Who's Son are You?
Excerpt
When the conflict was over, Saul inquired as to the identity of the young warrior and learned that he was David, son of Jesse (vv. 55, 58). Why could not Saul recognize David, who had already served him for some time as musician and armor-bearer? One answer is that Saul was not asking who David was but for the first time was curious about David’s family connections: Whose son is that young man? (v. 55; cf. v. 25) When David himself was interrogated he did not say, “I am David,” but only, I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem (v. 58). Another and perhaps better solution is that David’s previous service had been brief and intermittent and now several years had passed since Saul had last seen him. If, for example, David had been only 12 years old when he came as Saul’s musician and had stayed off and on for only a year or so, he might have been 17 or 18 by the time of the Philistine episode and no longer recognizable to Saul. This view is strengthened by the fact that after David joined himself to Saul this time, the king “did not let him…
Merrill, Eugene H. “1 Samuel.” The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Ed. J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck. Vol. 1. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985. 448. Print.
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