• Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Lifeway Research

Lifeway Research

Enlightening today’s church with relevant research and insights

  • Research
  • Insights
  • Resource Library
  • Fast Facts
  • Search

New Evidence Supports Biblical Account of Davidic Kingdom

Uncategorized | Jul 25, 2018

King David archaeology
Coronation of David in the Paris Psalter

By Aaron Earls

What may look like simple pieces of broken pottery to most, paints a picture to archaeologist Gabriel Barkay that resembles the ancient kingdom of Israel ruled by David.

Barkay, adjunct professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University and co-director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project, recently shared some of the artifacts discovered in the mounds of dirt removed from the Temple Mount.

“Some archaeologists have posited that King David and King Solomon were invented by the authors of the Bible,” he said, according to Breaking News Israel.

“I can’t tell you that we’ve got a business card saying, ‘King David,’ but the thousands of coins, stone weights, arrowheads, pottery, mosaic pieces and more show clearly that there was significant human activity at the right time and place to support the existence of David and Solomon’s kingdoms.”

Another find, the base of a pillar bearing the image of an ancient fertility goddess, also points to the religious attitudes of Israelites living during that time.

“The way the pillar was broken shows that it was destroyed deliberately,” Barkay said. The Jewish people of that time would have seen that carving as idolatrous, according to Barkay, and felt a duty to destroy it.

Barkay and Zachi Dvira, an archeological doctoral candidate at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv, founded the Temple Mount Sifting Project in 2004, after the Muslim group controlling the area bulldozed a large pit in order to construct an entrance to a mosque.

The duo say that 9,000 tons of soil filled with priceless artifacts has been illegally removed from the Temple Mount area and dumped in the nearby Kidron Valley.

Ironically, moving the dirt from the contested area allowed archaeologists to comb through it and make significant archaeological finds.

Previously, the sifting project announced the discovery of ancient Jewish coins dating back to the time recorded in the Old Testament books Ezra and Nehemiah.

“These were the first coins ever minted by the Jews,” Dvira said.

The project has survived so far on private donations, but the two project leaders hope to receive government funding to continue what they believe is vital archaeological work.

“This is unknown territory,” they said. “There is still a lot of work ahead. Every single artifact is a world unto itself.”

AARON EARLS (@WardrobeDoor) is online editor of Facts & Trends.

Dig Deeper at Lifeway.com

Biblical Illustrator

A quarterly resource that helps you understand the culture of biblical times so that you can better apply biblical truth.

FIND OUT MORE

Related posts:

How Experts Identify Biblical Remnants in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us On…

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Popular articles

  • Bible & Theology, Insights The 15 Most Popular Bible Verses on Love
  • Faith & Culture, Insights 6 Qualities of Biblical Manhood
  • Faith & Culture, Insights 5 Current Challenges Facing U.S. Churches
  • Discipleship & Evangelism, Insights 75 Icebreaker Questions for Church Small Groups
  • Insights, Preaching & Teaching Most Popular Sermon Passages, Topics in 2021

Related posts:

How Experts Identify Biblical Remnants in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Join the Lifeway Research Newsletter

Lifeway Research: Enlightening Today’s Church with Relevant Insights.

Signup for email updates on our church and culture research.

Sign Up

Leader Resources

Bible
Clip Art
Classics
Clip Art
Current Events
Clip Art
Discipleship
Clip Art
Pastoral Ministy
Clip Art
Theology
Clip Art
VIEW ALL RESOURCES
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Custom Research
  • Resource Library
  • Search

Copyright © 2023 · Lifeway Research, a ministry of Lifeway Christian Resources