On the Origins of the Israelites and Their Religion

Overview: A summary of what we know about early Israelite history, starting from its conception down to its destruction and rebirth. Discusses genetics, the Exodus, the twelve tribes of Israel, the Ten Lost Tribes, the monarchy, and the ancient Israelite religion.

 

We cannot know for certain the exact history of more than three-thousand years ago. Much of it is lost to the past, and all we can do is tie bits and pieces together in attempt to paint the most likely historical scenario that took place. Much of it is speculation, and much of it is based on evidence. Take it with a grain of salt but with an open mind. Bear along as we delve into the biblical account and the critical account of the ancient Israelites’ origins and their religion.

 

The traditional narrative

The traditional narrative, taking the biblical account as historical fact, sees an incredible origin story for the Israelites; one that includes an enslavement in Egypt, a miraculous exodus, a conquest of Canaan, and splitting the land of Canaan between the twelve tribes. The critical narrative puts the exodus and conquest narrative into question, instead offering an alternative origin story of the Israelites. This fascinating reconstruction of Israelite history, based primarily on archaeology, biblical clues, and ancient inscriptions, will be discussed later.

The rabbinic record, based primarily on the biblical account as interpreted by Seder Olam, records an Exodus, 40 years in the Wilderness, a 7-year conquest and another 7-year settlement of the land. After which time there is a 369-year period of no king and no Temple. The third king of the United Monarchy, that united all the 12 tribes, was Solomon who built the First Temple. It stood for 410 years until it was destroyed by the Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzer.

While overall united in theme, the biblical books often contradict one another when it comes to early Israelite history. The book of Joshua describes a united Israelite confederacy fighting together and conquering all the Canaanite nations in a matter of seven years – all under the leadership of Joshua. The book of Judges, on the other hand, records a more complex history. Tribes often fight autonomously, they have less success, and only begin the wars after the death of Joshua. In Joshua, they first conquer and then split the land between themselves, while in Judges they first split the land and then each tribe fights to obtain their allotment. Historians generally see the book of Judges as being more historically accurate, showing a more realistic conquest, fitting the archaeology better, and having a less religious/embellishment agenda than the book of Joshua.

 

 

Israelite genetics

Genetically speaking, Israelites are pretty much the same as Canaanites. While no studies have been done on ancient Israelite remains, studies have been conducted to compare Canaanite DNA with that of modern-day Jews.^[1] The results showed about a 50% similarity, meaning that 50% of most Jews ancestors were Canaanites going back thousands of years. The other remainder of Jewish DNA was mostly of local populations (Southern European for Ashkenazim, Iberian for Sepharim, and Middle Eastern for Mizrachim), resulting from assimilation/conversion throughout the past two millennia.

From a biblical perspective it can be explained that there was mass intermarriage on a scale large enough to produce such strong Canaanite DNA that even in modern times we share half our DNA with the Canaanite bodies preserved from over 3,000 years ago. Another explanation would be that the 12 sons of Jacob, along with their sons, married local Canaanite women, accounting for the high levels of Canaanite DNA in Jews today.^[2] According to historians critical of the biblical history account, the Israelites are essentially a breakaway group of Canaanites and thus similar DNA is expected.

 

 

Early Israelite settlement

On the mountainous hilltops of Judea and Samaria, around 300 new, somewhat temporary, settlements have been discovered.^[3] Their dates range from 1200-1000 BCE. These settlements are understood by almost all archeologists to be the settlements of the Israelites. These settlements are Canaanite in nature. The pottery is similar to that of the Canaanites, although less art and sophistication is indicative of a poorer society in these highlands. There were two key differences than the Urban Canaanite cities; they lacked pig bones and their residential layout was different. Pig’s meat was a common staple food for Canaanites, and practically the entire Ancient Near East. But pig-meat was an Israelite taboo and remains one until this day among Jewish communities.

The layout of these settlements favored small groups of herders, with a number of houses encircling an enclosure where sheep would graze the protected pasture. In the biblical narratives, herders were favored over other occupations (e.g. Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David), perhaps in reflection of the Israelite overrepresentation in that occupation. From the 11th-century onwards, these settlements began to decline, at the same time as the cities became more populous. Iron Age Israel was developing under the new monarchical era.

In Joshua, it only records the burning destruction of the cities: Ai, Hatzor,^[4] and Jericho, but it was possibly (and probably) more. Excavations done in Hatzor indeed found a destructive layer dated to that time.^[5] Destructive layers dated to the 13th century B.C.E. were also found in the cities: Lachish,^[6] Tell Beit Mirsim,^[7] Megiddo, Aphek, Bethel, Ashdod, Gezer,^[8]  and Deir Alla, but not at Arad, Heshbon, Jericho, Ai, and Gibeon.^[9]

Jericho, Ai, Gibeon, Hebron, Ered and Harmah were all missing evidence of occupation in the 13th century B.C.E. Evidence of occupation can be eroded away during periods of abandonment (particularly Jericho standing at the coast suffered much erosion) or can simply be missed by the excavator when (as is usually the case) limited areas of the mound have been excavated. Proof for this would be from the lack of archeological discoveries of occupation of other cities in a relevant time mentioned in texts of the same period. There are constantly major “updates” on archaeological sites being excavated. Of course this all assumes the veracity of the account in Joshua. From a critical historical perspective, we can simply dismiss the destruction narrative of these cities mentioned in Joshua as national legends. According to the critical narrative, the Sea Peoples are to be credited for the destruction of most of these cities during the Bronze Age. Evidence for this is in the lack of weaponry found within the Israelite settlement remains.

Why were these Israelites settling in the new settlements away from the cities? This aspect is debated among historians, with some saying they were nomads who finally decided to settle and found independence on the hilltops, while others argue that they were escaping the aristocracy of the Canaanite city-states.^[10]

 

Habiru

Also known as the Apiru, the Habiru are often associated with the Israelites/Hebrews. They are a group frequently mentioned in Egyptian, Canaanite, and Near Eastern texts throughout the second millennium BCE. The strict association of Habiru with the Israelites has been debunked, but there is good reason to assume that the Hebrews were an offshoot of the Habiru, despite the Habiru comprising many more ethnicities.

The term Apiru/Habiru begins to be used from several hundred years before the emergence of the Israelites. It seems to refer to a social class rather than an ethnicity. That social class varied in context but was often associated with the “outliers” of society, the non-Urbanites, often bandits, raiders, mercenaries, and nomads, who were generally disliked by the urban populations.

Abraham is called “the Hebrew” (ivri) in Gen. 14:13. That term may refer to him being from eber hanahar, the other side of the Euphrates river, or to him being a pastoral nomad (“o’ver” in Hebrew means “passerby”, and “o’veri” or “ivri” as “the passerbier”).^[11] Many non-Israelite tribes are also called Habiru in Egyptian texts, such as the Edomites and Midianites.

 

Hyksos

Many people connect the Hyksos to the Israelites in Egypt. But Egyptologists and ancient Near East historians disregard the claim that the Hyksos were the Israelites. The similarities between the two groups is of interest: they are both originally from the Levant in the early second millennium BCE. They both migrated to Egypt. They both gained royal prestige in Egypt. The Hyksos built the city of Avaris, upon which later the city of Pi-Ramses (the city built by the Israelites according to Ex. 1:11) was to be built. They were both considered a threat to the local Egyptians who despised the foreign occupiers. And they eventually returned to Canaan.

If we were to focus on those similarities alone, we may begin to speculate that the Hyksos were in fact the Israelites. But the glaring difference between the two is that the Hyksos were not slaves in Egypt. They were rather slave owners themselves who ruled over Lower Egypt for more than a hundred years, in contrast to the biblical Hebrews who did not become the Pharaohs and who were enslaved for most of their stay in Egypt. There are many other differences between the groups, but if one thing is already clear it is that the Hyksos were not the Israelites.

 

 

Exodus from Egypt and the Levite hypothesis

There is a glaring absence of evidence for a mass exodus from Egypt as described by the biblical account. However, there are clues that at least a minor exodus took place from Egypt – at least with some Israelites. In all likelihood, this was the Levite tribe, who are the only tribe to bear Egyptian names, who bring along with them Egyptian sacred architecture for the Israelite temple, who enter the Land of Israel without a claim to any tribal territory, and the tribe to whom Moses and Aaron belong. The Exodus and this Levite Hypothesis are discussed at length in this article.

It is very difficult to identify the Pharaoh of the Exodus for a number of reasons. This is why there has been much dispute about it. However, the most widely accepted view is that Ramses II is the Pharaoh of the Exodus. The uncertainty starts with Egyptian chronology itself. There are many disputes about the reigns of kings in the Old and Middle Dynasties. In addition to that, it is unclear for how long the Israelites were in Egypt for. While the verses suggest 430 years of enslavement, rabbinic tradition – along with some biblical support – suggest only a 210-year duration in Egypt. Additionally, there is the question of the missing 166 years of Persian history that is not accounted for in rabbinic chronology. For these reasons, it becomes very hard to identify the Pharaoh of the Exodus, but most of the data points to Ramses II who reigned somewhere between the years 1347 and 1212 BCE.^[12] I want to make a few brief arguments in favor of a Ramses II Exodus date:

1. The striking parallels between the Ramses II’s military camp and the Tabernacle (discussed in this footnote^[13]). This suggests that at the time of the Tabernacle’s construction this architecture was popular or that the Torah deliberately chose Ramses II’s camp as the layout for the Tabernacle.
2. Ramses II boasts of Semitic slaves building the city of Pi-Ramses, the very city claimed to have been built by the Israelites in the biblical account (Ex. 1:11).
3. Just a little after the reign of Ramses II, about 300 new settlements appear on the hilltops of Judea and Samaria, distinctively without pig bones (discussed above).
4. Hardly considered evidence, but interestingly enough the firstborn son of Ramses II suddenly dies in the 17th year of Ramses’ reign. This is perhaps connected to the death of the Pharaoh’s firstborn mentioned in Ex. 12:29).
5. Egypt controlled Canaan during the Bronze Age until the end of Ramses II’s life. The fact that the book of Joshua doesn’t mention what would have been a major military standoff with Egypt, demonstrates that the Joshua conquest likely happened after Ramses II’s reign when the Egyptians already withdrew from Canaan.
6. Some argue against a Ramses II exodus date based on the biblical chronology. But I think the chronology of I Kings 6:1 cannot be taken for granted as reliable chronology since it contradicts the counting of the years of the judges recorded in the Book of Judges by about 200 years! Therefore, it can be argued that we rely on the archaeological evidence instead of the Israelite legends of the chronology recorded in those contradictory books of Tanakh.^[14]
7. Perhaps the only serious issue with the Ramses II model or the Exodus is the archaeology of the city of Jericho, a city which shows destructive layers in the 14th century – not the 12th century, when Joshua would have conquered it according to the Ramses II model. However, the overall evidence is for a Ramses Exodus. There are several ways around this issue. The Jericho narrative in Joshua may have been an error or embellishment. Or the city was rebuilt nearby and not yet found by archeologists or has eroded over time. Proof for this would be from the lack of archeological discoveries of occupation of other cities in a relevant time mentioned in texts of the same period. There are constantly major “updates” on archaeological sites being excavated. This of course assumes the veracity of the Joshua account. If we reject the Jericho narrative, then there’s no issue with Ramses II being the Pharaoh of the Exodus.

In summary, it appears that the Levite tribe likely were originally a Semitic people who were enslaved in Egypt (like most Egyptian slaves who were Semitic/West-Asiatic), and later escaped to Canaan/Israel during the reign of Rameses II to become a priestly class within Israelite society. More about the other tribes later on in this article.

 

 

Merneptah stele

The first clear reference to Israel as a people appears in the Merneptah Stele.^[15] The Egyptian inscription (conventionally) dated to 1210 B.C.E. (although there are variable dates) has the king bragging of his military victories. Among them he writes “Israel^[16] is laid waste; its seed is no more.”^[17] Israel is mentioned alongside Ashkelon and Canaan, their two geographical neighbors.

A less clear earlier reference to Israel is found in the Berlin Pedestal. The alleged reference to a tribe/nation called “Israel” in the 14th-century in Canaan is a debated subject and thus cannot be used as proof that the Israelites were already in Canaan at that time. Hoffmeier writes that this reading of “Israel” in the Pedestal “is plagued by serious linguistic and orthographic problems that preclude it from being Israel.”^[18] Others strongly disagree.^[19]

 

 

The tribes of Israel

The clear distinction of twelve tribes in Israel seems lacking in early Israelite literature. There are references to more tribes and sometimes less. In the Song of Deborah (Judges Ch. 5) – regarded by many bible scholars as the oldest text in Tanakh –  the tribes of Judah, Simon, Levi, and Gad are absent of any mention; as well as Mennaseh who is substituted with Gilead and Machir.^[20] In the antique poem attributed to Moses (Deut. 33), the tribe of Simon is missing. In the conquest of the land recorded in the book of Judges, the Calebites and Kenites fight alongside Judah, implying their distinctive tribal status. There are other anomalies as well within the tribal history accounts of Judges and Joshua.^[21]

The “canonization,” as it were, of the twelve tribes seems to have been a later biblical formulation. The dividing of Joseph into two tribes – Ephraim and Menasseh – may be a reflection of the difficulty in determining the exact tribal affiliations and borders.

The book of I Kings (6:1) speaks of 480 years from entering Canaan until the building of the First Temple by Solomon. Counting the timeline of the leaders in Judges brings us to more than 600 years. A simple way to resolve this is to explain that the judges often overlapped, with one of them ruling some tribes while the other contemporary judge ruled other tribes. This would indicate a lack of tribal unity in early Israelite society. Later on, these tribes would unite against common enemies (like the war against Sisera in Judges Ch. 5), the Canaanites (Joshua and Judges), and the Philistines (Judges and I Samuel).

Some tribes are traditionally descendent from the concubines of Jacob (Gen. 35). This perhaps reflects their “lesser” status among the Israelite confederation of tribes, at least a certain point in time in Israelite history.^[22]

The blessings given to the tribes by Jaocb (Gen. 49) and later by Moses (Deut. 33) are regarded as prophecies by traditional understanding. According to bible scholars, these “blessings/prophecies” are actually poems marveling about the state of the Twelve Tribes at that point of time of its writing. It’s hard to date those poems with absolute certainty, but suggestions have been given. Another valuable source about the ancient tribes is in the Song of Deborah, regarded as the oldest text of the entire Tanakh, dated to approximately 1100 BCE. See footnote here for more on this.^[23]

Reuben’s territory was in the East bank of the Dead Sea in the transjordan region. At some point, they seemed to have been flourishing, even being regarded as Jacob’s firstborn in Genesis and possessing large populations in the Numbers Ch. 1 and Ch. 26 census. At another time, their tribe was apparently so small in number at some point that there was concern of them going extinct (Deut. 33:6). This is reflected in the biblical account as well where Reuben is shamed in the Gen. 35 narrative of him sleeping with his father’s concubine, as well as losing the firstborn status in Gen. 49:3-4.

Simon‘s connection or intermarriage with local tribes and absorption into Judah is apparent from several clues throughout the bible. Zerah, who is regarded as the child of Judah in the Gen. 37 narrative, is also a Simonite clan in Num. 26:13. Yet he appears again as a clan within Judah (Num. 26:20). Simon’s land is also absorbed within the land of Judah (Josh. 19:1). Simon’s descendants seem connected to the Kenizi tribe (Num. 32:12 and Josh. 14:16) who are also a native Canaanite population (Gen. 15:19). Similarly, some of Simon’s descendants intermarry with the Canaanites (Num. 26:13 and 46:10 concerning Saul son of Simon, probably a reflection of the entire Saulite clan). At some point the tribe of Simon was vibrant and populace (Num. 2) but later seems to have been intermarrying into Judah, losing its population (Num. 26) and later disappearing entirely into the Kingdom of Judah (Gen. 49:7 and the lack of Simon from the Kingdom of Judah onward).

Levites are the priestly clan who later split into the Kohen tribe and the regular priestly clans (see here). They likely escaped from slavery in Egypt and joined the Israelites already residing in the Land of Canaan (see earlier). They were landless for this very reason; instead serving as priests in temples across the land (Deut. 18:5, 33:10, Jud. 17, and Num. 18:2-6) and as teachers of the Law (Deut. 17:9 and 33:10). Their name likely derives from their role of carrying/accompanying (Levi’yah in Heb.) the Holy Ark of the Israelite God.

Judah is the tribe with the greatest population (Num. 2 and 26) and largest land (Josh. 15 and Jud. 1). They later establish an independent Kingdom of Judah that survives the Assyrian onslaught in the 7th-century BCE. The term “Jew” to refer to modern-day Israelites is derived from “Judah” (Esther 2:5 and 9:17) – the primary tribe of the Israelites to survive to this day. Their primary occupation was tending the vineyards and the production of wine (Gen. 49:11). They seemed to have intermarried with a significant number of the Kenite people of Arabia (Jud. 1:16). According to the biblical account, these Kenites are the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law Jethro the Midianite.

An incredible early mention of the tribe of Judah may be earlier than any other reference to an Israelite nation, even predating the Merneptah Stele. Letter 39 of the Berlin collection of the el-Amarna tablets makes probable reference to the soldiers of Judah.^[24] This 14th-century letter correspondence between Egyptian authorities and their Canaanite vassal kingdoms, makes mention of amlutei ia-u-du and imlutei sabe ia-u-du, Judean soldiers or soldiery. The “y” sound in ancient Egyptian is replaced with an “i”, thus making it ya-u-du – the exact way the Assyrians would later refer to the Judean tribe. The king addressing his Egyptian superiors seems to be requesting aid against these Judean rebels. This letter is one among many of the Amarna tablets that request aid against the habirus who are wreaking havoc on Canaanite cities. The Hebrews of the Torah may be an offshoot of the habirus mentioned in these texts, as discussed earlier.

Those who object to this association with the tribe of Judah do so because the letter is coming from a Northern Canaanite king, some distance from the southern tribe of Judah. But there are indications that the Judeans fought alongside the other Israelites in their conquest of Canaan (Num. 32). Historians believe the letter to be referring to the region of Tunip in midwestern Syria. That area is just west of the Hamath region which was supposed to be a part of the Land of Israel (Num. 34:8 and Jud. 3:3). Even more interestingly, II Kings 14:28 makes mention of the Judeans having control of the Damascus-Hamath area, perhaps having a military outpost there.^[25] An Assyrian inscription also makes probable reference to allies of Judah in that region.^[26]

Issachar seems to have begun as a nomadic tribe, sitting on donkeys and grazing sheep (Gen. 49:14). They are mentioned as dwelling in tents, seemingly in the land of Zebulun, in the Blessings to the Tribes (Deut. 33:18). They later settled down to become laborers in the settlements and cities (Gen. 49:15). The name Issachar may derive from the term “ish sachar” (a man for hire in Hebrew), a reflection of the labor they performed for the tribe of Zebulun and beyond.

Zebulun’s settlement is said to be along the ocean (Gen. 49:13), although according to Joshua Ch. 19 that wasn’t the case (perhaps that was the reality at a later point in time). They enjoyed sea commerce and economic relations with the megacity Sidon of the Pehonicians (Gen. 49:13). They are described as “going out” in the Blessings to the Tribes (Deut. 33:18), probably a reference to their sea voyages for commerce in the Mediterranean. Their name possibly derives from zbl, meaning exalted or princely in Ugaritic – as in zbl baal, Prince Baal. They may have been very involved in the worship of zbl baal and thus bore the name. Note that the famed showdown between baal and YHWH in the days of Elijah (I Kings 18) took place at Mt. Caramel, a mountain-range that runs through the land of Zebulun.

Dan is an incredibly interesting tribe. They start out in the philistine land area but are unable to properly settle and conquer the land and thus migrate north to utmost North of Israel at the city of Laish later to be renamed Dan (Josh. 19:47, Jud. 18; also see Jud. 1:34). In the Blessings to the Tribes (Gen. 49:16), Dan is blessed to rule (a pun on the Hebrew word to rule/judge, dan) over his own people, implying their “outsider” status, perhaps, until that point: an admission into the Israelite Tribal Confederacy.

Some historians associate the tribe of Dan as being perhaps the Denyen, who are sometimes called Danuna and Dene depending on the particular inscription.^[27] They were a tribe among the Sea Peoples who invaded Canaan in the 12th-century BCE. Among the Sea People were the Philistines who originally came from Caphtor according to the biblical authors (Jer. 47:4 and Amos 9:7, as well as Ez. 25:16 and Zeph. 2:5) or from Greece (indeed Caphtor may be Greece) according to modern historians and conquered the southern coast of Canaan, after failing to conquer Egypt according to Egyptian texts. Interestingly enough, the Denyen are mentioned alongside the p’lishti (Philistines) in Egyptian texts of the Amarna archives, along with the other three of the five-strong Sea People tribes – the Pelishti, Tjeker, Denyen, Shekelesh,^[28] and Weshesh.

Support for this can be found in the biblical text which has Dan residing among the Philistines (Josh. 19 and Jud. 14), describes them as seaborne (Jud. 5:17), and has minimal lineage for their tribe in stark contrast to the detailed lineages of the other tribes (Gen. 46:23 and Num. 26:42). II Samuel 24:6 mentions the city of dana-yaan which bears striking linguistic resemblance to the Deneyen suffix referring to the Dene tribe. If this were all to be the case, then the tribe of Dan was originally a Mediterranean seafaring tribe who settled the coast of Canaan and later joined the Israelite Confederate of Tribes.

Naphtali is the tribe we perhaps know least about. There’s no early extra-biblical mention of them. Genesis 49 only speaks of their animal symbolism. Deuteronomy 33:23 speaks of their wealth and prosperity. This was thanks to their geographic location by the Sea of Galilee, by the highly fertile Genneseret, and the Assyrian-Pheonician highways passing through the territory.

Gad is mentioned in the 9th-century BCE Moabite Stone, also called the Meshe Stele, as being in the city of ataroth (Num. 32:3) from ancient times (meolam in the Semitic language of the Moabites), implying a long history of Gad in this transjordan region. Gad means “luck” and was considered the God of Luck in Arabia and Aram (the tribe of Gad was right in between these two regions). It is possible that the name Gad derived from their worship of this local deity mentioned in Isaiah 65:11. The worship of the deity Gad was widespread throughout Canaan, as indicated by the naming of baal-gad (the lord Gad) in Josh. 11:17, 12:7, 13:5) and Migdalgad (the tower of Gad) mentioned among the Canaanite cities conquered by the men of Judah (Josh. 15:37).

Asher has a striking linguistic resemblance to ashur, the chief city and deity of the later Assyrian Empire. The land of Asher was in the North of Israel, a great distance from the city of Ashur, making a connection between the groups – perhaps via religion – a possibility but unlikely. More likely is that their name derives from the Asherah worship widely practiced in that region in early Israelite history. Both biblical texts and archeological data support the notion of widespread Ashera practice in that region.

The Egyptian pharaohs Seti I and Ramses II of the 13th-century BCE make mention of a tribe called Asaru or Aseru in northern Canaan (near Hamath). The exact geography of the biblical tribe of Asher in that region (Josh. 19) makes this a probable reference to the tribe of Asher. If Ramses II is the Pharaoh of the Exodus, as much the evidence suggests, then some of the Israelites (perhaps all besides for the tribe of Levi – refer above to the Levite Hypothesis) may have already been well established in Canaan.^[29]

Their land included the great cities of Tyre and Sidon (Josh. 19) but they could not conquer it (Jud. 1:31). In the early first millennium BCE, Tyre was to develop its own culture and become one of the powerful Phenician city states. Their primary occupation seems to have been the production of olive oil and mining diamonds (Gen. 49:20 and Deut. 33:24).

The tribe of Joseph seemed to have become too numerous and were thus split into two clans, that of Manasseh and that of Ephraim, each with their own land (Josh. 17:14-17). Alternatively, the tribes of Ephraim and Menasseh shared much territory and culture, making them retrospectively reinvent for themselves a common father – whom they named Joseph.

Manasseh’s tribe originally consisted of two tribes called machir and gilead, both mentioned in the early text of the Song of Deborah (Jud. 5; note the absence of Manasseh there). Their land was the largest of all the tribes, taking up the heartland of Israel, as well as large swaths of territory across the Jordan river.

Ephraim’s roots are unclear, having some association with Manasseh and sharing borders with them. An interesting verse in the ancient Song of Deborah seems to imply that they “stem from Amalek” (Jud. 5:14), but taking that literally is unnecessary although possible. It may just refer to a contingent (mini in the Heb. of verse 14) of their army who was then fighting with Amalek (we know the Israelites often fought them) and joined to fight the war against Sisera. It may also refer to the hill of the Amalekites in the land of Ephraim (Jud. 12:15) that was perhaps inhabited by settlers from Amalek who were situated down south.

The name Ephraim is unclear but may derive from the land of which they were settled in, a place called Ephrain (II Chronicles 13:19), perhaps referring to the Mt. Ephraim mentioned many times throughout scripture.

Benjamin was a small tribe with minimal territory in the heartland of Israel. The capital Jerusalem was to later be established in their territory. They were shunned by the other tribes at one point and were faced with near extinction (Jud. 20-21). Their origins are unknown but the Mari archives of the early second millennium BCE do mention a coalition of binu-yamina – tribes of the right side, in contrast to binu-simal – tribes of the left side. These tribes were in Syria, near the Haran area and are therefore unlikely to be related to the Benjamin tribe further south. But the possibility of some of them migrating south (or vice versa) cannot be ruled out.^[30] See Jud. 19:16 where the Benjaminites are called “bnei yemini”, people of the right, perhaps supporting this theorized connection.

 

Monarchy

According to the traditional narrative (in the book of Samuel), originally the Israelites had a United Monarchy under King Saul, and later King David and his son Solomon. After Solomon’s death, the kingdom breaks up into two: the Northern Israelite Kingdom and the Southern Davidic/Judean Kingdom (I Kings 12).

But at first, they were just a confederation of tribes all throughout the era of the Judges (Jud. 21:25), vaguely connected by a common enemy (Jud. 5) and sometimes by a common religion.

The Israelites seem to first believe that no king should rule over them since their deity and lord YHWH alone was to rule over them (I Sam. 8:7). They then request a king, perhaps for the economic benefits that they see with it in their neighboring countries (I Sam. 8:5). The theological space is (then) made for a king to rule provided certain restrictions are placed upon the monarchy (I Sam. 8:7-9 and see similar language used in Deut. 17:14^[31]).

Modern historians are split on the issue of whether or not there was a united monarchy ruled by Saul, David, and Solomon.^[32] Contemporary writings of that time do not speak of a Davidic kingdom, which according to the scriptures would have been a dominant player in the ancient Near East. Other historians argue that there was a united kingdom, but it was smaller than depicted in the scriptures and therefore not mentioned in contemporary sources.

Many of the historians who deny the United Monarchy theorize that the legend of a United Kingdom began after the fall of the Northern Kingdom by Assyria in the 8th-century BCE, when many Northerners would have fled to the South. In order to bolster their kinsmenship, they would develop this legend that connects the North and South. Others theorize that the legend of a United Monarchy would have borne out of the vague national memory of a united confederation of tribes that were allied together, and were perhaps ruled by powerful warlords later thought to be kings in the national imagination.

The historians who argue for a United Monarchy point to the sudden urban development in the 10th-century when the United Monarchy would have begun. The centralization of power would have allowed for the economic investments into the cities that sprung out, particularly in the Judean plains and in the central valley.

The Large Stone Structure in Jerusalem (also frequently called King David’s Palace) is an ancient government building belonging to the Davidic dynasty. According to many archeologists, it dates to the 10th-century BCE, and if that is correct it would have been built (or captured; II Sam. 5:7) by the Davidic dynasty founder – King David.^[33]

Mention of the Davidic dynasty is found in the form of “House of David” in the 9th-century BCE Meshe Stele. Others disagree with that reading.^[34] A less disputed reference to David is found in the Tel Dan Stele dated to roughly the same time.^[35]

The first mention of the Omri dynasty of Northern Israel is in the aforementioned Mesha Stele. “Ahab the Israelite” is mentioned in Assyrian king Shlmanassar III’s record of 853 BCE. The Northern Kingdom was a very powerful, mostly antonymous, kingdom which often subdued their neighboring smaller Davidic kingdom, specifically during the reign of the House of Omri.^[36]

 

 

Ten Lost Tribes

Widespread legend has the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel being hidden away somewhere on Earth, only to return at the End of Days. But what exactly are the Ten Lost Tribes and are they really missing?

Sometime in the 8th-century BCE, the Assyrian kings would conquer Northern Israel and dispose of the Omri Kingdom in Samaria. First the tribes of the transjordan were reduced by Hazael king of Aram (II Kings 10:32-33). Aram continued to diminish the empire of Israel despite not obliterating them (II Kings 13:7,22). A generation later, King Jeroboam II restores the former, expanded territory of the Israelites until the city of Hamat (II Kings 14:25).

A few generations later, King Pul of Assyria came to invade but was given all the treasures of Samaria in exchange for the Israelite Kingdom to be saved (II Kings 15:19-20). In the days of Pekah King of Israel, King Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria invaded and conquered the entire Northeast of Israel, swallowing up the ancestral land of Naphtali and exiling its inhabitants to Assyria (II Kings 15:29). The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh who resided in the Transjordan were deposed by King Pul and later King Tiglath-Pileser to the same lands that they sent the other Northerners to (I Chronicles 5:26). Several years later, King Hosea of Israel became a servant to the Assyrian King Shalmaneser V (II Kings 17:3). Several years following that, Assyria conquers Samaria, the capital of Israel, and exiles the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Israel to Assyria, in places called Halah at the [River] Habor, at the River Gozan, and in the towns of Media (II Kings 17:6, 18:11) to which they remain “until this day” (II Kings 17:23). Only the tribe of Judah alone survived (II Kings 17:18), an apparent exaggeration as we shall soon see. The later kings Sargon II and his son Sancherib take credit for finishing off the Israelites.

The Israelite cities were reoccupied by deportees from other nations of the Assyrian conquest (II Kings 17:24). The new inhabitants of the land convert to a form of Judaism in order to appease “the God of the Land” and they keep their ancestral faith along with Israelite rituals “until this day” (II Kings 17:25:-41). This is an apparent reference to the Samaritans (later called Cutheans in Talmudic literature based on their city of origin, Cutha – II Kings 17:24) who remained in Israel until modern times and were a common foe of the Judeans returning to the Land at the building of the Second Temple. They continued to be a small population within Israel throughout the Talmudic period, when they were regarded as a quasi-Jewish ethnicity by the rabbis, and are intact until this day in Israel with a population of just over 700.

The Samaritans themselves claim to be the descendants of the Ten Tribes, particularly of Ephraim and Manasseh, as well as some Levites, who remained in the land. They see the narrative in Kings of them being deportees from the Assyrian conquests as a smear story fabricated by the Judeans to delegitimize them once they returned to the land to rebuild the temple. They see their place of worship, Mt. Ebel, as the original and authentic place of worship, and believe that the split between them and the Judeans happened in the days of Eli the High Priest.

Most historians now believe that they are indeed a remnant of the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Levi. This is based on scriptural evidence that some of the Northern population did indeed remain in the Land,^[37] as well as evidence from recent genetic testing.^[38] Other tribes throughout the world claiming to be descendants of the Ten Tribes have no convincing evidence to back up their claim. The Ten Tribes who were exiled seem to have assimilated into the local populations that they were deported to. The ones who remained in the Land of Israel seem to have been absorbed into Judah during the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah, with a remnant staying steadfastly loyal to their pagan-Israelite religion and forming the Samaritan sect.

 

 

Religion in ancient Israel

Religion in ancient Israel is somewhat an unknown subject shrewd with mystery and fascinating beliefs and practices. Much of it is speculative while other parts are apparent from archeological discoveries and scriptural hints.

There’s no word in ancient Hebrew for “religion,” since religion wasn’t separated from nature. It was simply how the Earth operated; each force in nature was controlled by a deity (who usually was called by the same word used to refer to that physical force, e.g. the deity Shamash, the Sun deity). Each nation had their personalized deity who was their primary object of worship. Not worshipping the deity was paramount to requesting droughts, illness, and infertility. The spiritual and physical worlds were intertwined in a way that the modern science-minded people of today have a hard time grasping.

 

The traditional narrative

The traditional Jewish narrative is largely based on the Torah, traditionally believed to have been written by Moses at the directive of God. Other parts of Tanakh are also viewed as being infallible and are regarded as reliable sources for religious Jews. Academics largely dismiss the historical integrity of Tanakh, treating it instead like all other ancient documents – as a valuable source of information but fallible nonetheless.

The Torah starts off with early Israelite history as beginning from a man named Abraham who was loyal to YHWH. He became the first Jew ever and was followed by his son Isaac and later his grandson Jacob to continue the faith. Their descendants went into Egyptian slavery and were eventually redeemed through miracles by God at the hands of Moses. They received the Revelation of God’s commandments, called the Torah, on their way to Canaan to conquer the land that was to become the Land of Israel.

All of that history is covered in the five books of the Torah. The books of the Prophets and the Writings continue with the history from the Israelite entry into Canaan until the rebuilding of the Second Temple several hundred years later. The prophets often rebuked the Israelites, particularly those in the Northern Kingdom, for their widespread inobservance of the Torah laws. They worshipped idols – Baal and Asherah, as well as practicing many pagan rituals. This was until their exile from the land, as discussed earlier.

That is the traditional narrative in a nutshell. Historians largely reject the credibility of Tanakh as a source of history, but do use it as an informative source for how the Israelites thought and what they practiced. They reject it because of the many errors contained within it, the contradictions between many of their books, and the issues of dating the biblical books to the era that traditional jews believe they were written in. Historians like to use a combination of various biblical writings, archaeological data, and other inscriptions from the era of which they are analyzing. Some of the revelations about early Israelite religion may come as a surprise to a modern practicing Jew, since their theology and practice was often very different according to mainstream historical consensus and the data available.

 

When was the Torah written according to critics

There’s of course much debate about this, as there is with almost anything dating back thousands of years. The traditional narrative mostly sees the Torah – all five books – as being the work of Moses writing ca. 1300 BCE. Bible scholars see many issues with this narrative, including the fact that nowhere in the Torah does Moses claim to have written it and there are actually many indications of a later authorship. There are also contradictions between the different books, constant repetitions, very different writing styles, and historical errors within the Torah. This all suggests the Torah having been written by different people at different times. For more on this subject see here and here.

There’s a consensus that the book of Deuteronomy was mostly composed in the 7th-century BCE (see here), but there are disagreements regarding the other books. The book of Genesis is based on early Israelite political realities (see here), suggesting a mostly First Temple era composition. The books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers seem to be a late First Temple era composition, or perhaps (but less likely) an early Second Temple era composition.^[39] There are various layers even within the different books, making it even the more complicating endeavour to date.

 

Worshiping the deities and YHWH

The religion of the Israelites is understood to be diverse, with some practices and theologies in Northern tribes different than those in the Southern tribes. The South focused more exclusive worship of YHWH, the national deity, while the North also commonly worshipped other deities of the surrounding regions.

 

Polytheism

They did not see it as contradictory to serve different deities, since each deity served its own function. One was worshipped for good luck, another for fertility, another for rain, and another for national military victory. The national deity who served to protect the nation in battle against their neighbors was none other than YHWH. This is why they would always return to YHWH, their personal national deity, when confronted with national military threats (see the book of Judges; also see Ex. 15:3). Even the Torah recognizes the existence of many other gods (or divine beings), despite it prohibiting the worship of any other deity aside from YHWH (see here).

 

Worshiping  idols

They served the many gods in the form of an idol: a carved image, often of clay, stone, or wood. They didn’t regard the actual piece of art to be a divine being, seeing it instead as a physical representation of the spiritual form of that deity.

 

Housing and feeding the gods

The deities all throughout the ancient world were mainly worshipped in a temple, a place for the deity to have shelter on Earth, similar to the function of a house for a person. In the temple, the deity would be served food and drinks in the form of sacrifices and libations of wine and water. They were “entertained” with music by the priests (called kohnaim by the Canaanites and later by the Israelites) and oftentimes with sexual orgies (called qadeshim). In some cases, human sacrifices were offered to the gods to eat in the form of a firstborn child killed by fire. The Israelites also served YHWH in similar fashion, although they outlawed any of the sexual orgies and human sacrifice. There were temples, sacrifices, libations, and music.

But YHWH was considered different from the other gods.

 

EL, the Supreme Deity

The Canaanites served many gods. They had a supreme god called EL ELYON, the Supreme Deity, who was generally regarded as too lofty to serve directly (with some exceptions such as in Gen. 14:18,22). The Supreme Deity was the Creator of Heaven and Earth^[40] (see Gen. 14:19) and the father to all the other inferior gods who worked under Him. Canaanites predominantly served Baal (a son of EL) and Asherah (wife of EL^[41]). Other nations predominantly served other gods; Assyrians served their national god Ashur, Egypt served the sun-god Ra, and the Babylonians Marduk. Canaanite mythology also speaks of a Council of Gods. Biblical texts confirm the theology of a Council of Gods (see here), despite only sanctioning the worship of YHWH, also called EL, alone. The Israelites and Canaanites both referred to the Supreme God using the same word (EL) since they shared a common language, originally called Canaanite language (Isaiah 19:18) and later called Judean/Hebrew language (II Chronicles 32:18).

Confirmed both by the biblical narrative and archeological discoveries, the Israelites served YHWH in addition to the many other gods they served, predominantly Baal and Asherah. This was to happen until the era of Josiah of the Davidic dynasty who would eradicate all other forms of worship (II Kings 22 and 23). Historians believe that is when the Torah laws of serving only one God begins.

 

Yahu

The term YHWH may derive from a city in the the Southern Levant called Yahu, mentioned in Egyptian texts (“the Shasu of Yahu”; cf Gen. 4:26). YHWH is also described in several biblical passages as coming from Seir or Teman, suggesting the Judeans or Israelites (or Kenites) may have adopted the name from Southern tribes they encountered (see here). Yahu seems to have been the original term for YHWH, seeing that all theophoric Israelite names in the first Temple era end with “yahu” (e.g. Yirmiyahu, Chizkiyahu, and Yehoshiyahu). Also early inscriptions talk of the deity Yahu (or YHW) in Israel, despite them usually being translated as YHWH in the English.

 

YHWH and Asherah

Deep into the Northeastern Sinai desert l.ie a priestly cultic site dating back to the 9-8th-century BCE. At this site several inscriptions were found telling us much about the people who once occupied this sanctuary in Kuntillet Ajrud, once a major station along the desert route. Along with other deities such as Baal and EL, mention is made of “YHWH of Samaria and His Asherah” using the Hebrew language. Samaria was the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel at that time and Asherah was the goddess, who according to the Ugaritic/Canaanite pantheon married EL, the Supreme God associated with YHWH throughout Tanakh.

Right beneath this inscription was a drawing of an apparent god with a penis or tale, alongside his wife and a bull.^[42] Clearly, the Israelites responsible for these inscriptions and drawings worshipped a deity named YHWH despite their idol-worshipping. The description of YHWH of Samaria suggests that YHWH was associated with the Northern Kingdom which worshipped YHWH in addition to Baal and Asherah.

 

YHWH and the Bull

The bull in the image is one of many references to EL as a bull (Tôru ‘Ēl) in Canaanite texts. The Israelites often associated EL or YHWH with a bull. King Jeroboam sets up golden calves in the Northern cities Dan and Bethel for his subjects to worship.^[43] Similarly, after the Israelites leave Egypt they worship the Golden Calf, according to the book of Exodus.^[44] Papyrus Amherst 63, soon to be discussed, also calls YHWH “our Bull.”

Dated to the 4th-century BCE, Papyrus Amherst 63 was likely written by the descendants of Aramean and Judean soldiers who had been stationed at the Egyptian border. In this fascinating inscription, they speak of their traditions dating back to 7th-century Samaria in Northern Israel. In these psalms, they invoke the name EL, YHWH, Baal, Baal-Shamin, and Bethel – all gods in the idol-worshipping Northern Israel during the Monarchical era. One of the many things this Papyrus teaches us about the ancient Israelites is their strong worship of their national-god YHWH despite serving other inferior gods as well. As an interesting sidenote, one of the three Psalms in the Papyrus is what appears to be an identical version to our current Psalm Ch. 20; except that it invokes pagan gods as well.^[45] It also makes mention of the New Years holiday of Rosh Hashanah and the sacrifices offered on that day.

 

Teraphim

Terafim are mini idols (see Ez. 21:26 and Zach. 10:2) usually held in the house (Gen. 31:14 and I Samuel 19:17). They were common for pagan worshippers, but may have even been in use for legitimate YHWH worship until they were later outlawed. Rachel steals her father’s teraphim (Gen. 31:14)^[46] and King Saul has teraphim in his house (I Samuel 19:17). Judges 17:5 suggests that teraphim were a common form of YHWH worship, and Hosea 3:4 may also suggest that teraphim, like the ephod, was a common worship of the Israelite deity. Teraphim are later outlawed by King Josiah of the seventh-century BCE (II Kings 23:24) and are criticized by the Prophet Zachariah (10:2). The Ten Commandments prohibit the worship of any sculpture, seemingly teraphim included (Ex. 20:4-5).

 

The gods of the nations

All nations had their own personalized deity who was seen as their protector. The Assyrians had Ashur, the Babylonians Marduk, the Egyptians Ra, and the Israelites YHWH. These gods were not seen as contradictory, but as independent forces within the spiritual worlds (what one might call angels today) who governed the affairs of mankind. There were 70 known nations in the world at the time (Gen. 10^[47]) and there were also 70 deities according to Canaanite/Ugaritic texts. Each nation had one of these deities as their own personal god. The Torah seems to accept this theology in Deut. 4:19 where each nation (or land; cf II Kings 17:26) seems to be “allotted” their own god.

Fathering all these inferior gods was the Supreme God, called EL ELYON in Canaanite and biblical literature. He was regarded as Creator of Heaven and Earth (Gen. 1:1) and supreme among all the other deities in Heaven (see here). It was this 71st God, the God of all gods (Dan. 2:47) who was to reign over the new nation of Israel, as their personal deity. The Israelites were the Chosen Nation (Ex. 19:6), since their god was the God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, the most powerful of all the deities, and the father of all the other gods.^[48]

 

Anthropomorphism in the bible

Israel’s faith in God found concrete expression in anthropomorphic language. Anthropomorphisms occur in all parts of the bible. God is described as having eyes (Am. 9:3), ears (Dan. 9:18), hands (Isa. 5:25), and feet (Gen. 3:8; Isa. 63:3). He molds man out of the dust, plants a garden, takes His rest (Gen. 2:3, 7–8). He speaks (Gen. 1:3; Lev. 4:1), listens (Ex. 16:12), and closes the door of Noah’s ark (Gen. 7:16); He even whistles (Isa. 7:18). Other expressions credit God with human emotions: He laughs (Ps. 2:4), rejoices (Zep. 3:17), becomes angry (I Chr. 13:10), disgusted (Lev. 20:23), regretful (Jer. 42:10), and revengeful (Isa. 1:24). Very frequently He is declared to be a jealous God (Ex. 20:5; Deut. 5:9). He also changes His mind after being convinced by Moses not to wipe out the Israelites (Ex. 32).

Are these descriptions just ways for us to better understand YHWH, using familiar human experiences, or was this the legitimate understanding of YHWH by the ancient Israelites?

Other descriptions in the Torah describe God as taking a human form at one point (Gen. 18) and as having some sort of deficiency in his omniscience (Gen. 18:21; also see Ibn Ezra on the verse). Other verses perhaps describe deficiencies in his omnipresence (Gen. 11:7, Ex. 24:9-11, Gen. 3:7-11, 18:21, Ez. 1:26). They may have also seen God as being in the Image of man (which is why idols were usually depicted as a human face) as Gen. 1:26 describes the gods creating Man in their Image.

 

Centralized worship

Temple worship was a central part of the Israelite religion, with most of the legal laws in the Torah centered around sacrificial rituals. But beside the main Temple, first in Shiloh and then in Jerusalem, there were the smaller sacrifices that individual Israelites would bring atop mountain peaks known as bamot. These mini temples, often just stone structures, were widespread until they were abolished by King Hezekiah and centralized worship in Jerusalem was instituted as the law in the book of Deuteronomy.

A scriptural analysis implies that bamot, or sacrificing out of Jerusalem, was permitted and practiced until the times of King Hezekiah. Great leaders such as Samuel, Saul, Elijah, and Samson’s father, would all sacrifice outside of the central temple – without any condemnation from God. For more on this subject and more evidence to support it, see here.

Even full-fledged Temples for YHWH were found in several cities including Hatzor, Megido, Jerusalem, Shechem, Bethel, Dan, and the Egyptian city of Elephantine. Interestingly enough, cities such as Jerusalem, Shechem, and Bethel are given sanctity in the Genesis narratives in which the patriarchs all erect altars in those cities, suggesting some sort of validation for the temples in those cities (see here). In the Mesha Stele (ca. 840 BCE), the king of Moab brags about looting the vessels of YHWH in the city of Nabo, implying that a temple was erected there for YHWH.

 

Levite priests

In early Israelite history, it seems that all Levites were regarded as priests (kohanim). Only at a later point did a specific clan within the Levite tribe (the Zadokites) take monopoly over the priestly functions by claiming descent from Aaron. Aaron was then regarded to be the only legitimate Kohen, as well as his descendants afterwards. For more on this subject and more scriptural evidence, see here.

 

Child sacrifice in ancient Israel

Child sacrifice seems to have been practiced in ancient Israel, although it was a controversial ritual (called Molich). It’s not clear if early Torah Law prohibited child sacrifice, with some verses explicitly condemning it while others may suggest that it was once acceptable.

The binding of Isaac narrative (in Gen. Ch. 22) takes a moderate approach to child sacrifice. God seems to condone the idea of child sacrifice, even commanding Abraham to do so, but ultimately telling him not to sacrifice Isaac.

In Judges Ch. 11 and 12, the Jewish leader Jephthah sacrificed his daughter, to no condemnation. His rule over Israel was in ancient Israel, well before the Monarchical era.

Several verses may suggest a permissible attitude towards child sacrifice, although it is not clear.

You shall not put off the skimming of the first yield of your vats. You shall give Me the first-born among your sons.

(Ex. 22:28)

Over here, first-child offering is equated with giving the first fruits and livestock, which were offered as sacrifices. In other Torah passages (perhaps written by other authors at different time periods), this obligation is replaced with a “redemption” in which an animal replaces the human first-born sacrifice:

But the firstling of an ass you shall redeem with a sheep; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. And you must redeem every first-born among your sons. None shall appear before Me empty-handed.

(Ex. 34:20)

The first issue of the womb of every being, man or beast, that is offered to the LORD, shall be yours; but you shall have the first-born of man redeemed, and you shall also have the firstling of unclean animals redeemed.

(Num. 18:15)

Jeremiah explicitly condemns child sacrifice:

And they have built the shrines of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in fire—which I never commanded, which never came to My mind.

(Jer. 7:31)

However, from Ezekiel it sounds that it may have once actually been the law:

Moreover, I gave them laws that were not good and rules by which they could not live.

And I defiled them by their gifts, when they set aside (“set over” – same word used for Molich practice) every first issue of the womb, that I may render them guilty, so that they know that I am the Lord.

(Ez. 20:25-26)

This may be suggesting that child-sacrifice was the “no-good laws” of the previous verse that God has originally commanded them. Was this part of a reform movement attempting to replace the earlier Israelite religion that condoned child sacrifice? This ambiguous – and perplexing – verse remains open for flexible interpretations.[48b]

Micah, from the earliest Prophets, speaks of child sacrifice in the context of animal sacrifices offered to the Lord:

Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with myriads of streams of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for my sins?

(Micah 6:7)

Ultimately, it will remain a mystery.

 

Mythology and history

Much of the mythology of the Israelites, presented as history in the book of Genesis, reflects the political and religious motivations of their writers. They paint a history of the past to best explain the circumstances they then lived in. We will provide some examples (see here for more on this subject). Note that these are merely theories with no concrete way of proving them.

Genesis Ch. 9 provides a narrative to justify the enslavement of the Canaanites. Canaanite enslavement was widespread throughout ancient Israel. Gen. 19 tells of two bastard children, soon to be the fathers of Israel’s neighbors, and often monarchy-era political rivals, Amon and Moab. This seems like an obvious shame-story about their (brotherly) rivals. Same goes with the brotherly rivalry between Jacob and Esau, described as the father of the Edomites, as he is shamed over and over in the Genesis storyline and is proclaimed inferior to his brother Jacob and his offspring the Israelites.

In Gen. 26 there’s a treaty made between Isaac and the Philistines. This seems like a narrative intended to raise the aspirations for a peace treaty with the Monarchy-era military rivals of Israel, the Philistines.

The exalting of Joseph – particularly the Ephraim line – throughout the later narratives of Genesis serve as justification for Jeroboam’s ascent to the throne as a member of the Ephraim tribe. Same goes for the exaltation of Judah (Gen. 49:10).

There are several versions of seemingly the same stories throughout Genesis. This is perhaps a reflection of different versions of the stories as told in different regions in Israel. Examples are the two Beersheba narratives (Gen. 21 and 26), the three wife-sister narratives (Gen. 12, 20, and 26), and the naming of Bethel (Gen. 28:19 and 35:15). The compiler of Genesis may have seen it fit to record all versions of the narratives in his Genesis work, or he actually believed these stories happened in multiple ways at different times.

There are several narratives in Genesis that have the patriarchs build altars and offer sacrifices in several cities that are later to become Israelite holy sites. These include Mt. Moraiah, Shechem, and Bethel. This seems to be a means of validating the Israelite temples built in each of these cities.

The Table of Nations in Gen. Ch. 10 attempts to explain the origins of the nations of the world. That is, only the nations that the ancient Near East people would know of. There’s a glaring absence of the great Chinese and Indian civilizations, as well as the Northern European, American, and lower African nations and kingdoms. See here for more on this subject.

 

 

Neighboring influence on the Israelite religion

After the Jews were exiled to Babylon, they returned to the Land of Israel with their religion and their culture – as well as borrowing some of the local Babylonian laws. Babylonian culture was also influencing the Israelites during the First Temple era as Babylon was a powerful world player.

Many of the laws of the famed Code of Hammurabi (ca. 1750 BCE) are echoed in the legal laws of the Torah (for example the famed Lex Talionis “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” is originally from the Code of Hammurabi). Most of Exodus 21 and 22 are strikingly identical, in both content and writing, to the famous Code of Hammurabi of ancient Babylon as well as parts of the Eshnunna laws.^[49] The sacrificial system, described throughout Leviticus, parallels the sacrificial system of the ancient Near East religions. Similarly, rituals like circumcision and the menstrual taboo are found all throughout religions that preceded Torah.

The Creation story of Genesis Ch. 1 parallels the Babylonian mythological tale of Enuma Elish; the flood story, that of Sumer’s Epic of Gilgamesh. The story of Moses’ birth in Exodus Ch. 2 parallels the birth stories of other great leaders in the ancient Near East, such as the birth of Sargon of Akkad and of Horus of Egypt.

The architect of the Tabernacle is strikingly similar to that of the military tent of Ramses II (ca. 1250 BCE), the presumed Pharaoh of the Exodus.^[50] The Holy Ark may derive from the Egyptian barque (or sacred bark), a boat-shaped box that would transport the gods from one temple to another (especially by the Egyptian Opet Festival). This bark was carried by priests using two polls that passed through the ark horizontally. Two impressive figureheads at the prow and stern of each bark identified its owner. Amun’s bark had ram’s head figureheads since that animal was sacred to him, Mut had a woman’s head fore and aft, each wearing the Double Crown, and Khonsu had falcon’s heads with lunar crescents and disks.^[51] These two figureheads facing each other bear striking resemblance to the Cherubim that mounted the Holy Ark in the Israelite Tabernacle/Temple. The Cherubim as well were borrowed from the iconography of the Assyrians, Pheonocians, and Egyptians who used hybrid winged creatures facing each other to demonstrate the king’s protection on the throne.^[52]

Let us remember that the Levites were likely the ones to have escaped Egypt during the reign of Rameses II. They were the priests carrying and caring for the Tabernacle and its Holy Ark. Their inspiration from Egyptian architecture is best understood in this context.

 

When Israelite religion turned to Judaism

Sometime in the 7th-century BCE, perhaps during the reign of King Josiah, the Israelite religion turned into Judaism (see here). Juda – referring to the tribe of Judah that mainly survived the Assyrian onslaught and exiles – developed a religion called Juda-ism. This religion was largely based on the preceding Israelite religion, but developed many new moral, civil, and ritual laws. These laws make up the core of Deuteronomy, of which many of the laws go way back to much before the 7th-century BCE. Many of these laws were so revolutionary that it would influence the entire world to eventually change their understanding of the divine and of morality.

For a detailed discussion on this topic, see here. But here’s a brief rundown of the revolutionary elements of Torah:

The worship of one God, to the exclusion of all other divine forces of nature. Absolute morality as opposed to Law as a method of appeasing the gods. Equal law for all citizens of the nation, as opposed to the hierarchy of class seen in the other ancient Near East societies. The many new social welfare programs to care for the fringes of society. Diminished monarchy to prevent authoritarianism. The absolute relationship between God and His people, irrespective of the land they are in.

These biblical innovations, among many more, are what made Judaism become the most influential religion to date. More than half the world practices religions that are directly born out of Judaism. All this began with a people living on a land, influenced by Canaanite, Egyptian, Babylonian, and Assyrian culture who were to reinvent their history, reimagine the role of the divine in this world, and develop the most influential and dynamic religion the world has yet to see. They were the Israelites.