Thadd Wrote:
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> Well, first, some argue it was a nation etc.
> Additionaly, exactly who or what group this term
> refers to is unclear and tells us little of how it
> fits in with the biblical text itself.
The fact remains that the Merneptah Stele provides the first extra-biblical evidence for an entity named 'Israel'. The Stele mentions both Israel and Canaan, so the former was distinguished in some form from the latter at this date as far as the Egyptians were concerned.
The mention of 'Israel' might not amount to much in itself, but as far as extra-biblical evidence goes this is pretty significant seeing as it clearly predates the biblical texts themselves.
The Merneptah Stele is dated to circa 1200 BCE.
The next extra-biblical mention of 'Israel' occurs approximately 350 years later on the Monolith Inscription of Shalmaneser III, which mentions the Israelites' participation in the battle of Qarqar in 853 BCE.
The nature of the entity named 'Israel' on the Merneptah Stele remains uncertain and the subject of much debate.
The Shalmaneser Inscription indicates that 350 years later, 'Israel' (more specifically, the northern kingdom ruled by Ahab) was capable of fielding a large standing army, complete with a significant contingent of chariots.
As far as specifically extra-biblical evidence is concerned, for a period of approximately 350 years (ie. between 1200-853 BCE) you've got little more than the soughing of the wind, the sound of tumbleweed tumbling, and a number of ambiguous archaeological remains.
Doubtless, more are yet to be unearthed.
And then there's the biblical text(s), and their recounting of a narrative/mythic history of the emergence of Israel, the dating and composition of which remain uncertain.
Not to mention the biblical text(s)' relationship to the existing archaeological material which remains uncertain and the subject of much fruitful and heated discussion.
The archaeological evidence exists. The biblical account exists. Both provide fragmentary and contradictory insights into the past. Both are subject to a variety of interpretations.
As far as caricatures go, how's that for a fair assessment?
Damian
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My dear sir, in this world it is not so easy to settle these plain things. I have ever found your plain things the knottiest of all.
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Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
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'I am beginning to believe that nothing is quite so uncertain as facts.
- Edward S. Curtis
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'We are coming now rather into the region of guesswork', said Dr Mortimer.
'Say, rather, into the region where we balance probabilities and choose the most likely. It is the scientific use of the imagination, but we have always some material basis on which to start our speculation', [replied Holmes].
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The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
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'It never does to be too sure, you know, in these matters. Coincidence killed the professor.'
- "Novel of the Black Seal" by Arthur Machen