Whose son are you?

"When Saul saw David going out to fight Goliath, he asked Abner, the commander of his army, “Abner, whose son is he?” “I have no idea, Your Majesty,” Abner answered. “Then go and find out,” Saul ordered. So when David returned to camp after killing Goliath, Abner took him to Saul. David was still carrying Goliath's head. Saul asked him, “Young man, whose son are you?”

“I am the son of your servant Jesse from Bethlehem,” David answered."

~ 1 Samuel 17.55-58 GNB

Did Saul suddenly not recognise David? Or these chapters in 1 Samuel put together from various sources with all the inconsistencies unedited? And what do I make of these inconsistencies?

Anyway, it is interesting that the question was "whose son are you?" and not "who are you?" In that period in their culture, they identified each other by their father. "I am X the child of so and so." A name by itself was not enough to identify who a person was - the lineage completed one's identity.

And the concept continued on to the Gospel and to the Christian beliefs. Jesus' identity is that the LORD is his Father. And Jesus also invites you and me to change anew and be identified as the children of the LORD.