Merneptah Stele

Last Monday I sat at the Toyota dealership with my styrofoam cup of coffee and waited as the oil in my car was changed and my state inspection sticker renewed.

Egyptian Revolution
I'm sure I looked a little out of place reading Lost Treasures of the Bible: Understanding the Bible through Archaeological Artifacts in World Museums. My dad got this book for me last Christmas, and I've enjoyed reading and rereading it. This week I was refreshing my memory on the
Merneptah Stele. This Egyptian stone tablet was created around 1200 BC and is now in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo.


Dad and I visited the Egyptian Museum when were in Egypt of 2011. We traveled to Egypt just days after President Mubarak stepped down, when the US State Department still advised Americans to avoid travel to Egypt. As tourists we largely had the country to ourselves and other white westerners were few and far between. The road to the museum was lined with tanks and you can see me walking alongside our guide Shaza to get to the museum.


The Boy King
One of the Egyptian Museum's most famous, or perhaps infamous, exhibits is the treasure of King Tutankhamun's tomb. We had read up on the Egyptian Museum before our visit and had heard of the crowds that surround King Tut's treasures. Tour guides must wait outside the room that houses Tut's ornamented funeral mask and sarcophagus in order to slightly reduce the number of people crowding the room. I read several accounts of visitors who were herded through the congested room with only a quick look at Tut's famous gold burial mask. But not us. A guard and three visitors milled about the room with us as we stood face-to-face with Tut's mask and gazed for minutes upon end into the ageless face of the boy king.

Evidence of Israel
After viewing the King Tut collection, Dad and I set off in search of the Merneptah Stele. It is in an out of the way corner in the museum, hard to find and unlabeled. This is likely because it is, to many, just another stone tablet, interesting only in that it is covered in hieroglyphics.

To historians and biblical scholars, however, this stele is significant because it contains the earliest known mention of Israel. Additionally, it is by far the earliest reference to Israel outside of the Bible. The hieroglyph in front of the word Israel is indicative of Israel as a people group rather than a nation, which is consistent with the biblical record.

Please Do Not Touch!
The section of tablet that reads "Israel" is worn black from many hands that have streaked fondly across the surface. This darkening of the stone is evident at the bottom center of the tablet. Clearly I am not the only one fascinated by by this tablet. And if you ask me if I took the opportunity to lightly brush my curled finger across this piece of history, I will adamantly tell you no... And as an aspiring museum professional, I feel I should take this opportunity to point out the damage done to objects by inquisitive hands.

The Merneptah Stele is appreciated both by historians and by the millions of Christians and Jews whose spiritual beliefs are connected intimately with the people of Israel. Because of its incredible biblical significance, this is one of my favorite museum objects that I've seen. Though seeing Tutankhamun's burial mask was yet another amazing experience. And the mummified body of Ramesses II. And... okay, this list could just go on and on. Suffice it to say, with my love for Egyptian history, this museum was amazing and the less than three hours we spent inside was far too short.