The Least of Jesse’s Sons to Become the Greatest
In most of the instances when Jesse appears in Scripture, it’s in relation to his son David, as in “David, son of Jesse,” or simply “the son of Jesse.”
Yet the first time we encounter Jesse in the Bible, this is not the case. Here’s what happens:
God has rejected Saul as king and tasks Samuel to appoint a new one. The Lord directs Samuel to go to Jesse in the town of Bethlehem.
There Samuel is to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king. God doesn’t tell Samuel which boy to pick, merely that he’ll indicate which one when the time comes.
When Samuel sees Jesse’s oldest son, Eliab, the prophet assumes he is the one God wants. But he is not. Neither is Jesse’s second son, Abinadab, nor the third son, Shammah.
Jesse presents all seven of his boys to Samuel, but God doesn’t pick any of them.
When Samuel presses Jesse, he admits he has one more son, David, who’s out tending the sheep. It’s as if Jesse forgot David. Surely, he dismissed his youngest son as not being worthy.
But God sees things differently than Jesse and differently than we do. He directs Samuel to anoint David as king.
The least of Jesse’s sons will become the greatest.
When have we dismissed any of our family or friends, failing to see them as God sees them?
When has God surprised us by who he picked to serve him?
[Read about Jesse in 1 Samuel 16:1–13. Discover more in 1 Samuel 17:12–18.]
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More Old Testament Sinners and Saints is part of the Bible Character Sketches series.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront a status quo faith and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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