Question from Dominic:
What are we to make of the possible discovery of King David’s palace by Dr. Eilat Mazar? Do you believe this gives more credit to the Bible?
Answer by SmartLX:
Not very much, based on the discoveries and research so far.
The discovery of what’s now blandly called the Large Stone Structure was almost six years ago, and they’re still trying to date it authoritatively. Mazar was out specifically looking for Biblical artifacts, sponsored by an institution that supports political Zionism (and would therefore love proof that the Israelites were established in that area). Most of the external support since has come from Mazar’s second cousin at a Jerusalem university. None of this is sufficient grounds for dismissing the possibility that the discovery is really Biblical, but none of it helps the positive case either.
It strikes me that Mazar has apparently assumed that David was king at the time in order to conclude that the structure belonged to him, and at the same time the structure is now the bulk of the physical evidence supporting the existence of King David himself. (Other than the structure, and not counting the Bible, there’s one ambiguous carving on a piece of rock and that’s about it.) To uphold one as evidence for the other may be circular reasoning.
Of course people who try this usually haven’t based their own beliefs on the archaeological evidence, having begun to believe well before learning of it, so their personal journeys to belief are another matter.
One thought on “Dave’s Old Pad”
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The discovery of Troy lent credence to the Trojan War and some credence even to its characters in Homer’s Iliad, but it did not lend any credence whatsoever to the gods presumed to have been involved in it. The books of the bible are collections of folklore. The bible demonstrates the discovery and invention of virtually nothing! It was the Greeks who invented ethics, history, individuality, journalism, philosophy, psychology, republics, schools, science, theater, and, basically, western civilization. The only things that the ancient Jews invented was Jaweh and sin. Even monotheism wasn’t a Hebrew invention; it was invented in Egypt by Ikhenaten at least half a millennium before. The only god that we can prove exists is Apollon — and he’s just an idea. Oops! Another Greek invention, like democracy. In any event, why would anybody believe in a bible more if archaeologists proved the existence of David — a bisexual mass-murderer who demonstrably did not found an empire but simply ‘moved’ the capital of Israel to a momgod site in Judah. The bible, obviously, is the ravings of a inferiority complex that took Canaan from the Canaanites, then justified this unethical rape and pillage with a lot of self-glorifying fantasy; even if David were ‘found’, it wouldn’t prove anything that never was. What if they found his whole missing empire? It would prove only what the bible admits: it is an attempted justification for a land grab that wasn’t justified, isn’t justifiable, and smacks of covetousness, hubris, theft, bearing false witness, and egregious vanity because it is unwarranted. The bible can’t even define the bible, and to use it as a ‘law book’ implicates those who wannbe judges in its gross bigotry, gynophobia, homophobia, and xenophobia.
Do what if the fabled Lost City of David is found. Will archaeologists find a vast library? Proof that the ancient Hebrews invented archaeology, chronology, democracy, drama, epic, the female nude, ecumenicism, indoor toilets, schooling, and rational discourse? Go ahead and dig. Whatever you find will lend no credence to ‘revealed’ religion; it has already been revealed to be better for the dead than it is for the living.