David (city)

David , city (1990 pop. 102,678), capital of Chiriquí prov., SW Panama. It is a regional commercial and processing center and is Panama's fourth largest city. Cattle raising is the principal occupation in the region, but tropical fruits, coffee, cacao, and sugar are also produced. David is surrounded by the picturesque highlands of Chiriquí.

David (probably d. c.970 BC), first king of the Judaean dynasty. His reign is recounted in 1 Sam. 16–1 Kgs. 2 and in the idealized description of 1 Chron. 2 f. and 10–29. He first appears when he is anointed by Samuel to the future kingship. After his victory over Goliath, the Philistine giant, he was promoted by Saul but subsequently excited his jealousy and fled. On Saul's death he set himself up at Hebron as king of the Judaean tribes and later was accepted also by the Israelites. He made Jerusalem his capital and reigned there for 33 years. He brought the Ark to the city, and, according to tradition, planned the building of the Temple. He is traditionally regarded as the author of the Psalms, but it is unlikely that more than a fraction of the Psalter is his work.

In Hebrew tradition the name of David occupied a central place. His house and dominion were to stand for ever. But his dynasty lost the allegiance of the northern tribes (Israel) on the death of Solomon and fell to the Babylonians c.586 BC. The Prophets then looked for the reestablishment of the sovereignty of ‘ David’ (i.e. of the house of David) as part of the deliverance of the nation to be achieved by a future prince of the house. In the NT the Evangelists assume the Davidic descent of the Messiah, and it is as ‘Son of David’ that the Lord is welcomed to Jerusalem before His Passion. The Fathers regarded David as the type of Christ.

Costa, David (d. 1873), choreographer.After beginning his dancing career in the early 1840s in his native Italy, he turned to choreography about 1853 and soon was in demand in Rome, Florence, Naples, and other major cities. He came to America in 1866, and his ballets that year for The Black Crook were credited with a large measure of the musical's phenomenal success. For the next several seasons, Costa was indisputably the leading Broadway choreographer, his dances seen in such musicals as The White Fawn (1868), Humpty Dumpty (1868), Hiccory Diccory Dock (1869), and The Twelve Temptations (1870). He also served as dance director for the Globe Theatre, an early vaudeville house. Costa's work was totally in the classical romantic tradition, employing huge corps of dancers and using startling scenic effects to heighten its theatricality.