1 Samuel 16
Samuel is sent to Jesse of Bethlehem. Seven sons pass before him. Each time: not this one. The eighth is in the field.
Summary
Chapter 16 introduces the book's central figure through a scene of deliberately engineered surprise. The Lord sends Samuel to Bethlehem with a heifer for sacrifice and instructions to anoint one of Jesse's sons as the next king. Samuel arrives, consecrates Jesse and his sons, and the selection begins. Eliab, the eldest and apparently impressive, presents himself first. Samuel thinks: surely this is the Lord's anointed. The Lord corrects him with the chapter's key line: the Lord does not see as mortals see — they look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. This single principle governs everything that follows in David's story.
Seven sons of Jesse pass before Samuel, and the Lord chooses none of them. Samuel asks whether there are others. There is the youngest, Jesse says, but he is tending the sheep — the social assumption being that the youngest son kept out with the animals is not a plausible candidate. He is sent for. He arrives ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord tells Samuel to anoint him. Samuel pours oil on David's head; the spirit of the Lord rushes upon him and remains from that day forward. The chapter's second movement is quieter but equally significant. An evil spirit from the Lord torments Saul, and his servants suggest finding someone who can play the lyre to soothe him. One of them knows a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who is skilful in playing and is a man of valour, a man of war, prudent in speech, and good-looking. David is sent for, enters Saul's service, and Saul loves him greatly and makes him his armour-bearer. David the anointed shepherd is now inside the palace of the king he will replace.
- 1 Samuel 1Chapter 1 opens at the sanctuary at Shiloh, where Elkanah of Ephraim brings his household each year to worship.
- 1 Samuel 2Chapter 2 opens with the Song of Hannah, one of the most influential poems in the Hebrew Bible — my heart exults in the Lord, the mighty brought low, the hungry fed, the barren bearing seven.
- 1 Samuel 3Chapter 3 is one of the most carefully paced call narratives in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 4Chapter 4 is the disaster that the previous chapters have been building toward.
- 1 Samuel 5Chapter 5 is the ark narrative in Philistine territory, told with something close to sardonic comedy.
- 1 Samuel 6Chapter 6 is the ark's return to Israel, engineered by Philistine priests who want to know whether their afflictions are the Lord's doing or mere coincidence.
- 1 Samuel 7Chapter 7 is the closing movement of the Samuel-as-judge arc.
- 1 Samuel 8Chapter 8 is the pivot of the entire book.
- 1 Samuel 9Chapter 9 introduces Saul, and the introduction is built on irony.
- 1 Samuel 10Chapter 10 is Saul's anointing and public selection.
- 1 Samuel 11Chapter 11 is Saul's first military action and the only chapter of his reign where he functions without any reservation or failure.
- 1 Samuel 12Chapter 12 is Samuel's formal farewell as Israel's judge, a speech that occupies the whole chapter.
- 1 Samuel 13Chapter 13 begins the decline.
- 1 Samuel 14Chapter 14 is a chapter of action and its costs.
- 1 Samuel 15Chapter 15 is the final disqualification.
- 1 Samuel 16Chapter 16 is the introduction of David and one of the most carefully constructed scenes of divine election in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 17Chapter 17 is the book's most famous chapter.
- 1 Samuel 18Chapter 18 is where the book's two great relationships crystallize.
- 1 Samuel 19Chapter 19 is the escalation from hostility to overt murderous intent.
- 1 Samuel 20Chapter 20 is the central scene of the David-Jonathan friendship and one of the great parting scenes in ancient literature.
- 1 Samuel 21Chapter 21 is a chapter of disguise and desperation.
- 1 Samuel 22Chapter 22 is one of the darkest chapters in the book.
- 1 Samuel 23Chapter 23 is a chapter of pursuit and one extraordinary meeting.
- 1 Samuel 24Chapter 24 is the first of two episodes in which David has Saul's life in his hands and refuses to take it.
- 1 Samuel 25Chapter 25 opens with Samuel's death — mourned by all Israel — and then turns to a story of David's near loss of self-control and the woman who stops it.
- 1 Samuel 26Chapter 26 is the second episode in which David refuses to kill Saul and, like chapter 24, it is structured to make the refusal as emphatic as possible.
- 1 Samuel 27Chapter 27 is the chapter of David's double game among the Philistines.
- 1 Samuel 28Chapter 28 is one of the strangest and most debated passages in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 29Chapter 29 is the resolution of a problem the narrative has been building toward: David, marching with Achish and the Philistine forces to fight against Israel.
- 1 Samuel 30Chapter 30 is the crisis of David's time among the Philistines.
- 1 Samuel 31Chapter 31 is the last chapter of 1 Samuel and the end of Saul's story.