DAVID (Heb., beloved). A king of Israel, the youngest son of Jesse, a Judean, dwelling in Bethlehem. His family was one of the principal ones in the town. The number of Jesse's sons is given by later tradition as seven (I. Chron. 13-15). hut as eight in Sam. xvii. 12. The chro nology of David's reign is very doubtful. but it is certain that the traditional date, B.C. 1055-1.5, is too early and must be reduced by thirty-five to forty years. The duration of his reign is fixed at forty years (1. Kings ii. 11) ; but this number, a round one, is open to suspicion. so that all that can be stated is that his career falls between the last quarter of the eleventh and the first quarter of the tenth century B.c. The biblical account of David is found in (I) I. Sam. xvi. I.
Kings ii. and (2) in I. Citron. ii., iii., and x.-xxix. Of these two sources the first alone can lay claim to historical value. The second, in so far as it is not based on the other (see Cunoxi ctEs), must be used with great caution. and its statements are as a general thing to be discarded as unhistorical or untrustworthy; while the pic ture that it gives of the King, differing consider ably from that found in the books of Samuel, is an idealized David, such as he had become by the third century B.C. in the mind of a pious Jew. Coining to the narrative in Samuel and Kin great difficulties confront the critic. largely to the composite character of the historical docu ments and in part to the corrupt state of the text. The existence of 'doublets.' i.e. two accounts of the same event, in the story of David is believed suf ficient to show that in the Book of Samuel dif ferent documents have been pieced together. Thus we have two accounts of David's introduc tion to Saul (I. Sam. xvi. 19-23 and xvii. xviii. 5) ; of the slaying of Goliath (I. Sam. xvii. 5 and II. Sam. xxi. 19) ; of Saul's throwing a spear at David (I. Sam. xviii. 10-11 and xix. 9-10) ; and more of the same sort. All these donblets, however, are limited to the First Book of Samuel, and from the ninth chapter of the Second Book of Samuel to the end of the twentieth chapter we have a continuous narra tive, which is brought to a close in the first two chapters of I. Kings. Chapters xxi. to xxiv. of the
Second Book of Samuel again represent an addi tion of a composite character like the first eight chapters of the First Book of Samuel, and in ad dition to these we have a number of editorial additions and interpolations, of which the two principal ones are II. Sam. viii. I-15 and I. Kings ii. 1-12. Of these authorities. the most authentic, according to the critical view. is the long, continuous narrative of the Second Book of Samuel. But even the author of this, while lie had trustworthy documents at his disposal, was not a contemporary of David. The (late of the other sections is made to vary from a period as old as II. Sam. ix.-xx. down to the days of .Josiah (n.c. G39-608). But in even the oldest there is already manifest a tendency to idealize David, whieh, weak at first, becomes more pronounced as the popular hero recedes into the background of history and becomes a favorite subject for ro mance. legend, poetical embellishment, and event ually the type of the ideal king and religious poet. In consequence. it is not easy to pick out the genuinely historical incidents in David's career and piece them together into a continuous narrative. Thus the story of David's encounter with the giant Goliath is believed to be a piece of romance (I. Sam. xvii.-xviii.) and the genuine account of Goliath's death to be found in II. Sam. xxi. 19, where we learn that Elhauan was the slayer. Similarly, the stories of David and Jonathan's friendship are romantic, though based on historical facts. On the other hand, there is no reason to question that lie acquired musical skill, which, together with his personal charm and the indications that he gave of becom ing valorous in war, attracted Said to him and led to his entering into close relations with the 'melancholy' King. He becomes Saul's armor hearer, and among the personal services that he renders is to be reckoned his soothing the King by achievements in minstrelsy. His success in the wars against the Philistines increases his popularity with King and people, and he homilies the son-in-law of the King by marrying Alichal.