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adding history
David died after ruling 40 years, 33 of them in Jerusalem, and set up his son [[Solomon]] as his successor. David was not allowed to build the temple because he was a man of 'blood' (a military commander), but his son could. David was part of the lineage of [[Jesus]].
David died after ruling 40 years, 33 of them in Jerusalem, and set up his son [[Solomon]] as his successor. David was not allowed to build the temple because he was a man of 'blood' (a military commander), but his son could. David was part of the lineage of [[Jesus]].
==Historicity of David==
==Historical Background==
=== King David ===
Between 1966-1998, [[Avraham Biran]] lead excavations at a site known as Tel Dan, located in northern Israel. In 1993, an ancient Aramaic inscription dating to the 9th century BC was found containing thirteen lines of text that mention 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 King David, and is one of the greatest archaeological finds in recent times. One year later, André 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. 840 BC. That same year, Émile Puech also independently came to the same conclusion.<ref>La stèle de Dan: Bar Hadad II et la coalition des Omrides et de la maison de David. Revue Biblique 101: 215–41</ref>
Between 1966-1998, [[Avraham Biran]] lead excavations at a site known as Tel Dan, located in northern Israel. In 1993, an ancient Aramaic inscription dating to the 9th century BC was found containing thirteen lines of text that mention 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 King David, and is one of the greatest archaeological finds in recent times. One year later, André 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. 840 BC. That same year, Émile Puech also independently came to the same conclusion.<ref>La stèle de Dan: Bar Hadad II et la coalition des Omrides et de la maison de David. Revue Biblique 101: 215–41</ref>
The inscription refers to David and his dynasty ('house of' David). The author of the inscription is supposedly Hazael. Shortly after this inscription was found, a large number of publications appeared on the inscription, and it was soon recognized that the inscription did in fact mention David and confirm his existence, which is now the consensus of scholars.
The inscription refers to David and his dynasty ('house of' David). The author of the inscription is supposedly Hazael. Shortly after this inscription was found, a large number of publications appeared on the inscription, and it was soon recognized that the inscription did in fact mention David and confirm his existence, which is now the consensus of scholars.
=== David and Goliath ===
Goliath lived in the Philistine city of Gath. In 2005, during excavations at Gath (modern day Tell es-Safi) headed by [[Aren Maier]] at [[Bar-Ilan University]], a Semitic inscription was found dating from the 10th-9th centuries BC, bearing a name was found on a pot that highly resembles 'Goliath'.<ref>Maier, Aren. "An Iron Age IIA Proto-Canaanite, Philistine Inscription and Other New Finds From Tell es-Safi-Gath." Un trabajo presentado en el Encuentro Anual de las American Schools of Oriental Research, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 8 (2005).</ref> Whilst this was not the biblical Goliath, this discovery affirmed that people in Gath during the biblical timeline of David's battle with Goliath did in fact have the name Goliath and names like Goliath, which would not have been known to later authors. Aren Maier notes "What this means is that at the time there were people there named Goliath... It shows us that David and Goliath’s story reflects the cultural reality of the time."<ref>[http://www.nbcnews.com/id/9997587/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/scientists-find-goliath-inscribed-pottery/#.WPaBTIjyvIU Scientists find 'Goliath' inscribed on pottery]</ref> This astonishing discovery provided a historical and cultural background for the story of David's battle with Goliath, and established that the narrative was based in history -- a fact that is very rare for ancient texts.
== References ==
== References ==