I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:

I have made discovery of David my servant; I have put my holy oil on his head.

Then Thou spokest in vision to Thy godly ones, And saidst: 'I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.

I have found David my servant. The prophet confirms the same proposition, That there was nothing of royalty in David, who owed all to the sovereignty of God in preventing him by his grace. Such is the import of the word found, as if God had said, When I took him to elevate him, this proceeded entirely from my free goodness. The name servant, therefore, does not denote any merit, but is to be referred to the divine call. It is as if God had said, that he confirmed and ratified by his authority the sovereign power of David; and if He approved it, its legitimacy is placed beyond all doubt. The second clause of the verse affords an additional confirmation of God's free election: With my holy oil have I anointed him. This anointing, which was not the fruit of David's own policy, but which he obtained contrary to all expectation, was the cause of his elevation to the estate of royalty. God then having of himself, and according to his mere good pleasure, anticipated David, that he might anoint him king by the hand of Samuel, he justly declares that he found him. It is afterwards added, that he will be the guardian and protector of this kingdom of which he was the founder; for it is not his usual way to abandon his works after having commenced them, but, on the contrary, to carry them forward by a continued process of improvement to their completion.

I have found David my servant - That is, I found him among the sheepfolds; in humble life. I saw there one who was qualified for the high office of being the ruler of the nation, and I designated, or set him apart, for that office. The idea is, that there was in him a precious qualification for this work, and that God had seen this, and, in accordance with this, had summoned him to his service.
With my holy oil have I anointed him - By the hand of Samuel. 1-Samuel 16:13. Oil was used in setting apart prophets, priests, and kings. It was poured upon the person - emblematic of the pouring out upon him of wisdom and grace from on high to qualify him for his office.

I have found David my servant - This is the sum of what God had said in prophetic visions to his saints or holy persons, Samuel, Nathan, and Gad; see 1-Samuel 16:1, 1-Samuel 16:12. Here the psalmist begins to reason with God relative to David, his posterity, and the perpetuity of his kingdom; which promises appear now to have utterly failed, as the throne had been overturned, and all the people carried into captivity. But all these things may have reference to Christ and his kingdom; for we are assured that David was a type of the Messiah.

I have found David my servant,.... Not David literally; but his Son and antitype, the Messiah, who is sometimes called by his name; See Gill on Psalm 89:3, and his "finding" him does not suppose any ignorance of him, nor anxious solicitude in seeking him, nor any
fortuitous event; but is attributed to God by an anthropopathy, or speaking after the manner of men; for it is an act of the highest wisdom, and richest grace, to find out, that is, to pick and appoint, in council and covenant, his own Son to be his servant, to be the Redeemer and Saviour of sinners, and to be a ransom for them, Job 33:24. The Apostle Paul seems to refer to this passage in Acts 13:22.
with my holy oil have I anointed him: not with material oil, as David, his type, 1-Samuel 16:13 but with the Holy Ghost, which may well be called holy oil, in allusion to the holy anointing oil under the law; the oil of gladness with which Christ was anointed above his fellows, and without measure, at the time of his conception and birth, at his baptism and ascension to heaven, and even, in some sense, from all eternity; for so early is he said to be anointed, and to be possessed with all fulness of grace, being invested with and installed into his office as Mediator; and from this anointing he has the name of Messiah and Christ, both which signify anointed, Acts 10:38.

I have found--having sought and then selected him (1-Samuel 16:1-6).