1
Samuel
Why Looks Don’t Matter: 1 Samuel 16.1-13
I have only attended one beauty
contest in my life. It was on a French campsite. The holiday reps had organised
an international beauty contest. Beautiful young women from France, Germany,
Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, and the UK competed for the title of Miss La
Pergola 1999.
The event was taken with
astonishing seriousness by all nationalities, except the British. In fact 3 of
the 5 British entrants were not women at all, but young blokes dressed in their
girlfriend’s best outfits.
They proceeded to send up the whole
event to the loud and delighted amusement of the British campers who clapped
and laughed throughout the evening . The other nationalities looked on in
bemusement, once more mystified by the eccentric antics of the British. (Just
in case you are wondering, one of the British lads, was judged the second most
beautiful of the young ladies present, and was proud runner up as Miss La
Pergola 1999)
Latterly, purely for your benefit,
I have been researching pulp telly
as I have flicked from one digital
channel to the other, I have noticed an incredible interest in appearance and
image. In Britain 2002 image is everything, but to God image is nothing. That
was the lesson that God’s people learnt in 1 Samuel chapter 16
Samuel, the great prophet of God,
has been sent to find God’s chosen replacement for Saul as king of Israel. Saul
has disobeyed God and God has rejected him. Now the Lord tells Samuel to go to
the house of Jesse and anoint one of his sons, the one God has chosen as the
new king of the nation.
Samuel takes one look at the sons
of Jesse and he knows immediately the one he’s got to anoint:
6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and
thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the LORD."
There was something about Eliab
that said ‘king’, that said ‘I’m your man’ that said ‘you want a leader for the
nation, look no further’ Was it his height, his bearing, or his air of quiet
authority? We don’t know, but to Samuel it was obvious: here was the new king.
Except that Samuel was completely
wrong:
7
But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his
height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks
at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
Don’t worry about his looks, he may
look the right person, he may have the right image, but he’s not my choice. So
far, Samuel has been going on outward appearance: do you see what verse 6 said
‘When… saw Eliab’ he thought,
"Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the LORD." But God’s
selection procedure goes a little deeper, and here’s our key verse:
The LORD does not look at the
things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at
the heart." (verse 7)
God is not concerned with the
packaging, he’s concerned with the contents of the parcel. The Lord goes beyond
image to the reality
Our world is so concerned with
image, with how things looks but that is, quite literally, a superficial view
In fact God something has someone
else in view, someone who may not look the part, but is in fact God’s
man for the job. So Samuel organises a kind of beauty parade of his own:
10
Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him,
"The LORD has not chosen these."
None of them are right so Samuel
says
11
, "Are these all the sons you have?"
And Jesse replies ‘well
there is the youngest’, implying ‘but we don’t really count him, he’s only a
youngster’:
"There is still the
youngest," Jesse answered, "but he is tending the sheep." Samuel
said, "Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives."
Youngest can also mean smallest.
Perhaps we are to understand that not only is David the youngest of the family
but he is a bit on the short side. Some families refer to the youngest and
smallest member of the family as
littl’un. It soon becomes clear in Jesse’s family that God has chosen
littl’un to be his king (you can almost imagine the conversation round the meal
table that evening as the family discuss the days astonishing events):
12
So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance
and handsome features. Then the LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; he is the
one."13 So Samuel took the horn of
oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the
Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power.
David, in fact, was a good looking
lad but we already know this isn’t why God has chosen him. The Lord isn’t
interested in his good looks but in his godly character.
David is God’s choice, he is anointed as king and the Spirit of God comes upon him in power. Those God calls, he equips.
What do these events say
to us?
1.GOD IS MORE CONCERNED WITH WHO
YOU ARE THAN WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE
Don’t worry about your image, or
your age. The most important thing is what kind of person you are and what God
thinks of you
2.BE READY FOR GOD’S SURPRISING
CHOICE
God has a way of choosing the
unexpected, or to put it the other way, of not choosing the obvious person.
3.NOTE WHERE IT ALL HAPPENED
The Jesse family live in little
town called Bethlehem. God’s choice of the youngest son of an obscure family
and in a remote rural backwater will have far reaching consequences for the
world:
"But
you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of
you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from
of old, from ancient times."
Micah 1.5
The small man from a small town
will be a great king, but in the goodness of God, one greater even than David
will follow, born of David’s line, born in royal David’s city. And once more
appearances will be deceptive
He grew up before him like a tender
shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to
attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man
of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their
faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Isaiah 53.1-2
but he will be the king of kings
and Lord of Lords, the saviour of the world, my saviour and your saviour
Praise the Lord his mercies trace
praise his providence and grace
all that he for us has done
all he gives us in his Son
Why strength isn’t
everything: 1 Samuel 17.1-26
An obscure
fourth division club plays a Premier league side and wins. A a lone member of
the public takes on the might of a multi-national corporation in court and is
victorious. A 90 year old woman fights back against a mugger and her attacker
is confounded.
And we applaud.
Instinctively we’re all on the side of the underdog. We love to hear of those
unequal struggles where for once right beats might, where arrogant power is
humbled by the little man, the also-ran of this world. We even have a name for
those contests - we call them ‘David and Goliath ‘struggles.
David and
Goliath, their story is one of the best-known and best-loved in the Bible.
Goliath, the nine feet tall giant of man who made an army tremble, is taken on
by a teenage boy. The odds are ridiculously stacked against the lad from
Bethlehem, but when the chips are down, it’s Goliath who loses his head, and
David who is triumphant.
It’s a
famous victory for the underdog and we all cheer
But there’s
a bit more to it than that, let’s look a bit closer at the two principal actors
in this drama:
1. What do
we know about GOLIATH?
4 . He was over nine feet tall. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore
a coat of scale armour of bronze weighing five thousand shekels ; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a
bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7
His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six
hundred shekels.
He was a
terrifying sight but we already know from 1 Samuel chapter 16 that outward
appearance doesn’t matter in the economy of God. Eliab looked impressive, too,
but God didn’t choose him:
7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not
consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does
not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but
the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16
Yes Goliath
looks fierce. He’s big. He’s powerful. He is a terrible enemy, but what he looks
like really doesn’t matter at all
¨ We know he
is God’s enemy
Goliath’s
attitude is one of defiance. The word defy is used six times of Goliath
in this passage
In v 10
Goliath says ‘ I defy the ranks of Israel’
In v 26,
David asks, ‘Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy
the armies of the living God?"
He
has set himself up against God’s people and, therefore, against God himself -
such is the close connection between the Lord and his people
¨ We know he
looks feeble (but looks don’t matter to God)
When
Goliath catches sight of David, he laughs out loud and taunts the defenceless
lad standing before him:
42 He looked David
over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him.
43 He said to David, "Am I a dog,
that you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his
gods. 44 "Come here," he
said, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of
the field!"
But we know
that looks are deceptive. The boy has God on his side.
¨ We know he
is God’s anointed one
David has
been specially chosen by the Lord as the new king of his people. David is not
just anyone, he is God’s personally chosen leader of his personally chosen
people. God is committed to David. Goliath beware!
¨ We know he
is strong in the power of the Spirit
On the day
David was anointed as king, the Spirit of God came upon him. The Bible
literally says ‘ the Spirit rushed upon him.’ The picture is of a mighty wind
rushing into David’s life. Like the wind it is invisible to the eye, but
powerful in effect. David may look weak, but the Spirit of the Living God has
rushed upon him: he is strong in the Lord’s power: soldier of Christ arise
and put your armour on, strong in the strength which God supplies.’
So those
are the two principal players, but..
¨ We know
that God’s honour is at stake
26 David asked the
men standing near him, "What will be done for the man who kills this
Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised
Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?"
David saw
clearly the real spiritual issue: God’s honour. The Philistines are God’s
enemies. Through Goliath, they have successfully intimidated the Israelites who
are cowering in the corner quivering with fear. David is filled with righteous
anger that God’s name is being dishonoured by the open defiance of Goliath
going completed unchallenged. He knows that God’s honour is at stake
¨ We know
that it is a battle that will be fought in God’s power and that God’s king will
be victorious
46 This day the LORD
will hand you over to me…..47 All those
gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves;
for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands."
It is not just that David is skilled with the sling and
stone, it is that he is trusting in the Lord to win his victory. Michelango’s
statue of David, though a brilliant piece of art, entirely misses the point.
David’s strength is in the Lord’s mighty power, not in his own physical
prowess:
45 David said to the
Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I
come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of
Israel, whom you have defied.
¨ We know
this is the forerunner of a Greater Battle
Great
David’s greater Son, Jesus, the anointed one, God’s ultimate king was himself
involved in the David and Goliath struggle to end all struggles. At the cross
the odds seemed hopelessly stacked against him - the small defenceless figure,
nailed to a cross, facing the might of the Roman Empire, the hatred of the
Jewish nation, and ultimately everything the devil could throw at him
For a
moment this time it seemed as if Goliath had won, as if the powers of darkness
had finally triumphed as the broken battered body of Jesus was taken down from
the cross for burial. But David himself centuries before had predicted that
this would not be the end of God’s anointed king: Peter was able to say on the
day of Pentecost:
29 "Brothers, I can tell you confidently that
the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.
30 But he was a prophet and knew that
God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his
throne. 31 Seeing what was ahead, he
spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the
grave, nor did his body see decay. Acts 2
Three days
later it was clear that God’s anointed one was triumphant, and the Goliath of
sin evil and death had been defeated once and for all
As
the hymn writer says:
Up from the
grave he arose
and,
triumphant, over all his foes
he arose a
victor from the dark domain,
and he
lives for ever
with his
saints to reign –
he arose,
he arose
Alleluia –
Christ arose!
You
see the real lesson of the story is that the days of evil are always numbered,
that God’s anointed king will always be victorious.
Unlike
David who lies in his grave awaiting the resurrection, King Jesus is alive now.
The question is who’s side are we on? Jesus or Goliath?
If you are
on Jesus side you are on the winning side.
If you are
not on Jesus side, you are on the side, which though like Goliath appears to be
the one most likely to succeed, is, in fact, doomed to failure - because God is against it.
Perhaps its
time to change sides.
Last week
we discovered looks don’t matter. It’s God’s choice that counts.
This week
we have seen that strength isn’t everything. Having God on your side is what
counts
As
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1.25
the
weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength