Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 62:3 (Sep 2019)
Article: The Merenptah Stele And The Biblical Origins Of Israel
Author: Larry D. Bruce

JETS 62:3 (September 2019) p. 463

The Merenptah Stele
And The Biblical Origins Of Israel

Larry D. Bruce*

* Larry D. Bruce is an independent researcher, P.O. Box 1815, Lynn Haven, FL 32444. He may be contacted at [email protected].

Abstract: The Merenptah (or Israel) stele is a fundamental and problematic datum affecting the biblical account of Israel’s origins. The stele contains the first and only accepted reference to Israel in ancient Egyptian records and may suggest the location of Israel before ca. 1209 BC. Virtually all engaged scholars believe the stele intends to locate Israel in Canaan at the time of Pharaoh Merenptah. But the traditional arguments (linguistic and literary) supporting this view may also allow an Israel-in-Egypt interpretation, as this study will attempt to show. A problem with the traditional Israel-in-Canaan interpretation is that it renders the Bible’s account of Israel’s origins in the land of Canaan incoherent and irreconcilable with the archaeological evidence. An Israel-in-Egypt reading, in contrast, presumes an exodus after Merenptah’s time (e.g., ca. 1175 BC) resulting in a chronology that aligns or accommodates the biblical events and the archaeological evidence at every clearly identified biblical site with data. The books of Genesis and Exodus support the Israel-in-Egypt interpretation. If the post-Merenptah exodus chronology is correct, the Bible’s account of Israel’s origins may be historically accurate in its present form.

Key words: Merenptah stele (stela), Israel stele, exodus, conquest, Israel in Canaan, Israel in Egypt, Libyans, Sea People, Ramesses II, Ramesses III, Goshen

Sir William Flinders Petrie found a ten-foot-tall black granite slab (a stele or stela) in the ruins of the funerary temple of Pharaoh Merenptah in 1896.1 He discovered that the hieroglyphic text on the stele contained the first and only known ancient Egyptian reference to the people of Israel.

While most of the text describes Merenptah’s momentous victory over a coalition of Libyans and Sea People dated to his fifth year (ca. 1209 BC), the closing lines seem to describe an earlier campaign he conducted into Canaan. In these concluding lines is a now generally-accepted reference to Israel, a people Merenptah claims to have violently suppressed.2

JETS 62:3 (September 2019) p. 464

The most interesting part of the stele’s text are these concluding lines that serve as a summation of Merenptah’s achievements in bringing peace to the land and people of Egypt. As a recap of his notable victory over the Libyans he adds a claim to have p...