David

DAVID (Heb. Dāwīdh "Beloved, Dear"). - Second king of the people of Israel (c. 1000-960 B.C.), who brought it to the height of prosperity; he remained in the Bible as the ideal of the Yahwist king. No one else in the Bible bears his name: of no one, Jesus excepted, is so much said as of him (especially from I Sam. 16 to I Kings 2; I Chron. 10-29).

I. HIS LIFE.

1. Until the death of Saul (I Sam. 16-31)

The youngest son of Jesse (Isai), D. was a young shepherd when he was secretly anointed king of the people of God by Samuel (v.), after the transgression of Saul (I Sam. 16).

He lived, perhaps for months, perhaps for some years, first temporarily as a harpist, then (after the killing of Goliath) definitively as an officer and son-in-law at the court of Saul, who, however, soon passed from the most enthusiastic love to the most frenzied hatred, out of envy. Sought for death repeatedly, and always, through manifest divine assistance, coming out unharmed, he was finally forced to flee. He thought of going to the Philistines, the strong enemies of his people; there Saul would not have been able to reach him. But the attempt failed, for too vivid was still the memory of Goliath slain by him. He then gave himself over to a wandering life in the desert regions of the south, accompanied by a band of 400-600 men. Pursued even there, he had Saul within reach of his sword twice, but he spared him. After perhaps a year or more of this life, to free himself from the incessant persecution, he again attempted the passage into Philistia, and this second time he was received by Achish (v.), king of Gath, together with his band. Considered a fugitive, he was given the village of Ziklag, with the obligation of contributions from the booty of his raids. He had been in Philistine territory for some years when, war having broken out between the Philistines and Israel, he too had to set out with his men against Saul; but, because of the justified fears of Achish's colleagues, he was sent back. At Gilboa (c. 1000) Saul perished with his son Jonathan, the intimate friend of D.; the latter sincerely mourned the two dead and the catastrophe of Israel in a famous song.

2. D. king of Judah (II Sam. 2-4)

At the death of Saul D. was 30 years old (II Sam. 5:4). To draw near at once to his people, following divine indication he came with his men to Hebron (tribe of Judah), where, a Judean by birth and a benefactor of the Judean groups during the exile, he was received with enthusiasm and anointed king: there they had no special reasons to remain faithful to the half-destroyed dynasty of Saul, and on the other hand an authority was by now needed.

He continued, however, although king, to hold Ziklag and to show himself a vassal of the Philistines. Nor did these have anything to fear from the new small state, which favored their designs of dominion over Israel divided in two and therefore weakened. In the north, with its seat in Transjordan, a son of Saul, Ishbaal (or Ishbosheth), was king; in name only, however: in fact, for 5 years, his general Abner was king, who little by little succeeded in driving out the invading Philistines. When Abner, having understood that the winner of the competition would be D., negotiated secretly with him, he was treacherously killed by Joab, nephew of D., who feared losing his supremacy over the army. After another 2 years the inept Ishbaal was removed by two of his officers who went over to D., receiving however at once death as the reward for their regicide. D. had been king for 7 years and 6 months.

3. D. king of all Israel (II Sam. 5 - I Kings 2)

The union between the northern kingdom and that of Judah was peaceful: the initiative came from the north, as soon as Ishbaal died, and D. gladly welcomed them (II Sam. 5:1-5): it was around 993. The Philistines, wishing to reduce the rebellious vassal to obedience, invaded the territory of Judah several times; but D. did not accept battle, he contented himself with skirmishes and dealt hard blows to the attackers. After two decisive victories won over the Philistines in the valley of the Rephaim near Jerusalem, definitive superiority was achieved over the age-old enemy, who from the Mediterranean Pentapolis had pressed insistently to open a way toward the great trade routes of Damascus and Mesopotamia. It was probably immediately afterward that D. accomplished his most famous feat, which brought fully to light his political shrewdness and strategic skill: he chose as his capital and captured Jerusalem, a highly central fortress that had until then remained in the power of a surviving Canaanite group, the Jebusites; he established his residence there, enriching it with buildings and fortifying its walls (II Sam. 5:6-25). The new capital, however, still lacked being the religious center of the nation. The Holy Ark was far away, while nearby stood the ancient and venerated sanctuary of Gibeon, officiated by the priest Zadok. A compromise was reached: in Jerusalem a new tabernacle was built and the Ark was brought into it, served by the family of Abiathar, the priest who, having escaped the massacre of his family (v. ACHIMELER), had followed D. in the desert; the Mosaic tabernacle of Gibeon continued to be served by the family of Zadok: a strange situation (two pontiffs simultaneous) that would be resolved at the advent of Solomon with the fall of Abiathar: Zadok would move to Jerusalem with the Mosaic furnishings of Gibeon, and that sacred place would fall into disuse.

Without chronological order, the biblical sources give us accounts of several other wars waged by David against neighboring peoples (II Sam. 8-12; I Chron. 18-20). Just as the war with the Philistines led to Israel's independence in its own land, so these consolidated and extended its power. An offense done to his ambassadors gave David the occasion to turn eastward against the Ammonites (v.), who allied themselves with various Aramean chiefs of the north. In two years the campaign ended with the submission of the Ammonite kingdom to tribute. He then turned north against the Arameans, formerly allies of Ammon: he defeated them and, besides a great booty of metals and horses, placed an Israelite garrison in Damascus to ensure the annual payment of tribute and his own commerce. Other Aramean princes declared themselves his allies, offering gifts. Then came the turn of the Moabites to the southeast, subjected, it seems, to tribute after a severe decimation. The most difficult campaign was perhaps that against the Edomites to the south, also because of the distance from Israelite centers and the desert regions: it lasted several months and was a war of extermination. The greatest result was to have free the route - vital for commerce and later traveled by Solomon - toward the southern seas (v. ASIONGABER). Those peoples were defeated, not subdued; but Israel was touching for the first time the borders of the Promised Land fixed by God: from the pass of Hamath to the brook of Egypt. Having then allied itself with Tyre, Israel obtained the first place among the small states of Syria. Having reached such power, David conceived the design of erecting a sumptuous temple to the Lord: he gathered precious material for the purpose and made, it seems, a detailed plan of the construction. But God, through the prophet Nathan, disapproved of this plan, promising David instead an eternal kingdom (a clear prophecy of the messianic kingdom: II Sam. 7).

In step with the extension of the borders, the internal organization of the State was carried out. At the basis of this undertaking certainly lies the census (II Sam. 24), perhaps premature, in any case imprudent both from the political and from the religious standpoint. David's subjects numbered about 4 million: but God, indignant, punished him with a violent three-day plague. If the census was submitted to without revolts, this proves how far David had advanced on the path of unification: but the rivalries between the northern and southern tribes were more dormant than extinguished. The census, besides a rational division of taxes, allowed David to organize the army better. Saul had already gathered a small permanent army which David increased. He also hired, especially as his personal guard, foreign troops such as the Cherethites and Pelethites, in Hebrew Kērēthī and Pēlēthī (probably of Mediterranean origin like the Philistines); but the mass of the combatants was always summoned from time to time on the occasion of war. Of the civil organization we have only some mention in the names of certain court offices, to which perhaps correspond our own of chancellor, minister for foreign affairs, overseer of works and tributes, councilor of State.

Important too was the ordering of worship, to which David applied himself no fewer than twice, as soon as the Ark was transported to Jerusalem (I Chron. 16) and at the end of his life (I Chron. 23-26). At Gibeon the twofold daily sacrifice was to be offered and the rites were solemnized by chants entrusted to a body of musicians; to other Levites fell the guarding of the doors of the sanctuary. The same thing was done at Jerusalem. The second time David ordered a twofold general census of the Levites, following which all those who had completed 20 years were registered; the priests were divided into 24 turns of service; secondary Levite groups were instituted for assistance to the priests; three groups of singers were chosen; to others were entrusted the various tasks of maintenance and supervision of the sacred place. Thus the great plan of Moses began to be realized, although the uniqueness of the place of worship had not yet been reached. Such a liturgical reform, for the time in which it was made, may be called imposing. Great influence on David was had by the prophets Samuel, Gad and principally Nathan: very different from Saul, David always docilely followed their signals.

Like every oriental king, in a time when polygamy was permitted, David had about twenty wives. After Michal, daughter of Saul, some had served to connect him by marriage with foreign princes, or to make him a member of strong southern clans from when he was an outlaw (thus the wise Abigail). But the most famous was Bathsheba, wrongfully taken by David, during the Ammonite war, from his own officer Uriah, who was then treacherously put to death. From his many children, whom David loved to the point of weakness, came the evils; Absalom (v.) especially jeopardized all the king's great constructive work. These troubles occurred in the last fifteen years of David's life. Absalom had killed at a country banquet his brother Amnon, to avenge Tamar, his sister by the same mother, violated by Amnon two years earlier. Having fled to the king of Geshur, his maternal grandfather, he obtained to return after three years, and, after another two, to be readmitted to the king's presence. But after four years of most skillful propaganda he proclaimed himself king in Hebron, marched against his father, who hastily abandoned the capital and took refuge in Transjordan, where he succeeded in forming an army: in the encounter Absalom was defeated and killed (II Sam. 13-18). Immediately afterward, the northern tribes rebelled; but after Sheba, the leader, was betrayed by his own, everything was settled again. There remained only the rivalries among his sons. David died of old age, at 70, after having had Solomon consecrated king, the son born to him by his beloved Bathsheba.

II. THE THEOCRATIC KING, TYPE OF THE MESSIAH

David's successes in every field certainly have their ultimate explanation in the divine will: but among natural causes, the principal one is to be recognized in his powerful and fascinating personality. His exceptional courage and skill in warlike enterprises, his magnanimity toward enemies, his genius for command and organization, his perspicacity and eloquence, all of it joined to an outward appearance of manly beauty, conferred on him an irresistible empire over even the most turbulent of subjects. As a politician he had a deep and far-seeing eye: if it was God who led him to the throne, he seconded events with exceptional shrewdness. His chief merit was a sincere religious piety: he lived his whole life, despite the sad episode of his sin, religiously, always animated by the same unshakable faith in the Lord who had already moved him against the Philistine giant; most humble, he sometimes stooped to offices (such as dancing before the Ark) that the proud Michal deemed unworthy of a king; but the place where he poured out his whole soul, full of love and gratitude to God, was the Psalms (we possess about seventy of them), with such depth of tone that after thirty centuries they have lost nothing of their relevance and freshness. In short, he was a true saint, to whom the crisis of sin gave occasion for long penance. Rightly, therefore, David remained the ideal of the Israelite king, so much so that, in order to give a judgment on his successors, the sacred historians limit themselves to saying whether or not they walked in the ways of the "servant of God David."

David was a type of the Messiah. He prefigured his meekness and generosity in forgiving (a virtue, in his times, unknown), the glory of his kingdom and his pacifying mission. He foretold, of the Messiah, his devotion to the sublime mission, his inexpressible sufferings, his resurrection from death, his throne eternally enduring despite the bitterest oppositions, his very divinity (Ps. 2; 15; 21; 68; 108). So connatural had the idea become that David and the Messiah were the same thing, that Jeremiah and Ezekiel would go so far as to use the name of David as a synonym for Messiah (Ez. 34:23 etc.). The act of faith in the messiahship of Jesus (born of Davidic stock; cf. Mt. 1:1) was expressed in the cry: "Son of David!" (Mk. 10:48; 11:10).

Post-Christian rabbinic literature is full of the name and work of David; the Quran mentions him several times, assigning him a splendid place in Paradise. The episodes of his life, so rich in moral lessons, recur often in the writings of the Church Fathers. The Jews celebrate his birth and death on the second day of Pentecost; the Greeks and Maronites commemorate him on the Sunday after Christmas; the Armenians on December 22; the Copts on December 19; the Melkites on December 26; the Roman Martyrology on December 29.

Gino Bressan

III. IDIOGRAPHIC PSALM OF DAVID

A short poem of 8 verses, which in the manuscripts and editions of the Greek Bible is read at the end of the Psalter as Ps. 151. In the title there is a curious historical presentation, which describes its supposed origin and marks, at least implicitly, its extracanonical character: "This psalm was particularly written (ἰδιόγραφος) for D., but outside the number, when he fought alone against Goliath."

In it D. celebrates his election as king, alluding to his early life as a little shepherd and insisting on God's mercy, who preferred him to his brothers endowed with better physical qualities. Verses 7-8 briefly recall the encounter with the giant Goliath (cf. 1 Sam. 17:4 ff.). The psalm offers nothing of particular note, since the various pieces of information are drawn from biblical texts. About its origin only very vague conjectures can be made. In all probability it was composed between the 2nd century B.C. and the turn of the Christian era, the most prolific period of Jewish apocrypha. The psalm has been handed down not only in Greek, perhaps its original language, but also in Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, and Latin. Verses 3-4 have entered the liturgy (responsory at the sixth lesson of the 4th-11th Sundays after Pentecost).

Angelo Penna

IV. CHRISTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY

In buildings of worship the oldest representation of D. fighting Goliath is in the domus ecclesia of Dura Europos (v.) in Mesopotamia. A painting on the vault of cubiculum III in the cemetery of Domitilla in Rome, dated to the first half of the 3rd century, shows D. in an exomis tunic, armed with a sling in his right hand. This representation, as regards its symbolic meaning, is placed by Wilpert among those concerning the invocation of God's assistance for the souls of the departed. "Libera, Domine, animam eius (defuncti) sicut liberasti D. de manu regia Saul et de manu Goliath" (from the Ordo commendationis animae). This symbolism is confirmed in certain Christian sarcophagi of Gaul with the scene of the combat between the biblical hero and Goliath, also depicted in the precious lipsanotheca of the museum of Brescia (4th century). A fresco of the presbytery of the church of S. Maria Antiqua in Rome, executed under the pontificate of John VII (705-707), shows D. in the act of cutting off the head of the fallen giant. Other moments and episodes of the story of D. are depicted in a sarcophagus of Marseilles, with the offering of the head of Goliath to Saul, and in a panel of the door of the church of S. Ambrogio in Milan, attributed to the 4th century, with the scene of D. receiving the messenger of Saul. A group of Cypriot silver plates of the 6th century offers a rich repertory of scenes from the story of D., among which are to be noted for the novelty of their subjects: D. killing the bear, D. killing the lion, D. and a warrior, the anointing of D., the presentation of D. to Saul, D. clothed in arms, the marriage of D. In the paintings of the sepulchral chapels of Bāwīṭ (Middle Egypt) of the 6th or 7th century, but with motifs from the Early Christian repertory, D. appears in the cycle of the episodes of his youth (unique is the type of D. as cupbearer) and in his royal majesty. The principal events of the hero's life up to his coronation are represented in twelve tablets of an ivory coffer of the cathedral of Sens, of Byzantine imitation, but of late date (12th century). His figure as shepherd and as king also appears in the miniatures of codices of the 10th-11th centuries. In the field of epigraphy, mention should be made of an inscription on a bronze basin of Visigothic art, of the 6th-7th century, which commemorates the victory of D. - See plate LXXXII.

Luigi Maria Catteruccia