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1 Sam. xvi. 7. The Lord seeih not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, hut the Lord looketh on the heart.
WHAT a solemn and awful declaration is this! how interesting to every one of us ! The generality, it is to be feared, scarcely think of themselves as in the presence of God : whereas his eye is immechately upon our hearts, inspecting the very inmost recesses of them, and marking every imagination of them with a view to a future judgment. The admonition, though arising out of particular circumstances, is general, and deserves from every one of us the most attentive consideration. The occasion of it was this. God having determined to reject Saul from being king over Israel, and to place on the throne one who should fulfil all his will, commanded Samuel to take a horn of oil, and to anoint to the kingly office one of the sons of Jesse the Beth-lehemite. Samuel, the more effectually to cloke the real object of his mission, was directed to offer a sacrifice at Beth-lehem, and to invite to it both Jesse and all his sons. Eliab, the eldest of the sons, came first before him ; and Samuel concluded, from his portly mien and his majestic stature, that he must be the person whom God had ordained to the office : but God rectified his mistake, and told him, that he did not form his estimate after the manner of men ; for " men regarded only the outward appearance ; whereas he looked on the heart." A similar intimation was given to Samuel in relation to seven of Jesse's sons, who passed before him; in consequence of which, David, the youngest, was sent for, and " was anointed in the midst of his brethren." There was in his heart what God did not see in the heart of any of his brethren. There were in them many external recommendations ; but he '' was a man after God's own heart :" and to his in- ternal qualities God had respect, in appointing him to the kingdom.
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