How old was David…?
How old was David when he killed Goliath?
This is an example – one of the many events in David’s life which have hints at his age, but no more. We do not know how old David was when he killed Goliath; the clearest detail we know about his age is in this verse:
And when the Philistine looked and saw David,
he disdained him, for he was but a youth,
ruddy and handsome in appearance.
1 Samuel 17:42
Another hint might be found in the information that David’s three oldest brothers were in Saul’s army and that David, the youngest of eight, was caring for the family sheep (1 Samuel 17:14-15).
Sometimes looking at the original language in which the scripture is written can help to answer our questions, but in this case, the Hebrew word translated “youth” can be used for anyone from an infant to a young man, so that’s no help.
This is typical of any attempt to create a timeline of David’s life.
David’s age is given only once in all of the records of his life in the Bible. This is when he was made king over Judah after the death of King Saul:
David was thirty years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned forty years.
At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months,
and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.
2 Samuel 5:4-5
Based on King David’s age of 30 when he became king and his 40-year reign, we see that he lived to the age of 70.
David’s early life
We are told of many events that happened before he became king, and many that followed his coronation, but there is never enough information to enable us to be certain exactly when events happened.
Not only so, but there is evidence that some of the events before he became king are not in chronological order.
“Oh, no!” I hear you say. “This is sounding like Jeremiah!”
But relax, it’s not that mixed up!
However, when David killed Goliath (see 1 Samuel 17) he was taken to Saul and Abner the commander of the army and neither of them knew him. David then gave proof of his experience in fighting by saying that he had dealt with lions and bears.
Even when Saul and Abner hear that he was the son of Jesse, no hint of recognition appears, yet in 1 Samuel 16 when Saul is looking for a musician, David the son of Jesse is recommended to him as a man of valour and a man of war.
The simplest explanation of these apparent anachronisms is that the events in chapter 17 happened before those in the last section of chapter 16.
If you wonder how it might fit together, try reading the passages in the order below:
- 1 Samuel 16:1-13 Samuel anoints David to be king.
- 1 Samuel 17:1-54 David fights Goliath
- 1 Samuel 17:55-18:4 is partly a summary of David’s confrontation with Goliath and partly new information
- 1 Samuel 16:14-23 David called to help Saul through music
- 1 Samuel 18:5-30 David as an army leader and national hero which causes Saul to hate him
Sometime, I may write another post about the ordering of events in David’s life, but for the moment, we’ll just observe that some of the recorded events may not be in order.
A timeline
David’s life was full of unexpected events which he responded to with unusual faith. He fought lions and giants, escaped the flying javelins of a mad king, and safely led a force of hundreds of outlaws through a wilderness for several years – even leading them into service under a foreign king. After more than a year spent in the land of the Philistines, he inspired hundreds of foreigners to join him as he returned to his own land to be made king, then
conquered an impregnable fortress and made it his capital. Through his leadership – and despite a moral lapse that earned God’s punishment in the form of family difficulties that dogged the remainder of his reign – David ushered in a time of greatness for the kingdom of Israel that has never been equalled since.
Some of the events of his reign are shown in the timeline below which is available for free use by anyone. When this article is released on the Bible Tales website, the timeline will be available in Powerpoint, PDF and PNG formats at high resolution. If you would like to have one of these formats immediately, please let me know by return email.
