But Yahweh said to Shemu’el, ‘How long are you going to take up grieving for Sha’ul, when I myself have rejected him from being king over Yisra’el? Fill your horn with oil and go: I shall send you to Yishay [Jesse] the Bet-lehemite because I’ve seen a king for myself among his sons.’ Shemu’el said, ‘How can I go? Sha’ul will hear and kill me.’ Yahweh said, ‘You’re to take a heifer in your possession and say “It’s to sacrifice for Yahweh that I’ve come”, and invite Yishay to the sacrifice. I myself will let you know what you’re to do and you’re to anoint for me the one that I say to you.’
Shemu’el did what Yahweh spoke. He came to Bet Lehem, and the town’s elders trembled to meet him and said, ‘Does your coming mean things are well?’ He said, ‘Things are well. It’s to sacrifice for Yahweh that I’ve come. Make yourselves sacred and come with me to the sacrifice.’ He made Yishay and his sons sacred and invited them to the sacrifice.
When they came, he saw Eli’ab and said, ‘Surely his anointed is in front of Yahweh!’ But Yahweh said to Shemu’el, ‘Don’t look at his appearance or at the loftiness to which he stands, because I’ve rejected him, because it’s not what a human being sees, because a human being sees what appears to the eyes, but Yahweh sees into the mind.’
Yishay called Abinadab and had him pass before Shemu’el, but he said, ‘Yahweh has not chosen this one either.’ Yishay had Shammah pass, but he said, ‘Yahweh has not chosen this one either.’ Yishay had his seven sons pass before Shemu’el, but Shemu’el said to Yishay, ‘Yahweh has not chosen these.’
Shemu’el said to Yishay, ‘Have the boys come to an end?’ He said, ‘The little one still remains, but there, he’s tending the flock.’ Shemu’el said to Yishay, ‘Send and get him, because we won’t sit down till he comes here.’
So he sent and brought him. He was tanned, with lovely eyes, good-looking. Yahweh said, ‘Get up, anoint him, because this is the one.’ Shemu’el got the horn of oil and anointed him among his brothers. Yahweh’s spirit thrust itself on to David from that day onwards. And Shemu’el set off and went to The Height.
Goldingay, John. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.
Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.
St Columba