1 Samuel 16:1

Samuel Anoints David as King

16:1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long do you intend to mourn for Saul? I have rejected him as king over Israel. ¹  Fill your horn with olive oil and go! I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, ²  for I have selected a king for myself from among his sons.” ³ 

1 Samuel 16:10

16:10 Jesse presented seven of his sons to Samuel. ⁴  But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.”

1 Samuel 16:12

16:12 So Jesse had him brought in. ⁵  Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one!”

1 Samuel 16:2

16:2 Samuel replied, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!” But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you ⁶  and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’

1 Samuel 8:15

8:15 He will demand a tenth of your seed and of the produce of your vineyards and give it to his administrators ⁷  and his servants.

Psalms 78:68-71

78:68 He chose the tribe of Judah,

and Mount Zion, which he loves.

78:69 He made his sanctuary as enduring as the heavens above; ⁸ 

as secure as the earth, which he established permanently. ⁹ 

78:70 He chose David, his servant,

and took him from the sheepfolds.

78:71 He took him away from following the mother sheep, ¹⁰ 

and made him the shepherd of Jacob, his people,

and of Israel, his chosen nation. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 23:5-6

23:5 “I, the Lord, promise ¹²  that a new time will certainly come ¹³ 

when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, ¹⁴  a descendant of David.

He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding ¹⁵ 

and will do what is just and right in the land. ¹⁶ 

23:6 Under his rule ¹⁷  Judah will enjoy safety ¹⁸ 

and Israel will live in security. ¹⁹ 

This is the name he will go by:

‘The Lord has provided us with justice.’ ²⁰ 

Micah 5:2

A King Will Come and a Remnant Will Prosper

5:2 (5:1) As for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, ²¹ 

seemingly insignificant ²²  among the clans of Judah –

from you a king will emerge who will rule over Israel on my behalf, ²³ 

one whose origins ²⁴  are in the distant past. ²⁵ 

Matthew 2:6

2:6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are in no way least among the rulers of Judah,

for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” ²⁶ 

Hebrews 7:14

7:14 For it is clear that our Lord is descended from Judah, yet Moses said nothing about priests in connection with that tribe.

[16:1]  ¹ tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And the Lord said to Samuel.”

[16:1]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[16:1]  ³ tn Heb “for I have seen among his sons for me a king.”

[16:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “caused seven of his sons to pass before Samuel.” This could be taken as referring to seven sons in addition to the three mentioned before this, but 1 Sam 17:12 says Jesse had eight sons, not eleven. 1 Chr 2:13-15 lists only seven sons, including David. However, 1 Chr 27:18 mentions an additional son, named Elihu.

[16:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he sent and brought him.”

[16:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “in your hand.”

[8:15]  ⁷ tn Or “eunuchs” (so NAB); NIV “officials”; KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT “officers.”

[78:69]  ⁸ tc Heb “and he built like the exalting [ones] his sanctuary.” The phrase כְּמוֹ־רָמִים (kÿmo-ramim, “like the exalting [ones]”) is a poetic form of the comparative preposition followed by a participial form of the verb רוּם (rum, “be exalted”). The text should be emended to כִּמְרֹמִים (kimromim, “like the [heavenly] heights”). See Ps 148:1, where “heights” refers to the heavens above.

[78:69]  ⁹ tn Heb “like the earth, [which] he established permanently.” The feminine singular suffix on the Hebrew verb יָסַד (yasad, “to establish”) refers to the grammatically feminine noun “earth.”

[78:71]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from after the ewes he brought him.”

[78:71]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to shepherd Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance.”

[23:5]  ¹² tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[23:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “Behold the days are coming.”

[23:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a righteous sprig to David” or “a righteous shoot” (NAB).

[23:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he will reign as king and act wisely.” This is another example of the use of two verbs joined by “and” where one becomes the adverbial modifier of the other (hendiadys). For the nuance of the verb “act wisely” rather than “prosper” see Amos 5:13; Ps 2:10 (cf. BDB 968 s.v. שָׂכַל Hiph.5).

[23:5]  ¹⁶ sn This has been the constant emphasis in this section. See 22:3 for the demand, 22:15 for its fulfillment, and 22:13 for its abuse. The ideal king would follow in the footsteps of his illustrious ancestor David (2 Sam 8:15) who set this forth as an ideal for his dynasty (2 Sam 23:3) and prayed for it to be true of his son Solomon (Ps 72:1-2).

[23:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “In his days [= during the time he rules].”

[23:6]  ¹⁸ tn Parallelism and context (cf. v. 4) suggest this nuance for the word often translated “be saved.” For this nuance elsewhere see Ps 119:117; Prov 28:18 for the verb (יָשַׁע [yasha’] in the Niphal); and Ps 12:6; Job 5:4, 11 for the related noun (יֶשַׁע, yesha’).

[23:6]  ¹⁹ sn It should be noted that this brief oracle of deliverance implies the reunification of Israel and Judah under the future Davidic ruler. Jeremiah has already spoken about this reunification earlier in 3:18 and will have more to say about it in 30:3; 31:27, 31. This same ideal was espoused in the prophecies of Hosea (1:10-11 [2:1-2 HT]), Isaiah (11:1-4, 10-12), and Ezekiel (37:15-28) all of which have messianic and eschatological significance.

[23:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “his name will be called ‘The Lord our righteousness’.”

[5:2]  ²¹ sn Ephrathah is either an alternate name for Bethlehem or the name of the district in which Bethlehem was located. See Ruth 4:11.

[5:2]  ²² tn Heb “being small.” Some omit לִהְיוֹת (lihyot, “being”) because it fits awkwardly and appears again in the next line.

[5:2]  ²³ tn Heb “from you for me one will go out to be a ruler over Israel.”

[5:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “his goings out.” The term may refer to the ruler’s origins (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) or to his activities.

[5:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “from the past, from the days of antiquity.” Elsewhere both phrases refer to the early periods in the history of the world or of the nation of Israel. For מִקֶּדֶם (miqqedem, “from the past”) see Neh 12:46; Pss 74:12; 77:11; Isa 45:21; 46:10. For מִימֵי עוֹלָם (mimey ’olam, “from the days of antiquity”) see Isa 63:9, 11; Amos 9:11; Mic 7:14; Mal 3:4. In Neh 12:46 and Amos 9:11 the Davidic era is in view.

[2:6]  ²⁶ sn A quotation from Mic 5:2.