Evidence for an Israelite Exodus (?)

[ivar]

@St.Roymond

@paleomalacologist

Pharoah Merenptah records defeating Israel in 1209; a people group thus identified must have existed in Canaan by then

Not necessarily. It’s been discovered that campaigns against troublesome foreigners in the Nile delta area, which is where the Hebrews were, were recorded the same as those against foreigners outside of (what we think of as) Egypt’s borders. Some have argued that this indicates that Mereneptah was the “king who did not know Joseph”.

@paleomalacologist

Technically possible but unlikely, given that Israel is listed among specific Canaanite towns and groups. But at any rate, it indicates the existence of “Israel” at that date.

It depens on whether Pa-Canaan is a reference to the land of Canaan, or Gaza, Canaan’s principal city at the time.

If the latter, it is possible that the text is structured like this:

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For the whole article, see

@ivar

It is said that there is no literary evidence for an Israelite sojourn in Egypt outside of the Bible. But if the Exodus occurred in the 12th century, the Merneptah stele can be interpreted as talking about Israel in Egypt: The Merenptah Stele and the Biblical Origins of Israel .