A New King Apparent

The last time we were in 1 Samuel we witnessed God's ultimate rejection of Saul as king in Israel. Although God had decided to remove the kingdom from Saul, God was not going to completely remove Saul immediately. Still, to understand the scene in 1 Samuel 16, we must remember that the situation in Israel is pretty grim. Samuel has just told Saul at the LORD's direction that his days as king were numbered. But who would follow Saul? There was no king apparent on the horizon. Some of Samuel's grief over Saul's failure is over the fact that there seems to be no hope in sight.