The name Israel (Egyptian ysrʾr, Moabite yšrʾl, Assyrian Sir-ʾi-la-a-a [51200]; Hebrew Yiśrȧ’ẹl) is first attested in an inscription of Pharaoh Merneptah (1224–1205/1213–1204/03) on his ‘Israel Stela’ (1209) [52168–171], and it serves here as an ethnonym (although it may at the same time also be a geographical term referring to Mount Ephraim) [1758 f.]; [137–43]. There is no agreement on the meaning of the name [51200]. This evidence puts Israel in Mount Ephraim…