| | | | | that after the kingdom of Solomon, at the time of |
| I | | | | his son Rehov'am, the kingdom was split into two: |
| | | | | the northern part, which included most of the |
| This article is based on the idea, expressed in Israel | | | | Israelite tribes, was called Israel; the southern part, in |
| Finkelstein's & N.A. Silverman's book The Bible | | | | which Yehudah was the main tribe, was called after |
| Unearthed, that the Israelites were never slaves in | | | | its name. The Kingdom of Israel bordered on the rest |
| Egypt, that they were inhabitants of the Land of | | | | of the Canaanite area, including its main cities of Tyre |
| Canaan since the earliest times of their history. The | | | | and Sidon, and the less important town by the name |
| Land of Canaan (as the Land of Israel is today) was | | | | of Byblos (Geval in Hebrew or Canaanite), from |
| always affected by changes of climate depending on | | | | which the name for the Bible was taken). Naturally, |
| the amount of rains that fell there in winter. It could | | | | the Isralites continued to worship the gods of |
| be fertile and lush with growth, both wild and | | | | Canaan, with the main deities 'El, Baal and Ashera. |
| cultivated, or it could go through periods of severe | | | | |
| drought. In such periods, it was a common practice | | | | Still, in spite of the rift between them, connections |
| for its inhabitants to go "down" to Egypt, where the | | | | were still maintained between the two kingdoms; |
| river Nile flowed continually, and there was enough | | | | sometimes they warred against each other, other |
| produce to be saved for harder times. They never | | | | times they formed alliances between them. For |
| stayed for long, going back to their own land as soon | | | | instance, it is told in Kings II, 8, 26 that the mother |
| as they were able to. In some periods of that | | | | of Ahazyahu King of Yehudah, son of Yoram, was |
| ancient history, the Land of Canaan was also under | | | | Athalya, daughter of Omri king of Israel. No wonder, |
| Egyptian rule; Egyptian culture, then, was never far | | | | then, that the Judeaen people, like their brethren in |
| from the reach of the inhabitants of Canaan, without | | | | the Israelite section of the country, continued also to |
| their need to be enslaved in that country. | | | | worship the Gods of Canaan. |
| | | | | |
| The land of Canaan stretched on a narrow strip of | | | | In 722 BCE, the Israelite kingdom was run over and |
| land along part of the eastern shore of the | | | | conquered by the Assyrians from Mesopotamia. They |
| Mediterranean Sea bordering in the east by river | | | | exiled some of the people, scattering them around |
| Jordan. It reached in the north to the environments | | | | the Middle East. To resettle their land, they brought |
| of the modern river Litani to include the best known | | | | people from other places, who were later called |
| Canaanite (later called Phoenician) towns of Tyre and | | | | Samaritans, after the area of Shomron, or Samaria, |
| Sidon; in the south it was bordered by the Negev | | | | where they have been living till this day. |
| desert and the Sinai Peninsula, mostly under the rule | | | | |
| of Egypt. The Canaanites are assumed to have been | | | | *** |
| the inhabitants of the Land of Canaan, but it is | | | | |
| difficult to say which name came first, that of the | | | | The kingdom of Yehudah, called Judea by foreigners, |
| people or that of the land. | | | | was left alone for the Israelites to continue with their |
| | | | | national lives. As with the name of Canaan, it is not |
| The Canaanites were a Semitic people speaking a | | | | quite clear whether the tribe of Yehuda took its |
| Semitic language. There is a general assumption by | | | | name from that area, or the area is called after its |
| scholars that all Semite peoples originally came from | | | | main tribe. It is not clear when the inhabitants of this |
| Arabia, scattering into Mesopotamia – Iraq of | | | | country started calling themselves after its name; |
| today which borders in the south on the northern | | | | what is know though, from II Kings 18, 26, is that in |
| part of Arabia – and the eastern bank of river | | | | the 7th cent. BCE they were calling their language |
| Jordan, to create lands of Amon, Mo'av and Edom. | | | | Yehudith (translated as the Jewish language). The |
| They moved northward into what is today Syria and | | | | word Yehudi, which is the Hebrew for Jew, first |
| Lebanon, and from there southward into the Land of | | | | appears in the Bible in the Book of Esther |
| Canaan. Before the advent of the Semites, | | | | (supposedly written between 460 and 340 BCE), as |
| Mesopotamia was inhabitant by the non-Semitic | | | | an appellation for Mordekhai, Esther's Jewish uncle. |
| people of Sumer, whose place was taken by the | | | | |
| Semitic Accadians, later appearing in history as | | | | Between the 8th and the 5th centuries, the |
| Assyrians and Babylonians. These peoples have | | | | inhabitants of Judea began preferring to worship one |
| occasional aspirations of expanding, assuming many | | | | god over a family of deities. The original name of this |
| times through their historical existence a rule over the | | | | god is spelled with four consonants without vowels, |
| Land of Canaan. | | | | and thus unpronounceable, is YHWH; the origin and |
| | | | | nature of this god is not clear, though there is an |
| II | | | | Arab tradition that recounts a marriage between |
| | | | | Moses and an Arab woman who worshipped an |
| It is the contention of the authors of the above | | | | austere desert-god named Yahu, from which the |
| mentioned book that the Israelites were a branch off | | | | name of the Jewish god was taken (s. link). |
| the main Canaanite tribes that were inhabitants of | | | | However, looking at the name of Yehudah and |
| the Land of Canaan since their first arrival there. The | | | | transliterating it with only consonants without vowels, |
| theory is this. At times of peace and prosperity, the | | | | the resulting word looks as YHWDH – only the |
| main body of the Canaanite people cultivated the | | | | consonant D shows a difference from the name of |
| land and built towns and cities in the fertile plains, | | | | the god, whose origin may well be the name of the |
| along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean and in | | | | tribe itself. |
| the inland valleys crossing the country from east to | | | | |
| west and known by the same names then and now; | | | | As appears in various places in the Old Testament, |
| the two best known such names are the Jezreel | | | | though, this YHWH was often called by the old name |
| Valley and the Vale of Dotan. | | | | for a general god as 'El, or its plural variant 'Elohim. In |
| | | | | reading the Hebrew Bible, in order to overcome both |
| In times of drought, or when the country was run | | | | the sacredness of the name YHWH and its being |
| over by one or more of the powerful people | | | | unpronounceable, another name has appeared in time, |
| surrounding the Land of Canaan, the cities would lie in | | | | Adonai (= Master, parallel to the meaning of the |
| waste and the people would resort temporarily to | | | | Canaanite Baal), which refers only to the Jewsih god, |
| basic farming and semi nomadic life. The Israelite | | | | unlike 'El which has come to mean "god" in general. |
| tribes, on the other hand, settled the hilly, fairly | | | | |
| barren center of country, leading a regular basic | | | | IV |
| farming and flock tending life, while when times were | | | | In the year 586 BCE, another Mesopotamian power |
| hard they would go back to full nomadic way of life. | | | | – Babylon this time – ran over and conquered |
| | | | | the the state of Yehudah. The first temple in |
| Here is a time table illustrating the fluctuations in the | | | | Jerusalem was destroyed, King Zedkeyahu and most |
| life of the people of Canaan: | | | | other dignitaries were taken into exile and the land |
| | | | | was laid to waste. The people exiled were from now |
| Early Bronze – 3500 to 2200 BCE – first | | | | on called Yehudim – Jews. Some forty years |
| wave, 100 sites, Canaanite cities existing; Semite | | | | later, Babylon fell to the Persians, who allowed the |
| people – 4th mill BC = 6th mill BP (Bronze) – | | | | Jews to return to their land – Judea - and build a |
| Canaanites = North Western | | | | second temple in Jerusalem. In time, the country |
| Intermediate Bronze – 2200 to 2000 BCE – | | | | thrived, the second temple was built; the Persians fell |
| crisis, empty; | | | | to the Greeks under Alexander the Great, who |
| Mid Bronze – 2000 to 1550 BCE – return, | | | | visited Jerusalem and allowed the Jews to live |
| 220 sites; | | | | peacefully on their land. A new kingdom was |
| Late Bronze – 1550 to 1150 BCE – crisis, 25 | | | | established and spread far beyond Judea, to include |
| sites; | | | | parts which used to be called Israel. |
| Iron I – 1150 to 900 BCE – third wave, 250 | | | | The Bible, a collection of various kinds of holy books, |
| sites, Israelites; | | | | mostly in Hebrew and a few chapters in Aramaic, |
| Iron II – 900 to 586 BCE – Kingdoms of | | | | was finally signed toward the end of the 4th cent. |
| Israel and Judea, 500 sites. | | | | BCE, and the road was open for its interpretations, |
| | | | | later appearing in the vast literary work of the |
| That hilly country, which is said to be inhabited by | | | | Talmud, which forms the essence of Jewish religion. |
| those early Israelites is full of ancient place names, | | | | Unlike the Old Testament, where the word YHWH is |
| which have been preserved in their current Arabic | | | | frequent, in the Talmud only El and Adonai are used. |
| names. Such are, for instance, Geba (Arabic) – | | | | After Greece came Rome and took over the |
| Giv'on, or Geva of the land of Benjamin (Biblical | | | | country. As the people, well known for there |
| Hebrew); Anatha – Anathoth; Jaljulia – Gilgal; | | | | stubbornness, objected to the new rule, the country |
| Beit Jala – Gilo, and so on. It is possible to add to | | | | was run over again and the people went into exile |
| these the names of the three major cities in that | | | | and spread all over the world. They were mostly |
| area, which are Shekhem – Jacob's center of | | | | called Jews, or a variant of that name by the |
| activity (the Arabs call it Nablus, a derogated form of | | | | different languages of the peoples they lived among; |
| Nea Polis = New Town, so called by the Romans); | | | | in some countries, though, they were called by the |
| Beit Lehem – King David's birth place; and Hebron | | | | name of their language, Hebrew or Hebraic (in Russia, |
| – where Abraham buried his wife, Sara. It is not | | | | for instance). However, for themselves they were |
| difficult to reach the conclusion that that hilly area | | | | always the People of Israel, (עם ישראל), |
| was indeed settled by the early Israelites in the Land | | | | as much as they were the Jewish people. As to the |
| of Canaan. | | | | land, which has long referred to in the Talmud as the |
| | | | | Land of Israel (ארץ ישראל ), after |
| *** | | | | destroying it and razing the temple's ruins to the |
| | | | | ground, The Romans also obliterated (or tried to) its |
| One of the strongest connections between the | | | | original name of Judea and called it Philistia, giving it |
| people of Canaan and the people of Israel is their | | | | the name of a people long gone from history. |
| religious worship. The name Israel, or Isra'el, was | | | | IV |
| presented in the Old Testament to mean "Rule over | | | | In the second half of the 19th cent., with the |
| 'El", or God, referring to Jacob's fighting against an | | | | European awakening of national feelings, European |
| angel and overcoming him. This interpretation is false | | | | Jews were also caught up by such ideas and some |
| according to the linguistic understanding of such | | | | of them decided to realize the 2000 years old |
| name; the actual meaning of the name must be "'El | | | | aspiration to return to the Land of Israel. They |
| rules". The name 'El is derived from the Hebrew | | | | settled in various places in the country, which under |
| Semitic root 'll, which means "power". (The | | | | Turkish rule was sparsely inhabited and barely |
| apostrophe denotes the Hebrew letter א, what is | | | | cultivated. Gradually, more Jews came to settle and |
| called in linguistics "a glottal stop"; it is a consonant, | | | | build up the Land of Israel until, in 1947, by a decision |
| like all Hebrew letters, but has no parallel in European | | | | of the United Nation, half of it was granted to them |
| languages. 'El was the Canaanite chief god, father of | | | | to form a new Jewish state, while the other half was |
| all the other gods except his goddess consort | | | | given to its Arab inhabitants to form their own |
| Atherath (or Ashera in Hebrew). That appellation had | | | | separate state. In 1948, the establishment of the |
| such a powerful influence over the Israelites that, | | | | new Jewish state was announced, and the name |
| with the advent of monotheism among the Israelites, | | | | that was given to it was Israel, after the name of |
| was taken over to refer to the one and only God of | | | | the people for some 4000 years. |
| Israel (though sometimes it was enlarged to its plural | | | | To conclude this meandering linguistic history: The |
| appearing in God's name 'Elohim). | | | | Israelites inhabiting the Land of Canaan, were a |
| | | | | conglomerate group of tribes that separated from |
| Two other important Canaanite deities are mentioned | | | | the Canaanites sometime between 1000 and 2000 |
| in The Old Testament as being highly regarded and | | | | years BCE. Sometime during the 1st millenium BCE |
| worshipped by the Israelites, and severely frowned | | | | they formed two kingdoms, Israel and Yehudah, or |
| on by the prophets: One was Baal, El's son and god | | | | Judea. While the Israelite kingdom was destroyed in |
| of precipitations fertility; his name appears in many | | | | the 8th century BCE by outside forces, the kingdom |
| place names like Baal Gad (Gad was one of the tribes | | | | of Yehudah continued until it was also destroyed in |
| of Israel, but the word also means "luck"); Baal | | | | the 6th century. By that time, at least the name of |
| Hatsor, Baal Ma'on, and others. | | | | their language had become known as Yehudith, and |
| | | | | its exiled inhabitants were known as Yehudim, or |
| The other deity was Ashera, mentioned above as El's | | | | Jews. These Jews, having scattered around the |
| consort called Athirath in Canaanite, goddess of | | | | world, continued to regard themselves as one nation, |
| Nature and plenty; the essence of her name appears | | | | called interchangeably both the Jewish people and the |
| in the name of one of the tribes of Israel, Asher. | | | | people of Israel. The Israelis, on the other hand, are |
| | | | | the inhabitants of the new state of Israel; it must be |
| It may be reasonably assumed, then, that being a | | | | noted, however, that not all Jews are Israelis, while |
| part of the Canaanite people, the Israelites | | | | not all Israelis are Jews. |
| worshipped the same deities as that nation as a | | | | |
| whole. | | | | Refs.: |
| | | | | |
| III | | | | Israel Finkelstein & N.A. Silverman: The Bible |
| | | | | Unearthed, Hebrew version |
| The Biblical story, whether historical, symbolic or | | | | W. F. |
| didactic, as understood now by most scholars, tells | | | | |