Samuel anoints David
God sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse's sons; passing over seven older brothers, he anointed the youngest, the shepherd boy David.
But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7 (World English Bible)
Samuel was impressed by Jesse's tall eldest son, but God corrected him. David was out with the sheep and had to be sent for. From that day the Spirit of Yahweh came powerfully on David.
Soon afterward David entered Saul's service, playing the harp to calm the troubled king.
Places
Dating notes
Ussher, 1063 BC: 40 years before Absalom's rebellion (2 Samuel 15:7, reading “forty”), when David was about 22.