“Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, ‘The LORD has not chosen any of these.'” – 1 Samuel 16:10

Eliab, no.
Abinadab: rejected, too.
Perhaps Shammah? Well, no. Not he.
Four more paraded past their father
and the prophet and of
those seven sons you chose, O God,

Not one.

I wonder if they knew.
I wonder if they guessed,
since all seemed to have heard
that king and prophet were at odds.
Were they at all concerned that You, O God,
sought to incite rebellion?

Maybe one?

You told the prophet you
peer in the heart,
where humans cannot comprehend
(my own heart is a mystery).
Full seven times you looked,
and saw, and told the prophet, “No.

“Not this one.”

What did you see in David, God,
for he committed sins that Saul
had never dreamed. A hasty spear
that missed is terrible. Conspiracy
to cover up a rape is so much worse,
as David did.

This one.

They fade away from this account:
Eliab and Abinadab, Shammah as well.
Four brothers’ names have fallen from the tale.
I wonder, though, how many breathed
a soul-relieving sigh that they were not
anointed by the sage, that they were not

The one.

A poem/prayer based on 1 Samuel 16:1-13, the Revised Common Lectionary Gospel Reading for Year A, Fourth Sunday in Lent.

The image is David Anointed King by Samuel, Dura Europos synagogue painting (3rd cent.), reworked by Marsyas. Yale Gilman collection, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5107843.