Digging Up the Bible: Merneptah Stele

DIGGING UP THE BIBLE
Important Archeological Finds that help Us Understand Scripture
pdf
Linda Manuel—1996
 

Merneptah Stele
(c. 1220 BC)

Pharaoh Merneptah, who ruled Egypt 1223-1211, commissioned this seven and a half foot monolith found in 1896 at his Thebes funerary temple. The monument, now in the Cairo Museum, recounts the pharaoh's battles with the Sea Peoples, invaders representing several different nations from Europe and Asia Minor. Another name for this granite piece is "The Israel Stele" (or stela) because it mentions a short campaign into Canaan, where Merneptah allegedly defeated a people called Israel.

 

 

The text contains the earliest reference to Israel and is indispensible for confirming biblical events for which there is scant or even no extra-biblical evidence:

The rulers lie prostrate saying 'peace;' none raises his head among the Nine Bows [Egypt's traditional enemies, by now a literary convention]. Plundering is for Tehenu [Libya]. Hatti is at peace. Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe. Ashkelon has been overcome. Gezer has been captured. Yano'am was made non-existent. Israel is laid waste, (and) his seed is not. Hurru [Canaan] is become a widow for Egypt. All lands are united in peace.

 

 

 

When Merneptah took the throne of his father Ramses II (perhaps the pharaoh of the exodus), he was already elderly. Egypt was an empire in decline, and the myth of the invincible divine Pharaoh often led to exaggerated claims of military victories that cannot be substantiated by historical evidence. The boast of an Israel campaign is one such claim. Although history cannot prove the battle actually took place, the stele does show that Israel was a viable force in Canaan at the time.

 

The hieroglyphics include determinatives (signs indicating a word's category) that mark Ashkelon and Gezer as city-states; but the determinative attached to Israel identifies it as a people group, apparently not possessing a distinct location. In other words, Israel's status seems to be that of a nomadic collection of tribes rather than a settled population—the land is not yet theirs. These small details help to answer some historical questions, while other issues remain unresolved. For example, it took the nation more than forty years to get into Canaan but, once there, how long did it actually take to possess the land? Joshua was very old when God commanded him to divide the land among the Israelite tribes, and even then they had not completed the conquest.

 

Significance for Biblical Studies: The Merneptah Stele, with its specific citation of Israel, provides evidence of the people's presence in the land of Canaan at a time of great regional upheaval, having entered from the east as the Sea Peoples entered from the west.

 

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