1 Samuel 16:4

_AND SAMUEL DID THAT WHICH THE LORD SPAKE, AND CAME TO BETHLEHEM. AND THE ELDERS OF THE TOWN TREMBLED AT HIS COMING, AND SAID, COMEST THOU PEACEABLY?_ The elders of the town trembled at his coming. Beth-lehem was an obscure town, and not within the usual circuit of the judge. The elders were naturally apprehensive, therefore, that his arrival was occasioned by some extraordinary reason, and that it might entail evil upon their town, in consequence of the estrangement between Samuel and the king. 'They might have been conscious of secret guilt, and supposed that Samuel, coming among them as the judicial vicegerent of God, was about to investigate and punish the commission of some crime. The inhabitants of this place have long been proverbial for their refractory spirit; because even in modern times they have been often at variance with the reigning power' (Hardy's 'Notices of the Holy La...

1-5 It appears that Saul was grown very wicked. Of what would he not be guilty, who durst think to kill Samuel? The elders of Bethlehem trembled at Samuel's coming. It becomes us to stand in awe of God's messengers, and to tremble at his word. His answer was, I come peaceably, for I come to sacrifice. When our Lord Jesus came into the world, though men had reason to fear that his errand was to condemn the world, yet he gave full assurance that he came peaceably, for he came to sacrifice, and he brought his offering with him; A body hast thou prepared me. Let us sanctify ourselves, and depend upon His sacrifice....

Verse 1 Samuel 16:4. _THE ELDERS OF THE TOWN TREMBLED AT HIS COMING_] They knew he was a prophet of the Lord, and they were afraid that he was now come to denounce some judgments of the Most High against their city....

TREMBLED - There was evidently something unusual in Samuel’s coming to Bethlehem; and the elders, knowing that Samuel was no longer at friendship with Saul, foreboded some evil....

DAVID ANOINTED AS THE FUTURE KING, AND HIS FIRST INTRODUCTION TO SAUL. (1 Samuel 16:1) EXPOSITION CHOICE OF DAVID AS SUCCESSOR TO SAUL (1 Samuel 16:1). 1 SAMUEL 16:1 HOW LONG WRIT THOU MOURN? The grief of Samuel was prolonged almost to a sinful extent, nor can we wonder at it. We who see Saul's whole career, and know how deeply he fell

AND SAMUEL DID THAT WHICH THE LORD SPAKE,.... He filled a horn of oil, and took an heifer with him: AND CAME TO BETHLEHEM; where Jesse and his family lived, which, according to Bunting y, was sixteen miles from Ramah; though it could hardly be so much, since Ramah was six miles from Jerusalem on one side, as Bethlehem lay six miles from it on the other z; AND THE ELDERS OF THE TOWN TREMBLED AT HIS COMING; for he being now an old man, and seldom went abroad, they concluded it must be something very extraordinary that brought him thither; and they might fear that as he was a prophet of the Lord, that he was come to reprove them, or denounce some judgment upon them for their sins. The Targum is, "the elders of the city gathered together to meet him;'' out of respect and in honour to him, and to the same sense Jarchi's note is, "they hasted to go out to meet him''; see...

III. DAVID, THE KING AFTER GOD'S HEART--HIS EXILE AND SUFFERING 1. David Anointed King and the Departure of the Spirit from Saul CHAPTER 16 _ 1. David anointed king (1 Samuel 16:1)_ 2. The Spirit departs from Saul and David with Saul (1 Samuel 16:14) The king after the people's heart has failed and is set aside, and now Jehovah brings forth His king after His own heart. That king like Jonathan, a man of faith, is devoted to Jehovah and in perfect subjection unto Him. Furthermore, from the tribe of Judah (Judah means “praise”) he is a worshipper through whom the Spirit of God pours forth the sweetest strains of praise and worship. He prospers into a great kingdom and Jehovah makes an oathbound covenant with him ...

SAMUEL ANOINTS DAVID (E 2) or (R). A better division would be in the middle of 1 Samuel 15:35, so as to begin the new section with And Yahweh repented. etc. Many authorities regard this section as a late, possibly post-exilic, addition; but it seems the natural sequel to the preceding chapter, and may probably be referred to the same document. By the direction of Yahweh Samuel goes to Bethlehem, ostensibly to sacrifice, but really to anoint a son of Jesse to the kingship. He sanctified Jesse and his sons, _i.e._ he made them perform certain ritual acts, such as washings. At the sacrifice, seven sons of Jesse passed before Samuel, but Yahweh gave no sign, then David was sent for, and came, and he was ruddy [or perhaps, red-haired], a youth with beautiful eyes and comely, as we should probably read and translate. At the bidding of Yahweh, Samuel anointed him, and the Spirit of Ya

BETH-LEHEM. house of bread. SAID. Hebrew text reads verb in singular, requiring "he, or one, said". In this case it is the Figure of speech _Heterosis_ (of Number), App-6. But several codices, the _Sevir_ (App-34), Targum, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and the two earliest printed editions, read "they said"....

_Beth-lehem_ Beth-lehem ("house of bread") was the later name of the ancient town of _Ephrath_(Genesis 48:7). It was situated about five miles south of Jerusalem, a short distance east of the road from Jerusalem to Hebron. As the scene of the fresh picture of domestic life contained in the book of Ruth it would possess no common interest, but as the "city of David" (Luke 2:4), and the birthplace of Him of Whom David was a type, it is, next to Jerusalem itself, the most sacred spot on earth. Here too, it should be remembered, "beside what he believed to be literally the cradle of the Christian faith … Jerome composed the famous translation of the Scriptures which is still the -Biblia Vulgata" of the Latin Church." Stanley's _Sin. and Pal_., p. 442. _the elders of the town_, &c. The elders of th