Conceived In Shame, Born For Greatness

Conceived in Shame, Born for Greatness

The boy was an outcast, rejected by his father and scorned by his brothers. History remembers his exploits, but the shame of his youth is hidden away in ancient Torah commentaries. It is well known by Jewish rabbis but seldom talked about among Christian scholars.

The boy’s father, Yishai, was a member of Judaism’s high court, revered as one of the four guardians of the Torah, a man of considerable wealth, and a descendant of Israel’s most famous family. He lived on a ranch outside the village of Beit Lechem, south of Jerusalem. His beautiful wife, Nitzevet, gave him seven handsome sons who all grew up to be mighty warriors.

Yishai’s life should have been idyllic, except for a single blot on his family name. His grandfather had married a widow from a nearby pagan nation. Any descendants born of that forbidden union were unclean to the tenth generation. Torah law, which Yishai so zealously guarded, said that he and his boys were impure because of his grandfather’s illicit marriage.

Over the years, Yishai became obsessed about this stain on his family name. But he did rejoice in the fact that God had given him seven sons. And he wanted to keep it at seven because that was the Hebrew number for blessing. So he shut his bedroom door to his wife. But Nitzevet was determined to bear another child. After tricking and seducing Yishai, she conceived an eighth son.

Yishai never forgave her. Nor did he accept the child of that deception. He encouraged his other sons to reject their kid brother. The little boy ate at a separate table with his disgraced mother, and his brothers publicly mocked him. Eventually, the despised son was exiled to distant fields to care for the flocks. Shepherds were the outcasts of Jewish society. When Yishai sent his son into the wilderness, it was tantamount to saying that his son was dead to him.

At this point the Bible picked up the boy’s story. A disillusioned prophet left a disobedient king to anoint a new man for Israel’s throne. God led him to Yishai’s farm outside Beit Lechem. A proud dad paraded his seven strapping sons before an impressed prophet. But God whispered, “Beware, Sammy! You’re looking at the outward appearances, but I look at the heart.” The prophet asked Yishai if he had another son. “Yes,” replied the rancher. “But why would you be interested in a shepherd boy?”

Yet the boy had become an eagle eye with a slingshot, killing lions and bears while growing close to God in the lonely wilderness. By now you may have guessed that the boy Samuel wanted to see was David. We call Yishai “Jesse” and Beit Lechem “Bethlehem.” Jesse’s grandfather was Boaz, who broke Torah law by marrying a Moabite woman named Ruth. The story of an outcast boy who grew up to be a giant slayer is just one of many that prove this undeniable principle:

God forges greatness in the furnace of loneliness and affliction.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

Isaiah 43:2, ESV