When did David kill Goliath?

Answer 1

King David has been well established in history trough archaeological finds. He slayed Goliath about 10 years before becoming king. The date would probably be around 500 years before Jesus.

David first became king of Judah in 1010 BCE, when he was 30. This would mean that David slayed Goliath around 1023-1018 BCE, when he was somewhere around 17 to 22 years old.

Answer 2

According to The Bible, David lived during the eleventh century BCE, so if David killed Goliath it would have happened in that century. However, the story of David and Goliath is so confusing that it would be difficult to accept that it really happened at all.

David had already had intimate acquaintance with Saul, when he became the king's armour bearer and then his personal musician (1 Sam 16:21-23). A little later, David told Saul that he would fight Goliath, so Saul offered him his own personal armour, but did not appear to recognise David (1 Samuel 17:30-39). Finally, after David had slain Goliath, Saul had the young warrior brought to him, but once again did not recognise David (1 Samuel 17:58). This alone raises doubt about whether the famed battle occurred.
Another episode, at 2 Samuel 21:19 suggests there was also another tradition that Elhanan killed Goliath. The Hebrew Bible in English (JPS 1917 Edition) says: And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob; and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Beth-lehemite slew Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

1 Chronicles, written later and apparently dependent on the Deuteronomist history, attempted to resolve this in two ways. First, there is no mention of David killing Goliath, even though the Book of Kings presents this at the most important single feat leading to David being accepted as a potential king. Second, at 20:5, the book says that Lahmi (Elhanan) killed the brother of Goliath.

So we are, at best, uncertain whether the battle between David and Goliath actually took place, but if it did it would have been during the 11th century BCE.

NB: The King James (KJV) translation also adopted the Chronicler solution for 2 Samuel 21:19, adding 'the brother of' [in italics to indicate that this was not an exact translation], but most other English translations of the Book of Samuel seem to have continued with the Hebrew Bible version.

Answer 3

When did King David do what?

Traditional chronology places King David's lifetime at 906 to 836 BCE, and his reign at 876 to 836 BCE. Non-traditional opinions place him in an earlier time.

See also:

More about King David

Answer 4

David fought Goliath around 1020 BC. David was about 12-16 years old at the time.

Answer 5

David killed Goliath about 15 years before he became king of Judah in 1010 BC when he was about 30 years old.

Answer 6

1010 BC he was about 15-17

Answer 7

David fought Goliath in 1020 BC.