It is controversial and it is exciting. The excavation of the City of David is producing amazing claims by Eilat Mazar, lead archaeologist of the dig of the ancient city. She claims to have found King David’s palace and Nehemiah’s wall around the city.
One colleague, however, says her claim about David’s palace is “overblown.”
The City of David is the ancient city of Jerusalem at the time of David. It lies outside Jerusalem’s old city walls. In fact, when Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent learned that his architect had left the City of David outside his 16th-century walls, Suleiman had him hanged.
The arrowlike strip of mountain ridge that formed the city was bound on the east by the Kidron Valley and the Central Valley on the west at the time of David. The two met at the southern tip of the arrow. The only approach to the city was from the peak of Mount Moriah to the north.
In 1867, British archaeologist Capt. Charles Warren found an ancient underground water tunnel like the one described in 2 Samuel 5 that David and his men used to capture the city.
Recent findings
But serious excavation of the area did not begin until a few years ago. Discoveries were made almost immediately. In 2005, Mazar claimed to have unearthed foundation walls for David’s palace. In November 2007, she announced the finding of a section of Nehemiah’s wall, dating back to 445 B.C.
Earlier this month, a group of state Baptist paper editors was taken to the archaeological remains of a home at the base of what Mazar claims is David’s palace.
After pointing out that important people would have lived adjacent to the king’s palace, the guide for the City of David recounted the story of Jeremiah 36 in which Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe, read his scroll to all the people in the temple from the secretary’s room.
The guide then explained that in the room in front of us, archaeologists found more than 50 seals like those used to seal documents. On two of the seals are the names of individuals mentioned in the scriptural account of this episode.
On Jan. 16 — just two days after our group visited the City of David dig — Mazar announced another finding. This time, it was a stone seal bearing the name of one of the families who acted as servants in the first temple and then returned to Jerusalem after being exiled to Babylon.
The report said the 2,500-year-old black stone seal, which has the name “Temech” engraved on it, was found earlier in the week. According to Nehemiah 7:55, Temech family members were servants of the first temple and were sent into exile to Babylon.
“The seal of the Temech family gives us a direct connection between archaeology and the biblical sources and serves as actual evidence of a family mentioned in the Bible,” Mazar told the media.
Archaeologists have also uncovered a massive fortress used to protect the Gihon Spring, the water source for the City of David. Now tourists can walk through Hezekiah’s tunnel, which was dug to bring the water of the spring inside the walls of the ancient city. One can still see the inscription chiseled into the tunnel walls describing the meeting of the tunnel builders. The 3,800-year-old tunnels used by David and his men to capture the city can also be explored.
About five years ago during repair to a sewer pipe, a backhoe began pulling up finished limestone blocks. An archaeologist who happened to be present recognized what was happening and stopped the repairs.
The result was the discovery of the Pool of Siloam, where Jesus sent the blind man to regain his sight (John 9:7–11). The pool was originally created to hold the water diverted by Hezekiah’s tunnel.
Temple Mount entrance
Also discovered was the stairway that provided access for pilgrims from the Pool of Siloam up to the entrance of the Temple Mount on the southern wall.
Under the steps was a drainage system in which residents took refuge when Rome destroyed the city in A.D. 70. A writer of the time described how the Romans tore up the streets to find people hiding in the drains. Archaeologists found big stone blocks pulled out of the steps providing access into the drains. In the drains, they found whole cooking pots sitting as if they had been abandoned quickly.
In 2000, when I last visited Jerusalem, this area was an Arab neighborhood known as Silwan. Today it is the most exciting area of archaeological discovery in Jerusalem. Yet, according to an article in Christianity Today, some archaeologists are skeptical of the findings, because they do not believe Jerusalem was a city of prominence during the time of David and Solomon.
Some believe Mazar’s discoveries date back only to the Hasmonean period, which would place them between 100–200 years before Jesus’ birth.
Not being an archaeologist, I cannot enter the debate about dates. I can only describe the sense of wonder felt while I looked at what may have been the room of the secretary described in Jeremiah 36 and listened to the description of the seals found in that place.
I can only describe the sense of amazement looking at the massive towers used to protect the city’s water source and the excitement felt walking through Hezekiah’s tunnel. It was all just as the Bible describes.
The City of David is an astounding place. I look forward to reports about the next discoveries.
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