1S16-9: Read This If You’re Insecure About Your Height Or Looks

“When they had come, he looked at Eli’av and said, ‘This has to be Adonai’s anointed one, here before him.’  But Adonai said to Sh’mu’el, ‘Don’t pay attention to how he looks or how tall he is, because I have rejected him. Adonai doesn’t see the way humans see — humans look at the outward appearance, but Adonai looks at the heart.”-1 Samuel 16:6-7

So right off the bat, we’re thrust into God’s election process for the next king of Israel.

At the sacrificial banquet that Jesse’s family had been invited to, Samuel took one look at Eliav, Jesse’s firstborn son, and instantly assumed this was the one who would be the next king.

However, Adonai stops him in his tracks and tells him…

‘Don’t pay attention to how he looks or how tall he is, because I have rejected him. Adonai doesn’t see the way humans see — humans look at the outward appearance, but Adonai looks at the heart.”

Okay, so right here, we encounter a Biblical principle that is at direct odds with how the world operates.

It should come as no surprise that society and the world in general are superficial as all hell when it comes to judging others.

Men are promoted to positions of power based on looks and physical features.

And more often than not, men and women choose marriage partners based on the same fleeting and shallow factors (Heck, why else do you think the divorce rate is over 50% in a materialistic society like the United States?)…

But this shallowness is nothing new.

In ancient times, people believed their kings and queens were selected by their gods and goddesses.

So it was a given their leaders would be good-looking.

That’s why throughout history, political leaders have always been chosen for their charisma, their ear-tickling BS speeches, and how tall they are.

And this gentile tendency wasn’t lost on the Israelites either.

Recall that Saul, the anti-king, was praised because he was head and shoulders taller than his fellow Benjamites.

And why do you think Samuel assumed the tallest son in Jesse’s family must have been the Lord’s choice?

He may have been a godly leader but he wasn’t impervious to the superficial standards we all fall for.

But again, that ain’t how God operates homies.

God, who is a spirit and not a physical being, doesn’t judge you by your looks.

So if you’re insecure about your looks or height, rejoice…because that superficial stuff ain’t important to God.

Okay, as I did yesterday, and since I’m having fun with this, let me end today’s post with another quiz question.

So the Scripture says God judges you by your “heart”.

But here’s the thing.

The true Biblical meaning of the word “heart” is radically different from what it means to us modern folks.

Modern Christianity has got it all WRONG when it says God judges us by our emotions or how we “feel” in our hearts.

The truth is, like many false doctrines the gentile church has created, you won’t find any such notion anywhere in the Scriptures at all…whether in the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament.

Ya feeling me?

Okay, so here’s the quiz question.

If you were to translate the word “heart” so that it reflects the proper meaning for modern readers, what would it be?

“Adonai doesn’t see the way humans see — humans look at the outward appearance, but Adonai looks at the heart.”

I’ll provide the correct answer in the P.S. of tomorrow’s article.

See ya all next time.

P.S. Thank you everybody who tried their best to answer yesterday’s quiz questions.

So as promised, here are the answers:

QUESTION ONE:
How do you say Bethlehem in Hebrew (just provide the transliteration), and what does it mean?

ANSWER:
In Hebrew, it is BEIT-LECHEM.  BEIT means “house” and LECHEM means “bread”.   So the meaning is “House of Bread”.  This was also Yeshua’s birthplace, and I do a see parallel between him being called the “Bread of Life” and his birthplace.

QUESTION TWO:
Again, why were the elders of Yishai’s (Jesse’s) family suspicious of Samuel?

ANSWER:
Samuel was from the tribe of Ephraim which was the chief tribe of all the northern tribes.  And it was the northern tribes who supported Saul at a time when the southern tribes of Judah and Simeon had become separated politically and socially from their northern brothers.

The bottom line is that the South wasn’t too excited about having a northern king rule over them because they knew they’d be at a major disadvantage when major decisions were made.

So when Samuel approached them out of the blue, they wondered what was up.

QUESTION THREE:
The sacrifice that Samuel provided was a voluntary sacrifice that can be offered up any time a person wants to thank or honor the Lord.  It is also a suitable sacrifice for a feast because the laypeople can eat most of the meat.  So based on these facts, what kind of sacrifice was Samuel going to perform here?

ANSWER:
There are five Levitical Sacrifices that can be offered up to the Lord as follows: