4 So Samuel did what Yahweh said and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said, “Do you come in peace?” 5 And he said, “In peace; I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Set yourselves apart as holy and come with me to the sacrifice.” He also set apart Jesse and his sons as holy and invited them to the sacrifice. 6 Now it happened, when they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the anointed of Yahweh is before Him.” 7 But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:4-7 (LSB)
In our study of God’s sovereignty in the suffering of His people from the book of Job, let’s look at Job and his family before affliction overtook them. However, before we look at that please look closely at the passage I placed at the top of this post. Samuel, by God’s direction, went to Bethlehem to anoint the next king of Israel from the sons of Jesse….
When Samuel saw Jesse’s firstborn son, Eliab, he was sure that he must the one God sent him to anoint. However, what did God say? In our modern vernacular it would be something like this, “Don’t go by appearances.” “A man’s character is within and is not made up of what he looks like or what he has.” “I look on the heart of Man.”