|
David Dawat Inscription from Egypt
From the BASNY Explorer
The earliest non-biblical reference to King David may have been
discovered in Egypt. According to an article appearing in Biblical
Archaeology Review for Jan.-Feb. 1999, Kenneth Kitchen, one of
the world’s most distinguished Egyptologists and a leading
expert on Egypt’s Third Intermediate Period (c. 1100-650 BCE)
has found what he believes to be the phrase “The Heights of
David” within a listing of territories allegedly conquered by
Pharaoh Sheshonq I.
This king is known to have invaded Canaan in 925 BCE and is believed
to be the same as the King Shishak mentioned in I Kings 14:25,
who, according to the biblical account, campaigned in Canaan at about
the same time, after the death of King Solomon. If Kitchen’s
translation is correct and the “David” named in the
inscription refers to King David, then this would be the earliest
mention of King David’s name in the archaeological record. It
would date to about fifty years after King David’s death and
about a century earlier than the “House of David”
inscription from Tel Dan. The translation, however, is not without problems.
Kitchen transliterates the inscription as h(y)dbt dwt. The
first word means “heights” or “highlands.” It is dwt
that presents the problem. The second letter in that word is the
equivalent of the Hebrew waw and can be read as either the vowel
“o” or the consonant “v” and both usages are
found in the Sheshonq list. The third letter, t, means the word can
be translated as Dot or Davit and neither corresponds
exactly to David.
To make the comparison work, Kitchen first dismissed the translation
of Dot as without foundation, there being no such name in any
ancient records of that time or earlier. Next, he looked for evidence
that the “t” could be a proper substitution for
“d.” Kitchen found such evidence in a sixth century CE
inscription from Ethiopia that refers to David as Davit, a
precise correlation with the Sheshonq usage.
Such a discovery is still a long way from clear proof that the
original Egyptian text refers to King David, and already
Kitchen’s reading is coming under attack. Nevertheless, Kitchen
seems confident in his interpretation. He argues that ”Heights
of David” also makes good historical sense as the territory in
question, according to the list arrangement, is in Southwest Judah or
the Negev, and this is the region where David was active when he fled
from King Saul. Later, still before David became King, the
Philistines made him a present of the city of Ziklag, which was
probably located on the Negev border. Kitchen believes that
David’s association with this hilly terrain would account for
the area becoming known as “The Heights of David.”
Physically, the inscription is part of a list entered on the exterior
south wall of the Great Temple of Amun in Karnak. The territories
named were written upon pictures of enemy soldiers and the
inscription in question appears in two parts, each on a different
male figure. The images are shown in the accompanying illustration on
page 1, which was taken from the same issue of Biblical
Archaeology Review.
|
