Has David Been Found in Egypt?

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A leading Egyptologist has recently suggested that the name of the Biblical king David may appear in a tenth-century B.C.E. Egyptian inscription. If correct, this mention of David dates a hundred years earlier than the mention of the “House of David” in the now-famous stele from Tel Dan and fewer than 50 years after the great king’s death!

According to Egyptologist Kenneth A. Kitchen of the University of Liverpool, in England, “David” is the probable reading of one name in a hieroglyphic list carved on the exterior south wall of the great Temple of Amun in Karnak, Upper Egypt.¹

This is the third possible mention of David in ancient inscriptions. The clearest reference is in the much-heralded Tel Dan inscription from the ninth century B.C.E., which refers to the “House of David” (bytdwd, or Beit David). Carved in Aramaic on what appears to be a victory stele celebrating the victory of an Aramean king over Judah and Israel, this inscription was found in 1993 by Israeli archaeologist Avraham Biran.²

The eminent French paleographer André Lemaire has also detected a reference to the House of David in the long-known but still not completely deciphered Mesha Stele (also called the Moabite Stone), which is contemporaneous with the Tel Dan Stele, although this reference to the “House” is based on an unclear reading, and the reading of “David” is based on a highly probable reconstruction of the initial letter of the name.³

Now, it is suggested, a reference to David may be found in Egypt as well. In the 15th century B.C.E., Pharaoh Thutmose III initiated the practice of carving on the walls of the Temple of Amun in Karnak the names of territories he conquered or over which he claimed dominion. The last of the Egyptian rulers to follow this custom was the tenth-century B.C.E. pharaoh Sheshonq I, called Shishak in the Bible (1 Kings 14:25 and elsewhere). Shishak campaigned in Palestine in 925 B.C.E. In the following year, he had a vast triumph-scene, including over a hundred place-names, carved on the temple wall.

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One of the place-names in Shishak’s list is h(y)dbt dwt (toponyms 105 and 106). The first word means “highland” or “heights.” The question is how we should read the second term, dwt. The first letter is clear: d. At least in principle, the second letter, w, the equivalent of the Hebrew letter waw, can be read as a vowel, o, or as a consonant, v. Both usages are found in the Shishak list (and in Hebrew generally). The third letter is clearly a t. Thus the word could theoretically be read dot or davit. Neither, however, makes any sense as far as we know.

Could the reading davit really be “David?” Kitchen makes the case that it can—and that it is. He has found a reference in another Semitic language in which t replaces the final d in the name of King David. This occurs in a sixth century C.E. Ethiopic inscription from South Arabia. The reference is unmistakably to the Biblical king David. It appears in a victory inscription by an Ethiopic ruler from Axum who had invaded South Arabia. In celebrating his triumph, the ruler cited two psalms (19 and 65) and named David in this connection. David is spelled Davit, however, exactly as in the Shishak list.⁴

Kitchen also explains why the mention of David—or, rather, the “Heights of David”—makes excellent sense in the Shishak list of toponyms. The list is divided into three main sections, differentiated geographically. The first five rows (out of 11) cover the area southwest of Judah, as well as northwest, north central and east Israel (plus some lost or unclear sites). The second section (the next five rows) includes south and southwest Judah and the Negev. The third section (row 11) is damaged but, insofar as it is readable, includes names from south and southwest Israel, including Philistia.

The name we are concerned with occurs in row 8 (the second section), which includes sites in south Judah and the Negev, including Arad. Another name in this row is, for example, “the Terrain of Tilwan (or Tilon).” So “the Heights of David” seems to follow this structure.

Before he became king, David was a fugitive active in this general area. He fled from King Saul and was joined by his fellow tribesmen and fugitives until he had a force of 400 men. His first stop was at Philistine Gath, whose ruler he would later serve. From Gath, David went to Mizpeh of Moab. From there he returned to Judah, by which time his force had increased to 600 men. He roamed about in the wilderness of Ziph (including the Hill of Hachilah), in the wilderness of Maon, in the wilderness (and heights) of Ein Gedi, near the Dead Sea, and in the Aravah (the valley south of the Dead Sea), managing always to escape from Saul’s forces. Finally, David decided to stop roaming about and to ally himself with the Philistine king of Gath, who gave David the city of Ziklag, where he and his men could live (see 1 Samuel 21–30). Although Ziklag’s precise location is in dispute, it is clearly on the border of the Negev, if not in the Negev itself.⁵ Given this geographical setting and David’s prominence, it would not be surprising that a site in this region would be named the “Heights of David.”

At least this is Professor Kitchen’s suggestion. “I do not claim certainty,” Kitchen admits, “but there is at least a high degree of probability” that this is the correct reading. “‘David’ here is nothing too spectacular,” he concludes.

A leading Egyptologist has recently suggested that the name of the Biblical king David may appear in a tenth-century B.C.E. Egyptian inscription. If correct, this mention of David dates a hundred years earlier than the mention of the “House of David” in the now-famous stele from Tel Dan and fewer than 50 years after the great king’s death! According to Egyptologist Kenneth A. Kitchen of the University of Liverpool, in England, “David” is the probable reading of one name in a hieroglyphic list carved on the exterior south wall of the great Temple of Amun in Karnak, Upper Egypt.1 […]