1 Samuel 16:6 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Samuel 16:6

Comments

Samuel looked on Eliab and said, ‘Surely [assuredly, certainly] ‘the LORD'S anointed is before him.’ But Samuel was going by his appearance (and so too was Jess who had not bothered to call David). Eliab obviously looked well-built, a true leader. Probably he looked very capable. Maybe there was a light in his eye, and he thought, ‘Surely Eliab is the man.’ So even the godly Samuel makes mistakes, and perhaps, after the misadventure with Saul, he should have thought, ‘Someone of stature may not be the answer.’ But he says, ‘Surely, assuredly, there couldn’t be a finer-looking person than Eliab or a better looking candidate.’ ‘But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.’ That is so significant. The Hebrew says, ‘Man looketh on the eye.’ Not with the eye, but on the eye, as though they were looking for more than just height, and build, and comeliness in appearance; but were looking on the alertness or intelligence in the face. There was also some judgement of person capabilities going on in this. ‘For man looketh upon the eye’, and our translators very excellently have paraphrased this as ‘the outward appearance’, ‘but the Lord looketh upon the heart.’ ‘Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this.Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this.Again’ – which would be better translated not as ‘again’ but as ‘thus’ or ‘so’ – ‘[Thus] Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these.’ Samuel is quite clear: none of these seven are the one that the Lord has sent him to anoint. There was evident later a certain resentment in the minds of the older brothers towards David (1 Samuel 17:28), and they do not seem to have had the same spiritual nature as their young brother. They would have found this selection of the Lord hard to handle.

Application

Grace comes before stature, when it comes to spiritual things. How much we need the guidance of the Lord! Grace before gifts even in appointing people to certain duties and functions in the service of Christ, in the church. We do obviously take account of gifts, but grace comes before even gifts. We would be better to have a person with something smaller in the way of gifts, and a great heart and godliness and much grace, than someone more capable who lacked character and lacked those experiences of the Lord. So grace before stature. We want in ourselves character, and humility, and love, and loyalty, and obedience. So it’s not appearances. Yes, be smart, be clean and reasonably well turned out, and all that kind of thing, but what matters is the heart, the fruit of the Spirit in the life: heavenly tastes, heavenly thinking, heavenly priorities, people who want to be kept clean for the Lord.

We think of that when church officers are appointed, or pastors are appointed, or teachers are appointed for children, for anything. We want to look upon the heart like the Lord, to the limited extent that we can see the heart. Does that person really have a heart for Christ? Does that person – if it's the Sunday school work – have a heart for the children? Is there going to be sympathy, and a heart of a concern which will be the engine of prayer? If it is a pastor, does the person have a heart for hearers? Is this man going to be one of those preachers who never even looks at the congregation, but who looks at the rafters or at the floor or at the lectern, and never at the people? He doesn't seem to be interested, doesn't seem to actually speak to them, or communicate with them. ‘Where is his heart?’ you will ask. It is easy to misjudge a person, but we have to try. Is there earnestness, so that we can see there is a heart there? Is this person going to intercede as well as teach or witness or speak? Whether it’s evangelistic work; whether it's our own private personal witness: how much heart is there in it? Will the Lord choose me to be a witness in the place where he has set me? A place of study or employment? Well the Lord looks on the heart, and have I a heart for souls and for the lost?

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Introduction

1 Samuel 16:6 Commentary and Bible Study