Getting To The "Heart" Of 1 Samuel

This article is the first in a monthly series of articles published by the pastoral team to equip and encourage the church through brief biblical & theological studies and reflections. Would the Lord use them to glorify himself as he grows in us a desire to know and understand his word.

GOD LOOKS AT THE HEART & SO SHOULD WE

1 Samuel 16:7 tells us that, “the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” In other words, we are prone to look at the externals, but God is focused upon the “heart” - the real essence of who someone is. He looks at the inner disposition of a person that reveals what they’re bent toward doing and desiring, what makes them tick, and sees what’s truly there, not what they want others to see.

As God looks on the heart in 1 Samuel 16, he is looking at something that we need to see.

WHAT IS THE HEART?

1 Samuel 16:7 contains one of over 800 references to the human heart in the Old Testament (OT) and one of 33 occurrences in 1 Samuel. Some of these occurrences refer to the human heart in an anatomical way, but beyond this bodily reference, “heart” (Hebrew leb, lebab) very often describes the state of one’s soul. In this sense, the authors of Scripture use the word “heart” to mean the center of a person’s thinking, willing, and affections - where “the vital decisions are made” (Hans Walter Wolff). Our hearts are the control-centers of our lives, out of which our words, worship, wanting, and willing all proceed.

WHY LOOK AT THE HEART?

In 1 Samuel, God looks at the heart because he is looking for a certain kind of heart. He’s looking for a certain kind of heart toward him from among his people, his priests, and, ultimately, his king. What sort of heart is God looking for? He’s looking for a heart that beats like his.

In other words, as God looks on the heart of his people, his priests, and king he’s looking for a heart whose control-center is utterly controlled by God’s holy will, and not man’s selfish and sinful will. A heart that loves what God loves. A heart that wants what God wants. A heart that bears a resemblance to and provides a reflection of the glory, goodness, and beauty of who God is.

In 1 Samuel, God desires a heart in his people that is wholly devoted to him and not divided in its affections by loyalties to lesser kings and love of idols (1 Sam 7:3, 12:20, 24).

He desires a faithful priesthood that would serve God and his people “according to what is in [his] heart and in [his] mind” (1 Sam 2:35), and not according to their own preferences and will when it comes to how God would be worshipped.

And ultimately, he desires a king who would be “a man after his own heart” (1 Sam 13:14), unlike King Saul, whose heart was after his own gain and glory, as opposed to the good of his people and glory of God.

More than anything else, God is concerned with the hearts of his people. And amongst all his people, God is especially concerned with the heart of the king. Why is this? Because, as the saying goes, “So goes the king, so go the people” – meaning that the morality, conduct, and example will set the tone for how the people live. God’s people rarely rise above the godliness of their leaders. But even more than that, because God is in search of a king that would reflect his heart for his people.

This is ultimately why Saul was not the man for the job. He had the wrong heart. He appeared to have what it took to be king according to the externals – he was wealthy, handsome, and a head taller than all his countrymen (1 Sam 9:1-2) – but he was not “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Sam 13:14). His lack of love for what God loved, lack of conformity and obedience to his will, and desire for his status, security, and gain and not the well-being of God’s people did not reflect the glory, goodness, and beauty of God. In 1 Samuel, Saul is the bad king who burdened his people, led them into harm’s way, and led them away from God’s will and toward his own. He makes God’s people to long for another king, a better king, a truer king, not because he’s a hopeful reflection of the one who is to come, but because he is revoltingly opposite to him.

WHO IS THE MAN AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART?

Into this longing, enters David. It is his anointing to the office of king which is taking place in 1 Samuel 16 when God tells Samuel that he doesn’t look upon the outward appearance but instead looks upon the heart. Neither Eliab, the oldest son of Jesse, or his 6 younger brothers are chosen by the Lord to be the king. The implication is that none of them have the right heart. None of them are the man after God’s own heart.

After seeming to exhaust all options, Samuel asks Jesse if he has any other sons. To this Jesse replies he has one more son, “but behold, he is keeping the sheep” (1 Sam 16:11). This son wasn’t even invited to be considered by the prophet! He was discounted by his father from the start as being the one the prophet would choose. Yet, as the story goes, he is the one of whom the Lord says, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he” (1 Sam 16:12), and his name is David.

This tells us that David is the man after God’s own heart that 1 Samuel has been looking forward to. He is the one who is possessed of the very heart God was looking for! The narrative of 1 Samuel will reveal that David’s heart beat for what God’s beat for. He was concerned for God’s glory and the good of God’s people. He wanted to do God’s will and not his own. His heart bore a resemblance to God’s own heart for his people.

WHAT WE SEE IN DAVID’S HEART

In 1 Samuel, David is chosen because unlike Saul, his heart will reflect the glory, beauty, and goodness of God’s heart toward his people. He’s a good king because he brings the goodness of God’s reign to bear upon his people. But, our reasons for looking upon the heart of David don’t stop there.

In the grand storyline of the Bible, we need to see the heart of David because it reflects the heart of Christ.

David is the good king, who, though he is himself imperfect, draws us into the heart of the true king who is to come: Jesus Christ. This is why God chose him then, to help us long for the true king who would come by giving us a glimpse of his beauty.

The beauty of the king who is a good shepherd over his people. Protecting his church just as David protected his flock from bears and lions (1 Sam 16:11, 17:33-37).

The beauty of a king who demonstrate his greatness through service. Who served us by laying his life down even as David served selflessly in Saul’s court (1 Sam 16:14-23).

The beauty of a king who courageously faced our enemies of sin, death, and Satan head on. Who did battle with them upon the cross and conquered Satan with his own weapon, even as David faced Goliath with the courage that God would defeat the enemies of his people through him and slew the giant with his own sword (1 Sam 17:41-54)!

The beauty of a king who pursued his bride the church by paying the bride-price of his own body and blood. Even as David won his bride from the jaws of death and destruction by obtaining her hand through the defeat of 200 hundred foes (1 Sam 18:20-27)!

We could say more, but it is clear: The “heart” of 1 Samuel is none other than the heart of Jesus Christ, the true King over God’s people. He is the Good Shepherd, the Suffering Servant, the Victor over sin, death, and Satan, and the Husband to his bride, the Church. As we read 1 Samuel, we, like the Lord, ought to look at the heart in order that we’d look upon the very heart of Christ.