Major topics taught in this course include:   Samuel; request for a king; Saul; complex relationships between David, Saul, and Saul’s children; David as Saul’s rival for the throne; battle with the Philistines; deaths of Saul and Jonathon; David’s decision to execute the Amalekite youth; David emerges as the King of Israel; Tribe of Judah’s designation as the nation’s rulers; David’s claim to the throne; Abner, Asael and Ish Boshet; David and Michal; Abner kills Asael, and his brother Joab avenges him; murder of Ish Boshet; Mefiboshet; David is accepted as king “by all the Tribes of Israel”; David’s choice of Jerusalem as his capital; restoration of the Ark; Michal’s reaction to David’s dancing, his response, and the consequences for Michal; why David was unable to build the Temple King Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the Temple; King David as a warrior; David and Bathsheba; David’s desire to be tested; Bathsheba’s marital status; repentance; Nathan’s parable and David’s verdict; Uriah’s death; David’s punishment; Amnon and Tamar: Analysis of the incident; Absalom plots revenge; David is rebuked ; David’s mourning; Absalom’s uprising; perspectives on suffering and tests; David’s response to his troubles; Mefiboshet’s hopes to be reinstated as king; Achitofel; Doeg; Achitofel’s advice, and leprosy; Absalom: sinned with his hair, and was caught by his hair; Absalom’s end; Shimi ben Gera; Sheva ben Bichri; David seeks to understand the reason for the famine, year after year, investigating idol worship, immorality, and failure to honor pledges to charity as possible causes; unique nature of David’s song; the rule of Messiah, descendant of the Davidic dynasty; cessation of the plague; David’s decision to purchase the threshing floor of Aravnah the Jebusite. Topics may vary. Methods of instruction include lecture, discussion, and textual preparation.