This is the transcript to my Youtube video with the same

title.

The Merneptah Stele, also known as the Israel Stele or

the Victory Stele of Merneptah, is an inscription by
Merneptah, a Pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty of Egypt. The
text is largely an account of Merneptah's victory over the
ancient Libyans and their allies, but the last three of the 28
lines deal with a separate campaign in Canaan, then part
of Egypt's imperial territory. It is sometimes referred to as
the ‘Israel Stele’ because a majority of scholars translate a
set of hieroglyphs in line 27 as ‘Israel’.

Now the hieroglyphs that refer to Israel in the stele employ

the determinative for ‘people’ as opposed to the
determinative for a ‘city’ used to refer to the other enemies
of Merneptah which he defeated. The determinative for
‘people’ was typically used by the Egyptians to signify
nomadic groups or peoples without a fixed city-state
home, thus implying a semi nomadic or rural status for
'Israel' at that time.

Egyptian chronology dates Merneptah’s rule to 1213 -

1203 BC, and archeology seems to confirm that until
about 1000 BC, Israelite society was essentially a society
of farmers and stock breeders without any truly centralized
organization and administration associated with a fixed
city-state. Because of this, any attempts by revisionists of
the current Egyptian chronology, like myself, to date
Merneptah’s rule later than 1000 BC is being rejected on
the basis of this description of Israel as nomads by the
victory stele of Merneptah.

In my previous video titled ‘May 15, 2817 BC start of the

523,046 days Sothic cycle & the May 27, 845 BC Sothic
rise of the Ilahum Papyrus’, I dated the latter part of
Ramesses III’s 7th year to 845 BC, implying that his 1st
regnal year was in 852 BC.
According to Egyptian chronology, the 1st regnal year of
Merneptah was 27 years earlier than the 1st regnal year of
Ramesses III. This means, according to my revision of the
Egyptian chronology, the 1st regnal year of Merneptah
was in 879 BC.
The Israel Stele was carved in the 5th year of Merneptah,
which implies his victory against the ‘people’ of Israel
happened in 875 BC. Also, according to the reading of
contemporary historical records, Merneptah ruled Egypt
for almost ten years, so in my revised chronology,
Merneptah’s rule ended in 869 BC.
Now keep in mind that Jeroboam, revolted against
Rehoboam, the king of Judah who succeeded Solomon.
Because of this, the Land of Israel was divided into two
kingdoms, the northern Kingdom of Israel first ruled by
Jeroboam and whose capital for the most part was in
Samaria, and the kingdom of Judah whose capital was in
Jerusalem. Now the king of northern Israel in 875 BC
(when Merneptah attacked northern Israel) was Omri, who
had a rival king also in northern Israel, namely, Tibni.

Both Omri and Tibni claimed the throne of the northern

Kingdom of Israel after their predecessor Zimri had ended
his life after a reign of seven days. Because of this the
people of northern Israel were divided that time into two
factions, one siding with Omri, and the other with Tibni.
Omri and Tibni and their forces fought each other for
several years until Omri's forces finally prevailed and until
Tibni died.

It appears that Tibni was regent over half the northern

Kingdom of Israel for a period of four years. And I believe
that soon after Tibni died, Merneptah attacked those tribes
that were loyal to Tibni, and while they were still refusing
to submit under Omri’s rule. It is no wonder then that
Merneptah described these tribes in the determinative for
‘people’ as opposed to the determinative for a ‘city’.

Merneptah’s reign ended in 869 BC or 6 years after he

attacked Israel in 875 BC according to my chronology. He
was then succeeded by two rival Pharaohs, namely, Seti II
and Amenmesse. Seti II was the son of Merneptah and
therefore his legal heir, while Amenmesse was believed to
be a usurper. Egyptologist Rolf Krauss was the first to
suggest that Amenmesse was to be identified with Messuy
who was appointed Viceroy of Kush in year 5 of
Merneptah. The Viceroy of Kush was an office created in
ancient Egypt when the former Kushite Kingdom of Kerma
in Nubia, became its province.

The Battle of Zephath, according to 2 Chronicles 14: 9-15,

occurred during the reign of King Asa of Judah. It was
fought in the Valley of Zephath near Maresha in modern-
day Israel between the armies of the Kingdom of Judah
under the command of King Asa and that of the Kushites
and ancient Egyptians under the command of Zerah the
Kushite. Archaeologist E. R. Thiele offers the dates
911/910 up to 870/869 BC for the regnal years of King
Asa.

869 BC, as I mentioned earlier, was when Amenmesse,

formerly Messuy the Viceroy of Kush, became one of two
rival Pharaohs in Egypt. I believe the Kushite Amenmesse
was also Zerah the Kushite who battled with King Asa in
King Asa’s final regnal year in 869 BC. He was defeated
by the warriors of Judah, who utterly defeated the
Egyptians and Kushites, which the Bible attributes to
divine intervention. Amenmesses’ humiliating defeat by
King Asa of Judah is probably the reason why
Amenmesses’ rule lasted only for 3 years.