Israelites

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For the citizens of the modern State of Israel, see Israelis. For other uses of "Israelite", see Israelite (disambiguation).

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The Israelites (/ˈɪzrəlaɪts, -riə-/;[1][2] Hebrew: בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל‎, Bənēy Yīsrāʾēl, transl. 'Children of Israel') were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.[3][4][5][6]

The name of Israel first appears in the

Canaanite language, known today as Biblical Hebrew.[13] In the Iron Age, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah emerged. The Kingdom of Israel, with its capital at Samaria, fell to the Neo-Assyrian Empire around 720 BCE;[14] while the Kingdom of Judah, with its capital at Jerusalem, was destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 BCE.[15] Some of the Judean population was exiled to Babylon, but returned to Israel after Cyrus the Great conquered the region.[16][17]

According to the

conquered Canaan under Joshua's leadership, who was Moses's successor. Most modern scholars agree that the Torah does not provide an authentic account of the Israelites' origins, and instead view it as constituting their national myth. However, it is supposed that there may be a "historical core" to the narrative.[18][19][20] The Bible also portrays the kingdoms of Israel and Judah as the successors of an earlier United Kingdom of Israel, though the historicity of the latter is disputed.[21][22]

Jews and Samaritans both trace their ancestry to the ancient Israelites.[23][24][25][26] Jews trace their ancestry to tribes that inhabited the Kingdom of Judah, including Judah, Benjamin and partially Levi, while the Samaritans claim their lineage from the remaining members of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Levi who were not deported in the Assyrian captivity after the fall of Israel. Other groups have also claimed affiliation with the Israelites.

Etymology

Part of a series on the
History of Israel
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Early history
Prehistoric Levant

Canaan

Ancient Israel and Judah
Iron Age I 12th–10th centuries BCE
United Monarchy 10th century BCE
Kingdom of Israel 10th century BCE–720 BCE
Kingdom of Judah 10th century BCE–587 BCE
Babylonian rule 587–538 BCE
Persian Yehud
 538–333 BCE
Hellenistic period 333–164 BCE
Hasmonean dynasty 164–37 BCE
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    The first reference to Israel in non-biblical sources is found in the Merneptah Stele in c. 1209 BCE. The inscription is very brief and says: "Israel is laid waste and his seed is not". The inscription refers to a people, not an individual or nation state,[27] who are located in central Palestine[28] or the highlands of Samaria.[29] Some Egyptologists suggest that Israel appeared in earlier topographical reliefs, dating to the Nineteenth Dynasty (i.e. reign of Ramesses II) or the Eighteenth Dynasty,[30] but this reading remains controversial.[31][32]

    In the Hebrew Bible, Israel first appears in Genesis 32:29, where an angel gives the name to

    creator god that is tenuously identified with Yahweh.[36][37] However, modern scholarship interprets El as the subject, "El rules/struggles",[38][39][40] from sarar (שָׂרַר) 'to rule'[41] (cognate with sar (שַׂר) 'ruler',[42] Akkadian šarru 'ruler, king'[43]), which is likely cognate with the similar root sara (שׂרה) "fought, strove, contended".[44][45]

    Afterwards, Israel referred to the direct descendants of Jacob and gentiles (i.e. resident aliens) who assimilated in the Israelite community.[46][47] Hebrew is a similar ethnonym but it is usually applied whenever Israelites are economically disadvantaged or migrants. It might also refer to their descent from Eber, the grandson of Noah.[48][49][50][51]

    During the period of the divided monarchy, "Israelites" referred to the inhabitants of the northern Kingdom of Israel, but eventually, included the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Judah in post-exilic usage.[52]

    In literature of the Second Temple period, "Israel" included the members of the united monarchy, the northern kingdom, and eschatological Israel. "Jew" (or "Judean") was another popular ethnonym but it might refer to a geographically restricted sub-group or to the inhabitants of the southern kingdom of Judah.[53][54] In addition, works such as Ezra-Nehemiah pioneered the idea of an "impermeable" distinction between Israel and gentiles, on a genealogical basis.[47] Other scholars argue that the distinction is based on religion.[55]

    In

    Levites. In legal texts, such as the Mishnah and Gemara, ישראלי (Yisraeli), or Israelite, is used to describe Jews instead of יהודי (Yehudi), or Jew. In Samaritanism, Samaritans are not Jews יהודים (Yehudim). Instead, they are Israelites, which includes their Jewish brethren, or Israelite Samaritans.[56][57][full citation needed][58]

    Biblical narrative

    Mid-20th century mosaic of the 12 Tribes of Israel, from the Etz Yosef synagogue wall in Givat Mordechai, Jerusalem

    The history of the Israelite people can be divided into these categories, according to the Hebrew Bible:[59]

    Pre-Monarchic Period (unknown to c. 1050 BCE)
    The Israelites were named after their ancestor,
    conquered Canaan and fought with several neighbors
    until they established a monarchic state.
    United Monarchy (c. 1050–930 BCE)
    As a monarchic state, the Israelite tribes were united by the leadership of
    First Temple,[64] with the help of Phoenician allies.[65] This Temple was where the Ark of the Covenant was stored; its former location was the City of David.[66]
    Divided Monarchy (c. 930–597 BCE)
    Biblical prophets
    , these invasions were divine judgments for religious apostasy and corrupt leadership.
    Exilic Period (c. 597–538 BCE)
    First Persian Empire in 539 BCE. [68] One year later, according to traditional dating, Cyrus permitted the Judahites to return to their homeland.[68] This homeland was re-named as the Province of Yehud, which eventually became a satrapy of Eber-Nari.[68]
    Persian Period (c. 539–331 BCE)
    In 537–520 BCE, Zerubbabel became Yehud's governor and started work on the Second Temple, which was stopped.[69] In 520–516 BCE, Haggai and Zechariah goaded the Judahites to resume work on the Temple. Upon completion, Joshua became its high priest.[69][69] In 458–433 BCE, Ezra and Nehemiah led another group of Judahites to Yehud, with Artaxerxes's permission. Nehemiah rebuilt the temple after some unspecified disaster and removed foreign influence from the Judahite community.[70][71] That said, some Judahites elected to stay in Persia, where they almost faced annihilation.[72][73]
    Timna Park, Israel

    Historical Israelites

    See also: History of ancient Israel and Judah, History of Israel, and History of Palestine

    Efforts to confirm the biblical ethnogenesis of Israel through archaeology has largely been abandoned as unproductive.[20] Many scholars see the traditional narratives as national myths with little historical value, but some posit that a small group of exiled Egyptians contributed to the Exodus narrative.[a] William G. Dever cautiously identifies this group with the Tribe of Joseph, while Richard Elliott Friedman identifies it with the Tribe of Levi.[77][78] Josephus quoting Manetho identifies them with the Hyksos.[79][80] Other scholars believe that the Exodus narrative was a "collective memory" of several events from the Bronze Age.[81][82]

    In addition, it is unlikely that the Israelites overtook

    monotheistic, with partial influence from Zoroastrianism. The latter decisively separated the Israelites from other Canaanites[83][7][8] The Israelites used a Canaanite script known as Biblical Hebrew. The script's modern descendant Hebrew is today the only surviving dialect of the Canaanite languages.[86][87]

    Mark G. Brett suggests that the Israelites created different origin myths for themselves and other Canaanites to distance themselves from the latter[88] but some biblical traditions acknowledge the Canaanite/Amorite origins of Israel.[89][90][91]

    Origins

    Ramesses III prisoner tiles depicting precursors of the Israelites in Canaan: Canaanites from city-states and a Shasu leader.[92][93][94]

    Several theories exist for the origins of historical Israelites. Some believe they descended from raiding groups, itinerant nomads such as

    Habiru and Shasu or impoverished Canaanites, who were forced to leave wealthy urban areas and live in the highlands.[95][28] The prevailing academic opinion is that the Israelites were a mixture of peoples predominately indigenous to Canaan, with additional input from an Egyptian matrix of peoples, which most likely inspired the Exodus narrative.[96][97][98] Israel's demographics were similar to the demographics of Ammon, Edom, Moab and Phoenicia.[97][99][page needed
    ]

    Besides their focus on Yahweh worship, Israelite cultural markers were defined by body, food and time. This included

    avoidance of pork consumption and marking time based on the Exodus, the reigns of Israelite kings, Sabbath observance etc. The first two markers were observed by neighboring west Semites besides the Philistines, who were of Mycenaean Greek origin. As a result, intermarriage with other Semites was common.[100]

    The Mount Ebal structure, seen by many archeologists as an early Israelite cultic site

    Genealogy was another factor that differentiated the Israelites. It was a matter of cultural self-identity rather than biological descent. For example, foreign clans could adopt the identity of other clans, which subsequently changed their status from "outsider" to "insider". This applied to Israelites from different tribes and gentiles.[47][100] Saul Oylan argued that foreigners automatically became Israelite if they lived in their territory, according to Ezekiel 47:21–23.[101] That said, Israelites used genealogy to engage in narcissism of small differences but also, self-criticism since their ancestors included morally questionable characters such as Jacob. Both these traits represented the "complexities of the Jewish soul".[100]

    In terms of appearance, the Hebrew Bible records figures, such as David, Esau and the lovers in the Song of Songs, as being "ruddy",[102][103] "white and ruddy" and "clear as the moon",[104][105] which aligned with descriptions of Levantine phenotypes in ancient Egyptian and Greek sources.[106][107][108][109][110] Rabbis, on the other hand, described the Biblical Jews as being "midway between black and white" and having the "color of the boxwood tree".[111]

    Israelite men, like other western Semites, have full, round beards according to Egyptian and Assyrian inscriptions. In contrast, their neighbors, such as Babylonians and Egyptians, have long beards and chin tufts respectively but this was an upper-class custom. Joseph's act of shaving (Genesis 41:14) was thought to resemble the Egyptian custom.[112] Merneptah's Karnak reliefs indicate that the early Israelites dressed like other Canaanites, in terms of attire and hairstyle, compared to other groups like the Shasu.[113][114][115]

    Early Israelite settlements

    In the 12th century BCE, many Israelite settlements appeared in the central hill country of Canaan, which was formerly an open terrain. These settlements lacked evidence of pork consumption, compared to Philistine settlements, have

    terraced farming, silos for grain storage and cisterns for rainwater collection were simultaneously introduced.[116]

    These settlements were built by inhabitants of the "general Southland" (i.e. modern

    Dan(an)u.[116][117] Nonetheless, they intermingled with the former nomads, due to socioeconomic and military factors. Their interest in Yahwism and its concern for the underprivileged was another factor. Possible allusions to this historical reality in the Hebrew Bible include the aforementioned tribes, except for Issachar and Zebulun, descending from Bilhah and Zilpah, who were viewed as "secondary additions" to Israel.[116]

    El worship was central to early Israelite culture but currently, the number of El worshippers in Israel is unknown. It is more likely that different Israelite locales held different views about El and had 'small-scale' sacred spaces.[36][37]

    Monarchic period

    United Monarchy

    Main article: Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)
    Black Obelisk, 841–840 BCE.[118]

    The historicity of the United Monarchy is heavily debated among archaeologists and biblical scholars: biblical maximalists and centrists (Kenneth Kitchen, William G. Dever, Amihai Mazar, Baruch Halpern and others) argue that the biblical account is more or less accurate, biblical minimalists (Israel Finkelstein, Ze'ev Herzog, Thomas L. Thompson and others) argue that Israel and Judah were always independent states. An intermediate view is that Judah was a 'vassal-like' state to Israel, under the Omrides. The debate has not been resolved but recent archaeological discoveries by Eilat Mazar and Yosef Garfinkel show some support for the existence of the United Monarchy.[21][119]

    From 850 BCE onwards, a series of inscriptions mention the "House of David". They came from Israel's neighbors.[120][121]

    Kingdoms of Israel and Judah

    "To Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah" – royal seal found at the Ophel excavations in Jerusalem
    Main articles: Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), Kingdom of Judah, and Expulsions and exoduses of Jews

    Compared to the United Monarchy, the historicity of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah is widely accepted by historians and archaeologists.[122]: 169–195 [123] Their destruction by the Assyrians and Babylonians respectively is also confirmed by archaeological evidence and extrabiblical sources.[124][125][126][127]: 306 [128][129] Christian Frevel argues that Yahwism was rooted in the culture of the Kingdom of Israel, who introduced it to the Kingdom of Judah via Ahab's expansions and sociopolitical cooperation, which was prompted by Hazael's conquests.[119]

    Avraham Faust argues that there was continued adherence to the 'ethos of egalitarianism and simplicity' in the Iron Age II (10th-6th century BCE). For example, there is minimal evidence for temples and complex burials in tombs, despite Israel and Judah being more densely populated than the Late Bronze Age. Four-room houses remained the norm. In addition, royal inscriptions were scarce, along with imported and decorated pottery.[130]

    Later history

    Main articles:
    Jewish History, Samaritans § History, and Ten Lost Tribes

    The Cyrus Cylinder is controversially cited as evidence for Cyrus allowing the Judeans to return to Yehud.[131][132] The returnees showed a "heightened sense" of their ethnic identity and shunned exogamy, which was treated as a "permissive reality" in Babylon.[133][134] Circumcision was no longer a significant ethnic marker, with increased emphasis on genealogical descent or faith in Yahweh.[135][136]

    Exiled non-Judean Israelites were not given the same treatment and assimilated with the local Assyrian population.[137] They were a minority, with the majority remaining in Israel.[138] Contrary to Jewish tradition,[139] the latter were progenitors of the Samaritans, who followed Samaritanism. Only some of the population intermarried with Assyrian settler-colonists, according to genetic and archaeological evidence.[140][141] In their native Samaritan Hebrew, the Samaritans identify as "Israel", "B'nai Israel" or "Shamerim/Shomerim" (i.e. "Guardians/Keepers/Watchers").[142][143][144][145]

    Judeans were progenitors of the Jews, who followed

    Idumeans (or Edomites), who were a significant demographic during the Hasmonean era. They assimilated and intermingled with their neighbours, the Judeans, and later founded the Herodian dynasty, who shaped Judea, Jerusalem and the Second Temple.[148][149][150][151] Some scholars argue that Jews also engaged in active missionary efforts in the Greco-Roman world, which led to conversions.[152][153][154][155][156] Several scholars, such as Scot McKnight and Martin Goodman, reject this view while holding that conversions occasionally occurred.[157]

    Despite their differences, Jews and Samaritans share a connection with the biblical

    evangelical Christians that subscribe to covenant theology.[166] Some argue that Palestinians descend from Israelites who were not exiled by the Romans.[167][168]

    Genetics

    Further information: Genetic history of the Middle East and Canaan § Genetic studies
    See also:
    Genetic studies on Jews and Samaritans § Genetic studies
    A Samaritan elder participates in Passover prayer services held on Mount Gerizim

    A 2004 study (by Shen et al.) comparing Samaritans to several Jewish populations (including

    Cohanim), with a common ancestor projected to the time of the Assyrian conquest of the kingdom of Israel."[169][dubious – discuss
    ]

    A 2020 study (by Agranat-Tamr et al.) stated that there was genetic continuity between Bronze Age and Iron Age southern Levantines, which included the Israelites and Judahites. They could be "modeled as a mixture of local earlier

    Somalis were used as representatives.[170]

    See also

    Notes

    1. ^ "While there is a consensus among scholars that the Exodus did not take place in the manner described in the Bible, surprisingly most scholars agree that the narrative has a historical core, and that some of the highland settlers came, one way or another, from Egypt ..." "Archaeology does not really contribute to the debate over the historicity or even historical background of the Exodus itself, but if there was indeed such a group, it contributed the Exodus story to that of all Israel. While I agree that it is most likely that there was such a group, I must stress that this is based on an overall understanding of the development of collective memory and of the authorship of the texts (and their editorial process). Archaeology, unfortunately, cannot directly contribute (yet?) to the study of this specific group of Israel's ancestors."[76]

    References

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    4. ^ Finkelstein, Israel. The archaeology of the Israelite settlement. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1988.
    5. ^ Finkelstein, Israel, and Nadav Na'aman, eds. From nomadism to monarchy: archaeological and historical aspects of early Israel. Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 1994.
    6. ^ Finkelstein, Israel. "The archaeology of the United Monarchy: an alternative view". Levant 28.1 (1996): 177–187.
    7. ^ a b Mark Smith in "The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" states "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 (c. 1200–1000 BCE). 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." (pp. 6–7). Smith, Mark (2002). The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel. Eerdmans.
    8. ^ a b Rendsberg, Gary (2008). "Israel without the Bible". In Frederick E. Greenspahn. The Hebrew Bible: New Insights and Scholarship. NYU Press. pp. 3–5.
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    19. ^ Redmount 2001, p. 61: "A few authorities have concluded that the core events of the Exodus saga are entirely literary fabrications. But most biblical scholars still subscribe to some variation of the Documentary Hypothesis, and support the basic historicity of the biblical narrative."
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    144. ^ "The Samaritan Identity". The Israelite Samaritan Community in Israel. Retrieved 15 September 2023. Our real name is, 'Bene- Yisrael Ha -Shamerem (D'nU- -D'7nU) - in Hebrew , which means 'The Keepers', or to be precise, the Israelite - Keepers, as we observe the ancient Israelite tradition, since the time of our prophet Moses and the people of Israel. The modern terms, 'Samaritans' and 'Jews', given by the Assyrians, indicate the settlement of the Samaritans in the area of Samaria, and the Jews in the area of Judah.
    145. ^ "The Keepers: Israelite Samaritan Identity". Israelite Samaritan Information Institute. 26 May 2020. Retrieved 15 September 2023. We are not Samaritans; this is what the Assyrians called the people of Samaria. We, The Keepers, Sons of Israel, Keepers of the Word of the Torah, never adopted the name Samaritans. Our forefathers only used the name when speaking to outsiders about our community. Through the ages we have referred to ourselves as The Keepers.
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    152. victory of Christianity in the fourth century, the momentum of conversion was stopped in the Christian world, and there was a steep drop in the number of Jews. Presumably many of the Jews who appeared around the Mediterranean became Christians. But then Judaism started to permeate other regions – pagan regions, for example, such as Yemen and North Africa
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    168. ^ A tragic misunderstanding – Times online, 13 January 2009.
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    Sources

    Further reading

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