David

David son of Jesse, from Bethlehem of the tribe of Judah, is the paradigmatic king of Israel and one of the most complex figures in the entire Bible. Anointed by Samuel in secret while still a shepherd boy (1 Samuel 16), he gained national fame by killing the Philistine giant Goliath (1 Samuel 17). After years as a fugitive from Saul's jealousy, he was crowned king of Judah and then all Israel, establishing Jerusalem as his capital and bringing the Ark of the Covenant there. The Davidic Covenant promised an eternal dynasty (2 Samuel 7:12–16), fulfilled in Christian theology by Jesus, 'the Son of David.' His adultery with Bathsheba and complicity in her husband Uriah's death (2 Samuel 11–12), confronted by Nathan's parable, is the defining moral failure of his reign; his psalm of penitence (Psalm 51) is among the most treasured in Scripture.