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1 Samuel 16, 1-13 dramatised – full script ready-to-print
Samuel: Our Hebrew Bible reading this morning is the story of the priest, Samuel, that’s me. I am busy searching for the King of Israel, and am not sure what to look for. Finally, God, Yahweh, sends me to Jesse’s house where I find this king. This story is about seeing with God’s eyes, seeing with the heart. I am reading from Chapter 16 of the first book I wrote, the first book of Samuel.
Storyteller: The Lord Yahweh said to Samuel, ‘How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehem-ite. For I have provided for myself a king among his sons.’
Samuel: ‘How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.’
Storyteller: And the Lord Yahweh said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice. I will show you what you shall do. You shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.” Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem.
The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, ‘Do you come peaceably?’
Samuel: ‘I come Peaceably. I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.’
Storyteller: And Samuel sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they came, Samuel looked on E-li-ab and thought,
Samuel: ‘Surely Yahweh’s anointed is now before the Lord.’*
Storyteller: But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord does not see as mortals see. They look on the outward appearance. But the Lord looks on the heart.’ Then Jesse called his son, A-bin-a-dab, and made him pass before Samuel.
Samuel: [shake your head] ‘Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’
Storyteller: Then Jesse made his son Sham-mah pass by.
Samuel: [shake your head] ‘Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’
Storyteller: Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, ‘
Samuel: Yahweh has not chosen any of these. [pause] Jesse, Are all your sons here?’
Storyteller: And Jesse said, ‘There remains yet the youngest. But he is keeping the sheep.’
Samuel: Jesse, send for him and bring him here. For we will not sit down until he comes here.’
Storyteller: Jesse sent and brought his youngest son in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.’
Samuel: I will take the horn of oil, and anoint him, King David, in the presence of his brothers.
Storyteller: And the spirit of Yahweh came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.
Samuel: Here ends the story of how I found David, the King of Israel. It is the story about the day I learned to see not just with my eyes, but with my heart. May God open our hearts to hear this story today with understanding.
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- photo by Hugh Abel
