“WHAT DID I MISS?”
Have you ever walked into a room where friends or family were watching a movie, or were in the middle of a conversation, and found yourself wondering, “What did I miss?” It's so common you can now add 'What did I miss?' GIF's to your phone. One features a clip from Pirates of the Caribbean.
Pirate friends, Pintel and Ragetti, watch as Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and James Norington exchange sword play over a treasure chest key. Pintel, the short stocky pirate, walks up as Ragetti watches and asks, 'How did this go all screwy? What did I miss?'
Ragetti replies: 'Well, each want the chest for himself, don't he? Mr. Norrington, I think, is trying to regain a bit of honor. Old Jack is looking to trade it in to save his own skin, and Turner, there, I think, is trying, uh, to settle some unresolved business betwixt him and his cursed pirate father.'
That's the problem with walking in the middle of the story – you need someone to help you catch up with who's who and what motivates or compels them to do what they do. Our reading from 1 Samuel 16 places us right smack in the middle of the book. We've walked in in the middle of the story.
What we need is a scalliwag like Ragetti to fill us in a bit, help us understand the context for the drama that is unfolding before us. Ragetti was not available, so allow another scalliwag to fill in.
First thing you need to know is that this story didn't wind up in the middle of the book by mere happenchance. Biblical authors often placed a crucial story at the center of the book to highlight its significance and to draw readers' attention to its central themes. In the gospel of John, it's the raising of Lazarus, triggering Jesus' passion & foreshadowing his resurrection; in Matthew it's Jesus walking on water culminating in his disciples declaring the gospel's message: “Truly, you are the Son of God!”
(Matthew 14:33)
Here, in 1 Samuel, we're introduced to an individual upon whom everything will hinge. But to understand his significance it helps to understand a bit of the back story. The readings from 1 Samuel 10 that Ed read and explored last week are part of that back story. In response to the people's plea for a king, God had his prophet, Samuel, select an impressive and imposing soldier by the name of Saul.
But as fast as Saul rose to power he just as quickly fell from grace. After repeatedly disobeying God's commands he is confronted by Samuel in the verses immediately preceding our reading with this message: “Since you rejected the Lord's command, he has rejected you as king of Israel.”
(1 Samuel 15:26)
Saul will continue to rule as king until his death years down the road but from this point on, God's favor rests elsewhere, his plans for a kingly dynasty will not include Saul and his family. This brings to focus the first of four insights that we gain from this story. This first is this – both the literary and historical context of our reading point to a great, cosmic shift. The opening words of our text tip us off: “Now the Lord said to Samuel....” (1 Samuel 16:1) Think about those words for a moment.
The whole point of reading the Bible is to learn about what matters to God and to have him speak to us. The chapter's opening words are what it's all about – hearing from the Lord! The words echo back to the Bible's opening verses where we repeatedly read the words, “And God said...”
(Genesis 1:3,6,9,14,20,24,26,28)
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And as then, is now, what God speaks, God does. And what is God up to? A cosmic shift! Power is about to shift from one household to another. God's doing a new thing. As Samuel informs Saul: “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it someone better!”
(1 Samuel 15:28)
A kingdom is being torn from one and entrusted to another. There's a cosmic shift under way!
What's more this new kingdom is a bit subversive. Samuel's to arrive at the home of a man by the name of Jesse under the pretense of offering a sacrifice to God. There they'll be annointing one of Jesse's sons as the future king while the current king is still on the throne. It's unheard of!
But it's not the last time God will undermine the authority of one king in favor of another. It's not the last time a king will be celebrated while another is still on the throne. It's not the last time that God will choose someone far better in which to entrust His kingdom! Matthew will revisit all of these things in the telling of a future king and descendant of the boy Samuel now anoints.
And who is this lad? You've seen the posters no doubt. He was part poet and part prophet, a shrewd leader one day and a mad man the next. He was a gifted musician, scheming murderer and a daring escape artist. He was a dancer, a lover, a fearsome warrior, a humble sheepherder, and yes, a couragous giant slayer. His name was David and his dynasty lives on in you and I!
We'll hear more about that in the weeks ahead, but that's another insight we gain here - we catch our first description of this man through whom God is orchestrating a cosmic shift. We learn here, for example, that David was the youngest of several sons. For some reason his father and he have issues, evident in that David is left to the unpopular job of shepherding the sheep while the rest of the family gathers for a special event, featuring the national celebrity, the prophet, Samuel. There'll be a festive worship service, stories about the kingdom and a large family feast – all of which David will miss as he alone is required to work while the rest of the family celebrates. He is the runt of the family after all.
But he's no weakling. As a shepherd he's armed and ready to defend the sheep against attacks from thieves and wild animals, including wolves, lions and bears – Oh my! And he's easy on the eyes. “He was dark and handsome with beautiful eyes.” (1 Samuel 16:12) Easy ladies...!
He's a fit, good-looking and able teenager, who also happens to be a skilled poet & musician. Jamie already proved that by unpacking one of his poems, Psalm 40, a couple of weeks ago. His fame as a musician has even reached the royal court. “One of Saul's servants said to Saul, 'One of Jesse's sons from Bethlehem is a talented harp player.'” (1 Samuel 16:18)
David had apparently performed publicly that a servant of the King should know about him and identify him as being “talented”. Most important, though, is his character. This same servant goes on to describe that as well: “He is a brave warrior, has good judgment and the Lord is with him.”
(1 Samuel 16:18)
Later he will be described as being a man after the Lord's heart. Most importantly, we are told, that upon being annointed that “the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on”
(1 Samuel 16:13)
This is David, a one time unappreciated, smelly sheepherder now anointed future king of Israel. His key qualities at this point in his life seem to be that of his courage, good judgment, humble heart and deep love of and for God. Not a word is quoted from his lips at this point, underscoring his humility, as well as pointing us to his unassuming beginnings. Like his God before him, and his future heir after him, David has been called to serve as his people's shepherd king.
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As he so famously coined the phrase: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall want for nothing. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. You honor me by anointing my head with oil.”
(Psalm 23:1,4-5)
Why oil? Oil represented holiness, which means, set apart. David was being set apart and sent out as God's representative to the nation. His anointing in oil is coupled with his being filled with the Holy Spirit. Now in ancient times, certain individuals were filled with the Holy Spirit for specific tasks and times. But David is filled for the ongoing task of serving God and his people and his being so filled with the Spirit sticks. This is immediately contrasted with Saul, who had also been filled with the Spirit upon becoming king but “now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul...” (1 Samuel 16:14)
But with David, unlike so many other Old Testament figures, like Samson the Judge, Bezalel the artist, Gideon the warrior, and Saul the King, to name a few, David's filling doesn't go away. “The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on.” (1 Samuel 16:13)
One day, his heir, would send the Spirit on all the subjects of God's rising kingdom, and they would be filled and refilled with the Holy Spirit. David's anointing in oil and the Spirit set him apart. He had been called to do the Lord's work, equipped by God's Spirit to do so, as have we. In this way, we are living in David's legacy as we too are set apart and filled with the Holy Spirit.
That's the third insight. The fourth is this: Samuel 16 provides us a profound insight not only into David's character but also that of God himself. Two aspects of God's character come to light, both of timeless significance. The first is in the easy to miss detail of the purfication rite that the prophet Samuel organizes for Jesse and his sons, and the people of Bethlehem. This is what he says to them:
“Purify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice to the Lord. Then Samuel performed the purification rite for Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice, too.” (1 Samuel 16:5)
This purificaion rite involved ritual cleaning, particularly of one's hands and face, followed by prayers for spiritual cleansing and being dressed in clean clothes. The reason all this was done was that it was believed that worship, the context for making sacrifices, provided the opportunity to enter into God's presence, and the purification rite, showed that God's holiness was not to be taken lightly...!
The second insight comes from God's own lips. When Samuel is convinced he knows who is the most kinglike among Jesse's sons, God corrects him. “The Lord said to Samuel, 'Don't judge by his appearance or height... The Lord doesn't see things the way you do. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'” (1 Samuel 16:7) This is such good news! Here we catch a glimpse of the God of grace who brought salvation from a bed of straw, who loves us even while we behave like God's enemies, who judges not on appearance but on what lies within.
In this way, also, we are children of David's legacy. Paul talks a lot about our being called and set apart, referring to the church as God's holy people, celebrating that we are chosen not because we are so wise or good-looking or successful as the world defines it, but simply because God loves us because he loves us. He sees below the surface and sees our potential. He sees your potential!
Consider the life and legacy of John Merrick, the elephant man. Ostracized and despised by the public on account of his misshapen body, Merrick lived alone on the streets of London until Dr. Treves got him an apartment. “He showed himself to be a gentle, affectionate and lovable person, without a grievance and without an unkind word for anyone in spite of how he was treated. He never complained
(Dr. Frederick Treves)
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Treves arranged for a woman friend of his to greet John every morning with a smile and a hand shake, to look past his appearance and love the man trapped inside. The impact was huge. Being truly seen led to a kind of transformation. He became downright joyful and began crafting sculptures with his one good hand, including an exquisite model of a cathedral. He called the new church outside 'an imitation of grace flying up and up from the mud', and his own model, my imitation of an imitation.
The beautiful have always enjoyed rewards beyond the reach of the homely. Against that reality, God's kingdom flies a flag of divine opposition. Here at the outset of David's life and future legacy we see God setting the stage for a subversive new kind of power at play. As Charles Spurgeon, the British evangelical and contemporary of John Merrick , expressed it: “Jesus' glory was that he laid aside His glory, and the glory of the church is when she lays aside her respectability and her dignity, and counts it to be her glory to gather together the outcasts & those judged by appearance.”
(Charles Spurgeon)
The few scraps of writing John Merrick left behind show that he found a home in a faith that gathers together outcasts. As his friend and doctor noted, 'Everyone who met the Elephant Man went away marveling that such a pure and gentle soul – such a heart - existed inside such a unshapely shell. His life served as a kind of witness, an imitation of grace flying up and up from the mud.'
(Dr. Frederick Treves)
We can learn a lot from David. We can learn a lot from what God says and does in relation to David as well. Be encouraged. No matter how much you may feel like you flounder God is all about anointing you in His Spirit so that he can bring the best of you to light. For no matter how you may feel sized up by the world around you, “The Lord doesn't see things the way people do. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'” (1 Samuel 16:7)