Israel's first great king, David, is the focus of modern conflict between competing scholarly camps in the ever changing field of biblical archaeology. Believe it or not, a good number of archaeologists doubt his very existence. If he did exist, they argue, he was probably little more than a local chieftain dwelling in a tent somewhere, and the tales about him are no more reliable than those about King Arthur and his famous Round Table. But this is more than just a debate among ivory tower academics. It has real life consequences for the Middle East today!
