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Why Did Saul Not Recognize David in 1 Samuel 17? I took the liberty of shortening the question I received from some one studying 1 Samuel 17. I must admit this does seem to be a dilemma considering what one reads in 1 Samuel 16. Early in chapter 16, David is anointed by Samuel to be the next king of Israel. Obviously this was not known to King Saul at this time. In verse 14, the "Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him." It is at this time Saul’s servants calls for a skillful player of the harp to come and play for the king. Verse 18 says one of Saul’s servants had seen David playing the harp and he was skillful. Saul sent messengers to get David and have him come and play. Eventually David became Saul’s armor bearer and he played for Saul on a regular basis. 1 Samuel 17 covers David’s victory over Goliath. The Philistine army and King Saul’s men were encamped against each other. Goliath had challenged any one from the Israelite army to meet him in battle, but no one was willing . David came to bring food to his older brother’s in Saul’s army. David was not afraid of Goliath and he volunteered to fight him. After explaining his ability to kill a lion and a bear, Saul allows the young man to fight Goliath.David defeats Goliath and cuts off his head. It is at this point we read verses 55 and 56, ": When Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, whose son is this youth?’ And Abner said, ‘As your soul lives, O King, I do not know.’ So the king said, ‘Inquire whose son this young man is." There are two or three possible explanations why Saul would not know who David was in 2 Samuel 17. First, David’s going to Saul and playing his harp may not have been in chronological order. In other words, the events of chapter 17 may have occurred before chapter 16 verses 14-23. In my opinion this creates some problems with Saul’s jealously of David recorded in chapter 18 and his allowing David to play for him. But there are times the actions of Saul are hard to explain. How could he recognize the righteousness of David and then try to kill him? Second, although David played for the king in chapter 16 we do not know for certain that Saul actually knew David by name. It was his servant who saw David play the harp and it was his servants who actually went to Jesse’s house to retrieve David. We do not know how many servants Saul had, but it is doubtful he knew each servant by name and their parent’s names. Finally, the disturbing spirit sent from the Lord may have clouded Saul’s memory of David. D.T. |