David
Historians of the Ancient Near East agree that David probably existed around 1000 BC, but that there is little that can be said about him as a historical figure.
It was initially thought that there were no evidence outside of the Bible concerning David, but the Tel Dan Stele, an inscribed stone erected by a King of Damascus in the late 9th/early 8th centuries BCE to commemorate his victory over two enemy Kings, contains the phrase in Hebrew: ???????, bytdwd, which most scholars translate as "House of David". Ancient Near East historians generally doubt that the united monarchy as described in the Bible existed.
David is richly represented in post-biblical Jewish written and oral tradition, and is discussed in the New Testament. Early Christians interpreted the life of Jesus in light of the references to the Messiah and to David; Jesus is described by some as being descended from him. David is discussed in the Quran and figures in Islamic oral and written tradition as well.
In the Bible Abraham has some fourteen chapters dedicated to his life, and so does Joseph. While, sixty-six chapters are dedicated to David. Almost half of the Psalms are headed "A Psalm of David" (also translated as "to David" or "for David") and tradition identifies several with specific events in David's life. That doesn’t include fifty-nine references to him in the New Testament.
David is described in the Hebrew Bible as the third king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah after Saul and Ish-bosheth.
The biblical character of David has inspired many interpretations in even art and literature over centuries.
In the biblical narrative, David was born in Bethlehem, the youngest son of Jesse of the tribe of Judah.
The Book of Samuel states that Jesse was the son of Ohed, and the grandson of Boaz and Ruth, who were Moabites. Jesse was a farmer and sheep breeder in Bethlehem. He had eight sons, naming the first three as Eliab, Abinadab and Shammah, and David as the youngest.
The Book of Chronicles however names seven sons of Jesse: Eliab, Abinadab, Shimea, Nethanel, Raddai, Ozem and David, as well as two daughters, Zeruiah and Abigail.
Nitzevet bat Adael, an Israelite was the mother of David according to the Talmud, but she is not named in the Bible. She was supposedly an ancestor of the Kings of Judah.
David’s father had sent him off to the fields to watch over the family flock. During tending the flock, he learned to play the harp (lyre). He was allegedly a skillful music player, a man of valor, a warrior, prudent in speech, and a handsome man.
David gains fame first as a musician and later by killing the enemy's champion Goliath. He becomes a favorite of King Saul and a close friend of Saul's son Jonathan.
Michal was Saul’s younger daughter, who fell in love with David and married him for one hundred Philistine foreskins. According to the Bible, Merab, Saul’s older daughter, was to have married David, but she was given in matrimony to Adriel the Meholathite, while David married Michal. Despite the Biblical account, some Rabbis assert that David married both of Saul’s daughters.
The Rabbis ask how David could have married two sisters, an act that is prohibited by the halakhah, and answer that David first married Merab, and married Michal after her death (T Sotah [ed. Lieberman] 11:18). A different Rabbinic position, however, denies that David married Merab (BT Sanhedrin 19b).
David loved Crown Prince Jonathan, King Saul's son and was loathe to do anything that would offend Jonathan in any way. David had given his solemn word he would not harm anyone of Jonathan's family, (1 Samuel 20:15-17).
On two occasions, Saul threw a spear at David as he played the harp for Saul. David becomes increasingly successful and Saul becomes increasingly resentful. Now Saul actively plots against David. Saul offered his other daughter, Michal in marriage to David. David initially rejects this offer also, claiming he is too poor.
Saul offers to accept a bride price of 100 Philistine foreskins, intending that David die in the attempt. Instead, David obtains 200 foreskins and is consequently married to Michal. Jonathan arranges a short-lived reconciliation between Saul and David and for a while David served Saul "as in times past" (1 Samuel 19:1-7) until "the distressing spirit from the Lord" re-appeared.
Saul sends assassins in the night, but Michal helps him escape, tricking them by placing a household idol in his bed. David flees to Jonathan, who arranges a meeting with his father. While dining with Saul, Jonathan explains David's absence, saying he has been called away to his brothers.
But Saul sees through the ruse and reprimands Jonathan for protecting David, warning him that his love of David will cost him the Kingdom, furiously throwing a spear at him. The next day, Jonathan meets with David and tells him Saul's intent. The two friends say their goodbyes, and David flees into the countryside. Saul later marries Michal to another man.
Saul is later informed by his head shepherd, Doeg the Edomite, that high priest Ahimelech the Hittite assisted David, giving him refuge then the rod and sword of Goliath, which had been kept at the shrine at Nob, a priestly town in ancient Israel on a hill in the vicinity of Jerusalem, where the Tabernacle was located.
Loyal Doeg himself had to kill the priests, as none of King Saul’s men could bring themselves to kill Ahimelech and eighty-five other priests as Saul orders the death of the entire population of Nob. (1 Samuel chapters 21 and 22)
David had left Nob by this point and had amassed some 300 disaffected men including some outlaws. With these men David rescues the town of Keilah from a Philistine attack. Saul realizes he could trap David and his men by laying the city to siege. David realizes that the citizens of Keilah will betray him to Saul, so he flees to Ziph. Saul hunts David in the vicinity of Ziph on two occasions:
Some of the inhabitants of Ziph betray David's location to Saul, but David hears about it and flees with his men to Maon. Saul follows David, but is forced to break off pursuit when the Philistines invade. After dealing with that threat Saul tracks David to the caves at Engedi. As he searches the cave David manages to cut off a piece of Saul's robe without being discovered, yet David restrains his men from harming the King. David then leaves the cave, revealing himself to Saul, and gives a speech that persuades Saul to reconcile.
On the second occasion, Saul returns to Ziph with his men. When David hears of this, he slips into Saul's camp by night, and again restrains his men from killing the King; instead he steals Saul's spear and water jug, leaving his own spear thrust into the ground by Saul's side. The next day, David reveals himself to Saul, showing the jug and spear as proof that he could have slain him. David then persuades Saul to reconcile with him; the two swear never to harm each other. After this they never saw each other again.
In (1 Samuel 27:1–4), Saul ceases to pursue David because David took refuge a second time with Achish, the Philistine king of Gath. Achish permits David to reside in Ziklag, close to the border between Gath and Judea, from where he leads raids against the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites, but leads Achish to believe he is attacking the Israelites in Judah, the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites.
Achish believes that David had become a loyal vassal, but he never wins the trust of the Princes or Lords of Gath, and at their request Achish instructs David to remain behind to guard the camp when the Philistines march against Saul. David returns to Ziklag.
As Jonathan and Saul are killed in battle, David is anointed King over Judah. In the north, Saul's son Ish-Bosheth is anointed King of Israel, and war ensues until Ish-Bosheth is murdered.
With the death of Saul's son, the elders of Israel come to Hebron and David is anointed King over all of Israel. He conquers Jerusalem, previously a Jebusite stronghold, and makes it his capital. He brings the Ark of the Covenant to the city, intending to build a temple for God, but the prophet Nathan forbids it, prophesying that the temple would be built by one of David's sons.
Nathan also prophesies that God has made a covenant with the house of David stating, "your throne shall be established forever". David wins additional victories over the Philistines, Moabites, Edomites, Amalekites, Ammonites and king Hadadezer of Aram-Zobah, after which they become tributaries.
David's first interactions with Bathsheba are described in (2 Samuel 11), and are omitted in the Books of Chronicles. David, while walking on the roof of his palace, saw a very beautiful woman bathing. He ordered inquiries and found out that she was Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite, listed as one of David's "heroes" in (II Samuel 23:39).
David desired her and later made her pregnant. In an effort to conceal his sin, he summoned Uriah from the army (with whom he was on campaign) in the hope that Uriah would have sex with her and think that the child belonged to him. But Uriah was unwilling to violate the ancient Kingdom rule applying to warriors in active service. Rather than go home to his own bed, he preferred to remain with the palace troops.
After repeated efforts to convince Uriah to have sex with Bathsheba the David gave the order to his general, Joab, that Uriah should be placed on the front lines of the battle, where he would be more likely to die. David had Uriah himself carry the message that led to his death. After he had been killed, we see David marrying Bathsheba, a Hittite woman. (Passover & Sukkot - P. 321).
David's action was displeasing to the Lord, who sent Nathan the Prophet to reprove him. After relating the parable of the rich man who took away the one little ewe lamb of his poor neighbor (2 Samuel 12:1–6), and exciting David's anger against the unrighteous act, the Prophet applied the case directly to David's action with regard to Bathsheba.
David at once confessed his sin and expressed sincere repentance. Bathsheba's first child by him was struck with a severe illness and died, unnamed, a few days after birth, which David accepted as his punishment. Nathan also noted that David's house would be punished for Uriah's murder.
Bathsheba later gave birth to David's son Solomon. In David's old age, Bathsheba, based on David's promise, secured the succession to the throne by Solomon, instead of David's elder surviving sons by his other wives, such as Chileab (2 Samuel 3:1–6), Adonijah (1 Kings 1:11–31) and others (2 Samuel 3:1–6).
David's punishment came to pass years later when one of David's much-loved sons, Absalom, led an insurrection that plunged the Kingdom into civil war. Moreover, to manifest his claim to be the new King, Absalom had sexual intercourse in public with ten of his father's concubines, which could be considered a direct, tenfold divine retribution for David's taking the woman of another man in secret (2 Samuel 16:20–23).
David died from natural causes around 970 BC, and was buried in Jerusalem...
Food for thought!