Footnote 8 – Face to Face: Biblical Minimalists Meet Their Challengers

Most Scholars read the Tel Dan inscription’s critical six letters, BYTDWD, as Beth David (“House of David”). However, Philip R. Davies argues that because no word-divider separates Beth and David (the Tel Dan inscription places dots between words), the letters form a place-name, like Bethlehem (which means House of Bread). Davies also suggests that DWD (David) can be read as Dod, meaning “beloved,” “uncle” or “kettle.” Thus he argues that the letters could form the place-name Bethdod (House of the Beloved). For critiques of Davies’s reading, see the following BAR articles: Anson Rainey, “The ‘House of David’ and the House of the Deconstructionists,” BAR 20:06; and David Noel Freedman and Jeffrey C. Geoghegan, “‘House of David’ Is There!” BAR 21:02.