Professor’s Find Could Support Bible Stories of King David’s Realm

In a new academic paper, Prof. Yosef Garfinkel of the Institute of Archaeology at Hebrew University claims he has found evidence of urban settlement in organized cities dating to around 1,000 BCE, during the reign of King David. He found it after years of digging through old archaeological publications from 1930 – on.

It could back up parts of the Bible.

His article, published Monday in the Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology, a peer-reviewed publication of Hebrew University, supports the theory that King David ruled over a well-developed kingdom, complete with roads connecting five cities.

The Old Testament describes King David as an important ruler who presided over a great kingdom. Many scholars have minimized David’s Kingdom and its importance. However, Professor Garfinkel’s findings support the Bible’s report that King David was an important ruler over a vast kingdom.

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The Times of Isreal reported about the find. Professor Garfinkel identified five cities within a day’s walk of Jerusalem, all of which might have belonged to David’s kingdom of Judea.

Archaeologists have known about these cities for years—at least two of the excavations date to the early 20th century.

Mr. Garfinkel discovered reports of older excavations that connected these five cities to one another and perhaps to David’s Jerusalem.

“If you take all these sites, they have the same urban concept; they are all sitting on the border of the kingdom and sitting where you have a main road leading to the kingdom,” Garfinkel told The Times of Israel.

“These cities aren’t located in the middle of nowhere. It’s a pattern of urbanism with the same urban concept,” he added.

Most importantly, all of these cities date to around 1,000 BC, which coincides with the biblical rule of David.

It might back up the Bible accounts.

Garfinkel did not set out to write a paper that would lend support to the Old Testament.

“I hate to use the term ‘trying to prove the Bible,’ because I’m not trying to prove anything,” he said. Like all good researchers, the professor has followed the evidence.

The size and complexity of King David’s kingdom might not compare to today’s, but one interprets it differently when considering the date of 3,000 B.C. There weren’t very many people in those days – 3 or 4 million people roughly.

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