Historical Evidence of King David from the Bible Discovered
By Marie
According to researchers, a 2,900 basalt stone slab with ‘The House of David’, supports the fact that he is an actual historical figure.
It is a basalt stone slab from the ninth-century B.C. that chronicles the military victories of King Mesha of Moab. It was set up in King Mesha’s capital Dibon. However, it was damaged in 1869, making certain parts of the tablet unreadable.
The only thing that contains the original words written in it is a page squeeze, paper-mache impression, of the tablet. Since then, the words are being deciphered according to the Biblical Archaeology Society.
André Lemaire and Jean-Philippe Delorme who wrote in the Winter 2022 edition confirmed that Mesha Stele referenced the “House of David.”
“In 2015, a team from the West Semitic Research Project of the University of Southern California took new digital photographs of both the restored stela and the paper squeeze.
“The team used a method called Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), in which numerous digital images are taken of an artefact from different angles and then combined to create a precise, three-dimensional digital rendering of the piece.
“This method is especially valuable because the digital rendering allows researchers to control the lighting of an inscribed artefact so that hidden, faint, or worn incisions become visible.
“In 2018, the Louvre Museum also took new, high-resolution backlit pictures of the squeeze, where the light was projected directly through the 150-year-old paper to provide a clearer view of the ancient letters it records,” they wrote.
Even though the “House of David” inscription has confirmed the essential historicity of King David from the Bible, scholars have reached little consensus about the nature and extent of his rule.