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The Figure of David in Early Jewish Prayer

The purpose of this article is to examine those instances in which the figure of David is employed in the early Jewish liturgy; to assign them to their relevant historical and geographical contexts in the evolution of rabbinic Judaism; to assess the degree to which there is any significant consistency of purpose in such occurrences; and to offer some suggestions as to the historical and theological factors that may have played a part in their adoption and textual development. The treatment will begin with the late biblical background and the ideas that are documented in the Second Temple period and in the talmudicmidrashic sources, before moving on to the geonic period (7 th – 11 th centuries). Liturgical texts will be examined closely and testimony will be cited from the first generations of authoritative prayer-books, as well as from their later equivalents in the diverse and dispersed rites that started out in the 12 th and 13 th centuries. Comparisons will be made between such sources and what may be termed the more maverick, but consequently more intriguing, and often more original, evidence that is provided by the rich collections of liturgical texts to be found among the outstanding literary treasures emanating from the Cairo Genizah. While the textual witnesses will be subjected to detailed and critical analysis, the historical interpretation will inevitably contain more than an element of the speculative. This is inevitable in the study of early rabbinic prayers particularly since those who were composing, choosing and transmitting the formulations rarely explained the rationale that had earlier underlain them. Sometimes they were unaware of it and at others they preferred not to weaken the authority of the approved text by suggesting that it had been motivated by anything but the highest level of traditional practice.