The Anointing of David

This capital illustrates and comments on Chapter 16:1-13 of the First Book of Samuel, in which God sends the prophet to Bethlehem, in order to anoint the future king of Israel, who would replace King Saul. To give a pretext for his visit to the trembling elders who come to meet him at the city gate, Samuel has brought with him a heifer as sacrificial beast. And to this sacrifice he invites Jesse and his sons of whom the youngest, David is the chosen one. On the north and east sides of the capital four men are shown walking, one behind the other; they are presumably the sons of Jesse; two of them raise their hand, while the third points with his finger to heaven. The man on the east side who seems to be holding a flowering branch in his hand could be Jesse himself, who illustrates Isaiah 11:1: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots”, and (11:10) “[…] the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples […]”. On the south side Samuel holds high a large horn with the holy oil for the coronation of David. The horn is visibly placed at the centre of the representation and dominates the scene of the anointing. David, the new king of Israel chosen by Jahwe, kneels before Samuel. In his book “Adversus haereses” (Against Heresies), Irenaeus of Lyon, in his chapter on the thesis of the unity of the Christian God, quotes from Luke’s Gospel (in the Vulgate): “And […] Zechariah […] prophesied, saying: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for is in the house of his servant David […]”. This horn of salvation is a prefiguration of Christ who, in spirit as in flesh, is the direct descendent of David.

Israel Samuel sacrifice Jesse David Bethlehem king horn Irenaeus Lyon