Did Saul know who David’s father was?
Posted on Jan.05, 2009. Filed in 1 Samuel. Average rating: 3.7 / 10 (Rate It).
In 1 Samuel Saul is afflicted with an evil spirit, and so on the advice of his servants sends to Jesse for his son Samuel. Samuel is reputed to be an excellent musician, and it is hoped that his playing will soothe Saul. When Samuel arrives, he and Saul form a close relationship, and Saul again sends to Jesse to extend David’s stay:
Now the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. And Saul’s servants said to him, ‘See now, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our lord now command the servants who attend you to look for someone who is skilful in playing the lyre; and when the evil spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will feel better.’ So Saul said to his servants, ‘Provide for me someone who can play well, and bring him to me.’ One of the young men answered, ‘I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skilful in playing, a man of valour, a warrior, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence; and the Lord is with him.’ So Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, ‘Send me your son David who is with the sheep.’ Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a kid, and sent them by his son David to Saul. And David came to Saul, and entered his service. Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armour-bearer. Saul sent to Jesse, saying, ‘Let David remain in my service, for he has found favour in my sight.’ And whenever the evil spirit from God cam upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand, and Saul would be relieved and feel better, and the evil spirit would depart from him. [1 Samuel 16:14-23 (NRSV)]
This passage is immediately followed by an account of a war with the Philistines. The Philistine champion, Goliath, challenges the Israelites, who run away in terror. Finally David, an unlikely hero, steps up to the plate and slays Goliath. Saul, who loved David greatly, made David his armour-bearer, and sent to Jesse saying that David had found favour in his sight, suddenly seems not to know him:
When Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, ‘Abner, whose son is this young man?’ Abner said, ‘As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.’ The king said, ‘Inquire whose son the stripling is.’ On David’s return from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his hand. Saul said to him, ‘Whose son are you, young man?’ And David answered him, ‘I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.’ [1 Samuel 17:55-58 (NRSV)]
So did Saul know who David’s father was or not?
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January 6th, 2009 on 11:47 pm
A lot of the Bible is not in Chronological order, and that’s what I would argue on this point.
Aside from the fact that Saul could’ve just forgotten, it’s more likely the events in Chapter 17 come before 16? Chapter 17 shows David as a boy taking food to his brothers in the army. When David recounts to King Saul how good of a shepherd he was, he probably wouldn’t of had to do this had he been an armor bearer. However, chapter 16 shows him already as a warrior and an armor bearer.
Is this a real issue?
January 10th, 2009 on 1:01 am
johnfoxe, that’s not going to work as a solution.
1 Samuel 18:2 indicates that David went with Saul that very day, and Saul would not let him return to his father’s house. So if 16:19 occurs after the battle, why would Saul have to send for David?
January 10th, 2009 on 11:06 am
For the record, 1 Samuel 18:2 immediately follows David slaying Goliath and reads “Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.”
March 10th, 2009 on 4:32 am
The text does read here as if the events are in order, though I’m not sure we can know how much time lapses between them.
But johnfoxe had it right in his secondary comment. Saul simply didn’t remember who David’s father was. Would you really expect him to?
This is not an error in the text, but it does show that Saul had a fallible memory.
March 10th, 2009 on 4:52 pm
Just as a narrative, if you read the whole thing it certainly looks like two different accounts of how Saul met David have been folded together.
In 16:22-23 we are told that David has become Saul’s armour-bearer, yet 17:15 has David still feeding his father’s sheep.
At 17:12 we are told David is the 8th son of a man named Jesse, as if we didn’t already know that.
And at 17:55-58, Saul calls David “young man” (twice) and “the stripling”. Apparently he doesn’t know David’s name.
June 5th, 2010 on 5:19 am
I actually have a bit of an antecdote I like to give when this comes up, to show that Saul forgetting who David was isn’t as absurd as it at first sounds. And I will admit, it does sound absurd at first.
When I was growing up, I had a best friend named Brian. We went to school together for several years before I moved away.
Years later, we found ourselves working side-by-side in a local business, but – this is interesting – we worked together for *months* before we recognized each other. Neither of us had had any reason to mention their surname, and we simply didn’t realize who the other was. I want to emphasize, we were *best friends* when we were in grade school.
To me, this seems like the most likely resolution to the Saul not recognizing David problem. After all, Saul was king – surely he had a LOT of names and faces to deal with. Let alone remembering who David’s father was.
That’s my two cents, anyhow.