David ben Boaz was a Karaite Jewish scholar who flourished in the tenth century CE. He is reported to have been the fifth in the line of descent from Anan ben David

Anan ben David

Anan Ben David is widely considered to be a major founder of the Karaite movement of Judaism. His followers were called Ananites and, like modern Karaites, do not believe the Rabbinic Jewish oral law to be divinely inspired...

, the founder of Karaism (he was the son of Boaz ben Jehoshaphat

Boaz ben Jehoshaphat

Boaz ben Jehoshaphat was the son of Jehoshaphat ben Saul and the great-grandson of Anan ben David. He lived in Iraq during the mid ninth century. As the direct lineal heir of Anan, Boaz was nasi and resh galuta of the Karaite Jews. He was the father of David ben Boaz....

, the son of Jehoshaphat ben Saul

Jehoshaphat ben Saul

Jehoshaphat ben Saul was the son of Saul ben Anan and the grandson of Anan ben David. He lived in Iraq during the early ninth century. Jehoshaphat was nasi and resh galuta of the nascent Karaite movement of Judaism. He was the father of Boaz ben Jehoshaphat....

, the son of Saul ben Anan

Saul ben Anan

Saul ben Anan was a Karaite Jewish leader of the eighth century CE. He was the son and successor of Anan ben David. He is styled by the later Karaites nasi and Rosh ha-golah . Saul's activity was unimportant relative to his more famous father and descendants...

, the son of Anan ben David.) He was thus considered resh galuta or exilarch

Exilarch

Exilarch refers to the leaders of the Diaspora Jewish community in Babylon following the deportation of King Jeconiah and his court into Babylonian exile after the first fall of Jerusalem in 597 BCE and augmented after the further deportations following the destruction...

 of the Karaite community within the Abbasid Caliphate, in opposition to the rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

nical claimant

The Karaite chronicler al-Hiti

Al-Hiti

David al-Hiti is the nickname of a Karaite Jewish chronicler who flourished in the first half of the fifteenth century CE. He was a native of Hīt, Iraq , on the Euphrates River about thirty leagues to the west of Baghdad. He is supposed by Margoliouth to be identical with David ben Sa'adel ben...

 mentions David under the year 383 of the Hegira

Hijri year

The Hijri year is year numbering system used in the Islamic calendar. It commemorates the Hijra , or emigration of Muhammad and his followers to the city of Medina in 622 CE. In Arabic, AH is symbolized by the letter هـ...

 (993 CE.), and gives the titles of the following three works written by him: a commentary on Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes

The Book of Ecclesiastes, called , is a book of the Hebrew Bible. The English name derives from the Greek translation of the Hebrew title.The main speaker in the book, identified by the name or title Qoheleth , introduces himself as "son of David, king in Jerusalem." The work consists of personal...

; 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

Leviticus

The Book of Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, and the third of five books of the Torah ....

 and the latter half of Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy

The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch...

, is still extant in manuscript in the St. Petersburg Library. In this commentary, says Harkavy, David frequently attacks Saadia Gaon

Saadia Gaon

Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon was a prominent rabbi, Jewish philosopher, and exegete of the Geonic period.The first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Arabic, he is considered the founder of Judeo-Arabic literature...

, whom he never calls by name, but by the appellation "hadha al-rajul" (this man).

David was succeeded as resh galuta of the Karaites by his son Solomon ben David

Solomon (Karaite prince)

Solomon ben David was a Karaite leader of the late tenth and early eleventh centuries CE. He was the son of David ben Boaz. As a direct lineal descendant of Anan ben David, he was regarded as nasi and resh galuta of the Karaite community. He was succeeded by his son Hezekiah ben Solomon....

.