The purpose of the Davidic narratives

Overview

Tel Dan stele and history of David's Rise.

What you need to know

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Questions from this subtopic

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1. 1

   What question divides minimalist and maximalist scholars?

   Model answer

   The dispute concerns how much of the biblical account of David and the united monarchy can be treated as reliable history rather than later literary construction.

2. 2

   What do minimalist scholars argue about David?

   Model answer

   Minimalists such as Philip Davies, Thomas Thompson and Niels Peter Lemche argue that the biblical David is largely the creation of much later writers. On their reading there is little independent evidence for a tenth-century united monarchy of the size Samuel and Kings describe.

3. 3

   What do maximalist scholars argue?

   Model answer

   Maximalists such as Kenneth Kitchen argue that the narratives preserve substantially reliable memory. Their case rests on the circumstantial detail of the accounts, the presence of unflattering material, and the claim that archaeological silence is weak evidence.

4. 4

   What is the Tel Dan stele, and why does it matter to this debate?

   Model answer

   The Tel Dan stele is a fragmentary Aramaic victory inscription of the ninth century BCE found in 1993. Most scholars read one line as referring to the house of David, which would show that a dynasty tracing itself to David was known within about a century and a half of his supposed reign.

5. 5

   What archaeological argument does Israel Finkelstein make?

   Model answer

   Finkelstein's Low Chronology re-dates monumental buildings usually assigned to Solomon to the ninth century. Finkelstein also argues that tenth-century Jerusalem was too small to have administered an empire.

6. 6

   Give a counter-argument to the low chronology.

   Model answer

   Amihai Mazar defends a modified conventional chronology and a smaller but real tenth-century state. Others point out that Jerusalem has been continuously occupied and repeatedly rebuilt, so absence of remains from one century proves little.

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