The Lord Looks at the Heart
Samuel 16
Today’s text of the Bible tells us the story that God, through his prophet Samuel, called and anointed David as the new king of Israel. David, along with Abraham, is the most respected person in the history of Israel. While Abraham was the founder of the People of Israel, David was the founder of the Kingdom of Israel. In the genealogy of Jesus Christ at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, the title “King” is given only to David, saying “Jesse the father of King David” (Matthew 1:6), although there are many other kings in the genealogy. This suggests that David was “the King,” not just one of the kings. Furthermore, he was the most outstanding model of Christ who was to come. So the Jews used “the Son of David” as another name of Christ (Mark 12:35). Jesus also introduced himself “I am the Root and the Offspring of David” (Revelation 22:16). In David, indeed, we can smell the fragrance of Christ that was pleasant to God. 1Samuel Chapter 16 is very meaningful in that it describes the first appearance of King David in history. By studying this chapter carefully, we can see what kind of man David was and why God chose him to anoint as king of Israel.
From Samuel 16, we can get a number of personal details of David. First of all, he was a son of Jesse of Bethlehem (16:1). He had seven older brothers (16:10), and David was the youngest among the eight sons of Jesse (16:11). The Bible doesn’t say the exact age of David when he was anointed by Samuel, but most of scholars believe that David would be around 14-15 years old at that time. In Chapter 17, Goliath, the giant warrior, saw David who was coming to him to fight, and despised him because he was “only a boy, ruddy and handsome” (17:42). David was so young that nobody failed to recognize his age out of his appearance. On the other hand, his official job was “a shepherd.” In 16:11, prophet Samuel asks Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” and Jesse answers: “There is still youngest, but he is tending the sheep.” In Verse 19 as well, Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” David was a shepherd. He was also an artist who knew how to play the harp, was a warrior who was brave, was a wise man who spoke well, and was a fine-looking man who had a ruddy and beautiful face and bright eyes (16:18). Furthermore, the Lord was with him (16:18). With all these personal features, he had such an interesting two-sided character. On the one hand, he was poor and little known (1Samuel 18:23). He was the last of the eight sons of Jesse, a countryman of Bethlehem, and his job was keeping the sheep in the field. On the other hand, he was lofty and majestic. He was beautiful, wise, and brave, and most of all, God was with him. This personal character of David reminds us of Jesus our Lord. Jesus was born of a poor carpenter of Nazareth in Galilee (Matthew 13:55), and he himself became a carpenter (Mark 6:3). At the same time, Luke 2:52 tells us about Jesus in his young ages: “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”
We have examined various facts about David that we can obtain from the Bible. Then, what was the decisive reason that God chose and called David as king of Israel? Simply saying, it was “his heart.” In today’s text, God mentions clearly what he sees when choosing his servants. Sent by God, Samuel visited Bethlehem in order to anoint one of Jesse’s sons. And when he saw Eliab, he thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” Then, the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.” Considering Samuel’s response to him and God’s word about him, Eliab was tall and handsome. His appearance was so excellent that it impressed even prophet Samuel in a second. But God said sternly, “I have rejected him!” And he added, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” That is true. God looks at the heart. This is the reason that God rejected the seven older sons of Jesse, and chose the youngest David. God sees the heart. In 1Samuel 13:14, Samuel says to Saul who failed to keep God’s command to him, “Now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” That is, David was “a man after God’s heart.” In Acts 13:22 as well, God says about David, “I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.”
Then, in what way was David a man after God’s heart? First of all, we can learn God’s will from the fact that God rejected Saul and discontinued his kingdom. God commanded Samuel to go to Bethlehem and anoint one of Jesse’s sons who was chosen by God as the new king of Israel. Hearing God’s command, Samuel was afraid to do so, saying, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me” (16:2). Samuel’s word shows well how Saul was at that time. Now Saul became a king by himself. And using his royal power, he pursued his own personal desires. At the beginning, he became a king only by God’s choice. In addition, God raised him as king of Israel only to let him “carry out God’s wills.” However, Saul forgot both. He forsook God and God’s will together. Now he became a king by himself, and exercised his power out of his desires and jealousy. Whether it was God’s servant like Samuel or God’s anointed like David, he didn’t care. Saul was now ready to kill anybody who was threatening his throne. What is sin? The essence of sin is “self-centeredness.” It is raising himself to be king and even to be God, and to pour all his heart in satisfying his desires. This man’s heart doesn’t have any space for God and God’s will. Rather, God becomes his enemy. This was the spiritual condition of Saul.
Then how was David? When I was in the seminary, I was given the assignment to read the books of the Old Testament and to find the key verse of each of the books. At that time, I selected 2Samuel 5:12 as the key verse of 1/2 Samuel. It says, “Then David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.” According to this word, David had two very important “knowledges of truth” in his heart, which were shining like bright stars and guiding every step of his life.” One was that “the Lord had established him as king over Israel,” and the other was that “the Lord had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.” David didn’t become king by himself. It was at his young age that David was anointed by God as king of Israel. This was really a groundbreaking event for David. After anointed, however, there was nothing changed in David’s life. He was still Jesse’s youngest son who was tending the sheep in the field, still the father’s errand boy, and at best, one of king Saul’s armor-bearers who was playing the harp for the king. It seems that David almost forgot the fact that he was God’s chosen anointed. If we read the Bible carefully, we can see that David had never boasted of his being anointed by Samuel, and never exercised his royal authority based on this calling of God as the new king of Israel. What was important to him was that God was his Lord and his King. After many trials and tribulations, David became king of Israel at the age of 30 (2Samuel 5:4). But even after he became king, nothing had changed. Why? It was because only the Lord God was the true King to David. He knew he became king only because God had established him as king over Israel. What was more important to him was that the Lord God was true King and Ruler. David held this truth more desperately when he himself was raised to be king. It was because only God was his true eternal King.
What David held firmly in his heart was that “the Lord had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.” David’s kingdom was the golden age in the history of Israel. Under his rule, the people of Israel enjoyed rich, peaceful, and glorious days. David could have boasted of this prosperity as his own work, and glorified his own name. But he didn’t do so. David confessed that the Lord had exalted his kingdom. In addition, he knew that God did so not for him but for God’s people of Israel. That is, from David’s point of view, he was merely an agent that God used in order to carry out God’s will for his people. God’s will, namely, God’s heart was not toward David but toward his people Israel. David knew this heart of God. And after this heart of God, he ruled the kingdom and served the people. In his heart was not his personal desire. In his heart was God’s desire. It was “God’s heart toward his people Israel.” David obeyed this heart of God, and executed his duties of king in the way of fulfilling God’s will. God was pleased with David as such, and exalted his kingdom. It was because God’s will toward his people was done by David.
David’s being a man after God’s heart has these two meanings. One is that “God” was dwelling in his heart as his eternal King and Lord, and the King ruled and guided his ways. And the other is that “what God loved most” was dwelling in David’s heart and it was also loved and cared by him even more than his own life. People say, “Love me, love my dog.” There is a similar proverb in Korea, which says, “If one loves his wife, he even bows down to the post of her parents’ house.” These sayings mean, “If I love someone, I also love everything (everyone) he loves.” In other words, “If I love someone but don’t love what he loves, I am not loving him fully.” This is also the case in our love relationship with God. Risen Jesus gave Peter his last word. Jesus asked him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” and said to him, “Take care of my sheep.” In this word, Jesus said as if Jesus himself and his sheep are one. What was in the heart of Jesus who was leaving the world was not “Peter” but “my sheep.” And the Lord was saying to Peter, “If you love me, you should also love my sheep as much as you love me, and take care of my sheep as faithfully as I have done.” And only for this, Jesus established Peter as the foundation of his church, and as a royal priesthood of his people.
When Samuel invited the sons of Jesse in order to find and anoint the new king, David didn’t appear at the scene. When Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” Jesse answered, “There is still the youngest, but he is tending the sheep.” People often say that David was not invited to the occasion because he was too young, he was merely the last of the siblings, and he was doing such a “worthless job” as shepherding. However, this is not true. The reason that David couldn’t attend the event was that “he was tending the sheep.” He was so faithful in taking care of the sheep put in his hand. It was impossible for him to leave the sheep in the field even a second. For David, there was nothing more important than tending the flock. In 1Samuel 17:34-35, David testifies before Saul how he had taken care of his sheep. “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.” In order to keep his father’s sheep, David ran the risk of his life, fighting against fearful wild beasts. He did this alone and with his bare hands in the wilderness. So nobody saw and recognized his hard works for the sheep. Still God was with him. God appreciated his heart and called him as king. Nobody invited him, but God led him before Samuel and got him anointed by the prophet. God knows each man’s inner heart. And God is not deceived by each man’s outer appearance. This is “the faith” we should have toward God. With this faith, we can overcome “the world that judges us according to our outward appearance, and live before God who sees what is done in secret (Matthew 6:4), and grow into a man and woman after God’s heart.
God led David to Samuel, and said to the prophet, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers. And from that day on, the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power. This is truly the landmark that divides between “before and after” David was anointed. The Spirit of God is God’s heart and God’s power. The Spirit of God is God’s best gift to those who seek God’s heart. Contrary to David who was filled with the Spirit of the Lord, Saul lost it. The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and instead, an evil spirit from the Lord began to torment him (1Samuel 16:14). Saul wanted to raise himself to king and to possess everything in his hands. But now, he even lost his own heart to the evil spirits, and his soul became an exciting playground of all kinds of dirty spirits. After all, he lost his kingdom, and also lost his own life together with his sons’. This is the last of anybody who raises himself as king and seeks his own desires apart from God. David was a man after God’s heart, and God anointed him with the Spirit of God. Can there be any better blessing than this? David might have lived his entire life, just tending the father’s sheep in the wilderness, known to nobody, having nothing but a shepherd staff in his hand. Still he will sing to God, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want!” Let us know more about God who looks at the heart. And let us grow into a man and woman after God’s heart in every way until we may be blessed with the fullness of the Holy Spirit!