The quickest way to find the dates for the reign of King David is to find the starting date for the rule of Cyrus the Great over Babylon and then to add 70 years of Babylonish captivity, and then the combined rulerships of the Kings of Judah and the reigns of King Solomon and King David.  This brings one back to the beginning of the reign of King David.

    A quick way to estimate this is to go to the web site  http://www.oznet/cyrus/achaemen.htm and read that it was in 538 B.C.E. (March 15th is given) as the inauguration of Cyrus (and his son Cambyses).  This is an instructive web site, and you will find other interesting information (such as the horns of rulership in the picture).  Now, according to the prophecy of Daniel 9:2, it would be 70 years that Jerusalem would lie desolate.  I prefer 537 as the starting  year, because it is the next year after 538 B.C.E., when Zedekiah died in custody.   So, 70 years before was 607 B.C.E., which would have been the last year for Zedekiah.

    How long was that?  I determined a  table with the name of the kings and their period of reign, and I used 607 B.C.E. as the last year of reign for Zedikiah.  One could argue over these dates a bit, but the periods are in the Bible (and there would be only minor variations in interpretation).  These dates date from the death of Zedekiah approximately.

Table of Rulerships of Kings David, Solomon, and Kings of Judah
 

Name of King	Period of Rule	Dates (Calculated. B.C.E.)
Zedekiah	11  years	617-607
Jehoiachin	11  years	628-617
Jehoahaz	3    months	628-628
Josiah	31  years	659-628
Amon	2    years	661-659
Manasseh	55  years	716-661
Hezekiah	29  years	745-716
Ahaz	16  years	761-745
Jotham	16  years	777-761
Uzziah (or Azariah)	52  years	829-777
Amaziah	29  years	858-829
Jehoash	40 years	898-858
Athaliah	6   years	904-898
Ahaziah	1   year	906-905
Jerhoram (co-regent)	8   years	913-906
Jehoshaphat	25 years	937-912
Asa	41 years	978-937
Abijah	3  years	980-978
Rehoboam	17 years	997-980
Solomon	40 years	1037-997
David	40 years	1077-1037
Total years tally (est)	473 -474 years

    One can calculate using prophecy by calculating back from the baptism of Jesus Christ.  How is this done.  First, go to my web site on the birth of Jesus and find that Jesus was born in 2 B.C. E.     The site is at:

     Now, the prophecy of Daniel at Da 9:25 was that from the going forth to rebuild the temple until Messiah the Leader would be 69 weeks (and that means 69 weeks of years or 69x7=483 years).  But Jesus came in 29 C. E. to be baptized, and that was the official time for the Messiah the Leader to come (when he arrived as Messiah).  So, 29 C. E. back 483 years brings one to 455 B.C.E.   If one examines Nehemiah 2:1-5, one finds that the going forth to build the temple happened in the 20th year of Artaxerexes.  So, the 20th year of Artaxerxes was in 455 B.C.E.  You can examine the rulership of these kings at the web site as follows:

    Notice that this was Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes (also called Ahasuerus in the book of Esther).  His rulership is noted as from 465 though 424 B.C.E.  And this falls right in line with the above 20th year, except that we note there is an error in the beginning of his rulership.  So, all the rulership figures are a bit off.  But, they are close enough to establish that 455 B.C.E. was in the rulership of Artaxerxes.  So, to get back to 538 B.C.E., we must add the rulerships of Xerexes (note that the book of Esther talks about events taking place in the 12th year of his reign during Babylonish captivity, and these took place at Susa, map from Farhad Saberi at http://www.cs.McGill.CA/~fsaber1/images/map.jpg ) and  Darius I.

    The rulerships are as follows:
 

    Now, adding 79 years to 455 B.C.E. gives 534 B.C.E., and that is not far off from 538 B.C.E.  There was a rulership of Cambyse II (son of Cyrus the Great), and that was noted on the previous chart as 6 years.  But, the first web site indicated a co-rulership between Cyrus the Great and Cambyse II (They are both noted as rulers of Babylon in 538 B.C.E.).  So, sometime near the end of the rulership of Cyrus the Great (and during the co-rulership of Cambyse II), the four years may be accounted for to give 538 B.C.E. as the beginning of the rule of Cyrus the Great.

    Two means have been found to estimate the rulership of Cyrus the Great over Babylon.  Both point to 538 B.C.E. as the date.  Once that date is computed, one merely goes back 70 years to the capture of Babylon in the days of King Zedekiah.  One then can compute quite well the years of reign of all the Kings of Judah, Solomon, and David.  From this, it is evident that King David ruled around 1077 B.C.E. to 1037 B.C.E.