The United Monarchy
The rise and reign of King David inaugurated the period of the United
Monarchy is the central narrative in the Nevi’im section of the Tanakh.
From that point in the Tanakh on, some aspects of biblical narrative have
been attested to by archeological evidence. The population of the United
Monarchy was most likely between 15,000 and 20,000 people, suggesting
that the kingdom of David and Solomon did not extend very far beyond the
limited expanse of a city-state and the territory immediately adjacent to it.
This suggests that the borders of the kingdom described in II Kings, which
are conveniently congruent with the promised borders delineated in
Numbers and Deuteronomy, were more an element of a Jewish manifest
destiny than a territorial reality.
The glorious rise of the United Monarchy, a golden age in the history of
ancient Israel, reflected the outspoken view of the pro-monarchic editor of the
Tanakh, though the voice of the anti-Davidic editor recurs periodically.
David’s “golden boy” biography combined the most appealing elements of
preceding stories, including a Moses-esque rise from relative obscurity to
kingship with the complex Nietzschean passion of a warrior-poet. Moreover,
typical of the heroes of biblical narrative, David was the youngest of seven
sons. Like Jacob, he tended sheep while his brother, like Esau, found fame and
fortune through physical and military exploits, in his case fighting the
Philistines under the command of King Saul. David’s first encounter with
battle occurred by happenstance as he delivered provisions from his father to
his embattled brothers. A heroic defeat of Goliath paved the way for his emer-
gence as the leader of a mercenary band that fought for Saul against the
Philistines’ army. His relationship with Saul, seemingly sealed by his mar-
riage to Saul’s daughter Michal and his epic friendship with Jonathan,
unraveled when his military exploits exceeded Saul’s (“Saul has killed his
thousands, but David has killed tens of thousands”), and Saul declared him an
outlaw. At this point, David became vassal to the king of the Philistines
against Saul. As Saul’s dynastic aspirations collapsed, Samuel passed the man-
tle of kingship to David. When Saul and his sons were killed in battle, the
ensuing dynastic crisis brought David to the throne. It is noteworthy that
David was crowned twice: in 1,000 B.C.E. in Hebron as the king of Judah, and
seven years later in Shechem as the king of the remaining ten tribes. This dual
ascension was the weak link of the United Monarchy ruled by David and
Solomon. Theirs was a dual monarchy whose constituency parts were united
by dynastic allegiance.
II Samuel and I Kings attributed four accomplishments to David as king
of the United Monarchy, and these defined the ideal Israelite king. All subse-
quent Israelite kings, and even the Hasmonean dynasty several centuries later,
would be measured according to the accomplishments of David. David estab-
lished the Israelites as a local power. He defeated the neighboring tribes,
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