Hi Brian,
quote:
Originally posted by Brian
In an attempt at objectivity regarding the inscription, and how it can aid any investigation into the origins of Ancient Israel, we have to be honest and admit that there is nothing at all in the inscription that suggests that Merneptah’s ‘Israel’ was ever in Egypt, the only way we can link the two is by employing the biblical text. Without the biblical text however, all that can realistically be taken from the inscription is that at the end of the 13th century BCE there was a group of people in Canaan who were collectively known as ‘Israel’.
I don't disagree with anything you said in your post; but I think you may have read too much into my post. Note the parenthetical phrase in my original statement:
quote:
The "Mer-ne-ptah" . . . stela does provide important information concerning the dating (or the veracity) of the exodus.
There has been a great deal of discussion regarding the determinative for Israel. It can be argued that the poetic construct discounts or modifies the determinative. It can also be argued that because there are several literary scribal blunders apparent in this stela, the determinative might be just another of these errors. Regardless of these arguments, however, the fact is that the determinative is not only there, but it is there in direct contrast to the other determinatives in the same context. Thus, it cannot be lightly dismissed that the determinative may mean exactly what it purports to mean.
If then the stela is taken as it is written, this places an unsettled people known as Israel in or around Palestine c. 1230 b.c. Also, given the location, it seems not unreasonable to suspect that the biblical Israel is intended here unless some other people are eventually discovered to have been in the same area and calling themselves by the same name.
Whether these people, Israel, were ever in Egypt or whether or not there ever was an "exodus", has no bearing on the statement made in my post. The very fact that a straightforward reading of this stela places these people in this area at this time is important to any consideration of the date (
or the veracity ) of any proposed exodus event. IOW, any proposed chronology for an exodus event must either prove that this stela doesn't mean what it says or, conversely, it must fit with the chronology indicated in this stela.
Namaste'
Amlodhi