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 was.\u00a0 However, in I Samuel 17:58, when David came back from slaying Goliath, Saul asked him “Whose son are you, young man?”\u00a0 How can Saul not know who David was after he played a harp and bore his armor all this time already?<\/p>\n\t
It is a good question that tells us more about Saul’s character. Here is a man who had people working for him, yet he did not really know them well.<\/p>\n
But do notice that Saul did not ask for David’s name, he asked who David’s father was. We sometimes forget that time can pass between recorded events. We read them one after another, but it doesn’t mean they happened one immediately after another. David did spend time playing for Saul and became Saul’s armor-bearer (I Samuel 16:14-23). Even asking Jesse for permission to have David stay with him doesn’t mean that Saul would necessarily remember who he sent a message to if it was years later. Time apparently did pass because in I Samuel 17:15 we find that “David occasionally went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.<\/em>” In fact, during the time of the Philistine war, David was at home (I Samuel 17:17). We are not told how long David had been gone this last trip. Yet, Saul does appear to be familiar with David when he had David appear before him (I Samuel 17:31-39); after all, he was willing to loan David his own armor.<\/p>\n He asked his captain to remind him who David’s father was, but Abner did not know (I Samuel 17:55). At the time, David was just going on the field and perhaps Saul was thinking he would need to send condolences to his family. After David, a mere youth, so soundly defeated Goliath, I can see Saul’s mind working: If a young man can do so much, what might his older brothers, if he had any, be able to do? He didn’t get an answer from his staff, so he naturally asked David directly when he returned.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 was.\u00a0 However, in I Samuel…<\/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":[111,1062,461],"class_list":["post-29823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-david","tag-i-samuel","tag-saul"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14676,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-david-a-young-man-when-he-killed-goliath-and-not-a-boy\/","url_meta":{"origin":29823,"position":0},"title":"Was David a young man when he killed Goliath and not a boy?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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":11863,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-did-saul-actually-die\/","url_meta":{"origin":29823,"position":1},"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":[]},{"id":1869,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-did-saul-reign-in-israel\/","url_meta":{"origin":29823,"position":2},"title":"When did Saul reign in Israel?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 26, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When did Saul rule Israel? How long was his reign? Answer: While the information given in the Bible has been repeatedly proven accurate, dates have been a particular challenge because earlier cultures did not use fixed calendars as we do. Instead, time was measured based as elapsed from certain\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":2785,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-did-david-and-jonathan-show-their-love-for-each-other\/","url_meta":{"origin":29823,"position":3},"title":"How did David and Jonathan show their love for each other?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 30, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How did David and Jonathan show their concern (love) for one another? Can we act like them too? Answer: \"The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul\" (I Samuel 18:1). They made a covenant with each other \"Then\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":13262,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-god-allow-the-gibeonites-to-kill-seven-of-sauls-sons\/","url_meta":{"origin":29823,"position":4},"title":"How could God allow the Gibeonites to kill seven of Saul’s sons?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In II Samuel 21, it speaks of how David spared seven of Saul's descendants for the Gibeonites to kill, and afterward, God answered prayers. That just doesn't make sense. Did God justify that once upon a time? Answer: \"Now there was a famine in the days of David for\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":29823,"position":5},"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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29823","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=29823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}