Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jonathan D. Safren" <yonsaf AT beitberl.beitberl.ac.il>]

I don't understand how the lexeme byt dwd can be construed as any thing
else than House of David, considering the context of a royal inscription
boasting of the victory over two enemy kings in battle, and considering
that in contemporary Assyrian inscriptions Bit Humri always refers to
the House of Omri, the founder of the regnant dynasty in Northern
Israel. (Amos calls the regnant dynasty of Aram Damascus Bet Hazael, but
I imagine that's to be discounted because the uterrer of these
prophecies "certainly" could not have lived or written before the 15th
century CE, when printing was invented)
Somehow I get the impression that some scholars, in their attempt to
cast doubt at all costs and for all reasons, scholarly or otherwise, the
historical existence of  a King David, are ignoring the pertinent
parallels and analogies.
BTW, it's been claimed that the dwd of Tel Dan is a god. Does this hold
for Humri and Hazael as well?

--
Jonathan D. Safren
Dept. of Biblical Studies
Beit Berl College
Beit Berl Post Office 44905
Israel