david

David (; Hebrew: דָּוִד‎, Modern: Davīd, Tiberian: Dāwīḏ) is described in the Hebrew Bible as a king of the United Monarchy of Israel and Judah. In the Books of Samuel, David is a young shepherd and harpist who gains fame by slaying the giant Goliath, a champion of the Philistines in southern Canaan. David becomes a favorite of the first king of united Israel, Saul, and forges a close friendship with Jonathan, a son of Saul. Paranoid that David is seeking to usurp the throne, Saul attempts to kill David, forcing the latter to go into hiding and operate as a fugitive for several years. After Saul and Jonathan are both killed in battle against the Philistines, a 30-year-old David is anointed king over all of Israel and Judah, following which he conquers the city of Jerusalem, establishes it as Israel's capital, and takes the Ark of the Covenant into the city to be the centre-point of worship in the Israelite religion.
According to the biblical narrative, David commits adultery with Bathsheba, leading him to arrange the death of her husband, Uriah the Hittite. David's son Absalom later schemes to overthrow him and, during the ensuing rebellion, David flees Jerusalem, but returns after Absalom's death to continue his reign over Israel and Judah. He desires to construct a temple to Yahweh in which to house the Ark but, because he shed much blood, Yahweh denies David the opportunity to do so. David rules as king of the Israelites until his death at age 70, prior to which he chooses Solomon, a son born to him and Bathsheba, to be his successor instead of Adonijah, his eldest surviving son. He is honored in prophetic literature as an ideal king and the forefather of the future Hebrew Messiah, and many psalms are ascribed to him.Historians of the Ancient Near East agree that David probably lived around 1000 BCE, but there is little else that is agreed on about him as a historical figure. The Tel Dan stele, a Canaanite-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damascus in the late-9th/early-8th centuries BCE to commemorate his victory over two enemy kings, contains the Hebrew-language phrase Beit David (ביתדוד‎), which most scholars translate as "House of David". The Mesha stele, erected by king Mesha of Moab in the 9th century BCE, may also refer to the "House of David", but this is disputed. Apart from this, all that is known of David comes from biblical literature, the historicity of which is doubtful, and there is little detail about David that is concrete and undisputed.David is richly represented in post-biblical Jewish written and oral tradition, and is discussed in the New Testament. The early Christians interpreted the life of Jesus in light of references to the Hebrew Messiah and to David; Jesus is described as being descended from David in the gospels of Matthew and of Luke. The biblical character of David has inspired many interpretations in art and literature over centuries. In the Quran and hadith, David is mentioned as a prophet-king of Allah.