The First Historical Evidence of King David from the Bible
The Tel Dan Inscription: The First Historical Evidence of King David
from the Bible
Tel Dan inscription references the
“House of David”
This Bible History Daily feature was
originally published in 2011. It has been updated.—Ed.
The fragmentary Tel Dan stela, containing the Tel Dan inscription (or
“House of David” inscription) provided the first historical evidence of King
David from the Bible. The Aramean king who erected the stela in the mid-eighth
century B.C. claims to have defeated the “king of Israel” and the “king of the
House of David.”Photo: The Israel Museum, Jerusalem/Israel
Antiquities Authority (photograph by Meidad Suchowolski).
Few modern Biblical
archaeology discoveries have caused as much excitement as the Tel Dan
inscription—writing on a ninth-century B.C. stone slab (or stela) that
furnished the first historical evidence of King David from the Bible.
The Tel Dan inscription, or “House of
David” inscription, was discovered in 1993 at the site of Tel Dan in northern
Israel in an excavation directed by Israeli archaeologist Avraham Biran.
The broken and fragmentary inscription
commemorates the victory of an Aramean king over his two southern neighbors:
the “king of Israel” and the “king of the House of David.” In the carefully
incised text written in neat Aramaic characters, the Aramean king boasts that
he, under the divine guidance of the god Hadad, vanquished several thousand
Israelite and Judahite horsemen and charioteers before personally dispatching
both of his royal opponents. Unfortunately, the recovered fragments of the
“House of David” inscription do not preserve the names of the specific kings
involved in this brutal encounter, but most scholars believe the stela recounts
a campaign of Hazael of Damascus in which he defeated both Jehoram of Israel
and Ahaziah of Judah.
Our free eBook Ten Top Biblical Archaeology Discoveries brings together the exciting
worlds of archaeology and the Bible! Learn the fascinating insights gained from
artifacts and ruins, like the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem, where the Gospel of
John says Jesus miraculously restored the sight of the blind man, and the Tel
Dan inscription—the first historical evidence of King David outside the Bible.
What made the Tel Dan inscription one of the most exciting Biblical archaeology discoveries for scholars and the broader public was its unprecedented reference to the “House of David.” The stela’s fragmented inscription, first read and translated by the renowned epigrapher Joseph Naveh, proved that King David from the Bible was a genuine historical figure and not simply the fantastic literary creation of later Biblical writers and editors. Perhaps more important, the stela, set up by one of ancient Israel’s fiercest enemies more than a century after David’s death, still recognized David as the founder of the kingdom of Judah.
The “House of David”
inscription had its skeptics, however, especially the so-called Biblical
minimalists, who attempted to dismiss the “House of David” reading as
implausible and even sensationalistic. In a famous BAR article, Philip Davies argued that the Hebrew
term bytdwdreferred to a specific place (akin to bytlhm for Bethlehem) rather than the ancestral
dynasty of David. Such skepticism aside, however, most Biblical scholars and
archaeologists readily accepted that the Tel Dan stela had supplied the first
concrete proof of a historical King David from the Bible, making it one of the
top Biblical archaeology discoveries reported in BAR.
Even though the “House of David”
inscription has confirmed the essential historicity of King David from the
Bible, scholars have reached little consensus about the nature and extent of
his rule. Was David the great king of Biblical lore who founded his royal
capital at Jerusalem and established an Israelite kingdom? Or was David a ruler
of only a tribal chiefdom, as Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University
contends? Questions like these often arise from Biblical archaeology
discoveries and lie at the heart of the complex relationships among
archaeology, history and the Bible.
Based on “Issue 200: Ten Top Discoveries,” Biblical Archaeology
Review, July/August September/October 2009.
Eilat Mazar’s excavations in Jerusalem’s City of David uncovered massive structures from the era associated with King David. Read “Did I Find King David’s Palace?” by Eilat Mazar online for free as it appeared in the January/February 2006 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
Visit the BAS Library for more on the Tel Dan inscription:
“‘David’ Found at Dan,” Biblical Archaeology Review,
March/April 1994.
Philip R. Davies, “‘House of David’ Built on Sand: The Sins of the Biblical Maximizers,” Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August 1994.
David Noel Freedman
and Jeffrey C. Geoghegan, “‘House of David’ Is There!” Biblical Archaeology Review,
March/April 1995.
Ryan Byrne, “Archaeological Views: Letting David Go,” Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August 2008.
“Strata: A House Divided: Davies and Maeir on the Tel Dan Stela,” Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 2013.
Avraham Biran, “Dan,” in Ephraim Stern, ed., The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy
Land, vol. 5 (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society and Biblical
Archaeology Society, 2008).
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