Merneptah's victory over Israel Stele in 875 BC & Amenmesse's or Zerah the Cushite's defeat by Asa in the Battle of Zephath in 869 BC

 

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.