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===Historicity of David===

===Historicity of David===

There has been a scholarly debate in recent years about whether David was a real person or, rather, a construct of later generations to justify the ascendancy of Jerusalem as being "David's city", and justify the line of David, David's dynasty with all the policitical implications. Many felt that references to the person of David and the dynasty of David ("House of David") as found in the Bible are "read backs" rather than historically correct statements. The situation that this was to justify was the hopes and longing for the long lost homeland which began to be expressed with the Babylonian captivity of the Jews after 586 A.D. But that has changed with the finding of the Tel Dan Inscription.

The historicity of king David was confirmed in 1993 during excavations at Tel Dan in northern Israel lead by [[Avraham Biran]]. In these excavations, an Aramaic inscription was found now known as the [[Tel Dan Inscription]], a 9th century BC inscription containing thirteen lines of text that mentions the 'House of David' (bytdwd).<ref>Biran, Avraham, and Joseph Naveh. "An aramaic stele fragment from Tel Dan." Israel Exploration Journal (1993): 81-98.</ref><ref>Biran, Avraham, and Joseph Naveh. "The Tel Dan inscription: a new fragment." Israel Exploration Journal (1995): 1-18.</ref> Preceding this discovery, the historicity of David was doubted by critics of the historicity of the Bible, however this discovery ended virtually all discussion on the historicity of Israel's second king, David, and is one of the greatest archaeological finds in recent times. One year later, Andre Lemaire published a paper where he found that the name of David also appears in the Mesha Inscription,<ref>Lemaire, André. "House of David; Restored in Moabite inscription." The Biblical archaeology review 20.3 (1994): 30-37.</ref> which dates to about c. 940 BC.

In 1993 and 1995 archaeological excavations at Tel Dan, in northern Israel, at not far from the beginning rise of the Mt.Hermon and the tributaries leading to the Jordan river, pieces of potsherd were found bearing an Aramaic inscription commemorating the fall of the city at the hands of the Aramaeans, the king most probably being Hazael. A heated argument had been in the forefront for years with many scholars believing the references in the Bible to "House of David" were anachronistic emenating from later times, particularly after 586 B.C. and read back into early biblical accounts. The argument is now swinging in favor of the Biblical data, largely due to the "Tel Dan inscription", which has been dated by archaeological and epigraphic (script) analysis to the years 870-750 B.C. The inscription follows with the word referring to the "House of David" (the dynasty of David) in both English and Hebrew (pertinent part). Hazael, king of Aram, claims to have killed Yehoram son of Ah'av, king of Israel, and Ahazyahu, the son of Yehoram, king of the "House of David":

The preserved text of the Tel Dan Inscription reads as follows;

1'. [ ]...[ ] and cut [ ] 2'. [ ] my father went up [ ] he fought at [...] 3'. And my father lay down; he went to his [fathers]. Now the king of I[s]/rael had penetrated 4'. into my father's land before. [But then] Hadad made me king, 5'. And Hadad marched before me. So I went forth from [the] seven[...]/s 6'. of my rule, and I killed [seve]nty kin[gs] who had harnessed thou[sands of cha]/riots 7'. and thousands of cavalry. [And I killed ...]ram son of [...] 8'. the king of Israel, and I killed [...]yahu son of [... the ki]/ng of 9'. the ''House of David''.

The inscription refers to the 'house of David', meaning the dynasty of David. The author of the inscription is supposedly Hazael.

 

== References ==

== References ==