Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.
All Commentaries on 1 Samuel 16:13 Go To 1 Samuel 16
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Brethren. Some say, without informing him, (Calmet) or them, (Menochius) what the unction meant. If he told the brothers, he would no doubt take the necessary precautions to keep it secret, as the whole family would have been in imminent danger, if the transaction had come to the ears of Saul, ver. 2. Josephus says, that Samuel only informed Isai in private: and David's brothers treated him with no peculiar distinction. Whence it is inferred, that they had not been present when he was anointed. Some witnesses seem, however, to have been requisite, as the title of David to the regal dignity depended on this ceremony, and none were more interested than his own family to assert his pretensions. He now had a right to the kingdom, but not the possession; being like a son expecting his father's estate as his future right, of which, as yet, he cannot dispose. (Calmet)
Came upon, to make him prosper. (Menochius)
Hebrew, "came with prosperity; (Septuagint) impetuosity. "God endued him with all those graces which might render him fit to command. (Calmet)
So David prays himself, "with a princely spirit confirm me "(Psalm l. 14.) or, strengthen me with a perfect spirit. Salien observes, that he did not now receive the spirit of charity, as if he had hitherto been in enmity with God, (chap. xiii. 14.) but he began to advance in virtue with more rapid strides, while Saul became every day more criminal and abandoned to the devil. (Haydock)
David received the spirit of fortitude and of prophecy, of which Saul had formerly had some experience, when he was first elevated to that high dignity, chap. x. He was changed into a new man, and adorned with all that could render a king most glorious. Though he returned to his wonted occupations, the spirit of the Lord enabled him to destroy wild beasts, as in play, (Ecclesiasticus xlvii. 3.) and to compose and sing many of those divine canticles which we still admire. (Salien, the year of the world 2969.)
Whether he composed all the Psalms, as St. Chrysostom endeavours to prove, (præf.) we shall examine hereafter. (Haydock)
