The essay aims first to elucidate the diverse activities of King David related to the foundation of the first temple of Jerusalem and its cult. The second part of the paper will consider the question of how David’s striking equation with Moses, Israel’s cult founder par excellence, should be understood. Is he a second Moses? What is the status of the instructions compiled by him in comparison with that of the Torah? This question seems to have attracted only little attention in scholarship. The importance of David in general is often explained with reference
to the Chronicler’s hope for a restauration of the Davidic monarchy in the late Persian or early Hellenistic era, or rather as an eschatological messianic expectation. However, if one or the other were the case, why, one should ask, would the author put such emphasis on David’s competence for the conceptualization and the establishment of the Jerusalemite cult. In view of this strong focus, one might imagine another main reason for the great importance assigned to David by the author: it might have less to do with his significance as dynasty founder and bearer of messianic hopes than with the high value given to the Jerusalemite temple and its foundation which necessitated an appropriate founder personality. David’s importance in the Book of Chronicles consists primarily in his role of founder of Israel’s unique sanctuary and the organization of its cult.