TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH:

First Temple wall found in City of David
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS (Jerusalem Post)

A wall from the First Temple was recently uncovered in Jerusalem's City of David, strengthening the claim that it is the site of the palace of King David.

The new find, made by Dr. Eilat Mazar, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center's Institute for the Archeology of the Jewish People, comes less than two years after she said she had discovered the palace's location at the site just outside the walls of the Old City.

The monumental 10th century BCE building found by Mazar in 2005 following a six month dig has ignited debate among archaeologists about whether it is indeed the palace built for the victorious David by King Hiram of Tyre as recounted in Samuel II:5.

A 20-meter-long section of the 7-meter-thick wall has now been uncovered. It indicates that the City of David once served as a major government center, Mazar said.

Mazar estimates less than a quarter of the entire wall has been uncovered so far, and says that it is the largest site from King David's time ever to have been discovered.

The dig is sponsored by the capital's Shalem Center, with academic backing from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

There has to be an error here, perhaps just a word inadvertently omitted. Mazar must have said that she found a wall from the First Temple period, not a wall from the First Temple itself. Any surviving wall of the Temple would be buried under the Temple Mount platform and could not be excavated. It sounds as though this wall is actually from the monumental building she found earlier.

I'm extremely busy today and am unlikely to get in much blogging. But I did want to comment on this.

(Via Joseph I. Lauer.)