1 Samuel 16:1-23: God Looks on the Heart

1 Samuel 16:1-23: God Looks on the Heart

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of 1 Samuel, and today the next passage we come to is 1 Samuel 16:1-23. Hear now the words of the Living and True God:

¹ The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” ² And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ³ And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.” ⁴ Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” ⁵ And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. ⁶ When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” ⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “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.” ⁸ Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ⁹ Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ¹⁰ And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” ¹¹ Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” ¹² And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” ¹³ Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. ¹⁴ Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. ¹⁵ And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. ¹⁶ Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.” ¹⁷ So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.” ¹⁸ One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.” ¹⁹ Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.” ²⁰ And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul. ²¹ And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. ²² And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.” ²³ And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.

May God bless the reading of his Word.

 Let’s pray: Father, we know that in order to rightly understand both what this passage is teaching and how it connects to our lives, we need the Holy Spirit. So please, send your Spirit to minister to us through this passage today in a most powerful way. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

One of the things that’s very evident in our modern society is how much people care about appearances. Perhaps the most obvious example is the kinds of things people often post on social media. If you spend just 60 seconds scrolling through Instagram or TikTok or Facebook, you can see firsthand how much effort people put into portraying themselves in a certain way.  

In fact, not too long ago, I saw an article that explained how Instagram is actually motiving people—especially women—to get plastic surgery. Apparently, they even have a name for what a lot of these women are looking for. It’s called the “Instagram face.” Women are literally walking into the plastic surgeon’s office and saying that they want plastic surgery specifically so that they can look better in their Instagram selfies and from the angle at which a selfie is typically taken. And it’s not just a few women here and there. According to the article, this is what a significant portion of the women who seek plastic surgery are wanting. They’re so obsessed with their physical appearance that they’re willing to undergo surgery and shell out thousands and thousands of dollars just so they can look better on Instagram. That’s the society in which we live—a society that’s obsessed with the external.

And, of course, it’s not just women either. If you go to the gym, you’ll see that many men also care quite a bit about their external appearance. This concern about appearances also extends far beyond physical attractiveness and includes people wanting to appear wealthy, successful, popular, and intelligent—and going to great lengths to portray themselves in these ways. Just think about how often people purchase cars and other material possessions they really can’t afford in order to project a certain image of themselves to others. 

Yet, when God looks at people, he’s not all that concerned external appearances. Instead, he’s mainly concerned about who we are on the inside. And our main passage this morning of 1 Samuel 16 makes that abundantly clear. In fact, that’s the main idea of this passage. Borrowing from the language of verse 7, man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Again, man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. And by the way, the word “man” in that verse is being used generally to refer to both men and women.

So, let’s walk through this passage together and see why this is such a significant issue and how we can change our perspective and order our lives to be more in line with God’s perspective and God’s will. If you want to grow closer to God and become the kind of person God wants you to be, that begins with what we find in this passage.

Now, to remind you of the context here, the previous chapter just recorded God rejecting Saul as king of Israel because of some serious character deficiencies Saul exhibited. And we now see God leading the prophet Samuel to anoint a new king who would lead the people of Israel in a godly manner.

Look with me first at verse 1: The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”

Notice the wording of that last part of the verse. God says, “I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” What do you think God meant by what? Well, in the previous chapters, Saul was spoken of as the king whom the Israelites had chosen for themselves. In 1 Samuel 8:5, they had asked Samuel to “appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” Then, in 1 Samuel 8:18, Samuel had described this king to the Israelites as “your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves….” Then, again, a few chapters later—in 1 Samuel 12:13—Samuel had referred to Saul as “the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked….” But now, here in our main passage, God says to Samuel, “I have provided for myself a king.” So, whereas Saul was the king the Israelites had so foolishly chosen, we’re about to be introduced to the king God has chosen.

We then read in the subsequent verses about Samuel traveling to Bethlehem as instructed and inviting Jesse and his sons to a sacrifice but with the real intention of anointing one of Jesse’s sons as the next king—with the expectation that God will make it clear which son that should be.

Verses 6-7 then tell us, ⁶ When they [Jesse and his sons] came, he [Samuel] looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” ⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “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.” And again, it’s here that we encounter the main idea of this passage—that “man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

In fact, one commentator I read argued that this statement is the key not only to understanding this passage but to understanding the entirety of 1 and 2 Samuel. Whereas people are often preoccupied with outward appearances, God has a fundamentally different perspective. God sees through outward appearances and looks straight into people’s hearts.

And that’s enormously significant as we think about what we should look for in a leader. Of course, the world around us is focused primarily on external qualities such as a person’s charisma, credentials, and leadership skills. Yet, according to the Bible—as we can clearly see here in verse 7—the most foundational quality to look for in a leader is character. That’s essentially what God means when he tells Samuel that he “looks on the heart.” God was just as concerned—if not more concerned—about the character of the next king as he was about anything else. And that should likewise be a top-tier consideration for us as well. Even though it’s obviously necessary for a leader to be competent and capable of fulfilling the responsibilities of their leadership position, godly character is no less important than any of those other qualities.

In fact, if you look at the qualifications listed in the Bible for those who would serve as elders—or pastors—in the church, the vast majority of those qualifications are related to the man’s character. Only two of the qualifications listed in Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3 have anything to do with the man’s abilities—and those are that he has to be “able to teach” and that he has to “manage his own household well,” which would conceivably include both character and ability. All of the rest of the 20 or so qualifications in those passages relate exclusively to the man’s character. That’s what God’s most concerned about—especially when it comes to leaders in the church.

Listen to this quote from E. M. Bounds, which is perhaps even more applicable today than it was in the late 1800’s when he wrote it: “We are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the Church and secure [the] enlargement [of] the gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or sink the man in the plan or organization. God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God’s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men…..What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy [Spirit] can use….”

Brothers and sisters, that’s what our church needs so desperately. We’re in need of leaders—and, even more broadly, of people in general—who are the kind of people God uses—and that means godly people. The need of the day isn’t for more clever strategies or better marketing techniques. No, the need of the day is for godly people who can be used by God to make an impact on the world around us. As E. M. Bounds said so well, “The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.”

And, by the way, even though this is obviously something that challenges us, it’s also something that should encourage us as well. Because this means that you don’t have to have an impressive resume or incredible abilities for God to use you. You know, not too long ago, I read a news story about a recent class of graduates from NASA’s astronaut training program. Over 18,000 people applied for this program, yet only 13 were selected. One of them was a man named Jonny Kim. And get this: Jonny Kim started out in the Navy, where he enlisted as just a regular seaman. However, he eventually became a Navy SEAL and served in that capacity on more than 100 combat operations spanning two different deployments and, in the process, earned both a Silver Star and a Bronze Star.

Then Kim decided that he wanted to become a doctor. So, after graduating with a bachelor’s degree from the University of San Diego, he enrolled in Harvard Medical School and graduated with his doctorate of medicine from Harvard in 2016. Then one year into his residency program at Massachusetts General Hospital, he learned that he had been selected from that enormous pool of 18,000 applicants to become a NASA astronaut.

So, I’m reading about this guy and I’m basically thinking to myself, “Is there anything that Jonny Kim can’t do?” The news article also included comments from a senator—Senator Ted Cruz—who observed that Kim could kill you and then bring you back to life and do it all in space. And that’s really not far from the truth. I mean, this guy’s resume is just ridiculous. 

And perhaps you’re thinking that that’s the kind of person who really makes a difference in the world and that the rest of us are just average people who can expect to accomplish average things. But listen: I have some really good news. God can do amazing things through you. In fact, when you think about it from an eternal perspective, you can have an even greater impact than any Navy SEAL or Harvard-educated doctor or astronaut—or all three—who isn’t a Christian. And as we see in our main passage of Scripture this morning, the chief thing God’s concerned about as he chooses who he’s going to use is character—godly character. The nineteenth-century preacher Charles Spurgeon said it like this: “It’s not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus.” 

Then, as we move forward in 1 Samuel 16, Jesse has more of his sons pass before Samuel. Remember that we just read about Samuel looking at Jesse’s son Eliab and thinking to himself, “Surely, that’s the one.” Yet God corrects Samuel and reminds him that the heart—rather than the outward appearance—is what’s truly important.

We then read in verses 8-11, ⁸ Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ⁹ Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ¹⁰ And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” ¹¹ Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.”

So, after all of Jesse’s older sons pass before Samuel and none of them is chosen by God, Samuel inquires of Jesse and discovers that there’s one additional son whom Jesse didn’t even think was worth summoning because he was so young. This youngest son was currently engaged in the very lowly task of keeping his father’s sheep, yet Samuel asks Jesse to send for him.

Verses 12-13 then tell us, ¹² And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” ¹³ Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

So, Samuel anoints David as the next king of Israel. The act of anointing involved pouring or rubbing sacred oil on someone’s head and symbolized that God had chosen that person for a special office or responsibility. The outward physical anointing with oil pictured the inward spiritual anointing of that person with the Holy Spirit, who would empower the person to do what God had called them to do.

And that’s precisely what we find recorded in the second half of verse 13. It states that “the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.” In several previous chapters in 1 Samuel, we’ve found statements about the Spirit of the Lord rushing upon Saul. In 1 Samuel 10:10, we’re told about the Spirit of God “rushing” upon Saul so that he prophesies along with a group of prophets. And 1 Samuel 11:6 tells us what happened when Saul heard about a threat from the Ammonites. It states, “And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled.” Saul then went on to lead the Israelites to an incredible victory over the Ammonites. So, in each of these cases, the Holy Spirit empowered Saul to do things he’d otherwise be unable to do merely through his own human abilities.

That’s the significance of the Holy Spirit “rushing upon” someone in the Old Testament. And in case you’re curious, there are other examples—especially in the book of Judges—of the Holy Spirit “rushing upon” people as well in order to empower them for a certain task. Yet here in chapter 16, we read about the Holy Spirit “rushing upon” David not merely for a certain task or for a certain period of time—as had been the case for most other Old Testament leaders—but “from that day forward.” It says, “the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.” There’s definitely a sense in which David’s a uniquely empowered leader.

After that, verses 14-16 tell us, ¹⁴ Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. ¹⁵ And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. ¹⁶ Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.”

So, not only does the Holy Spirit “rush upon” David, he simultaneously departs from Saul. This highlights again the fact that God had rejected Saul as king. Saul was no longer divinely empowered for the responsibilities of kingship. Not only that, God actually allows a “harmful spirit” to afflict Saul. God does this both as a way of judging Saul for his disobedience and also—as we’re about to see—as a way of bringing David into the royal court.

Verses 17-20 record someone recommending to Saul that he invite David to play the lyre for him and thereby enable Saul to gain relief from the spiritual torment he suffers. Saul then proceeds to do this—which is quite ironic, since Saul’s unknowingly summoning the very man who will end up replacing him as king.

We then read in verses 21-23, ²¹ And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. ²² And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.” ²³ And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him. So, this is the beginning of the rise of David. God sovereignly orchestrates David entering Saul’s service as his personal musician and armor-bearer. And, as we’ll see in the subsequent chapters, God will likewise orchestrate David’s rise to eventually replace Saul entirely as king of Israel.

Yet I’d actually like to go back to the reason why God chose David in the first place. We’re told in verse 7 that a key reason why God chose David over his brothers—and over anyone else, for that matter—was because God saw something in David’s heart that would be conducive to David being a godly leader. God told Samuel, “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 

And this statement is merely one part of a much larger theme that runs throughout the Bible about the importance—and even the centrality—of the heart. Even though people do indeed seem to be preoccupied with outward appearances, God tells us over and over again in the Bible to pay particular attention to the condition of our heart.

For example, Proverbs 4:23 instructs us, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” I think the NIV translates that verse in an especially helpful way. It says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” And that’s actually a fairly common way for the Bible to speak about our hearts.

You see, the Bible speaks of our heart in a way that’s notably different than the way we often of speak of it. We often speak of our heart merely as the source of our feelings or emotions. We talk about knowing things in our head and feeling them in our heart. Yet the Bible gives us a much fuller picture of what the heart is. As you can see here in Proverbs 4:23, the Bible speaks of our heart as the core component of who we are. You might think of it as the nucleus or the control center within us.

As such, the heart is not only the source of our feelings or emotions. It also includes our thoughts, our desires, and our decisions. In fact, I actually went back and dug up a very helpful diagram from a seminary professor of mine named Jeremy Pierre depicting the very functions of our hearts, according to the Bible. I’m not sure if you can read this or not, but the heart includes our cognitive capacities—such as thinking, knowing, believing, reasoning, and remembering. It also includes our affective capacities or “affections”—such as desiring, valuing, feeling, and experiencing emotions. And finally, the heart includes our volitional capacities—such as willing, deciding, intending, committing, and acting. And as the two-way arrows between those three boxes indicate, each of these capacities is constantly interacting with all of the others.

So, that’s a biblical picture of what’s going on within us. And the totality of these capacities and their interactions with each other is what the Bible refers to as the “heart.” So, even though many Christians today try to make a distinction between the head versus the heart, the heart in the Bible actually refers to the totality of our inner being, including our mental capacities. And that’s why God cares so much about our hearts. Again, Proverbs 4:23 (NIV): “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

However, there’s a big problem. According to the Bible, our hearts—in their natural condition—aren’t at all good or godly. They’re actually quite the opposite. Jeremiah 17:9 states that, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” And in Genesis 8:21, God says that “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”

So, according to the Bible, we have a heart that’s thoroughly polluted with sin and set in rebellion against God. Thankfully though, God predicts in Ezekiel 36:26, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” So, that’s what each one of us needs. We need a spiritual heart transplant. We need God to give us a new heart and a new spirit, removing our heart of stone and replacing it with a heart of flesh.

And the way God does that is through the gospel. The gospel is the message of Jesus coming to this earth as a man and making atonement for our sins through his death on the cross. That means Jesus took on himself the punishment we deserved and thereby satisfied God the Father’s justice and appeased his righteous wrath against our sin. Essentially, Jesus suffered hell on the cross so that we wouldn’t have to suffer hell in hell. Then, after that, Jesus was raised from the dead so that he’s now able to save everyone who puts their trust in him. That involves renouncing our sinful way of life and looking to Jesus alone for forgiveness and cleansing. And friends, that’s the only way our hearts can be cleansed. There’s nothing we can do to cleanse our own hearts. Instead, our hearts can only be cleansed and transformed through Jesus and what he’s done for us in the gospel.

Yet, at the same time, that transformation of our heart isn’t just a one-time event but is also an ongoing process in our lives as Christians. And this is critical for us to understand as we seek to grow in godliness. Because, a lot of times, Christians will merely seek to address the more outward and visible sins in their lives but fail to identify the root causes of those sins within their hearts.

Going back to what God tells Samuel in verse 7 of our main passage about how “man looks on the outward appearance,” that’s our tendency, isn’t it? To focus only on the external, when, in reality, we need to focus a lot more on what’s going on within our hearts. You know, a couple of years ago, I had an issue with a rusty vent in my bathroom. So, I tried to fix it by taking it outside, banging off as much rust as I could, and spray painting it white once again. And at first, it looked relatively decent. But guess what happened in a pretty short amount of time? The rust ate through the paint and became clearly visible once again. So, my “solution” was only a temporary solution—because it didn’t address the real problem of the rust. It only masked the problem for a little while.

And so often, that’s how we approach the problematic issues in our lives. We only address the outward behavior itself and fail to address the inward heart disposition that led to that behavior—the sin beneath the sin, if you will. We address the tip of the iceberg but don’t experience real or lasting transformation because we seem to be unaware of the massive portion of the iceberg that’s beneath the surface and within our hearts.

To use another metaphor, if you picture a fruit tree, we often focus all of our attention on the fruit—which is the outwardly observable behaviors in our lives—but fail to think about the root of those behaviors within our hearts. So, if we want to experience meaningful and lasting change, we have to learn to go from the fruit, as it were, to the root by identifying the internal heart dispositions that produce the external behaviors.

So, for example, if you struggle with outbursts of anger, instead of just repenting of your anger, try to identify the unbiblical beliefs and idolatrous desires within your heart that lead to you getting angry in the first place. By the way, an idolatrous desire is simply something you desire so much that it’s become an idol to you—something that you desire more than you desire God and that’s become more important to you than God is. So, again, try to identify the unbiblical beliefs and idolatrous desires within your heart that lead to you getting angry.

Maybe—almost without even realizing it—you’ve embraced the belief that you deserve something that others aren’t giving you. Or maybe you heart is gripped by an idolatrous desire to be in control or to enjoy a life of ease and comfort, and you get angry when others get in the way of that desire being satisfied. Until you identify and repent of the unbiblical beliefs and idolatrous desires within you heart that lie beneath your anger, you’ll probably continue to struggle with anger.

Or maybe your life’s dominated by anxiety. Ask yourself, “What’s beneath that? What’s going on in my heart that’s making me so anxious?” Could it be an unbiblical belief that God’s isn’t powerful enough to control your circumstances or that he’s not good enough to truly care about your well-being or that he’s not wise enough to orchestrate the events of your life to accomplish his perfect purposes? So much of our anxiety basically boils down to doubting the power or the goodness or the wisdom of God.

Or, just to give one more example, maybe you struggle with gossip. Gossip is the fruit, but what’s the root? Could it be that your heart’s filled with envy or jealousy of others? Or could it be that your heart’s filled with pride or a sense that you’re better than others or superior to others? Or could it simply be that you have an idolatrous desire to fit in with others at your workplace or in your circle of friends who love to gossip?

So, when we read in 1 Samuel 16 that man looks on outward appearances, but God looks on the heart, that should be a reminder to us that the heart is the very center of who we are. And if we want to experience meaningful change in our lives, our efforts to experience that change have to begin with the heart.