David: the Reign · Bible Guide

KING OF JUDAH, THEN OF ALL ISRAEL · UNITED KINGDOM

David. Seven years in Hebron, thirty-three in Jerusalem.

REIGNEDi

40 years 6 months c. 1010–970 BC (dates vary)

CAPITAL

Jerusalem

HOUSE

House of David 3rd of 4 in The united kingdom

VERDICT

✓ Did right “David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded…”

PROPHETS

Samuel · Gad · Nathan

THE UNITED KINGDOM: 4 RULERS SAUL → SOLOMON

THE ANOINTING

How David was anointed

Samuel anointed David, Jesse's youngest son, at Bethlehem “in the midst of his brethren”, while Saul still reigned. 1 Samuel 16:1–13
After Saul's death David asked the LORD where to go, went up to Hebron, and “the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah”. 2 Samuel 2:1–4
After Abner and Ish-bosheth were dead, the tribes came to Hebron; David “made a league with them”, and “they anointed David king over Israel”. 2 Samuel 5:1–3
Chronicles tells only this last anointing, “according to the word of the LORD by Samuel”, and lists the armed men of every tribe who came to Hebron “to make David king over all Israel”. 1 Chronicles 11:1–3 1 Chronicles 12:23 1 Chronicles 12:38
From the textSo 1–2 Samuel record three anointings: by Samuel at Bethlehem, by Judah at Hebron, and by Israel's elders at Hebron. 1 Samuel 16:13 2 Samuel 2:4 2 Samuel 5:3

SUCCESSION

The two kingdoms

ON THE WORLD STAGE: The Philistines · Aram (Zobah and Damascus) · Hamath · Ammon · Moab and Edom · Tyre · Geshur · Amalek

THE VERDICT

How Scripture judges the reign

“David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite”

1 Kings 15:5 (KJV) →

BUT ALSO

Kings' verdict names its one exception: “save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite”. 1 Kings 15:5
Nathan gave him the LORD's sentence for that act: “the sword shall never depart from thine house”. David answered, “I have sinned against the LORD”. 2 Samuel 12:9–13
After the census he said, “I have sinned greatly in that I have done”. 2 Samuel 24:10
Kings measures later kings by him: Solomon's heart “was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father”. 1 Kings 11:4 1 Kings 14:8
Chronicles gives the reason David might not build the temple: “Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars”. 1 Chronicles 22:8 1 Chronicles 28:3
In Acts, Paul quotes God's word about him: “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart”. Acts 13:22 1 Samuel 13:14

THE UNITED KINGDOM: 4 RULERS

✓ Did right ✕ Did evil ◐ Mixed ● No verdict formula

THE KINGDOM

Jerusalem and the places of the reign

The united kingdom · tribe of Judah. Only places Scripture names are shown, each where the Atlas puts it.

EVENTS

Wars, works and turning points

Each mark sits at the year of the reign the Bible gives for it.

UNDATED IN SCRIPTURE

THE NATION

What the nation did

David brought the ark to Jerusalem and set it in a tent he had pitched. 2 Samuel 6:17
Zadok and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were the priests. 2 Samuel 8:17
Chronicles describes the Levites' music before the ark and their courses, set up by David; a later king followed “the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet”. 1 Chronicles 15:16 1 Chronicles 16:4–7 1 Chronicles 23:1–26:32 2 Chronicles 29:25
He built an altar on Araunah's threshingfloor; Chronicles says the LORD answered “from heaven by fire”. 2 Samuel 24:25 1 Chronicles 21:26
Scripture calls him “the sweet psalmist of Israel”. 2 Samuel 23:1

PROPHETS

Prophets of the reign

Sa Samuel “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart”
Ga Gad “Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land”
Na Nathan “Thou art the man”

ON THE WORLD STAGE

The powers of the day

THE PHILISTINES

Achish, king of Gath

ARAM (ZOBAH AND DAMASCUS)

Hadadezer, king of Zobah · Shobach, his captain · Rezon

HAMATH

Toi

AMMON

Nahash · Hanun

MOAB AND EDOM

TYRE

Hiram

GESHUR

Talmai

AMALEK

OUTSIDE THE BIBLE

OUTSIDE THE BIBLE · ABOUT 840 BC; FOUND 1993

Tel Dan stele

OUTSIDE THE BIBLE · —

Nothing from his lifetime

TWO ACCOUNTS

Albright dated the division of the kingdom to 922 BC. Scripture's forty years for Solomon then put David's death about 962 BC. Albright's own figure for David's accession was not checked for this page.

TRADITIONAL (USSHER, 1658)

c. 1055–1015 BC[1]

King in Hebron 1055 BC; over all Israel 1048 BC; Jerusalem taken 1047 BC; Solomon made king 1015 BC. Ussher has David live about six months more and die in 1014 BC.

Chronicles keeps the original reading

Piscator, Clericus, Michaelis, Movers and Thenius, and Keil himself (tr. 1866)

The two verses differ by a few Hebrew letters. Keil held that 2 Samuel was miscopied from a text like Chronicles', so Elhanan killed Goliath's brother Lahmi; David killed Goliath. 2 Samuel 21:19 1 Chronicles 20:5 1 Samuel 17:49–51 [5]

Samuel keeps the original reading

Bertheau and Böttcher, as reported by Keil (1866)

They held that Chronicles altered a reading that said Elhanan killed a giant named Goliath, out of offence at the clash with 1 Samuel 17.[5]

IN SCRIPTURE

Every passage

CHAPTERS · 46

1 Samuel 16 2 Samuel 1 2 Samuel 2 2 Samuel 3 2 Samuel 4 2 Samuel 5 2 Samuel 6 2 Samuel 7 2 Samuel 8 2 Samuel 9 2 Samuel 10 2 Samuel 11 2 Samuel 12 2 Samuel 13 2 Samuel 14 2 Samuel 15 2 Samuel 16 2 Samuel 17 2 Samuel 18 2 Samuel 19 2 Samuel 20 2 Samuel 21 2 Samuel 22 2 Samuel 23 2 Samuel 24 1 Kings 1 1 Kings 2 1 Chronicles 11 1 Chronicles 12 1 Chronicles 13 1 Chronicles 14 1 Chronicles 15 1 Chronicles 16 1 Chronicles 17 1 Chronicles 18 1 Chronicles 19 1 Chronicles 20 1 Chronicles 21 1 Chronicles 22 1 Chronicles 23 1 Chronicles 24 1 Chronicles 25 1 Chronicles 26 1 Chronicles 27 1 Chronicles 28 1 Chronicles 29

PASSAGES · 4

1 Samuel 16:1–13 2 Samuel 1:1–24:25 1 Kings 1:1–2:11 1 Chronicles 11:1–29:30

WHAT SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY

Scripture does not name David's mother.
Scripture does not give his age at his first anointing or when he fought Goliath.
Apart from his first year in Hebron, his move to all Israel after seven and a half years, and his death in his fortieth year, Scripture does not say in which year of his reign most events happened.
Scripture does not say how long Absalom's revolt lasted.
No outside record from David's own lifetime names him.

IDENTIFICATIONS THIS PAGE RELIES ON

From the textThe site's family data lists “Nahash” as one of David's parents. That is STEP Bible's reading of 2 Samuel 17:25, where Abigail, sister of Zeruiah, is called “the daughter of Nahash”; Chronicles calls Zeruiah and Abigail David's sisters. Scripture names Jesse as David's father and does not name his mother. This page does not rely on the Nahash link. Ruth 4:17 2 Samuel 17:25 1 Chronicles 2:13–16

SOURCES

Where this page comes from

James Ussher, The Annals of the World (English translation of the Annales, 1650–54) (1658), pp. 33–41 (years of the world 2909–3029, with the years before Christ in the margin).
Rodger C. Young, "When Did Solomon Die?", Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 46/4 (2003), pp. 589–603, esp. 590 and 599–603 (facts only; copyrighted).
Leslie McFall, "The Chronology of Saul and David", Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 53/3 (2010), pp. 475–483, 486–487, 494–495, 498–501, 526–528 (facts only; copyrighted).
W. F. Albright, "The Chronology of the Divided Monarchy of Israel", Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 100 (1945), p. 20: the division of the kingdom in 922 BC (as cited by McFall 2010, p. 486 n. 24; facts only).
C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel (Clark's Foreign Theological Library; translation first published 1866, this printing 1876) (1866), pp. 123–124 (1 Sam 13:1), 285–286 (2 Sam 1), 294–296 (2 Sam 2:8–11), 318–321 (Hiram), 459–460 (2 Sam 21:19), 502–503 (2 Sam 24:1).
S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel (1890), pp. 74–75, on 1 Sam 13:1.
Julius Wellhausen, tr. J. Sutherland Black and Allan Menzies, Prolegomena to the History of Israel (1885), ch. VI, §I.1–3 (Chronicles on David's accession, the census, Solomon at Gibeon); ch. VI, §III.2 (480 years as twelve generations of forty); ch. VII, §II.1 (the numbers in 1 Sam 13:1 and 2 Sam 2:10).
Avraham Biran and Joseph Naveh, "An Aramaic Stele Fragment from Tel Dan", Israel Exploration Journal 43 (1993), pp. 81–98, esp. 95–98 on the reading 'house of David' (facts only; copyrighted).
Philip R. Davies, "'House of David' Built on Sand: The Sins of the Biblical Maximizers", Biblical Archaeology Review 20/4 (1994), pp. 54–55 (facts only; copyrighted).
E. A. Wallis Budge (tr.), The Queen of Sheba and Her Only Son Menyelek (the Kebra Nagast) (1922), Introduction (the colophons' date for the Arabic version, AD 1314–1344; the names Makeda and Balkis).

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