DAVID

(ca. 1043 - ca. 973 BC)
. The second king of Israel, but if you include among the kings of Israel Ishbosheth, who after the death of his father Saul two years he reigned over all the tribes of Israel, except the tribe of Judah, David was the third king of Israel (2 Samuel 2:8-10)
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David came to the throne c.. 1017 BC, after the death of King Saul, and the first years of his reign, the rules only in Judah. After the quarrel between the house of Saul and the house of David, David became king over all the tribes (2 Samuel 3:1 - 5:3).

David, great-grandson of Ruth and Boaz, was the youngest son of Jesse, who lived in the village of Bethlehem in Judea. In his youth he was called to the palace to play the harp to dispel the morbid melancholy of Saul, and the king was so fascinated by them, that made him his squire. According to the First Book of Samuel, David, being a simple shepherd courted military glory, having won the giant Philistine Goliath. Subsequently, David was to marry Saul's daughter Michal and became friends with Saul's son Jonathan. His victory in the wars with the Philistines, accompanied almost all of Saul's reign, led to the rise in the popularity of David in the army and the people. Saul hated David, and partly out of fear of a possible coup, and partly out of jealousy. David fled from the royal court and was hiding in the southern desert, finding a patron in the face of Achish, the king of Gath in the land of the Philistines and became his vassal.

A few years before, when Saul was at war with Amalek has not fulfilled the commandment of God, David was anointed by the prophet Samuel in the kingdom as a successor to Saul. Therefore, when Saul and his three sons died in battle at Mount Gilboa, David with a small army moved northward and strengthened in Hebron, where he was proclaimed king over the tribe of Judah. This was followed by the anointing of the war with Ishbosheth. Abner, the captain Ishbosheth quarreled with the latter due to one of Saul's concubines, Rizpah, moved to the side of David, but soon he was killed by Joab, the captain of David. After a little time Ishbosheth was killed, and the tribe of Israel in northern Palestine recognized the authority of David.

Having consolidated his power in the united kingdom, David was victorious in the war with the Philistines, and overthrew their rule. He expanded the territory in wars of conquest against neighboring peoples, the first time in Jewish history laid the foundation of the Jewish state and made Jerusalem, captured from the Jebusites, the capital of Israel. Israel became a power, dominated from the Nile to the Euphrates. David moved to Jerusalem from Shiloh, the ancient national sanctuary and the ark of the covenant, for a long time during their stay in Kirjathjearim. Originally he planned to build a tabernacle instead of the majestic temple, but this intention to dissuade him by the prophet Nathan.

David was smitten with love for the beautiful Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, whom David treacherously condemned to death, sending to the forefront of the battle ill. The fruit of the marriage of David with Bathsheba was Solomon. In the life of David, two of his sons, Absalom and Adonijah, encroached on the throne, but to no avail. Bathsheba, with the support of the prophet Nathan, a former adviser to the king, persuaded David, announce the heir to the throne of Solomon and prinarodno anoint him the kingdom of Israel. David died at age 70, after seven years and six months of his reign in Hebron over the tribe of Judah, and thirty-three years of the reign in Jerusalem over all Israel. He founded the dynasty of David, reigning continuously for nearly 500 years, until the time of Zerubbabel, who ca. 538 BC. led his people to return to Palestine after the Babylonian captivity.

Historical acts of David made him an almost legendary figure, mythological after death. He was attributed the authorship of the Psalms, and according to the messianic doctrine, he is the father of the Messiah.