KING DAVID , Documented, Real, Recorded, Known To The World, OF ISRAEL

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                 

King David (1010-970 BCE) born  1,015 years ago,  was the real McCoy!  Israel's history is recorded in the Old Testament Bible for starters.  Jewish history can start from there and work backwards, tracing facts and people up to King David.  

King David , a central figure in the Old Testament, was a shepherd, musician, warrior, and king of Israel. He's known for his courage in defeating Goliath, his leadership in uniting the tribes of Israel, and his close relationship with God. While celebrated for his piety and musical abilities (particularly his psalms), he was also depicted as a flawed human, struggling with personal failings and political intrigues. 

He was a great warrior with hair the color of gingy (ginger).  So he had either  red-hairor auburn hair.  

1. Tel Dan Stele:  One notable resource that refers to King David outside of the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) is the Tel Dan Stele.

• Tel Dan Stele: This is an ancient inscription found in northern Israel, dating to the 9th century BCE, which is about 150 years after the time of King David. It was discovered in 1993 and contains a reference to the "House of David". This inscription, written by a king of Aram (Syria today) who was celebrating a military victory, suggests the existence of a Davidic dynasty and is considered by many scholars to be the earliest extra-biblical evidence supporting the existence of King David as a historical figure. 
  
  Empire of David and son Solomon;  notice Philistines not a part as yet, Miggada 
• is a city on green area as Syria (Aram) is to the north with Damascus.  Hazor  is on
• map, most northward of Israel.   
• According to the Hebrew Bible, David and his house—his descendants—were appointed by God to rule all Israel (2Sam 7:1-17). The term “Israel” here encompasses a united kingdom that included both the tribe of Judah in the south, David’s home territory where he first came to power, and the ten northern tribes of Israel, where Saul ruled before David took over his kingdom. After the death of David’s son and heir Solomon, the tribes of Israel split from the united kingdom, and thus, beginning with David’s grandson Rehoboam, the house of David ruled only Judah, with its capital in Jerusalem. The Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. and the exile of the last Davidic kings, Jehoiakin and Zedekiah, ended the Davidic monarchy.

The "King of Aram" refers to rulers of the ancient kingdom of Aram, which corresponds roughly to modern-day Syria and parts of Turkey. The Arameans, the people of Aram, were a Semitic group who played a significant role in the history of the region. 

More specifically, the term "Aram" is often associated with the kingdom of Aram-Damascus, which was centered around the city of Damascus. Therefore, the king of Aram would be the ruler of this region in ancient times, and today, that area is primarily within the modern nation of Syria. 

While the Tel Dan Stele is arguably the most direct evidence, other ancient inscriptions and archaeological discoveries may also offer context and potential support for the historical existence of King David and his kingdom:

•  2. Mesha Stele:   Does the Mesha Stele mention King David of the Bible in its 31st line? Scholars André Lemaire and Jean-Philippe Delorme think the “House of David” reading can now be confirmed. Photo: Mbzt 2012 / CC by 3.0.
• This Moabite inscription from the 9th century BCE also potentially mentions the "House of David". While the relevant part of the inscription is damaged and subject to debate, recent studies using advanced imaging techniques have strengthened the possibility of this reference.The Mesha Stele, also known as the Moabite Stone, is a stele dated around 840 BCE containing a significant Canaanite inscription in the name of King Mesha of Moab (a kingdom located in modern Jordan).
• Mesha tells how Chemosh, the god of Moab, had been angry with his people and had allowed them to be subjugated to the Kingdom of Israel, but at length, Chemosh returned and assisted Mesha to throw off the yoke of Israel and restore the lands of Moab.
• The stele, whose story parallels, with some differences, an episode in the Bible's Books of Kings (2 Kings 3:4–27), provides invaluable information on the Moabite language and the political relationship between Moab and Israel at one moment in the 9th century BCE. It is the most extensive inscription ever recovered that refers to the kingdom of Israel (the "House of Omri"); it bears the earliest certain extrabiblical reference to the Israelite God Yahweh.^[9][8] It is also one of four known contemporaneous inscriptions containing the name of Israel, the others being the Merneptah Stele, the Tel Dan Stele, and one of the Kurkh Monoliths. Its authenticity has been disputed over the years, and some biblical minimalists suggest the text was not historical, but a biblical allegory. The stele itself is regarded as genuine and historical by the vast majority of biblical archaeologists today.
• Archaeological Excavations in Jerusalem: Excavations in the area known as the City of David have revealed significant structures from the Iron Age, including a large stone structure believed by some archaeologists, like Eilat Mazar, to be the remains of King David's palace. However, this interpretation is also debated among scholars.                                
  
                                       Khirbet Qeiyafa Western Gate
• 3.  Judahite Cities: Discoveries at sites like Khirbet Qeiyafa, a fortified city dating to the 10th century BCE, provide evidence of a centralized state in the region around the time of King David.A number of archaeologists, mainly the two excavators, Yosef Garfinkel and Saar Ganor, have claimed that it might be one of two biblical cities, either Sha'arayim, whose name they interpret as "Two Gates", because of the two gates discovered on the site, or Neta'im; and that the large structure at the center is an administrative building dating to the reign of King David, where he might have lodged at some point. This is based on their conclusions that the site dates to the early Iron IIA, ca. 1025–975 BCE  a range which includes the biblical date for the biblical Kingdom of David. On July 18, 2013, the Israel Antiquities Authority issued a press release about the discovery of a structure believed to be King David's palace in the Judean Shephelah. The archaeological team uncovered two large buildings dated to the tenth century BCE, one a large palatial structure and the other a pillared store room with hundreds of stamped storage vessels. The claim that the larger structure may be one of King David's palaces led to significant media coverage, while skeptics accused the archaeologists of sensationalism. Aren Maeir, an archaeologist at Bar Ilan University, pointed out that  some scholars believe the buildings could be Philistine or Canaanite. The massive structure located on a hill in the center of the city was decorated with alabaster imported from Egypt. On one side it offered a view of the two city gates, Ashdod and the Mediterranean, and on the other, the Elah Valley. During the Byzantine era, a wealthy farmer built a home on the site, cutting the palace in two.What is clear is that Khirbet Qeiyafa continues to spark scholarly debate about its function and importance. Was Qeiyafa one of the last Canaanite strongholds, or does the fort’s proximity to Jerusalem indicate that it was a fortified citadel from the time of King David? Or, as is now suggested by Ussishkin, was the site a unique cultic compound from the tenth century? The debate will no doubt continue.

It is important to note that a comprehensive biography of King David outside of the biblical accounts remains elusive, and scholars continue to discuss and debate the interpretation of archaeological findings. 

Biblical Sources:                                 

• 1 and 2 Samuel: Samuel (chaps 1-7); Saul  (8-31) and David (16 ff)  These books provide the foundational narrative of David's life, from his anointing as a shepherd boy to his rise as king, including his battles, personal struggles (like the Bathsheba incident), and consolidation of the Israelite kingdom. (Tells of history of Israelites from period of Judges to last days of David.)  Differs in content from Septuagint and Vulgate who divide the book into two; Hebrew tradition is one work.  The Septuagint and the Vulgate are both
•  important translations of the Bible, but they differ in
•  language and origin. The Septuagint is a Greek translation
•  of the Hebrew Bible, while the Vulgate is a Latin translation,
•  primarily based on the Septuagint for the Old
•  Testament.  The debate around the translation of Mary being a virgin in the Bible centers on the Hebrew word 'almah" in Isaiah 7:14, which some argue means "young woman" rather than "virgin". This word was translated into Greek as parthenos (virgin) in the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament. This translation choice, and its subsequent use in the New Testament, is debated as possibly being a mistranslation or an intentional interpretation to support the concept of the virgin birth. 
• 1 Chronicles: This book largely repeats information from 1 and 2 Samuel, providing an additional, potentially later, account of David's reign and lineage.
• Psalms: Many psalms are attributed to David, reflecting his personal experiences, emotional depth, and devotion to God. 

References:

The New Standard Jewish Encylopedia

Tanach--the Torah/Prophets/writings  24 books of the Bible

https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/55520/does-the-latin-vulgate-

propagate-a-translation-error-in-genesis-315#:~:text=Yes%2C%20the%20Latin%20

Vulgate%20has,first%20300%20-%20400%20hundred%20year

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesha_Stele

Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Egyptians: Ancient Kingdoms: Part I What Happened to Them?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                         

Israel was not alone as a kingdom.  There were others who were most warlike.  There were the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites and of course the only one who survived to this day;  the Egyptians.  Above is a map showing the kingdoms after King Solomon died when Israel divided into Israel and Judah after 920 BCE.

We were told by Moses not to intermarry with these other kingdoms' men.  Interestingly, Ruth, a central figure in our history, was a Moabite.  It's almost as if Moses was told of the Y haplotypes of men, and didn't want his haplotype to intermix with theirs.  The problem was that these kingdoms did not continue to exist forever, and people were moved by the prevailing conquerors.  What would happen to these men was not known then.  Evidently there was more to it than haplotypes.
                                                                           

 The cultures of the others and their knowledge of good and evil acts differed.  They called their ancient god Chemosh, translated as "DESTROYER, or FISH GOD."  The Ammonites worshipped him, too.  "His cult was imported to Jerusalem by King Solomon (1 Kings 11:7).  The Hebrew scorn for his worship was evident in a curse from the scriptures:  "the abomination of Moab."  King Josiah of Judah (637-608 BCE) destroyed the Israelite branch of the cult (2 Kings 23).   
                                                                            

They believed in human sacrifice!  "Rites were commonplace in the various Canaanite religious cults, including those of the Baals and of Moloch.  Mythologists and other scholars suggest that such activity may be due to the fact the Chemosh and other Canaanite gods such as the Baals, Moloch, Thammuz, and Baalzebub were all personifications of the sun, or of the sun's rays.  They represented the fierce, inescapable, and often consuming heat of the summer sun (a necessary but deadly element in life; analogs may be found in Aztec sun worship)." "Goddesses were indeed secondary, and in many cases being dissolved or compounded with male deities."  One wonders what was so appealing to people when human sacrifice is involved in their beliefs.  Most all  the people of that period had a limited viewpoint of G-d and G-d was a national figure then who only helped that group.  Writer Judd H. Burton said, "Thus, it would seem that Semitic regard for respective national deities operated similarly from region to region." 
                                                                               

Moabites and Ammonites became Assyrians
King Abdulah I of Saudi Arabia moved to Jordan for his Arabian tribe which he brought with him.  

The Moabites, as you can see by the map, lived in where Jordan exists today.  The boundaries then were laid out to be in the North by the river Heshbon; The South by the river Zered; the Jordan River and the Dead Sea to the West,  and The Syrian Desert on the East.   They were blood relations to the Israelites because they were also descendants of Lot, Abraham's nephew. So were the Ammonites.   They shared genes with the Israelites.   Even their language was similar to Hebrew.

During  our patriarchal era, they had settled in Moab which had been captured from the Rephaim as told about in Deut. 2:10-11.  The Rephaim lived, we think, south of the Sinai peninsula, or in the North.  It was between the Wilderness of Sin and the Sinai Desert and was a stopping place for the Israelites led by Moses.  They also were an ancient people living in today's Jordan in Abraham's day.  Some had settled near Jerusalem in the "Valley of Rephaim."  I'm going back over 4,000 years now to Abraham's day which would have been about 1948 BCE, otherwise known as the 2nd millennium BCE!!! It's wonderful to find such
bands were recorded for history.

The Moabites during Abraham's life were ruled by a king named Sihon.  He was defeated by the Israelites who occupied the land on their journey back to Canaan.  This of course was a cause of contention then with not only the Moabites but also with Ammonites.  The Moabites themselves were a divided people still in tribes, and this caused the tribes to unite into one kingdom.  Their 2nd ruler turns out to be Balak who called on Balaam to curse the Israelites.  As time went on, they had a king named Eglon, and they extended their territory to the Jericho region until Eglon was killed by Ehud, an Israelite Judge-leader before kings were needed for Israel.  He was from the tribe of Benjamin.  Ehud saved Israel from Eglon, king of Moab and his  oppression.
                                                                         

King David   ruled from 1010 BCE to 970 BCE over Israel.  His ggrandmother was a Moabite, however.  He conquered the Moabites who remained under the rule of  Israel down to the rebellion in the 9th century of  King Mesha of Moab.  At first King Mesha was nice to  Israel's King Omri (887-876 BCE) , but exploited Israel's weakness after the death of Israel's King Ahab (876-853 BCE)  and threw off Israel's ruling over them.  King Mesha set up the
                                                                                           

Mesha Stele, a stone with writing that commemorated his successful revolt against King Joram/Jehoram  (853-843 BCE) of Israel.  This stone was found in the Moabite capital, Dibon, in 1868, and is now in the Louvre.  It tells of Omri's subjection of Moab and Moab's liberation from Israel.  The language is similar to Hebrew.  It almost looks like the  tablet of today, doesn't it?
                                                                             

Assyrians taking Israelites as prisoners

Moab became an Assyrian province when Tiglath-Pileser III ruled.  The Assyrians had attacked Israel in 722 to 721 BCE.   During the Persian period, Arabs penetrated the country and assimilated with the Moabites.   Moab was conquered by the Jewish Hasmoneans and was later incorporated by the Romans into Arabia.
                                                   

Deut. 23:4 tells us that intermarriage between Jews and Moabites is forbidden, but the Talmud understood this referred only to males, so by the Mishnaic Period, the prohibition was abolished.  They knew Ruth was a Moabite and she was good.  Here's a case where one person made a difference in attitude.
                                                                           

Ruth is famous for being an ancestor of King David, his great grandmother.  Her story took place in the days of the Judges, before King  Saul, first king of Israel in the 11th century BCE.  Being from Moab,  she  had married an Israelite, Mahlon, and when he died after 10 years of marriage, Ruth stayed with his mother, Naomi and went with her back to Bethlehem.   Mahlon's brother, Chilion,   also died young. He had married a Moabite woman, too.    A few years later, Naomi introduced Ruth  to one of her relatives, Boaz, and he married Ruth.  Naomi was an interesting character.  She was also a widow, and had been married to the Israelite, Elimelech.    They had wandered into Moab when famine had hit their own city of Beth-lehem in the southern part of Canaan, later to be Judah.   When he died unexpectedly, she found herself left with only her 2 sons who later married Moabite women.  

Naomi urged her two daughters in law to go back to their own homes, but Ruth was insistent upon staying with her, and said her famous lines  that I repeated in my Confirmation:
   For where you go, I will go;  where you lodge, I will lodge;  your people are my people, and your G-d is my G-d;  where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.  Thus may Hashem do to me, and so may He do more, if anything but death separates me from you."

                                                                              Descendants of Boaz

1   Boaz b: in Bethlehem, cousin of Elimelach, Naomi's husband.
.. +Ruth of Royalty b: in Moab
. 2   Oved Obed Judah b: in 11th century BCE
..... 3   Jesse b: in Bethlehem
......... +Ithra's Daughter
......... 4   Zeruiah
......... 4   [1] King of Israel David b: in 1000 BCE Bethlehem
............. +Bathsheba b: in Giloh, Judah
......... *2nd Wife of [1] King of Israel David:
............. +Ahinoam of Jezreel
......... *3rd Wife of [1] King of Israel David:
............. +Michal the First, Daughter of Saul
......... *4th Wife of [1] King of Israel David:
............. +Abigail b: in Carmelite
......... *5th Wife of [1] King of Israel David:
............. +Maachah Fromgeshur
......... *6th Wife of [1] King of Israel David:
............. +Merab
......... *7th Wife of [1] King of Israel David:
............. +Haggith
......... *Partner of [1] King of Israel David:
............. +Abital
......... *8th Wife of [1] King of Israel David:
............. +Eglah
......... *9th Wife of [1] King of Israel David:
............. +Maacah

Descendants of Judah-Tribe of Judah came from him-one of the 12 sons of Jacob.

1   [2] Judah
.. +Daughter of Shua
. 2   Boaz b: in Bethlehem
..... +Ruth of Royalty b: in Moab
. 2   Hur
. 2   Er
..... +[1] Tamar
. 2   Onan
..... +[1] Tamar
. 2   Shelah
*2nd Wife of [2] Judah:
.. +Canaanite Woman
. 2   Er
..... +[3] Tamar
. 2   Onan
..... +[3] Tamar
. 2   Shelah b: in Chezib
*3rd Wife of [2] Judah:
.. +[3] Tamar
. 2   Perez
. 2   Zerah

Research:  Tanach;  The Stone Edition
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/cgodsandgoddesses/a/chemosh.htm