Go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite.

1. The greatest and best of men experience seasons of sorrow, depression, and doubt, and sometimes fail in the fulfilment of duty. It was thus with Abraham, Moses, and Elijah, and with others in later ages. It was the same with Samuel, though to a less extent than almost any other. His grief for Saul was excessive. He surrendered himself to it without seeking the consolation and help by which it might be mitigated, and suffered it to interfere with the work which he might yet accomplish on behalf of Israel; and hence he was reproved by God. "The excellent prophet here displays something of human weakness. Samuel here looked on the vessel, made by the invisible hand of God himself, utterly broken and minished, and his emotion thereat shows his pious and holy affection; yet he is not without sin" (Calvin).

2. The failure of good men often appears in those things in which they are pre-eminently excellent. Samuel exhibited extraordinary sympathy with the purposes of God concerning his people, unquestioning obedience to every indication of his will, and strong faith, and hope, and dauntless courage in its fulfilment. Yet here we find him a prey to "the grief that saps the mind," apparently hopeless and desponding, and smitten with fear like Elijah when "he arose and went for his life" on hearing the threat of Jezebel. "Such things would seem designed by God to stain the pride of all flesh, and to check all dependence upon the most eminent or confirmed habits of godliness" (A. Fuller). The strongest are as dependent on God as the feeblest.

3. A higher voice than that of their own troubled and fearful hearts speaks to men of sincerity, and in communing with it they are led into a clearer perception of duty and to gird themselves afresh for its performance. The "spirit of faith" regains its ascendancy over them. And in going forth to active service they find new strength and hope at every step. The night gives place to the morning dawn, and

"They feel, although no tongue can prove,
That every cloud that spreads above
And velleth love, itself is love

(Tennyson, 'The Two Voices') Consider the way of duty, trodden by the good man, as -

I. PRESCRIBED BY GOD, whose will is the rule of human life, and is -

1. Indicated in many ways - the word of truth, providential circumstances, reason, and conscience, and "that awful interior light which the dying Saviour promised, and which the ascending Saviour bestowed - the Spirit of God."

2. Sometimes obscured by frustrated effort, grievous disappointment, immoderate grief, desponding and doubtful thoughts (Matthew 11:2, 3; Acts 18:9; Acts 23:11).

3. Never long hidden from those who are sincerely desirous of doing it, and seek for the knowledge of it with a view to that end (vers. 2, 3; 1 Kings 19:15).

II. BESET BY DANGER. "How can I go? If Saul hear of it, he will kill me." The question was not simply an inquiry for direction, but also an expression of fear; and it may possibly have arisen from indications of Saul's wilfulness such as afterwards appeared (ch. 19:22).

1. Danger is sometimes formidable, even to the bravest of men.

2. It is exaggerated by despondency, doubt, and fear.

"Thy soul is by vile fear assailed, which oft
So overcasts a man, that he recoils
From noblest resolution, like a beast
At some false semblance in the twilight gloom"

(Dante)

3. No danger in the way of duty is equal to that which will be certainly found in departing from it. "In the way of righteousness there is life, and in the pathway thereof there is no death."

III. PURSUED WITH FIDELITY. "And Samuel did that which the Lord spake" (ver. 4). His hesitation was only for a moment, and with further light his faith revived and was displayed in fearless devotion. Fidelity to duty -

1. Demands the renunciation of self and many cherished plans and purposes.

2. Appears in trustful, practical, and unreserved obedience. Samuel went in dependence upon the promise, "I will show thee what thou shalt do," etc.

3. Sometimes necessitates a prudent reserve. There was no deception in withholding a reason for the action directed, beyond that which lay on the surface of the action itself. To reveal it would be to defeat the end designed. And fidelity is sometimes best shown by silence.

IV. TERMINATING IN SAFETY AND HOPE.

1. Threatened danger is averted.

2. Promised guidance is obtained.

3. A brighter day dawns, and

"God's purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour." Samuel returns to Ramah in peace, and with renewed zeal devotes his remaining days to the work of training a body of younger prophets (ch. 19:20), whose influence, together with a change of dynasty, will save the nation and promote the establishment of the kingdom of God. "Let us ask ourselves whether the Jewish nation would have played any part as a 'main propelling agency of modern cultivation,' if its monarchy had been allowed to take the form which Saul would have given it, if he had made religion a creature of the kingly power, and war an instrument of rapine, and not of justice, and we shall see that Samuel's view of the matter was the true one, and in accordance with the proper vocation of a prophet" (Strachey, 'Jewish Hist. and Politics'). - D.

The formal induction of David into the office for which he was selected, was not devoid of its appointed influence. The ceremony was a sacred one, by special direction of God, performed by a sacred band in the days of miraculous agency, days long since passed away. Consequently a marked alteration occurred in the whole character of this lowly shepherd boy. It was not conversion, for David, you remember, before this ceremony, was conversant with godliness, and replete with spiritual and legitimate piety. We may call this alteration or improvement, devotedness; he was warned of the purposes of Providence concerning his future life, and hence became, by a noble ambition, as well as by supernatural gifts, devoted to the destiny, the high appointment to which he was ordained. After the interview with Samuel, David resumed his former position and avocation, but with new thoughts, new hopes, and new practices. His life was still a private one, but the virtues of an exalted mind, and of increased piety, displayed themselves with such fulness that the respect of all men was tendered to him in tributary homage.

1. Here is a volume of wisdom opened to us. We have a double calling — one to future dignity in God's set time, another to present duty in our earthly state. Our wisdom, then, our duty, our religion, is to realise, by sober contemplation, the heaven that awaits us. We have not here to follow the guidance of mere fancy; we have not here the deceitful rule of passion, to observe which will paint a paradise, according to each man's peculiar lust. We have the solemn and copious narrative of revelation; the history of successive periods yet to come; of gradation above gradation in eternal glory for the saints; of resurrection joy, millennial glory with Christ, abiding favour with the Father; of physical happiness, as well as filial consolations; of a promised land, a better country, a heavenly city, of many mansions. Our other calling is to glorify God in that station where His Providence has placed us. The description of David, while be remained a commoner, signifies that he had given himself, with every diligence as a man in ordinary life, to discharge his office, to the very best of his ability, religiously. The devices of the enemy are innumerable, to prevent our success in piety, our utility to man, and our honourableness to God. We must understand thoroughly that in spite of all contrary exhibitions and persuasions, suggested by our infirmities, that the post we occupy is exactly that in which we are placed, stand fast and quit ourselves like men. That our ages, callings, situations, fortunes, are just the very ordinances of Jehovah, and that in these things, and no others, we are required to show forth His glory, and magnify His name. Thus did David.

2. We must thus conclude our considerations about his private life, and follow him out upon the great stage of the world. But ere we view him on that stage we must observe that his exaltation occurred in exact accordance with his private virtues. These spread abroad his fame, sent it to the king's palace, and led him from obscurity. "Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men." "Godliness hath the promise of this life, as well as of that which is to come." The command for David's separation from the humble lot in which he had enjoyed so much of a happy converse with heaven, has arrived — "Send me David thy son, who is with the sheep." Thus were the unsolicited promises of Samuel hastening to fulfilment. David had not sought greatness, and we may conclude that this call to another mode of life, so dissimilar to all his early habits, was obeyed, not with the alacrity of ambition, but the integrity of religion. He obeyed, because he felt it to be his duty. He must henceforth find his interviews with God diminished, and his intimacy with an evil world a source of continual danger, and cause of continual self-restraint and watchfulness. In the life of the believer, all things have their appointed use, according to the words — "All things work together for good, to them who love God." Solitude, or retirement rather, had witnessed the first dawn of piety in this servant of God, and confirmed it in every principle, up to the full blaze of faith, and courage, and devotedness. Now society, and society in the most dangerous form, in the very circle of the court, must train the future monarch for his onerous responsibilities.(1) It was a more difficult task by far to combat the influence of flattery, now heaped on David. He was an accomplished youth, of goodly appearance, graced, too, with all the freshness of innocence and piety, and the prime favourite of the king; it is said here, "he loved him greatly." These things were so many attractions to flattery, so many inlets to the poison of pride, which kills the soul of the unconverted, and which, when it gains admission to the hearts of the children of God, requires for them a discipline of misery, to expel the moral pestilence.(2) Another risk must now be encountered, the power of prevailing levity. Man in solitude is serious, in society is often a mocker. Whether it be the courage Which springs from fellowship, or the poor ambition of obtaining notoriety amongst his fellows, that stirs a man to levity; it is always true that the society of ordinary men is ruled by levity — a reckless disregard for things Divine, or a wild and boisterous exuberance of mirth, where piety dare not appear. Courts are composed of men, not always of the best men, and so he, whose infancy and early youth had been imbued with the deepest reverence for the mysteries and truth of revelation, had now to brook the wild scorn of the infidel, or the injurious babble and enervating levity of the gay and thoughtless sycophants of greatness. We must watch here, against the influence of the world's irreligion upon ourselves, it is our hour of temptation.(3) Lastly, David had to encounter worldliness — that is, the predominant vice in the vicinity of kings. A spiritual man may loathe all this; but repetition blunts his first feelings of abhorrence. Far from the precincts of the court we may pass the residue of our earthly period, but there are agencies abroad to raise within us the love of this evil world, and increase it, too, as that world is fading from our grasp.

(C. M. Fleury, A. M.)