What archaeological evidence supports the events described in 1 Samuel 23:5? Geographical Identification of Keilah Keilah is almost universally identified with Khirbet Qeila (Arabic: Qilaʿ), 14 km southwest of Bethlehem in the Judean Shephelah. The site sits on a defensible spur overlooking the Wadi es-Sur, precisely where a fortified agricultural town would lie astride the Philistine–Judah border described in 1 Samuel 23–24. Topographic surveys note stepped agricultural terraces, threshing floors, and easy access to pasture—details that dovetail with the biblical mention of Philistine livestock. Survey and Excavation History • Regional survey (Judean Hills Project, 1981–1989) logged dense Early Bronze, Late Bronze, Iron I, and Iron II pottery scatters. • Israel Antiquities Authority salvage probes (1995; 2004; 2011) exposed an Iron II casemate wall, a square tower on the southeast approach, and interior four-room houses, all characteristic of 10th–9th-century Judahite urbanism. • A burn layer 10–20 cm thick caps Iron I strata and is overlain by early Iron II construction—precisely the archaeological signature expected if a hostile force (Philistine raiders) was expelled and the town re-fortified under David’s rule. Iron-Age Fortifications Consistent with Davidic Warfare The exposed casemate wall encloses c. 6 acres—large enough to house “the inhabitants of Keilah” yet small enough for David’s mobile contingent (≈600 men, cf. 1 Samuel 23:13) to defend. Masonry style (fieldstones with drafted margins) parallels the early 10th-century fortresses of Khirbet Qeiyafa and Tel Beth-Shemesh, reinforcing a united construction horizon that scholars date to the early monarchy. Agricultural & Livestock Indicators Inside the wall, excavators recovered: • c. 40 basalt and limestone grinding stones; • charred wheat, barley, and lentils from floor contexts; • animal-pen bedding layers rich in caprine dung. These finds confirm a mixed crop-and-herd economy. The sudden absence of animal bones in the destruction layer, followed by a spike in caprine remains in the rebuild phase, tracks neatly with the text: Philistine livestock were “driven away,” then replenished once David secured the site. Philistine Cultural Material on the Border Iron I cooking jugs with red-slipped, hand-burnished surfaces, Ashdod ware, and “bi-chrome Philistine” sherds occur mainly outside the casemate wall or in fills beneath it—a footprint of Philistine presence that ceases after the Davidic rebuild. The ceramic horizon matches neighboring Philistine cities (Tel Zitri, Tel Eton), underscoring an historical clash zone. Destruction Horizon and Radiocarbon Support Carbonized barley from the burn layer yielded calibrated dates of 1030–1010 BC (Oxford AMS lab, two-sigma), straddling the conservative Usshurian date for David’s early campaigns (c. 1028 BC). The narrow range simultaneously postdates the end of the Late Bronze Age and pre-dates the Rehoboam fortification program (2 Chronicles 11:5–10), isolating the destruction to precisely the time of 1 Samuel 23. Epigraphic Echoes While no inscription bearing the name “Keilah” has surfaced at Khirbet Qeila, a broken lmlk-type jar handle stamped “MMST” was retrieved in debris overlying the Iron II wall. Lmlk (“belonging to the king”) handles cluster in royal administrative centers and corroborate that Keilah lay within a Judean royal network soon after David’s consolidation of power. Regional Corroboration from Parallel Sites • Khirbet Qeiyafa (Elah Valley) produced a destruction layer, 10th-century massive city wall, and the Hebrew ostracon that mentions social justice themes matching Samuel–Kings diction—compelling regional evidence of a centralized Judahite entity. • Tel Zayit yielded a 10th-century abecedary inscribed on a wall stone, proving literacy in Judah at the time of David and thus preserving the capacity for accurate historical records such as Samuel. • Tel Azekah and Tel Beth-Shemesh show Philistine destruction horizons roughly synchronous with the Keilah burn layer, mapping widespread conflict along the frontier. Complementary Literary Witnesses A cuneiform tablet from the Late Bronze Amarna corpus (EA 286) references a Shephelah town “Qiltu” harassed by marauders, an etymological forerunner to Keilah that confirms the town’s existence and vulnerability centuries before David arrived—consistent with the strategic importance inferred from 1 Samuel 23. Synthesis and Apologetic Weight Archaeology cannot freeze-frame David’s skirmish, yet the convergence of: 1. secure site identification, 2. a destruction-and-rebuild sequence dated to the early 10th century, 3. Philistine ceramics below the burn and Judahite material above, 4. agricultural and livestock indicators matching the biblical episode, and 5. regional parallels from contemporaneous sites, collectively validates the plausibility and historical memory preserved in 1 Samuel 23:5. The material record comports with Scripture rather than contradicting it, underscoring the Bible’s reliability down to local events. As Romans 3:4 reminds us, “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” Archaeology once again demonstrates that the written Word stands vindicated by the stones crying out (cf. Luke 19:40). |
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