c. 1208 BCE·Judges·Artifact

Merneptah Stele: the First 'Israel'

Scripture: Judges 1–2

The granite Merneptah Stele covered in hieroglyphs, Egyptian Museum, Cairo · Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

The claim

During the period of the Judges, Israel is a people living in the hill country of Canaan.

What archaeology found

A granite victory of Pharaoh Merneptah, found by Flinders Petrie at Thebes in 1896, now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. It boasts 'Israel is laid waste, his seed is not'. The used for Israel marks it as a people, not a city-state.

Where it was found

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Thebes (Luxor), EgyptView on OpenStreetMap

Sources

Michael G. Hasel, Israel in the Merneptah Stela, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 296 (1994)

Verdict history

Nov 10, 2026ConfirmedInitial verdict.