Deconstructing “David’s House”
The Mesha Stele might contain a reference to btdwd, “House of David” (bt meaning “house of” and dwd meaning “David”) in its 31st line. Scholars André Lemaire and Jean-Philippe Delorme contend this reading has been confirmed, but authors Matthieu Richelle and Andrew Burlingame think the evidence is inconclusive. The images of the stone and squeeze below show the btdwd section of the stela and the opposing interpretations of the photographic evidence.
RTI Photo of Stela
COPYRIGHT WEST SEMITIC RESEARCH / A . LEMAIRE—J.-P. DELORME
(A) An RTI photo of the stela with the letters bt_wd (the initial dalet is lost) and dot-shaped word dividers highlighted in red, as reconstructed by Lemaire and Delorme in the Winter 2022 issue of BAR.
COPYRIGHT WEST SEMITIC RESEARCH / M. RICHELLE—A . BURLINGAME
(B) The same photo that Richelle and Burlingame use to show the difference between the undisputed (arrow 1) and disputed (arrow 2) word dividers; the dotted arrows show that the second word divider isn’t circular but extends upwards and to the left.
Backlit Photo of Squeeze
COPYRIGHT WEST SEMITIC RESEARCH / A . LEMAIRE—J.-P. DELORME
(C) A backlit photo of the squeeze with the letters btdwd and dot-shaped word dividers highlighted in red, as reconstructed by Lemaire and Delorme. (Solid lines represent a clear reading, while the dashed lines refer to reconstructed parts of letters for which no clear traces appear.)
COPYRIGHT WEST SEMITIC RESEARCH / M. RICHELLE—A . BURLINGAME
(D) The same photo that Richelle and Burlingame use to show the other dark marks around the alleged taw (arrows 1–4), the line of dark marks that extends past the lower side of the alleged dalet (5), and the different appearance of the disputed (6) and undisputed (7) word dividers.