“Who’s That Boy?” — Why Saul Doesn’t Recognize David. When the Older Text Removes a Problem the Later Text Creates (1 Samuel 17:55–58). Some textual questions are minor. This is not one of them. In the plain surface flow of many modern translations, Saul watches David go out against Goliath and then asks Abner, “Whose son is this young man?” Abner claims not to know. Saul presses again. David returns with the Philistine’s head, and Saul asks David directly.

Armor, Weights, and the Physics of the Valley of Elah. The David and Goliath account is often told like a children’s fable: a tiny boy, a cartoon giant, and a miracle that feels like fantasy. But 1 Samuel does not read like folklore. It reads like war memory—specific names, geography, weapons, weights, and the slow dread of an army watching a champion stride forward day after day.

Young Earth and Old Earth — What Does Genesis Actually Require? Few theological debates generate more heat than the question of the earth’s age. For some believers, a young earth feels like a litmus test for biblical faithfulness. For others, an old earth appears unavoidable given the scope of creation itself. The tragedy is that the debate is often framed incorrectly, turning brothers and sisters into opponents and timelines into tests of orthodoxy.

ḥerem and ḥesed — Saul, Amalek, and the Cost of Partial Obedience. Few chapters in Scripture confront religious self-deception as sharply as 1 Samuel 15. Saul defends his actions using the language of worship, sacrifice, and devotion, yet God rejects him. The dividing line between obedience and rebellion is drawn not in motives or emotions, but in submission to the word of the Lord.