Chapter L.
DAVID, THE YOUNG SHEPHERD.
[1 Kings 16.]
SAMUEL loved Saul, and mourned for him because the Lord had rejected him. One day the Lord said to Samuel: “How long wilt thou mourn for Saul whom I have rejected? Fill thy horn with oil, and come that I may send thee to Isai, the Bethlehemite; for I have provided me a king among his sons."
So Samuel went to Bethlehem[1], and took with him a victim, and called Isai and his sons to partake [2] of the sacrifice. Now when Eliab, the eldest son, had come forward, who was of a high stature, the Lord said to Samuel: “Look not on his countenance; for man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord seeth the heart.” [3] Isai then called in his other sons, one by one, six in number. When Samuel had seen them all, he said: “The Lord has not
chosen any of these. Are these all thy sons?” Isai replied: “There remaineth yet a young one who keepeth the sheep.” Samuel hastened to answer: “Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither.”
Now when David came in, he was beautiful to behold, and of a comely face; and the Lord said: “Arise, and anoint him, for this is he.” Then Samuel, taking the horn of oil, anointed him in the midst of his brethren. Immediately the Spirit of the Lord came upon David, and remained with him.
But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit [4] troubled him. Wherefore the servants of Saul said to him: “Let our lord give orders, and we will seek out a man skilful in playing on the harp, that when the evil spirit is upon thee he may play with his hand, and thou mayest bear it more easily.”
- ↑ Bethlehem. This little town lay in the territory of the tribe of Juda.
- ↑ To partake. To assist at the offering of the sacrifice and also to partake of it
- ↑ The heart. i. e. the qualities of the heart, whether a man be God-fearing, humble &c.
- ↑ An evil spirit. The consciousness that, through his own fault, he was forsaken by God, oppressed him. As he did not turn to God by prayer and penance, an infernal spirit gained influence over him, and kindled in him an unnatural melancholy so that his soul became a prey to the evil passions of envy, hatred and blood-thirstiness, till at last he was driven to despair and suicide.
