1 Samuel 16:1 Commentary and Bible Study

The first verse tells us of the deep concern of Samuel the prophet, his mourning for Saul. He saw the tragedy. We read in chapter 15 that God twice said he had rejected Saul as king because of his disobedience, and on the third occasion that he would rend from him the kingdom. That at least informed Samuel that the downfall of Saul would be sudden and violent, and he was deeply sorry for him, and moved. There may just have been another cause for concern in Samuel, probably not merited, but he may have blamed himself for perhaps not having taken more time with Saul, not having remonstrated with him more and taught him more. We have no evidence at all that this was the case, but Samuel was such a man with such a heart, you could see him shouldering to some extent the blame for another’s fall, and another’s sin. But the LORD says, ’How long wilt thou mourn for Saul?’ It is mild, but there is an element of rebuke in it. Samuel appears to be being reproved. He continues in disappointment. He doesn't disagree – we can be sure – in the slightest with God's judgement in the matter, and God's wisdom, God's disposal of the case, but he is still very sad and gloomy. He didn't know that it would be some time yet before Saul would be torn down, but nevertheless he had spent a lot of time concerned for Saul. It is time to get on with the work of God, time for the anointing of the new king. He had had the information that such a king was to be appointed, that there was to be a transition of rule and authority, but he wasn't asking direction, and so he wasn't getting direction. The implication seems to be this: that if Samuel had only got down to prayer, perhaps, God would have intimated to him who the new king would be far sooner. It isn't a great sin, but it's a foolish thing. Samuel, the man of God who normally makes intercession for the people, and responds to everything in prayer, certainly does not seem right now to be calling upon the Lord for certain guidance. So a rejected king is occupying the throne. We are justified in looking at the passage this way, because God says to Samuel, ‘Fill thine horn with oil and go; I will send thee to Jesse, the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king among his sons.’ So even Samuel is at fault. So Samuel is sent to Jesse, to this Bethlehemite, living in a place of absolutely no significance. Not very far from the major political capital, but of no significance. Various writers have called Jesse a country squire, with little to be said for him, apart from a great deal of inherited wealth coming down from Boaz, and no great ambition but just a rich country squire living in a totally insignificant place. And yet Samuel was sent there: the last place he would have expected to find anyone. There doesn't seem to be much said for Jesse either, but his wife, at least the mother of David appears to have been a particularly godly woman. The evidence for that is the many references of David to himself as the son of God’s handmade. He refers to himself repeatedly as ‘the son of thy handmaid’. There is recognition there that his mother had a special place in his spiritual upbringing and his conversion. When he thinks of his mother, he thinks of her as the one who was God’s real servant to him. And of course his grandmother was Ruth, and doubtless the testimony of Ruth's conversion came down through the family. She was a Gentile, and yet she had been brought into the royal line – not that they knew at that stage that it was the royal line of the Messiah – because of her faith, because of her true spiritual conversion. However much of a country squire, spiritual or unspiritual, his father may have been, David certainly had a clear and a strong testimony in the upbringing of his mother.