And it came to pass when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely Jehovah's anointed is before him.
Samuel arrives at Bethlehem with the horn of oil. He sees Jesse's tall eldest son and makes up his mind before God has said a word. The verse asks an uncomfortable question. If a prophet could be this sure and this wrong, what was he missing?
Samuel's confidence looks reasonable at first. Then you remember who was sitting on Israel's throne.
When Jesse's sons came in, Samuel was struck by the fine appearance of Eliab. He said, "Surely the LORD's anointed is before Him." But at that very moment a man "taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward" sat on Israel's throne, and he was a terrible failure.
We forget such lessons fast. Even Paul was rated by how impressive he looked and sounded.
How quickly we forget the lessons of past experience! How ready we are to look "on the outward appearance," and so be deceived again and again. His children in the faith at Corinth thought Paul's "presence" was poor. For this they were foolish enough to discount his power and worth, and to be carried away with men who gloried in appearance... Of that meek and lowly One who came in His Father's name Scripture says, "he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him."
Samuel had just carried out the ceremony of setting Jesse and his sons apart for the sacrifice. That is why his mistake teaches so much. Everything visible about Eliab was in order.
The Jewish system provided an outward, ceremonial purification of the flesh. So Samuel could sanctify Jesse and his sons according to the ordinances of the law, without asking about their real state, the state of the heart. And he did so. But he was tempted to go beyond this, as many are who take Jewish ground and rest much on ordinances. If everything looks fine, if the conduct is well ordered, if religious duties and services are carried out with care and devotion, what more will the Lord want? The simple but weighty answer is — the heart. Eliab's heart was far from God. We see it in the next chapter. He was a scorner, the first to openly resent God's grace at work in David — as the flesh, in spite of its religion, always does.
Eliab was the first-born, so he had the strongest natural claim. Scripture has a settled pattern for claims like that.
Eliab was the eldest brother. He stands here in the prominence that the flesh always loves and seeks. He was a man with striking natural attractions. But however handsome his face or his height, God "had refused him." The LORD's anointed was not the man people admired. How often the word teaches us this lesson, as God rejects the first-born and chooses the younger! So Eliab stands like Ishmael or Esau. He represents the natural claim of the flesh.
If Samuel had followed his first impression, Israel would have traded one Saul for another.
We cannot doubt that Satan has pushed such men forward in the church. They have got into the place of rule and authority, and they "have disheartened the righteous, whom God has not disheartened, and encouraged the wicked." It would have been so in Israel that day if Samuel had acted on his own thoughts. How far would the nation have sunk if Eliab had succeeded Saul? God must be sovereign, or ruin, universal and beyond remedy, would be certain. God refuses, and God chooses, and there is no injustice with Him.
The Lord did not leave His servant to find out his error later. He spoke, and notice how gently He did it.
Even this man of God is judging by outward appearance, and God has to correct him... Samuel was judging here as a man. He handed his discernment over to the same outward qualities Saul had. With touching grace God stoops to correct and instruct His servant on all these points.
Samuel dropped his own judgement at once. One lifelong habit explains why.
Samuel had long been trained in subjection to the word of God. "Speak, LORD, for your servant hears" shaped his character from childhood. He left Eliab at once, where the Lord left him — refused.
- Samuel looked — the prophet judged by face and height. That standard had already produced Saul, so God stopped him mid-sentence.
- God refused — His refusal ended Eliab's claim as first-born. God passes over the elder and picks the younger right through Scripture.
- The heart decided — the ceremony had set Eliab apart and he looked the part. But his heart was far from God, and that settled it.
- Christ Himself — the One who came in His Father's name had no beauty men would desire. Judging by appearance would have missed Him too.
- Grace instructed — God did not abandon His mistaken servant. He stooped to correct him in time, and spared Israel a second Saul.
But Jehovah said to Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him; for it is not as man seeth; for man looketh upon the outward appearance, but Jehovah looketh upon the heart.
Samuel stands in Bethlehem with the anointing oil. He is sure the tall eldest son of Jesse must be God's king — and God stops him mid-thought. The verse turns a line of brothers into a lesson about how God judges people, and it raises a question for every reader. If He reads the heart, what does He see in mine?
In this chapter an experienced servant of God misreads the situation again and again. God has to pull him back each time.
It is very striking to find Samuel so much and so often mistaken in this chapter. He mourned for Saul. He hesitated to go and anoint David. He was wrong about Eliab. All of it shows how far he was from God's ways. How solemn the Lord's word is: "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." This is the great difference: "the outward appearance" and "the heart." Appearance almost trapped Samuel himself. The Lord stepped in to teach him the worth of the heart.
The warning about height was not abstract. Israel already had a tall king, and he had failed.
When Jesse's sons came in, Samuel was struck by Eliab's fine appearance and said, "Surely the LORD's anointed is before Him." But at that very moment Israel's throne held a man "taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward" (1 Sam. 10:23). That man was a complete failure. God's answer to the prophet reaches far beyond that day… "Let no one boast in men" (1 Cor. 3:21).
Eliab was not a scandalous man. Samuel had set him apart with his brothers for the sacrifice, and everything visible about him was in order.
What if everything looks fine? The person behaves well and performs religious duties with care. What more will the Lord need? The simple but weighty answer is — the heart. Eliab's heart was separated from God. We see it in the next chapter (v. 28). He mocked David, and he was the first to resent the working of God's grace in him. Human nature always does this, despite its religion. Yet appearances deceived the prophet, and he thought Eliab was fit for the Lord's service.
The one God had chosen was not even called in from the sheep. That absence is the point of the whole scene. God's choice ignored the family's ranking.
This chapter gives us in a very striking way the clear sentence of death on all man's thoughts. Look at the contrast. Everyone admired Saul, and God's people chose him for his outward appearance. David, meanwhile, was forgotten even by his own father — and that was when the prophet himself asked about him. No lesson could teach us more. He counted for nothing in the eyes of a single member of the family; yet this was the man destined for the throne.
This overturning runs right through the Bible's story.
When did God ever choose the firstborn of the flesh? All through the Bible God sets aside the one who seems to have the claim by birth. He does it so that everyone may learn that blessing comes only by grace. Not Cain, but Abel. Not Ishmael, but Isaac. Not Esau, but Jacob. Not Reuben, but Joseph. Not Aaron, but Moses. This is always God's way.
The same principle reaches Christ Himself. Human eyes measured Him and dismissed Him.
How quickly we forget what past experience taught us. How ready we are to look "on the outward appearance," and so be deceived again and again. The believers at Corinth, whom Paul had led to faith, thought his physical presence was weak. So they made the foolish mistake of dismissing his power and worth, and followed men who boasted in appearance… It has always been this way, and it will stay this way until the Antichrist comes. He "will come in his own name," and the handsome Absalom pictured him in advance. Scripture says this about the gentle, humble One who came in His Father's name: "He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him."
God weighs hearts. So ability and good looks do not qualify anyone to be useful.
A person may have much learning and great natural ability. He may be attractive to look at and a fine speaker. He may still be useless, because his heart is not right, and its purpose was never formed alone with God. If God's things hold power over the inner person, the outward person will gladly serve the holy and perfect will of God. God looks on the heart, not on the outward appearance. Appearance deceives.
That same standard decides who is honoured at the end.
People would give the greatest reward for the greatest display and the largest visible results. But in the coming day the best prizes may go to others: those who made little noise, whose names few people knew, but who served Christ faithfully with what they were given.
- The heart chosen. God passed over the tall, admired eldest son and took the son nobody counted. Blessing comes only by grace.
- The heart, not the surface. Everything visible about Eliab was in order; what was missing was the one thing the Lord asks for.
- The heart of a prophet. Appearance almost caught Samuel himself. That is why God corrected him so plainly.
- The heart despised. Christ Himself had no beauty that men should desire Him — human eyes have always misjudged God's chosen One.
- The heart rewarded. Where God looks now is where He will reward then; quiet faithfulness may carry off the best prizes.