David was born in Bethlehem, of the Judah tribe, in about
1030 BCE and he died in Jerusalem in 962 BCE. At the time of his death, the
land of Canaan had been recently split into two regions- Judah and Israel.
David grew up as a shepherd and an accomplished musician. The previous king
before him was Saul, who ruled from 1025-1004. David later married Saul's
daughter Michal. David fought in the Philistine
Wars for many years along side Saul before he was king. David gained
much of his fame because of his encounter with the Philistine giant Goliath. David did very well on battle and some say he had God on his side.
Because of this, King Saul got very jealous and wanted him dead. David spent
many years in exile, hiding from Saul. In this time of exile David composed
his book of Psalms which later went into the Bible. When Saul was killed
in a battle fighting the Philistines, David became the King of Israel. Another
reason some say that David became king is because of Saul's irreverance to
God, which angered the people. At first, God told the prophet Samuel to annoint
Saul with holy oil, and for him to be king. Saul was king for 21 years, but
he disobeyed God and so God told Samuel to annoint David.
Reign
During the civil war that divided Canaan into Judah
and Israel, David and his group of men, called the "mighty men of David",
captured the city of Jerusalem and made it David's capital, where he would
later on build a great temple. He defeated the Philistines, and other hostile
neighbors such as the Moab, Edom, Ammon, and Aram. He extended the boundaries
of Israel to Egypt and the Euphrates. To make holy the city of Jerusalem,
David brought in the Ark of the Covenant, which was under Philistine control,
which was a vessel which housed the original pieces of the Ten Commandments.
Soon after the taking of the city of Jerusalem, David had some problems
with his personal life. He commited the sin of adultery, when one day he
saw the beautiful woman Bathsheba bathing in the fountain. He followed his
lustful wants and she gave birth to one of his children. David went even
further as to have her husband killed. Some say that the son of Bathsheba
and David died because of this sin, but then she gave birth to Solomon, a
second son, who would later succeed David on the throne of Israel. David's
sons from marriage to Michal were greatly angered when Solomon, his bastard
child was going to be the heir to David and so they staged a revolt against
David, which was not successful. David was significant to the overall development
of Jerusalem because he practically built it. He was the first king who took
Jerusalem as his capital. This is an argument for why the Jews should have
Jerusalem because the took the city first as their capital. David beautified
the city with the first temple and many
other things. David died in about 962 BCE peacefully while his two sons
from different women fought over who was going to be David's heir to the
throne.
