Join us for a transformative journey through 1 Samuel 16 in this episode of Add Bible. We unpack the spiritual truths behind Samuel’s anointing of David, highlighting the contrast between outward appearances and the heart’s condition. Learn how the Spirit of the Lord moved between Saul and David and the vital role faithfulness plays in maintaining divine favor. This installment offers both a compelling narrative and practical spiritual insights, inviting you to consider how God’s Spirit influences your daily walk.
00:00:09 Introduction to Add Bible and 1 Samuel 16
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Alan J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today we arrive at 1 Samuel 16. This is one of the most difficult chapters, I believe, in Scripture. So I hope you pay close attention as we look into 1 Samuel 16 and we’ll hear the 23 verses read by Faith Comes by Hearing.
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1 Samuel 16 The Lord said to Samuel, How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons. And Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord, and invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.
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Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, Do you come peaceably? And he said, Peaceably. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.
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But the Lord 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.
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Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither has the Lord chosen this one. Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, Neither has the Lord chosen this one. And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord has not chosen these.
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Then Samuel said to Jesse, Are all your sons here? And he said, There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.
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And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said,
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Arise, anoint him, for this is he.
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Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. Now the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.
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And Saul’s servants said to him, Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our Lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre. And when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.
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So Saul said to his servants, Provide for me a man who can play well, and bring him to me.
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One of the young men answered, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.
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Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, Send me David your son who is with the sheep. And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul. And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly and he became his armor-bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight. And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.
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The first half of this chapter is the selection of Saul’s replacement. And that’s the sort of fun part of the chapter. So we’ll get to the tough part after we talk about the first part of the selection of David as the next king. As men and women, we have the tendency to look at physical appearance, physical presence. But God looks at our heart. And I wrote in a journal a couple years ago, What do you see when you look at my heart, Lord? I hope you are pleased. And what do you think that would be for God to look at your heart? What does he see? He doesn’t see your physical appearance. He sees your heart. And when he sees your heart, what does he see in you? Is your heart pleasing to God? Even Samuel was caught up in that physical appearance. Remember, Saul was the tallest and the most handsome when he was selected as king. And when he sees the sons of Jesse, he sees the first one, Eliab. And Samuel thought, surely the Lord’s anointed is before him. And the Lord said, Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. So he probably resembled Saul, tall, handsome, a great warrior. But that’s not what God was looking for this time. When Samuel sees David, the Lord speaks to him. Arise, anoint him, for this is he. And when Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David, The next verse says, And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. So God has found a replacement for Saul, but Saul is still alive, and David appears to be pretty young at this point in his life. And it’s that next verse, that verse 14, that is so troublesome. Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. It is scary to know that the spirit can depart, and more scary to know God can send a distressing spirit to us. Earlier in some of the chapters of Samuel, I suggested or I wrote, it appears that spirits come and go. And now you see what I was referring to as I said we would see that later in Saul’s life. So in 2007 on this chapter I wrote, it appears that spirits do come and go. The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon Saul back in chapter 10, verses 6 and 10, but left him here in 16, 14, and an evil spirit comes upon him. Then as David played the harp, the evil spirit would depart. The Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward, and we’ll see if it comes and goes. Then I wrote, do I have a say on whether the Spirit of the Lord comes and goes in my life? And what about evil spirits? I have said, I am not a theologian, I’m not a pastor, I’m not trained in ministry. I’m just a layman, a person who reads the Bible each and every day. And so I don’t necessarily know the answers to those questions, but I think I understand the protection of those things by reading the Scriptures. And just like in Saul’s life, if he would have remained consistent in his faith, in his obedience, in his trust in the Lord, I don’t believe this would have ever happened. And so we’ll see what happens with David because the Spirit of the Lord has now rushed upon David. So I think the protection, the protection of having the Spirit of God leave me or an evil spirit get after me is just to do what God has asked me to do, to love Him, to obey Him, and to follow His Word. And if I think if I do those things, the Spirit of the Lord will stay with me. I have been a Christian for over 45 years. I came to know Christ at 15 years old. I think the Holy Spirit came upon me then. And I don’t believe He’s departed me since. And I’ve been consistent in staying in the Word of God. So I don’t have a magic formula, but I do have a life experience, and I have the Word of God that teaches me these things. I do know this. I never want to be in a position where the Spirit of the Lord departs from me and says, That he, God himself, gives me an evil spirit. I can’t even think that. I can’t imagine that. I can’t fathom that. I hope you can’t either. Lord, protect us from this. Protect us from a Saul-like experience. We want to have your spirit in our lives. Forever. We never want your spirit to leave us. So, Lord, help us remain obedient to you, remain loving to you, remain faithful to you, so that your spirit remains upon us all of the days of our lives. We ask that, Lord, please, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Our radio programming is set for 2025. We will cover 44 of the 66 books of the Bible using the Ezra Project day by day through the Bible 11 book series. We start at January 1 with the writings of Old Testament historical books beginning with Job. We will cover seven more historical books until spring when we jump into the New Testament writings of Mark, Peter, James, Jude, and Hebrews. By summer, we will go back to the Old Testament writings of all 13 of the minor prophets. We’ll finish 2025 with the writings of Paul. Maybe you don’t want to follow the AdBible radio programming in your daily quiet time. Okay, I offer you an alternative plan. Read the Bible chronologically starting any day you want. The Bible is not organized the way things occurred. You can order an Ezra Project Chronological Bible Reading Journal and experience an amazing journey through the Bible in the order things actually occurred. The first time I read the Bible chronologically, it was an aha experience. While reading Kings and Chronicles, I read the prophets who were alive at the time. In the New Testament, you read about a miracle or a parable by all four gospel writers on the same day. It was a very educational and inspiring way to read the Bible. One user said this about our chronological Bible reading journal. Some years ago, I used a couple of spiral notebooks for my journaling. I’ve attached pictures of the book, the first edition of the Ezra Project Bible Reading Chronological Journal. That was the picture he sent. I live in Phoenix now, and I cannot find any place that has this type of journal. I’ve used many types of journals recently, but this seems to work the best for my needs. Please let me know if these are still available. Yes, they are. In fact, it is our number one best-selling product of all time. Visit azureproject.net and order a chronological Bible reading journal today and start your chronological journey through the Bible. I know you’re going to enjoy it. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. I love passages like this because they impact my life. I don’t read for information. I read the Bible for transformation. In other words, I can read or listen to a scripture passage, like it, set it aside, and move on with my day. I got information. The Bible offers so much more. After I read the passage for information, I read it again for transformation. I want to personalize what I read, so I get out my daily Bible reading journal and record my thoughts from the passage. What did I read? What does it mean to me in my life right now? What do I need to do to apply it to my day, my week, my life? After I read the passage a second time and journal, then I pray. What I read ignites my prayer as I pray through the concepts of the passage. After that, I pray for other matters on my daily prayer list. If you want to watch me demonstrate my personal quiet time, visit EzraProject.net and watch the Quiet Time How-To Video.
