Later dates for the Exodus correspond better with the testimony of the Merneptah Stele. This case shows how useful the conjunction of extra-biblical data with biblical history can be. No secular historian should ignore what the Bible says about ancient events, and no student of the Bible should remain willfully ignorant of the supplementary data provided by extra-biblical sources. The Merneptah inscription seems to brag about something that did not actually take place—the annihilation of the Israelites.