When I read the account of how the prophet Samuel came to anoint David to be Saul’s replacement as King of Israel I thought how the day must have started off for David and Eliab.
Eliab, the tallest, most handsome of Jesse’s sons is ‘surely’ the Lord’s chosen according to the thinking of Samuel, and David the ‘runt of the litter’ doesn’t even make it to the feast, because he is assigned the job of looking after his father’s few sheep. Samuel, that righteous man of God who the Lord trusted with some pretty weighty jobs (like giving the current king, who has the power of life and death over his subjects, his notice of redundancy) is even moved to state, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him”. Not so responded the Lord, Get a grip on yourself man, when will you learn that I don’t look at people the way that they look at themselves.
For all we know, Jesse may have sent Eliab to tell David to come to the feast and t take care of the sheep for David whilst he was away from them. What a turn around that would have been for the senior son of the family. Psalms 75:7 puts it this way – But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
What started off as a day full of hope and promise for Eliab led to disappointment, but what started off as a day of disappointment for David ended up with delight. As far as the Lord was concerned it was all a matter of the heart.