How many brothers did David have in old testemsnt?

Answer 1

The exact number is unknown, but over 20, unfortunately; of which nine are actually named.

In 2nd Samuel 2: 3-5 it records how David ruled from Hebron for 7.5 years from 1077 BC (1,077 years before Christ's birth, also called BCE) before moving his court to Jerusalem in in 107o BC. In 1077 BC, David had 3 wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, Abigail, widow of Nabal and technically, princess Michal, daughter of dead King Saul, who had bigamously married another man.

In 1077-76 BC, David had Amnon, his firstborn, by Ahinoam, and Chileab (aka Daniel) by Abigal. However, from 1076 - 1070, David rapidly married 4 other women, probably because from 1078-1075, Saul's son Ish-bosheth reigned as a competing king and David was consolidating his power base with the Hebronites and wider area by marriage alliances. His 1st marriage as king and his 4th wife, for instance, was another princess - Maacah the daughter of King Talmai of Geshur, who produced his 3rd son Absalom. She was non-Israelite, not a worshipper of God, and the marriage was pure politics. He also married Haggith, 5th (mother of Adonijah), Abital (6th, mother of Shephatiah) and Eglah (7th, mother of Ithream). it is probably that David had 6 or 7 daughters, including Tamar, who was Maacah's daughter, also in those 7 years, with the exception of Abigail, who probably died young (about age 40) around 1070 - it seems her son also died as a child.

From 1070, David moved to Jerusalem, and had more sons - by Bathsheba he had 5, the unnamed firstborn, then Shimea, Shobab, Nathan and (King) Solomon. Plus Ibhar, Elishama, Eliphelet, Nogah, Nepheg and Japhia, plus another Elishama and another Eliphelet. 2nd Chronicles 3:9 specifically states, "all the sons of David besides the sons of the concubines". So only those wives who held the rank of queens had their sons' names recorded.

Unfortunately, this caused nothing but problems. in Deuteronomy 17:17 God specifically ordered the Israelite King should not "multiply wives for himself". The Divine mandate for marriage was monogamy - one husband to one wife, as in Eden. In ancient Oriental cultures, polygamy caused the breakdown of family bonds, primarily love and loyalty. In ancient cultures such as Egypt, pharaohs had no problem with incestuous marriages because they had no sense of each other as brothers and sisters. In polygamous families, children often had a poor or non-existent relationship with their father, impacting on their social and emotional development. Sons were murderous rivals to each other and their father, daughters often emotionally crippled and victims of sexual abuse by males relatives such as half-brothers, half-uncles and so forth. One only needs to examine the exampe of Jacob - 4 wives, 12 sons - who clearly favoured Joseph over the other 11. Osama bin Laden, for example, was an unimportant son of a minor wife and had 51 semi-siblings. If his father had cared more about being a dad rather than a stud, perhaps there would be fewer terrorists in the world. Some countries, like Saudi Arabia, have major socio-political issues because in such cultures, children of a king remain princes and princesses - in SA, there are over 700 princes all previous about their royal status, feeding from the regal money-teats and not contributing to the economy.

Exactly the same situation existed in Bible times - David's foolish polygamy left his posterity a hotbed of political intrigue and treachery and usurption attempts, as royal princes (and their lineage) remained royal princes, and he left a legacy of sons who didn't know him or each other as people and who had no filial bonds of affection, loyalty and caring. It is possible to create a warm family unit where you have two parents and 6 kids, but not when you have literally dozens or hundreds of children, half of whom don't recognise each other when they pass in the hallways.

Sadly King Solomon did not learn from his father's mistakes, and continued to make political marriage alliances. He reigned from 1037-997 BC, during which time he accrued 1000 wives - 700 queen ranks and 300 concubines. Assuming 50% infertility rate, that stil gives 500 children if only half his wives each had only 1 children. Since Sultan Moulay Ismail of Morrocco managed 888 children (540 sons, 348 daughters) with a lot fewer wives than Solomon, it is entirely possible Solomon had over 1500 children. The Bible, perhaps wisely, lists only 3, his son and successor Rehoboam, and two of his daughters, princess Basemath, and princess Taphath. Statistically speaking, modern ethnic Jews are most likely to all be descendents of Solomon, simply due to the sheer number of his sons and their likelihood of surviving situations where poorer, less numerous men would have died without offspring.

Answer 2

19 sons: Amnon, Daniel, Avshalom, Adoniah, Shephatiah, Ithream, Shammua, Shovav, Nathan, Solomon, Ivhar, Elishua, Eliphelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Yaphia, Elishama, Eliada, and Yerimoth.

One daughter, Tamar, is also named.

Answer 3

David had seven brothers in all.

Answer 4

David had seven brothers.