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95-501: When David became king over all Israel , the Philistines , judging that he would now become their uncompromising enemy, made a sudden attack upon Hebron , compelling David to retire from it. He sought refuge in "the hold" at Adullam ( 2 Samuel 5:17–22 ), and the Philistines took up their position in (or raided ) the valley of Rephaim , on the west and south-west of Jerusalem . Thus all communication between Bethlehem and Jerusalem

190-515: A Jewish practice of divorce on the eve of battle. Furthermore, according to Talmudic sources, Uriah's death was not murder, because Uriah had committed a capital offense by refusing to obey a direct command from the King. 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. In Jewish legend , David's sin with Bathsheba

285-432: 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. They posited that Israel and Judah were not monotheistic at the time and that later 7th-century redactors sought to portray a past golden age of a united, monotheistic monarchy in order to serve contemporary needs. They noted

380-623: A covenant with the house of David stating, "your throne shall be established forever". David wins additional victories over the Philistines, Moabites, Edomites , Amalekites, Ammonites and king Hadadezer of Aram-Zobah , after which they become tributaries. His fame increases as a result, earning the praise of figures like King Toi of Hamath , Hadadezer's rival. During a siege of the Ammonite capital of Rabbah , David remains in Jerusalem. He spies

475-607: A disputed reign or non-royal title) David ( / ˈ d eɪ v ɪ d / ; 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 . According to Jewish works such as the Seder Olam Rabbah , Seder Olam Zutta , and Sefer ha-Qabbalah (all written over

570-405: A divine saying about hearing a marching sound in the tops of the baka trees (הבכאים, KJV " mulberry trees ", most modern versions "balsam"), David led his army to Gibeon , and attacked the Philistines from the south, inflicting on them another severe defeat, and chasing them with great slaughter to Gezer . There David kept in check these enemies of Israel and in consequence his fame grew. One of

665-545: A frequent subject for painters and sculptors. David was considered a model ruler and a symbol of divinely ordained monarchy throughout medieval Western Europe and Eastern Christendom . He 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. The Georgian Bagratids and the Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopia claimed direct biological descent from him. Likewise, kings of

760-427: 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. In 2010, Amihai Mazar wrote that the United Monarchy of the 10th century BCE can be described as a "state in development". He compared David to Labaya , a Caananite warlord living during

855-604: A local Arab on behalf of Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau , an archaeologist based in the French consulate in Jerusalem. The next year, the stele was smashed into several fragments by the Bani Hamida tribe, seen as an act of defiance against the Ottoman authorities who had pressured the Bedouins to hand over the stele so that it could be given to Germany. Clermont-Ganneau later managed to acquire

950-451: 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. War comes between Israel and the Philistines , and the giant Goliath challenges

1045-713: A marriage David respectfully declined. Saul then gave Merab in marriage to Adriel the Meholathite. 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 (ancient Jewish historian Josephus lists the dowry as 100 Philistine heads). 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 . David then took wives in Hebron , according to 2 Samuel 3; they were Ahinoam

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1140-507: A murderer, and a lifelong vassal of Achish , the Philistine king of Gath ; Steven McKenzie argues that David came from a wealthy family, and was an "ambitious and ruthless" tyrant who murdered his opponents, including his sons. Joel S. Baden has called him "an ambitious, ruthless, flesh-and-blood man who achieved power by any means necessary, including murder, theft, bribery, sex, deceit, and treason". William G. Dever described him as "a serial killer". Jacob L. Wright has written that

1235-405: A number of artifacts, including pottery, two Phoenician-style ivory inlays, a black-and-red jug, and a radiocarbon-dated bone, estimated to be from the 10th century. Dever, Amihai Mazar , Avraham Faust , and Nadav Na'aman have argued in favour of the 10th-century BCE dating and responded to challenges to it. In 2010, Eilat Mazar announced the discovery of part of the ancient city walls around

1330-452: A single contemporary reference to either David or Solomon," while noting, "against this must be set the evidence for substantial development and growth at several sites, which is plausibly related to the tenth century." In 2007, Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman 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

1425-425: A thousand years later), David ascended the throne as the king of Judah in 885 BCE. 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

1520-521: A woman, Bathsheba , bathing and summons her; she becomes pregnant. The text in the Bible does not explicitly state whether Bathsheba consented to sex with David. David calls her husband, Uriah the Hittite , back from the battle to rest, hoping that he will go home to have sex with 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

1615-647: 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". In the morning, David once again demonstrates to Saul that, despite ample opportunity, he did not deign to harm him. Saul, despite having already reconciled with David, confesses that he has been wrong to pursue David, and blesses him. In 1 Samuel 27:1–4, David begins to doubt Saul's sincerity, and reasons that

1710-639: Is also one of four known contemporaneous inscriptions containing the name of Israel, the others being the Merneptah Stele , the Tel Dan Stele , and one of the Kurkh Monoliths . Its authenticity has been disputed over the years, and some biblical minimalists suggest the text was not historical, but a biblical allegory. The stele itself is regarded as genuine and historical by the vast majority of biblical archaeologists today. The stele has been part of

1805-526: Is an important figure in Rabbinic Judaism , with many legends about 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. David's adultery with Bathsheba is interpreted as an opportunity to demonstrate the power of repentance, and the Talmud says it was not adultery at all, citing

1900-468: Is angered when Saul , Israel's king, unlawfully offers a sacrifice and later disobeys a divine command both to kill all of the Amalekites and to destroy their confiscated property. Consequently, God sends the prophet Samuel to anoint a shepherd, David, the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem , to be king instead. After God sends an evil spirit to torment Saul, his servants recommend that he send for

1995-538: Is available. A number of scholars consider the David story to be a heroic tale similar to the legend of King Arthur or the epics of Homer , while others find such comparisons questionable. One theme paralleled with other Near Eastern literature is the homoerotic nature of the relationship between David and Jonathan . The instance in the Book of Jashar , excerpted in 2 Samuel 1 :26, where David "proclaims that Jonathan's love

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2090-481: 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

2185-425: 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

2280-434: Is described as having a captivating power, weaving its influence not only over man but over all beasts and nature, who would unite with him to praise God. Biblical literature and archaeological finds are the only sources that attest to David's life. 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

2375-465: Is escorted across the River Jordan and back to Jerusalem by the tribes of Judah and Benjamin . When David is old and bedridden, Adonijah , his eldest surviving son and natural heir, declares himself king. 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. David dies at

2470-515: Is in danger there. He goes next to the cave of Adullam , where his family joins him. 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 , 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. From there he takes refuge in

2565-409: Is little about David that is concrete and undisputed. Other scholars argue that, notwithstanding the apologetic tenor of the story, the authors of Samuel were also critical of David in several respects, suggesting that the text presents a complex portrait of him rather than a purely propagandistic one. Some other studies of David have been written: Baruch Halpern has pictured him as a brutal tyrant,

2660-515: 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) kills Amnon to avenge Tamar. Despite the great sins they had committed, David showed grief at his sons' deaths, weeping twice for Amnon [2 Samuel 13:31–26] and seven times for Absalom. God

2755-425: Is the punishment for David's excessive self-consciousness. He had besought God to lead him into temptation so that he might give proof of his constancy like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who successfully passed the test and whose names later were united with God's, while David failed through the temptation of a woman. According to midrashim , Adam gave up 70 years of his life for the life of David. Also, according to

2850-440: Is to be identified as part of a northern Israelite polity. 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

2945-534: 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". Isaac Kalimi wrote in 2018, "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,

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3040-554: The Bani Hamida had been defeated by an Ottoman expedition to Balqa led by Mehmed Rashid Pasha , the head of Syria vilayet . Knowing that a demand to give up the stone to the German Consulate had been ordered by the Ottomans and finding that the ruler of Salt was about to put pressure upon them, they heated the stele in a bonfire, threw cold water upon it and broke it to pieces with boulders. On 8 February 1870, George Grove of

3135-671: The Frankish Carolingian dynasty frequently connected themselves to David; Charlemagne himself occasionally used "David" his pseudonym. David (Arabic: داوود Dā'ūd or Dāwūd ) is an important figure in Islam as one of the major prophets God sent to guide the Israelites . He is mentioned several times in the Quran with the Arabic name داود, Dāwūd or Dā'ūd , often with his son Solomon . In

3230-509: 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. 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

3325-597: 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

3420-595: The Palestine Exploration Fund announced the find of the stele in a letter to The Times , attributing the discovery to Charles Warren . On 17 February 1870, the 24-year-old Clermont-Ganneau published the first detailed announcement of the stele in the Revue de l’Instruction Publique. This was followed a month later by a note from F. A. Klein published in The Pall Mall Gazette describing his discovery of

3515-619: 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 . David is described as cementing his relations with various political and national groups through marriage . According to 1 Samuel 17:25, King Saul 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 ,

3610-572: 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. The Messiah concept is fundamental in Christianity. Originally an earthly king ruling by divine appointment ("the anointed one", as the title Messiah had it), in the last two centuries BCE the "son of David" became

3705-780: 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 ) and on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers (Sunday before the Nativity ), 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

3800-523: The 10th century BCE and that proof of the existence of a strong, centralized kingdom at that time remains "tenuous." Excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa by archaeologists Yosef Garfinkel and Saar Ganor found an urbanized settlement radiocarbon dated to the 10th century, which supports the existence of an urbanised kingdom. The Israel Antiquities Authority stated: "The excavations at Khirbat Qeiyafa clearly reveal an urban society that existed in Judah already in

3895-443: The 9th century BCE, may also refer to the "House of David", although this is disputed. 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

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3990-518: The Bible's Books of Kings ( 2 Kings 3:4 –27), provides invaluable information on the Moabite language and the political relationship between Moab and Israel at one moment in the 9th century BCE. It is the most extensive inscription ever recovered that refers to the kingdom of Israel (the " House of Omri "); it bears the earliest certain extrabiblical reference to the Israelite God Yahweh . It

4085-519: The Bible. 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. Of the evidence in question, John Haralson Hayes and James Maxwell Miller wrote in 2006: "If one is not convinced in advance by

4180-566: The City of David , which she believes date to the 10th century BCE. According to Mazar, this would prove that an organized state did exist in the 10th century. In 2006, Kenneth Kitchen came to a similar conclusion, arguing that "the physical archaeology of tenth-century Canaan is consistent with the former existence of a unified state on its terrain." Scholars such as Israel Finkelstein , Lily Singer-Avitz, Ze'ev Herzog and David Ussishkin do not accept these conclusions. Finkelstein does not accept

4275-556: The Israelites to send out a champion to face him in single combat. David, sent by his father to bring provisions to his brothers serving in Saul's army, declares that he can defeat Goliath. Refusing the king's offer of the royal armour, he kills Goliath with his sling . Saul inquires the name of the young hero's father. Saul sets David over his army. All Israel loves David, but his popularity causes Saul to fear him ("What else can he wish but

4370-657: The Lord and on 26 December (Synaxis of the Mother of God). 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 first through literature, and thereafter adopted as

4465-405: The Philistines march against Saul. David returns to Ziklag and saves his wives and the citizens from an Amalekite raid. Jonathan and Saul are killed in battle with the Philistines, and after hearing of their deaths, David travels to Hebron, where he is anointed king over Judah. In the north, Saul's son Ish-Bosheth is anointed king of Israel, and war ensues until Ish-Bosheth is murdered. With

4560-617: The Philistines, David and his men raid the Geshurites , the Girzites, and the Amalekites , but lead the royal court to believe they are attacking the Israelites, the Jerahmeelites , and the Kenites . While Achish comes to believe that David had become a loyal vassal , the princes (or lords) of Gath remain unconvinced, and at their request, Achish instructs David to remain behind to guard the camp when

4655-619: The Philistines, Saul heads to Ein Gedi in pursuit of David. Needing privacy " to attend to his needs ", Saul enters the cave where, as it happens, David and his supporters are hiding. David realises he has an opportunity to kill Saul, but instead, he secretly cuts off a piece of Saul's robe. When Saul leaves the cave, David comes out to pay homage to the king, and to demonstrate using the piece of robe that he holds no malice towards him. The two are thus reconciled and Saul recognises David as his successor. A similar passage occurs in 1 Samuel 26, when David

4750-571: The Quran of the wrong David did to Uriah nor any reference to Bathsheba , Muslims reject this narrative. Muslim tradition and the hadith stress David's zeal in daily prayer as well as in fasting . 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, his beautiful recitation, and his vocal talents. His voice

4845-665: 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 ), God also instructed David in

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4940-637: The United Monarchy theory. Mesha stele The Mesha Stele , also known as the Moabite Stone , is a stele dated around 840 BCE containing a significant Canaanite inscription in the name of King Mesha of Moab (a kingdom located in modern Jordan ). Mesha tells how Chemosh , the god of Moab, had been angry with his people and had allowed them to be subjugated to the Kingdom of Israel , but at length, Chemosh returned and assisted Mesha to throw off

5035-864: The Yizre'elite; Abigail , the widow 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 him, causing Palti great grief. 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 . 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. Jerimoth , who

5130-528: The age of 70 after reigning for 40 years, and on his deathbed counsels Solomon to walk in the ways of God and to take revenge on his enemies. The Book of Samuel calls David a skillful harp (lyre) player and "the sweet psalmist of Israel." 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 ),

5225-850: The ancient farming complexes excavated in the Valley of Rephaim is Er-Ras, an Iron age terraced farm. The Tel Aviv – Jerusalem railway, originally known as the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway , uses the entire length of the Valley of the Rephaim from Jerusalem to its junction with Nahal Sorek . [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Easton, Matthew George (1897). " Rephaim ". Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons. 31°45′47.53″N 35°13′8.84″E  /  31.7632028°N 35.2191222°E  / 31.7632028; 35.2191222 David (Italics indicate

5320-493: 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". The early Church believed that "the life of David foreshadowed

5415-556: The archaeological remains themselves cannot provide any unambiguous evidence of events." 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. Mazar proposed that these two structures may have been architecturally linked as one unit and that they date to the time of King David. Mazar supports this dating with

5510-408: The art of fashioning chain mail out of iron ( Q21:80 ); 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

5605-512: 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." This echoed the 1995 conclusion of Amélie Kuhrt , who noted that "there are no royal inscriptions from the time of the united monarchy (indeed very little written material altogether), and not

5700-407: The branches of a tree where, contrary to David's order, he is killed by Joab , the commander of David's army. 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!" until Joab persuades him to recover from "the extravagance of his grief" and to fulfill his duty to his people. David returns to Gilgal and

5795-615: The centuries. 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. He also had at least two sisters: Zeruiah , whose sons all went on to serve in David's army, and Abigail , whose son Amasa served in Absalom's army, Absalom being one of David's younger sons. While the Bible does not name his mother,

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5890-472: The child will. In fulfillment of Nathan's words, the child born of the union between David and Bathsheba dies, and another of David's sons, Absalom , fueled by vengeance and lust for power, rebels. 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

5985-551: The collection of the Louvre Museum in Paris , France , since 1873. Jordan has been demanding the stone slab's return to its place of origin since 2014. The stele is a smoothed block of basalt about a meter tall, 60 cm wide, and 60 cm thick, bearing a surviving inscription of 34 lines. Frederick Klein , an Anglican missionary, discovered the stone intact in August 1868 at

6080-513: The date of the story in the Persian or Hellenistic period" because a quarter-shekel was known to exist in Hasmonean times. The authors and editors of Samuel drew on many earlier sources, including, for their history of David, the "history of David's rise" and the "succession narrative". The Books 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. Biblical evidence indicates that David's Judah

6175-504: 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 . Aren Maeir said in 2010 that he has seen no evidence that these structures are from

6270-431: The death of Saul's son, the elders of Israel come to Hebron and David is anointed king over all of Israel. He conquers Jerusalem , previously a Jebusite stronghold, and makes it his capital. He brings the Ark of the Covenant to the city, 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. Nathan also prophesies that God has made

6365-472: The exact date of compilation. Other scholars believe that the Books of Samuel were substantially composed during the time of Josiah , king of Judah, at the end of the 7th century BCE, extended during the Babylonian captivity and substantially complete by about 550 BCE. Old Testament scholar A. Graeme Auld contends that further editing was done even after then—the silver quarter- shekel Saul's servant offers to Samuel in 1 Samuel 9:8 "almost certainly fixes

6460-455: The fragments and piece them together thanks to the impression made before the stele's destruction. The Mesha Stele, the first major epigraphic Canaanite inscription found in the Southern Levant , the longest Iron Age inscription ever found in the region, constitutes the major evidence for the Moabite language , and is a "corner-stone of Semitic epigraphy", and history. The stele, whose story parallels, with some differences, an episode in

6555-454: The future Messiah." 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". Western Rite churches ( Lutheran , Roman Catholic ) celebrate David's feast day on 29 December or 6 October, Eastern-rite on 19 December. The Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches celebrate

6650-533: The headings are late additions and no psalm can be attributed to David with certainty. Psalm 34 is attributed to David on the occasion of his escape from Abimelech (or King Achish ) by pretending to be insane. 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?" David

6745-404: The heat of battle. David then marries the widowed Bathsheba. 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." When David acknowledges that he has sinned , Nathan advises him that his sin is forgiven and he will not die, but

6840-420: The inscription uppermost. ... The stone is, as appears from the accompanying sketch, rounded on both sides, and not only at the upper end as mentioned by Monsieur Ganneau. In the lower corner sides there are not as many words of the inscription missing as would be the case if it were square at the bottom, as M. Ganneau was wrongly informed by his authority; for, as in the upper part, so also in the lower, in exactly

6935-474: The king will eventually make another attempt on his life. David appeals to king Achish of Gath to grant him and his family sanctuary. Achish agrees, and upon hearing that David has fled to Philistia, Saul ceases to pursue him, though no such pursuit seemed to be in progress at the time. Achish permits David to reside in Ziklag , close to the border between Philistia and Judah. To further ingratiate himself to Achish and

7030-407: The kingdom?"). Saul plots his death, but Saul's son Jonathan , 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

7125-450: The late 9th/early 8th centuries BCE. It commemorates the king's victory over two enemy kings, and contains the phrase 𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤃𐤅𐤃 , bytdwd , which most scholars translate as "House of David". Other scholars have challenged this reading, but this is likely a reference to a dynasty of the Kingdom of Judah which traced its ancestry to a founder named David. Two epigraphers , André Lemaire and Émile Puech , hypothesised in 1994 that

7220-451: The late eleventh century BCE. It can no longer be argued that the Kingdom of Judah developed only in the late eighth century BCE or at some other later date." But other scholars have criticized the techniques and interpretations to reach some conclusions related to Khirbet Qeiyafa, such as Israel Finkelstein and Alexander Fantalkin of Tel Aviv University , who have instead proposed that the city

7315-631: 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

7410-415: The most popular legends about David, including his killing of Goliath, his affair with Bathsheba , and his ruling of the unified 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. The Tel Dan stele , discovered in 1993, is an inscribed stone erected by Hazael , a king of Damascus in

7505-490: The mountainous Wilderness of Ziph . 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 . Returning from battle with

7600-432: The original stele containing most of the inscription, 613 letters out of about a thousand, were later recovered and pieced together. Of the existing stele fragments, the top right fragment contains 150 letters, the bottom right fragment includes 358 letters, the middle right contains 38, and the rest contains 67 letters. The remainder of the stele was reconstructed by Ganneau from the squeeze obtained by Caravacca. Visiting

7695-468: The phrase "House of David". 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. Besides the two steles, Bible scholar and Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen suggests that David's name also appears in a relief of the pharaoh Shoshenq I , who is usually identified with Shishak in

7790-429: The piece. A " squeeze " (a papier-mâché impression) of the full stele had been obtained just before its destruction. Ginsberg's translation of the official report, "Über die Auffindung der Moabitischen Inschrift", stated that Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau , an archaeologist based in the French consulate in Jerusalem, sent an Arab named Yacoub Caravacca to obtain the squeeze as he "did not want to venture to undertake

7885-472: 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 . 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

7980-435: The same way the lines become smaller by degrees. ...  according to my calculation, had thirty-four lines, for the two or three upper lines were very much obliterated. The stone itself was in a most perfect state of preservation not one single piece being broken off, and it was only from great age and exposure to the rain and sun, that certain parts, especially the upper and lower lines, had somewhat suffered. Pieces of

8075-4392: The site in 1872, Henry B. Tristram was convinced that the stele could not have been exposed for long and believed that it had probably been utilized as building material by the Roman era until thrown down in the Galilee earthquake of 1837 . The inscription, known as KAI 181 is pictured to the right, and presented here after Compston, 1919, to be read right to left.: 𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤌𐤔𐤏 𐤟 𐤁𐤍 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 ? ? 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤟 𐤌𐤀𐤁 𐤟 𐤄𐤃 ‎ 𐤉𐤁𐤍𐤉 | 𐤀𐤁𐤉 𐤟 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤟 𐤏𐤋 𐤟 𐤌𐤀𐤁 𐤟 𐤔𐤋𐤔𐤍 𐤟 𐤔𐤕 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤌𐤋𐤊 ‎ [𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤀𐤇𐤓 𐤟 𐤀𐤁𐤉 | 𐤅𐤀𐤏𐤔 𐤟 𐤄𐤁𐤌𐤕 𐤟 𐤆𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤋𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤁𐤒𐤓𐤇𐤄 | 𐤁[𐤍𐤎 𐤟 𐤉 ‎ 𐤔𐤏 𐤟 𐤊𐤉 𐤟 𐤄𐤔𐤏𐤍𐤉 𐤟 𐤌𐤊𐤋 𐤟 𐤄 𐤔 𐤋𐤊𐤍 𐤟 𐤅𐤊𐤉 𐤟 𐤄𐤓𐤀𐤍𐤉 𐤟 𐤁𐤊𐤋 𐤟 𐤔𐤍𐤀𐤉 | 𐤏𐤌𐤓 ‎ 𐤉 𐤟 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤟 𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 𐤟 𐤅𐤉𐤏𐤍𐤅 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤌𐤀𐤁 𐤟 𐤉𐤌𐤍 𐤟 𐤓𐤁𐤍 𐤟 𐤊𐤉 𐤟 𐤉 𐤀𐤍𐤐 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤁𐤀𐤓 ‎ 𐤑𐤄 | 𐤅𐤉𐤇𐤋𐤐𐤄 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤄 𐤟 𐤅𐤉𐤀𐤌𐤓 𐤟 𐤂𐤌 𐤟 𐤄𐤀 𐤟 𐤀𐤏𐤍𐤅 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤌𐤀𐤁 𐤟 | 𐤁𐤉𐤌𐤉 𐤟 𐤀𐤌𐤓 𐤟 𐤊 ‎ [𐤅𐤀𐤓𐤀 𐤟 𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤅𐤁𐤁𐤕𐤄 | 𐤅𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 𐤟 𐤀𐤁𐤃 𐤟 𐤀𐤁𐤃 𐤟 𐤏𐤋𐤌 𐤟 𐤅𐤉𐤓𐤔 𐤟 𐤏𐤌𐤓𐤉 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 [𐤀𐤓 ‎ 𐤑 𐤟 𐤌𐤄𐤃𐤁𐤀 | 𐤅𐤉𐤔𐤁 𐤟 𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤉𐤌𐤄 𐤟 𐤅𐤇𐤑𐤉 𐤟 𐤉𐤌𐤉 𐤟 𐤁𐤍 𐤄 𐤟 𐤀𐤓𐤁𐤏𐤍 𐤟 𐤔𐤕 𐤟 𐤅 𐤉 𐤔 ‎ 𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤁𐤉𐤌𐤉 | 𐤅𐤀𐤁𐤍 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤁𐤏𐤋𐤌𐤏𐤍 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤏𐤔 𐤟 𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤄𐤀𐤔𐤅𐤇 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤁 𐤍 ‎ 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤒𐤓𐤉𐤕𐤍 | 𐤅𐤀𐤔 𐤟 𐤂𐤃 𐤟 𐤉𐤔𐤁 𐤟 𐤁𐤀𐤓𐤑 𐤟 𐤏𐤈𐤓𐤕 𐤟 𐤌𐤏𐤋𐤌 𐤟 𐤅𐤉𐤁𐤍 𐤟 𐤋𐤄 𐤟 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤟𐤉 ‎ [ 𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤏𐤈𐤓𐤕 | 𐤅𐤀𐤋𐤕𐤇𐤌 𐤟 𐤁𐤒𐤓 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤇𐤆𐤄 | 𐤅𐤀𐤄𐤓𐤂 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤊𐤋 𐤟𐤄𐤏𐤌 𐤟 [𐤌 ‎ [𐤄𐤒𐤓 𐤟 𐤓𐤉𐤕 𐤟 𐤋𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤅𐤋𐤌𐤀𐤁 | 𐤅𐤀𐤔𐤁 𐤟 𐤌𐤔𐤌 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤀𐤓𐤀𐤋 𐤟 𐤃𐤅𐤃𐤄 𐤟 𐤅𐤀[𐤎 ‎ 𐤇𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤋𐤐𐤍𐤉 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤁𐤒𐤓𐤉𐤕 | 𐤅𐤀𐤔𐤁 𐤟 𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤀𐤔 𐤟 𐤔𐤓𐤍 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤀𐤔 ‎ 𐤌𐤇𐤓𐤕 | 𐤅𐤉𐤀𐤌𐤓 𐤟 𐤋𐤉 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤋𐤊 𐤟 𐤀𐤇𐤆 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤍𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤏𐤋 𐤟 𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 | 𐤅 𐤀 ‎ 𐤄𐤋𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤋𐤋𐤄 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤋𐤕𐤇𐤌 𐤟 𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤌𐤁𐤒𐤏 𐤟 𐤄𐤔𐤇𐤓𐤕 𐤟 𐤏𐤃 𐤟 𐤄𐤑𐤄𐤓𐤌 | 𐤅𐤀 𐤇 ‎ [𐤆 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤄𐤓𐤂 𐤟 𐤊𐤋 𐤄 𐤟 𐤔𐤁𐤏𐤕 𐤟 𐤀𐤋𐤐𐤍 𐤟 𐤂[𐤁]𐤓𐤍 𐤟 𐤅𐤂𐤓𐤍 | 𐤅𐤂𐤁𐤓𐤕 𐤟 𐤅[𐤂𐤓 ‎ [𐤕 𐤟 𐤅𐤓𐤇𐤌𐤕 | 𐤊𐤉 𐤟 𐤋𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤄𐤇𐤓𐤌𐤕𐤄 | 𐤅𐤀𐤒𐤇 𐤟 𐤌𐤔𐤌 𐤟 𐤀[𐤕 𐤟 𐤊 ‎ 𐤋𐤉 𐤟 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤎𐤇𐤁 𐤟 𐤄𐤌 𐤟 𐤋𐤐𐤍𐤉 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 | 𐤅𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤟 𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤄 𐤟 𐤀 𐤕 ‎ [𐤉𐤄𐤑 𐤟 𐤅𐤉𐤔𐤁 𐤟 𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤁𐤄𐤋𐤕𐤇𐤌𐤄 𐤟 𐤁𐤉 | 𐤅𐤉𐤂𐤓𐤔𐤄 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤌𐤐𐤍[𐤉 𐤅 ‎ 𐤟 𐤀𐤒𐤇 𐤟 𐤌𐤌𐤀𐤁 𐤟 𐤌𐤀𐤕𐤍 𐤟 𐤀𐤔 𐤟 𐤊𐤋 𐤟 𐤓𐤔𐤄 | 𐤅𐤀𐤔𐤀𐤄 𐤟 𐤁𐤉𐤄𐤑 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤇𐤆𐤄 ‎ 𐤋𐤎𐤐𐤕 𐤟 𐤏𐤋 𐤟 𐤃𐤉𐤁𐤍 | 𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤒𐤓𐤇𐤄 𐤟 𐤇𐤌𐤕 𐤟 𐤄𐤉𐤏𐤓𐤍 𐤟 𐤅𐤇𐤌𐤕 ‎ 𐤄𐤏𐤐𐤋 | 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤔𐤏𐤓𐤉𐤄 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤌𐤂𐤃𐤋𐤕𐤄 | 𐤅𐤀 ‎ 𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤁𐤕 𐤟 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤊𐤋𐤀𐤉 𐤟 𐤄𐤀𐤔[𐤅𐤇 𐤟 𐤋𐤌]𐤉𐤍 𐤟 𐤁𐤒𐤓 𐤁 ‎ 𐤄𐤒𐤓 | 𐤅𐤁𐤓 𐤟 𐤀𐤍 𐤟 𐤁𐤒𐤓𐤁 𐤟 𐤄𐤒𐤓 𐤟 𐤁𐤒𐤓𐤇𐤄 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤌𐤓 𐤟 𐤋𐤊𐤋 𐤟 𐤄𐤏𐤌 𐤟 𐤏𐤔𐤅 𐤟 𐤋 ‎ 𐤊𐤌 𐤟 𐤀𐤔 𐤟 𐤁𐤓 𐤟 𐤁𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤄 | 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤊𐤓𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤄𐤌𐤊𐤓𐤕𐤕 𐤟 𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤇𐤄 𐤟 𐤁𐤀𐤎𐤓 ‎ 𐤟 𐤉] 𐤟 𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 | 𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤏𐤓𐤏𐤓 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤄𐤌𐤎𐤋𐤕 𐤟 𐤁𐤀𐤓𐤍𐤍] ‎ 𐤟 𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤁𐤕 𐤟 𐤁𐤌𐤕 𐤟 𐤊𐤉 𐤟 𐤄𐤓𐤎 𐤟 𐤄𐤀 | 𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤁𐤑𐤓 𐤟 𐤊𐤉 𐤟 𐤏𐤉𐤍 ‎ 𐤔 𐤟 𐤃𐤉𐤁𐤍 𐤟 𐤇𐤌𐤔𐤍 𐤟 𐤊𐤉 𐤟 𐤊𐤋 𐤟 𐤃𐤉𐤁𐤍 𐤟 𐤌𐤔𐤌𐤏𐤕 | 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤌𐤋 𐤊 ‎ 𐤕 𐤉 .. 𐤌𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤁𐤒𐤓𐤍 𐤟 𐤀𐤔𐤓 𐤟 𐤉𐤎𐤐𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤏𐤋 𐤟 𐤄𐤀𐤓𐤑 | 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤕 ‎ 𐤉 𐤟 [𐤀𐤕 𐤟] 𐤌 𐤄 𐤃[𐤁]𐤀 𐤟 𐤅𐤁𐤕 𐤟 𐤃𐤁𐤋𐤕𐤍 | 𐤅𐤁𐤕 𐤟 𐤁𐤏𐤋𐤌𐤏𐤍 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤔𐤀 𐤟 𐤔𐤌 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤅 𐤒 𐤃 ‎ 𐤑𐤀𐤍 𐤟 𐤄𐤀𐤓𐤑 | 𐤅𐤇𐤅𐤓𐤍𐤍 𐤟 𐤉𐤔𐤁 𐤟 𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤁 𐤕 𐤟 𐤅 𐤒 𐤟 𐤀 𐤔 .... ‎ 𐤅 𐤉𐤀𐤌𐤓 𐤟 𐤋𐤉 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤓𐤃 𐤟 𐤄𐤋𐤕𐤇𐤌 𐤟 𐤁𐤇𐤅𐤓𐤍𐤍 | 𐤅𐤀 𐤓 𐤃 .... ‎ 𐤅𐤉𐤔]𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤁𐤉𐤌𐤉 𐤟 𐤅𐤏𐤋 𐤟 𐤓𐤄 𐤟 𐤌𐤔𐤌 𐤟 𐤏𐤔]..... ‎ 𐤔 𐤕 𐤟 𐤔𐤃𐤒 | 𐤅𐤀𐤍 ‎ ............ It describes: Here

8170-526: The site of ancient Dibon (now Dhiban, Jordan ). Klein was led to it by Sattam Al-Fayez , son of Fendi Al-Fayez , the tribal chief or emir of the Bani Sakher . Although neither of them could read the text. At that time, amateur explorers and archaeologists were scouring the Levant for evidence proving the historicity of the Bible . News of the finding set off a race among France, Britain, and Germany to acquire

8265-402: The stele in August 1868: ... I afterwards ascertained that [Ganneau's] assertion as to no European having, before me, seen the stone was perfectly true. ... I am sorry to find that I was also the last European who had the privilege of seeing this monument of Hebrew antiquity in its perfect state of preservation. ... The stone was lying among the ruins of Dhiban perfectly free and exposed to view,

8360-505: 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

8455-526: The time of Pharaoh Akhenaten . While Mazar believes that David reigned over Israel during the 11th century BCE, he argues that much of the Biblical text is of "literary-legendary nature". According to William G. Dever, the reigns of Saul , David and Solomon are reasonably well attested, but "most archeologists today would argue that the United Monarchy was not much more than a kind of hill-country chiefdom". Lester L. Grabbe wrote in 2017: "The main question

8550-507: 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

8645-437: The very costly [and dangerous] journey" himself. Caravacca was injured by the local Bedouin while obtaining the squeeze, and one of his two accompanying horsemen protected the squeeze by tearing it still damp from the stone in seven fragments before escaping. In November 1869, the stele was broken by the local Bedouins , the Bani Hamida , after the Ottoman government became involved in the ownership dispute. The previous year

8740-538: The yoke of Israel and restore the lands of Moab. Mesha also describes his many building projects. It is written in a variant of the Phoenician alphabet , closely related to the Paleo-Hebrew script . The stone was discovered intact by Frederick Augustus Klein , an Anglican missionary, at the site of ancient Dibon (now Dhiban, Jordan ), in August 1868. A " squeeze " (a papier-mâché impression) had been obtained by

8835-471: Was intercepted. While David and his army were encamped here, there occurred the battle narrated in 2 Samuel 5:17–25 and 1 Chronicles 14:8–12 . Having obtained divine direction, David led his army against the Philistines, and gained a complete victory over them. The scene of this victory was afterwards called Baal-perazim . A second time, however, the Philistines rallied their forces in this valley ( 2 Samuel 5:22 and 1 Chronicles 14:13–16 ). Again, warned by

8930-422: Was something less than a full-fledged monarchy: it often calls him nagid "prince, chief" (Hebrew: נָגִיד , romanized:  nāgīḏ ), rather than melekh "king" ( מֶלֶךְ ); David sets up none of the complex bureaucracy that a kingdom needs. His army is made up of volunteers and his followers are largely relations or from his home region of Hebron . Beyond this, the full range of possible interpretations

9025-475: Was sweeter to him than the love of a woman", has been compared to Achilles ' comparison of Patroclus to a girl and Gilgamesh 's love for Enkidu "as a woman". Others hold that the David story is a political apology—an answer to contemporary charges against him, of his involvement in murders and regicide. The authors and editors of Samuel and Chronicles aimed not to record history but to promote David's reign as inevitable and desirable, and for this reason there

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