Over the years, liberals have tried to downplay both King David and King Solomon’s roles in the Bible by suggesting they were little more than tribal warlords and that Jerusalem itself was basically an insignificant hamlet.

They believe the Bible exaggerated both the size and significance of Jerusalem and as well the importance of King David and King Solomon in Israel’s history.

However, that theory took a heavy body blow, after a recent study of a section of the ancient wall that surrounds Old Jerusalem revealed that it is much older than originally thought, the Daily Mail reports.

It was originally believed that King Hezekiah (715 BC to 686 BC) built this section of the wall to increase Jerusalem’s defenses, when “He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him,” (2 Kings 18:7 ESV).

It was initially believed that this expansion was not only due to an impending threat of invasion but also to the rapid growth of the city from Jews fleeing the invading Assyrian army.

However, a study of the wall over the past decade has researchers concluding it was in fact built by King Uzziah (791 BC–759 BC) after an earthquake devastated the region during his reign (Amos 1:1; Zechariah 14:5).

In fact, the Bible talks about King Uzziah constructing or rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, writing, “Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate and at the Valley Gate and at the Angle, and fortified them,” (2 Chronicles 26:9 ESV).

The researchers from the Weizmann Institute, Tel Aviv University, and the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), were able to determine the wall was older using recent innovative adaptations to radiocarbon dating of organic material (seeds, bat bones) found at the site.

This allowed them to date the age of this section of the city wall to within 10 years of construction.

This discovery pushed back the wall’s age by five generations and revealed that the expansion was necessary as the city prospered and flourished decades earlier.

‘This [growth] was during the reign of King Jehoash – a hundred years before the Assyrian exile,” Tel Aviv University professor Yuval Gadot told the Daily Mail.

“In light of this, the new research teaches that the expansion of Jerusalem is a result of internal-Judean demographic growth and the establishment of political and economic systems.”

They also found items that were dated back to the reigns of King David and his son, Solomon, revealing that the city was already a significant force during their respective reigns, just as the Bible said it was.

This discovery, along with others, is now forcing former deniers to change their minds about both Jerusalem and the reigns of David and Solomon,

Many have already “admitted in public statements – or through their publications – the importance of Jerusalem during this period, which previously went unrecognized in literature and mainstream academic research,” reported All Israel News.