Merneptah Stele

2025-07-04

Discovered in 1896, the Merneptah Stele concerns the Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah's victory over the Libyans and peoples in Canaan. It dates from 1213 to 1203 B.C.

The Stele mentions the Hittites, Ashkelon, Yanoam (possibly Janohah or Bashan), Gezer, and Israel, among others.

The significance of this find demonstrates the existence of Israel in the land of Canaan at an early date. Many scholars think that the Exodus and Conquest take place in the 13th century B.C. However, if we take this stele and its dating at face value, Israel must have already been established in the land by that time, pushing the conquest to before that date, with the Exodus being yet 40 years before that.

The inscription about Israel is as follows: “Israel is laid waste—its seed is no more.” Like any political leader, this is an exaggeration at best. Israel, Ashkelon, the Hittites, for example, all exist long after the late 13th century and are mentioned in the Scriptures as such.

Another issue is that between the plague that destroyed all the firstborn of Egypt and the destruction at the Red Sea, the nation would have been severely crippled at this time. The naming of the nation of Egypt in the books of Joshua, Judges, and 1 Samuel all commemorate the salvation the Lord wrought for Israel against Egypt. There is no talk of Egypt successfully raiding Israel in the Scriptures during this time, and it would have been odd for the Egyptians to have the power to do so. It would also be strange for all this commemoration about the defeat of Egypt while Egypt is conquering Israel again. (Egypt does eventually invade Israel, but not until much later.)

Could Merneptah have raided Israel and all these other peoples? Possibly, but it is odd the Scriptures do not mention this. They mention every other nation that invaded them during the days of the Judges. But Egypt was severely weakened after the judgment of God on them.

Could Merneptah have lied about the whole thing? Very possibly. Politicians lie all the time, and he would be no different.

Could this be speaking of a different time period? The Revised Egyptian Chronology could make this happen a lot later, but that would undermine the dating of the stele. This could be another possibility if the dating is indeed wrong.

At the very least, we see that Israel was a nation that was established in Canaan early.