What Does 1 Samuel 16:6 Mean?
And it came to pass, when they had come, that he saw Eliab, and said, Surely the anointed one of the LORD is before him.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD’s anointed is before him.THE KEY
Samuel names Eliab as the LORD’s anointed from what stands before his eyes, while the next verse reveals that sight alone cannot identify what the heart holds.
THE MEANING
A person can stand before you and still not be the one your first impression names. Certainty drawn from what is visible can arrive before deeper reality is perceived. The verse holds that instant of confidence open, letting the next line show the limit of sight.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A striking presence or stature proves that someone carries divine approval.
THE ROOT
וַיַּרְא
vayyar
GROWS FROM
ראה
ra’ah
To see, look, or perceive.
“saw” in this verse is vayyar. The verb translated “looked” here is repeated in the next verse for both human sight and the LORD’s seeing. The contrast is not between looking and not looking, but between what sight takes in: Samuel sees Eliab, while the next verse turns the same verb toward the heart.
ALSO GROWS
mar’eh: That which is seen; appearance or vision.
מַרְאֶה
This branch makes the verse’s visible scene part of the same word family as seeing: what appears before Samuel is what prompts his certainty.
ro’eh: One who sees.
רֹאֶה
The seer’s role does not make every first impression true; the next verse distinguishes human seeing from the LORD’s seeing.
מְשִׁיחוֹ
meshicho
GROWS FROM
משח
mashach
To smear or apply oil; to anoint.
“Anointed” names someone marked by anointing, from the concrete act of applying oil. Samuel speaks as if this identity is already clear from the person before him, while the verse that follows unsettles that certainty.
ALSO GROWS
mashiach: One who is anointed.
מָשִׁיחַ
It shows that “the LORD’s anointed” describes a marked identity, not a conclusion that sight alone can establish.
mishchah: Oil or the act of anointing.
מִשְׁחָה
This branch returns the title to its physical root: anointing begins with oil applied to someone.
THE PATTERN
Visible presence can prompt certainty before the heart is known.
But the LORD said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have pushed him away. The LORD does not see as the human sees. The human sees what is outside, but the LORD sees the heart.Every way of a man is straight in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts.Do not judge by what the eye sees, but judge the judgment of alignment.THE THREAD
But the LORD said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have pushed him away. The LORD does not see as the human sees. The human sees what is outside, but the LORD sees the heart.The verb translated “looketh” and “seeth” in 16:7 is the same ראה (ra’ah, to see) used for Samuel’s “looked” here. Hebrew repeats one verb to turn the question toward what sight takes as its object: outward appearance or the heart.
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