The Shepherd King
Meet David
The youngest of Jesse’s sons, a harp player, an outlaw, and the king later kings of Judah were measured against.
“I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart.”
David was the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem in the hill country of Judah. The books of Samuel follow him from his father’s flocks to Saul’s court, to years as an outlaw in the wilderness, to the throne of Judah at Hebron and then of all Israel at Jerusalem. They give his reign as forty years. By the most common reckoning, that’s about 1010 to 970 BC; some put it about ten years later.
His name appears in the Bible more than a thousand times, more often than Moses’ or Abraham’s. Seventy-three psalms carry it in their Hebrew headings. Chronicles tells his reign a second time, leaving out his affair with Bathsheba and Absalom’s revolt, and the New Testament opens by tracing Jesus’ line back to him (Matthew 1:1).
Outside the Bible, his name has turned up on stone. An Aramaic victory inscription found at Tel Dan in 1993, carved in the 800s BC, a century or more after his time, names the king of Judah as king of “the house of David.” Most scholars read it that way; a few dispute it. How large his kingdom really was is one of the liveliest arguments in biblical archaeology, and Legacy will take it up.
This is his story in seven parts and a Legacy, built from Samuel, Kings, Chronicles and the Psalms, and from the scholars and excavators who study them. Where the Bible’s own accounts differ, or the scholars do, these pages set the views side by side. The second part, on Goliath, is written first; the others are coming.
Read 2 · The valley of ElahHis life at a glance
- 1 Sam 16Anointed by Samuel in Bethlehem, the youngest of Jesse’s sons. Joins Saul’s court to play the harp.
- 1 Sam 17Kills the Philistine champion Goliath in the valley of Elah.
- 1 Sam 18–20Swears friendship with Saul’s son Jonathan and marries Saul’s daughter Michal. Flees when Saul tries to kill him.
- 1 Sam 21–30An outlaw in the caves and wilderness of Judah, then a year and four months in the service of Achish, king of Gath.
- 1 Sam 31 – 2 Sam 2About 1010 BCSaul and Jonathan die in battle on Mount Gilboa. At thirty, David is made king of Judah at Hebron.
- 2 Sam 5About 1003 BCKing of all Israel. Takes Jerusalem from the Jebusites and makes it his capital.
- 2 Sam 6Brings the ark of the covenant up to Jerusalem, dancing before it.
- 2 Sam 7Through the prophet Nathan, God promises him a dynasty that will last forever.
- 2 Sam 11–12Takes Bathsheba and has her husband Uriah killed. Nathan confronts him with a parable. Solomon is born.
- 2 Sam 15–18His son Absalom proclaims himself king. David flees Jerusalem, and Absalom dies in the battle that follows.
- 1 Kgs 1–2About 970 BCNames Solomon king, and dies after forty years on the throne.
The dates are the conventional ones, worked back from the kings who came after him, and all are approximate. The Bible gives his age at the start of his reign as thirty, and its length as forty years (2 Samuel 5:4).
Walk through his story
Each part has a short story, a feature that sets the sources side by side, and a closer look for anyone who wants to go deeper. Read them in order, or start anywhere.
Reading the Bible through? David’s story runs from Day 110 to Day 139 of the plan, with the psalms whose headings tie them to his life set beside the chapters.
Open Day 110