1 Samuel 16:4
And Samuel did that which the LORD spake, and came to Beth-lehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? And Samuel did that which the LORD spake, and came to Beth-lehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably?
After Saul was rejected from reigning over Israel, Samuel obeyed God's command to fill his horn with oil and go to Jesse the Bethlehemite, because God had provided Himself a king among Jesse's sons to replace Saul and reign over Israel. Bethlehem lies a few miles south of Jerusalem and is the town where David the son of Jesse was born more than a thousand years before Jesus. It stands in the hill country around Bethlehem where David received his early training.
Samuel brought a heifer with him and said he had come to sacrifice to the Lord as God directed, calling Jesse to the sacrifice so that God could show him whom to anoint. The elders of the town trembled at his coming and asked whether he came peaceably, and he answered that he came in peace and invited them to the sacrifice. Then the altar was built and the sacrifice was made ready, with Jesse and his sons also called. All of Jesse's household were present except David the youngest, who was left to guard the sheep because it was not safe to leave the flocks unprotected.
David, the youngest son of Jesse, was the one chosen, with God directing Samuel not to judge by outward appearance, and David's faithfulness as a shepherd prepared him to lead Israel. As a shepherd lad he received God's promise of the throne while Saul, the established king, sought to keep his power. Though utterly helpless in himself, his trust in God's word enabled him to withstand Saul. His stand proves that those who trust God's word can withstand the power of the whole world, and it places him in the world's true nobility and royal line that youth today are called to join.