1 Samuel 16:11–13

Context

After rejecting Saul as king (1 Samuel 15:23–24), God sends Samuel to the house of Jesse the Bethlehemite. When Samuel sees Eliab, the firstborn, he assumes that Eliab is the one to be anointed, but God tells him, "for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). After all seven sons have passed before him, Samuel asks whether there is another son, and David, "the youngest," who has been keeping the sheep in the field, is summoned. Samuel takes the horn of oil (an animal horn used as a container for oil) and anoints David in the presence of his brothers. The following verses, 1 Samuel 16:13–14, draw a contrast: the Spirit of the LORD comes upon David and departs from Saul. This anointing took place within the family; David's actual accession to the throne came later at Hebron, when the men of Judah and then all Israel anointed him king (2 Samuel 2:4; 5:3).

Interpretation

• Historical and narrative reading: The passage is read as the starting point of the story in which kingship passes from the house of Saul to the house of David. Interpreters taking this approach note the narrative pattern in which God's choice is first made in private and is only later made public.
• Christological reading: Because the Hebrew word for "anointed one" is mashiach ("Messiah"), many Protestant commentators read David, the shepherd from Bethlehem, as a figure who foreshadows Jesus Christ.
• Pneumatological reading: The Reformed tradition generally explains the coming of the Spirit in the Old Testament as an endowment of power for carrying out an office and a mission. In Pentecostal and charismatic circles, the passage is often viewed as a model in which anointing and the presence of the Holy Spirit occur together, and it is frequently linked to ministers receiving the power of the Holy Spirit.

Questions of Application

Verse 7 states that God does not look on the outward appearance, yet verse 12 describes David's appearance favorably. Commentators typically respond that David was clearly not chosen for his looks and that the narrator intends a contrast with the description of Saul's appearance in 1 Samuel 9:2. The Hebrew word admoni, rendered "ruddy," is the same word used to describe Esau in Genesis 25:25. Interpreters differ on whether it refers to complexion or to hair color. In Korean Bible translation, the phrase rendered yeohowa-ui sin in the Korean Revised Version was changed to yeohowa-ui yeong ("the Spirit of the LORD") in the New Korean Revised Version.

In some churches the term "anointing" is used to elevate the authority of particular leaders. Critics respond that the passage concerns the royal succession of one individual, David, and that applying it directly to the status of present-day pastors takes it out of context.

In the Korean Church

In Korean preaching, this passage is commonly cited together with verse 7. It is used to emphasize that God looks on a person's heart, that He chose the least among the brothers, and that David's faithfulness in tending the sheep entrusted to him led to his calling.

Related Passages

• 1 Samuel 16:7
• 1 Samuel 16:14
• 2 Samuel 5:3
• Psalm 89:20
• Acts 13:22