Heart, Not Height

The day that Samuel dreaded had finally arrived. It was the day the elders of Israel gathered together and demanded a king. Samuel had been a judge over the nation of Israel for many years and now the demand of the people was too great. They demanded to have a king sit over the nation of Israel to be like all other nations.

As Samuel tried to explain to the nation that a king is selfish and only thinks of what is best for himself and not the people; the elders who had heard the words of Samuel for many years now have closed their ears and refused to listen to the advice Samuel was trying to give. Nonetheless, the day came when the words of Samuel ceased only due to the Lord advising Samuel to save his words because it had become pointless to try and convince misguided people of the truth.

In that day there lived a man named Kish who was a Benjaminite and a very wealthy man, and he had a son named Saul. This son of Kish stood head and shoulders above any of the people including the elders of Israel. When the people and the elders saw him they were convinced that this man should be their king; because to their satisfaction he carried all the features of what a king should look like. Though this man had the height, he was missing the heart.

Now the Lord being longsuffering decided to give the children of Israel and their elders the king they wanted because at all cost the people wanted to be ruled and not judged. Samuel was heartbroken and the Lord had to speak with him to remind him that it was not he who was rejected but the Lord Himself whom the people had rejected. Samuel went along with the advice of the Lord and supported the people’s new king the man who stood tall but had no heart to serve the Lord named Saul.

Samuel said to the new to prepare for battle against the Amalekites. Samuel told Saul that the Lord expected for the king of Israel to payback and completely destroy the Amalekite nation. The Lord made it clear through Samuel that not one thing that belonged to the Amalekite’s shall live. However, because he being the people’s king, Saul chose to spare the life of Agag the Amalekite king and all of the livestock in their possession.

This act of defiance angered the Lord, so the Lord rejected Saul as king. Rejecting Saul became a big depressing point for Samuel, but the Lord sent Samuel to the house of Jesse the Bethlehemite because the Lord had already chosen for Himself the one who would be the king over His people. Jesse the Bethlehemite had eight sons and seven of them had already met with Samuel, but Samuel inquired of Jesse about his sons and Jesse said that there was one more son.

David was Jesse’s youngest son and did not have the looks of what the people would consider to be king so when Samuel prejudged David’s appearance based on his size and looks, the Lord spoke to Samuel and told him: “I the Lord do not see as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

David went on to be the greatest king to rule over Israel and known for a man after God’s own heart.