In the Footsteps of King David

Revelations from an Ancient Biblical City

Yosef Garfinkel, Saar Ganor, Michael G. Hasel

£24.95

A first-hand account of the electrifying discoveries at a previously unidentified city at Khirbet Qeiyafa in Israel from the time of King David, which sheds new light on biblical history and the origins of the Hebrew script

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Overview

In this first-hand and highly readable account, the excavators of Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Valley of Elah, where the Bible says David fought Goliath, reveal how seven years of exhaustive investigation have uncovered a city dating to the time of David – the late 11th and early 10th century BC – surrounded by massive fortifications with impressive gates, and with a clear urban plan and an abundance of finds that tell us much about the inhabitants, including a pottery sherd with the earliest known Hebrew inscription. The authors clearly describe the methods of the excavation and the evidence they discovered, as well as how we interpret it.

But more than just a simple excavation report, the book also explains the significance of these discoveries and how the site sheds new light on David’s kingdom, as well as forming the unique meeting point between the mythology, history, historiography and archaeology of King David. This topic is at the centre of a controversy that has raged for decades, with some scholars disputing the historicity of the Bible and the chronology of the events recounted in it, an approach that is convincingly challenged here.

Reviews

'This study … exhibits the virtues of committed scholarship in a land where anger and assertion frequently crowd out careful qualification and a willingness to consider varied arguments'
Diarmaid MacCulloch, London Review of Books

'It is a real pleasure to read an account of an excavation presented as a fascinating detective story and an intellectual adventure … a well-considered and absorbing account'
Minerva

'A most interesting and instructive book … a very readable, attractively produced work'
Methodist Recorder

Further Details

Specifications

Format: Hardback

Size: 23.4 x 15.3 cm

Extent: 256 pp

Illustrations: 107

Publication date: 7 June 2018

ISBN: 9780500052013

Contents List

Part I. Introduction • 1. In King David’s Footsteps: Bible, History and Archaeology • 2. The Curtain Rises on the Sorek and Elah Valleys Part II. The Story of the Khirbet Qeiyafa Excavations 3. The City during the Period of King David: Construction and Urban Planning • 4. The Finds: A City Frozen in Time • 5. Greetings from the Past: The Khirbet Qeiyafa Inscriptions • 6. Cult in Judah prior to the construction of Solomon’s Temple Part III. What is the Significance of the Finds from Khirbet Qeiyafa? 7. Khirbet Qeiyafa: Biblical Shaaraim • 8. David’s Kingdom • 9. Solomon’s Palace and the First Temple • 10. Summary

About the Author

Yosef Garfinkel is Yigael Yadin Professor for the Archaeology of the Land of Israel, Biblical Archaeology Department of the Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Head of the Berman Center for Biblical Archaeology.

Saar Ganor was co-director of the excavations at Khirbel Qeiyafa.

Michael G. Hasel is Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Archaeology at Southern Adventist University in Tennessee, USA.

List of Contributors

Dr Eyal Meiron