That David was barely a teenager when he fought Goliath is a Myth,
although he is shown in many illustrations as very young. That comes from the Latin text which calls David a child, a miss-translation of the Hebrew, which calls him a young man.
David was at least twenty-seven, maybe twenty-eight, when he fought Goliath. The key to David’s age is the two years of Saul’s reign and the seven and a half years that David was king over Judah while he was in Hebron. David was thirty when he began his reign in Hebron, which came immediately after Saul’s two-year reign.
(See 1 Samuel 13:1. See Timeline in the Hebrew Texts chapter of the One New Man Bible Companion.)
One New Man Bible Companion
The hebrew word for “youth” describing David is na’ar. The exact definition of this word is “the age of infancy TO (not through) adolescence. In the ancient near east, adolescence began at 14 years old for boys. So, either God inspired the writer, by the Holy Spirit to use the WRONG Hebrew word, or the writer was NOT inspired by the Holy Spirit, OR, David was somewhere between infancy and adolescence (14). Hard to believe that a 14 year old boy would fight Goliath and win? Not if He is backed by God. Also, the literal translation of Saul letting David put on His armor isn’t the word armor – but the word “garment” so we can’t actually use the “but he tried on the armor” argument regarding David’s size. Remember – even if David were an adult – Saul was head and shoulders above the crowd – but David was just a regular guy – so the “armor” wouldn’t have fit him anyway -regardless of the age issue.
Shalom Stephanie,
Thank you for writing. If you go by the timeline of Saul’s two year reign, David could not have been less than 27 years old when he killed Goliath.
Blessings, Bill
This isnt accurate. 20 years and above was the age for all men required to be in the military. Jesse had 8 sons, only the 3 oldest were in the military. That puts David at around 15-19 years old.
Shalom Earl,
Thanks for writing. This is what Scripture has, with no explanation of which sons were called up and which were not. The draft may have been similar to today’s, where all men from twenty to twenty-three are on active duty, then most are in the reserves and are called up for various emergencies. Some remain on active duty, but most do not.
Blessings, Bill
The scripture list exactly who were called up.