According to theBible, the Israelites are the descendants ofJacob, apatriarch who was later renamed as Israel. Following a severe drought inCanaan, Jacob and his twelve sons fled to Egypt, where they eventually formed theTwelve Tribes of Israel. The Israelites were laterled out of slavery in Egypt byMoses andconquered Canaan underJoshua's leadership, who was Moses's successor. Most modern scholars agree that theTorah does not provide an authentic account of the Israelites' origins, and instead view it as constituting theirnational myth. However, it is supposed that there may be a "historical core" to the narrative.[17][18][19] The Bible also portrays the kingdoms of Israel and Judah as the successors of an earlierUnited Kingdom of Israel, though the historicity of the latter is disputed.[20][21]
In the Hebrew Bible,Israel first appears inGenesis 32:29, where an angel gives the name toJacob after thelatter fought with him.[32][33][34] Thefolk etymology given in the text derives Israel fromyisra, "to prevail over" or "to struggle with", andEl, a Canaanite-Mesopotamiancreator god that is tenuously identified with Yahweh.[35][36] However, modern scholarship interpretsEl as the subject, "El rules/struggles",[37][38][39] fromsarar (שָׂרַר) 'to rule'[40] (cognate withsar (שַׂר) 'ruler',[41]Akkadianšarru 'ruler, king'[42]), which is likely cognate with the similar rootsara (שׂרה) "fought, strove, contended".[43][44]
Afterwards,Israel refers to thedirect descendants of Jacob,[45][46] a view that was reinforced bySecond Temple Judaism.[46] Some scholars suggest that the Israelite identity was much more inclusive and includedgentiles (i.e.resident aliens) who assimilated in the Israelite community.[45][46] In fact, it was likely that tribal membership in Israel was based on one's self-declared allegiance or residency within an assigned tribal territory (Ezekiel 47:21–23).[46][12][47]Israel might also exclusively refer to a religious identity,[48][49][50] with Troy W. Martin arguing that it was based on 'covenantal circumcision' rather than ancestry (Genesis 17:9–14).[50]
Israel was also known asHebrew orson of Israel. These ethnonyms may refer to literal descent or as contextual-based ethnonyms. I.e.Hebrew referred to Israelites of immigrant or economically impoverished backgrounds.[51][52][53][54]Son of Israel referred to citizens/members of the Israelite community after Israel's biological family transitioned from a clan to a society (Exodus 1:9).[55] They were also known asson of God, reflective of the Hebrew Bible's attempt to portrayIsrael as a wayward son who is disciplined and nurtured by Yahweh.[56]
In a secular context,Israel refers to a population with a distinct material culture in Iron Age Levant.[12] During the period of the divided monarchy, it refers to the inhabitants of the northernKingdom of Israel[57] although it later included theinhabitants of the southern kingdom.Israel is also contentiously contrasted withJew/Judea, with Samaritans being recognized as non-Jewish Israelites for example.[58]
Biblical narrative
Mid-20th century mosaic of the 12 Tribes of Israel, from the Etz Yosef synagogue wall inGivat Mordechai, Jerusalem
The history of the Israelite people can be divided into these categories, according to theHebrew Bible:[59]
As a monarchic state, the Israelite tribes were united by the leadership ofSaul,David andSolomon. The reigns of Saul and David were marked by military victories and Israel's transition to a mini-empire withvassal states.[62][63] Solomon's reign was relatively more peaceful and oversaw the construction of theFirst Temple,[64] with the help ofPhoenician allies.[65] This Temple was where theArk of the Covenant was stored; its former location was theCity of David.[66]
Map of theHoly Land,Pietro Vesconte, 1321, showing the allotments of the tribes of Israel. Described byAdolf Erik Nordenskiöld as "the first non-Ptolemaic map of a definite country"[67]The monarchic state was divided into two states,Israel andJudah, due to civil and religious disputes. Eventually, Israel and Judah met their demise after theAssyrian andBabylonian invasions respectively. According to theBiblical prophets, these invasions were divine judgments for religious apostasy and corrupt leadership.
After the Babylonians invaded Judah, they deported most of its citizens to Babylon, where they lived as "exiles".Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and established theFirst Persian Empire in 539 BCE.[68] One year later, according to traditional dating, Cyruspermitted the Judahites to return to their homeland.[68] This homeland was re-named as theProvince of Yehud, which eventually became a satrapy ofEber-Nari.[68]
This period is covered by the entirety of theBook of Daniel.
Persian Period (c. 539–331 BCE)
In 537–520 BCE,Zerubbabel became Yehud's governor and started work on theSecond Temple, which was stopped.[69] In 520–516 BCE,Haggai andZechariah goaded the Judahites to resume work on the Temple. Upon completion,Joshua became its high priest.[69][69] In 458–433 BCE,Ezra andNehemiah led another group of Judahites to Yehud, withArtaxerxes'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 theyalmost faced annihilation.[72][73]
In addition, it is unlikely that the Israelites overtook thesouthern Levant by force, according to archaeological evidence. Instead, they branched out of indigenousCanaanite peoples that long inhabited the region, which includedSyria,ancient Israel, and theTransjordan region.[83][84][85] Their culture wasmonolatristic, with a primary focus on Yahweh (or El) worship,[36] but after the Babylonian exile, it becamemonotheistic, with partial influence fromZoroastrianism. The latter decisively separated the Israelites from other Canaanites.[83][9][failed verification] The Israelites used theCanaanite script and communicated in a Canaanite language known asBiblical Hebrew. The language'smodern descendant is today the only surviving dialect of theCanaanite languages.[86][87] Genetic studies show that contemporary ethnicities in the Levant were, like Israel, distinguished by their unique cultures, due to their descent from a common ancestral stock.[88][89]
Gary Rendsburg argues that some archaic biblical traditions and other circumstantial evidence point to the Israelites emerging from theShasu and other seminomadic peoples from the desert regions south of theLevant, later settling in the highlands of Canaan.[90]
Several theories exist for the origins of historical Israelites. Some believe they descend from raiding groups, itinerant nomads such asHabiru andShasu or impoverished Canaanites, who were forced to leave wealthy urban areas and live in the highlands.[94][27] 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.[95][96][97] Israel's demographics were similar to the demographics ofAmmon,Edom,Moab andPhoenicia.[96][98][page needed]
Besides their focus on Yahweh worship, Israelite cultural markers were defined by body, food, and time, includingmale circumcision,avoidance of pork consumption and marking time based on the Exodus, the reigns ofIsraelite kings, andSabbath observance. The first two markers were observed by neighboringwest Semites besides thePhilistines, who were ofMycenaean Greek origin. As a result, intermarriage with other Semites was common.[12] But what distinguished Israelite circumcision from non-Israelite circumcision was its emphasis on 'correct' timing.[99][100] Israelite circumcision also served as amnemonic sign for the circumcised, where their 'unnatural' erect circumcised penis would remind them to behave differently in sexual matters.[99]Yom-Tov Lipmann-Muhlhausen suggests that Israelite identity was based on faith and adherence to sex-appropriate commandments. For men, it was circumcision. For women, it was ritual sacrifice after childbirth (Leviticus 12:6).[101]
TheMount Ebal structure, seen by many archeologists as an early Israelite cultic site
Genealogy was another ethnic marker. Whilst it was likely that Israelite identity was not exclusivelybased on blood descent,[46][12][47] the Israelites used genealogy to engage innarcissism 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".[12]
Names were significant in Israelite culture and indicated one's destiny and inherent character. Thus, a name change indicated a 'divine transformation' in one's 'destines, characters and natures'. These beliefs aligned with the Near Eastern cultural milieu, where names were 'intimately bound up with the very essence of being and inextricably intertwined with personality'.[100]
In terms of appearance, rabbis described the Biblical Jews as being "midway between black and white" and having the "color of the boxwood tree".[102] AssumingYurco's debated claim that the Israelites are depicted in reliefs fromMerneptah's temple atKarnak is correct,[103] the early Israelites may have wore the same attire and hairstyles as non-Israelite Canaanites.[104][105] Dissenting from this,Anson Rainey argued that the Israelites in the reliefs looked more similar to the Shasu.[106] Based on biblical literature, it is implied that the Israelites distinguished themselves from peoples like the Babylonians and Egyptians by not having long beards and chin tufts. However, these fashion practices were upper class customs.[107]
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, hadfour-room houses and lived by anegalitarian ethos, which was exemplified by the absence of elaborate tombs, governor's mansions, certain houses being bigger than others etc. They followed amixed economy, which prioritizedself-sufficiency,cultivation of crops,animal husbandry andsmall-scalecraft production. New technologies such asterraced farming,silos for grain storage andcisterns for rainwater collection were simultaneously introduced.[108]
These settlements were built by inhabitants of the "general Southland" (i.e. modernSinai and the southern parts ofIsrael andJordan), who abandoned their pastoral-nomadic ways. Canaanites who lived outside the central hill country were tenuously identified as Danites, Asherites, Zebulunites, Issacharites, Naphtalites and Gadites. These inhabitants do not have a significant history of migration besides the Danites, who allegedly originate from theSea Peoples, particularly theDan(an)u.[108][109] 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 fromBilhah andZilpah, who were viewed as "secondary additions" to Israel.[108]
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.[35][36]
Himbaza et al. (2012) states that Israelite households were typically ill-equipped to handle conflicts between family members, which may explain the harsh sexual taboos enforced against acts likeincest,homosexuality,polygamy etc. inLeviticus 18–20. Whilst thedeath penalty was legislated for these 'secret crimes', they functioned as a warning, where offenders would confess out of fear and make appropriate reparations.[110]
Part of the gift-bearing Israelite delegation of King Jehu,Black Obelisk, 841–840 BCE.[111]
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, while biblical minimalists (Israel Finkelstein,Ze'ev Herzog,Thomas L. Thompson and others) argue that Israel and Judah never split from a singular state. The debate has not been resolved, but recent archaeological discoveries byEilat Mazar andYosef Garfinkel show some support for the existence of the United Monarchy.[20]
From 850 BCE onwards, a series of inscriptions mention the "House of David". They came from Israel's neighbors.[112][113]
Compared to the United Monarchy, the historicity of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah is widely accepted by historians and archaeologists.[114]: 169–195 [115] Their destruction by the Assyrians and Babylonians respectively is also confirmed by archaeological evidence and extrabiblical sources.[13][116][117][118][119][114]: 306 Christian Frevel argues that Yahwism was rooted in the culture of the Kingdom of Israel, who introduced it to the Kingdom of Judah viaAhab's expansions and sociopolitical cooperation, which was prompted byHazael's conquests.[120]
Frevel has also argued that Judah was a 'vassal-like' state to Israel, under theOmrides.[120] This theory has been rejected by other scholars, who argue that the archaeological evidence seems to indicate that Judah was an independent socio-political entity for most of the 9th century BCE.[121]
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 of temples and complex tomb burials, 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.[122]
The Kingdom of Israel was conquered by theNeo-Assyrian Empire around 720BCE.[123] The records ofSargon II ofAssyria indicate that he deported part of the population to Assyria. Some Israelites migrated to the southern kingdom of Judah,[124] while those that remained in Samaria, concentrated mainly aroundMount Gerizim, came to be known asSamaritans.[125][126] Foreign groups were also settled by the Assyrians in the territories of the conquered kingdom.[126] Research indicates that only a portion of the surviving Israelite population intermarried with Mesopotamians settlers.[127][128] In their nativeSamaritan Hebrew, the Samaritans identify as "Israel", "B'nai Israel" or "Shamerim/Shomerim" (i.e. "Guardians/Keepers/Watchers").[129][130][131][132] Despite this, belief in theTen Lost Tribes of Israel emerged because of the heavy assimilation faced by Samarian deportees.[133]
In 332 BCE, the Achaemenid Empire fell toAlexander the Great, and the region was later incorporated into thePtolemaic Kingdom (c. 301–200 BCE) and theSeleucid Empire (c. 200–167 BCE). TheMaccabean Revolt against Seleucid rule ushered in a period of nominal independence for the Jewish people under theHasmonean dynasty (140–37 BCE). Initially operating semi-autonomously within the Seleucid sphere, the Hasmoneans gradually asserted full independence through military conquest and diplomacy, establishing themselves as the final sovereign Jewish rulers before a prolonged hiatus in Jewish sovereignty in the region.[142][143][144][145] Some scholars argue that Jews also engaged in active missionary efforts in theGreco-Roman world, which led to conversions.[146][147][148][149] Several scholars, such asScot McKnight andMartin Goodman, reject this view while holding that conversions occasionally occurred.[150] A similar diaspora existed for Samaritans but their existence is poorly documented.[151]
In 63 BCE, theRoman Republic conquered the kingdom. In 37 BCE, the Romans appointedHerod the Great as king ofa vassal Judea. In 6 CE, Judea was fully incorporated into theRoman Empire as theprovince of Judaea. During this period, the main areas of Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel were Judea,Galilee andPerea, while the Samaritans had their demographic center inSamaria. Growing dissatisfaction with Roman rule and civil disturbances eventually led to theFirst Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), resulting in the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, which ended theSecond Temple period. This event marked a cataclysmic moment in Jewish history,[152] prompting a reconfiguration of Jewish identity and practice to ensure continuity. The cessation of Temple worship and disappearance of Temple-based sects[153] facilitated the rise ofRabbinic Judaism, which stemmed from thePharisaic school of Second Temple Judaism, emphasizingcommunal synagogue worship andTorah study, eventually becoming the predominant expression of Judaism.[154][152][155][156] Concurrently,Christianitybegan to diverge from Judaism, evolving into a predominantlyGentile religion.[157] Decades later, theBar Kokhba revolt (132–135 CE) further diminished the Jewish presence inJudea, leading to a geographical shift of Jewish life to Galilee andBabylonia, with smaller communities scattered across theMediterranean.
Modern-day groups seen as descendants, or claiming connections
A Samaritan elder participates in Passover prayer services held on Mount Gerizim
As of 2024, only one study has directly examined ancient Israelite genetic material. The analysis examinedFirst Temple-era skeletal remains excavated inAbu Ghosh, and showed one male individual belonging to theJ2Y-DNA haplogroup, a set of closely-related DNA sequences thought to have originated in the Caucasus or Eastern Anatolia, as well as theT1a andH87mitochondrial DNA haplogroups, the former of which has also been detected among Canaanites, and the latter in Basques, Tunisian Arabs, and Iraqis, suggesting a Mediterranean, Near Eastern, or perhaps Arabian origin.[170]
A 2004 study (by Shen et al.) comparingSamaritans to severalJewish populations (includingAshkenazi Jews,Iraqi Jews,Libyan Jews,Moroccan Jews, andYemenite Jews) found that "the principal components analysis suggested a common ancestry of Samaritan and Jewish patrilineages. Most of the former may be traced back to a common ancestor in what is today identified as the paternally inherited Israelite high priesthood (Cohanim), with a common ancestor projected to the time of theAssyrian conquest of the kingdom of Israel."[171]
A 2020 study (by Agranat-Tamr et al.) stated that there was genetic continuity between the Bronze Age and Iron Age southern Levantines, which included the Israelites and Judahites. They could be "modeled as a mixture of local earlierNeolithic populations and populations from the northeastern part of the Near East (e.g.Zagros Mountains,Caucasians/Armenians and possibly,Hurrians)". Reasons for the continuity include resilience from theBronze Age collapse, which was mostly true for inland cities such asTel Megiddo andTel Abel Beth Maacah. Elsewhere,European-related andEast African-related components were added to the population, from a north-south and south-north gradient respectively.Late Neolithic andBronze Age Europeans andSomalis were used as representatives.[172]
^"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]
^abFaust, Avraham (2023)."The Birth of Israel". In Hoyland, Robert G.; Williamson, H. G. M. (eds.).The Oxford History of the Holy Land. Oxford University Press. pp. 5–33.ISBN978-0-19-288687-3.
^Bienkowski, Piotr; Millard, Alan (2000).British Museum Dictionary of the Ancient Near East. British Museum Press. pp. 157–158.ISBN9780714111414.
^Rendsburg, Gary (2008). "Israel without the Bible". In Frederick E. Greenspahn.The Hebrew Bible: New Insights and Scholarship. NYU Press. pp. 11–12.
^abMark 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.
^Frevel, Christian. History of Ancient Israel.Atlanta,Georgia.SBL Press. 2023. p. 33. ISBN 9781628375138. "Israel developed in the land and not outside of it (in Egypt, in the desert, etc.)."
^Steiner, Richard C. (1997). "Ancient Hebrew". In Hetzron, Robert (ed.).The Semitic Languages. Routledge. pp. 145–173.ISBN978-0-415-05767-7.
^Faust 2015, p.476: "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 ...".
^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."
^abDever, William (2001).What Did the Biblical Writers Know, and When Did They Know It?. Eerdmans. pp. 98–99.ISBN3-927120-37-5.After a century of exhaustive investigation, all respectable archaeologists have given up hope of recovering any context that would make Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob credible 'historical figures' ... archaeological investigation of Moses and the Exodus has similarly been discarded as a fruitless pursuit.
^Lipschits, Oded (2014). "The history of Israel in the biblical period". In Berlin, Adele; Brettler, Marc Zvi (eds.).The Jewish Study Bible (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 2107–2119.ISBN978-0-19-997846-5.Archived from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved16 May 2022.As this essay will show, however, the premonarchic period long ago became a literary description of the mythological roots, the early beginnings of the nation and the way to describe the right of Israel on its land. The archaeological evidence also does not support the existence of a united monarchy under David and Solomon as described in the Bible, so the rubric of 'united monarchy' is best abandoned, although it remains useful for discussing how the Bible views the Israelite past. ... Although the kingdom of Judah is mentioned in some ancient inscriptions, they never suggest that it was part of a unit comprised of Israel and Judah. There are no extrabiblical indications of a united monarchy called 'Israel'.
^Adams, Hannah (1840).The history of the Jews: from the destruction of Jerusalem to the present time. Duncan and Malcolm and Wertheim.OCLC894671497.
^Brenner, Michael (2010).A short history of the Jews. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.ISBN978-0-691-14351-4.OCLC463855870.
^Van der Veern, Peter, et al. "Israel in Canaan (Long) Before Pharaoh Merenptah? A Fresh Look at Berlin Statue Pedestal Relief 21687".Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections. pp. 15–25.
^Romer, Thomas (2015).The Invention of God, Harvard. p. 75.
^Dijkstra, Meindert (2017). "Canaan in the Transition from the Late Bronze to the Early Iron Age from an Egyptian Perspective". In Grabbe, Lester, ed.The Land of Canaan in the Late Bronze Age. Bloomsbury. p. 62, n. 17
^Flavius Josephus -Antiquities of The Jews, Book I, Chapter VI, Paragraph 4:Greek:Ἀρφαξάδου δὲ παῖς γίνεται Σάλης, τοῦ δὲ Ἕβερος, ἀφ᾽ οὗ τοὺς Ἰουδαίους Ἑβραίους ἀρχῆθεν ἐκάλουν: Ἕβερος δὲ Ἰούκταν καὶ Φάλεγον ἐγέννησεν: ἐκλήθη δὲ Φάλεγος, ἐπειδὴ κατὰ τὸν ἀποδασμὸν τῶν οἰκήσεων τίκτεται: φαλὲκ γὰρ τὸν μερισμὸν Ἑβραῖοι καλοῦσιν.,lit. 'Sala was the son of Arphaxad; and his son was Heber, from whom they originally called the Jews Hebrews. Heber begat Joetan and Phaleg: he was called Phaleg, because he was born at the dispersion of the nations to their several countries; for Phaleg among the Hebrews signifies division.'
^Schmitt, John J. (2004)."Israel as Son of God in Torah".Biblical Theology Bulletin: Journal of Bible and Culture.34 (2) – via SageJournal.
^Cate, Robert L. (1990). "Israelite". In Mills, Watson E.; Bullard, Roger Aubrey.Mercer Dictionary of the Bible. Mercer University Press. p. 420.
^abStaples, Jason A. (2021).The Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism: A New Theory of People, Exile, and Israelite Identity (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-1108842860.
^K. L. Noll (2001).Canaan and Israel in Antiquity: An Introduction.Archived 1 July 2023 at theWayback Machine A&C Black. p. 164: "It would seem that, in the eyes of Merneptah's artisans, Israel was a Canaanite group indistinguishable from all other Canaanite groups." "It is likely that Merneptah's Israel was a group of Canaanites located in the Jezreel Valley."
^Moore Cross, Frank (1997).Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in History of the Religion of Israel. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 62.ISBN0-674-09176-0.
^Kuzar, Ron (2001).Hebrew and Zionism: a discourse analytic cultural study. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. p. 235.ISBN3-11-016993-2.
^Rendsburg, Gary A. (2020)."Israelite Origins". In Averbeck, Richard E.; Younger (Jr.), K. Lawson (eds.)."An Excellent Fortress for His Armies, a Refuge for the People": Egyptological, Archaeological, and Biblical Studies in Honor of James K. Hoffmeier. Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 327–339.ISBN978-1-57506-994-4.
^Gabriel, Richard A. (2003).The Military History of Ancient Israel. Greenwood. p. 63: "The ethnically mixed character of the Israelites is reflected even more clearly in the foreign names of the group's leadership. Moses himself, of course, has an Egyptian name. But so do Hophni, Phinehas, Hur, and Merari, the son of Levi."
^Hasel, Michael G. (2003). Nakhai, Beth Alpert (ed.). "Merenptah's Inscription and Reliefs and the Origin of Israel (The Near East in the Southwest: Essays in Honor of William G. Dever)".Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research.58. Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research:27–36.ISBN0-89757-065-0.JSTOR3768554.
^Rainey, Anson F. (2001). "Israel in Merenptah's Inscription and Reliefs".Israel Exploration Journal.51 (1):57–75.ISSN0021-2059.JSTOR27926956.
^Adler, Cyrus; Muller, W. Max; Ginzberg, Louis."Beard".The Jewish Encyclopedia. Archived fromthe original on 14 March 2024.
^abcRendsburg, Gary A. (2021)."The Emergence of Israel in Canaan". In John Merill; Hershel Shanks (eds.).Ancient Israel: From Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple. Biblical Archaeology Society. pp. 59–91.ISBN978-1-880317-23-5.
^Mark W. Bartusch,Understanding Dan: an exegetical study of a biblical city, tribe and ancestor, Volume 379 ofJournal for the study of the Old Testament: Supplement series, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2003
^Delitzsch, Friedrich; McCormack, Joseph; Carruth, William Herbert; Robinson, Lydia Gillingham (1906).Babel and Bible;. Chicago: The Open Court. p. 78.
^Cline, Eric H. (2008).From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible. National Geographic (US).ISBN978-1-4262-0208-7.
^Shen, Peidong; Lavi, Tal; Kivisild, Toomas; Chou, Vivian; Sengun, Deniz; Gefel, Dov; Shpirer, Issac; Woolf, Eilon; Hillel, Jossi; Feldman, Marcus W.; Oefner, Peter J. (2004). "Reconstruction of patrilineages and matrilineages of Samaritans and other Israeli populations from Y-Chromosome and mitochondrial DNA sequence Variation".Human Mutation.24 (3):248–260.doi:10.1002/humu.20077.ISSN1059-7794.PMID15300852.S2CID1571356.
^Bowman, John (8 February 1963). "BANŪ ISRĀ'ĪL IN THE QUR'ĀN".Islamic Studies.2 (4). Islamic Research Institute:447–455.JSTOR20832712.This tiny community called by the Jews and the Christians, the Samaritans, call themselves Israel or Shomerim, the Keepers (of the Torah, i.e., Tawr?t).
^"The Samaritan Identity". The Israelite Samaritan Community in Israel. Retrieved15 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.
^"The Keepers: Israelite Samaritan Identity". Israelite Samaritan Information Institute. 26 May 2020. Retrieved15 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.
^Lyman, Stanford M. (1998). "The Lost Tribes of Israel as a Problem in History and Sociology".International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society.12 (1):7–42.doi:10.1023/A:1025902603291.JSTOR20019954.S2CID141243508.
^Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2008).Western Civilization: Volume A: To 1500. Wadsworth Publishing. p. 36.ISBN978-0-495-50288-3.The people of Judah survived, eventually becoming known as the Jews and giving their name to Judaism, the religion of Yahweh, the Israelite God.
^Helyer, Larry R.; McDonald, Lee Martin (2013). "The Hasmoneans and the Hasmonean Era". In Green, Joel B.; McDonald, Lee Martin (eds.).The World of the New Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts. Baker Academic. pp. 45–47.ISBN978-0-8010-9861-1.OCLC961153992.The ensuing power struggle left Hyrcanus with a free hand in Judea, and he quickly reasserted Jewish sovereignty... Hyrcanus then engaged in a series of military campaigns aimed at territorial expansion. He first conquered areas in the Transjordan. He then turned his attention to Samaria, which had long separated Judea from the northern Jewish settlements in Lower Galilee. In the south, Adora and Marisa were conquered; (Aristobulus') primary accomplishment was annexing and Judaizing the region of Iturea, located between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains
^Ben-Sasson, H.H. (1976).A History of the Jewish People. Harvard University Press. p. 226.ISBN0-674-39731-2.The expansion of Hasmonean Judea took place gradually. Under Jonathan, Judea annexed southern Samaria and began to expand in the direction of the coast plain... The main ethnic changes were the work of John Hyrcanus... it was in his days and those of his son Aristobulus that the annexation of Idumea, Samaria and Galilee and the consolidation of Jewish settlement in Trans-Jordan was completed. Alexander Jannai, continuing the work of his predecessors, expanded Judean rule to the entire coastal plain, from the Carmel to the Egyptian border... and to additional areas in Trans-Jordan, including some of the Greek cities there.
^Smith, Morton (1999), Sturdy, John; Davies, W. D.; Horbury, William (eds.),"The Gentiles in Judaism 125 BCE - 66 CE",The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 3: The Early Roman Period, The Cambridge History of Judaism, vol. 3, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 192–249,doi:10.1017/chol9780521243773.008,ISBN978-0-521-24377-3, retrieved20 March 2023,These changes accompanied and were partially caused by the great extension of the Judaeans' contacts with the peoples around them. Many historians have chronicled the Hasmonaeans' territorial acquisitions. In sum, it took them twenty-five years to win control of the tiny territory of Judaea and get rid of the Seleucid colony of royalist Jews (with, presumably, gentile officials and garrison) in Jerusalem. [...] However, in the last years before its fall, the Hasmonaeans were already strong enough to acquire, partly by negotiation, partly by conquest, a little territory north and south of Judaea and a corridor on the west to the coast at Jaffa/Joppa. This was briefly taken from them by Antiochus Sidetes, but soon regained, and in the half-century from Sidetes' death in 129 to Alexander Jannaeus' death in 76 they overran most of Palestine and much of western and northern Transjordan. First John Hyrcanus took over the hills of southern and central Palestine (Idumaea and the territories of Shechem, Samaria and Scythopolis) in 128–104; then his son, Aristobulus I, took Galilee in 104–103, and Aristobulus' brother and successor, Jannaeus, in about eighteen years of warfare (103–96, 86–76) conquered and reconquered the coastal plain, the northern Negev, and western edge of Transjordan.
^Ben-Eliyahu, Eyal (30 April 2019).Identity and Territory: Jewish Perceptions of Space in Antiquity. Univ of California Press. p. 13.ISBN978-0-520-29360-1.OCLC1103519319.From the beginning of the Second Temple period until the Muslim conquest—the land was part of imperial space. This was true from the early Persian period, as well as the time of Ptolemy and the Seleucids. The only exception was the Hasmonean Kingdom, with its sovereign Jewish rule—first over Judah and later, in Alexander Jannaeus's prime, extending to the coast, the north, and the eastern banks of the Jordan.
^A. T. Kraabel, J. Andrew Overman, Robert S. MacLennan,Diaspora Jews and Judaism: essays in honor of, and in dialogue with, A. Thomas Kraabel (1992),Scholars Press,ISBN978-15-55406-96-7. "As pious gentiles, the God-fearers stood somewhere between Greco-Roman piety and Jewish piety in the synagogue. In his classic but now somewhat outdated study titledJudaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era, Harvard scholar George Foot Moore argued that the existence of the God-fearers provides evidence for the synagogue's own missionary work outside of Palestine during the first century C.E. The God-fearers were the result of this Jewish missionary movement."
^abKaresh, Sara E. (2006).Encyclopedia of Judaism. Facts On File.ISBN1-78785-171-0.OCLC1162305378.Until the modern period, the destruction of the Temple was the most cataclysmic moment in the history of the Jewish people. Without the Temple, the Sadducees no longer had any claim to authority, and they faded away. The sage Yochanan ben Zakkai, with permission from Rome, set up the outpost of Yavneh to continue develop of Pharisaic, or rabbinic, Judaism.
^Gil, Moshe. [1983] 1997.A History of Palestine, 634–1099. Cambridge University Press. pp. 222–3: "David Ben-Gurion andYitzhak Ben-Zvi claimed that the population at the time of the Arab conquest was mainly Christian, of Jewish origins, which underwent conversion to avoid a tax burden, basing their argument on 'the fact that at the time of the Arab conquest, the population of Palestine was mainly Christian and that during the Crusaders' conquest some four hundred years later, it was mainly Muslim. As neither the Byzantines nor the Muslims carried out any large-scale population resettlement projects, the Christians were the offspring of the Jewish and Samaritan farmers who converted to Christianity in the Byzantine period; while the Muslim fellaheen in Palestine in modern times are descendants of those Christians who were the descendants of Jews, and had turned to Islam before the Crusaders' conquest."
Faust, Avraham (2015)."The Emergence of Iron Age Israel: On Origins and Habitus". In Levy, Thomas E.; Schneider, Thomas; Propp, William H. C. (eds.).Israel's Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective: Text, Archaeology, Culture, and Geoscience. Springer. pp. 467–482.ISBN978-3-319-04768-3.Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved31 March 2023.
Joffe, Alexander H. (2002). "The Rise of Secondary States in the Iron Age Levant".Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient.45 (4):425–467.doi:10.1163/156852002320939311.JSTOR3632872.
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