Eliab the Elder Samuel was regarded as a great prophet, priest and judge in the Old Testament.
He was highly respected throughout the community of Israel for his prophetic insight and integrity.
His main responsibility was to hear the voice of God for Israel and dispense these messages to the intended recipient.
In this upcoming scenario it was time for a leadership change in Israel since King Saul had proven to be a poor leader.
God was preparing Samuel to anoint His new choice.
He tells the prophet to go to the house of Jesse who lives in Bethlehem and anoint one of his sons as the new king.
The problem with this directive was that Jesse had eight sons.
Which one would he choose or was it up to him? To Samuel's surprise it happened to be a young man in his youth, probably in his mid teens.
This is how the story goes: When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD's anointed stands here before the LORD.
" But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at.
Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
" (1 Samuel 16:6-7) This Scripture gives us a powerful insight into God's selection process for leaders.
According to this passage the traits mankind tends to look for in their leaders are the outward qualities such as good looks, physical stature, pedigree, wealth and charisma.
These are qualities that are evident as they can be seen with the physical eye.
Eliab, the eldest of Jesse's eight sons, was tall, physically trimmed and attractive; qualities that are desired by the public for a spotlight persona.
However when God chooses His leaders He has a different plan in mind than the obvious one.
God's selection and appointment process is quite different from ours.
As Jesse's seven sons where presented before Samuel he thought for sure that God's choice leader stood before him in the person of Eliab but he was quickly checked by God.
God looks much deeper into the heart and soul of a man rather than external features such as height and appearance.
Should we be quick to blame Samuel for his impulsive selection? Author Malcolm Gladwell in his book Blink, states that "most of us, in ways that we are not entirely aware of, automatically associate leadership ability with imposing physical stature.
We have a sense of what a leader is supposed to look like, and the stereotype is so powerful that when someone fits it, we simply become blind to other considerations.
" God does not look at the outer appearance of man to judge a person's leadership ability rather He looks much deeper within, into the person's heart to see the character of a person since His X-ray vision can read the inner core of a person's motives and makeup.
Samuel's frustration was easily detected when each of Jesse's seven sons did not make the cut.
The narrative continues: So he asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?" "There is still the youngest," Jesse answered, "but he is tending the sheep.
" Samuel said, "Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.
" So he sent and had him brought in.
He [David] was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features.
Then the LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; he is the one.
" So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power.
(1 Samuel 16:11-13) Have you ever been the last person chosen to be on a team? It feels quite demeaning when you are the last one selected.
You stand there wondering if the team got stuck with someone they did not want in the first place.
In this case God did not choose the most obvious one to be king rather He selected a boy in his teenage years to succeed Saul as the new king.
It is noted when David entered Samuel's presence that a voice reverberated inside Samuel's mind saying, "Rise and anoint him; he is the one.
" This royal christening was done in the presence of Jesse's seven other sons.
Keep in mind that Eliab saw this selection process take place.
He was overlooked while his younger brother was accepted and anointed king over Israel.
I wonder what went through Eliab's mind at this point.
I believe, within Eliab's heart and mind, an emotional escalation began to take place, one that could have been controlled if someone had taken the time to help him process his feelings in such a way as to restore Eliab to his proper role in life.
Eliab's Emotional Escalation 1.
Unprocessed Feelings The process of elimination in choosing a king and the eventual selection of David left Eliab with feelings of rejection that went unprocessed, thus, without proper guidance and counseling left his unprocessed feelings in a raw state.
This unresolved hurt opened the door in his life for envy, jealousy and bitterness to fill his heart.
The combination of these feelings escalated to a state of bitterness.
Do you blame Eliab? After all he was passed up for the most prestigious position in the known world at that time.
In my opinion it would have been devastating and hurtful to a young man looking for his place in the world.
Feelings and emotions are a powerful force in our lives and we need to learn about them so that we can manage them in the right way.
Most of your accomplishments will depend on your emotional control; the ability to identify, process, and manage your emotions around others.
2.
Anger Hurt and rejection can lead anyone into a stage of anger if these issues are not addressed and processed correctly.
Processing our feelings will take time and at times extensive dialogue with others about the origin and solutions for managing our anger.
God created us to feel strong emotions and at times our emotions can get out of control but not at the expense of others.
If we do not learn how to properly process our feelings then they can easily escalate to the stage of anger and resentment.
James, the writer of the epistle that bears his name, claims that anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires in our own lives (James 1:20).
Anger removes us relationally out of favor with others.
Anger is an indication that something is still seething inside the heart of a person.
Anger can be managed for awhile but sooner or later it will strike again without warning.
Anger is the result of hurt and unprocessed feelings, and it often times leads to cynicism.
3.
Cynicism If anger persists without proper adjudication it will lead to cynicism.
I once heard someone say that cynicism originally meant yapping like a dog.
Have you ever experienced a yapping dog? They can be quite annoying.
They yap at you from a distance but they never seem to come close to you.
As soon as you draw close to a yapping dog it runs away and hides behind a couch and yes, continues yapping.
People yap in the same way.
You will know when someone is mad at you because they will distance themselves from you.
This is what happens to a yapper who does not process their anger in the proper way.
They become cynical and murmur behind a person's back.
The next time you encounter that person, your mere presence will stir up all kinds of ill feelings inside of them.
However, it does not stop here, a cynical person becomes critical.
4.
A Critical Spirit Finally, a cynical person develops a critical spirit.
A critical spirit is one that easily finds fault with another.
When Eliab saw David at the battle lines inquiring about Goliath, a critical spirit arose within him with an accusing tone.
Eliab spewed verbal venom toward his brother David and easily found fault with him.
It takes just a little agitation for a critical spirit to erupt.
This is what Eliab's line is all about and David crossed the line of criticism and distinguished himself from his brother Eliab.
Lifeline Intersections Your life and mine are linear, we are heading for eternity.
At some point in time our lives will intersect with those who can help us get to our destiny.
I call these life encounters lifeline intersections.
When your life intersects with another person's life what will the result of that encounter be? Will you be able to help someone to their next level with your counsel, or will you simply destroy someone's destiny through cutting remarks? Our lives will intersect with others because in God's plan there are people that He places in our lives who will impact us and give us keys for the next phase of our life.
Do you know what convergence means? It is when two points intersect with each other in time.
I believe it is when your entire life's preparation (your character, gifts, abilities, education, experience, etc.
), the accumulation of all you know, converges with your appointed day of destiny.
It is an entry point where there is an opportunity for promotion, only if you can recognize it and seize the moment.
The Greeks referred to this moment as kairos (καιρÏŒς), a word indicating "an opportune moment" but we must discern it when it arrives and take advantage of what it offers us.
Convergence is a time of promotion; a time when you intersect with a key person or significant event that will propel you into your destiny.
Will you be able to recognize that day when it arrives? What are you doing today to prepare yourself for this appointed day in time? Former President Ronald Reagan would regularly say in his speeches to the American people, "We have a rendezvous with destiny.
" What did he mean by this? I believe he meant that we, as a nation, were coming upon a national convergence with our destiny; a major intersection with our appointed purpose as a nation.
If we prepared for it we would experience something great that would mark our generation (the 1980's).
Sure enough my generation saw the fall of Communism in Russia, which ended the Cold War between two superpowers, and we experienced the greatest economic boom in history during the 1980's.
Generations in the future will look back to study this part of history and come to the same and even more profound conclusions.
Former President Reagan is quickly emerging as one of top three or four of the greatest Presidents of all time.
This honor is unheard of in modern times.
He reached his convergence late in life when he was weeks shy of his seventieth birthday.
He wisely ruled over a nation and changed the world during his septennial years.
Eliab and David's lives intersected on this particular day when David visited his brothers on the battle lines.
It was David's day of initial convergence; a day that God would give him a peek into his destiny.
Later on, during his reign as king of Judah, David came into full convergence when he united Israel's southern and northern kingdoms and took possession of both of them, coalescing all twelve tribes into one powerful nation and force to be reckoned with among the nations.
Eliab had an opportunity to give David input, to shape and be a part of his destiny.
As an older brother he was supposed to father David into his destiny but he was unable because of the bitterness that he held in his heart toward his younger brother.
Therefore God's opportunity and intended purpose for Eliab's life faded into a dark shadow of obscurity and of "what could have been?" Do you want to live your life this way? I know people who wish they could have done things differently and they become too hard on themselves because of lost opportunities.
This is not a place you want to be in.
Eliab's Distorted Destiny Eliab had a promising destiny as the oldest son in a large family of eight sons.
His name comes from two Hebrew words 'Eliy'ab (el-ee-awb') meaning, "Father God or mighty father.
" In the Bible names had a lot of significance.
A name or a change in names was usually intertwined with someone's character or a change of character.
This new character usually determined a change of destiny.
In some cases when God changed someone's name He was affirming the changes in their character; hence a new course of destiny was theirs to embrace.
Eliab's destiny was to be a spiritual father to others since his name bears that meaning.
Eliab and David's lives were destined to intersect on that day on the battlefield anyway.
This appointment was predetermined by God.
Unfortunately since Eliab could not process his feelings he belched out cutting remarks to David rather than fathering David through his day of promotion.
Eliab, instead of delivering a negative monologue towards David, should have spoken with a positive and uplifting tone.
I believe Eliab's counsel to David should have gone something like this: "David, it is you.
I am so glad you came.
We are in dire straits with the Philistines.
We have been in a stalemate for over forty days and you are the answer to our prayers.
This is the reason why you were chosen and anointed over me.
I am with you in what you choose to do.
It is your day to shine.
" Instead Eliab spoke critical remarks and spewed venom for the purpose of injuring and stopping his brother's progress.
A father figure uses uplifting words to propel their children forward into their future, not words that could curtail their future.
The apostle Paul addresses an improper form of edification in his epistle to the Ephesians: Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
(Ephesians 6:4) The word exasperate in this passage is a word meaning "to embitter by anger, to provoke by wrath or enrage.
" As natural or spiritual fathers we have a responsibility to mentor our children with gentleness and purpose.
In this same epistle the apostle gives us the key to approaching those we are to father: Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
(Ephesians 4:29-31) What does this passage say about the kind of words that need to proceed from our mouths to those we are to father? The obvious answer is edifying words, which are helpful for building others up according to their needs.
As spiritual fathers our words should build people up, not tear them down.
It is obvious that David did not need a critic on this particular day, rather he needed a father figure, someone who would have discerned his window of destiny and guided him into it.
Unfortunately Eliab failed to discern David's opportunity.
How can we discern and speak life into someone's destiny if we carry bitterness and hurt from the past? First we can do it by getting rid of all bitterness, rage, anger and every from of malice from our heart.
Second we can do it by discerning the window of opportunity when it arises in someone's life.
Once this window is discerned we must use the words of the wise to guide others with love and purpose.
Latino Townhall's blog: http://latinotownhall.
wordpress.
com/ Chapter 2 [1] Gladwell, Malcolm.
Blink (Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2005), 88.
[2] OT: 446 - Eliab: 'Eliy'ab (el-ee-awb') [3] NT: 3949 - Exasperate: Parorgizo