“And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD'S anointed is before him.”
My Notes
What Does 1 Samuel 16:6 Mean?
"And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD'S anointed is before him." Even SAMUEL gets it wrong. The prophet who has been sent by God to anoint the next king looks at the FIRST son — Eliab, the eldest, presumably the tallest and most impressive — and immediately concludes: 'This is the one.' The prophet's EYES override the prophet's EARS. The visual assessment trumps the divine instruction. Samuel makes the same mistake God just warned him against.
The phrase "he looked on Eliab" (vayyar et Eli'av — he saw Eliab) is significant because of the VERB: the same 'seeing' that led Israel to demand a king like Saul ('goodlier than any of the people' — 9:2) now leads Samuel to assume Eliab is the choice. Samuel SEES height, appearance, firstborn status — and CONCLUDES anointing. The visual logic is: the king looks like a king, so this one must be the next king.
The phrase "Surely the LORD'S anointed is before him" (akh neged YHWH meshicho — surely before the LORD is His anointed) shows Samuel's CERTAINTY: 'surely' (akh — indeed, certainly) indicates confidence. Samuel isn't tentatively suggesting Eliab. He's CERTAIN. The prophet is SURE — and completely wrong. The certainty of human assessment collides with the reality of divine selection. What looks right to the prophet is wrong to God.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Who have you looked at and been CERTAIN about — and been completely wrong?
- 2.What does even the PROPHET defaulting to visual assessment teach about the depth of human bias toward appearances?
- 3.How does 'the LORD seeth not as man seeth' challenge the way you evaluate people?
- 4.What Eliab — what impressive firstborn — have you assumed was God's choice because they looked the part?
Devotional
Even the PROPHET gets it wrong. Samuel — God's own spokesman — looks at the firstborn son and says with CERTAINTY: 'Surely THIS is the anointed.' Tall. Impressive. Firstborn. Everything that says 'king' to human eyes. And Samuel is completely, confidently WRONG.
The mistake is the same one Israel made with Saul: choosing by APPEARANCE. Saul was taller than everyone (9:2). Eliab presumably looks the part too. Samuel's eyes do what eyes do — they assess the visible and assume the invisible matches. 'Looks like a king, must be the king.' The visual logic is seductive. And it's wrong.
God's correction comes immediately (verse 7): 'Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature... for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.' The rebuke isn't harsh — it's INSTRUCTIONAL. God is teaching Samuel to SEE differently. The prophetic eye must be trained to see what God sees: not the outside but the inside. Not the appearance but the heart.
What's humbling is that Samuel NEEDED the correction. Even the prophet defaults to visual assessment. Even the man who hears God's voice defaults to what his EYES tell him. The human tendency to judge by appearance is so deep that even prophets do it. The correction isn't for failures. It's for EVERYONE — even the most spiritual among us see the outside first.
Who have you looked at and said 'surely this is the one' — and been completely wrong?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
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