Doublet or Design? — Two Stories of David Entering Saul’s Orbit. By the time readers reach the end of 1 Samuel 17, a pattern has become impossible to ignore. David appears to enter Saul’s world more than once. In one account, he is summoned as a skilled musician, becomes Saul’s armor-bearer, and is loved by the king. In another, he arrives from Bethlehem as an unknown shepherd, defeats Goliath, and is questioned as though no prior relationship existed.