or people at the time without a settled abode.
But where was Israel at the time? To this a variety of answers have
been given. D. R. Fotheringham suggests that the reference is to the
destruction of the crops of Israel in Goshen. {129} Israel, he thinks,
had just left, with the crops unharvested. These Merneptah claims to
have destroyed.[8] Others believe that the Israelites had already
entered Canaan when they suffered the defeat mentioned by Merneptah.
Petrie thinks that the Israelites defeated were in Palestine, but that
they had no connection with the tribes that had a part in the biblical
exodus; he believes that the latter were still in Goshen at the time of
this defeat.[9] Still others believe that the Israelites were, at the
time of the defeat, in the wilderness south of Palestine, and that the
claim of Merneptah is simply an attempt to account for their
disappearance from Egypt. And now comes Eerdmans, of Leiden, with the
suggestion that the Israelites defeated by Merneptah were the
Israelites before they went down to Egypt.[10] It is seen, therefore,
that the reference on the stele of Merneptah, while of much interest,
because it is the first mention of Israel in an Egyptian inscription,
after all throws little light upon the date and the events of the
exodus.

The next monument of importance contains an account of the invasion of
Palestine by Shishak, five years after the death of Solomon. On the
southern wall of the court of the great temple of Amen at Karnak the
king has left a pictorial representation of his campaign. A giant
figure is represented as holding in his left hand the ends of ropes
which {130} bind long rows of captives neck to neck. Their hands are
tied behind them, and the victor's right hand holds a rod with which he
threatens them. The names of the conquered cities are inscribed on
shields that cover the lower part of the body of each prisoner. Some
of the most familiar names in this list are Gaza, Abel, Adullam,
Bethhoron, Aijalon, Gibeon, and Shunem.[11]

From about the middle of the ninth century on inscriptions containing
references to kings of Israel, or to events in which the Hebrews played
important parts, become more numerous. To the reign of Omri (889-875)
and his immediate successors refers the inscription of Mesha on the
so-called Moabite Stone.[12] This notable specimen of antiquity is a
stone of a bluish-black color, about two feet wide, nearly four feet
high,