20 abr 1211 ano antes da era comum - Merenptah Stele

Descrição:

The Merneptah Stela by Charlie Brownonne

The discussion of the significance of Israel in the Merneptah stela revolves around the meaning of two words: "Israel" and "seed." A number of possibilities have been suggested, as summarized by Hasel... Hasel discusses the problems associated with each of these interpretations and concludes,
Israel, identified by the determinative for people, is a socioethnic unity powerful enough to be mentioned along with major city-states that were also neutralized (1994: 51).

Turning to the meaning of the Egyptian word prt, "seed," there are only two possibilities, "grain" or "offspring." Based on the use of prt in other Egyptian texts, Hasel deduces that it refers to grain. Thus, the phrase "its seed is not" indicates that Israel's food supply was no longer in existence. Hasel observes, We may perceive Israel within the context and information of the Merneptah stela to be a rural sedentary group of agriculturalists without its own urban city-state support system (1994:54).

This is exactly the picture we have of Israel from the Old Testament. Gideon lived close to the time of the Merneptah Stela and he was a farmer living in a small village (Judges 6).

The word "Israel" here is written in Egyptian with the determinative for people rather than land (ANET 1969, 378 note 18). This implies that Israel did not have a king or kingdom at this time. This would be the time of the judges.

There is an interesting place named in Joshua 15:9 and 18:15, "well of waters of Nephtoah," that may be the Hebrew name of Merneptah... The Egyptian Papyrus Anastasi III contains "The Journal of a Frontier Official" which mentions this well. It says:Year 3, 1st Month of the 3rd Season, Day 17. The Chief of Bowmen of the Wells of Mer-ne- Ptah Hotep-hir-Maat--life, prosperity, health!--which is (on) the mountain range, arrived for a (judicial) investigation in the fortress which is in Sile (ANET 1969, 258).Yurco has recently re-analyzed the Karnak battle reliefs, and has concluded that they should be ascribed to Merneptah and not Ramses II (1990, 21-38). There are four scenes which Yurco correlates with the Merneptah stele. One scene is the battle against the city of Ashkelon which is specifically named. Yurco argues that the
other two city scenes are Gezer and Yanoam. He concludes that the open country scene must be Israel... now forced to admit that Israel was already in Canaan at the time of Merneptah. Israel was big and strong enough to challenge Egypt in battle.

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The Pharaoh of the Exodus Fairy tale or real history? Outcome of the investigation by
Gérard GERTOUX

The Merenptah Stele, dated III Shemu 3 year 5 (20 April 1211 BCE), is the oldest known inscription mentioning the people “Israel”, it relates the following events (line 27): [All] Princes are prostrate, saying: “Shalam (Peace)”. Not one lifts up his head among the Nine Bows. Now that Tehenu (Libya) has come to ruin, Hatti is pacified; The Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe: Ashkelon has been overcome; Gezer has been captured; Yenoam is made non-existent. Israel is laid waste; his offsprings52 are no longer; Hurru (southern Syria) is become a widow because of Egypt. All lands combined, they are at peace; Whoever roams about gets subdued by the King of Upper and Lower Egypt Merenptah (Simpson: 2005, 356-360).

Merenptah after having devastated Libya (first goal of his expedition) was delighted that Israel, mentioned as a people and not as a country, was laid waste and had no more any offspring, that is to say any rulers and only this latter sense fits the context.

Several clues prove that Merenptah did not go into Palestine: only a few cities in southern Canaan (Ashkelon, Gezer) are mentioned; the name Palestine (Upper Retenu) does not appear in the stele of Israel; the pharaoh was delighted that Israel was laid waste but he never said he had caused it which he would certainly done if that had been the case because of his bragging. When Merenptah said: The Canaan has been plundered, he just meant: “Gaza area” has been plundered (Katzenstein: 1982, 111-113).

Hori's satirical letter54 confirms important points (Pritchard: 1969, 475- 477): the region of Canaan was reduced to the area around Gaza at that time; the land of Israel had no contact with Egypt except with the tribe of Asher to the East of the city of Acco which was inhabited by the fearsome Shasu led by the famous Chief Qazardi (Aharoni: 1979, 180-185). Hori describes a dangerous area infested with Shasu which fits accurately to the tribe of Asher (Jos 17:7-11; 19:24-31).

Qazardi55, the “famous Chief of Asher (’i-s-r)”, is unknown but it looks like it could be Gideon who gathered an army drawn from several tribes which were dwelling in Asher's area (Jg 6:33-40). Gideon's exploits (1299 BCE) had to have been famous since Sanchuniation, a Phoenician writer, knew of them. It is noteworthy that Hori's satirical letter was copied with a lot of variations and many proper names were distorted (Tantaoui: 1987, 272-408).

The knowledge of historical context is crucial to understand what Merenptah meant in his stele. Indeed, he did not claim to have defeated the people of Israel, because the Shasu (shepherds in Palestine) was no longer mentioned among the 9 hereditary enemies of Egypt since Ramses II, but he rather rejoiced that his powerful neighbour (Israel people) would not be able to support a revolt in southern Palestine (mainly Philistia, a vassal of Egypt) recently invaded by the Sea Peoples, likely for a long time. Consequently, the Israel Stele does not prove that Israel appeared at the time of Merenptah, but on the contrary, this people had been a powerful neighbour for a long time.

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