David (דוד)

King of Israel 1010-970 BC (NASB)

1055-1015 BC (Ussher)

Born: 1040 BC (NASB) at Ephrata in Israel (Ussher: 1085) Died: 970 BC (NASB) at Jerusalem (40yr reign, Ussher: 1015) Father: Jesse Mother: ? Spouse1: Michal (1 Sam 18:27, no children) Spouse2: Abigail (1 Sam 25:42, son Daniel) Spouse3: Ahinoam (1 Sam 25:43, son Amnon) Spouse4: Maacah the Geshurite 1055 BC (1 Chron 3:2, son Absolam, dau Tamar) Spouse5: Haggith (1 Chron 3:2, son Adonijah) Spouse6: Abital (1 Chron 3:3, child Shephatiah) Spouse7: Eglah (1 Chron 3:3, child Ithream) Spouse8: Bathsheba 1035 BC (1 Chron 3:5, children Shimea/Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon Children (1 Chron 3:1-5, 2 Sam 5:14): Daniel Amnon Absolam Tamar Adonijah Shephatiah Ithream Shimea/Shammua Shobab Nathan Solomon others? Image of the famous statue of David [by Michaelangelo Buonarroti, at the Louvre, Scala/Art Resource, NY] from the cover of King David: A Biography, Steven L. McKenzie, Oxford, 2000, 232pp, Mustang ===>>

The name David occurs in the OT 1,075 times (see BibHeb1K) and he was 33 generations from Adam (i.e. Adam's 32gson).

Dates by Ussher:
1085 BC, David born to Jesse the Ephrathite
1063 BC, Displeased w/Saul, God sends the Priest/Prophet Samuel to annoint David, then a shepherd boy (1 Sam 16)
106x BC, David is summoned to Saul's [Hebron?] court, befriends Jonathan (1 Sam 16)
106x BC, David kills Goliath, the Philistine leader (1 Sam 17)
106x BC, Saul turns against David, due to latter's popularity
106x BC, David m. Michal, Saul's dau (1 Sam 18)
106x BC, Saul tries to kill David, Michal helps him escape (1 Sam 19)
106x BC, David's flight w/Samuel to Naioth (1 Sam 19)
106x BC, David as outlaw warlord, captures Philistine city of Keilah (1 Sam 22)
106x BC, David shelters at Ein Gedi (pic in br-tii, 1 Sam 24)
106x BC, Samuel dies, David m. Abigail, widow of Nabal (1 Sam 25)
1060 BC, David flees w/600 men to Philistine King Achish in Gath, given town Ziklag, stayed 16 months (1 Sam 26)
1057 BC, David attacks Geshurites, Gezrites, Amalekites, kills all so no tales
1055 BC, While David marching w/Philistines, Amalekites plunder Ziklag, kidnap families of David's army, David forced to part w/Philistines, since ofcr's don't trust him, providential, soon after Saul and Jonathan are killed in battle by Philistine army (God spared David from participating, Saul fell on his own sword), David anointed king at Hebron, 30yo (NASB 1010 BC, 1 Sam 28, 1 Chron 12)
1053-48 civil war between David and Saul's son Ishbosheth
1048 BC, David captures Jerusalem from the Jebusites, w/his nephew Joab as General, capital moved from Hebron to Jerusalem, David ruled 7.5yrs from Hebron, 33yrs from Jerusalem (hmmm, another source says 994 BC)
1045 BC, Ark of Covenant moved to Jerusalem (from Kirjathjearim)
1044-34 David expands kingdom to maximum extend via wars w/Philistines, Edomites, Amalekites, Moabites, Ammonites, Syrians
1035 BC, adultery w/Bathsheba, child dies
1034 BC, Solomon born to Bathsheba
1032 BC, Amnon rapes Tamar
1030 BC, Absalom kills Amnon
1023 BC, Absalom's rebellion, David flees, but Absalom catches hair in tree, killed
1018 BC, David's last battle, old man, nearly killed
1017 BC, David's census angers God, choice of 3 punishments, choses plague, 70K die in 1 day, angel about to destroy Jerusalem when God spares it, cmds David to offer burnt offerings on threshing floor of Araunah (Ornan) the Jebusite, future site of Temple aka Dome of the Rock (i.e. the rock on which Abraham had offered Isaac).
1015 BC, David dies at 70yo, Solomon anointed king in Gihon by Zadok the high priest

Siblings of David, in order of age: Eliab [Elihu], Abinadab, Shammah [Shimeah, Shimei], Nethanel, Raddai, Ozem, David, Zeruiah [children Joab, Abishai, Asahel], Abigail [child Amasa] (see Bible.html).

David was beloved by God, who promised peace to David's seed forever (1 Kng 2:33), to establish David's throne forever (1 Kngs 2:45, also Jer 33:21, the basis of BI theory, see br-1md), and loving-kindness and goodness (3:6, 8:66). David's throne was a gift to Israel [and the world] from God (3:6, 5:7). "David's walk before God is seen as an example of the integrity God demanded of all the kings of Israel [and of all of us]. God, on numerous occasions, declared that David walked before him in integrity of heart. He was upright in all that God commanded, keeping God's ordinances (1 Kngs 9:4)" (ZPEB p41).

As background, Eli the (high?) priest (1214-1116 BC, 98yo) had raised Samuel, who had been dedicated to the Lord's service by his mother Hannah. Samuel later anointed 1rst Saul, then David. Eli's death was occasioned by hearing the tragic news of the Philistine capture of the Ark of the Covenant, which caused him to fall over backward and break his neck (he was very fat). Just prior (1117 BC), Samson had died while also killing many Philistines, leading the Israelites to boldly (and unwisely) attack them. As the battle worsened, the Ark was summoned to the battlefield, but it was captured and taken to Ashdod (placed next to Dagon idol, which twice fell over and broke, Ark later returned!). Earlier in Eli's life [20yo], he had probably heard of the 1184 BC sack of Troy by the Greeks.

David is a key reference figure in the formula: Adam to Noah [#10] in 10 generations, Noah to Abraham [#21] 10g, Abraham to David [#33] 14g, David to Josiah [#49, i.e. Babylonian capitivity] 14g, Josiah to Jesus [#63/75] 14g, for a total of 62 generations from Adam to Jesus in around 4K yrs (see Bible.html, Matt 1:17).

Chuck (Charles R.) Swindoll has written more than 30 best-selling books, including the "Great Lives from God's Word" series, including Job [~#20] (2004), Moses [#26] (xxxx), David [#33] (1997), Elijah [~#38] (xxxx), Esther [~#41] (xxxx), Joseph [#62] (xxxx), Jesus [#63] (Thomas Nelson, 2008, 308pp, SBC), Paul [#64] (xxxx). The 9th volume in the series is "Fascinating Stories of Forgotten Lives" (xxxx).

A recent 6-DVD set features OT heroes Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samson and Delilah, and David.

Playing cards celebrate 4 great kings in history: David is the king of spades, Charlemagne hearts, Alexander the Great clubs, and Julius Caesar diamonds.

Erik Durschmied's 2002 From Armageddon to the Fall of Rome: How the Ancient Warlords [or Myth Makers] Changed the World lists leaders: Thutmosis III, King David, Leonidas, Xerxes, Alexander, Hannibal, Vercingetorix, Caesar [also-rans Darius I, Themistocles, Darius III, Scipio Africanus, Marius, Brutus, Nero, Fritigern, Alaric].

Jeff Sypeck's 2006 book Becoming Charlemagne: Europe, Baghdad, and the Empires of AD 800 (HarperCollins, Mustang) mentions the '9 worthies' compiled by Medieval scholars: 1 Joshua c1300 BC, 2 Hector [Troy] c1200 BC, 3 David c1000 BC, 4 AlexGrt d332 BC, 5 Judas Maccabeus 'the hammerer' c160s BC, 6 Julius Caesar 1C BC, 7 King Arthur c450-519 AD, 8 Charlemagne c750-814 and 9 Godfrey of Bouillon famous in 1st 1097 Crusade. i.e. they were all successful empire builders, mostly Christian but also classical or Jewish.

The 8 covenants: Edenic, Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Palestinian, Davidic, New [same as ? ZPEB v1] (Scofield Bible p1)

The 4 OT themes: election, covenant, law, exodus (EHB p122).

The 6 dispensations: infancy (creation to Noah), childhood (Noah to Moses), adolescence (Moses to Prophets) and youth (Prophets to Christ), manhood and old age (Christian era), renovation (millenium), 'fullness of time' (eternity) (ZPEB v2 p145).

In 1 Tim 6:11, Paul uses the title 'man of God' to describe Timothy. This is a title most often used of Moses (Deut 33:1; Josh 14:6; 1 Chron 23:14; 2 Chron 30:16; Ezra 3:2). Others who have been described this way are David (2 Chron 8:14; Neh 12:24,36), Elijah (1 Kngs 17:18,24; 2 Kngs 1:9,13), and Elisha (2 Kngs 5:20). In the OT, it is also used to designate any prophet or spokesman of God (1 Sam 2:27; 9:6; 1 Kngs 13:1). In 2 Tim 3:17, Paul uses it to describe the Christian (ODB 29 Aug 08).

After a discussion by John Wenham of biblical population numbers in which it is concluded that actual numbers were likely much less (1/10) than those literally shown in the Bible [e.g. 'thousands' probably means 'cmdrs of military 1000s', so from 70 in Joseph's time to 2-3M (72K) at Exodus, 5M (470K) in David's time], he says "the figures of the Levites seem consistently to have collected an extra [zero]. The mystery of Plato's Atlantis has been solved by recognition of this same numerical confusion. Plato obtained from Egyptian priests what now turns out to be a detailed account of the Minoan civilization and its sudden end. But as all the figures were multiplied by a factor of 10, the area was too great to be enclosed in the Mediterranean, so he placed it in the Atlantic; and the date was put back into remote antiquity, thousands of years too early" (EHB p192).

David and Solomon (Scala/Art Resource) from the cover of David and Solomon, Finkelstein and Silberman, Free Press, 2006, 342pp, own. These images are from a painting of OT people by Perugino (c1452-1524) at the Collegio de Cambio, Perugia, Italy (see 'Who's Who,' Comay and Brownrigg, FHL, p358).	from a CT ad card

David, king and prophet, by the Master of Riofrio c14C (OIHB p112+)

King David, stained glass, Ripon Cathedral, Ripon, England (WWIB p69)

The City of David rested on a ridge ... in the outlined area below the dotted line. His son Solomon later expanded the city above by adding the temple complex (IEBC p81)

1st Temple Dedication by Solomon, 953 BC