David

David, second king of Israel and Judah (c. 1000–960 BCE), and founder of a dynasty that continued until the end of the Judean monarchy. David was the youngest son of Jesse from Bethlehem in Judah.

In History

David is regarded by both tradition and modern scholarship as the greatest ruler of the combined states of Israel and Judah. He was able to free them from the control of the Philistines and to gain a measure of domination over some of the neighboring states (Edom, Moab, Ammon) and some of the Aramean states of Syria. At the same time he established treaty relations with Tyre and Hamath. He also extended the territories of Judah and Israel to include a number of major Canaanite cities and took Jerusalem by conquest. It became his capital and remained the ruling center of Judah until the end of the monarchy.

There are no references to David in any historical source outside the Bible. One contemporary ruler, Hiram of Tyre, mentioned in 2 Samuel 5:11, is known from other historical sources, but the correlation of the chronologies of the two kings remains problematic.

The assessment of David's career is based upon sources in 1 Samuel 16 through 1 Kings 2. Some of these that mention his military activities reflect annalistic or formal documents. These are now embedded within two literary works often regarded as nearly contemporary with David and an important witness to the events: the story of David's rise to power (1 Sm. 16 through 2 Sm. 2:7, 2 Sm. 5), and the court history, or succession story (2 Sm. 2:8–4:12, 6:16, 6:20–23; 2 Sm. 9–20; 1 Kgs. 1–2). It remains less clear how 2 Samuel 6–8 relates to either of these works or how they all fit into the larger history of the monarchy. The materials in 2 Samuel 21–24 are supplemental additions that do not belong to the other sources.

There are, however, two serious questions about this literary analysis. First, the identification of a distinct literary work, the story of David's rise to power, may be doubted, since it may be viewed as a continuation of earlier materials in Samuel and as having strong ties to the rest of the so-called Deuteronomist's history of the monarchy—in which case it would be a work of the exilic period. Second, the court history was not originally part of this history but constitutes a later addition with quite a different perspective. If these two views can be sustained, then both works are comparatively late, and great caution must be exercised in using them as historical sources for the time of David. DAVID IN THE TRADITION OF ISRAEL

Whatever their historical value might be, the literary works within 1 Samuel 16 through 1 Kings 2 establish David's place within the Israelite-Jewish tradition. Two quite different views of David's character and his significance for later Israel are given in these works.