What God sees and what humans see
The use of ra'ah in 1 Samuel 16
The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided [ra’iti] for myself a king among his sons.” (1 Sam 16:1)1
That word ra’iti is interesting. The root word, or “lemma,” is actually ra’ah, which means “to see,” as reflected in some translations: “for I have seen among his sons a king for Myself” (LSV). It’s an odd word to use, which should give us pause. The ancient translators of the Septuagint thought it was important enough that they preserved the odd choice with the Greek heoraka (“I have seen”). With ra’ah, the author of 1 Samuel establishes a theme that remains in play throughout the story.
God sees things a certain way, and it might not be the way we see things. Ra’ah shows up several more times in the chapter, and each time we learn more about that difference. As Samuel goes to find this king God has already “seen,” he is looking for the wrong characteristics:
When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before him.” 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 sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (1 Sam 16:6-7, emphasis added)
Many of us know the verse by heart, but do we actually try to see through God’s eyes instead of our own?
We know the story—God finds the least likely person for the job of king. David was far from perfect, of course, but even his failures would reveal God’s greater vision.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped us from continuing to search for ways to squint just right and pretend we see things the same way. Later in the story, Saul looks for someone for selfish reasons:
Saul said to his servants, “Provide [lemma ra’ah] for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.” One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the LORD is with him.” (1 Sam 16:17-18)
I don’t mean to suggest that all of these attributes are necessarily bad, but they were what Saul was looking for, not what God was looking for. David’s best qualities were honesty toward God and humility in repentance.
Biblical quotations will be from ESV with emphasis mine.