"Surely," thought Samuel, "I have found him!"
But the Lord looked down into his heart—just as he looks into our hearts today—and saw that all was not right there, and so the Lord said to Samuel: "He is not the chosen one."
Then Samuel asked Jesse to call his second son.
But when the Lord read his thoughts He said to the priest: "No; I have not chosen this one."
Jesse called his third son, but Samuel only shook his head. In haste, Jesse called all his other sons before the High Priest, but Samuel was forced to say sadly, "The Lord hath not chosen these." Almost in despair, he turned to Jesse, asking: "Are all thy children here?" And he answered: "There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep."
Joyfully Samuel cried: "Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither." And he sent and brought him in.
When Samuel looked into his pure, innocent face, he knew that now the chosen one of the Lord stood before him.
Taking his horn of oil, he anointed him King of Israel, "and the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward."
When Samuel left him, David went quietly back to the field, and tended his sheep, just as of old.
Day by day he tried to do every duty well, so that bye and bye he would be worthy to be a king.