The latest topic I’ve taken on while writing lessons for my bar and bat mitzvah class at Kehilat Sar Shalom is a character study on the life of David. One of the things I was somewhat surprised to learn is that David was older than traditionally thought at the time of his conflict with Goliath.
The misconception seems to arise from the fact that he is the youngest son of Jesse, but simply being the youngest does not mean he was 12 or 14 at time time of this battle, as is traditionally depicted. As revealed in the book, The Legends of the Jews, by Louis Ginzberg, David was already 27 at the time of his anointing to be the next king of Israel by the prophet Samuel. This event is recording in I Samuel 16, and his conflict with Goliath comes in I Samuel 17, chronologically a later date than his anointing. So David had to be at least 27 at the time he battled Goliath.
Now there’s something to contemplate when sitting on your shower stool with time to spare as you clean up and prepare for the day ahead!