What Was David's Age When He Killed Goliath? - EBible

Tim Maas Supporter Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army With regard to a specific age of David at any particular point in his life, the only early reference mentioned by the Bible (in 2 Samuel 5:4) was that he was thirty years old when Saul died, and a war of succession broke out between the followers of David (whom Samuel had anointed at God's direction some years earlier, following God's rejection of Saul due to Saul's disobedience), and the followers of Saul's son Ish-bosheth. According to Numbers 1:3, the age at which an Israelite man was subject to military duty was 20. 1 Samuel 17:13 says that the three oldest sons of Jesse (David's father) had followed Saul to war against the Philistines. David was Jesse's eighth and youngest son. Thus, if Jesse's fourth-born son was no older than 19, David could have been no older than 16 at that time (assuming that all of Jesse's sons had the same mother; that there were no intervening daughters; and that there were no multiple births). That David was not considered eligible for military service can be seen from the fact (as noted in 1 Samuel 17:17-20) that he was performing duties such as "shuttling" between his home in Bethlehem (where he was mentioned as still tending his father's sheep) and the battle zone, serving as a courier by delivering supplies to his brothers, and performing such assigned functions as playing the lyre for Saul in order to drive away the tormenting spirit from God that periodically troubled Saul, and being Saul's armor-bearer, rather than wearing armor and being a warrior on his own. (When Saul tried to outfit David with armor to fight Goliath, David took it off, because he was not used to it, and it was too cumbersome for him (1 Samuel 17:38-39).) However (and even though Saul had said to David, "You are but a youth," when David had offered to fight Goliath), David would have had to have been of sufficient age, size, strength, and skill to have killed the lion and the bear that had attacked the sheep that David had been tending for his father (as David mentioned to Saul in 1 Samuel 17:34-37). He would also have had to be old enough to have developed sufficient skill in playing the lyre to the point where he would have been considered suitable for serving Saul in that regard. Thus, an age of 16 (as arrived at above) for David at the time that he killed Goliath would appear to be a plausible blending of all these considerations.

July 27 2015 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report