Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

> Joel Stucki wrote:
> > There is no text outside the Tanakh that supports the existence of the
> > people and events described in it before the Monarchy. None at all.
>
> Harold Holmyard: I don't know how absolutely you are speaking, but let me 
> mention the
> Merneptah stele, which at least mentions the name of Israel as a people
> in about 1230 B.C.:
>
> http://www.allaboutarchaeology.org/merneptah-stele-faq.htm
>
> Yours,
> Harold Holmyard

While the Merneptah stele (which is usually now dated to c. 1207 BCE) is 
certainly significant, it does NOT really "prove" any of the biblical story. 
It speaks of the Pharaoh "destroying" Israel WITHIN the land of Canaan. This 
is, of course, an exaggeration, but the text does NOT mention the Israelites 
in Egypt or the Exodus, and the Bible makes NO mention of any battles 
between Israelites and Egyptians within Canaan. So while the stele does 
"prove" the existence of a people called "Israel", living within Canaan at 
the end of the 13th century, it actually contradicts the "main line" of 
biblical history.

Yigal Levin