DAVID

capital of Chiriqu province, western Panama, on the Ro David and surrounded by fruit groves. It is Panama's fourth largest city and an important commercial centre, served by the Pacific seaports of Pedregal and Puerto Armuelles on the Gulf of Chiriqu and by Enrique Malek Airport. Industries include meat-packing, food processing (sugar, coffee, and cocoa), distilling, and tanning, and the city is known for its saddles and harnesses. Founded in 1738 as a gold-prospecting camp, the modernized city retains much of its colonial tradition. Its San Jos church has a separate bell tower built for defense against Indian attacks. Pop. (1980) 50,621. marble sculpture executed from 1501 to 1504 by the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo. The statue was commissioned for the cathedral of Florence, but the Florentine government decided instead to place it in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. The original is now in the Accademia, and a copy has been installed in the Piazza della Signoria. born , Bethlehem, Judah died c. 962 BC, , Jerusalem second of the Israelite kings (after Saul), reigning c. 1000 to c. 962 BC, who established a united kingdom over all Israel, with Jerusalem as its capital. In Jewish tradition he became the ideal king, the founder of an enduring dynasty, around whose figure and reign clustered messianic expectations of the people of Israel. Since he was a symbol of fulfillment in the future, the New Testament writers emphasized that Jesus was of the lineage of David. He was also held in high esteem in the Islamic tradition. Additional reading R.A. Carlson, David, the Chosen King (1964), provides a most complete analysis of the development of the traditions about David now embedded in biblical materials. Juan Bosch, David: Biografa de un rey (1963; David: The Biography of a King, 1966), is a realistic account of the actual dynamics of the political career of the King. Two works on the role of David as a mystical figure in the religious mythology and imagination of ancient Israel are Aage Bentzen, Messiah-Moses Redivivus-Menschensohn (1948; King and Messiah, 1955); and Helmer Ringgren, The Messiah in the Old Testament (1956).