1. David Anointed (chs. 16-17)
As the story turns to the selection of Saul’s successor, the narrator and Yahweh know what no one else, including Samuel, knows (16:1). Samuel was even afraid to anoint a replacement. So Yahweh instructed him to say that he had to celebrate priestly rites with Jesse and his sons (cf. 15:29). The townspeople’s reaction proved that the situation was indeed tense, but Samuel’s dissimulation worked (16:2-5).
Samuel thought Jesse’s first son was the nominee, presumably because of appearance (cf. 9:2; 10:23). But Yahweh insisted on “internal” criteria (16:7); subsequently Samuel at least knew who was not the Lord’s choice (vv.6-10). Inexplicably, Jesse had to be prodded to introduce David (Rosenberg, 130-32). Yet this handsome lad was the one chosen (Sternberg, 354-64). He was anointed on God’s explicit instruction and empowered by the Spirit (vv.11-13).
Simultaneously, God victimized Saul with an evil spirit! This paved David’s way into Saul’s court, since someone was needed who could minister to the king. One servant recommended David because of his musical ability, military record, good looks, and the fact that Yahweh was with him. (If true, why had Jesse been reluctant to present David?) So Saul summoned David, whose father sent him to the king loaded with bread, wine, and a goat, interestingly all items involved in the signs attesting Saul’s election (cf. 10:1-11). David became Saul’s armor-bearer, ingratiated himself to the king, and with music induced the evil spirit to leave Saul after an attack (16:19-23). The king was now at the mercy of God and David!
As he suffered in comparison to Jonathan (ch. 14), Saul (and the Israelite army) was (were) shamed by contrast to David in the Goliath incident (ch. 17). When the absurdly oversized and heavily armed Philistine champion (vv.4-7) challenged the Israelites, they were terrified (v.11). And Saul was no better than they.
Though David has already been introduced as a military man (16:18, 21), a stock formula reintroduces him here as though for the first time, perhaps suggesting a new role or stage in his life (17:12). This “new” David, unlike his three brothers, had not even been drafted; he still tended sheep (vv.13-15). But that was about to change.
David delivered supplies to his siblings just in time to witness Goliath menacing Israel (17:17-24), which had been going on for forty days (v.16)! As the scene unfolds, David seems at times naïve (vv.29-30), at other times opportunistic (vv.26-28; cf. v.25) or heroic (v.26b). Having finally told Saul of his willingness to fight (v.32), the king unwittingly condemned himself by dismissing David as a boy (v.33).
After David argued that the God who had saved him from dangerous animals could save him from Goliath, Saul made himself look even worse by saying, “Go, and the Lord be with you” (17:34-37; cf. 16:14, 18). Obviously, the Lord was not with Saul, and he knew it. It is also noteworthy that David found Saul’s armor useless—it had done Saul no good either!—and that he defeated the Philistine with lighter weaponry than Saul and Jonathan had had previously (vv.38-50; cf. 13:19-22).
Under Saul the Israelite army was dispirited. After David killed Goliath and cut off the giant’s head with his own sword, the army revived and routed the Philistines (17:51-53). David was already a better leader than Saul. Further, the note that David put Goliath’s head and weapons in his tent in Jerusalem, which is anachronistic, foreshadows David’s future success (v.54; cf. Jdg 1:8; 2Sa 5:6-10). That he is still holding the head when he identifies himself to Saul emphasizes his and the Lord’s stunning victory (v.57).
Saul’s inexplicable failure (17:55-58; cf. 16:19) to recognize David probably means that ch. 17 was a later insertion (McCarter, 284-309). However, in the text’s present form, his inability either highlights David’s new identity or the fact that Saul has been so affected by the evil spirit from Yahweh that he could no longer recognize those close to him (17:55-58). But this presupposes that those of Saul’s attendants who knew David were not around during the battle.