David & Steve Gordon
David (; Biblical Hebrew: דָּוִד, romanized: Dāwīḏ, "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.
The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damascus in the late 9th/early 8th centuries BCE to commemorate a victory over two enemy kings, contains the phrase bytdwd (𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤃𐤅𐤃), which is translated as "House of David" by most scholars. The Mesha Stele, erected by King Mesha of Moab in the 9th century BCE, may also refer to the "House of David", although this is disputed. According to Jewish works such as the Seder Olam Rabbah, Seder Olam Zutta, and Sefer ha-Qabbalah (all written over a thousand years later), David ascended the throne as the king of Judah in 885 BCE. Apart from this, all that is known of David comes from biblical literature, the historicity of which has been extensively challenged, and there is little detail about David that is concrete and undisputed. Debates persist over several controversial issues: the exact timeframe of David's reign and the geographical boundaries of his kingdom; whether the story serves as a political defense of David's dynasty against accusations of tyranny, murder and regicide; the homoerotic relationship between David and Jonathan; whether the text is a Homer-like heroic tale adopting elements from its Ancient Near East parallels; and whether elements of the text date as late as the Hasmonean period.
In the biblical narrative of the Books of Samuel, David is described as a young shepherd and harpist whose heart is devoted to Yahweh, the one true God. He gains fame and becomes a hero by killing Goliath. He becomes a favorite of Saul, the first king of Israel, but is forced to go into hiding when Saul suspects David of plotting to take his throne. After Saul and his son Jonathan are killed in battle, David is anointed king by the tribe of Judah and eventually all the tribes of Israel. He conquers Jerusalem, makes it the capital of a united Israel, and brings the Ark of the Covenant to the city. He commits adultery with Bathsheba and arranges the death of her husband, Uriah the Hittite. David's son Absalom later tries to overthrow him, but David returns to Jerusalem after Absalom's death to continue his reign. David desires to build a temple to Yahweh, but is denied because of the bloodshed of his reign. He dies at age 70 and chooses Solomon, his son with Bathsheba, as his successor instead of his eldest son Adonijah. David is honored as an ideal king and the forefather of the future Hebrew Messiah in Jewish prophetic literature, and many psalms are attributed to him.
David is also richly represented in post-biblical Jewish written and oral tradition and referenced in the New Testament. Early Christians interpreted the life of Jesus of Nazareth in light of references to the Hebrew Messiah and to David; Jesus is described as being directly descended from David in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke. In the Quran and hadith, David is described as an Israelite king as well as a prophet of Allah. The biblical David has inspired many interpretations in art and literature over the centuries.
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