David (Hebrew: דָּוִד, דָּוִיד, David Dāwîḏ; Dawid; Arabic: داود Dāwūd) was a culture hero, and according to the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and according to the New Testament Gospels of Matthew and Luke an ancestor of Jesus. His life is conventionally dated to c. 1040–970 BCE, his reign over Judah c. 1010–1002 BCE, and his reign over the United Kingdom of Israel c. 1002–970 BCE.
The Books of Samuel, 1 Kings, and 1 Chronicles are the only sources of information on David, although the Tel Dan stele (dated c.850–835 BCE) contains the phrase ביתדוד (bytdwd), read as "House of David", which some take as confirmation of the existence in the mid-9th century BCE of a Judean royal dynasty called the House of David. The Mesha Stele from Moab, dating from approximately the same period, may also contain the name David in line 12, where the interpretation is uncertain, and in line 31, where one destroyed letter must be supplied by conjectural emendation.
David is very important to Jewish, Christian and Islamic doctrine and culture. In the Bible, David, or David HaMelekh, is the King of Israel, and the Jewish people. Biblical tradition maintains that a direct descendant of David will be the Messiah. In Islam he is considered to be a prophet and the king of a nation. He is depicted as a righteous king, though not without faults, as well as an acclaimed warrior, musician, and poet, traditionally credited for composing many of the psalms contained in the Book of Psalms.
Read more about David: Legend and Legacy
Famous quotes containing the word david:
“The style, the house and grounds, and “entertainment” pass for nothing with me. I called on the king, but he made me wait in his hall, and conducted like a man incapacitated for hospitality. There was a man in my neighborhood who lived in a hollow tree. His manners were truly regal. I should have done better had I called on him.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A temple, you know, was anciently “an open place without a roof,” whose walls served merely to shut out the world and direct the mind toward heaven; but a modern meeting-house shuts out the heavens, while it crowds the world into still closer quarters.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The shore is composed of a belt of smooth rounded white stones like paving-stones, excepting one or two short sand beaches, and is so steep that in many places a single leap will carry you into water over your head; and were it not for its remarkable transparency, that would be the last to be seen of its bottom till it rose on the opposite side. Some think it is bottomless.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)