One solution was for the Israelites to adopt kingship and the state only in times of great peril, as during the Philistine invasion. The evidence suggests that David would have liked to adopt this, but came to think it impractical. To defend his people and their faith, to make both secure from their external foes, he had not only to create a kingdom-state but immobilize its surrounding peoples. This meant he had to found and consolidate the House of David, with Jerusalem its capital and central shrine. But he plainly did not regard his kingship as normal.
