David is a central protagonist in the biblical story. And though his triumph over Goliath and his moral failings with Bathsheba are the stuff of great art, it is his establishment of the monarchy in Israel that both shapes and foreshadows future events.
David is born in Bethlehem (c. 1040 BCE). He spends his childhood as a shepherd (a very lowly position) and bears no obvious signs of greatness (see: Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Aaron...). Yet God names David the successor to Saul - Israel's firs...
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