And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this young man? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And the king said, Inquire thou whose son this youth is.
Saul has just watched a young shepherd kill the Philistine champion. Instead of celebrating, he turns to his commander and asks whose son the boy is. Yet David had already served in Saul's own court. How could the king not know him?
Some have tried to solve Saul's ignorance by rearranging the chapters. One commentator answers that a troubled king could forget a harp player:
David had indeed served him earlier, and not long before. But his disordered state might well confuse his memory. And a great captain might be excused for never noticing a boy musician brought in to play the harp to the king. In my opinion this is no fair stumbling-block. It is not legitimate to move the earlier fact out of the place where it stood, as some learned people have suggested. To my mind there is no small beauty in the incidents being recorded exactly as they are.
Commentators differ on the reason. Another sees no problem at all, since Saul's interest grew as David's place changed:
No discrepancy exists between 1 Samuel 16:19-23 and the question which Saul afterwards asks: "Whose son is this youth?" (17:55-58). Earlier, the king had no wish to know the background and family of a man who only carried his armour and played the harp for him. But now that same man is about to become his son-in-law. So it interests him to learn David's personal history more exactly.
Saul had felt the good David did him. That is not the same as knowing David:
God may use one person to bring relief to someone carried away by the power of the enemy, without the least fellowship of spirit between them. Such a servant may soon be forgotten — as people say, "out of sight, out of mind." Those who are far from God have no real knowledge of the person who walks with Him. At the time, Saul knew well that David's harp soothed him. Yet David, though Saul loved him then, left no impression at all on his spirit. There never was a real bond between them.
Another writer finds the same failure in people generally, and in Israel:
Though Saul knew the power of David's harp for a time, he never knew David himself. He had not learned David, if I may put it that way — David was still a stranger to him (1 Samuel 17:56). And how this tells us of man, and of Israel, still! People enjoy the rain from heaven and the fruitful season, yet stay ignorant of the Father who arranges all this for them. Jesus healed Israel, but Israel did not learn Jesus. Many pressed on Him in the crowd who never touched Him.
Saul cannot place David at the very moment David steps into the public work of God. One writer gives the reason:
David now appears as Israel's last hope, in the direct and public service of the Lord, not of the king. That makes a man a stranger even to his brothers, and an alien to his mother's household. The Lord knew this above all. David certainly was that to Saul and his courtiers. God's chosen may force the world's respect, even its love, for what it cannot help admiring and needing. But they are soon forgotten.
Abner cannot tell, so the question comes back to David himself, and the name he gives is a humble one:
How this leads our heart to the manger at Bethlehem, the home at Nazareth, to Him who was a carpenter and the son of a carpenter! When royal courts asked of Him, "Where is he?" the answer came back, as it did of David in 1 Samuel 17, "O king, I cannot tell." So he has to answer for himself, "I am the son of Jesse the Bethlehemite" — a small, despised household, and he the least in the house.
The same blindness appears again in the Gospels. One writer links the two:
Does this not recall the Jews' ignorance in John 7 about Christ's origin and where He had come from?
What Abner could not say, faith can say now:
Abner, asked the question by Saul, "Whose son is he?" could not answer. But we can answer the question. It is the Father's only begotten Son in whom He is well pleased; Jehovah's Servant, God's King. He has met the adversary, and shortly He is going to undo the works of the adversary.
- Asked — After the victory Saul asks whose son the boy is. Commentators differ on why: some point to his disordered mind, others to his new interest in a future son-in-law.
- Forgotten — David's harp refreshed Saul, yet Saul never knew David. Taking the benefit is not the same as knowing the person.
- Unknown — Public service of the Lord, rather than of the king, is what made David a stranger even to his own brothers.
- Lowly — The answer names a small, despised household: the son of Jesse the Bethlehemite.
- Answered — What Abner could not tell, faith can tell: the Father's only begotten Son, God's King, who has met the adversary and will undo his works.
And 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.
Goliath is dead, but the chapter does not close with the fight. It closes with a young man carrying a severed head through the ranks, and a king who cannot say who he is.
David needed no speech when he came back. What he carried through the ranks said everything.
David then comes back, and is led before Saul. And what has he got with him? He has the head of the Philistine in his hand. He is the victor, and he carries the proof of his victory as he goes to the king and walks through the ranks of Israel. He has the giant's sword in one hand and his head in the other. He does not say a word. He does not need to. The sword and the head he carried told the story of his victory better than any words.
One man fought; a whole nation gained. One writer draws the line from that to the believer:
So with us, we have only to enjoy the spoil of Jesus' victory. He has done all. We enjoy all. Proof of David's victory is seen as "Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand" (v. 57). The evidence of Christ's victory is that He is now alive before God.
The head did not stay on the battlefield. David carried it to Jerusalem, and one writer sees that order of events as deliberate.
The giant's head was cut off with his own weapon — surely a foreshadowing of what we read in Hebrews 2:14... He carried the head to Jerusalem. This is the first time Jerusalem is mentioned in connection with God's king, and it fits the order of events perfectly. For the one who holds the power of death must be defeated before the kingdom can be set up in power. So Jerusalem, the place of the throne, only appears in this history after the enemy of God and of His people is dead.
Saul had already met David. David had played the harp for him. Yet now the king cannot place him.
Saul loved him for the good and relief he received. It seems this did not last long. David had gone back from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem (1 Sam. 17:15), and "out of sight, out of mind" proved as true for David as for many another man who has stood in a king's court... But this is not all. David now appears as Israel's last hope, in the direct and public service of the Lord, not of the king. That makes a man a stranger even to his own brothers, and a foreigner in his mother's house, as the Lord knew above all others.
Commentators differ on the reason for Saul's question. Kelly puts it down to absence: David had left the court, and the king forgot him. Another writer points to changed circumstances:
Until now the king had not been eager to learn about the background and family of a man who only carried his armour and played the harp for him. But that man is about to become his son-in-law. It is natural that Saul now wants to know David's personal history more exactly.
One writer sees the same blindness repeated later, with Christ Himself:
Jesse's son has rescued him, yet Saul does not know where David comes from. "Whose son is this young man?" he asks Abner. Does this not remind us of the Jews' ignorance in John 7 about Christ's origin and where He had come from? Saul knows him no better when David presents himself, holding in his hands the sure pledge of victory.
Abner, the man Saul turned to for an answer, had nothing to say. One writer turns the question toward the greater King:
Abner, asked by Saul, "Whose son is he?" could not answer. But we can answer the question. It is the Father's only begotten Son, in whom He is well pleased; Jehovah's Servant, God's King. He has met the adversary, and soon He will undo the works of the adversary... It is Jesus, who has met the enemy and defeated him. He has plundered principalities and powers, and He is now at God's right hand, with all power in heaven and earth given to Him.
Saul and Jonathan looked at the same young man holding the same head. It changed only one of them.
Saul represents the religious man, and as the religious man he asked him, "Whose son are you?" He was grateful. I don't like mere gratitude; gratitude means, "I would do as much for you." Look at Jonathan — he loved David as his own soul. Now you see where he is: the oppressor is gone.
- Proof. David comes back holding the head. The victory is finished, and it needs no words.
- Place. The head goes to Jerusalem. The enemy who holds the power of death must fall before the king's throne is set up.
- Question. "Whose son?" The victor is honoured and still unknown. Commentators differ on why Saul forgot him.
- Answer. Abner cannot say. Faith can: the Father's Son, now at God's right hand with all power.
- Response. Saul offers thanks and stays the same. Jonathan loves David as his own soul. One victory, two hearts.
And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, young man? And David said, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Beth-lehemite.
Goliath lies dead, and David walks back through Israel's ranks carrying the giant's head. The king watches him come and does not know who he is, so the nation's deliverer has to name his own father.
David had already played the harp for Saul and carried his armour. So how can the king not know him? Commentators say Saul's interest had simply changed:
There is no discrepancy between 1 Sam. 16:19-23 and the question Saul later asks: "Whose son is this youth?" (17:55-58). Before this, the king had no interest in the background and family of a man who only carried his armour and played his harp. But now that same man is about to become his son-in-law, so of course he wants to know exactly who David is.
Another writer answers the puzzle, and the proposal to move these verses:
At first sight it sounds very strange. David had already been brought in to soothe the king when an evil spirit from Jehovah troubled him. And now Saul has to ask such a question. But Saul's disordered state might well confuse his memory. And a great captain might be excused for never noticing a boy musician brought in to play the harp to the king. So far from this being a fair stumbling-block, I see no small beauty in the incidents being recorded just as they are. Some have proposed moving these last verses of 1 Samuel 17 to the end of 1 Samuel 16, or moving the end of 1 Samuel 16 to the end of 1 Samuel 17. Both would be wrong.
David's music had given Saul real relief. But Saul never came to know David himself:
Though Saul knew the power of David's harp for a time, he never knew David himself. David was still a stranger to him (1 Sam. 17:56). And how this speaks to us about man, and about Israel still! Man will enjoy the rain from heaven and the fruitful season. But he stays ignorant of the Father who orders all this for him. Jesus healed Israel, but Israel never learned Jesus. Many pressed on Him in the crowd who never touched Him. All this is like Saul, who could be refreshed by David's music and still have to ask, "Abner, whose son is this youth?"
The man who owed David most claimed not to know him. Commentators differ on whether Saul had truly forgotten:
Saul should have been the first to acknowledge what God had done through David. Instead he claimed not to know him (1 Sam. 17:56). It is hard to believe he had forgotten a man whose harp playing had helped him so much (1 Sam. 16:23). But this shows a solemn fact. The world is quick and willing to ignore how God unfolds His purposes for man's blessing through His chosen instrument. "Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse?" said another who refused his claims and despised his person (1 Sam. 25:10). "I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons" (Ps. 69:8) tells of the deep sorrow of a loving heart, forced into such isolation by faithfulness to God.
David answers with his family, not his victory — and that family carried no weight:
How this leads our heart to the manger at Bethlehem, the home at Nazareth, to Him who was a carpenter and the Son of a carpenter! The lowly Man of Luke's Gospel comes clearly before us, as He tells of "the son of David, the son of Jesse." Men asked at royal courts, "Where is he?" and the answer came back, as of David in 1 Samuel 17, "O king, I cannot tell." So he has to answer for himself, "I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite" — a small, despised house, and he the least in that house.
Saul heard David's answer and learned only a name. Another man was listening:
When David returns with the evidence of his victory, what marks Jonathan is not so much excitement about the victory. His heart is held by the person of the one who won it... Here was one who, unknown and unasked, could step into that terrible gap and face all the power of the enemy for him. That thought affected Jonathan so deeply that we read, "the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul."
- Question. Saul asks whose son David is. A king who had used David as a harp player had never cared who his family was — and now David is about to become his son-in-law.
- Text. There is no need to move these verses to remove the puzzle. The beauty is in the events standing just as they are recorded.
- Blindness. Saul enjoyed the harp and never knew the harpist. People still take God's gifts and stay ignorant of God Himself.
- Christ. Jesus met the same treatment. He healed Israel, and Israel never learned Him; the manger at Bethlehem and the carpenter's home tell the same story.
- Two hearers. David names a small, despised house. Saul hears it and learns only a name; Jonathan hears it and his soul is knit to David.