Karaite scholar; flourished in the tenth century. He is reported to have been the fifth in the line of descent from Anan, the founder of Karaism (Anan, Saul, Jehoshaphat, and Boaz, father of David). The Karaite chronicler Al-Hiti mentions David under the year 383 of the Hegira (993 C.E.), and gives the titles of the following three works written by him: a commentary on Ecclesiastes; a commentary on the Pentateuch; a treatise on the fundamental principles of the Pentateuch. Of these three only a fragment of the second, comprising Leviticus and the latter half of Deuteronomy, is still extant in manuscript in the St. Petersburg Library. In this commentary, says Harkavy, David frequently attacks Saadia, whom he never calls by name, but by the appellation "hadha al-rajul" (this man).
Bibliography:- Pinsker, Liḳḳuṭe Kadmoniyyot, p. 53;
- Harkavy, in Stade's Zeitschrift, i. 157;
- Al-Hiti, published by Margoliouth in Jew. Quart. Rev. ix. 432.
K.I. Br.
