{"id":69520,"date":"2024-08-30T12:20:11","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T17:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=69520"},"modified":"2024-08-30T15:53:34","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T20:53:34","slug":"was-there-a-significant-age-difference-between-jonathan-and-david","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-there-a-significant-age-difference-between-jonathan-and-david\/","title":{"rendered":"Was there a significant age difference between Jonathan and David?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

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?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

Jonathan participated in battles against the Philistines when he was first mentioned in I Samuel 13. The typical age for an Israelite warrior to begin was 20 (Numbers 1:2-3). Thus, Jonathan was at least 20 during the second year of Saul’s rule (I Samuel 13:1 — See Saul’s War Against the Philistines<\/a> regarding problems translating this verse).<\/p>\n

David fought Goliath when he was just a lad in I Samuel 18. David’s older brothers were in the battle against the Philistines. A man had to be at least 20 to be in the army (Numbers 1:3;\u00a026:2). 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. David is the eighth son of Jesse. His three eldest brothers were in the army (I Samuel 17:14). David would be at least five years younger than the third son who was 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”\u00a0<\/em>” (I Samuel 17:33). The Hebrew word for youth is\u00a0na’ar<\/em>\u00a0which refers to someone between infancy and adolescence.<\/p>\n

That leaves the question of how many years passed between I Samuel 13 and 17. A reasonable assumption is that Jonathan and David differed by ten to twenty years.<\/p>\n\t

Response:<\/h2>\n

Excellent! This is precisely what I have been searching for. Thank you.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 participated in battles against the…<\/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":[111,1706],"class_list":["post-69520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-david","tag-jonathan"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2785,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-did-david-and-jonathan-show-their-love-for-each-other\/","url_meta":{"origin":69520,"position":0},"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":49768,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/by-many-or-by-few\/","url_meta":{"origin":69520,"position":1},"title":"By Many or By Few","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Irvin Himmel The situation looked grim. Saul's men had dwindled to only about six hundred. The army of the Philistines numbered into the thousands. Saul's men were poorly armed. Since all the smiths were among the Philistines, Saul's soldiers had neither sword nor spear. There was much trembling among\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":13262,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-god-allow-the-gibeonites-to-kill-seven-of-sauls-sons\/","url_meta":{"origin":69520,"position":2},"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":49836,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-proper-to-ask-for-non-miraculous-signs\/","url_meta":{"origin":69520,"position":3},"title":"Is it proper to ask for non-miraculous signs?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I had a question regarding asking God for a sign in the Bible. I was reading an article on your site about it (Should we ask for signs like Gideon did?). I'm curious about signs of a non-miraculous nature. Does God communicate with people like Jonathan in I\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":92861,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-philistine-city-of-gath\/","url_meta":{"origin":69520,"position":4},"title":"The Philistine City of Gath","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Leon Mauldin via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 15 No. 2, February 2015 The first biblical mention of the city of Gath is in Joshua 11:22, contextually speaking of the giants (Anakim) who remained in the land after the initial conquest: \"None of the Anakim were left in the land of the\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":10752,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/three-trivia-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":69520,"position":5},"title":"Three trivia questions","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What two Old Testament men loved each other passing the love of women? 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