DID YOU KNOW?
The answer
As a people. The scholar Michael Coogan says the original hieroglyphic text identifies Israel as a people, while the other names on the stone are regions and cities. The stone was found at Thebes in 1896. It is a victory hymn of Pharaoh Merneptah, who ruled 1213 to 1203 BC, and its one line on Israel reads "Israel is wasted, bare of seed."
Why it’s interesting
Coogan calls this the earliest mention outside the Bible of anything in the Bible. The scholar John Barton adds that Israel is never mentioned again in any ancient Egyptian text. In Exodus 1:9 the king of Egypt also speaks of "the Israelite people."
Scholarly consensus
Learn the Bible.
Not just the stories, but the history, authorship, and scholarship behind it.