King David: Fact or Fiction?

We know the Word of God is true.

Maybe you are talking with a friend, and they say, “The Bible is just full of stories. Things like David and Goliath did not happen.” Many secular archaeologists did not believe the historicity of King David and used this to discredit the Bible. So what does the Bible say? We know that the Word of God is true, and Jesus himself viewed creation as a historical event when he quoted Genesis 2:24 stating,

Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female. (Matthew 19:4)

But what do we say when we are faced with these attacks on our faith and worldview? We know the Word of God is true and sharper than any two-edged sword, but what a blessing that we also have archaeological evidence that confirms the historicity of the Bible.

Stone slab (or stela) written during the ninth century BC; Photo by Oren Rozen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The inscription contained two words that would rock the world of archaeology.

In 1993, at a site in the northernmost part of Israel called Tel Dan, a group of archaeologists discovered a stone slab (or stela) written during the ninth century BC.1 The inscription contained two words that would rock the world of archaeology.

This stela was possibly commissioned by King Hazael of Aram-Damascus and describes a campaign on Damascus where the king defeated both King Johoram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah. Both kings are mentioned in 2 Chronicles 22 and 2 Kings 8. These kings in the Bible were killed by Jehu, but in this inscription, Hazael takes credit for their deaths and describes Ahaziah as king “of the House of David.”2

When your friends try to attack the biblical account of David, use this stone inscription to knock that giant of doubt down.

This is the first extra-biblical source mentioning David by name, therefore, supporting the historicity of the person of David who established a dynasty that continued and was the royal line through which our Savior Jesus Christ would come. So when your friends try to attack the biblical account of David, use this stone inscription to knock that giant of doubt down.