1 Samuel 13:1

[Vincent_Lewis]

In the Douay-Rheims 2002 printing originally published 1941 the text of 1 Kings 13:1 reads “Saul was a child of one year when he began to reign, and he reigned two years over Isreal.” Is this a result of corruption of the original or do we believe that Saul was full grown when he was only one year old. The eariler descriptions of Saul make one believe that he was a full grown man when he became King. This verse would be in 1 Samuel 13:1 of the New American Bible. Please, let me know how the scripture is to be understood. Thanks.

 

[Nita]

Footnote in my Douay Rheims gives the following meaning to the expression:

“Chap. 12. Ver. 1. Of one year. That is, he was good and like an innocent child, and for two years continued in that innocency.”

If you have access to the Geo. Haydock Douay Rheims the footnotes are more extensive. Here are just a couple from that Bible:

"This verse is omitted in some copies of the Sept. It is extremely difficult to explain. Some translate Heb. ‘Saul was a son of one year old,’ … Others ‘Saul begot a son the first year of his reign, (Raban) Isboseth, who was 40 years old when his father died, after governing all that while…’ "
…
"Scalinger seems to prefer allowing that the numeral letters have been omitted by some transcriber, and that we should read, Saul was 30 years old. This, and similar variations, he attributes to the compendious method of using numeral letters; (Kennicott) an inconvenience very frequently attending all MSS, both sacred and profane. "

Nita

 

[ALLFORHIM]

Hi,

My Bible NIV syas,

1 Samuel 13:1 Saul was thirty years old when he became King and he reighned over Israel forty-two years.

My NASB say the same thing.

My catholic bible the NAB leaves the first part blank and mentions something about a formula.

This is what my bible commentary says:
There are obvious problems with verse 1, as can readily be seen by reading the verse in different versions. The KJV and NKJV read: “Saul reigned one year; and when he reighned two years over Israel…”
The ERV saya,“Saul was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for two years over Israel”. The RSV states “Saul was…years old when he began to reign and he reigned for two years over Israel” The NASB states what I wrote above. Some manuscripts of the Septuagint simply omit the problem verse altogether! The most likely explanation for this confusion is that some letters were dropped out of the Hebrew text by careless copyists in later centuries. We do know that Saul was a mature man when he came into power because his son Jonathon was old enough to go to war.

 

[Todd_Easton]

If you have access to the Geo. Haydock Douay Rheims the footnotes are more extensive. Here are just a couple from that Bible:

Much of the 1859 edition of Haydock’s Catholic Bible commentary is available online, here. The Haydock commentary for this particular verse is available, here.
Note: In the Haydock commentary, following the Douay-Rheims version, 1 Samuel is referred to as 1 Kings.