サムエル記上16:1-13 1 Samuel 16:1-13

The first king of the nation of Israel was a man called Saul from the tribe of Benjamin. The king must govern the nation according to God’s teachings. However, Saul did not listen to and obey God’s word. He was the kind of king who did not do what God told him to do, did what God did not tell him to do, or did what God told him not to do. This is not fit to lead the people of Israel.

God had planned to set up a new king to rule over the people of Israel and had chosen a man in advance. It was a man called David, son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah, who lived in Bethlehem. God sent the prophet Samuel to Bethlehem to make David king over Israel. When Samuel arrived in Bethlehem, he worshipped God by offering animal sacrifices and sat down to a meal with the elders of the village.

And there, Jesse and his children were also invited. Jesse’s oldest child was a man called Eliab. Eliab was very tall and handsome and looked like a man fit for a king. But God said to Samuel. “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” Yes! The most important thing for the king of Israel was not whether he looked respectable, but whether he had a heart that listened to and obeyed the word of God. Then, Jesse brought seven sons one after another, but none of them were God’s chosen one. So Samuel asked Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” Jesse replied, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” What a surprise: while his elder brothers were invited to the meal, the youngest brother was uninvited and was keeping the sheep. And that person was David. Samuel told him to invite David here too. And when David came to the meal table, God said to Samuel, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” The anointing with fragrant oil was a ritual for becoming the king of Israel. Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed David in the presence of his father and elder brothers. Thus, David, with a heart that listened to and obeyed God’s word, began his path to becoming the king of Israel.