Many scholars argue that the ancient Israelite King David is the first character in the Bible who can be confirmed as a historical person. The Bible includes a wide variety of stories about David, from the young shepherd boy who defeats the giant Philistine Goliath, to a Robin-Hood-type leader of a group of righteous bandits, to the king who brings the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and makes the “City of David” his capital, to a king who loses his way in old age falling prey to court intrigues. Numerous poems from the “Book of Psalms” are traditionally attributed to David. John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place looks at what we can know about the historical David and reviews the Biblical and legendary material about him.