On Sunday I preached from 1 Samuel 16 on the Lord calling David to be King of Israel. This section marks David's arrival on the scene of God's purposes to raise up a king after Gods own heart. The Lord sends the prophet Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint the new king that the Lord will show to Samuel. After providing a sacrifice which reassures Jesse that Samuel has come in peace, Jesse puts seven of his sons one by one before Samuel to see who the new king will be.
As part of the process the Lord instructs Samuel NOT to look on the outward strength or stature of Jesse's sons because the Lord is looking at the heart. That seems pretty straightforward. However, then the Lord does something surprising. After the smallest of the sons, David, is fetched from the field it says that he is "handsome, ruddy, and has beautiful eyes." This is a striking detail, and by itself presents no problems. The problem is the context. While teaching Samuel NOT to judge by appearances, the Lord confirms David as the new king seemingly because of his appearance.
A believer does not need to be afraid of problems that arise when reading Scripture. Only God has perfect understanding of His Word, and we can be content with not being God. Moreover, when problems in interpretation arise it's always an opportunity to be challenged by Scripture and hopefully grow in our understanding. We are like a scientist that finds something that he cannot explain with current scientific knowledge. A believer can be excited about the opportunity to learn something new.
One way to solve the above problem is to distinguish between kinds of appearance. When we do this, David's handsomeness serves to reinforce God's instruction to not choose by appearances. Jesse's first son appears strong which would make him more formidable as a warrior-king, ready to defeat Israel's enemies in battle. On the other hand, David is small, but full of life. His appearance communicates liveliness, not readiness for war. Moreover, this theme fits with what happens next - David is filled with the Holy Spirit of God. In this interpretation, the Lord's lesson of not judging according to physical strength stands because David's appearance is still not what man would consider the best attributes for a king. Imagine if the US Army chose elite soldiers based on how beautiful their eyes are? Our national security would be in trouble! So the Lord does not contradict himself when he includes this description of David.
What about our Savior? Scripture tells us that God has shown the light of the knowledge of His glory into our hearts in the face of Jesus Christ. A believer beholds Jesus’ face now by faith, faith in the Word and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We see Christ by faith now without any physical description of his flesh. However, we will one day see him by sight.
There will come a day when believers see Christ face to face and will marvel at Him, including his physically resurrected and glorified body. Then we will exclaim with Samuel that our crucified King is the most handsome man in the universe! As the great hymn writer says "the bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom’s face. I will not gaze at glory, but on my king of grace. There to an ocean fullness, his mercy doth expand. The lamb is all the glory, in Immanuel’s land."
