choosing of David. When Samuel arrived in Bethlehem, he asked Jesse to present his sons. Jesse brought out seven fine-looking young men, but little David was not taken seriously enough to be summoned. Yet contrary to all human expectations, David was the one God would use to launch his kingdom. Now, amid the dying embers of David’s line, God promises something even more unexpected. “In these days of royal weakness Yahweh reaffirms through Micah that his will is not to sweep aside a worn-out, dying