Jesse Tree Day 13: The Anointment of David
Welcome back to our Advent devotional, the Illustrated Jesse Tree! Today, we get to take a closer look at who the Jesse Tree is named after when Samuel visits Jesse… in order to anoint the next king, aka King David!
The bible version that I am using is the Douay Rheims version… with one slight modification! I anglicized the name from “Isai” (which was original to the Douay Rheims edition!) to “Jesse” in order to avoid confusion.
With no further ado…
The Anointment of David
A Reading from the First Book of Samuel (1 Samuel 16:1-13)
And the Lord said to Samuel: How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, whom I have rejected from reigning over Israel? fill thy horn with oil, and come, that I may send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.
And Samuel said: How shall I go? for Saul will hear of it, and he will kill me. And the Lord said: Thou shalt take with thee a calf of the herd, and thou shalt say: I am come to sacrifice to the Lord.
And thou shalt call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou art to do, and thou shalt anoint him whom I shall shew to thee.
Then Samuel did as the Lord had said to him. And he came to Bethlehem, and the ancients of the city wondered, and meeting him, they said: Is thy coming hither peaceable?
And he said: It is peaceable: I am come to offer sacrifice to the Lord, be ye sanctified, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.
And when they were come in, he saw Eliab, and said: Is the Lord’s anointed before him?
And the Lord said to Samuel: Look not on his countenance, nor on the height of his stature: because I have rejected him, nor do I judge according to the look of man: for man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart.
And Jesse called Abinadab, and brought him before Samuel. And he said: Neither hath the Lord chosen this.
And Jesse brought Samma, and he said of him: Neither hath the Lord chosen this.
Jesse therefore brought his seven sons before Samuel: and Samuel said to Jesse: The Lord hath not chosen any one of these.
And Samuel said to Jesse: Are here all thy sons? He answered: There remaineth yet a young one, who keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse: Send, and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither.
He sent therefore and brought him Now he was ruddy and beautiful to behold, and of a comely face. And the Lord said: Arise, and anoint him, for this is he.
Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward: and Samuel rose up, and went to Ramatha.
