1 Samuel 14:1–52

This complicated narrative presents three themes: (1) Israel continues to fight the Philistines, and Yahweh is present in the midst of the battle; (2) Jonathan is presented as a daring, winsome character, in contrast to his father, Saul; and (3) Saul is a well-intentioned, pious man who emerges as a pitiful, disappointing contrast to Jonathan.

After the seven sons are rejected, the question about the eighth son is finally asked (v. 11a). The story draws our attention to the one outside the completed number, the one who surely is an outsider. The eighth son is the youngest, surely unimpressive, with no claim to make and no credentials to present (v. 11b).

Chapter 12 provides a moment of demanding theological reflection on the nature of power and leadership in Israel. That chapter, however, is something of an intrusion in the overall narrative, carefully positioned as it is for interpretive reasons. The first verse of chapter 13 seems to take up the narrative from 11:15. Saul has just become king. Now in chapters 13–15 the narrator leads us through the accomplishments (limited as they are) and failures (decisive as they are) of Israel’s first king.

13:1–7. These verses portray the Philistines as having superior numbers and superior technology. Conversely the Israelites are frightened and intimidated, and they behave in a cowardly way. When the Israelites answer Saul’s call to muster, they are “trembling” (v. 7). This is probably a descriptive account without any ideological intent. It is worth noting, however, that the “spirit” does not seem to be present. We are not told that the spirit had departed from Saul or from Saul’s troops. But something is not working right in Saul’s Israel. The Israelites do not act like those who are allied with the spirit.

The conduct of the Israelites in the face of the Philistine threat is a sharp contrast to their conduct when Saul fought the Ammonites (ch. 11). In that chapter the Israelites were bold, buoyant, and filled with energy. Here the Israelites are “in straits” (v. 6). They hid like cowards, and they trembled (v. 7). The contrast serves to demonstrate that Saul is no more on the ascendancy but is in fact moving toward his demise. Whereas the spirit empowered Saul in chapter 11 (v. 6), here there is no spirit, and so no freedom or success.

1 Samuel 14:1–52

This complicated narrative presents three themes: (1) Israel continues to fight the Philistines, and Yahweh is present in the midst of the battle; (2) Jonathan is presented as a daring, winsome character, in contrast to his father, Saul; and (3) Saul is a well-intentioned, pious man who emerges as a pitiful, disappointing contrast to Jonathan.

6:4–5. The elders of Bethlehem are terrified at Samuel’s coming. Surely this is not trembling before the prophetic office but because of political risk. They know that Samuel is a kingmaker and a king breaker. Whenever the high officials of the court come to the village, there can be only trouble and risk. Such officials never come to give but always take. Either Samuel is Saul’s man, come to forage in the unclaimed south, or he is not Saul’s man, which puts them at risk with Saul. The elders assume themselves to be in a no-win situation. Samuel is given access only because he repeats verbatim the deceptive words Yahweh has provided for him (v. 5). Only the most naïve could imagine this great one from the north came south for a mere sacrifice. Nonetheless, Jesse and his sons are consecrated and go to the sacrifice with Samuel (v. 5). The divinely authorized artifice works.

16:6–11. The drama intensifies. Jesse’s sons are paraded before Samuel. Only Samuel knows the reason for the parade of sons. Jesse and the elders do not know that they are witnesses of a decisive event in Israel’s life. The first son of Jesse, Eliab, is attractive and Samuel is drawn to him. Yahweh speaks directly to Samuel, however, and warns him not to be attracted to physical appearance (v. 7; cf. John 7:24; 2 Cor. 5:16). The explicit reference to height in this verse suggests that Yahweh can remember when they both were misled by the appearance of Saul (10:23), and Israel does not need another Saul. Verse 7 offers a clear theological premise: what counts is a “right heart” (cf. 13:14). Yahweh needs, wants, and will have a king with a rightly committed heart (cf. 1 Kings 3:9). As Eliab is rejected, so all of Jesse’s sons are found wanting. The first three are rejected by name, the others handled generically to fill out the number seven. This narrative begins with the rejection of Saul. Now we have a threefold use of the phrase “not choose.” The combination of “reject” and “not choose” builds the suspense of the narrative. We are waiting for a choice. We are, though we do not yet know it, waiting for David.

After the seven sons are rejected, the question about the eighth son is finally asked (v. 11a). The story draws our attention to the one outside the completed number, the one who surely is an outsider. The eighth son is the youngest, surely unimpressive, with no claim to make and no credentials to present (v. 11b).

Samuel announces that the whole process of review will be stopped until the eighth son appears (v. 11c). It is an awesome and unlikely scene, all the elders standing and waiting deferentially for this eighth son, the one whose name we are not even told. We do not know how long they waited, but it must have taken a while, for the eighth son was outside the house, tending the sheep. Verse 11 is a brilliant stroke of narrative strategy and design. The narrator makes Jesse’s household wait, and makes the reader wait, for the arrival of David. The story waits, just as Israel has waited.

16:12–13. Finally David comes. This is the one for whom Israel, Samuel, Yahweh, and the books of Samuel have been waiting. There is something wondrously ironic about the first words of the narrator upon the appearance of David. Samuel was under firm instruction from Yahweh not to pay any attention to David’s appearance (v. 7). What is valued and sought is a right heart, not appearance and stature. Yet David is handsome. His physical appearance may be irrelevant to the selection, but the narrator cannot restrain himself from commenting on it: “Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome” (v. 12). Samuel and the narrator are dazzled. Yahweh does a quick heart examination and renders the verdict, “This is he” (cf. 9:17). Samuel must have been moved to sing with Simeon:

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,

according to thy word;

for mine eyes have seen thy salvation

which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

and for glory to thy people Israel.

Luke 2:29–32

The anointing takes place (v. 13). The act is private and is not publicized; Israel and Yahweh now have a new king. David receives the anointing passively and silently. Nothing is said by David or to David. Samuel says nothing; the elders say nothing. The oil, however, does its work (v. 13). The oil binds Samuel (and Yahweh) in a firm loyalty to this shepherd boy who is to become king. The oil creates and identifies David as a proper subject for the “wind of God” (cf. 10:1, 10). Neither in terms of narrative presentation nor in terms of theological intention is there anything to distinguish the anointing of David from that of Saul. The spirit comes mightily and David is empowered (v. 13). The meeting is ended. The story is ended. Samuel returns home.