Ancient Mysteries & Interpretations
Pharaoh Merneptah's victory stele (c. 1208 BC) names Israel as a people in Canaan, the earliest widely accepted mention outside the Bible. A century earlier, the Amarna letters show Canaan's city-kings writing to Pharaoh and complaining about the 'Apiru. Neither mentions Joshua or describes a conquest.
Stele and letters: authentic · "Israel" as a people c. 1208 BC: documented · Joshua or a conquest: not mentioned
"Israel is laid waste, his seed is not"; Israel written with the determinative for a people.
Source: The Merneptah Stele (Cairo JE 31408): Oriental Institute educational text ↗
Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem (EA 286–290) complains of the 'Apiru.
A Berlin statue pedestal (ÄM 21687) has been read by some as an earlier mention of Israel; that reading is debated and is examined in the Exodus investigations. It does not replace the Merneptah Stele as the accepted earliest mention.
Traditional reading
The 'Apiru troubling Canaan's kings include Joshua's Israelites (early-date model).
Assessment: Most scholars see 'Apiru as a social category, not one people.
Scholarly reconstruction
'Apiru were displaced people, mercenaries and outlaws across the Near East; Israel may have included such people but is not identical with them.
Source: N. Na'aman, Canaan in the Second Millennium B.C.E. (2005), on the ʿapiru ↗
By about 1208 BC Egypt recognized a people called Israel in Canaan. The Amarna letters show the political world of city-states the conquest narratives describe. Neither text documents Joshua.
What the evidence shows
Source: The Merneptah Stele (Cairo JE 31408): Oriental Institute educational text ↗
Source: N. Na'aman, Canaan in the Second Millennium B.C.E. (2005), on the ʿapiru ↗