1 Samuel 16:1
And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Beth–lehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.
Study Note
Study Note
God's rebuke of Samuel's grief over Saul — 'How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite' — presents divine providence as moving forward while human pastoral attachment lingers with the old. The tension between Samuel's loyal grief and God's forward direction models a pastoral dilemma that recurs throughout Scripture: attachment to what God has set aside can become an obstacle to participating in what God is doing next. The immediate sending to Jesse's household initiates the David narrative — the great counter-story to Saul's failed monarchy — making verse 1 the hinge between two rival understandings of Israelite kingship. The horn-of-oil anointing that follows (1:13) becomes paradigmatic for all messianic expectation: 'messiah' (mashiach) means 'anointed one,' and David's anointing here is the narrative prototype.
Other Translations
And Jehovah said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel? fill thy horn with oil, and go: I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-lehemite; for I have provided me a king among his sons.
And Jehovah saith unto Samuel, `Till when art thou mourning for Saul, and I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thy horn with oil, and go, I send thee unto Jesse the Beth-Lehemite, for I have seen among his sons for Myself a king.
And the Lord said to Samuel, How long will you go on sorrowing for Saul, seeing that I have put him from his place as king over Israel? Take oil in your vessel and go; I will send you to Jesse, the Beth-lehemite: for I have got a king for myself among his sons.
Cross References
Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy …
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him …
And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called …
And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.
To morrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt …
Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it …
And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, …
But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the …
It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, …
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the …