The Merneptah Stele, The Israelites are in Canaan, 1210 BCE

The first extra-biblical evidence of Israelites being in the land of Canaan exists on the enormous victory stele of the Egyptian king Merneptah.

The Pharaoh Merneptah, son of Ramesses II, The Great, writes (Reading from right to left):

“Canaan is plundered with every evil way. Ashkelon is conquered and brought away captive, Gezer seized…Israel is laid waste, his seed is not.”

Israel is a diminutive; it is a people, not a place.  There is no mention of the Philistines who later conquered Ashkelon.

The Merneptah Stele, discovered in 1896

Merneptah Stele, Cairo Museum