After the death of Joshua and the Elders, the Bible tells us that the different tribes of Israel, each in their own territory and without common leadership, began to ignore God's demands (Judges 2:1-2) and to stray from His ways (Judges 2:10-11). We then enter the biblical period of the Judges, a troubled period during which God raises up enemies to attack the tribes of Israel, then chooses judges to free them and restore the tribes to the right path.
Let's look at the continuation of the historical and biblical chronologies (for earlier dates, refer to the previous articles since Adam):
year 2454 (1306 BCE): date of the Exodus from Egypt
year 2455 (1305 BCE): camp of Kadesh-Barnea; beginning of the 40 years in the desert
year 2495 (1265 BCE): death of Moses (5 Adar)
year 2495 (1265 BCE): beginning of the conquest of Canaan (after Passover 2495)
year 2495 (1265 BCE): fall of Jericho and Ai; Joshua's altar on Mount Ebal
year 2536 (1224 BCE): death of Joshua at the age of 110
year 2552 (1208 BCE): campaign and stele of Pharaoh Merneptah
The first enemy to attack the tribes of Israel was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 19th dynasty, Merneptah, son of the great Ramses II. Coming from Egypt with his chariots, he led a campaign against the city-states of the southern region of the land of Israel, the so-called coastal plain. This campaign was probably an attempt to regain the control of Canaan that his father abandoned with no apparent reason. But it didn't achieve such goal because, although the Egyptian chariots were efficient in the coastal plain, they could not venture into the hills of Judea and Samaria due to the difficult terrain. But these hills were the locations where most of the tribes of Israel had settled.
Merneptah was already old during this campaign because his father Ramses II had lived, and therefore reigned, for a very long time. His son reigned only 10 years after him. He led a campaign in Canaan in 1208 BCE and died in 1203 BCE. Fortunately for posterity, Merneptah left a commemorative stele of this victorious campaign. It was discovered in 1896 in the ruins of Thebes and is exhibited in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Its importance lies in the fact that, for the first time, a historical vestige bears the name of "Israel"... It is proof, engraved in stone, that the name Israel began to be known in the region of Canaan. But there is even better. Indeed, among the last lines of the stele, the text mentions other details:
The princes are prostrate, saying 'Peace!' Not one raises his head among the Nine Bows. Desolation is for Tjehenu (present-day Lybia in the west); Hatti [the Hittite empire in the north] is pacified; plundered is Canaan with every evil. Carried off is Asqaluni (Ashkelon); seized upon is Gezer; Yanoam is made non-existent; Israel is laid waste—its seed is no more. (Merneptah stele, source Wikipedia)
There are several remarks to be made on this text. First, we note that this campaign actually targeted the southern regions of Canaan (Ashkelon, Gezer) where the cities of the Philistines were established. So the victory against Israel could only be limited to Israelite settlements in the south, while the tribes of Israel settled in the hills, from north to south, and even beyond the Jordan river. The mention that Israel is destroyed is therefore presumptuous but it is normal for a victory stele aimed to praise a victorious pharaoh.
The second detail, not visible at first glance with the transcription of the Egyptian text into English, is that the words Canaan, Ashkelon, Gezer, Yanoam are feminine words: indeed, in ancient languages the names of cities and regions were always in the feminine form. But, in this text, Israel is in masculine form. This shows that, at the time of this campaign, Israel was neither a city nor a region but rather the name of a people, which is always in a masculine form, who did not live in established cities yet. We must therefore consider that the campaign of Merneptah took place in the biblical era of the Judges, and we can even say that it was at the beginning of this era, when the tribes were isolated, without any city or stronghold, and had not yet established a central power. The union of the tribes in a monarchy will be made later, with Saul, the first king of all Israel.
Let us also note that this stele makes a distinction between Canaan and Israel. The Egyptian empire knew of course that these were two different entities and peoples, and so this stele contradicts some silly theories that have tried to demonstrate that the tribes of Israel were formed from a Canaanite or even Egyptian group of people.
Finally, the last important point is the date of the Exodus from Egypt. As this stele is timed from the biblical period of the Judges, we can use its dating to obtain an approximate year of the Exodus from Egypt. Indeed, the invasions against Canaan and the tribes of Israel began after the death of Joshua and the Elders: let's say that the campaign of Merneptah took place 10 years after the death of Joshua who would therefore have died in the year 1208 BCE -10 = 1218 BCE. However, he lived 110 years according to the Bible (Judges 2:8). He would therefore have been born in 1328 BCE. Now, let's remember that he was one of the representatives of the 12 tribes sent by Moses to explore Canaan (biblical narrative in Numbers 13). This mission took place in the second year after the Exodus from Egypt. Then the entire generation of Hebrews of this time died before entering Canaan, except for two of the explorers: Caleb and Joshua. During their mission Caleb was 40 years old, and Joshua was the youngest of them, but Moses had still chosen him even though he was not 40 years old: if we estimate that Joshua was 30 years old during this mission (there are very good reasons for this, without going into details that would make this simple calculation cumbersome), the expedition therefore took place in the year 1328 BCE +30 = 1298 BCE. And therefore the Exodus from Egypt would have taken place two years earlier, in the year 1300 BCE. We can therefore see by this calculation that the dating of the Merneptah stele allows us to eliminate all the hypotheses of an Exodus from Egypt that was too early in time (at the time of the Hyksos invasion for example) or too late (Ramses II for example).
In conclusion, and historically, the name Israel was applied to a people established in Canaan but distinct from the Canaanites, and this happened well before the period of the unified monarchy from the reign of King Saul. However, the year indicated on this stele corresponds to 1208 BCE! This is historical proof by archaeology that the people of Israel existed as a regional entity at least since the year 1208 BCE.
I hope that this article on the theme "the Bible is true" was of interest to you. Do not hesitate to send me your comments, while waiting for a next biblical episode proven by history and archaeology.
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Albert Benhamou
Private tour guide in Israel
February 2025
