The Merneptah Stele and the Earliest Reference to Israel

Discovered in 1896, in the royal mortuary temple of Pharaoh Merneptah at Thebes (modern-day Luxor), the Merneptah Stele is considered one of the most astounding archaeological finds. Incised on a huge slab of black granite more than ten feet (three meters) high, the text was initially carved on the rock during the reign of Amenhotep III of the Eighteenth Dynasty. It was later reused and augmented with a new inscription by Merneptah (r. 1213-1203 BC), the son and successor of Ramesses II.

While the bulk of the text recounts the military successes of the Pharaoh over the invading forces of the Libu and Meshwesh, his predecessors of the Libyan tribes, the Merneptah Stele became famous due to its final stanza. It contains a surviving trace of early Hebrew in ancient Egyptian script, which has since become a subject of endless debate among historians and archaeologists:

"Israel is laid waste, its seed is not." This is the first extra-biblical reference to the existence of the nation of Israel ever found.

I. Context: Merneptah’s reign and the Late Bronze Age setting

Before delving into the Merneptah Stele text, it is essential to provide the context in which it was created. First and foremost, it is necessary to understand Merneptah’s position in Egypt at the crossroads of the Late Bronze Age.

A. Late Bronze Age setting

Merneptah came to the throne at a mature age, after ruling a sprawling empire stretching from Nubia to Palestine during the sixty-seven-year reign of his father, Ramesses II. His long rule was followed by a period of decline that affected the entire Eastern Mediterranean region. Political instability, food shortages, devastating famines, and population movements took a toll on the borders of the Egyptian Empire. In addition, mass migrations of tribes began, which added to the pressure on the already unstable economy.

B. The attack of the Libu and Meshwesh

The fifth year of Merneptah’s reign witnessed the first wave of the barbarian invasion. The Pharaoh had to fight against the combined forces of the neighboring Libyan tribes, the Libu and Meshwesh, who, joined by the Sea Peoples, waged war against Egypt. At the same time, internal troubles began in Canaan, where numerous local rulers initiated hostilities against the Egyptian authorities. According to the stele, the king had to fight on two fronts at once. While the western front in the Nile Delta suffered the most substantial damage, Merneptah personally led the vanguard of the Egyptian troops to the battle near the western border. The six-hour-long fight turned into a massacre, as the entire force of the Meshwesh was decimated by the Pharaoh’s sharpshooters.

II. Description: The Merneptah Stele monument

The Merneptah Stele is a marvel of the New Kingdom, carved in large format on high-grade grey-black granite. Its text is easy to read due to the considerable size of the hieroglyphs.

A. The lunette

On top of the Merneptah Stele, there is a carved lunette representing King Merneptah, who stands before the god Amun Ra. The deity presents the king with the sword of victory (khopesh), while goddesses Mut and Khonsu are witnessing the act. The wings of the sun-disk of Horus of Edfu embrace the king and the god, underscoring the theme of the stele – the divine will of Merneptah to bring peace to his people and the entire empire. Victory over the foreign enemies was only possible with the help of the gods, whose order is now restored.

B. The main text

About twenty-eight lines of large hieratic script make up the main portion of the text. It narrates about the victory over the formidable forces of the Meshwesh, who stormed Egypt from the west:

“Merneptah says: the foreign powers are in turmoil; Meryey has brought his family and his troops to Egypt to stay. The king used his power to drive them out by the might of Amun, in an awesome combat with his horses and soldiers…”

Then the text continues, describing the aftermath of the battle, decorated with several lines of poetry. The Pharaoh recounts the enemy dead, prisoners of war, and the riches acquired from the invaders:

“The king counted the dead and the prisoners; he took the copper swords, the bow cases, and the cattle. Oh, land of Giza, the roads are open for the singers, the villages have rejoiced, the desert paths are safe, once again.”

III. Context: the war in Canaan and the “Israel”

At the end of the Merneptah Stele, the author changes the direction of the narration from the war with the Mescheš to the campaigns in Canaan. It is here that the famous line about the existence of Israel first appears:

“…the princes are prostrate saying ‘Peace,’ (meri), not one raises his head among the Nine bows. Tehenu (Libya) is laid waste; Hatti (Hittites) is pacified; Canaan is plundered with every evil, Ashkelon is taken, Gezer is seized, Yano’am is laid waste as though it had not been; Israel is laid waste, its seed is not; Hurru has become a widow for Egypt.”

A. The “Israel” line within the stanzas about Canaan

As can be seen from the text, the “Israel” line does not stand out qualitatively from the rest of the stanzas about Canaan. The poem describes the lands and cities conquered by Merneptah and his generals one by one. The names of the places are arranged in a geographical sequence, moving from west to east. Thus, Ashkelon, Gezer, and Yano’am are cities located in coastal Canaan, which were the most fortified and wealthy places ruled by the Canaanite kings. The names of Hurru and Hatti stand for the Hurrians and Hittites, the nations well-known to the Egyptians.

However, if to compare the writing of the name Israel to the other place names mentioned in the stele, one would notice a significant difference. All the names of countries and cities written in hieroglyphs have determinatives at the end, which denote the category of the word (for instance, a foreign country, a city, or a tribe). The determinative for a country or a city is a hieroglyph of a mountain with three peaks, which stands for a fortified place. However, the word Israel, I.si.ri.ar, ends with a determinative for men and women, which usually stands for a tribe or a social category.

B. The significance of the Merneptah Stele

The name Israel is the only word in the entire text of the stele that does not have the category of a country or a city. In fact, it appears that the author of the stele saw the entity called Israel not as a country ruled by a particular king, but rather as a tribe or a social group inhabiting a certain territory. Such a designation could have several meanings. Firstly, it is possible that the author of the stele regarded Israel as a subgroup of the larger nation of Canaanites. Secondly, it is possible that the word Israel did not exist in the ancient Egyptian language before the time of Merneptah. Therefore, the Pharaoh’s scribe had to resort to using the name borrowed from the local Canaanite sources.

The find of the Merneptah Stele, dated to the Late Bronze Age, has significantly advanced the modern scientific conception of the ancient Near East, Egypt, and Biblical history.

A. The significance for Chronology

The Merneptah Stele provided researchers with an essential anchor point dating back to the Late Bronze Age. It was the first undeniable confirmation that the name Israel and the entity itself existed long before the unification of the tribes and the establishment of the United Monarchy. Although the pharaoh greatly exaggerated his victories and successes against the Israelites, the very fact of the existence of this nation was invaluable to historians.

B. The significance to the Near Eastern History

Notably, the Merneptah Stele depicts a unique historical picture of the world known to the Ancient Egyptians. The text describes in exquisite detail the events of the fifth year of the reign of Merneptah. The king fought to re-establish the authority of Egypt in Canaan, which suffered considerably during the reign of his father, Ramesses II. It is believed that Merneptah waged a campaign of limited, sporadic raids across Canaan to ensure that the local tribes continued to pay tribute to him. In reality, the king did not win a lasting victory over any of the tribes, including the Israelites. The author of the stele used the formulaic expression of the complete destruction of the enemy and his country as a mere rhetorical device.

Conclusion

The Merneptah Stele is one of the most remarkable finds in the history of ancient archaeology. This giant slab of black granite is a true milestone in the annals of the history of the Near East and Biblical history.

While the stele recounts the Pharaoh’s victories over the enemies of Egypt, including the mighty tribes of Libya and Syria, it also contains the first-ever mention of the name Israel. More importantly, the name Israel in the Merneptah Stele does not have a category of a city or a country. Instead, it has the determinative for a tribe or a social group. This minuscule detail suggests, beyond reasonable doubt, that the nation of Israel was known to the Ancient Egyptians as a loose confederation of tribes. Such a social structure was common for many nations at the time of the Late Bronze Age. All in all, the Merneptah Stele remains an extraordinary source of information for modern historians and Egyptologists, who continue their studies of this magnificent stone monument even to this day.