The biblical portrait of David is best understood through the leitmotif of love, presenting him neither as an idealized hero nor a mere tyrant but as a deeply ambivalent, fully human figure. By examining David’s relationships with God, friends, family, lovers, and art, the author shows that David is capable of genuine love yet repeatedly fails to achieve lasting happiness in it. Precisely this mixture of love, failure, and vulnerability makes David a compelling model of flawed leadership and humanity rather than an untouchable mythic king.
(Originally published as “David – König der Liebe,” Jahrbuch für Biblische Theologie 29 [2015]: 3–21.)
See also King David in the Deuteronomistic History: Collected Studies (SBL Press, 2025).
By Walter Dietrich
Emeritus Professor
Institute of Old Testament Studies, University of Bern
January 2026
Click here for article
Hebrew words, transliterations, and basic meanings for the non-Hebrew reader:
Hebrew Transliteration Gloss
איב ʾêv “enemy”
אהב ʾāhav “to love”
אהבה ʾahăvāh “love”
דוד dwd / dāwīd “David”; also root related to “beloved”
דּוֹד dōd “beloved, darling”; also “uncle”
דודים dōdîm “loves” (erotic love); plural of dōd
לדוד lĕdāwīd “of / for / concerning David”
נעם nāʿam “to be pleasant, delightful”
נעים nāʿîm “pleasant, lovely”
עם היה ʿim hāyâ “(YHWH) was with”
The synagogue wall painting depicts Samuel blessing David as one of seven equal height, easy to count, men. Another painting shows the priests of Baal as eight figures.
Just down "wall street," in the Christian house-church, the wall paintings show eight as good--Sunday used to be considered the eighth day. If interested, see my
"7 vs. 8: The Battle Over the Holy Day at Dura-Europos"
https://people.duke.edu/~goranson/Dura-Europos.pdf