The Unlikely Stump (Day 15: Roots & Shoots

• The Ornament: The Root / The Shepherd’s Crook
• The Scripture: 1 Samuel 16:1–13

Timeline Check: From Tribes to Tyrants

Where we were: For the last few centuries (through Ruth), Israel was a loose confederation of tribes. They were free, but they were vulnerable.

The Shift: Eventually, the people traded their freedom for security. They demanded a king “like the other nations.” God warned them that a human king would become a tyrant, but they insisted.

Where we are now: God gave them what they asked for. King Saul has been on the throne for years. He started well, but as God predicted, power corrupted him. The “Strong Man” experiment has failed. The nation needs a reset.

The Surface Reading

We usually read this as a classic “Cinderella” story. The Prophet Samuel comes to town to pick a new King. Jesse lines up all his impressive, handsome sons. But—surprise!—God picks the little guy out in the field.

We treat it as a heartwarming underdog story with a simple moral: Don’t judge a book by its cover.

A Closer Look

Guide: Pete Enns (The Bible for Normal People, Ep. 241)

Pete Enns argues that to understand this moment, you have to go back to the very beginning of 1 Samuel.

Before there were any kings, a barren woman named Hannah sang a song that serves as the thesis statement for the entire story:

“The bows of the mighty are broken… God raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap” (1 Samuel 2:4–8).

When Samuel goes to Jesse’s house, he is looking for the “mighty.” He sees the oldest son, Eliab, who is tall and strong (just like Saul), and thinks, “Surely this is the one!”

But God is sticking to the thesis of Hannah’s song. He isn’t looking for another Saul. He is looking for the “poor from the dust.”

This is why Samuel is terrified (v. 2). This isn’t a talent show; it is treason. He is there to overthrow the “Mighty” (Saul) and replace him with the “Needy” (David).

The View from the Margins

Leap Over a Wall

Lens: Eugene Peterson (Leap Over a Wall)

God rejects the strong sons and asks for the one who wasn’t even invited to the dinner.

David is so marginalized in his own family that his father didn’t think he was worth fetching. (Remember: This is the family of Ruth. Perhaps David was the “black sheep” who looked a little too much like his Moabite great-grandmother?)

He is out with the sheep—doing the dirty, low-status work.

Eugene Peterson points out a detail we often miss: When David enters the room, he likely smells like sheep.

The other brothers are scrubbed clean, standing tall, looking “royal.” But David comes in straight from the pasture—”ruddy” from the sun, wild, and smelling of dirt and animal life.

And yet, Samuel pours the oil on him.

(The Hebrew word for “Anointed One” is Mashiach—the Messiah).

This is the subversion of the Kingdom. The Empire wants a “Strong Man” in a sanitized palace. God wants a Shepherd who knows the smell of the earth.

This is why we call this tradition the Jesse Tree. Later, the Prophet Isaiah will describe the Messiah as a “shoot coming up from the stump of Jesse.”

A stump implies that the tree has been cut down. The big, impressive dynasty of Saul (and later the failed kings) will be chopped down. But God will go back to the “stump”—to the dirty, earthy reality of a shepherd’s field—to grow a new kind of King.

The Question

We say we value “the heart,” but in our politics, our workplaces, and even our churches, we are constantly seduced by the “Sauls”—the leaders with the height, the polish, and the right credentials.

Where are you judging by “outward appearance” right now?

Are you overlooking a “David” in your life (or in yourself) simply because they don’t look the part, or because they smell a little too much like the real world?