For Teaching

1 Samuel 16: What the Passage Says

93 claims across 23 verses, in the order the chapter makes them.

Not a sermon outline. What 1 Samuel 16 says, and what its hard words meant. The reading of it is yours.

The Chapter in a Sentence

The LORD sends Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse's sons as king in place of Saul, telling Samuel that God looks at the heart rather than at outward appearance. Seven sons pass by and are not chosen; the youngest, David, is called in from the sheep and anointed, and the Spirit of the LORD comes on him. The Spirit then leaves Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD torments him, so his servants find a skilled harp player to calm him. The player is David, who enters Saul's service as his armor-bearer and plays whenever the spirit comes on Saul.

Claim by Claim

16:1
- The LORD spoke to Samuel.
- The LORD asked Samuel how long he would mourn for Saul.
- The LORD said he had rejected Saul from reigning over Israel.
- The LORD told Samuel to fill his horn with oil.
- The LORD told Samuel to go.
- The LORD said he was sending Samuel to Jesse the Bethlehemite.
- The LORD said he had seen among Jesse's sons a king for himself.
16:2
- Samuel asked how he could go.
- Samuel said that if Saul heard of it, Saul would kill him.
- The LORD told Samuel to take a heifer with him.
- The LORD told Samuel to say that he had come to sacrifice to the LORD.
16:3
- The LORD told Samuel to call Jesse to the sacrifice.
- The LORD said he would show Samuel what to do.
- The LORD told Samuel to anoint for him the one the LORD would name to him.
16:4
- Samuel did what the LORD had spoken.
- Samuel came to Bethlehem.
- The elders of the town trembled at meeting him.
- The elders asked whether he came peaceably.
16:5
- Samuel said he came peaceably.
- Samuel said he had come to sacrifice to the LORD.
- Samuel told them to sanctify themselves.
- Samuel told them to come with him to the sacrifice.
- Samuel sanctified Jesse and his sons.
- Samuel called Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice.
16:6
- When they arrived, Samuel looked at Eliab.
- Samuel said that surely the LORD's anointed was before the LORD.
16:7
- The LORD spoke to Samuel.
- The LORD told Samuel not to look at Eliab's appearance.
- The LORD told Samuel not to look at the height of his stature.
- The LORD said he had rejected him.
- The LORD said that God does not see as man sees.
- The LORD said that man looks at the eyes, that is, the outward appearance.
- The LORD said that the LORD looks at the heart.
16:8
- Jesse called Abinadab.
- Jesse made Abinadab pass before Samuel.
- Samuel said the LORD had not chosen this one either.
16:9
- Jesse made Shammah pass by.
- Samuel said the LORD had not chosen this one either.
16:10
- Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel.
- Samuel said to Jesse that the LORD had not chosen these.
16:11
- Samuel asked Jesse whether the young men were all there.
- Jesse said the youngest still remained.
- Jesse said the youngest was tending the sheep.
- Samuel told Jesse to send and fetch him.
- Samuel said they would not sit down until he came there.
16:12
- Jesse sent and had him brought in.
- He was ruddy.
- He had beautiful eyes.
- He was good to look at.
- The LORD told Samuel to arise and anoint him.
- The LORD said this was the one.
16:13
- Samuel took the horn of oil.
- Samuel anointed him in the midst of his brothers.
- The Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward.
- Samuel rose up.
- Samuel went to Ramah.
16:14
- The Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul.
- An evil spirit from the LORD terrified Saul.
16:15
- Saul's servants spoke to him.
- The servants said that an evil spirit from God was terrifying him.
16:16
- The servants asked their lord to command his servants who were before him.
- The servants proposed seeking out a man who knows how to play the harp.
- The servants said that when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, the man would play with his hand.
- The servants said that then Saul would be well.
16:17
- Saul spoke to his servants.
- Saul told them to find him a man who plays well.
- Saul told them to bring the man to him.
16:18
- One of the young men answered.
- He said he had seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite.
- He said this son knows how to play.
- He said this son is a mighty man of valor.
- He said this son is a man of war.
- He said this son is prudent in speech.
- He said this son is a handsome man.
- He said the LORD is with him.
16:19
- Saul sent messengers to Jesse.
- Saul said to send him David, Jesse's son, who was with the sheep.
16:20
- Jesse took a donkey laden with bread.
- Jesse took a skin of wine.
- Jesse took one young goat.
- Jesse sent them to Saul by the hand of David his son.
16:21
- David came to Saul.
- David stood before Saul.
- Saul loved him greatly.
- David became Saul's armorbearer.
16:22
- Saul sent word to Jesse.
- Saul asked that David stand before him.
- Saul said David had found favor in his sight.
16:23
- Whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the harp.
- David played with his hand.
- Saul was relieved.
- Saul was well.
- The evil spirit departed from Saul.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

16:1: The horn is a hollowed-out animal horn used as a flask. Pouring perfumed olive oil over someone's head was the ceremony that installed a king or a priest; the Hebrew word for a person so treated is *mashiach*, "anointed one," which comes into English as "messiah." Samuel had already told Saul, in the events of the previous chapter, that God had rejected him as king.
16:2: A heifer is a young cow that has not yet had a calf. An animal sacrifice was not only a killing but a meal: part was burned, and the rest was eaten by the worshipers, which is why Jesse and his sons are invited and why nobody sits down to eat until David arrives in verse 11.
16:3: To anoint someone was to pour olive oil over them. It was the ceremony that installed a person in an office, and it marked them as set apart for it.
16:4: Bethlehem was a small town, and a visit from a prophet was as likely to mean an accusation or bad news as a blessing, hence the fear. "Do you come in peace?" is the standard question asked of any unexpected arrival, roughly "is this a friendly visit?"
16:5: Making yourself ready for worship (older translations say "sanctify" or "consecrate") was a set of concrete preparations before approaching a sacrifice: washing, putting on clean clothes, and abstaining from sex for a set period. It is about ritual fitness, not moral goodness.
16:6: Eliab is the eldest son. In this culture the firstborn ordinarily received the largest inheritance and the leading position in the family, so he is the natural first guess.
16:7: The comment on height is pointed. Saul, the king being replaced, had been described earlier as a head taller than anyone else in Israel, and that was part of why the people wanted him.
16:11: Minding the family's sheep was the job that fell to the youngest and least important son. That David is not even called in from the field to a family sacrifice shows how little he counted in the household.
16:12: "Ruddy" translates a Hebrew word for red or reddish; it may mean a red-tinged complexion or red hair, and the text does not settle which. The phrase rendered "fine eyes" is also read by some as "a fine figure."
16:13: The Hebrew verb here is forceful, the Spirit "rushed" or "seized", and in this book it usually describes a sudden surge of power for a particular task rather than a settled inward state. Ramah was Samuel's home town, where he lived and judged.
16:14: The Hebrew word behind "evil" here (*ra'ah*) means harmful, bad, or injurious, and does not by itself imply moral wickedness; translators render it variously as "evil," "harmful," or "of distress." The text plainly says the spirit came from the LORD, and readers have disputed since antiquity what that means; the Hebrew leaves it unexplained.
16:16: The instrument (Hebrew *kinnor*) was a small hand-held lyre with a wooden frame and a handful of gut strings, light enough to carry and play while walking. It was not the large standing harp the English word suggests.
16:18: The phrase rendered "he speaks well" is literally "discerning of word/matter," and it can mean either skilled in speech or shrewd in handling affairs; the Hebrew supports both. "Mighty man of valour" is a stock phrase for a proven fighter, and sometimes also for a man of substance and standing.
16:20: Wine was carried in a whole animal skin sewn shut, not in bottles. Arriving before a king with a gift of food and drink was ordinary etiquette, not a bribe.
16:21: The armor-bearer carried the king's shield and weapons into battle and stayed at his side. It was a post of close personal trust, usually given to a young man being brought up in the king's household.
16:22: "Stand before me" is an idiom for serving in someone's household or court, and "found favour in my sight" means simply that Saul likes him and approves of him.

Read 1 Samuel 16