CX

Dude. You told everyone here you were 13. Pretty hard to have much of a background in anything at 13. Furthermore the amount of invective in your rhetoric is pretty indicative of armchair status at best. But so what? Most of us here are "armchair scholars". That's neither here nor there with respect to cogent argumentation.

Radcliffe Emerson

How many years have you been reading and learning?

Radcliffe Emerson

KA, you're only 13? I've been reading and learning and studying this since long before you were born.

King Arthur

Ha! I think there was a smiley face by that 13 years. If not, it was meant quite fecetiously.

Actually, I'm around 1000 years old. I've lived on in legend. You know... King Arthur...

My real age is a mystery. My behavior is intentional. My knowledge is impeccable.

deank

Your rhetoric is weak; your behavior is irrational. Your diapers need changing.

-Dean

CX

I see. Very well then, perhaps you could share your C.V.? I'm not sure why any of this matters, but since you brought it up...

How many years of study do you have in this field?

Personal or professional?

How many biblical lanaguages do you know?

How many and what courses have you taken related to biblical study and or comparitive religion at the undergraduate and graduate level?

At what institution?

Are you published in any peer reviewed journal in a related field?

Which powerpuff girl is your favorite?

Sauron

The above is a good example of why people should be careful making strong claims.

The fact that David is mentioned, does not (necessarily) prove that David is a historical character. Rome was founded (allegedly) by Romulus and Remus, two twin boys who were suckled by wolves. We know this from inscriptions as well.

By your flimsy standard of evidence, Romulus and Remus must have been real characters as well.

Sauron

His ego is unstoppable. His credentials are undiscoverable. His reasoning is unreliable.

Wow. Fun game.

Jayhawker Soule

In <a href="http://www.geocities.com/Paris/LeftBank/5210/tel_dan.htm" target="_blank">The Aramaic inscription from Tel Dan</a>, Professor Garbini concludes: I wonder if our little 'boy who would be king' is up to the task -- after he cleans his room of course.

Michael Ledo

Not only are David and Solomon fictional- so is King Arthur. From Bible Bloopers:

David and Solomon
“Archaeology often provides some extremely powerful external evidence.” –Josh McDowell


David and Solomon are the two most vivid kings in the Bible. In spite of that there are no texts outside of the Bible to confirm their existence. Solomon’s vast trading empire left no tax records, no trade records, and no census. Likewise, all the empires that traded with Solomon left no records of their transactions with Solomon, while leaving detailed records of other transactions. The neighboring Assyrians referred to Israel as “the land of the house of Omri.” Omri was the great king that unified Israel. Today he is mostly remembered in the New York Times Crossword. Like most Old Testament stories there is truth and myth mixed in with David and Solomon. Let us try to separate the two.

 First, let’s start with some historical facts. The separation of what is known to be true and what is mostly fiction or unproven in the Bible can be divided at 1 Kings 16:8-9 and 2 Chronicles 16. Omri was an actual king. Another real character is Shishak I of 1 Kings 14:25-26 and 2 Chronicles 12:2-9. This Egyptian pharaoh invaded the Near East sometime during his reign (945-924 B.C.). Shishak writes very little of his campaign. Apparently he won a major battle at Megiddo and collected tribute from the land of Syria. He gives a list of the cities he conquered (155 names appear, but only 17 can be identified; Jerusalem is not one of them). Bible scholars claim he caused great devastation to Palestine. The odd thing is that Shishak made no boast about taking the great treasure of Solomon. Egypt was a declining empire. Such a vast treasure would have lifted the spirits of the people. The manifest of Solomon’s treasure does indeed exist in Egypt! The treasure is not attributed to Solomon, but to the prince of Kadesh. Solomon’s treasure was too great to be confused with normal treasures.
 
Thutmose III invaded the Near East in 1468 B.C. (Solomon’s reign typically dated from 1000-960 B.C.) He boasted of his captured booty by inscribing every piece on the temple of Thebes (Luxor). Among his booty: a great throne of ivory overlaid with pure gold (2 Chron 9:17, “made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with gold”); altars and tables of gold for sacrifice along with gold bowls, 100 plates, drinking vessels, knives making 435 lb. troy and cones of shewbread of silver and gold (1 Kings 7:48, “made all the vessels that pertained unto the house of the Lord: the altar of gold, and the table of gold whereupon the shewbread was”); candlesticks with lamps and flowers (1 Kings 7:49, “candlesticks of pure gold…with the flowers, and the lamps” [also 2 Chr 4:20-21]); 101 basins of gold (2 Chr 4:8, “made an hundred basons of gold”); gold chains (2 Chr 3:16, “And he made chains…”); gold and precious stones (2 Chr 3:5-6, “overlaid with fine gold…and he garnished the house with precious stones”); 200 targets and 300 shields of gold (2 Chr 9:15-16, “two hundred target of beaten gold…and three hundred shields he made of beaten gold”); hooks and implements of brass and gold (2 Chr 4:16, “pots, and the shovels, and the fleshhooks, and all their instruments of …bright brass”); carved animal figures of lions and oxen (1 King 7:29, “between the ledges were lions, oxen…”); lotus vials in gold and silver (1 Kings 7:26, “the brim of a cup with flowers of lilies”); a large brass altar (2 Chr 4:1, “an altar of brass”); 33 doors of beaten copper (2 Chr. 4:9, “and overlaid the doors of them with brass”); and many more items. This was the legendary treasure of Solomon. Even the number of the individual items was the same. The prince of Kadesh possessed the treasure of Solomon.
 
This treasure is a unique manifest. It is a fingerprint in time. It is mentioned again in an epic poem unearthed in Ugarit from circa 1400 B.C. The Ugarit texts provide a common background for both Greek and Hebrew stories and myths. Ugarit was an international Canaanite city of commerce, possibly part of the Hittite empire. The epic poem relates a story of great treasure and a special temple. It claims the temple was to be constructed of cedar and brick, with a house of silver and gold. There will be a slaughter of many animals, neat, cattle, rams, one year calves, lambs, kids, and wine from gold cups. Hayyin and Kothar would melt silver by the thousands and gold by the myriads. They would make a gorgeous throne above a gorgeous footstool and couch, all overlaid with gold. Bowls would be shaped like wild beasts and pillars sculptured with wild beasts.
 
Another legend of Solomon was the Queen of Sheba. This great queen remains unidentified by scholars. Sheba is a district in Ethiopia. Josephus informs us (Jewish Antiquities VIII 165) the queen was “the queen of Egypt and Ethiopia.” There was only one queen of Egypt anywhere near this time. That was Queen Hatsheput (1503-1483 B.C.) Coincidentally, she co-reigned with Thutmose III (1504-1450 B.C.) who we have already identified as the looter of Solomon’s treasure.
 
Queen Hatsheput visited a great and wise king in the land of Punt, believed to be Somalia, although some renegade scholars place it in the Near East. The queen constructed Punt reliefs to show off the wonders and treasures she brought back. The reliefs showed that Punt was occupied by both white Semitic men as well as dark skinned men. It had exotic plants and animals from all over Africa. Punt had myrrh terraces. Hatsheput met the king of Punt and asked him ingenious problems that he enjoyed solving. They exchanged many expensive gifts. The queen described a “house of silver,” “a double house of silver,” and “a floor wrought with gold and silver.”
 
The queen received gifts of gold, silver, almug trees, ivory, apes, spices, and exotic plants. The similarity of the two trips is too striking to ignore. Could the Hebrews have obtained this story from Egypt and adopted it as their own? Under Queen Hatsheput, the Asiatics were revolting against forced labor. The queen allowed them to leave. On their way out, they were drowned through a great upsurge of water.
 
The Bible has a serious problem in dating the Exodus. In Exodus 1:11 we are informed the city of “Raamses” is being built for the Pharaoh. This construction took place under Ramesses II who ruled from 1279-1212 B.C. The story of the Exodus implies that the Pharaoh led the charge (Exodus 14:8-9). It also implies that the Pharaoh died from the collapsing pillar of water (Exodus 15:19 and Psalm 136:15). This cannot be true, for Ramesses II lived to a ripe old age of about 90 as testified by his mummy, which is still in existence.
 
The mines in Timna Valley, north of the Gulf of Aqahab, have historically been known as King Solomon’s Mines. Archeology informs us that these mines have been inactive since 1150 B.C., about a century and a half before Solomon was king. While there seems to be no historical king we can equate to Solomon at the middle of the second millennium B.C., David is another story. The word David comes from a title for a chief, “Dawidum” of the Bene-jamina tribe. They are described in eighteenth century B.C. documents as being savage and predatory (compare Gen. 49:27). This is not, however, where the myth of David originated, just his name.
 
The myth of David originates from the Ugarit texts in the name of King Krt or Keret. Scholars place Keret in the late 17th century, possibly a Hykos or “Shepherd King.” Both David and Keret were known for their beauty, generosity, and nobility. Both had massive armies including those from Asher and Zebulon. Keret had seven brothers. David was the eighth born. Keret obtained a wife after a siege (Geshur?) and had a son, Yassib. David had a wife from Geshur who gave him Absalom. Both Yassib and Absalom would attempt to usurp their father’s throne because they thought they were better judges. Both kings were nursed by a female ministering angel on their deathbed. Both passed on the birthright to the youngest son. Keret’s children were blessed as long as he kept his vows. David’s likewise were blessed as long as he obeyed God’s law.
 
The problem with David and Solomon being Hebrew kings is their lack of knowledge of the laws of Moses. These kings were such great sinners that pastors have given many sermons on this topic. Not even Jim Bakker, Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, or a Kennedy could measure up to the immoral deeds of these two characters. The laws prohibited foreign marriages (Exodus 34:16, Deut. 7:3-4). Deut. 17:15-20 tells us this wise king God will set above the Israelites and shall not multiply horses, wives, silver, or gold. He will sit on the throne and keep all these laws! Deut. 13 prescribes the death penalty for promoting the worship of foreign gods. Didn’t these guys know the law, or were they just above it? Where’s Nixon when you need a king of Israel?