More Handsome than He

Now in all Israel there was no one so much to be praised for his beauty as Absalom; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. — 2 Samuel 14:25

What is it about human nature that causes us to admire the beautiful and dismiss the less than beautiful? We tend to extend more grace to beautiful people, as though they are more — and you can fill in the blank here — knowledgeable, understanding, compassionate, courageous. Yet they may be none of those things.

We read in 1 Samuel 9:2 that Saul, the son of Kish, was a "handsome young man," and that "There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he."  He met with the approbation of both the people and of Samuel. But apparently, Saul did not share the same opinion of himself as those around him. 1 Samuel 15:17 says, "And Samuel said, 'Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel?'" Saul's reign as king quickly devolved into a shambles.

The Lord sent Samuel to choose another king, this time from among the sons of Jesse. Apparently, Samuel was not a great judge of character, and he was about to make the same mistake he had made in choosing Saul. When Jesse brought his sons before Samuel, he saw Eliab and immediately thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed is before him (I Samuel 16:6)."

It was then the Lord gave Samuel (and the rest of us) some advice about beautiful people. "The Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).'"

How would you like to be known simply as someone who is beautiful to look at? You might think the tendency to objectify people is a modern problem, but these verses make it clear it is a universal human trait.

A Messianic passage in Isaiah (42:19,20) reveals how Jesus would handle things having to do with outward appearances — "Who is blind, but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the LORD? He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open but he does not hear."

Jesus ignored the outward, focusing instead on the inner person and the priority of eternal matters. May we get a heart of wisdom in this regard.