1 Samuel 16:9

Natural attraction had nothing to do with the Lord's choice. He looks beneath the polished surface of men and things, and judges by His own principles, which never fail. … So the best of nature, as it were, passed before the prophet, but all in vain. Nature could produce nothing for God or His people.

The Jewish system, as we read in Hebrews 9:13, provided a ceremonial way of purifying the flesh. So Samuel could set Jesse and his sons apart according to the law, without looking into their real state, the state of the heart. And he did so. But he was tempted to go further, as many are who put themselves under the law and lean on religious ceremonies. If everything looks right, if the conduct is well ordered, and if a man carries out religious duties and services with care and devotion, what more will the Lord ask? The simple but weighty answer is — the heart. Eliab's heart was separated from God. He was a scorner, the first to openly resent the work of God's grace in David — as human nature, for all its religion, always does.

It is very remarkable to find Samuel so much and so often astray in this chapter. His mourning for Saul, his hesitation to go and anoint David, his mistake about Eliab, all show how far he was from the ways of God. … Even Samuel would have been trapped by the outward appearance, if the Lord had not graciously stepped in to teach him the value of the heart.

Happily, Samuel had long been trained in obedience to the word of God. "Speak, LORD, for your servant hears" was the shaping principle of his character from childhood. He left Eliab at once — where the Lord left him, refused — and the rest of Jesse's sons with him.

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 made the heart of the righteous sad, whom the Lord has not made sad, and strengthened the hands of the wicked." It would have been so in Israel at this time, if Samuel had acted on his own thoughts. How low 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 unrighteousness with Him.

Jesse had not even considered his youngest son for such an honour, just as the Lord Jesus is the last man people think of as the One to rule over them. The youngest was keeping the sheep. He was not thought important enough even to be present at the sacrifice. However, the picture behind keeping sheep is precious to God. Saul, in contrast, was looking for his father's donkeys, which he never found. God's thought of a king is to have one with a shepherd's heart, who would genuinely care for the people.

All that is great in Jesse's eyes is allowed to pass unnoticed; the seven were fine-looking men, but it is the boy keeping the sheep, the eighth, the weak one, who is preferred and taken up!

If Eliab, or Shammah, or Abinadab, or any one of Jesse's seven sons had had the anointing oil poured on his head, human nature might have gloried in the presence of God. But then David appears — the forgotten David. In him we see one who would give all the glory to Him who was about to put the sceptre into his hand. In a word, David stands before us as a clear picture of the Lord Jesus. When He appeared among men, people despised Him, overlooked Him, and forgot Him.