God had abandoned Saul, rejecting him from being king over Israel (1 Sam. 15:23). Immediately thereafter God sent Samuel to contact a youth, David, who was perhaps only fifteen years old. This shows that while Saul was usurping and even abusing the God-given kingship in order to build up his own monarchy, God was aware of the situation and was doing something marvelous to prepare the right person. God went secretly to David, the great grandson of Boaz and Ruth (Ruth 4:21-22).

David was created and prepared by God to be a man according to the heart of God (1 Sam. 13:14a). Otherwise, he could not have been such a man. However, as shown in chs. 16—17, he still needed to pass through the process of being chosen, trained, anointed, tested, and approved. David was thirty years old when he began to reign (2 Sam. 5:4). After David was anointed by Samuel, he was tested for about fifteen years. In particular, he was bothered and troubled by Saul. Eventually, David passed the test and was approved by God.

Lit., seen.

Lit., he.

David was the eighth son of Jesse (1 Sam. 17:12, 14), the number eight signifying resurrection. In the scriptural sense, David was one who was in resurrection; hence, he was the one whom God could use.

After being chosen by God (vv. 1-10), David was trained by God in humility through his circumstances. God purposely caused him to be born as the youngest one, the last one, to make him humble. Furthermore, David was assigned the lowly task of going to the field to take care of the sheep.

The rushing of the Spirit upon David was a confirmation of Samuel’s anointing David with oil. It was related not to life for salvation but to power for outward activities (see note Luke 24:49³ and note Acts 2:2^1a). The Spirit of Jehovah departing from Saul and an evil spirit from Jehovah terrorizing him (v. 14) were a further confirmation that God had chosen someone other than him.

Meaning beloved.

Under God’s sovereignty David was selected to become an attendant of Saul. God put these two together to live and work together very closely. Eventually, however, the closer they became, the more Saul hated David. Simply by being put together, Saul and David became a test to each other. Saul was exposed as a person who was opposite to God’s will, and David was manifested to be a man according to God’s heart (1 Sam. 13:14a). This was God’s sovereignty.

Lit., stood before him. So also in the next verse.

Lit., he.