c. Note who the father would choose to be the future king: he had each of his seven sons in descending order by age pass in front of Samuel (vv. 8–10). After the oldest son Eliab had been rejected, Jesse presented Abinadab to Samuel. But Abinadab was rejected. Then Jesse had Shammah pass before Samuel, but he too was rejected (v. 9). One by one in descending order, Jesse had his sons pass before Samuel. But in each case, Samuel pronounced the fateful words, each was rejected (v. 10). Had it been
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