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Writer’s Diary February 2026
By Mark Morgan | ToESWriting
After a long delay, this diary has recommenced for the time being as I work on a novel about Joab, the son of Zeruiah.
In November 2024 I attempted to write 50,000 words about Joab as part of a story with a suggested title of Chief and Commander. My attempt failed badly and I wrote only 6,600 words.
Between 23 November and 21 December 2025, I tried again and this time wrote 50,000 words, leaving me with a total of 57,000 words of a target length of 100,000 to 110,000 words. I have covered about half of the events we know of in Joab’s life so far, but I also felt the need to get the events in the right order.
You may think this a trivial task, or even a non-task, but there are some complications. For example, 1 Samuel 16 introduces us to David at his anointing by Samuel and then describes Saul’s need for a musical therapist at which time David is suggested as a candidate and described in 1 Samuel 16:18 as “skilful in playing, a mighty man of valour, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the LORD is with him.” A man of war? How does that fit with the description in 1 Samuel 17 of him as a shepherd with no war experience and unknown by Saul and Abner?
It is most likely that the killing of Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 probably happened before David’s selection as a musical therapist in 1 Samuel 16:19.
One problem, therefore, could be the chronological ordering of the record, however, I don’t believe this is a widespread problem and have not tried to make significant changes beyond the re-ordering of 1 Samuel 16-18. A second difficulty is the fact that there are two records of events which have different levels of detail and focus.
The more detailed record is in 1 Samuel chapters 16-31, 2 Samuel chapters 1-31 and 1 Kings chapters 1-2. The briefer record is in 1 Chronicles chapters 10-29.
Four smaller sections of text are also relevant for comparison:
Finally, 13 of the Psalms attributed to David also include a description of an event or location from David’s life as listed below:
| Psalm number | Psalm heading |
|---|---|
| Psalm 3 | A Psalm by David, when he fled from Absalom his son. |
| Psalm 7 | A meditation by David, which he sang to the LORD, concerning the words of Cush, the Benjamite. |
| Psalm 18 | For the Chief Musician. By David the servant of the LORD, who spoke to the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said, |
| Psalm 34 | By David; when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed. |
| Psalm 51 | For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. |
| Psalm 52 | For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, “David has come to Ahimelech’s house.” |
| Psalm 54 | For the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A contemplation by David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “Isn’t David hiding himself amongst us?” |
| Psalm 56 | For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Silent Dove in Distant Lands.” A poem by David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath. |
| Psalm 57 | For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A poem by David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave. |
| Psalm 59 | For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A poem by David, when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him. |
| Psalm 60 | For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A teaching poem by David, when he fought with Aram Naharaim and with Aram Zobah, and Joab returned, and killed twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt. |
| Psalm 63 | A Psalm by David, when he was in the desert of Judah. |
| Psalm 142 | A contemplation by David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer. |
Some of these are easy to locate chronologically, but others (eg. Psalm 63) are more difficult.
I have put together a harmony of these texts with all we have that describes the life of David, continuing until the death of Joab. As usual, I have put the harmony in a table with parallel passages in the same line in different columns. God willing, I might include this in a newsletter soon.
The harmony of David’s life ended up being sent out as a newsletter more quickly than I had planned! [see Harmony of Bible records of David’s life]
Sometime, I may pursue an attempt to do a more thorough rearranging based on chronology, but for the time being, arranging the texts in parallel to keep the existing chronological order of Samuel and Kings is very useful for tracking the life of David – and thus Joab.
The size of David’s force grew from the time when he had to run away from Saul with the help of Michal until Saul was killed on Mount Gilboa.
Initially, he had a few men with him as he went to Ahimelech the priest at Nob and was given the holy bread (1 Samuel 21:1-5). These were probably David’s special forces.
After going first to Achish in Gath, then fleeing from there to the cave of Adullam, his family came to him and others as well until there were 400 men with him (1 Samuel 22:2). These people are described as “Everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered themselves to him”. Not exactly the material you would expect to be the basis for an elite fighting force! Not long after, when David had to hurry away from Keilah, he had 600 men (1 Samuel 23:13). The same number is also given when David was intending to punish Nabal (1 Samuel 25:13).
As a result, we may find some records of who joined him at that time.
There are two passages in 1 Chronicles 12 that could be relevant:
1 Chronicles 12:8 Of the Gadites there separated themselves to David to the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for war, that could handle shield and spear; whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as the roes on the mountains;
1 Chronicles 12:16 There came of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the stronghold to David.
In the parallel descriptions of David’s mighty men in 2 Samuel 23 and 1 Chronicles 11, there is another passage of interest also (using the text from 2 Samuel 23):
13 And three of the thirty chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the cave of Adullam, when a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. 15 And David said longingly, Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate! 16 Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the Lord 17 and said, Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.
These were more the sorts of soldiers David may have needed!
Interestingly, in all cases, “the stronghold” is mentioned. God willing, we’ll look at the expression more tomorrow.
In the records of Samuel and Chronicles, we come across the expression “the stronghold” several times. By looking at the references, we can see that they definitely refer to more than one stronghold.
DATA POINT: In 1 Samuel 22:2, David had 400 men in the cave of Adullam.
1 Samuel 22:4 [David] brought [his parents] before the king of Moab; and they lived with him all the while that David was in the stronghold.
The three mighty men seem to have joined David at this time:
2 Samuel 23:13 Three of the thirty chief men went down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam; and the troop of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim. 14 David was then in the stronghold; and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.
1 Chronicles 11:15 Three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam; and the army of the Philistines were encamped in the valley of Rephaim. 16 David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.
DATA POINT: In 1 Samuel 23:13, David had 600 men. 1 Chronicles 12 describes five groups of men who joined David at various times (and not in order) from early in his career to just before he became king over all Israel. These groups are not listed in order in the chapter. Two of these groups seem to have joined David in the time when the size of his private army was growing quickly. One group of men from Benjamin and Judah possibly came to the cave of Adullam which seems to be called “the stronghold”:
1 Chronicles 12:16 There came of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the stronghold to David.
David was then told to leave “the stronghold” and did so:
1 Samuel 22:5 The prophet Gad said to David, “Don’t stay in the stronghold. Depart, and go into the land of Judah.” Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.
Later he also went to other strongholds in the wilderness.
1 Samuel 23:14 David [left Keilah and] stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God didn’t deliver him into his hand.
Possibly it was at this time that some Gadites joined him:
1 Chronicles 12:8 Of the Gadites there separated themselves to David to the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for war, that could handle shield and spear; whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as the roes on the mountains;
Saul continued to chase David, forcing him to keep moving to various safer places.
1 Samuel 23:19 Then the Ziphites came up to Saul to Gibeah, saying, “Doesn’t David hide himself with us in the strongholds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south [Note: “on the right hand”, assuming one is facing east] of the desert [or Jeshimon]?
1 Samuel 23:29 David went up from there [in the wilderness of Maon], and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.
1 Samuel 24:22 David swore to Saul [after sparing him in the cave in the wilderness of En Gedi]. Saul went home; but David and his men went up to the stronghold.
Perhaps at this time David went back to his preferred “stronghold” which may well have been the cave of Adullam.
Let’s finish our look at David’s involvement with strongholds with six more references.
2 Samuel 5:7 Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David.
2 Samuel 5:9 David lived in the stronghold, and called it the city of David. David built around from Millo and inward.
1 Chronicles 11:5 The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You shall not come in here.” Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion. The same is the city of David.
1 Chronicles 11:7 David lived in the stronghold; therefore they called it the city of David.
This one may be a case of David going back to his old haunts when danger threatened soon after he became king over all Israel.
2 Samuel 5:17 When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David; and David heard of it, and went down to the stronghold.
2 Samuel 24:7 and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beersheba.
There are a few reasons for this, but one of them is the order of the records of events in 1 Samuel 16-18 at least. Other parts may also need reviewing, but these three chapters definitely do.
The first and most obvious problem is that 1 Samuel 16 describes David becoming Saul’s musical therapist and spending many hours in Saul’s presence. If this occurs before the events of chapter 17, how could Saul fail to recognise David when he proposes fighting Goliath? And why would Saul’s men describe David as “a mighty man of valour, a man of war,” (1 Samuel 16:18) if he was simply a young shepherd at the time (as was argued in chapter 17:33). Likewise, if the women had sung about David’s success soon after he killed Goliath, that would have been before he was ever asked to play for Saul so how could Saul throw a spear at him the next day when he was playing? The events need some interleaving, and how far to go is not always obvious.
Here is my current arrangement (which I’m not completely happy with it because some of it feels a little too arbitrary):
Chapter 16
1 The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided a king for myself amongst his sons.”
2 Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.”
The LORD said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ 3 Call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. You shall anoint to me him whom I name to you.”
4 Samuel did that which the LORD spoke, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?”
5 He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” He sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. 6 When they had come, he looked at Eliab, and said, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before him.”
7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “The LORD has not chosen this one, either.” 9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. He said, “The LORD has not chosen this one, either.” 10 Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen these.” 11 Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your children here?”
He said, “There remains yet the youngest. Behold, he is keeping the sheep.”
Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down until he comes here.”
12 He sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with a handsome face and good appearance. The LORD said, “Arise! Anoint him, for this is he.”
13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the middle of his brothers. Then the LORD’s Spirit came mightily on David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
Chapter 17
1 Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle; and they were gathered together at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephesdammim. 2 Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and encamped in the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. 3 The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. 4 A champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span† went out. 5 He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he wore a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels‡ of bronze. 6 He had bronze shin armour on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. 7 The staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron.§ His shield bearer went before him. 8 He stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and you servants to Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.” 10 The Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel today! Give me a man, that we may fight together!”
11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. 12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons. The man was an elderly old man in the days of Saul. 13 The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle; and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14 David was the youngest; and the three oldest followed Saul. 15 Now David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
16 The Philistine came near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.
17 Jesse said to David his son, “Now take for your brothers an ephah† of this parched grain and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers; 18 and bring these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand; and see how your brothers are doing, and bring back news.” 19 Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
20 David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper, and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the place of the wagons as the army which was going out to the fight shouted for the battle. 21 Israel and the Philistines put the battle in array, army against army. 22 David left his baggage in the hand of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. 23 As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and said the same words; and David heard them. 24 All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were terrified. 25 The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? He has surely come up to defy Israel. The king will give great riches to the man who kills him, and will give him his daughter, and will make his father’s house tax-free in Israel.”
26 David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done to the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
27 The people answered him in this way, saying, “So shall it be done to the man who kills him.”
28 Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger burnt against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the evil of your heart; for you have come down that you might see the battle.”
29 David said, “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?” 30 He turned away from him towards another, and spoke like that again; and the people answered him again the same way. 31 When the words were heard which David spoke, they rehearsed them before Saul; and he sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
33 Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”
34 David said to Saul, “Your servant was keeping his father’s sheep; and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after him, struck him, and rescued it out of his mouth. When he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, struck him, and killed him. 36 Your servant struck both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 David said, “The LORD, who delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.”
Saul said to David, “Go! The LORD will be with you.”
38 Saul dressed David with his clothing. He put a helmet of bronze on his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail. 39 David strapped his sword on his clothing and he tried to move, for he had not tested it. David said to Saul, “I can’t go with these, for I have not tested them.” Then David took them off.
55 When Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the army, “Abner, whose son is this youth?”
Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I can’t tell.”
56 The king said, “Enquire whose son the young man is!”
40 He took his staff in his hand, and chose for himself five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag which he had. His sling was in his hand; and he came near to the Philistine. 41 The Philistine walked and came near to David; and the man who bore the shield went before him. 42 When the Philistine looked around and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and had a good looking face. 43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and to the animals of the field.”
45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 Today, the LORD will deliver you into my hand. I will strike you and take your head from off you. I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines today to the birds of the sky and to the wild animals of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD doesn’t save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand.”
48 When the Philistine arose, and walked and came near to meet David, David hurried and ran towards the army to meet the Philistine. 49 David put his hand in his bag, took a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. 50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David’s hand. 51 Then David ran, stood over the Philistine, took his sword, drew it out of its sheath, killed him, and cut off his head with it.
When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 52 The men of Israel and of Judah arose and shouted, and pursued the Philistines as far as Gai and to the gates of Ekron. The wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even to Gath and to Ekron. 53 The children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they plundered their camp.
57 As David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58 Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, you young man?”
David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
Chapter 18
1 When he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 Saul took him that day, and wouldn’t let him go home to his father’s house any more. 3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David with his clothing, even including his sword, his bow, and his sash.
54 David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armour in his tent.
5 David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely; and Saul set him over the men of war. It was good in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.
14 Now the LORD’s Spirit departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. 15 Saul’s servants said to him, “See now, an evil spirit from God troubles you. 16 Let our lord now command your servants who are in front of you to seek out a man who is a skilful player on the harp. Then when the evil spirit from God is on you, he will play with his hand, and you will be well.”
17 Saul said to his servants, “Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me.”
18 Then one of the young men answered and said, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skilful in playing, a mighty man of valour, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the LORD is with him.”
19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.”
20 Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a container of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by David his son to Saul. 21 David came to Saul and stood before him. He loved him greatly; and he became his armour bearer. 22 Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Please let David stand before me, for he has found favour in my sight.” 23 When the spirit from God was on Saul, David took the harp and played with his hand; so Saul was refreshed and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.
(the location of this is hardest to justify!)
8 There was war again. David went out and fought with the Philistines, and killed them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him.
14 David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the LORD was with him. 15 When Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he stood in awe of him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went out and came in before them.
6 As they came, when David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with tambourines, with joy, and with instruments of music. 7 The women sang to one another as they played, and said,
“Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his ten thousands.”
8 Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have credited David with ten thousands, and they have only credited me with thousands. What can he have more but the kingdom?” 9 Saul watched David from that day and forward. 10 On the next day, an evil spirit from God came mightily on Saul, and he prophesied in the middle of the house. David played with his hand, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand; 11 and Saul threw the spear, for he said, “I will pin David to the wall!” David escaped from his presence twice. 12 Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, and had departed from Saul. 13 Therefore Saul removed him from his presence, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.
17 Saul said to David, “Behold, my elder daughter Merab. I will give her to you as wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight the LORD’s battles.” For Saul said, “Don’t let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him.”
18 David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my life, or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?”
19 But at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as wife.
30 Then the princes of the Philistines went out; and as often as they went out, David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed.
20 Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David; and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. 21 Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul said to David a second time, “You shall today be my son-in-law.”
22 Saul commanded his servants, “Talk with David secretly, and say, ‘Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore be the king’s son-in-law.’ ”
23 Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. David said, “Does it seem to you a light thing to be the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man and little known?”
24 The servants of Saul told him, saying, “David spoke like this.”
25 Saul said, “Tell David, ‘The king desires no dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king’s enemies.’ ” Now Saul thought he would make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. 26 When his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son-in-law. Before the deadline, 27 David arose and went, he and his men, and killed two hundred men of the Philistines. Then David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, that he might be the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife. 28 Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David; and Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him. 29 Saul was even more afraid of David; and Saul was David’s enemy continually.
I’ve no doubt that I’ll review this again and may make some minor changes, but overall, the changes seem to fit better. However, reordering the Bible does not feel right, even when I know that reordering some parts is essential!
“Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,”
the ESV renders it (with notes about missing numbers),
“Saul was . . . years old when he began to reign, and he reigned . . . and two years over Israel.”
and Young’s Literal Translation says,
“A son of a year is Saul in his reigning, yea, two years he hath reigned over Israel,”
Sadly, we have to conclude that we don’t know how old Saul was when he became king. However, in Acts 13:21, Paul tells us that he reigned for 40 years, so that is useful information.
Two other pieces of information that help us to make a rough guess at the age of Saul when he died, are that Saul seems to have had only one wife (1 Samuel 14:50) and one concubine (2 Samuel 3:7; 21:11). With these, he had at least 2 daughters (Merab (1 Samuel 18:17) and Michal (1 Samuel 18:20)) and 4 sons. Of his sons, Jonathan was probably the oldest, since he was expected to be king after Saul (1 Samuel 20:31). The others killed in battle with Saul were Abinadab and Malchi-shua (1 Samuel 31:2; 1 Chronicles 10:2). The other son we know of was Ish-bosheth (2 Samuel 2:8) or Eshbaal (1 Chronicles 9:39), who may well have been the youngest, yet he was 40 years old when he became king after the death of Saul and his other sons (2 Samuel 2:10). One reason to suggest that he might have been the youngest is that Jesse sent his three oldest sons to fight in Saul’s army (1 Samuel 17:13) and Saul also had three sons fighting alongside him on Mount Gilboa. Could this have been a traditionally expected limit to the number of sons sent into battle?
Anyway, back to putting the numbers together: if Saul was 20 years old when he married, Jonathan born the next year followed by Abinadab, Malchi-shua and Ish-bosheth, two years apart over 6 years, then Ish-bosheth would have been born when Saul was about 27 years old at roughly the same time as he became king. Based on these assumptions, Saul would have been about 67 years old when he died after reigning for 40 years.
Guesses, to be sure, but Educated Guesses!
In the early records of David’s emergence onto the wider stage of Saul’s kingdom, there appear to be two main “scenes” or venues. One, the scene of war and mayhem where Saul’s army fights the Philistines, and the other the court of Saul as he descends into paranoia and insanity. This fits with the idea of the time when kings go out to battle referred to in 2 Samuel 11:1. Practically, this timing was caused by the annual cycle of weather. Snow and winter rains often damaged roads and made them impassable. Warmer, dryer weather aided repairs and made travel easier. The foodstuff provided by spring growth also lured armies to attack their neighbours, knowing that the produce could feed their army and reward them handsomely if they were victorious.
In the reign of Saul, aggression seems to have always been shown by the Philistines, never by Saul himself. Israel appears to have constantly on the back foot, fighting for survival.
The two “venues” in this early phase of David’s career were quite distinct in various ways:
1 Samuel 16-18 reflect these two different contexts and identifying possible yearly cycles may help the rearranging of the text into chronological order.
The events reported these chapters are probably spread over a few years. How old was David when he killed Goliath? How old was he when he married Michal? How old was he when he was finally forced to leave Saul’s presence once and for all? And how old was he when he went to work for Achish, king of Gath? In this we are see an event that we can better locate in time. However, we still have to work backwards from another known time.
David was 30 years old when he became king over Judah in Hebron (2 Samuel 5:4).
After the death of Saul on Mount Gilboa, God told David to go to Hebron (2 Samuel 2:1-3). David seems to have become king over Judah immediately (2 Samuel 2:7), but we don’t know for sure. Saul’s son, Ish-bosheth was made king over Israel and reigned two years before being assassinated. David, however, reigned over Judah alone for 7 years and 6 months, so there was a long delay before the people of Israel decided to make him their king – despite the fact that seemly everyone knew God had chosen David to be king in place of Saul. The nation does not seem to want to follow God’s plans until it suits them. They were still the same stubborn and rebellious nation as God had led out of Egypt and tried to discipline during the time of the judges.
Ignoring this, however, it seems that there was probably very little delay between the death of Saul and the anointing of David as king over Judah in Hebron (2 Samuel 2:7), so David was probably 30 years old when Saul died.
Working backwards from there, we know that he spent one year and four months in the country of the Philistines (1 Samuel 27:7) which included Ziklag, a town controlled by Achish at the time(1 Samuel 27:6) and later belonging to the kings of Judah.
David, therefore, was about 28 when he fled Israel for Philistia. The descriptions of David around the killing of Goliath suggest that he was probably about 15-20 years old. If he were too young, nobody would have allowed him the opportunity to fight Goliath however confidently he presented himself. Had he been too old, he would not have been described as a youth (1 Samuel 17:33, 42, 55). I think the most likely age for David when he killed Goliath is about 17 years old.
This cannot be proved, but if it is true, we have about 11 years (from the age of 17 to 28), to fill with two main phases of David’s life:
Perhaps the best guess is to split the eleven years evenly between these two states. It’s hard to tell.
God willing, I’ll look at this division soon.
We don’t know when Samuel anointed David. At the time, Saul’s mental decay was such that Samuel was worried that Saul would kill him if he heard of it (1 Samuel 16:2). Not only so, but when Samuel arrived in Bethlehem, the elders came to him trembling (1 Samuel 16:4). Clearly, Saul’s antagonism towards Samuel was well know and much greater than it had been when Samuel first told Saul that God planned to replace him with a better king (1 Samuel 15:28). In fact, the inclusion of David’s anointing where it is at the start of Samuel 16 seems to be based on collecting related information together (with the end of 1 Samuel 15), rather than claiming to present information in chronological order.
However, the anointing of David is almost certain to have been before he killed Goliath because at that time he was treated as a youngest son who could not possibly be important. Once he had killed Goliath, nobody could ever have had that attitude. Nevertheless, when David was anointed, he was old enough to be looking after the sheep, apparently by himself. Perhaps he was in his early teens. My guess would be probably about 13-15 years old. This gave him some time to muse and plan before he took Goliath’s head to Jerusalem. David seems to have an insight into God’s attachment to Jerusalem that no-one else had. Some pieces of the puzzle might have been Melchizedek and the location of Isaac’s interrupted sacrifice.