A Non-Biblical Reference to a People Called Israel

IN THE Cairo Museum in Egypt, a granite stela commemorates victories of Pharaoh Merneptah. According to scholars’ estimates, this 13th son of Ramses II ruled between about 1212 and 1202 B.C.E.​—toward the latter part of the period of the Judges in ancient Israel. The last two lines of Merneptah’s stela read: “The Canaan is plundered with every hardship. Ashkelon is taken, Gezer captured, [and] Yano‘am reduced to nothing. Israel is laid waste, his seed is no more.”

What is meant by the word “Israel” in this context? In hieroglyphic writing, some unpronounced signs, called determinatives, were added to the spelling to indicate the category to which the words belonged. The publication The Rise of Ancient Israel explains: “Attached to three of the four entities​—Ashkelon, Gezer and Yanoam—​is a determinative that tells us that they are cities. . . . The determinative attached to Israel, however, is for a people.”​—Italics ours.

What is the significance of this text? Hershel Shanks, editor and author, answers: “The Merneptah Stele shows that a people called Israel existed in 1212 B.C.E. and that the pharaoh of Egypt not only knew about them, but also felt it was worth boasting about having defeated them in battle.” William G. Dever, professor of Near Eastern archaeology, comments: “The Merneptah stele tells us unequivocally: There does exist in Canaan a people calling themselves ‘Israel,’ and thus called ‘Israel’ by the Egyptians​—who, after all, are hardly biblically biased, and they cannot have invented such a specific and unique people as ‘Israel’ for their own propaganda purposes.”

In the Bible, Israel is first mentioned as a name given to the patriarch Jacob. The descendants of Jacob’s 12 sons became known as “the sons of Israel.” (Genesis 32:22–28, 32; 35:9, 10) Years later, both the prophet Moses and the Pharaoh of Egypt used the word “Israel” when referring to these descendants of Jacob. (Exodus 5:1, 2) The Merneptah stela is the earliest known non-Biblical reference to a people called Israel.

[Pictures on page 24]

Merneptah stela

The combination of the last three signs (from right to left)​—a throw stick and a seated man and woman—​identifies Israel as a foreign people

[Credit Line]

Egyptian National Museum, Cairo, Egypt/​Giraudon/​The Bridgeman Art Library