King David is of course well-known because of the accounts
of his life in the Bible. King David was the second king of
the Israelites; the first king after Saul. King David was
a righteous man, loyal to his God. He died after a reign of
40 years and was buried in the ‘City of David' (1 Kings
2:10, 11). It is also mentioned that 12 of the 20 kings after
him were also buried in the City of David, although not all
are added in “the sepulchre cities of the kings”.
The apostle Peter said at Pentecost, 33 A.D.: "Brothers,
I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and
was buried and his tomb is here to this day” (Acts 2:29).
Therefore it is logical to presume that in those days his
tomb still existed. Jerusalem was destroyed in the year 70
A.D. and again in the year 135 A.D. It is also known that
the Romans used the South side of the city as a stone quarry.
All those factors make it difficult to correctly ascertain
the accurate whereabouts of those Royal Sepulchre Cities.
Today mount Zion is located South West of the old walled
city. There we can find the alleged tomb of King David. This
is the second most holy place for the Jews, after the Wailing
Wall.
David is important for Jews. He was their second king
and God made a covenant with him. David is important for Christians,
amongst other reasons, because he is an ancestor of Jesus
Christ. Jesus is also named the `son of David'. Islamites
see David as an important prophet and as the one who laid
the foundations of the Dome of the Rock.
Within his tomb, a plate can be seen on which is written
God's name in Hebrew: JHWH.
