Star of David "Magen David" redirects here. For the halakhic commentator, see David HaLevi Segal . Tekhelet colored Star of David, as depicted on the flag of Israel . The Star of David ( Hebrew : מָגֵן דָּוִד , romanized : Magen David , lit. 'Shield of David') [a] is a generally recognized symbol of both Jewish identity and Judaism . Its shape is that of a hexagram : the compound of two equilateral triangles . A derivation of the seal of Solomon was used for decorative and mystical purposes by Muslims and Kabbalistic Jews . The hexagram appears occasionally in Jewish contexts since antiquity as a decorative motif, such as a stone bearing a hexagram from the arch of the 3rd–4th century Khirbet Shura synagogue. A hexagram found in a religious context can be seen in a manuscript of the Hebrew Bible from 11th-century Cairo. ...