“Who would have known about this man if not for the Bible? Where is there even one mention of him outside the great book? Nowhere! And this gives reason to believe that the existence of King David is an invention of the ancient chroniclers. Especially funny to me is the image of little David defeating the mighty Goliath. We don’t drag fairies or trolls into history books. We allow them to stay in their place, in a fairy-tale world. Why are we dragging into history a person whose existence has been proven no more than the existence of dragons?"
These words were spoken by the Danish historian Hans Holberg in 1978. And not only Holberg had such thoughts. After all, if from the point of view of faith it is impossible to doubt the "testimony" of the Bible, then from the point of view of science everything must be proved.
Offender stone
This happened in 1993. Topographer Gila Kuk, who took part in excavations in the ancient city of Dan, tripped over a stone. Gila squatted down, looked closely and found that the letters of the Aramaic alphabet were carved into the stone! Gila knew immediately that it was a very valuable find. But Cook had no idea what a sensation the stone she found would cause.
The scientists to whom she gave the stone discovered that it is a fragment of a once majestic monument. When the inscription was read, it turned out that the text reported about the battle, which was led by a descendant of King David. This became a serious scientific proof of the existence of the legendary king.
This is how another mystery of the Bible was discovered, which said that this unique book is not only a spiritual, but also a historical monument. When the news of the discovery was made public at a meeting of the Academic Council of Oxford University, the members of the council stood in a standing ovation for several minutes. Bible student Stephen McKenzie confessed: “I admit that there are people who do not understand the meaning of this find, but when I heard about it, I burst into tears. It’s not just about David. The fact is that since the Bible is right again, it has made another contribution to historical science."
Promotional video:
Royal squire
Yes, the existence of David is proven, but the description of his duel with Goliath was still perceived by most scientists as fiction. Moreover, at the time described, David was not even a warrior, but only a royal squire. And so scientists set out to resolve this issue both from the point of view of logic and from the point of view of historical reality.
To begin with, it was necessary to find out whether a duel between representatives of two enemy armies could have taken place before a big battle. Scientists answered this question quickly. Yes, in various documents of that time, evidence was found that such fights were not rare. The victory of a comrade in arms gave his comrades-in-arms confidence in their own strength. And in this case, with the victory of David over Goliath, the offensive of the Israeli troops began, which drove the Philistines from their land.
But the Bible says that young David, in the past - a shepherd, was only the king's squire! How could he cope with an adult warrior? “It's very simple,” Australian historian Patrick Tricket dispelled doubts. "The honorary position of the king's squire could then be awarded only to those who heroically showed themselves in battles." Then another question arose: how did David, who abandoned the armor, with only a sling in his hands, manage to cope with the huge Goliath, who, as the Bible says, was well armed?
David and Goliath
Israeli scientists who worked on the excavation and well studied the weapons and armor of the Philistines, said that before the battle, they pulled on leather clothes, on which many metal scales were sewn. Goliath, judging by the text of the Bible, was very high, at least two meters. His weapons and armor, according to experts, weighed about 40 kilograms. Refusing armor, David was in such a situation much more mobile than his enemy and could maneuver. But could a royal squire fight only with a sling in his hands? It turns out he could. It was a very common weapon in the Middle Eastern armies.
Italian scientist Cesare Comicelli sneered: “Perhaps the huge Goliath could not do anything with the easy David. But David, who threw a pebble with a sling, could not do much harm to Goliath either.
Swift stones
In response to this statement, Israeli experts began to study stones that could be used for slinging. In several countries, interesting experiments have been carried out to measure the speed and force of impact of such stones. Alan Uigbart and Ron Compson, ballistics experts from Glasgow, used a high-speed video camera and were amazed to find that the stones released from the sling reached a speed of more than 100 kilometers per hour! Experiments in other countries have confirmed that these stones could easily penetrate the soft tissues of a person and break his bones. So it was proved that the seemingly incredible episode from the Bible does not cause the slightest doubt.
At the bottom of the source
Another biblical story associated with David has long caused doubts among scholars. This is a story about how David and his army did not besiege Jerusalem, but captured it, penetrating through a canal into the water supply system. Until the 19th century, no one could prove that such a system existed not only in the imagination of the authors of the Bible. And only in 1867, a deep mine was discovered near Jerusalem, in which traces of an ancient water supply system were actually found.
The English explorer Charles Warren believed that the discovery of the tunnel alone did not prove the truth of the biblical text. He decided to determine if people could really get through it to Jerusalem. Together with his assistant, Warren made this path along the bottom of the Gion spring. Almost all the way, the scientists had to crawl on their knees, and yet they reached their intended goal. The American Historical Journal published an article in which Warren stated: “Yes, the Jewish soldiers had a very hard time. But I didn't have the slightest doubt that the city was taken exactly as the Bible told about it."
It would seem that the question is closed. Nothing like this! In the pages of the same American Historical Journal, researcher John Kowski wrote: “I do not agree that Jews could have entered Jerusalem in this way, because, like many other experts, I doubt that under King David this water supply system was existed."
So was it at the time of David, that is, in the X century BC? The Israeli scientist Roni Wright was able to solve this riddle. In 1966, while excavating an ancient nine-meter city dump, he discovered huge stones, each of which weighed 2 to 3 tons. Comparing the shape and location of the boulders, it was possible to establish that they are parts of a giant fortification that preceded the entrance to the water supply system. There were also scattered pieces of pottery, which, as it turned out, was also part of this structure. From these fragments, it was determined that the age of the tunnel is about 4000 years. Soon, scientists at the Hebrew University discovered plant materials in the plaster, which were dated using the radiocarbon method. The antiquity of the tunnel was confirmed in this case as well.
The Israelites' discovery was also confirmed by researchers from other countries - yes, the Jerusalem water supply system existed long before the birth of David. Thus, another major mystery of biblical history was solved. The existence of this legendary personality and the authenticity of David's actions described in the Bible are no longer in doubt.
Boris Levin