FSID 976L-74P
I opted not to include all of David's wives and children. If you need to learn
about his other wives and children see below.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"King David" redirects here. For other uses, see David (disambiguation) and
King David (disambiguation).
David
David SM Maggiore.jpg
Statue of King David (1609-1612) by Nicolas Cordier in the Borghese Chapel of
the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, Italy
King of Israel
Reign c. 1010-970 BCE[a]
Predecessor Ish-bosheth[3][4]
Successor Solomon
Born Bethlehem
Died c. 970 BCE
Jerusalem
Consort
8 wives:
Issue
18+ children:
House House of David
Father Jesse
Mother Nitzevet (Talmud)
Religion Yahwism
David[b] is described in the Hebrew Bible as king of the United Monarchy of
Israel and Judah.[6][7] In the Books of Samuel, David is a young shepherd who
gains fame first as a musician and later by killing the giant Goliath,
champion of the Philistines. He becomes a favorite of King Saul and a close
friend of Saul's son Jonathan. Worried that David is trying to take his
throne, Saul turns on David and tries to kill him, leading the latter to go on
the run and operate as a fugitive for several years. After Saul and Jonathan
are killed in battle against the Philistines, a 30-year old David is anointed
king over all Israel and then conquers Jerusalem, establishing the city as his
capital, and taking the Ark of the Covenant into the city to be the center of
worship in the Israelite religion.
According to the Biblical narrative, King David commits adultery with
Bathsheba, leading him to arrange the death of her husband Uriah the Hittite.
David's son Absalom later schemes to overthrow David and, during the ensuing
rebellion, David flees Jerusalem, but returns after Absalom's death to rule
Israel. David desires to construct a temple to YHWH in which to house the Ark
but, because he shed much blood,[8] YHWH denies David the opportunity to do
so. David goes on to rule as king until his death at age 70, prior to which he
chooses his son Solomon, born to him and Bathsheba, to be his successor
instead of Adonijah, David's eldest surviving son. David is honored in the
prophetic literature as an ideal king and the forefather of a future Messiah,
and many psalms are ascribed to him.[9]
Historians of the Ancient Near East agree that David probably existed around
1000 BCE, but that there is little else that is agreed on about him as a
historical figure. 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: ביתדוד, bytdwd,
which most scholars translate as "House of David". Apart from this, all that
is known of David comes from the biblical literature, the historicity of which
is doubtful,[10] and there is little detail about David that is concrete and
undisputed.[11][12]
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 as being descended from David in the Gospels of Matthew and
Luke. The biblical character of David has inspired many interpretations in art
and literature over centuries. In the Quran and hadith, David is mentioned as
a prophet-king of God.[13][14]
Contents
1 Biblical account
1.1 Family
1.2 Narrative
1.3 Psalms
2 Historicity
2.1 Tel Dan Stele
2.2 Mesha Stele
2.3 Bubastite Portal at Karnak
2.4 Biblical criticism
2.4.1 Literary criticism
2.4.2 Archaeologic criticism
3 History of interpretation in the Abrahamic religions
3.1 Rabbinic Judaism
3.2 Christianity
3.2.1 Middle Ages
3.3 Islam
4 Art and literature
4.1 Literature
4.2 Paintings
4.3 Sculptures
4.4 Film
4.5 Television
4.6 Music
4.7 Musical theater
4.8 Playing cards
5 Image gallery
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
8.1 Sources
9 Further reading
10 External links
Biblical account
Family
David raises the head of Goliath as illustrated by Josephine Pollard (1899)
The First Book of Samuel and the First Book of Chronicles both identify David
as the son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, the youngest of eight sons.[15] He also
had at least two sisters, Zeruiah, whose sons all went on to serve in David's
army, and Abigail, whose son Amasa went on to serve in Absalom's army, Absalom
being one of David's younger sons.[16] While the Bible does not name his
mother, the Talmud identifies her as Nitzevet, a daughter of a man named
Adael, and the Book of Ruth claims him as the great-grandson of Ruth, the
Moabite, by Boaz.[17]
David is described as cementing his relations with various political and
national groups through marriage.[18] In 1 Samuel 17:25, it states that King
Saul had said that he would make whoever killed Goliath a very wealthy man,
give his daughter to him and declare his father's family exempt from taxes in
Israel. Saul offered David his oldest daughter, Merab, a marriage which David
respectfully declined.[19] Saul then gave Merab in marriage to Adriel the
Meholathite.[20] Having been told that his younger daughter Michal was in love
with David, Saul gave her in marriage to David upon David's payment in
Philistine foreskins[21] (ancient Jewish historian Josephus lists the dowry as
100 Philistine heads).[22] Saul became jealous of David and tried to have him
killed. David escaped. Then Saul sent Michal to Galim to marry Palti, son of
Laish.[23] David then took wives in Hebron, according to 2 Samuel 3; they were
Ahinoam the Yizre'elite; Abigail, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; Maacah, the
daughter of Talmay, king of Geshur; Haggith; Abital; and Eglah. Later, David
wanted Michal back and Abner, Ish-bosheth's army commander, delivered her to
David, causing her husband (Palti) great grief.[24]
The Book of Chronicles lists his sons with his various wives and concubines.
In Hebron, David had six sons: Amnon, by Ahinoam; Daniel, by Abigail; Absalom,
by Maachah; Adonijah, by Haggith; Shephatiah, by Abital; and Ithream, by
Eglah.[25] By Bathsheba, his sons were Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon.
David's sons born in Jerusalem of his other wives included Ibhar, Elishua,
Eliphelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama and Eliada.[26] Jerimoth, who is
not mentioned in any of the genealogies, is mentioned as another of his sons
in 2 Chronicles 11:18. His daughter Tamar, by Maachah, is raped by her
half-brother Amnon. David fails to bring Amnon to justice for his violation of
Tamar, because he is his firstborn and he loves him, and so, Absalom (her full
brother) murders Amnon to avenge Tamar.[27] Although Absalom did avenge his
sister's defilement, ironically he himself showed himself not to be very much
different from Amnon; as Amnon had sought the advice of Jonadab in order to
rape Tamar, Absalom had sought the advice of Ahitophel who advised Absalom to
have incestuous relations with his father's concubines in order to show all
Israel how odious he was to his father [2 Samuel 16:20]; despite the greats
sins they had committed David showed grief at the deaths of his sons; weeping
twice for Amnon [2 Samuel 13:31-26] and weeping seven times for Absalom.
Narrative
Samuel anoints David, Dura Europos, Syria, 3rd century CE
God is angered when Saul, Israel's king, unlawfully offers a sacrifice[28] and
later disobeys a divine command both to kill all of the Amalekites and to
destroy their confiscated property.[29] Consequently, God sends the prophet
Samuel to anoint a shepherd, David, the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem, to
be king instead.[30]
After God sends an evil spirit to torment Saul, his servants recommend that he
send for a man skilled in playing the lyre. A servant proposes David, whom the
servant describes as "skillful in playing, a man of valor, a warrior, prudent
in speech, and a man of good presence; and the Lord is with him." David enters
Saul's service as one of the royal armour-bearers and plays the lyre to soothe
the king.[31]
War comes between Israel and the Philistines, and the giant Goliath challenges
the Israelites to send out a champion to face him in single combat.[32] David,
sent by his father to bring provisions to his brothers serving in Saul's army,
declares that he can defeat Goliath.[33] Refusing the king's offer of the
royal armour,[34] he kills Goliath with his sling.[35] Saul inquires the name
of the young hero's father.[36]
Saul threatening David, by José Leonardo
Saul sets David over his army. All Israel loves David, but his popularity
causes Saul to fear him ("What else can he wish but the kingdom?").[37] Saul
plots his death, but Saul's son Jonathan, one of those who loves David, warns
him of his father's schemes and David flees. He goes first to Nob, where he is
fed by the priest Ahimelech and given Goliath's sword, and then to Gath, the
Philistine city of Goliath, intending to seek refuge with King Achish there.
Achish's servants or officials question his loyalty, and David sees that he is
in danger there.[38] He goes next to the cave of Adullam, where his family
join him.[39] From there he goes to seek refuge with the king of Moab, but the
prophet Gad advises him to leave and he goes to the Forest of Hereth,[40] and
then to Keilah, where he is involved in a further battle with the Philistines.
Saul plans to besiege Keilah so that he can capture David, so David leaves the
city in order to protect its inhabitants.[41] From there he takes refuge in
the mountainous Wilderness of Ziph.[42]
Jonathan meets with David again and confirms his loyalty to David as the
future king. After the people of Ziph notify Saul that David is taking refuge
in their territory, Saul seeks confirmation and plans to capture David in the
Wilderness of Maon, but his attention is diverted by a renewed Philistine
invasion and David is able to secure some respite at Ein Gedi.[43] Returning
from battle with the Philistines, Saul heads to Ein Gedi in pursuit of David
and enters the cave where, as it happens, David and his supporters are hiding,
"to attend to his needs". David realises he has an opportunity to kill Saul,
but this is not his intention: he secretly cuts off a corner of Saul's robe,
and when Saul has left the cave he comes out to pay homage to Saul as the king
and to demonstrate, using the piece of robe, that he holds no malice towards
Saul. The two are thus reconciled and Saul recognises David as his
successor.[44]
A similar passage occurs in 1 Samuel 26, when David is able to infiltrate
Saul's camp on the hill of Hachilah and remove his spear and a jug of water
from his side while he and his guards lie asleep. In this account, David is
advised by Abishai that this is his opportunity to kill Saul, but David
declines, saying he will not "stretch out [his] hand against the Lord's
anointed".[45] Saul confesses that he has been wrong to pursue David and
blesses him.[46]
In 1 Samuel 27:1-4|NKJV, Saul ceases to pursue David because David took refuge
a second[47] 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.[48] David returns to Ziklag and saves his
wives and the citizens from the Amalekites.[49] Jonathan and Saul are killed
in battle,[50] and David is anointed king over Judah.[51] In the north, Saul's
son Ish-Bosheth is anointed king of Israel, and war ensues until Ish-Bosheth
is murdered.[52]
With the death of Saul's son, the elders of Israel come to Hebron and David is
anointed king over all of Israel.[53] He conquers Jerusalem, previously a
Jebusite stronghold, and makes it his capital.[54] He brings the Ark of the
Covenant to the city,[55] 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.[56] Nathan also prophesies that God has made a covenant with the
house of David stating, "your throne shall be established forever".[57] David
wins additional victories over the Philistines, Moabites, Edomites,
Amalekites, Ammonites and king Hadadezer of Aram-Zobah, after which they
become tributaries. His fame increased as a result, earning the praise of
figures like king Toi of Hamath, Hadadezer's rival.[58]
The Prophet Nathan rebukes King David, oil on canvas by Eugène Siberdt,
1866-1931 (Mayfair Gallery, London)
During a siege of the Ammonite capital of Rabbah, David remains in Jerusalem.
He spies a woman, Bathsheba, bathing and summons her; she becomes
pregnant.[59][60][61] The text in the Bible does not explicitly state whether
Bathsheba consented to sex.[62][63][64][65] David calls her husband, Uriah the
Hittite, back from the battle to rest, hoping that he will go home to his wife
and the child will be presumed to be his. Uriah does not visit his wife,
however, so David conspires to have him killed in the heat of battle. David
then marries the widowed Bathsheba.[66] In response, Nathan, after trapping
the king in his guilt with a parable that actually described his sin in
analogy, prophesies the punishment that will fall upon him, stating "the sword
shall never depart from your house."[67] When David acknowledges that he has
sinned,[68] Nathan advises him that his sin is forgiven and he will not
die,[69] but the child will.[70] In fulfillment of Nathan's words, David's son
Absalom, fueled by vengeance and lust for power, rebels.[71] Thanks to Hushai,
a friend of David who was ordered to infiltrate Absalom's court to
successfully sabotage his plans, Absalom's forces are routed at the battle of
the Wood of Ephraim, and he is caught by his long hair in the branches of a
tree where, contrary to David's order, he is killed by Joab, the commander of
David's army.[72] David laments the death of his favourite son: "O my son
Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom,
my son, my son!"[73] until Joab persuades him to recover from "the
extravagance of his grief"[74] and to fulfill his duty to his people.[75]
David returns to Gilgal and is escorted across the River Jordan and back to
Jerusalem by the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.[76]
When David is old and bedridden, Adonijah, his eldest surviving son and
natural heir, declares himself king.[77] Bathsheba and Nathan go to David and
obtain his agreement to crown Bathsheba's son Solomon as king, according to
David's earlier promise, and the revolt of Adonijah is put down.[78] David
dies at the age of 70 after reigning for 40 years,[79] and on his deathbed
counsels Solomon to walk in the ways of God and to take revenge on his
enemies.[80]
Psalms
David Composing the Psalms, Paris Psalter, 10th century[81]
The Book of Samuel calls David a skillful harp (lyre) player[82] and "the
sweet psalmist of Israel."[83] Yet, while 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 (e.g.,
Psalms 3, 7, 18, 34, 51, 52, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60, 63 and 142),[84] the headings
are late additions and no psalm can be attributed to David with certainty.[85]
Psalm 34 is attributed to David on the occasion of his escape from Abimelech
(or King Achish) by pretending to be insane.[86] According to the parallel
narrative in 1 Samuel 21, instead of killing the man who had exacted so many
casualties from him, Abimelech allows David to leave, exclaiming, "Am I so
short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this
in front of me? Must this man come into my house?"[87]
Historicity
See also: Historicity of the Bible
Tel Dan Stele
The Tel Dan Stele
The Tel Dan Stele, discovered in 1993, is an inscribed stone erected by
Hazael, a king of Damascus in the late 9th/early 8th centuries BCE. It
commemorates the king's victory over two enemy kings, and contains the phrase
Hebrew: ביתדוד, bytdwd, which most scholars translate as "House of
David".[88] Other scholars have challenged this reading,[89] but it is likely
that this is a reference to a dynasty of the Kingdom of Judah which traced its
ancestry to a founder named David.[88]
Mesha Stele
Two epigraphers, André Lemaire and Émile Puech, hypothesised in 1994 that
the Mesha Stele from Moab, dating from the 9th century, also contain the words
"House of David" at the end of Line 31, although this was considered as less
certain than the mention in the Tel Dan inscription.[90] In May 2019, Israel
Finkelstein, Nadav Na'aman, and Thomas Römer concluded from the new images
that the ruler's name contained three consonants and started with a bet, which
excludes the reading "House of David" and, in conjunction with the monarch's
city of residence "Horonaim" in Moab, makes it likely that the one mentioned
is King Balak, a name also known from the Hebrew Bible.[91][92] Later that
year, Michael Langlois used high-resolution photographs of both the
inscription itself, and the 19th-century original squeeze of the then still
intact stele to reaffirm Lemaire's view that line 31 contains the phrase
"House of David".[92][93] Replying to Langlois, Na'aman argued that the "House
of David" reading is unacceptable because the resulting sentence structure is
extremely rare in West Semitic royal inscriptions.[94]
Bubastite Portal at Karnak
The Triumphal Relief of Shoshenq I near the Bubastite Portal at Karnak,
depicting the god Amun-Re receiving a list of cities and villages conquered by
the king in his Near Eastern military campaigns.
Besides the two steles, Bible scholar and Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen
suggests that David's name also appears in a relief of Pharaoh Shoshenq
(usually identified with Shishak in the Bible.[95][96] The relief claims that
Shoshenq raided places in Palestine in 925 BCE, and Kitchen interprets one
place as "Heights of David", which was in Southern Judah and the Negev where
the Bible says David took refuge from Saul. The relief is damaged and
interpretation is uncertain.[96]
Biblical criticism
Further information: Biblical criticism
Literary criticism
Apart from these, all that is known of David comes from the biblical
literature. Some scholars have concluded that this was likely compiled from
contemporary records of the 11th and 10th centuries BCE, but that there is no
clear historical basis for determining the exact date of compilation.[97]
Other scholars believe that the Books of Samuel were substantially composed
during the time of King Josiah at the end of the 7th century BCE, extended
during the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE), and substantially complete by
about 550 BCE. Old Testament scholar Graeme Auld contends that further editing
was done even after then-the silver quarter-shekel which Saul's servant offers
to Samuel in 1 Samuel 9 "almost certainly fixes the date of the story in the
Persian or Hellenistic period" because a quarter-shekel was known to exist in
Hasmonean times.[98] The authors and editors of Samuel drew on many earlier
sources, including, for their history of David, the "history of David's
rise"[99] and the "succession narrative".[100][101] The Book of Chronicles,
which tells the story from a different point of view, was probably composed in
the period 350-300 BCE, and uses Samuel and Kings as its source.[102]
Biblical evidence indicates that David's Judah was something less than a
full-fledged monarchy: it often calls him negid, meaning "prince" or "chief",
rather than melek, meaning "king"; the biblical David sets up none of the
complex bureaucracy that a kingdom needs (even his army is made up of
volunteers), and his followers are largely related to him and from his small
home-area around Hebron.[103]
Beyond this, the full range of possible interpretations is available. A number
of scholars consider the David story to be a heroic tale similar to King
Arthur's legend or Homer's epics,[104] whereas others think that such
comparisons are questionable.[105] Others hold that the David story is a
political apology-an answer to contemporary charges against him, of his
involvement in murders and regicide.[106] The authors and editors of Samuel
and Chronicles did not aim to record history, but to promote David's reign as
inevitable and desirable, and for this reason there is little about David that
is concrete and undisputed.[11][12]
Some other studies of David have been written: Baruch Halpern has pictured
David as a lifelong vassal of Achish, the Philistine king of Gath;[107] Steven
McKenzie argues that David came from a wealthy family, was "ambitious and
ruthless" and a tyrant who murdered his opponents, including his own sons.[85]
Jacob L. Wright has written that the most popular legends about David,
including his killing of Goliath, his affair with Bathsheba, and his ruling of
a United Kingdom of Israel rather than just Judah, are the creation of those
who lived generations after him, in particular those living in the late
Persian or Hellenistic periods.[108]
Isaac Kalimi wrote about the tenth century BCE that: "Almost all that one can
say about King Solomon and his time is unavoidably based on the biblical
texts. Nevertheless, here also one cannot always offer conclusive proof that a
certain biblical passage reflects the actual historical situation in the tenth
century BCE, beyond arguing that it is plausible to this or that degree."[109]
Archaeologic criticism
Isaac Kalimi wrote in 2018 that: "No contemporaneous extra-biblical source
offers any account of the political situation in Israel and Judah during the
tenth century BCE, and as we have seen, the archaeological remains themselves
cannot provide any unambiguous evidence of events."[110]
Lester L. Grabbe wrote in 2017 that: "The main question is what kind of
settlement Jerusalem was in Iron IIA: was it a minor settlement, perhaps a
large village or possibly a citadel but not a city, or was it the capital of a
flourishing - or at least an emerging - state? Assessments differ considerably
…"[111]
Hayes & Miller wrote in 2006: "On the other hand, if one is not convinced in
advance by the biblical profile, then there is nothing in the archaeological
evidence itself to suggest that much of consequence was going on in Palestine
during the tenth century BCE, and certainly nothing to suggest that Jerusalem
was a great political and cultural center."[112]
Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman have stated that the
archaeological evidence shows that Judah was sparsely inhabited and Jerusalem
no more than a small village. The evidence suggested that David ruled only as
a chieftain over an area which cannot be described as a state or as a kingdom,
but more as a chiefdom, much smaller and always overshadowed by the older and
more powerful kingdom of Israel to the north.[113] They posited that Israel
and Judah were not monotheistic at the time, and that later seventh-century
redactors sought to portray a past golden age of a united, monotheistic
monarchy in order to serve contemporary needs.[114] They noted a lack of
archeological evidence for David's military campaigns and a relative
underdevelopment of Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, compared to a more
developed and urbanized Samaria, capital of Israel during the 9th century
BCE.[115][116][117]
Amihai Mazar has written that the United Monarchy of the 10th century BCE can
be described as a "state in development".[118]
The view of Davidic Jerusalem as a village has been challenged by Eilat
Mazar's excavation of the Large Stone Structure and the Stepped Stone
Structure in 2005.[119] Eilat Mazar proposed that these two structures may
have been architecturally linked as one unit, and that they date back to the
time of King David. Amihai Mazar, Avraham Faust, Nadav Na'aman and William
Dever have also argued in favour of the 10th century BCE
dating.[118][120][121][122][123]
Scholars such as Israel Finkelstein, Lily Singer-Avitz, Ze'ev Herzog and David
Ussishkin do not accept these conclusions.[124] Finkelstein does not accept
the dating of these structures to the 10th century BCE, based in part on the
fact that later structures on the site penetrated deep into underlying layers,
that the entire area had been excavated in the early 20th century and then
backfilled, that pottery from later periods was found below earlier strata,
and that consequently the finds collected by E. Mazar cannot necessarily be
considered as retrieved in situ.[125] Aren Maeir said in 2010 that he has seen
no evidence that these structures are from the 10th century BCE, and that
proof of the existence of a strong, centralized kingdom at that time remains
"tenuous."[126]
In 2018, Avraham Faust and Yair Sapir stated that a Canaanite site at Tel
Eton, about 30 miles from Jerusalem, was taken over by a Judahite community by
peaceful assimilation, and transformed from a village into a central town at
some point in the late 11th or early 10th century BCE. This transformation
used some ashlar blocks in construction, which they argued supports the United
Monarchy theory.[127][128]
History of interpretation in the Abrahamic religions
Rabbinic Judaism
David is an important figure in Rabbinic Judaism, with many legends around
him. According to one tradition, David was raised as the son of his father
Jesse and spent his early years herding his father's sheep in the wilderness
while his brothers were in school.[129]
David's adultery with Bathsheba is interpreted as an opportunity to
demonstrate the power of repentance, and the Talmud states that it was not
adultery at all, quoting a Jewish practice of divorce on the eve of battle.
Furthermore, according to Talmudic sources, the death of Uriah was not to be
considered murder, on the basis that Uriah had committed a capital offense by
refusing to obey a direct command from the King.[130] However, in tractate
Sanhedrin, David expressed remorse over his transgressions and sought
forgiveness. God ultimately forgave David and Bathsheba but would not remove
their sins from Scripture.[131]
In Jewish legend, David's sin with Bathsheba is the punishment for David's
excessive self-consciousness who had besought God to lead him into temptation
so that he might give proof of his constancy as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (who
successfully passed the test) whose names later were united with God's, while
David eventually failed through the temptation of a woman.[129]
According to midrashim, Adam gave up 70 years of his life for the life of
David.[132] Also, according to the Talmud Yerushalmi, David was born and died
on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot (Feast of Weeks). His piety was said to be so
great that his prayers could bring down things from Heaven.[citation needed]
Christianity
King David the Prophet
5201-king-david-in-prayer-pieter-de-grebber.jpg
King David in Prayer, by Pieter de Grebber (c. 1640)
Holy Monarch, Prophet, Reformer, Spiritual Poet and Musician, Vicegerent of
God, Psalm-Receiver
Venerated in Roman Catholicism[133]
Eastern Orthodoxy[134]
Islam
Feast December 29 - Roman Catholicism
Attributes Psalms, Harp, Head of Goliath
See also: Genealogy of Jesus and Davidic line
The Messiah concept is fundamental in Christianity. Originally an earthly king
ruling by divine appointment ("the anointed one", as the title Messiah had
it), the "son of David" became in the last two centuries BCE the apocalyptic
and heavenly one who would deliver Israel and usher in a new kingdom. This was
the background to the concept of Messiahship in early Christianity, which
interpreted the career of Jesus "by means of the titles and functions assigned
to David in the mysticism of the Zion cult, in which he served as priest-king
and in which he was the mediator between God and man".[135]
The early Church believed that "the life of David foreshadowed the life of
Christ; Bethlehem is the birthplace of both; the shepherd life of David points
out Christ, the Good Shepherd; the five stones chosen to slay Goliath are
typical of the five wounds; the betrayal by his trusted counsellor, Ahitophel,
and the passage over the Cedron remind us of Christ's Sacred Passion. Many of
the Davidic Psalms, as we learn from the New Testament, are clearly typical of
the future Messiah."[136] In the Middle Ages, "Charlemagne thought of himself,
and was viewed by his court scholars, as a 'new David'. [This was] not in
itself a new idea, but [one whose] content and significance were greatly
enlarged by him".[137]
Western Rite churches (Lutheran, Roman Catholic) celebrate his feast day on 29
December, Eastern-rite on 19 December.[138] The Eastern Orthodox Church and
Eastern Catholic Churches celebrate the feast day of the "Holy Righteous
Prophet and King David" on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (two Sundays
before the Great Feast of the Nativity of the Lord), when he is commemorated
together with other ancestors of Jesus. He is also commemorated on the Sunday
after the Nativity, together with Joseph and James, the Brother of the
Lord.[citation needed]
Middle Ages
Coat of arms attributed to King David by mediaeval heralds.[139] (Identical to
the arms of Ireland)
In European Christian culture of the Middle Ages, David was made a member of
the Nine Worthies, a group of heroes encapsulating all the ideal qualities of
chivalry. His life was thus proposed as a valuable subject for study by those
aspiring to chivalric status. This aspect of David in the Nine Worthies was
popularised firstly through literature, and was thereafter adopted as a
frequent subject for painters and sculptors.
David was considered as a model ruler and a symbol of divinely-ordained
monarchy throughout medieval Western Europe and Eastern Christendom. David was
perceived as the biblical predecessor to Christian Roman and Byzantine
emperors and the name "New David" was used as an honorific reference to these
rulers.[140] The Georgian Bagratids and the Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopia
claimed a direct biological descent from him.[141] Likewise, kings of the
Frankish Carolingian dynasty frequently connected themselves to David;
Charlemagne himself occasionally used the name of David as his pseudonym.[140]
Islam
Main article: David in Islam
David (Arabic: داوود Dā'ūd or Dāwūd) is an important figure in Islam
as one of the major prophets sent by God to guide the Israelites. David is
mentioned several times in the Quran with the Arabic name داود, Dāwūd or
Dā'ūd, often with his son Solomon. In the Quran David killed Goliath
(Q2:251), a giant soldier in the Philistine army. When David killed Goliath,
God granted him kingship and wisdom and enforced it (Q38:20). David was made
God's "vicegerent on earth" (Q38:26) and God further gave David sound judgment
(Q21:78; Q37:21-24, Q26) as well as the Psalms, regarded as books of divine
wisdom (Q4:163; Q17:55). The birds and mountains united with David in uttering
praise to God (Q21:79; Q34:10; Q38:18), while God made iron soft for David
(Q34:10),[142] God also instructed David in the art of fashioning chain mail
out of iron (Q21:80);[143] this knowledge gave David a major advantage over
his bronze and cast iron-armed opponents, not to mention the cultural and
economic impact. Together with Solomon, David gave judgment in a case of
damage to the fields (Q21:78) and David judged the matter between two
disputants in his prayer chamber (Q38:21-23). Since there is no mention in the
Quran of the wrong David did to Uriah nor any reference to Bathsheba, Muslims
reject this narrative.[144]
Muslim tradition and the hadith stress David's zeal in daily prayer as well as
in fasting.[145] Quran commentators, historians and compilers of the numerous
Stories of the Prophets elaborate upon David's concise quranic narratives and
specifically mention David's gift in singing his Psalms as well as his
beautiful recitation and vocal talents. His voice is described as having had a
captivating power, weaving its influence not only over man but over all beasts
and nature, who would unite with him to praise God.[146]
Art and literature
Literature
David mourning the death of Absalom, by Gustave Doré
Literary works about David include:
1517 The Davidiad is a neo-Latin epic poem by the Croatian national poet,
Roman Catholic priest, and Renaissance humanist Marko Marulić (whose name is
sometimes Latinized as "Marcus Marulus"). In addition to the small portions
that attempt to recall the epics of Homer, The Davidiad is heavily modeled
upon Virgil's Aeneid. This is so much the case that Marulić's contemporaries
called him the "Christian Virgil from Split." The philologist Miroslav
Marcovich also detects, "the influence of Ovid, Lucan, and Statius" in the
work.
1681-82 Dryden's long poem Absalom and Achitophel is an allegory that uses the
story of the rebellion of Absalom against King David as the basis for his
satire of the contemporary political situation, including events such as the
Monmouth Rebellion (1685), the Popish Plot (1678) and the Exclusion Crisis.
1893 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle may have used the story of David and Bathsheba as
a foundation for the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Crooked Man.
Holmes mentions "the small affair of Uriah and Bathsheba" at the end of the
story.[147]
1928 Elmer Davis's novel Giant Killer retells and embellishes the biblical
story of David, casting David as primarily a poet who managed always to find
others to do the "dirty work" of heroism and kingship. In the novel, Elhanan
in fact killed Goliath but David claimed the credit; and Joab, David's cousin
and general, took it upon himself to make many of the difficult decisions of
war and statecraft when David vacillated or wrote poetry instead.
1936 William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! refers to the story of Absalom,
David's son; his rebellion against his father and his death at the hands of
David's general, Joab. In addition it parallels Absalom's vengeance for the
rape of his sister Tamar by his half-brother, Amnon.
1946 Gladys Schmitt's novel David the King was a richly embellished biography
of David's entire life. The book took a risk, especially for its time, in
portraying David's relationship with Jonathan as overtly homoerotic, but was
ultimately panned by critics as a bland rendition of the title character.
1966 Juan Bosch, a Dominican political leader and writer, wrote David:
Biography of a King, as a realistic portrayal of David's life and political
career.
1970 Dan Jacobson's The Rape of Tamar is an imagined account, by one of
David's courtiers Yonadab, of the rape of Tamar by Amnon.
1972 Stefan Heym wrote The King David Report in which the historian Ethan
compiles upon King Solomon's orders "a true and authoritative report on the
life of David, Son of Jesse"-the East German writer's wry depiction of a court
historian writing an "authorized" history, many incidents clearly intended as
satirical references to the writer's own time.
1974 In Thomas Burnett Swann's biblical fantasy novel How are the Mighty
Fallen, David and Jonathan are explicitly stated to be lovers. Moreover,
Jonathan is a member of a winged semi-human race (possibly nephilim), one of
several such races coexisting with humanity but often persecuted by it.
1980 Malachi Martin's factional novel King of Kings: A Novel of the Life of
David relates the life of David, Adonai's champion in his battle with the
Philistine deity Dagon.
1984 Joseph Heller wrote a novel based on David called God Knows, published by
Simon & Schuster. Told from the perspective of an aging David, the
humanity-rather than the heroism-of various biblical characters is emphasized.
The portrayal of David as a man of flaws such as greed, lust, selfishness, and
his alienation from God, the falling apart of his family is a distinctly
20th-century interpretation of the events told in the Bible.
1993 Madeleine L'Engle's novel Certain Women explores family, the Christian
faith, and the nature of God through the story of King David's family and an
analogous modern family's saga.
1995 Allan Massie wrote King David, a novel about David's career that portrays
the king's relationship to Jonathan as sexual.[148]
2015 Geraldine Brooks wrote a novel about King David, The Secret Chord, told
from the point of view of the prophet Nathan.[149][150]
Paintings
1599 Caravaggio David and Goliath
c. 1610 Caravaggio David with the Head of Goliath
1616 Peter Paul Rubens David Slaying Goliath
c. 1619 Caravaggio, David and Goliath
Sculptures
David by Michelangelo
1440? Donatello, David
1473-1475 Verrocchio, David
1501-1504 Michelangelo, David
1623-1624 Gian Lorenzo Bernini, David
Film
David has been depicted several times in films; these are some of the
best-known:
1951 In David and Bathsheba, directed by Henry King, Gregory Peck played
David.
1959 In Solomon and Sheba, directed by King Vidor, Finlay Currie played an
aged King David.
1961 In A Story of David, directed by Bob McNaught, Jeff Chandler played
David.
1985 In King David, directed by Bruce Beresford, Richard Gere played King
David.
1996 In Dave and the Giant Pickle
Television
1976 The Story of David, a made-for-TV film with Timothy Bottoms and Keith
Michell as King David at different ages.[151]
1997 David, a TV-film with Nathaniel Parker as King David and Leonard Nimoy as
the Prophet Samuel.[152]
1997 Max von Sydow portrayed an older King David in the TV-film Solomon, a
sequel to David.[153]
2009 Christopher Egan played David on Kings, a re-imagining loosely based on
the biblical story.[154]
King David is the focus of the second episode of History Channel's Battles BC
documentary, which detailed all of his military exploits in the bible.[155]
2013 Langley Kirkwood portrayed King David in the miniseries The Bible.
2016 Of Kings and Prophets in which David is played by Olly Rix
Music
David on an Israeli stamp
The traditional birthday song Las Mañanitas mentions King David as the
original singer in its lyrics.
1738 George Frideric Handel's oratorio Saul features David as one of its main
characters.[156]
1921 Arthur Honegger's oratorio Le Roi David with a libretto by René Morax,
instantly became a staple of the choral repertoire.
1964 Bob Dylan alludes to David in the last line of his song "When The Ship
Comes In" ("And like Goliath, they'll be conquered").
1983 Bob Dylan refers to David in his song "Jokerman" ("Michelangelo indeed
could've carved out your features").[157]
1984 Leonard Cohen's song "Hallelujah" has references to David ("there was a
secret chord that David played and it pleased the Lord", "The baffled king
composing Hallelujah") and Bathsheba ("you saw her bathing on the roof") in
its opening verses.
1990 The song "One of the Broken" by Paddy McAloon, performed by Prefab Sprout
on the album Jordan: The Comeback, has a reference to David ("I remember King
David, with his harp and his beautiful, beautiful songs, I answered his
prayers, and showed him a place where his music belongs").
1991 "Mad About You", a song on Sting's album The Soul Cages, explores David's
obsession with Bathsheba from David's perspective.[158]
2000 The song "Gimme a Stone" appears on the Little Feat album Chinese Work
Songs chronicles the duel with Goliath and contains a lament to Absalom as a
bridge.[159]
Musical theater
1997 King David, sometimes described as a modern oratorio, with a book and
lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Alan Menken.
Playing cards
For a considerable period, starting in the 15th century and continuing until
the 19th, French playing card manufacturers assigned to each of the court
cards names taken from history or mythology. In this context, the King of
spades was often known as "David".[160][161]