and the preacher’s duty concerning it?

8. What items of special interest in genealogical tables of both Testaments concerning David?

9. Where is his birthplace and home?

10. Was he the seventh or eighth son of Jesse, and what scriptures, when compared, answer the question?

11. Name other members of David’s family, some of them quite prominent in the subsequent history, who add to the troubles and tragedies of his later life.

12. State the conditions under which the story of his life opens.

13. What are the divisions of this section?

14. Give the story of Jehovah’s designation of David, and his anointing in such a way as to show they were both private.

15. What is the basis of the choice of king this time, and who were surprised at it, and why?

16. What is the author’s observations on this point?

17. What three things should a preacher never underestimate?

18. What are the elements of David’s preparation to be king, arising from his early life and office?

19. What says Shakespeare of the man devoid of music?

20. What is David’s highest qualification immediately following his anointing, and contrast it with Saul’s like qualification.

21. What is an old-time preacher’s distinction on this point between a saint and sinner?

22. What apropos proverb concerning the devil?

23. What is David’s personal appearance?

24. How do you dispose of the apparent contradiction between 1 Samuel 16:14-23 and 1 Samuel 17:12-58 as to the occasion of David’s first introduction to the court of Saul; and if you say the harp-playing was the first, then explain the ignorance of David and his family manifested by Saul and his court on the second introduction,

25. How do you explain David’s healing of Saul by music?

26. In what romance does Sir Walter Scott give the story of a highland chief’s madness being dispelled by a girl’s harp-playing?

27. What is the relative position of the opposing armies of Saul and the Philistines?

28. What is the nature of Goliath’s challenge, and why does he curse Jehovah?

29. What is Saul’s offer for reward for a champion who would defeat him?

30. What is the occasion of David’s presence on the battlefield?

31. Why his indignation that no Israelite responded to the challenge, and his oldest brother’s rebuke?

32. Show from his interview with Saul that faith and not immodesty prompted him to accept the challenge.

33. Why did he reject Saul’s armor, and rely upon his shepherd’s sling?

34. Why did Goliath, when smitten, fall on his face?

35. What is the effect of the fall of Goliath on the two armies?

36. What hero stood by David in the fight, before the main body army arrives?

37. Tell the history of David’s disposition of Goliath’s head, armor, and sword, and when again does the sword appear in the history?