What is King David's ethnic background?

Answer 1

And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all [thy] children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy ('admoniy/H 132), [and] withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this [is] he.

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah (1 Samuel 16: 11 -13).

'Admoniy, meaning red, is an adjective which describes the complexion of the young David. Here is deep revelation: 'Admoniy comes from the root word 'adam (H 119).

The writer therefore showed the similarity between David's and Adam's complexion. We can therefore conclude that David was a bronze man In contrast, people who were described as "dark skin", like Solomon's wife, were much darker, possibly ebony in complexion. For example, Solomon's wife said that she had been scorched by the sun

Answer 2

The Bible says that King David was an Israelite. From a non-biblical point of view, we could say that he was a Hebrew rather than an 'Israelite' since the people of both Israel and Judah are considered to have been 'Hebrews', and there is some doubt among scholars whether Israel and Judah were ever really united, as stated in the Bible. David was probably a king, or perhaps a tribal chieftain, in Judah.

The Bible says that the Hebrew people originated in Mesopotamia, in the city of Ur, but scholars say they were really a West Semitic people like their Canaanite neighbours.