Was King David Judaism's King Arthur? An Old Testament Dispute Continues

Summary

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Though some scholars claimed [David] never existed, in 1993 archaeologists discovered a stone inscription from 835 B.C. that mentions "the house of David." The authors say that established the existence of a dynastic founder named David and that shortly after his 10th-century era a line of kings "traced their legitimacy back to David."

[Michael Coogan] also thinks "David and Solomon" downplays the significance of the Amarna tablets, which include correspondence to Egypt's pharaoh from a 14th-century Jerusalem king. Even if archaeological remains at Jerusalem are lacking, he writes, the tablets indicate that long before David, Jerusalem was the region's chief city-state, with a court and sophisticated scribes.

Until now, many scholars have said that's all bogus because there was no archaeological evidence for a state in Edom until long after David's day. [Israel Finkelstein] and [Neil Asher Silberman] typified such skepticism in Bible Unearthed, which said Edom achieved kingship and statehood only in the seventh century B.C.

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Was King David Judaism's King Arthur? An Old Testament Dispute Continues

Some scholars are busily debunking the Bible's account of the great King David, asking: Was he really all that great? Was he largely legendary, Judaism's version of Britain's legendary King Arthur,...

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