1 Samuel 17:15

David went and returned from Saul. This is a very important statement, as it shows that the writer, in spite of what is said in 1 Samuel 17:55-58 , knew that David had visited Saul at his court, and become personally known to him. Apparently it had been but a short visit, possibly because after the fit of melancholy had passed away there was no return of it for the present; and if David had been back at Bethlehem for two or three years, a young man changes so much in appearance at David's time of life that it is no wonder that neither Saul nor Abner recognised him in his shepherd's dress. For some reason, then, or other David had not remained with Saul at Gibeah, but had resumed his pastoral life at Bethlehem, and the statements made in 1 Samuel 16:21-23 belong to the time immediately after the combat with Goliath, and not before.