DID YOU KNOW?
The answer
Shishak, in the fifth year of Rehoboam, Solomon's son (1 Kings 14:25). Shishak's own records list over 150 captured cities, and a fragment of a victory monument with his name was found at Megiddo. Egypt's dates are secure enough to fix his death at 924 BC, and from that one year scholars count back to date Solomon, David and Saul.
Why it’s interesting
Shishak is the first pharaoh the Bible names; the pharaohs of Abraham, Joseph and Moses go unnamed. That puts David at about 1005 to 965 BC, but only if the text's round forty-year reigns are taken more or less at face value. Everything earlier is approximate.
Scholarly consensus
Learn the Bible.
Not just the stories, but the history, authorship, and scholarship behind it.