This season's excavations at Tell es-Safi (biblical Gath) uncovered the remains of an early Iron Age city dating to the time of King David. The previous excavations at the site have focused on the later Iron Age city from the ninth and tenth centuries BC, which was destroyed by King Hazael of Aram in 830 BC (2 Kings 12:18). The excavators discovered that the earlier, 11th century BC city of Gath had larger fortifications than the later city (4 meter wide, as opposed to the later 2 meter wide city walls), and larger building stones (blocks 1-2 meters in size, compared to the smaller half-meter blocks). The size of the earlier structure has led scholars to conclude that the city of Gath reached its height during the 11th century BC – the time of Daviid and Goliath. While some have speculated that the size of the newly discovered city gave rise to the "myth" of Goliath – only a giant could move such stones – such speculation is both a stretch and unwarranted, the musings of scholars whose presuppositions exclude the possibility of the historical reliability of the Bible beyond a "kernel" of truth.
Off-site Links:
- https://gath.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/haaretz-english_july-24_2019_goliathe28099s-true-hometown-found_-lost-3000_yearold-philistine-city-emerges-beneath-gath.pdf
- https://www.timesofisrael.com/colossal-ancient-structures-found-at-gath-may-explain-origin-of-story-of-goliath/
- https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Goliaths-birthplace-believed-to-be-unearthed-below-ancient-Philistine-city-596766
