[1] The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”
[2] But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ [3] Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”
Samuel 16 starts off very interesting. I get the impression that Samuel felt deeply for Saul, so deeply that it was affecting his own faith, that God felt the need to call him out on it and push him to go back to work. It's kind of challenging to imagine God being this way, because I tend to think of Him as the kind of God who would be mourning for Saul even more-so than Samuel was, and maybe He was, but He was not going to dwell on it, and He certainly did not want Samuel to spend any more time mourning for him. We know that God rejected Saul as king over Israel, and that He was not going to change His mind in the matter. His rejection of Saul was certain, and He had a plan for His Kingdom, and He was moving forward with that plan.
He had already found someone to replace Saul, even before He rejected Saul as king. He said that He had "chosen" one of Jesse of Bethlehem's sons to be king.
Now, God had previously "chosen" Saul to be king of Israel, but now He is choosing David as king of Israel. How can the be? This too may be challenging to understand due to what we may have been taught to believe about "choseness". Well, we know that though God chose Saul, he rejected God by His disobedience to Him, and therefore God rejected him as king, which opened up the kingly position, allowing God to fill it with another- a man after His own heart.
I believe this is the very same thing He did with Israel. He chose them to be His people, however they rejected Him continuously by disobeying Him, and therefore He rejected them, which opened up a position which allowed God to fill it with another - a people after God's own heart. Just like with Saul and David, even while they were still His people, He had already chosen a people who would be faithful and have God’s law written on their hearts. We see this in the Prophets who foretell of these people, and in the apostles who teach that God's people consist of all races and ethnicities, and are those who possess faith in King Jesus.
I do not believe that God chooses more than one at a time, including His people. In order for David to become king, God had to reject Saul. In order for the new covenant to take effect, which was the covenant God made with Jews and Gentiles, the old covenant had to be done away with, which it was according to Hebrews.
God uses the analogy of marriage when speaking of His relationship with His people. In a marriage, God only allows there to be two people, a man and a woman, who make a covenant with each other. He does not allow more than two people in a marriage. He created marriage and that is His regulation for marriage. So it doesn't make any sense that He would have two people in His marriage. He would be breaking His own rule. Furthermore, He would be committing adultery by having more than one bride, which He forbids in marriage.
In order for a person to be legitimately divorced, their spouse either has to die, commit adultery against them, or their unbelieving spouse has to leave them, which is abandonment. If a divorce occurs for any of these reasons, a position is opened up within the marriage. If a divorce occurs for any other reason, then there is adultery taking place because the position has not been legitimately opened. There needs to be an open position in order to fill it, but the positions are limited because there are only two of them within a marriage. This is God's plan for marriage, and He wrote the rules, and He will not break His own rules. Because He set the rules, it is impossible for Him to have more than one people, otherwise He would be an unfaithful adulterer and hypocrite because He has expectations for His people which He Himself does not abide by. But the truth is, God is faithful to keep His word and His promises. He is not a hypocrite, and His ways are just and right.
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