What other biblical examples show God using unexpected people to fulfill His will?

Grounding Passage: A Hidden Servant Girl Saves a King

“Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel, and a servant girl would go and inform them, and they in turn would go and tell King David, for they dared not be seen entering the city.” (2 Samuel 17:17)

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Old Testament Snapshots of Surprise Instruments

• Rahab, a Canaanite prostitute—Joshua 2:9, 11

• Gideon, the least in his clan—Judges 6:15

• Deborah, a woman leading Israel—Judges 4:4-5

• Jael, a nomadic wife who struck down Sisera—Judges 5:24-26

• Ruth, a Moabite widow—Ruth 1:16; 4:17

• Young David, a shepherd boy—1 Samuel 16:11-12

• A captive servant girl guiding Naaman—2 Kings 5:2-3

• Cyrus, a Persian king called “My anointed”—Isaiah 45:1

• Esther, an orphaned exile turned queen—Esther 4:14

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New Testament Glimpses of Unlikely Vessels

• Mary, the humble virgin from Nazareth—Luke 1:38

• Shepherds as first evangelists—Luke 2:10-12

• The Samaritan woman at the well—John 4:39

• A boy with five loaves and two fish—John 6:9

• Fishermen and a tax collector chosen as apostles—Matthew 4:18-19; 9:9

• A Roman centurion declaring Christ’s innocence—Mark 15:39

• Saul the persecutor turned Paul the missionary—Acts 9:15

• Onesimus, a runaway slave—Philemon 1:11

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Common Threads to Notice

• God frequently selects the overlooked—outsiders, youths, women, foreigners, servants, even enemies.

• Social standing never limits divine purpose; availability matters more than credentials.

• Each unlikely choice magnifies the Lord’s power and faithfulness, keeping all glory directed to Him.

The servant girl of 2 Samuel 17:17 stands among a long line of ordinary people through whom the sovereign God accomplishes extraordinary plans.