beauty of Eliab, the eld est, and his rank in the family, suggested to the prophet that he might be "Jehovah's

anointed." But Samuel was to learn that Jehovah's judgment was, "not as what man seeth" (looketh to), "for

man looketh to the eyes but Jehovah looketh to the heart."  157

And so the others followed in turn, with a like result. Evidently, Samuel must have expressed it to Jesse that

on that day one of his family was to be chosen by Jehovah, but for what purpose seems not to have been

known to them. Nor did Jesse himself, nor even David, apparently understand what was implied in the rite of

anointing. No words of solemn designation were uttered by the prophet, such as Samuel had spoken when

he anointed Saul (1 Samuel 10:1). Besides, as Saul was the first king anointed, and as none had been present

when it took place, we may reasonably suppose that alike the ceremony and its meaning were unknown to

the people. Both Jesse and David may have regarded it as somehow connected with admission to the

schools of the prophets, or more pro bably as connected with some work for God in the future, which at the

proper time would be pointed out to them.  158 And thus was David in this respect also a type of our Lord,

Whose human consciousness of His calling and work appears to have been, in a sense, progressive; being

gradually manifested in the course of His history.

But to return. The seven sons of Jesse had successively passed before Samuel, yet he was not among them

whom the prophet had been sent to anoint. But for all that his mission had not failed: he had only learned to

own the sovereignty of God, the failure of his own judgment, and the fact that he was simply a passive

instrument to carry out, not his own views, but the will of the Lord. For, the youngest of the family still

remained. So unlikely did it seem to his father that he could be called to any great work, that he had been left

in the field to tend the sheep. But when, at the bidding of Samuel, he came, his very bearing and appearance

seemed to speak in his favor. In the language o f the text, "he was reddish,159 and fair of eyes, and goodly to

look at." And now the command to anoint him was given, and immediately and unquestioningly obeyed by

The sacrifice past, and the sacrificial meal over, Samuel returned to Ramah, and David to his humble

avocation in his father's household. And here also we love to mark the print of our Lord's footsteps, and to

see in the history of David the same humble submission to a lowly calling, and faithful discharge of menial

toil, and the same s ubjectness to his parents, as we adoringly trace in the life of Him Who humbled Himself

to become David's son. But there was henceforth one difference in the life of the son of Jesse. From the day

of his anointing forward, "the Spirit of Jehovah seized upon David," as formerly upon Saul, to qualify him by

might and by power for the work of "God's anointed." But from Saul, who was no longer the king of God's

appointment, had the Spirit of Jehovah departed, not only as the source of "might and of power," but even

as "the Spirit of a sound mind." At his anointing, the Spirit then given him had made him "another man" (1

Samuel 10:6, 10). But Saul had resisted and rebelled, nor had he ever turned from his pride and disobedience

in repentance to the Lord. And now the Spirit of God not only departed from him, but in judgment God sent

an "evil spirit," or rather "a spirit of evil," to "terrify"161 Saul. Not that God ever sends a spirit who is evil.

The angels whom God sends are all good, though their commission may be in judgment to bring evil upon

As one has rightly remarked, "God sends good angels to punish evil men, while to chastise good men, evil

angels claim the power." The "evil spirit" sent from God was the messenger of that evil which in the Divine

judgment was to come upon Saul, visions of which now affrighted the king, filled him with melancholy, and

brought him to the verge of madness - but not to repentance. It is thus also that we can understand how the

music of David's harp soothed the spirit of Saul, while those hymns which it accompanied - perhaps some of

his earliest Psalms -brought words of heaven, thoughts of mercy, strains of another world, to the troubled

soul of the king.

Had he but listened to them, and yielded himself not temporarily but really to their influence! But he was

now the old Saul, only sensibly destitute of the Divine help, presence, and Spirit, and with all the evil in him

terribly intensified by the circumstances. He had all the feelings of a man cast down from his high estate