God was being completely serious when said He was rejecting Saul as king. Samuel the prophet is thus given a new assignment: Anoint the next king of Israel.
Samuel goes to the town of Bethlehem to see Jesse's family. One by one, his sons appear before the prophet, but each time God says, "Not this one." Even though Samuel is impressed by Eliab's physical appearance and thinks, "Surely the Lord's anointed is now before the Lord," God reveals that He sees things differently than Samuel (vs. 6). "The Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart" (vs. 7). Saul, after all, was literally head and shoulders above everyone else, but that did not help him serve as a faithful king.
After seven of Jesse's sons pass before Samuel, the prophet asks if he has any other sons. There is, of course, one remaining. The youngest is still out tending the sheep. They send for him immediately. When David finally appears, the Lord speaks to Samuel: "Rise and anoint him; for this is the one" (vs. 12).
This is our introduction to David, a key figure in the Bible. David looms large as a psalmist, a warrior, and a king. He is an ancestor of Christ, as well as the first in the line of monarchs which leads to the Messiah. But before he can do any of that, he must lay claim to a throne that is already occupied by Saul, a man who has lost the favor of the Lord and seen the departure of His Spirit, and is starting to sense the loss of his power and authority.
Now that David has been anointed by Samuel - a personally risky move for both men under the reign of Saul - the Lord begins turning the gears of events to bring David into Saul's court and closer to the center of power he will one day assume. The rest of I Samuel 16 details how David rises to be a court musician and armor bearer for Saul (a fact the king will strangely forget in the next chapter of this book!)
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