Let children look and explore the ginger root. Ask what a root is and what it does.
1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
Often, a parent becomes who they are based on who their children are. Jesse was like this.
In the Bible, we know Jesse was David’s father, and while we don’t see Jesse doing great things for God in his life, we know he raised a son who did.
The Bible doesn’t tell us that Jesse served in any important or leadership role in the town of Bethlehem. He was just a regular person. He was not a prophet or priest; he was just a shepherd and a father who had eight sons and two daughters. When we first hear about Jesse in the book of 1 Samuel, Samuel seeks him out because the Lord has sent him on assignment to anoint the next king of Israel. This future king would come from one of Jesse’s eight sons, David.
Jesse was an ordinary man, yet out of his seed came the greatest earthly king Israel ever had- David. Also, from the line of David came the King of all kings and the One who will reign forever- Jesus. While Jesse’s life may not have seemed important, the root that stemmed out to generations to come after him had a tremendous impact.
Jesse was plain and simple. He did nothing incredible and was no one of any importance, but God used him in his family. Would you have expected God to use a plain shepherd of no importance to be in Jesus’s family? No. Even though God chose this simple man, Jesse still needed a savior, and so do we. Jesus is coming!
