courage which enabled him to hold an even and noble course in the face of dangers and treachery. His great sin in the matter of Uriah would have been forgotten but for his repentance: the things at which modern ideas are most offended are not always those that would have given umbrage to early writers. That he did not reform at a stroke all ancient abuses appears particularly in relation to the practice of blood revenge; to put an end to this deep-rooted custom would have been an impossibility. But it is clear from 2 Sam. iii. 28 sqq., xiv. 1-10, that his sympathies were against the barbarous usage. Nor is it just to accuse him of cruelty in his treatment of enemies. As it was impossible to establish a military cordon along the borders of Canaan, it was necessary absolutely to cripple the adjoining tribes. From the lust of conquest for its own sake David appears to have been wholly free.
The generous elevation of David’s character is seen most clearly in those parts of his life where an inferior nature would have been most at fault,—in his conduct towards Saul, in the blameless reputation of himself and his band of outlaws in the wilderness of Judah, in his repentance under the rebuke of Nathan and in his noble bearing on the revolt of Absalom. His touching love for his worthless son is one of the most beautiful descriptions of paternal affection. His unfailing insight into character, and his power of winning men’s hearts and touching their better impulses, appear in innumerable traits (e.g. 2 Sam. xiv. 18-20, iii. 31-37, xxiii. 15-17), and here, as elsewhere, the charm which the life of David has upon its readers is entirely unaffected by technical questions of literary and historical criticism.
To the later generations David was pre-eminently the Psalmist and the founder of the Temple service. The Hebrew titles ascribe to him seventy-three psalms; the Septuagint adds some fifteen more; and later opinion, both Jewish and Christian, claimed for him the authorship of the Growth of tradition. whole Psalter (so the Talmud, Augustine and others). That the tradition of the titles requires careful sifting is no longer doubted, and the results of recent criticism have been to confirm the view that “it is no longer possible to treat the psalms as a record of David’s spiritual life through all the steps of his chequered career” (W. R. Smith, Old Test. in Jew. Church 2, p. 224). Nor can it be maintained that the elaborate ritual ascribed to David by the chronicler has any historical value. See further Chronicles, Psalms.
On the other hand, these traditions, however unhistorical in their present form, cannot be pure imagination. The male and female singers (if the reading be correct) whom Sennacherib carried off from Jerusalem in Hezekiah’s time, may well have belonged to an old foundation (A. Jeremias, Alte Test. im Lichte d. Alten Orients 2, p. 527), and though David’s skill referred to in Amos vi. 5 may be due to a gloss, it is a Judaean narrative which tells of the invention of music, ascribing it possibly to a Judaean legendary hero (Gen. iv. 21). And although the Levitical organization, as ascribed to David, is manifestly post-exilic, it is at least certain that many of the Levitical families were of southern origin. It is in David’s history that the clans of the south first attained prominence, and some of them are known to have been staunch upholders of a purer worship of Yahweh, or to have been associated with the introduction of religious institutions among the Israelites. (See Levites.)
The difficulty of the historical problems increases when the narratives of David are more closely studied: (a) 2 Sam. iii. 18, xix. 9 show that according to one view David delivered Israel (not Judah) from the Philistines. This is in contradiction to ii. 8 sqq. (from another source), where Saul’s son recovers Israelite territory, but is supported by ix., where Mephibosheth is found at Lo-debar. This historical view has probably left its trace upon the present traditions of Saul, whose defeat by the “Philistines” (here found in the north and not as usual in the south) left Israel in much the same position as when he was anointed king (cf. 1 Sam. xxxi. 7 with xiii. 7). Again (b) the primitive stories of conflicts with “Philistine” giants between Hebron and Jerusalem (2 Sam. v. 17 sqq., xxi. 15 sqq. and xxiii.) find their analogy in Caleb’s overthrow of the sons of Anak (Judg. i. 10; Josh. xv. 14), and in the allusion to the same prehistoric folk in the account of the spies (Num. xiii. 28). From a number of points of evidence there appears to have been a group of traditions of a movement from the south (probably Kadesh, Num. xiii. 26) associated with Caleb, David and the Levites. If the clans of Moses’ kin which moved into Judah bore the ark (Num. x. 29 sqq.; see Kenites), and if Abiathar carried it before David (1 Kings ii. 26), there were traditions of the ark distinct from those which associate it with Joshua and Shiloh (cf. 2 Sam. vii. 6). But the stories of conflicts in a much larger area than the few cities in the immediate neighbourhood of Jerusalem (see above) can scarcely be read with the numerous narratives which recount or imply relations between the young David of Bethlehem and Saul or the Israelites. It is possible, therefore, that one early account of David was that of an entrance into the land of Judah, and that round him have gathered traditions partly individual and partly tribal or national. See further S. A. Cook, Critical Notes on O.T. History, pp. 122 sqq., and art. Jews (History), §§ 6-8.
Literature.—Robertson Smith’s later views subsequent to 1877 (when he wrote the article on David for this Encyclopaedia) were expressed partly in the Old Test. in Jewish Church (1881 and 1892), passim, and partly in the article on the Books of Samuel in the Ency. Brit. (9th ed.); on David’s character see especially his criticism of Renan, Eng. Hist. Rev., 1888, pp. 134 sqq. Mention may be made of Stähelin’s Leben Davids (Basel, 1866), still valuable for the numerous parallels adduced from oriental history; Cheyne’s Aids to Devout Study of Criticism (1892), a criticism of David’s history in its bearing upon religion; Marcel Dieulafoy, David the King (1902), full, but not critical; H. A. White, Hastings’ Dict. art. “David”; Cheyne, Ency. Bib. art. “David”; and (on the romantic element in the narratives) Luther in Ed. Meyer, Israeliten und ihre Nachbarstämme (1906), pp. 181 sqq. (W. R. S.; S. A. C.)
DAVID, ST (Dewi, Sant), the national and tutelar saint of
Wales, whose annual festival, known as “St David’s Day,” falls
on the 1st of March. Few historical facts are known regarding
the saint’s life and actions, and the dates both of his birth and
death are purely conjectural, although there is reason to suppose
he was born about the year 500 and died at a great age towards
the close of the 6th century. According to his various biographers
he was the son of Sandde, a prince of the line of Cunedda, his
mother being Non, who ranks as a Cymric saint. He seems to
have taken a prominent part in the celebrated synod of
Llanddewi-Brefi (see Cardiganshire), and to have presided
at the so-called “Synod of Victory,” held some years later at
Caerleon-on-Usk. At some date unknown, St David, as penescoli
or primate of South Wales, moved the seat of ecclesiastical
government from Caerleon to the remote headland of Mynyw,
or Menevia, which has ever since, under the name of St David’s
(Ty-Dewi), remained the cathedral city of the western see. St
David founded numerous churches throughout all parts of South
Wales, of which fifty-three still recall his name, but apparently
he never penetrated farther north than the region of Powys,
although he seems to have visited Cornwall. With the passing
of time the saint’s fame increased, and his shrine at St David’s
became a notable place of pilgrimage, so that by the time of the
Norman conquest his importance and sanctity were fully recognized,
and at Henry I.’s request he was formally canonized by
Pope Calixtus II. about 1120.
Of the many biographies of St David, the earliest known is that of Rhyddmarch, or Ricemarchus (c. 1090), one of the last British bishops of St David’s, from whose work Giraldus Cambrensis (q.v.) chiefly compiled his extravagant life of the saint.
DAVID I. (1084–1153), king of Scotland, the youngest son of Malcolm Canmore and (Saint) Margaret, sister of Edgar Ætheling, was born in 1084. He married in 1113 Matilda, daughter and heiress of Waltheof, earl of Northumbria, and thus became possessed of the earldom of Huntingdon. On the death of Edgar, king of Scotland, in 1107, the territories of the Scottish crown were divided in accordance with the terms of his will between his two brothers, Alexander and David. Alexander, together with the crown, received Scotland north of the Forth and Clyde, David the southern district with the title of earl of Cumbria. The death of Alexander I. in 1124 gave David possession of the whole. In 1127, in the character of an English baron, he swore fealty to Matilda as heiress to her father Henry I., and when the usurper Stephen ousted her in 1135 David vindicated her cause in arms and invaded England. But Stephen marched north with a great army, whereupon David made peace. The peace, however, was not kept. After threatening an invasion in 1137, David marched into England in 1138, but sustained a crushing defeat on Cutton Moor in the engagement known as the battle of the Standard. He returned to Carlisle, and soon
afford to continue the clemency which his father was strong enough to extend to dangerous enemies. Apart from this, it is possible that the words have been written to shift from Solomon’s shoulders the bloodshed incurred in establishing his throne.
