Featured Bible Character of the Week

David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to several books included in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. In these books David is depicted as a righteous king, although not without fault, as well as an acclaimed warrior, musician and poet. He is traditionally credited with the authorship of many of the psalms included in the Book of Psalms. The biblical chronology sets his life c.1037 - 970 BC, his reign over Judah c.1007 - 1000 BC, and his reign over a reunited Kingdom of Israel c.1000 - 970 BC...David was born in Bethlehem. His father was a man named Jesse. His mother is not named in the Bible, but the Talmud identifies her as Nitzevet daughter of Adael. David had several brothers and sisters. He had eight wives: Michal, the second daughter of King Saul; Ahinoam the Jezreelite; Abigail the Carmelite, previously wife of the evil Nabal; Maachah, daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; Haggith; Abital; Eglah; and Bathsheba, previously the wife of Uriah the Hittite... The New Testament traces the genealogy of Jesus back to David and Adam with three blocks of fourteen "generations" each being similarly schematic. It is explained that in the ancient world each letter of the alphabet had a numerical value, the value for the name "David" being fourteen: the fourteen "generations" thus underscored Christ's Davidic descent and his identity as the expected Messiah...Read about the life of this great king from the book of (1 Samuel 16 to 1 Kings 2).