Egypt: The First Obituary for Israel

In episode 1, we travel back to ancient Egypt and to the Merneptah Stele: a monumental granite slab from the late 13th century BCE that inscribes the victories of the Pharaoh Merneptah over his enemies. The monument may contain the very first non-biblical reference to one of those supposedly vanquished enemies: “Israel.” What exactly does the stele say about Israel and the Jewish people? The answer may surprise you.