Title: The Bible’s First Kings: Uncovering the Story of Saul, David and Solomon
By: Abraham Faust and Zev Farber
Cambridge University Press
The field of Biblical archeology often disappoints people who are both observant Jews and also interested in what science, history and archeology say about the truth or historicity of the Hebrew Bible. There is, of course, historical proof of many of the later events in the Hebrew Bible, such as the Babylonian Captivity, but no clear and unequivocal proof of such events as the descent into Egypt and the entire cycle of the stories about the rise, reign and eventual breakup of the United Monarchy under Kings Saul, David and Solomon. Archeologists have not found and are not likely to find King David’s diary, an autobiography of Absalom or Joab’s will.
Some modern archeologists contend that even when specific stories or passages in the Bible cannot be confirmed or refuted, archeology can confirm or refute some Biblical accounts about broad historical patterns by the ancient Israelites. This kind of confirmation comes from comparing the Biblical account to evidence supplied by the archeological record. The insight of Abraham Faust, a professor of archeology at Bar Ilan University, and Zev Farber, researcher, Bible scholar and editor at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, in their new book The Bible’s First Kings: Uncovering the Story of Saul, David and Solomon, Cambridge University Press (2025), is that there are patterns to the stories told by the Hebrew Bible about Kings Saul, David and Solomon and that those patterns can be and are confirmed by the archeological record from the early Iron Age. That is: the archeological record supports the Biblical account of the unification of the Israelites under a leader (like Saul), the expansion of the Israelite kingdom and its defeat of the Philistines under yet another king (like David) and the building of institutions and governmental organization under another king (like Solomon) in the tenth century B.C.E, the time when these figure would have actually lived. That confirmation comes from such evidence as the growth and abandonment of towns and cities, the kinds of pottery that were used in various settlements in what is now Israel and the neighboring states, and such matters as the design of houses used in the area.
It is important that Faust and Farber are focused on the Biblical accounts of these kings and the archeological record. They are not engaged in the political argument of disproving the Palestinian narrative that falsely claims that there is no ancient connection between the Jewish people and the land of Israel. Only fools and Jew-haters believe that deliberately dishonest claim. Rather, Faust and Farber are engaged in making at least two important academic points: first, they show that the Bible is in some circumstances of substantial value in uncovering ancient history and filling in gaps in the archeological record; and second, they intend to refute the academic point made by Tel Aviv University Professor Israel Finkelstein that the United Monarchy, if it existed at all, was a much later creation of the eighth or seventh century B.C.E.
It should be noted that the book is very detailed and engages academic issues but engages those issues in a way that makes the arguments and academic issues accessible to the reader who does not have much background in Biblical archeology. In fact, part of the purpose of this book is to make the field of Biblical archeology accessible to general readers.
Here are but a few conclusions from this detailed and scholarly book:
The Israelites lived mostly in the Judean and Samarian hills in the late eleventh century B.C.E. The Philistines, an Aegean group as shown by the way they decorated their pottery, their diet which included pork, and their other customs, had landed on the shores of Israel and were expanding into the interior by the late eleventh century and perhaps the early tenth century B.C.E.. The pattern of settlement and abandonment of towns and villages show the rise of the Philistines. The pattern of the consolidation of Israelite towns in the hill country of Judea and Samaria shows the Israelites defending themselves against these intruders.
Then at the beginning of the tenth century B.C.E. there is significant archeological evidence of the Israelite defense and then expansion against the Philistines under a war chief. This fact is shown by the expansion of a distinctive style of house that was common among the Israelites but previously did not exist in Philistine towns and the appearance of Israelite pottery on the coast partly replacing the distinctive Philistine style pottery. The mostly successful Israelite war against the Philistines was also evidenced by the abandonment of many of the smaller Philistine towns and by the reduction in size of the Philistine cities at just this time, strongly suggesting Israelite military success.
It is likely, but not provable to a certainty that Saul and his sons were killed in battle against the Philistines because David arises immediately afterwards and early in his reign conquers the Jebusite city of Jerusalem, making it his capital. Philistine towns continued to exist but shrank in size and adopted Israelite customs, like the pottery and distinctive house design that was favored by the Israelites and until then unknown in the Philistine towns. David also expanded northward into the Sharon and conquered Megiddo, Beth Shean, the Galilean highlands and a host of other places in and near historical Israel.
While Solomon was a highly competent king, he was more interested in state-building and consolidating the kingdom left to him by his father. As Faust and Farber point out, “Although we do hear of Solomon maintaining an enormous number of horses, we never hear of him going to war.” Many of the towns and cities of Israel were built, rebuilt and expanded during this period and the distinctive Solomonic six chambered gate, an architectural item found in cities he built or expanded, is found in multiple places in Israel, showing the reach of his kingdom. The archeologists know that these rebuilt and new cities were Israelite because they were built without (pagan) temples and the governor’s house in each was built in a distinctive Israelite style.
Faust and Farber do an excellent job of weaving together the details of archeological finds with the patterns of Israelite defense, expansion, unification and the ultimate break-up of the United Monarchy with the story as told by the Hebrew Bible. This is an excellent book for people who care about the historicity of the Biblical accounts and who will be satisfied to see that those accounts are true in general outline, even if the details of the personal and interpersonal stories of the protagonists cannot be proven by archeology. Farber and Faust’s The Bible’s First Kings: Uncovering the Story of Saul, David and Solomon is also worth the time of those who would like a survey of how early Iron Age Biblical archeology works and what archeology is likely to be able to prove and what it is unlikely to be able to prove.