Merenptah's Israel and Recent Theories of Israelite Origins
Abstract
Several recent theories of Israelite origins link the emergence of Israel with the spread of settlement into the central hill country at the begin ning of the Iron Age. In particular, a number of theories share the assumption that this shift in settlement patterns marks the beginning of the process which led to the existence of the entity Israel. However, when the available controls are utilized to date the beginning of settle ment in the central highlands, it is clear that this began some decades after the reference to Israel on Merenptah's famous stela. Unless the stela refers to another entity with the same name (a gratuitous assumption), the above theories are in need of fundamental revision. Merenptah's reference actually implies that Israel had been part of the political scene for some time by the end of the 13th century BCE. The Iron I settlements in the highlands mark the sedentarization, not the emergence, of Israel.
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Casperson, L. W. (1988) · Journal of Near Eastern Studies · doi:10.1086/373284 · Cited by 5 · cited 1× · see citing works
“On astronomical grounds this is deemed much less likely than the ’low’ chronology’s date of 1279 BCE (Casperson 1988), which is also preferable for historical reasons (Kitchen 1977-78; 1987).”
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<i>Israel</i>in the Merneptah Stela
Hasel, M. G. (1994) · Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research · doi:10.2307/1357179 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
- Authors
- Bimson, J. J.
- Affiliations
- Trinity College Stoke Hill, Bristol BS9 1JP
- Corresponding author
- Bimson, John J.
- Venue
- Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1991-02
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 49
- Pages
- 3-29
- ISSN
- 0309-0892 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-6728
- OpenAlex
- W2162130027
- Cited by
- 4
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 10.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal for the Study of the Old Testament (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Biblical Studies and Interpretation
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient Egypt and Archaeology
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient Near East History
- Keywords
- Israelite origins, Israel, Iron Age I, settlement patterns, sedentarization, ancient Near East
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