Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Canaanites and Language

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Canaanites and Language
  • Date: Sun, 02 Jul 2006 17:05:12 +0200


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




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page