The Bible describes David and Solomon as ruling over a powerful kingdom, known historically as the United Monarchy. Most historians have assumed that if the kingdom of Israel was strong and expansive, then the capital city (Jerusalem) also would have been a major, expansive city. However, in the past 15 years, several prominent scholars—especially David Ussishkin and Israel Finkelstein—have posited that David and Solomon’s Jerusalem was not a major capital, because it was limited in size to the mound of the City of David. These scholars further argue that David and Solomon were not major kings, but rather were leaders of chiefdoms.

In this seminar, Vaughn presents another interpretation of the extant archaeological data and shows that the biblical account of Jerusalem is accurate. The Bible describes the city of Jerusalem during the United Monarchy as a neutral capital of Judah and Israel. Vaughn explains it is not surprising that the archaeological remains from the 10th century BCE are limited to the geographic area of the City of David, because this is precisely what one would expect from a neutral location. He thus demonstrates that the “Jerusalem minimalists” have forced modern concepts of what a capital city should be onto the world of the Bible. David and Solomon ruled over an expansive kingdom, and their capital city (Jerusalem) was a neutral administrative headquarter whose archaeological remains are consistent with the biblical record.