“The Israel Stele,” also known as “Merneptah Stele” is an inscribed stone that was made by the ancient Egyptians at the time of king Merneptah. One of the most impressive things about this amazing archeological discovery is the earliest historical documentation (which is not in the Bible itself) of the name ‘Israel’ and description of the southern part of the land of Israel during that time! The stele was discovered in 1896 near the ancient city of Thebes in southern Egypt, a city that is mentioned in the Bible in the Book of Nahum: “Are you better than Thebes that sat by the Nile, with water around her, her rampart a sea, and water her wall?” (Nahum 3:8) Today the stone is housed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
