David, the seventh. R. Jonah [ibn Janaḥ] explains that this is akin to “the eighth,” because Jesse had seven sons besides David. For it says in the book of Samuel, “Jesse presented seven of his sons before Samuel” (1 Samuel 16:10), at which point Samuel says to him, “Are these all the boys you have?” (1 Samuel 16:11), and he responds, “There is still the smallest one” (ibid.). Furthermore, it says, “He had eight sons” (1 Samuel 17:12). So if he had eight sons, and David was the eighth, “David, the seventh” must then mean “David, the eighth.” But this substitution is impossible! In truth, it is possible that Jesse had a son from another wife, and that in the book of Samuel, the text counts all of them when saying “seven of his sons” and then “There still remains the smallest one.” Here, however, it mentions the seven that were of the same mother as David. The scholar R. Abraham Ibn Ezra in fact explained it this way (Sefer Ṣaḥot 72b). There are some, however, who say that another son had died. In the Midrash (Midrash Tehillim 119:81), it says that the name of the eighth son was Elihu, the one mentioned among the officers whom David appointed over Judah: “Elihu, of the brothers of David” (1 Chronicles 27:18). And he was younger than David; so when the text says “and David was the smallest” (1 Samuel 17:14), it is only because he made himself small that it calls him “small.”