Part 2: The real origins of Israel

According to the Bible, the tribe of Israel originated with Abraham in Mesopotamia; he travelled from Ur, north through Canaan, and then south into Egypt. Joseph's descendants in Egypt eventually become enslaved to Pharoah, who, compelled by a series of horrible plagues, "lets the people go" back to Canaan. And so a nation is born.

From the perspective of literary analysis, this version if Israel's origins is probably a melding of two stories: one the tribal history of Abraham and his generation, and the second a national history telling the birth of a nation.

The Bible offers two versions of how the people ‘Israel’ resettled the land of Canaan. In Joshua, it describes a blitzkrieg resettlement across the Canaanite lands; in Judges, it describes a more gradual resettlement alongside the Canaanites.

What archaeology shows us fairly clearly is that in the period of the 13th century (aka the early 1200s BCE), Canaan was settled by Canaanites. Most of the population was on the coast, where trade with other Meditteranian peoples took place (such as the Phoenicians).

Major escavations have taken place at several sites the Bible lists as areas of Israelite conquest in the 1200 BCE era. Two of the five show major destruction in that time period, which means the other three are contradicted by the archaeological record:

Jericho (Joshua) No settlement or conquest in the 13th century
(A town there was burned to the ground in the 14th century, but it
was abandoned after that)
Ai (Joshua) Unoccupied in the 13th century
Gibeon (Joshua) Unoccupied in the 13th century
Lachsish Big destruction in the 13th century
Hazor Big destruction in the 13th century

At these escavation sites, there is no evidence that the conquering peoples came from a foreign culture or language.

The first extrabiblical reference to a people called ‘Israel’ is found in a funerary monument in Egypt in 1208 BCE called the Merneptah Stele. In it, King Meneptah documents his military victories in Canaan in a poetic fashion, and boasts that "Israel is laid waste; its seed is not."

Based on the location of other victories in the stele, it is possible to plot the route he took, and based on that, 'Israel' is located in the central highlands of Canaan, where the book of Judges also places the early Israelites. Archaeological evidence also places ‘Israel’ in the same geographic region.

Where are the central highlands, exactly? Basically in what would be called the lower Galilee today, north of Jerusalem.
The 13th century BCE – the time that this stele was written – was a crucial period of development in the land of Canaan. The archaeological record clearly shows
· a major population decrease in the coastal Canaanite cities and a major population increase in the central highlands
· the widespread use of six-pillared houses in the highlands
· a decline in the quality of pottery in the highlands
· a decrease in imports, or luxury goods, from outside Canaan
· the emergence of widespread adoption of agricultural terracing around small settlements of pillared houses, indicating groupings of extended families.

We also know from the Egyptian record, the Amarna Letters, that Canaan was under Egyptian control in the 14th century, and that by the 13th century, this city-state system had began to fall down. Local Canaanite rulers were getting very powerful and bands of marauders were wreaking havoc on the coastal settlements.

This, coupled with strong archaeological evidence, suggests that Canaanites began fleeing these towns, settling in the highlands, and adopting terracing systems for the growth of olive trees and vineyards.

The history of the land of Canaan is one marked by many periods of shifting populations from the coast to the highlands and back to the coast again. Life on the coast was usually easier due to rich trade routes and soil. The rocky highlands had less predictable weather, too much rain, and difficult soil. But in times of political instability, the highlands are safer and easier to protect, so populations often shifted there during times of coastal instability.

The population shift of the 13th century was different, however, because this time, the population stayed. They didn’t go back to the coast. And for reasons that remain a mystery, at some point these people began to distinguish themselves from their Canaanite neighbors and self-identify as ‘Israel’.

Terracing takes a tremendous amount of man-power. This might be one reason why they stayed. Once they had invested so much labor into their settlements, and began the profitable production of two highly prized commodities of the day – wine and olive oil – there was no reason to leave. The labor needed to make these terraces might also explain why pottery quality took a nosedive in these settlements. They had too many other things to do.

So, to summarize, Mark Smith explains:
"Despite the long regnant model that the 'Canaanites' and Israelites were people of fundamentally different culture, archaeological data now casts doubt on this view. The material culture of the region exhibits numerous common points between Israelites and 'Canaanites' in the Iron I period (ca. 1200-1000). The record would suggest that the Israelite culture largely overlapped with and derived from 'Canaanite' culture... In short, Israelite culture was largely Canaanite in nature. Given the information available, one cannot maintain a radical cultural separation between Canaanites and Israelites for the Iron I period." (pp6-7).