[4] Most of what is known about him comes from the mid-eighteenth-century Armenian text titled Patmutʻiwn Ghapʻantsʻwotsʻ ("History of the Kapanians") by the Mekhitarist monk Ghukas Sebastatsi, which was based on the accounts of Stepanos Shahumyan of Meghri and a few other participants in the Syunik rebellion.

[1] The Armenian Meliks, local feudal lords, had long been recognized as governors of the area by the Iranian shahs.

Peter the Great's steady advance south towards the Caucasus during the Russo-Persian War of 1722–1723 with a massive 30,000-strong army had revived hope among the Armenians and Georgians that Russian arms could help remove the region from Muslim dominion.

[8] Muslim misrule in the regions of Kapan and Artsakh (Karabakh) eventually provoked the Armenian meliks in 1722 to request military aid from Vakhtang.

[9][4] Vakhtang agreed to aid the meliks; he sent Davit Bek, reportedly one of his most capable officers, together with some 2,000 Armenian soldiers.

[9] With the support of the local peasants and the meliks, Davit managed to defend the Armenian-inhabited areas from the Muslim tribes.

[11] The meliks of Karabakh, who were waging their own battles against Muslim rulers, cooperated with Davit Bek, lending him men and materiel.

In 1978 Armenfilm in association with Mosfilm produced another movie about the efforts of Davit Bek and his successor Mkhitar Sparapet called Huso astgh ("Star of Hope"), directed by Edmond Keosayan.