Series: The Kingdom Herald Bible Courses — Book 09 (Study Edition)

"Yahweh sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks on the heart." — 1 Samuel 16:7

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED...

  • Was it wrong for Israel to want a king?
  • What did Saul actually do to lose the throne?
  • Why did David refuse to take a kingdom that was already promised to him?

THE SONG THAT PREDICTS THE WHOLE BOOK

1 Imagine reading the last page of a novel first — and finding that it was printed on page two all along. That is what happens in 1 Samuel. Before there is a king, before Saul or David exists, a childless woman sings a song that lays out everything the book is about to do.

2 Read 1 Samuel 2:1–10. Hannah sings: "The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength... He raises up the poor from the dust... to make them sit with princes." Every turn in the book is already there — the strong brought low, the overlooked lifted up. And look at the last line: "he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed." Israel has no king yet. The word "anointed" — messiah — is sung by a barren woman before the monarchy exists. Mary will sing this same song when she is carrying the King (Luke 1:46–55).

1, 2. (a) What does Hannah's song predict? (b) What is startling about verse 10?

WAS IT WRONG TO WANT A KING?

3 Read 1 Samuel 8:5–7. "Appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations." Samuel is hurt; God says something deeper: "they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them."

4 Here's a correction worth having, because it's commonly missed: God was never against kingship. He promised kings to Abraham (Genesis 17:6), the scepter to Judah (Genesis 49:10), and Deuteronomy 17:14–20 legislates for a king in advance. The monarchy was always in the plan.

5 What God objected to was the motive and the model. "Like all the nations" — so we look normal. And "that our king may go out before us and fight our battles" (8:20) — so we needn't trust God to. Samuel warns them exactly what a nations-style king does: conscript, tax, seize, take (8:11–18). They ask anyway.

3–5. (a) What did God say the request really was? (b) What was actually wrong with it?

THE MAN WHO LOOKED THE PART

6 How is Saul introduced? By his appearance: "a handsome young man... from his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people" (9:2). Exactly what a nation wanting a king like the nations would pick.

7 And here's something worth saying: Saul is a tragedy, not a villain. He begins genuinely well. The Spirit rushes on him (10:10). He hides among the baggage at his own coronation (10:22). When men insult him, he refuses to have them killed: "Not a man shall be put to death this day" (11:13). He was a real man with real gifts who couldn't hold up under pressure.

8 His two failures both look reasonable. At Gilgal the enemy is massing, Samuel is late, the army is deserting — so Saul offers the sacrifice himself rather than wait (13:8–14). Then at Amalek he spares the king and the best livestock, explaining that the animals were for sacrifice. Read 1 Samuel 15:22. "Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Yahweh? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice." Saul's defense was a religious one. That was the problem.

6–8. (a) Why was Saul chosen? (b) What was wrong with sparing animals "for sacrifice"?

THE VERSE THAT TURNS THE BOOK

9 Samuel goes to Bethlehem to anoint a new king, and Jesse lines up seven sons. At the first one, Samuel does exactly what Israel did with Saul: "Surely Yahweh's anointed is before him" (16:6). Then God corrects him. Read 1 Samuel 16:7. "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature... man looks on the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks on the heart."

10 The chosen one is the eighth son — out with the sheep, not even invited to the sacrifice. Nobody thought to send for him.

11 One more clarification. God says he has sought "a man after his own heart" (13:14), which is usually read as David was so godly — awkward, given what David later does. The Hebrew idiom means a man of God's own choosing. Paul confirms it: "a man after my heart, who will do all my will" (Acts 13:22). The contrast isn't bad man versus good man. It's the king the people picked versus the king God picked.

9–11. (a) What is God's measure? (b) What does "a man after his own heart" mean?

THE GIANT — AND WHAT THE CHAPTER ACTUALLY SAYS

12 Read 1 Samuel 17:26 and 17:47. David's concern isn't courage, it's covenant: "who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" And his confidence isn't in his aim: "the battle is Yahweh's, and he will give you into our hand."

13 Notice the structure: this is champion warfare. One representative fights on behalf of everyone, and the whole nation's fate is decided by his victory. Israel doesn't fight — Israel belongs to the one who fights for them. That pattern is exactly how Scripture explains the cross: "by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous" (Romans 5:19; see Study 14).

12, 13. (a) What was David's stated concern? (b) What is champion warfare?

THE KING WHO WOULDN'T TAKE THE THRONE

14 Here is the moral center of the book, and it's easy to walk past. Twice David has Saul completely at his mercy — asleep in a cave (ch. 24) and asleep in his camp (ch. 26) — with his own men telling him this is obviously God's provision. Read 1 Samuel 24:6. "Yahweh forbid that I should... put out my hand against him, seeing he is Yahweh's anointed."

15 Weigh what David turns down. He has been anointed. A prophet has promised him the kingdom. The current king is actively trying to murder him. The opportunity is textbook. And he refuses — because the throne is God's to give, not his to seize. He waits more than a decade.

16 That pattern goes somewhere. In the wilderness, the Messiah is offered all the kingdoms of the world by a shortcut, and refuses (Luke 4:5–8; Study 12). And Paul writes that he "did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped" — and therefore God exalted him (Philippians 2:6–9; Study 16). The true King waits for the Father to give him the kingdom.

14–16. (a) What did David refuse, and why? (b) Where does that pattern reappear?

📖 KEY SCRIPTURES IN THIS STUDY

1 Samuel 2:1–10 · 3:1–10 · 8:5–20 · 9:2 · 13:8–14 · 15:22 · 16:6–7 · 17:26, 47 · 24:6 · 26:9–11 · Deuteronomy 17:14–20 · Luke 1:46–55 · Acts 13:22 · Romans 5:19 · Philippians 2:6–9

💬 SHARING THIS TRUTH

A way in: "There's a barren woman in 1 Samuel who sings about God's 'anointed' before Israel even has a king — and Mary sings the same song a thousand years later. Want to read them side by side?" Discussion questions:

  1. "God had always planned for a king. So what was actually wrong with the request in chapter 8?"
  2. "Saul's excuse was that the animals were for sacrifice. Why wasn't that good enough?"
  3. "David could have taken the throne twice and didn't. What was he waiting for?"

✅ IN REVIEW

  • Hannah's song announces the book's theme — reversal — and names "his anointed" before any king exists.
  • God was never against kingship; he objected to the motive ("like the nations") and the model.
  • Saul was chosen for his height; he lost the throne through disobedience dressed as religion — "to obey is better than sacrifice."
  • God's measure: "Yahweh looks on the heart" — and he chose the eighth son, out with the sheep.
  • David refused to seize the kingdom he'd been promised — the same pattern the Messiah follows in the wilderness and at the cross.

For the full course, including the ark narrative, Saul's decline, and the book's place in the Davidic line, see the complete Book 09 course in this archive.

Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one — the true King of Israel, who does not measure by stature, who prefers obedience to the fat of rams, and who lifted a shepherd from the sheepfold to a throne he would not take by force.