Passage: 1 Samuel 17
Summary
1 Samuel has been all about looking for a leader and we re-join in the middle of a leadership crisis. Saul has been made the first king of Israel by popular demand – but things have not gone well.
In fact, even the selection of Saul was flawed to begin with. The people had demanded a king to bring stability and security and to ‘make them like all the nations around them’.
But – as we saw before Easter – Saul had been disobedient to God’s commands and been rejected by God, but he is still functioning as the people’s King.
Behind the scenes, however, a new King has now been chosen by God and anointed at Bethlehem by the prophet Samuel. He’s nothing special on the outside – he’s small, the youngest of 8 sons, but God has chosen to use him as the next King of Israel and He’s put His Spirit on him.
So you may say our passage this morning is a tale of two Kings. The stage has been set for small David to replace tall Saul. So let’s see what happens next.
