Calcol/Chalcol and KRKR

 There are thousands of extrabiblical literary and archeological corroborations of the Bible. New evidences of persons and places mentioned in the Bible continue to be discovered every year.

There have been suggestions that Chalcol/Calcol, one of David’s wise men mentioned in the Bible, and Kerker (KRKR), who is mentioned in the Megiddo Ivories, may be connected. KRKR can be transliterated as Kulkul.

Calcol/Chalcol was one of David’s wise men and was a brother of Heman, a wise man and musician who was the king’s “seer in the words of God to lift up the horn.” Because Chalcol/Calcol was a brother of Heman, many believe that he was also a musician. David appointed more than 4000 Levite royal musicians and singers.

Artifact A22269 is an Egyptian-style ivory plaque from the Megiddo ivories collection, featuring hieroglyphic inscriptions with prayers for an Egyptian singer named Kerker. This is one of the almost 400 ivories discovered at the site in the 1930’s.

A22269 features Egyptian hieroglyphs with a prayer reading: “[… for the spirit of the singer of] Ptah, south of his wall, [Lord of] 'The Life of Two Lands,' Kerker, the justified”. Kerker appears to have been a female singer who worked in the Temple of the Egyptian deity, Ptah, during the time period of ca 1350-1150 BC/BCE. Her name is spelled out phonetically as KRKR with the symbols for k and r. KRKR can be transliterated as Kulkul.

The plaque was found at the Megiddo archeological site in modern Israel during excavations of the treasury room of a Late Bronze Age palace, from the 12^th Century BC/BCE.

https://isac-idb.uchicago.edu/id/af86a18e-7b0c-40c6-bec4-43f513b7f052 shows an image and description of the plaque. You can click on the image to enlarge it. The plaque is held in the collection of the University of Chicago Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures.

Because of the similarity of the pronunciations of the names of Chalcol/Calcol and KRKR some have suggested that there may have been some sort of familial connection with Chalcol/Calcol being an honorific, serving in a similar way to a modern surname. There are problems with this idea and most commenters believe that there is no connection other than similar sounding names and being therefore totally coincidental.

1. 1. KRKR was a female pagan singer in the Temple of Ptah while Chalcol/Calcol was a male member of the tribe of Judah.

2. 2. KRKR lived in the ca 1350-ca 1150 BC/BCE time period, while Chalcol/Calcol served during the lifetime of King David ca 1000-931 BC/BCE.

1 Chronicles 2:6, 6:33, chapter 25, especially verse 5; 1 Kings 4:31; Psalm 88.