In studying I Samuel 17:38-40, I am wondering if David is not a young boy as some stories depict him, but instead, he is a young man.<\/p>\n
Saul was the tallest man among the children of Israel and we see that he is now giving his armor to David to wear.\u00a0David must have been around the same height and size of King Saul for him to give him his armor to wear.\u00a0 Of course, David wasn\u2019t used to wearing armor and it would be a great disadvantage to him to try and fight in it.\u00a0 So, he goes out to meet Goliath armed with a sling and five stones.<\/p>\n\t
David’s brothers are in the battle against the Philistines. A man has to be at least 20 to be in the army (Numbers 1:3; 26:2). Since David is not with his brothers and it wasn’t due to a lack of zeal, we must conclude that David is under the age of 20.\u00a0 David is the eighth son of Jesse. His three eldest brothers were in the army (I Samuel 17:14). David would be at least 5 years younger than the third son who is in the army. If we assume that the cut off between the third and fourth son was due to age, that would put David at 15 or less — this is why he is depicted as a youth and so described: “And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”<\/em>” (I Samuel 17:33). The Hebrew word for youth is\u00a0na’ar<\/em>\u00a0which refers to someone between infancy and adolescence.<\/p>\n Nothing is said about David’s height, but we do know that he was shorter than Saul because when Samuel was sent to anoint David, he assumed God would pick Eliab, David’s eldest brother: “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart<\/em>” (I Samuel 16:7). Yet, David was a handsome youth. “Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking<\/em>” (I Samuel 16:12). How tall David grew up to be, we are not told.<\/p>\n The armor doesn’t necessarily tell us David’s height. Not everyone in those days was clad from head to toe like the knights in England. Something, as described in Ephesians 6, would be closer. And such armor would not depend on a man’s height too greatly. However, a youth unaccustomed to carrying a shield and sword or spear would find them too heavy to use effectively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: In studying I Samuel 17:38-40, I am wondering if David is not a young boy as some stories depict him, but instead, he is a young man. Saul was the tallest man among the children of Israel and we see that he is now giving his armor to David to wear.\u00a0David must have been…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[111,1062],"class_list":["post-14676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-david","tag-i-samuel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":29823,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-saul-ask-whose-son-david-was-after-his-battle-with-goliath\/","url_meta":{"origin":14676,"position":0},"title":"Why did Saul ask whose son David was after his battle with Goliath?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm reading in I Samuel 16:21. It says that David came into Saul's service to play harp for Saul then became one of Saul's armor-bearers.\u00a0 Saul even sent word to Jesse saying to 'allow David to remain in my service,' so I would assume that Saul knew who David\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25868,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/five-stones-in-the-hands-of-a-boy\/","url_meta":{"origin":14676,"position":1},"title":"Five Stones in the Hands of a Boy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: I Corinthians 1:26-29 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The armies of the Philistines and the Israelites faced each other across a valley - I Samuel 17:1-3 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With both armies camped on mountains, it became a standoff. Whoever attacked the other would be at a disadvantage. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Thus, the Philistines sent out their champion issue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28209,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-you-are-to-love-your-enemies-why-did-david-kill-goliath\/","url_meta":{"origin":14676,"position":2},"title":"If you are to love your enemies, why did David kill Goliath?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was listening to a sermon about how to be\u00a0a man after God's heart. He was speaking about love,\u00a0and\u00a0he said David loved Saul\u00a0even when Saul tried to kill him and searched for\u00a0him for years.\u00a0Even if Saul\u00a0became David's enemy, David would never\u00a0do the same against Saul. He loved Saul and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69520,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-there-a-significant-age-difference-between-jonathan-and-david\/","url_meta":{"origin":14676,"position":3},"title":"Was there a significant age difference between Jonathan and David?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 30, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read a comment online that some scholars believe that there was a 20 - 30-year difference between Jonathan and David, that Jonathan was at least 20 years older than David.\u00a0 I have been searching but cannot find scripture that verifies that.\u00a0 Do you know of one? Answer: Jonathan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90134,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/david-old-and-full-of-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":14676,"position":4},"title":"David, \u201cOld and Full of Years\u201d","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Tol Burk We are introduced to David as a young man, too young to fight Goliath (according to man's standards). But it doesn't end there-David is one of the very few that we see from youth to old age. Age changed things in his life, but his faith in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11863,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-did-saul-actually-die\/","url_meta":{"origin":14676,"position":5},"title":"How did Saul actually die?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to know how Saul died. In I Samuel 31:4 the Scripture says that Saul fell upon his own sword and in verse 6 it says Saul, his three sons, and his armorbearer died that same day. Then in II Samuel 1:10. the Scripture says an Amalekite stood\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}