G'mornin' Burn:
Regarding the links you referred me to:
> The "House of David" on the Tel Dan Stele.
The phrase byt dvd ('House of David') could refer to either a city, a region or a kingdom, and there's no evidence that it's the latter. So whilst it does prove the existence of an entity named 'House of David', we are still none the wiser regarding it's nature (and it certainly doesn't prove the empire of Solomon).
Besides, the fledgling kingdom of Judah (if it existed at all) was hardly in a position to field 1000?, 500?, even 250 chariots against the king of Damascus.
> The Mesha Stele mentions King Omri, who ruled in the northern kingdom of Israel after the united kingdom split.
Again, the Mesha stele doesn't prove that the united kingdom existed, only that Israel and Omri existed in the centuries following.
> The Shishak Relief depicts Egypt's victory over King Rehoboam, David's grandson, when Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem was sacked.
There are to my knowledge no personal names mentioned on the Sheshonq relief (there were no Pharaohs in Egypt named Shishak). And there's no mention of Jerusalem in the rather exhaustive list of Canaanitic cities (190).
> The Ahmose Stele describes catastrophic events in Egypt that map well to Biblical chronology for the events in Exodus.
The Ahmose stele describes the foreign Hyksos, who had ruled northern Egypt for some 100/200 years, being driven out by the Egyptians in the south (see my posts above) - and this is hardly what we read in the book of Exodus.
Actually, the story of the Exodus could have come from the Late Period (?).
David, Saul and Solomon may be purely mythical: dvd means 'beloved', s`vl means 'underworld' and the name Solomon is cognate with Canaanitic Shalim, god of sunset: the ancient world was replete with stories about gods dying, descending into the underworld and then being rescued by their beloved.
I hope this helps.
Didn't know you had a baby. Hope you are sleeping well
Best wishes,
Ian