It is widely accepted by those who study the subject the Shasu were Bedouins and highwaymen. They were also semi-nomadic people of Syria-Palestine.

There are three known references in New Kingdom period texts to an area called "The land of the Shasu of Yahweh." Not including the Old Testament, these are the oldest known references in any ancient texts to the God Yahweh.

The New Kingdom Era lasted between the 16th Century BC, and the 11th Century BC, of the Egyptian Empire and covered the 18th, 19th, and 20th Dynasties of Egypt. Radiocarbon dating lists the beginning of this age to have been from 1570BC to 1544BC, which was the peak of Egypt's power.

Several hieroglyphic military, diplomatic, and administrative Egyptian texts discuss the Shasu, as do eight Pharoahs. An Egyptian letter dated to 1192BC stated in part "We have finished letting the Shasu tribes of Edom pass the fortress of Merneptah Hotep-hir-Maat..."

Dated to about 1190BC, and found in Pharoah Merneptah's temple in Thebes, the Merneptah Stele is considered one of the most important discoveries made referencing the Hebrew exodus from Egypt. The Stele stated "Israel is laid waste, its seed is not." This is the earliest known mention of Israel outside of the Bible, and the only known mention of Israel in Egyptian records.

In this case, the Shasu mentioned are linked to the Edomites, who possessed a well known relationship with the Hebrews. In Transjordan, Edom laid between Moab and the Arabian Desert, which in Modern Times is divided between Southern Israel and Jordan.

The tribes talked about in the Merneptah Stele were settled after they crossed into the Biblical Pithom in Succoth (now Deir Alla in Transjordan). Exodus 1:11states Pithom was one of the "storage" or "treasure" cities built for the Pharoah by the forced labor of the Hebrews. Rameses, and Heliopolis, were the others. These Shasu were Semites who herded animals.

When used geographically in Egyptian texts, Shasu is translated "land of". In the above situation it refers to "the land of the Shasu of Yahweh." New Kingdom texts for Shasu referred to peoples in Lebanon, Sinai, Transjordan, Syria, and Canaan. However, the Shasu were rarely under the control of the Egyptian government and were viewed as enemies of Egypt.

Ancient Egyptians classified all the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Midianites, Amalekites, Habirus, Kenites, Amorites, Arameans, and Hebrews as Shasu. There is also a reference in the 1250BC Papyrus Anastasi I to a group of giant Shasu in Canaan.

The topographical lists at Soleb and Amarah-West are inscribed with "The land of the Shasu of Yahweh." These lists contain the names of enemies of Egypt. Built about 1400BC, Soleb is a temple constructed by Pharoah Amenhotep III, that is located in Modern Day Sudan, on the left bank of the Nile River, about 135 miles south of Wadi-Halfa. This is not questioned by Egyptian scholars. Also in Sudan, Amarah-West was built by Pharoah Rameses II in the 13th Century BC. Egyptologists do not question the name Yahweh in either of these two lists.

Canadian Egyptologist, and archaeologist, Donald B. Redford conducted multiple excavations in Karnak and Mendes, Egypt. He argued Yahweh was first worshipped as an Edomite god. Furthermore, he stated one of the Edomite tribes split from their main body, moved northwest to Israel and took their god Yahweh with them. Redford claimed that explains how Yahweh became the God of the Israelites.

The earliest Biblical traditions place Yahweh as the deity of southern Edom, and may have started in Edom, Seir, Teman, or Sinai before being adopted in Israel and Judah.

In his 1979 book Festshrift Elmar Edel, author and Semetic biographer Michael C. Astour pointed out the place names listed at Soleb and Amarah-West show Shasu ethnic groups in Syria-Palestine. Therefore, he claimed the question remained did Yahweh reference a town or city like all the others contained in the Egyptian topographical lists that begin with 13sh3sw as Yahweh does?

Is the question "the land of the nomads who live in the area of Yahweh?" Even if 13sh3sw does point this out, it is clearly a place named after the God Yahweh of the Old Testament. Proposed locations of the city of Yahweh have included:

-a spring in the Beqa Valley, near the Litani River, in Lebanon

-Samata (Samat) on the Phoenician coast, about seven miles south of Batroun, in Northern Lebanon, one of the world's oldest cities

There is no topographical site in the region today that contains the name Yahweh, or anything similar. Nor are there any Biblical references, or ancient historical sources known to exist for that region, that mention "the land of the Shasu of Yahweh. Other proposed sites for the city of Yahweh have been:

-Medinet Haber, on the West Bank of Luxor in Southern Egypt (the site of the ancient city of Thebes)

-Turabaar, with the Modern Day name of Turbal, in Lebanon

-Sarar (Mount Seir) in Edom

-Laban in Syria

The Soleb reference to Yahweh is about 500 years older than the Moabite Stone's reference to Yahweh, and is the oldest known non-biblical occurrence of the name Yahweh.


Sources:

Bible
academia.edu
biblearchaeologyreport.com
jewishstudies.rutgers.edu
biblearchaeology.org
bibleandscience.com
cams.la.psu.edu (Donald B. Redford)
eisenbrauns.org (Michael C. Astour)

Next Time: Sea Of Galilee #25: The Moabite Stone's Connection To The Ancient Hebrews