Home Page Archaeology That Backs Up the Bible Back to "Scientific Support"
Associates for Biblical Research (ABR) (Copyright 2011) puts out a
magazine called "Bible and Spade."
It only comes out four times a year.
Great information can be
found
on their website at
www.BibleArchaeology.org.
Below is their email to me giving me permission to post my articles using "Bible
and Spade" as a resource.
Until about 1993 there was great debate among
scholars that either the Biblical David and Solomon never really existed, or
that if they did
their kingdoms were not nearly as large as the Bible makes them out to
be. Even "National Geographic" featured this subject on the cover of
their December 2010 magazine. Until 1993 nobody was able to put to
any evidence of these men outside of the Bible. Then came the
discovery
of the Tel Dan Inscription. This inscription refers to the "house
of David." One can go to
http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/westsem/teldan.html
to see a photograph of it upon a broken piece of basalt, that was found
in Tel Dan, Galilee.
Now two other inscriptions are being attributed as references
to David on the famous Moabite Stone, which is of black basalt. This
stone was
discovered in 1868. On the 31st of 34 lines there is a
damaged section that leaves out what would now be thought to be "of Da" in
English, to
complete the phrase "the house of David." Line 12 is
more obscure but now is thought to be rendered as "Davidic altar hearth."
A fourth possible reference to David is found on an outer
wall of the Karnak Temple in Egypt. Pharaoh Shishak had carved upon
the wall, around
925 BC, a record of a military campaign in Palestine with a phrase that
was translated "the heights of Dwt." That this appears to stand for
"David"
comes from the fact that no one has come up with a better, or more
feasible explanation.
Other clues to David have also come about, though not direct
references using his name. One of the best of these has to do with a
discovery in 1996.
While digging up the Biblical city of Bethsaida on the north side of the
Sea of Galilee, a city gate complex was discovered. This was a capital
of the
Kingdom of Geshur. David had married the daughter of Talmai, who
was the King of Geshur, 1Chr 3:1,2. This marriage was in order to
secure
David's northern border.
Since 1993, a great blow has been dealt to the idea that
David never existed. Now let's turn to Solomon. A famous story
in the Bible is that of
the Queen of Sheba traveling to see the greatness of Solomon for herself.
Because there was over a thousand miles between Sheba and Israel, people
have thought the story was a fabrication. However, an inscription
on the wall of an ancient temple of Sheba speaks of how trade took place
between
this two sites. The inscription dates to about the seventh century
B.C., which was at least two hundred years after Solomon.
It can also be document that there was a time of peace
between the Philistines, the long time enemies of the Israelites, and the
Jews during the time
when Solomon was to have reigned. This would substantiate
what the Bible says about David defeating them, and then eventually turning
over his
kingdom to Solomon, who reigned in peace. From all that
archaeologists have discovered about the area known as "Palestine" during
the time the
Bible says that he lived, if he never really existed, archaeologists
would have to come up with someone that accomplished what he is said to have
accomplished. The remains of large copper have been found southeast
of Jerusalem in modern Jordan, dating back to Solomon's times, a time where
the Bible tells of the great wealth of Solomon having great amounts of
copper for his many bronze objects, not to mention silver and gold.
Archaeologist, Eilat Mazar, also claims to have found
the remains of David's palace, as well as one of the walls of Solomon's
reign south of the
temple mount in Jerusalem. In addition to this, another nearby city
has been discovered, dated to the same time period, having such walls that
only
a highly complex society, such as Solomon's, would be able to construct
them. At this site they discovered a piece of pottery with
ancient Hebrew
writing upon it telling of the greatness of such a society as Solomon's.
In conclusion, not only is there evidence for both
David and Solomon having been real people in history, there is evidence that
their kingdoms were
actually of the size that the Bible says they were. Some have tried
to say that their kingdoms were so insignificant that they didn't make it
into the
buried records of archaeology. Just like a number of many other
things have proven accounts in the Bible as historically accurate, what has
been given
in this article is just a taste of what has been discovered to verify
what the Bible says about David and Solomon.
(See the article in Bible and Spade Vol.24 No.3 Summer
2011 p.73-77 David: Man or Myth? by Michael J. Caba.)
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