He was the shepherd-king, the songwriter and musician, the mighty warrior God described as a "man after his own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14).

Historians place David's reign about 1000BC.  When the prophet Samuel carried out God's direction to anoint him as king, David was juts a teenager, with "beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance" (1 Samuel 16:12). Throughout his life, David was a leader with unwavering faith and a courageous heart but at the same time a heart overcome by temptation. He was inspiring, heroic and yet so human.

About three thousand years separate us from King David and there are some people out there who think he is just a legendary character created to inspire the people of Israel. Someone similar to King Arthur perhaps. The Bible however records his life in great details throughout six of its Old Testament books. Until twenty years ago Bible believers had no proof outside the Bible that king David ever lived as a real person and because of that many questioned the Biblical truth.

In 1993 and 1994 archeologists working at Tel Dan, the remains of an ancient city in Northern Israel, discovered two stone fragments (pictured above) that date to sometime between 841-798BC. The fragments, referred to as the Tel Dan Stele, contain an inscription from an Aramaic king who brags of his military conquests: "I killed Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, and I killed Achazyahu son of Joram king of the House of David." This is the first source outside of the Bible that makes reference to King David.

Now there is more, but for a while there was none. Would the absence of historical evidence have influenced you as a believer? How?

If you want to know more about evidence of King David do a search on "stepped stone structure City of David."

This is not the only time the Bible was proven right by historical findings and there are many interesting things you can learn from doing a study on this subject.