The Mystery of King David's Final Resting Place

King David's Tomb is a structure on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, believed by tradition to be the burial site of King David. This is a belief that dates back at least a thousand years. Benjamin of Tudela, an early Jewish traveler, mentions Mount Zion in relation to King David and stated after his visit to the site in the 12th century, "Above the Siloam Spring, on Mount Zion, where the King's Tombs are located, there stands an ancient building called the Shrine of David, facing the Temple, where candles are lit to honor the site believed to be David's place—where he put the Ark of Hashem before Solomon built the Temple."

Until 2007, Torah crowns from Jewish communities destroyed in the Holocaust stood on the tomb, but they were stolen and have since disappeared.

However, Rabbi Yechezkel Michel Tukachinsky, of blessed memory, argues in his book 'Jerusalem and Its Boundaries' that the Book of Kings states King David was buried with his ancestors in the City of David, located near Silwan and close to the Pool of Siloam. During King David's time, Mount Zion was not inhabited. Similarly, in the Book of Nehemiah (Chapter 3), it is stated that David's tomb was near the Pool of Siloam within the city walls near the Dung Gate.

It's also clear that Nehemiah's settlement and the Dung Gate were in today's Silwan area. Some speculate that as ancient Jerusalem expanded, the Royal Tombs were relocated from their original City of David location.

Yet Rabbi Tukachinsky definitively concludes that King David cannot be buried on Mount Zion. He suggests that those buried on Mount Zion are not King David himself but rather some of his descendants, the later Kings of David. This is, in fact, what Benjamin of Tudela states—that these are the tombs of the House of David's kings, not King David himself. So, if not there, then where is David's tomb?

About a century ago, Baron Edmond de Rothschild sent Jewish archaeologist Raymond Weill to search for the Tombs of the House of David. He discovered carved caves on the southern end of the City of David, one more impressive than the others. He suggested this might be the burial estate of the House of David. 

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