麥可·阿斯圖爾(Michael Astour)注意到「yhw3」這一「象形字的表現非常精確地對應了希伯來語的四字神名或雅威,而且該名字比迄今為止出現在米沙石碑上最古老的神名還要早500多年」[7]。范德圖恩(K. Van Der Toorn) 總結道 :「公元前14世紀,在雅威崇拜抵達希伯來前,以東人和米甸人就成群結隊地將雅威奉為他們的主神了[8]。
加拿大埃及學家唐納德·布·雷德福(Donald B. Redford)曾認為,最早的希伯來人,就是公元前13世紀末麥倫普塔赫石碑上所提到的巴勒斯坦中部半游牧高地人,被認為就是生活在一處沙蘇飛地上,由此後來聖經傳統上才將耶和華講述為「出自西珥(Seʿir)」[9]。沙蘇人最初是來自摩押人和北方的以東/西珥人,隨後在"希伯來"聯合體中構成了主要部分,並在以後建立起了希伯來王國[10]。根據對阿馬爾奈文書的分析,特拉維夫大學古代近東文化和閃米特語言學名譽教授安森·弗蘭克·雷尼(Anson Rainey)得出結論說:有關沙蘇人的描述最符合早期的希伯來人[11]。
如果這一認定是正確的,這些希伯來/沙蘇人就應定居在高地小村莊中,其房屋類似於公元前13世紀末同時期的迦南人樣式[12]。
弗蘭克·傑·尤爾科(Frank J. Yurco)和麥可·格·哈塞爾(Michael G. Hasel)曾根據穿著服飾和髮式的不同,將麥倫普塔赫浮雕中的沙蘇人與希伯來人區分開來,且與埃及書寫者的判定不同[19],美國考古學家倫斯·斯塔格(Lawrence Stager)也反對麥倫普塔赫石碑中的沙蘇人與希伯來人有關聯,因為沙蘇人的衣著與希伯來人不同,希伯來人的衣著髮式都像迦南人[15][20]。
然而,限定詞的用法受到了質疑;有人指出,在埃及著作中,包括麥倫普塔赫石碑在內,限定詞被隨意使用[21]。此外,山地限定詞並不總是用於沙蘇,像來自索萊布和阿瑪拉西部的「雅赫維的沙蘇(Shasu of Yhw)」名字指環就是這種情況。戈斯塔·沃納·阿赫斯特倫(Gösta Werner Ahlström)反駁了斯塔格的反對意見,他認為,對比描繪是因為沙蘇人是游牧民,而希伯來人已定居。他補充說:「後來定居在山中的沙蘇人之所以被稱為希伯來人,是因為他們定居在希伯來領土上」[20]。
Astour, Michael C. (1979). "Yahweh in Egyptian Topographic Lists." In Festschrift Elmar Edel, eds. M. Gorg & E. Pusch, Bamberg.
Dever, William G. (1997). "Archaeology and the Emergence of Early Israel" . In John R. Bartlett (Ed.), Archaeology and Biblical Interpretation, pp. 20–50. Routledge.
Hasel, Michael G. (1998). Domination and Resistance: Egyptian Military Activity in the Southern Levant, 1300–1185 BC. Probleme der Ägyptologie 11. Leiden: Brill, pp. 217–239. ISBN90-04-10984-6[1] (頁面存檔備份,存於網際網路檔案館)
Hasel, Michael G. (2003). "Merenptah's Inscription and Reliefs and the Origin of Israel" in Beth Alpert Nakhai ed. The Near East in the Southwest: Essays in Honor of William G. Dever, pp. 19–44. Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research 58. Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research. ISBN0-89757-065-0
Hoffmeier, James K. (2005). Ancient Israel in Sinai, New York: Oxford University Press, 240–45.
MacDonald, Burton (1994). "Early Edom: The Relation between the Literary and Archaeological Evidence". In Michael D. Coogan, J. Cheryl Exum, Lawrence Stager (Eds.), Scripture and Other Artifacts: Essays on the Bible and Archaeology in Honor of Philip J. King, pp. 230–246. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN0-664-22364-8
Miller (II.), Robert D. Chieftains of the Highland Clans: A History of Israel in the 12th and 11th Centuries B.C., Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2005, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2012
Nestor, Dermot Anthony, Cognitive Perspectives on Israelite Identity, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2010
Sivertsen, Barbara J. The Parting of the Sea: How Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Plagues Shaped the Story of Exodus. Princeton University Press, 2009. ISBN978-0-691-13770-4[2] (頁面存檔備份,存於網際網路檔案館)
Sparks, Kenton L., Ethnicity and Identity in Ancient Israel: Prolegomena to the Study of Ethnic Sentiments and Their Expression in the Hebrew Bible, Eisenbrauns, 1998, p. 108: 'If the Egyptian scribe was not clear on the nature of the entity he called "Israel," knowing only that it was "different" from the surrounding modalities, then we can imagine something other than a sociocultural Israel. It is possible that Israel repr esented a confederation of united, but sociologically distinct, modalities that were joined either culturally or politically via treaties and the like. This interpretation of the evidence would allow for the unity implied by the endonymic evidence and also give our scribe some latitude in his use of the determinative'.
Stager, Lawrence E. (2001). "Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel". In Michael Coogan (Ed.), The Oxford History of the Biblical World, pp. 90–129. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-508707-0
van der Toorn, K. (1996). Family Religion in Babylonia, Ugarit and Israel: Continuity and Changes in the Forms of Religious Life (BRILL)
Yurco, Frank J. (1986). "Merenptah's Canaanite Campaign." Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 23:189–215.