Israelites#Related terms

{{further|Israel (name)}}

{{History of Israel}}

The first reference to Israel in non-biblical sources is found in the Merneptah Stele in {{circa|1209 BCE}}. The inscription is very brief and says: "Israel is laid waste and his seed is not". The inscription refers to a people, not an individual or nation state,{{cite book |last=Greenspahn |first=Frederick E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=inRKaf_To5sC&pg=PA12 |title=The Hebrew Bible: New Insights and Scholarship |publisher=NYU Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8147-3187-1 |pages=12ff |access-date=14 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701135714/https://books.google.com/books?id=inRKaf_To5sC&pg=PA12 |archive-date=1 July 2023 |url-status=live}} who inhabit central PalestineVan der Toorn, K. (196). [https://books.google.com/books?id=VSJWkrXfbLQC&pg=PA282 Family Religion in Babylonia, Ugarit and Israel: Continuity and Changes in the Forms of Religious Life]. Brill. pp. 181, 282. or the highlands of Samaria.{{sfn|Grabbe|2008|p=75}} Some Egyptologists suggest that Israel appeared in earlier topographical reliefs, dating to the Eighteenth Dynasty or Nineteenth Dynasty (i.e. reign of Ramesses II) ,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. but this reading remains controversial.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

In the Hebrew Bible, Israel first appears in {{Bibleverse|Genesis|32:29}}, where an angel renames Jacob to Israel after Jacob fought with him.{{Bibleverse|Genesis|32:29|HE}}Scherman, Rabbi Nosson, ed. (2006). The Chumash. The Artscroll Series. Mesorah. pp. 176–77.Kaplan, Aryeh (1985). "Jewish Meditation". New York: Schocken. p. 125. According to the folk etymology given in the text, Israel is derived from yisra, "to prevail over" or "to struggle with", and El, a Canaanite-Mesopotamian creator god that is tenuously identified with Yahweh.{{sfn|Cross|1973}} However, modern scholarship interprets El as the subject, "El rules/struggles",{{Cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Victor |title=The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18–50 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |year=1995 |isbn=0-8028-2521-4 |page=334}}{{Cite book |last=Wenham |first=Gordon |title=Word Biblical Commentary |volume=2: Genesis 16–50 |publisher=Word Books |year=1994 |location=Dallas, Texas |pages=296–97}}{{Cite book |last1=Berlin |first1=Adele |title=The Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation |last2=Brettler |first2=Marc |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |page=68}} from sarar ({{lang|hbo|rtl=y|שָׂרַר}}) 'to rule'{{cite web |title=שׂרר |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Klein_Dictionary%2C_%D7%A9%D7%82%D7%A8%D7%A8 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921140616/https://www.sefaria.org/Klein_Dictionary,_%D7%A9%D7%82%D7%A8%D7%A8 |archive-date=21 September 2020 |access-date=5 August 2020 |publisher=Sefaria}} (cognate with sar ({{lang|hbo|rtl=y|שַׂר}}) 'ruler',{{cite web |title=Klein Dictionary, שַׂר |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Klein_Dictionary%2C_%D7%A9%D6%B7%D7%82%D7%A8 |access-date=5 August 2020 |website=www.sefaria.org |archive-date=21 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921114549/https://www.sefaria.org/Klein_Dictionary,_%D7%A9%D6%B7%D7%82%D7%A8 |url-status=live }} Akkadian šarru 'ruler, king'{{cite web |title=šarru |url=http://www.assyrianlanguages.org/akkadian/dosearch.php?searchkey=64&language=id |access-date=5 August 2020 |website=Akkadian Dictionary |publisher=Association Assyrophile de France |archive-date=29 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029214640/http://www.assyrianlanguages.org/akkadian/dosearch.php?searchkey=64&language=id |url-status=live }}), which is likely cognate with the similar root sara ({{lang|hbo|rtl=y|שׂרה}}) "fought, strove, contended".{{cite web |title=שׂרה |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Klein_Dictionary%2C_%D7%A9%D7%82%D7%A8%D7%94 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921140355/https://www.sefaria.org/Klein_Dictionary,_%D7%A9%D7%82%D7%A8%D7%94 |archive-date=21 September 2020 |access-date=5 August 2020 |publisher=Sefaria}}{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Even-Shoshan |first=Avraham |dictionary=Even-Shoshan Dictionary |title= שׂרה}} Dr. Tzemah Yoreh clarifies that Israel is a combination of 'to strive with' (ש.ר.ה) and 'God' (אל) and that Jacob's name alternates between Jacob and Israel in the biblical narrative, even after his renaming, due to the authors having different opinions about Jacob's moral character.{{Cite web |last=Yoreh |first=Tzemah |date=29 December 2017 |title=Jacob Is Renamed Israel (Twice): Why Does the Name Jacob Remain? |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/jacob-is-renamed-israel-twice-why-does-the-name-jacob-remain |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250529090138/https://www.thetorah.com/article/jacob-is-renamed-israel-twice-why-does-the-name-jacob-remain |archive-date=29 May 2025 |website=TheTorah.com}}

File:Mosaic Tribes.jpg, Jerusalem]]The history of the Israelite people can be divided into these categories, according to the Hebrew Bible:{{Cite book |last=Dearman |first=J. Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jTdtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA113 |title=Reading Hebrew Bible Narratives |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-024648-8 |pages=113–129}}

; Pre-Monarchic Period (unknown to c. 1050 BCE)

: The Israelites were named after their ancestor, Jacob/Israel, who was the grandson of Abraham. They were organized into 12 tribes: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph (or Tribe of Ephraim and Tribe of Manasseh) and Benjamin. Originally, they went to Egypt after a famine in Canaan but were enslaved by the Egyptians.Bereshith, Genesis They escaped and organized themselves as a kritarchy,{{bibleverse|Exodus|18:13–26|NRSV}} where they followed laws given by Moses. Afterwards, the Israelites conquered Canaan and fought with several neighbours until they established a monarchic state.

:* This period is covered by Genesis 12 to 1 Samuel 8.

; United Monarchy (c. 1050–930 BCE)

: As a monarchic state, the Israelite tribes were united by the leadership of Saul, David and Solomon. The reigns of Saul and David were marked by military victories and Israel's transition to a mini-empire with vassal states.{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=1 Samuel 14: Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible |url=https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mhm/1-samuel-14.html#verses-47 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123041504/https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mhm/1-samuel-14.html#verses-47 |archive-date=23 January 2024 |website=StudyLight.org}}{{Bibleverse|2 Sam|8:1–14|NRSV}} Solomon's reign was relatively more peaceful and oversaw the construction of the First Temple,{{sfn|Tetley|2005|p=105}} with the help of Phoenician allies.{{harvnb|Dever|2005|p=97}}; {{harvnb|Mendels|1987|p=131}}; {{harvnb|Brand|Mitchell|2015|p=1538}} This Temple was where the Ark of the Covenant was stored; its former location was the City of David.Barnes, W. E. (1899), [https://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/2_chronicles/5.htm Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges] on 2 Chronicles 5, accessed 17 April 2020

:* This period is covered by 1 Samuel 8 to 1 Kings 11 or alternatively, 1 Chronicles 10 to 2 Chronicles 9.

; Divided Monarchy (c. 930–597 BCE)

: File:The map of the Holy Land by Marino Sanudo (drawn in 1320).jpg, Pietro Vesconte, 1321, showing the allotments of the tribes of Israel. Described by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld as "the first non-Ptolemaic map of a definite country"{{cite book|author=Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld|title=Facsimile-atlas to the Early History of Cartography: With Reproductions of the Most Important Maps Printed in the XV and XVI Centuries|year=1889|publisher=Kraus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-IMSQAACAAJ|pages=51, 64}}]]The monarchic state was divided into two states, Israel and Judah, due to civil and religious disputes. Eventually, Israel and Judah met their demise after the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions respectively. According to the Biblical prophets, these invasions were divine judgements for religious apostasy and corrupt leadership.

:* This period is covered by 1 Kings 12 to 2 Kings 25 or alternatively, 2 Chronicles 10 to 2 Chronicles 36. The Book of Jonah narrates the prophet Jonah going to the Neo-Assyrian Empire to deliver a divine message.

; Exilic Period (c. 597–538 BCE)

: 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 the First Persian Empire in 539 BCE.{{Sfn|Grabbe|2004|pp=209–216; 267; 271–276}} One year later, according to traditional dating, Cyrus permitted the Judahites to return to their homeland.{{sfn|Grabbe|2004|pp=209–216; 267; 271–276}} This homeland was re-named as the Province of Yehud, which eventually became a satrapy of Eber-Nari.{{sfn|Grabbe|2004|pp=209–216; 267; 271–276}}

:* This period is covered by the entirety of the Book of Daniel.

; Persian Period (c. 539–331 BCE)

: In 537–520 BCE, Zerubbabel became Yehud's governor and started work on the Second Temple, which was stopped.{{sfn|Grabbe|2004|pp=278–285}} In 520–516 BCE, Haggai and Zechariah goaded the Judahites to resume work on the Temple. Upon completion, Joshua became its high priest.{{sfn|Grabbe|2004|pp=278–285}}{{sfn|Grabbe|2004|pp=278–285}} In 458–433 BCE, Ezra and Nehemiah led another group of Judahites to Yehud, with Artaxerxes's permission. Nehemiah rebuilt the temple after some unspecified disaster and removed foreign influence from the Judahite community.{{cite book |last=Myers |first=Jacob M. |author-link=Jacob M. Myers |title=Ezra, Nehemiah |date=1964 |publisher=Doubleday |series=Anchor Bible Series 14 |location=Garden City, New York |pages=XXXVI-XXXVII; LXX |lccn=65-23788}}{{sfn|Grabbe|2004|pp=292–310; 356–357}} That said, some Judahites elected to stay in Persia, where they almost faced annihilation.{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Esther 3 Barnes' Notes |url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/barnes/esther/3.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213005602/https://biblehub.com/commentaries/barnes/esther/3.htm |archive-date=13 February 2024 |website=Biblehub.com}}{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Esther 9 Barnes' Notes |url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/barnes/esther/9.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240212110948/https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-deliberately-flawed-divine-torah |archive-date=12 February 2024 |website=TheTorah.com}}

:* This period is covered by the entirety of the Book of Ezra, Book of Nehemiah, the Book of Esther, the Book of Haggai, the Book of Zechariah, and the Book of Malachi.{{sfn|Grabbe|2004|pp=85-90}}{{sfn|Grabbe|2004|pp=85-106}}

Biblically, the Israelites referred to the direct descendants of Israel,{{bibleverse|Genesis|35:22-26|KJV}}{{Cite book |last=Hayes |first=Christine E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGZ0_PUBLVcC&pg=PA19 |title=Gentile Impurities and Jewish Identities: Intermarriage and Conversion from the Bible to the Talmud |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-803446-9 |pages=19–44}} a view that was reinforced by Second Temple Judaism. They referred to themselves as the sons of Israel.{{Cite journal |last=Block |first=Daniel I. |date=1984 |title='Israel'—'sons of Israel': A study in Hebrew eponymic usage |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/000842988401300305 |journal=Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=301–326 |doi=10.1177/000842988401300305 |via=SageJournals}}, gentiles (i.e. resident aliens) could fully assimilate into the Israelite community.

Some scholars interpret sons of Israel as citizens of the Israelite community, especially after Israel's biological family transitioned from a clan to a society ({{Bibleverse|Exodus|1:9}}). In fact, there is evidence of gentiles (i.e. resident aliens) assimilating into the Israelite community.

Whilst the Israelites called themselves the sons of Jacob, some scholars interpret this as citizens of the Israelite community, especially after Israel's biological family transitioned from a clan to a society ({{Bibleverse|Exodus|1:9}}). Contemporary ethnicities in the ancient Near East similarly named themselves this way. Likewise, tribal membership in Israel was likely based on one's self-declared allegiance or residency within an assigned tribal territory ({{Bibleverse|Ezekiel|47:21-23}}).

Alternatively, the Israelites were a religious group that adhered to Yahwism{{Cite journal |last=Martin |first=Troy W. |date=2003 |title=The Covenant of Circumcision (Genesis 17:9-14) and the Situational Antitheses in Galatians 3:28 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3268093 |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |volume=122 |issue=1 |pages=111–125 |doi=10.2307/3268093 |jstor=3268093 |url-access=subscription}} and that their ethnic identity was based on 'covenantal circumcision' rather than ancestry ({{Bibleverse|Genesis|17:9-14}}). {{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Shaye J.D. |title=The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties |date=2001 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520226937}}

The Israelites trace their ancestors to Jacob, who in turn descended from Abraham. Abraham was formerly a native of Ur Kaśdim ({{Bibleverse|Genesis|11:31|KJV}}), whose location is hotly contested. Some scholars argue that it is located in lower Mesopotamia{{cite web |author=E.H.Gifford |title=Eusebius of Caesarea: Praeparatio Evangelica (Preparation for the Gospel). Tr. E.H. Gifford (1903) - Book 9 |url=http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/eusebius_pe_09_book9.htm |access-date=15 July 2017 |website=Tertullian.org}}{{cite book |last=Arnold |first=Bill T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nAemO6HmOgYC&dq=chaldeans+settled+ninth+century+UR&pg=PA87 |title=Who Were the Babylonians? |publisher=Brill |year=2005 |isbn=978-90-04-13071-5 |page=87}}{{cite book |last=Pinches |first=Theophilus Goldridge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9f02AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA193 |title=The Old Testament in the light of the historical records and legends of Assyria and Babylonia |publisher=Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge |year=1902 |pages=193–}}{{cite web |title=Ur of the Chaldees - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia |url=http://www.internationalstandardbible.com/U/ur-of-the-chaldees.html |access-date=15 July 2017 |website=Internationalstandardbible.com}} whilst others locate it further north in upper Mesopotamia,{{cite web |author=Lipman |title=RaMBaN on Lech Lecha — Summary of Lech Lecha |url=http://www.jewishgates.com/file.asp?File_ID=1350 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040921094233/http://www.jewishgates.com/file.asp?File_ID=1350 |archive-date=21 September 2004 |access-date=15 July 2017 |website=Gates to Jewish Heritage}} around northern Syria{{Cite web |last=Bohstrom |first=Philippe |date=6 February 2017 |title=Peoples of the Bible: The Legend of the Amorites |url=https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2017-02-06/ty-article-magazine/.premium/the-legend-of-the-amorites/0000017f-e3b2-d9aa-afff-fbfa042f0000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240126122013/https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2017-02-06/ty-article-magazine/.premium/the-legend-of-the-amorites/0000017f-e3b2-d9aa-afff-fbfa042f0000 |archive-date=26 January 2024 |website=Haaretz}}Issar, A. S. Strike the Rock and There Shall Come Water: Climate Changes, Water Resources and History of the Lands of the Bible, p. 67. Springer. 2014. or southeastern Turkey.{{cite book |last1=Pococke |first1=Richard |url=https://archive.org/details/gri_33125009339611 |title=A description of the East, and some other countries |last2=Gravelot |first2=Hubert François |last3=Grignion |first3=Charles |date=1743 |publisher=London : Printed for the author, by W. Bowyer |page=159 |access-date=22 October 2017}}{{cite web |last=Rendsburg |first=Gary |date=6 November 2019 |title=Ur Kasdim: Where Is Abraham's Birthplace? |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/ur-kasdim-where-is-abrahams-birthplace |website=thetorah.com}}

Theologians suggest that Canaan always belonged to the Israelites but was initially usurped by the descendants of Canaan, resulting in their conquest by Israel as divine punishment.{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Genesis 10 Barnes' Notes |url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/barnes/genesis/10.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206091716/https://biblehub.com/commentaries/barnes/genesis/10.htm |archive-date=6 February 2024 |website=Biblehub.com}} Israelite presence in Canaan was also established before Joshua's conquests according to a few biblical traditions.{{Cite web |last=Frankel |first=David |date=8 April 2015 |title=The Book of Chronicles and the Ephraimites that Never Went to Egypt |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-book-of-chronicles-and-the-ephraimites-that-never-went-to-egypt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240207090032/https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-book-of-chronicles-and-the-ephraimites-that-never-went-to-egypt |archive-date=7 February 2024 |website=TheTorah.com}}{{Cite web |last=Wazana |first=Nili |date=15 April 2018 |title=Israel's Declaration of Independence and the Biblical Right to the Land |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/israels-declaration-of-independence-and-the-biblical-right-to-the-land |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240207091222/https://www.thetorah.com/article/israels-declaration-of-independence-and-the-biblical-right-to-the-land |archive-date=7 February 2024 |website=TheTorah.com}} File:Stiftshuette Modell Timnapark.jpg constructed under the auspices of Moses, in Timna Park, Israel|upright=1.15]]

{{see also|History of ancient Israel and Judah|History of Israel|History of Palestine}}Efforts to confirm the biblical ethnogenesis of Israel through archaeology have largely been abandoned as unproductive. Many scholars see the traditional narratives as national myths with little historical value, but some posit that a small group of exiled Egyptians contributed to the Exodus narrative.{{efn|"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."{{sfn|Faust|2015|p=476}}}} William G. Dever cautiously identifies this group with the Tribe of Joseph, while Richard Elliott Friedman identifies it with the Tribe of Levi.{{sfn|Dever|2003|p=231}}{{Cite book |last=Friedman |first=Richard Elliott |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_sbADQAAQBAJ |title=The Exodus |date=12 September 2017 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-06-256526-6 |language=en |access-date=15 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701135632/https://books.google.com/books?id=_sbADQAAQBAJ |archive-date=1 July 2023 |url-status=live}} Josephus quoting Manetho identifies them with the Hyksos.{{Cite book |last=Assmann |first=Jan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XEMadfTi_U4C&q=Osarsiph&pg=PA227 |title=The Mind of Egypt: History and Meaning in the Time of the Pharaohs |date=2003 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-01211-0 }}{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/L186JosephusILifeAgainstApion |title=L 186 Josephus I Life Against Apion |language=English}} Other scholars believe that the Exodus narrative was a "collective memory" of several events from the Bronze Age.{{sfn|Na'aman|2011|pp=62-69}}{{cite book |title=Rethinking Israel: Studies in the History and Archaeology of Ancient Israel in Honor of Israel Finkelstein |last=Killebrew |first=Ann E. |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-57506-787-2 |pages=151–158 |editor-last=Lipschits |editor-first=Oded |chapter="Out of the Land of Egypt, Out of the House of Slavery..." (Exodus 20:2): Forced Migration, Slavery and the Emergence of Israel |editor-last2=Gadot |editor-first2=Yuval |editor-last3=Adams |editor-first3=Matthew Joel |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/43737298}}

In addition, it is unlikely that the Israelites overtook the southern Levant by force, according to archaeological evidence. Instead, they branched out of indigenous Canaanite peoples that long inhabited the region, which included Syria, ancient Israel, and the Transjordan region.{{sfn|Tubb|1998|pp=13–14}}{{sfn|McNutt|1999|p=47}}K. L. Noll (2001). [https://books.google.com/books?id=2rnyjxLHy-QC&pg=PA164 Canaan and Israel in Antiquity: An Introduction]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701140145/https://books.google.com/books?id=2rnyjxLHy-QC&pg=PA164|date=1 July 2023}} 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." Their culture was monolatristic, with a primary focus on Yahweh (or El) worship,{{sfn|Cross|1973}} but after the Babylonian exile, it became monotheistic, with partial influence from Zoroastrianism. The latter decisively separated the Israelites from other Canaanites.{{sfn|Tubb|1998|pp=13–14}}{{Failed verification|date=May 2024|reason=None of these sources mention anything about Zoroastrianism.}} The Israelites used the Canaanite script and communicated in a Canaanite language known as Biblical Hebrew. The language's modern descendant is today the only surviving dialect of the Canaanite languages.{{Cite book |last=Moore Cross |first=Frank |title=Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in History of the Religion of Israel |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1997 |isbn=0-674-09176-0 |location=Massachusetts |page=62 }}{{Cite book |last=Kuzar |first=Ron |title=Hebrew and Zionism: a discourse analytic cultural study |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |year=2001 |isbn=3-11-016993-2 |location=Berlin |page=235 }} 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.{{Cite journal |last1=Haber |first1=Marc |last2=Doumet-Serhal |first2=Claude |last3=Scheib |first3=Christiana |last4=Xue |first4=Yali |display-authors=3 |date=2017 |title=Continuity and Admixture in the Last Five Millennia of Levantine History from Ancient Canaanite and Present-Day Lebanese Genome Sequences |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=101 |issue=2 |pages=274–282 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2017.06.013 |pmid=28757201 |pmc=5544389 }}{{Cite journal |last1=Feldman |first1=Michal |last2=Master |first2=Daniel M. |last3=Bianco |first3=Raffaela A. |last4=Burri |first4=Marta |display-authors=3 |date=2019 |title=Ancient DNA sheds light on the genetic origins of early Iron Age Philistines |journal=ScienceAdvances |volume=5 |issue=7 |pages=eaax0061 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.aax0061 |pmid=31281897 |pmc=6609216 |bibcode=2019SciA....5...61F }}

File:Canaanites and Shasu Leader captives from Ramses III's tile collection; By Niv Lugassi.png depicting precursors of the Israelites in Canaan: Canaanites from city-states and a Shasu leader.{{Cite web|url=https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/34/6/9|title=Shasu or Habiru: Who Were the Early Israelites?|date=24 August 2015|website=The BAS Library|access-date=16 October 2022|archive-date=16 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016114617/https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/34/6/9|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch04-2.htm|title=Israelites as Canaanites|website=Macrohistory: World History|access-date=3 March 2019|archive-date=3 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190103145513/http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch04-2.htm|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/34/6/8|title=Inside, Outside: Where Did the Early Israelites Come From?|date=24 August 2015|website=The BAS Library|access-date=16 October 2022|archive-date=16 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016114612/https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/34/6/8|url-status=live}}|upright=0.7]]

Several theories exist for the origins of historical Israelites. Some believe they descend from raiding groups, itinerant nomads such as Habiru and Shasu or impoverished Canaanites, who were forced to leave wealthy urban areas and live in the highlands.{{Cite book |last=Killebrew |first=Ann E. |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Historical Books of the Hebrew Bible |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-19-026116-0 |editor-last=Kelle |editor-first=Brad E. |pages=79–93 |chapter=Early Israel's Origins, Settlement, and Ethnogenesis |access-date=31 March 2023 |editor-last2=Strawn |editor-first2=Brent A. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7y4DEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA79 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331202929/https://books.google.com/books?id=7y4DEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA79 |archive-date=31 March 2023 |url-status=live}} Gary Rendsburg argues that some archaic biblical traditions and other circumstantial evidence point to the Israelites emerging from the Shasu and other seminomadic peoples from the desert regions south of the Levant, later settling in the highlands of Canaan.{{cite book |title="An Excellent Fortress for His Armies, a Refuge for the People": Egyptological, Archaeological, and Biblical Studies in Honor of James K. Hoffmeier |last=Rendsburg |first=Gary A. |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-57506-994-4 |pages=327–339 |editor-last=Averbeck |editor-first=Richard E. |chapter=Israelite Origins |editor-last2=Younger (Jr.) |editor-first2=K. Lawson |chapter-url=https://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/docman/rendsburg/845-israelite-origins-hoffmeier-fs-1}} 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.Mittleman, Alan (2010). "Judaism: Covenant, Pluralism and Piety". In Turner, Bryan S., ed. [https://books.google.com/books?id=RheC7rG9u6gC&pg=PA345 The New Blackwell Companion to the Sociology of Religion]. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 340–363, 346.Gottwald, Norman (1999). [https://books.google.com/books?id=L_dIEeMj2EYC&pg=PA455 Tribes of Yahweh: A Sociology of the Religion of Liberated Israel, 1250–1050 BCE]. A&C Black. p. 433. cf. 455–56.Gabriel, Richard A. (2003). [https://books.google.com/books?id=72ZR9KCh9lUC&pg=PA63 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." Israel's demographics were similar to the demographics of Ammon, Edom, Moab and Phoenicia.{{sfn|Tubb|1998}}{{page needed|date=March 2024}}

Besides their focus on Yahweh worship, Israelite cultural markers were defined by body, food, and time, including male circumcision, avoidance of pork consumption and marking time based on the Exodus, the reigns of Israelite kings, and Sabbath observance. The first two markers were observed by neighbouring west Semites besides the Philistines, who were of Mycenaean Greek origin. As a result, intermarriage with other Semites was common.{{Cite book |last=Hendel |first=Ronald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=An08DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |title=Remembering Abraham: Culture, Memory, and History in the Hebrew Bible |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-517796-1 |pages=3–30}} But what distinguished Israelite circumcision from non-Israelite circumcision was its emphasis on 'correct' timing.{{Cite journal |last=Fleishman |first=Joseph |date=2001 |title=On the Significance of a Name Change and Circumcision in Genesis 17 |url=https://janes.scholasticahq.com/article/2434-on-the-significance-of-a-name-change-and-circumcision-in-genesis-17 |journal=Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society |volume=28 |issue=1 |via=JTS}}{{Cite book |last=Thiessen |first=Matthew |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/5287/chapter/148014788 |title=Contesting Conversion: Genealogy, Circumcision, and Identity in Ancient Judaism and Christianity |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199914456 |pages=43–64}} Israelite circumcision also served as a mnemonic sign for the circumcised, where their 'unnatural' erect circumcised penis would remind them to behave differently in sexual matters. 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 ({{Bibleverse|Leviticus|12:6}}).{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Shaye J.D. |url=https://dokumen.pub/why-arent-jewish-women-circumcised-gender-and-covenant-in-judaism-9780520920491.html |title=Why Aren't Jewish Women Circumcised?: Gender and Covenant in Judaism |date=2005 |publisher=978-0520212503 |isbn=978-0520212503 |pages=180–190}}

File:IHM מזבח הר עיבל.jpeg, seen by many archaeologists as an early Israelite cultic site]]Genealogy was another ethnic marker. While it was likely that Israelite identity was not exclusively based on blood descent,{{Cite book |last=Olyan |first=Saul |title=Rites and Rank: Hierarchy in Biblical Representations of Cult |date=2000 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-02948-1}} the Israelites used genealogy to engage in narcissism of small differences but also, self-criticism since their ancestors included morally questionable characters such as Jacob. Both these traits represented the "complexities of the Jewish soul".

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'.

In terms of appearance, rabbis described the Biblical Jews as being "midway between black and white" and having the "color of the boxwood tree".{{sfn|Goldenberg|2009|p=95}} Assuming Yurco's debated claim that the Israelites are depicted in reliefs from Merneptah's temple at Karnak is correct,{{cite journal |last=Yurco |first=Frank J. |author-link=Frank J. Yurco |date=1986 |title=Merenptah's Canaanite Campaign |journal=Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt |volume=23 |pages=195, 207 |doi=10.2307/40001099 |jstor=40001099}} the early Israelites may have wore the same attire and hairstyles as non-Israelite Canaanites.{{cite journal |last=Hasel |first=Michael G. |date=2003 |title=Merenptah's Inscription and Reliefs and the Origin of Israel (The Near East in the Southwest: Essays in Honor of William G. Dever) |journal=Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research |location=Boston |publisher=American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=58 |pages=27–36 |isbn=0-89757-065-0 |jstor=3768554 |editor-first1=Beth Alpert |editor-last1=Nakhai}}{{cite book |last=Stager |first=Lawrence E. |author-link=Lawrence Stager |title=The Oxford History of the Biblical World |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-513937-2 |editor-last=Coogan |editor-first=Michael |page=92 |chapter=Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DVHJRFW3mYC&pg=PA92}} Dissenting from this, Anson Rainey argued that the Israelites in the reliefs looked more similar to the Shasu.{{cite journal |last=Rainey |first=Anson F. |year=2001 |title=Israel in Merenptah's Inscription and Reliefs |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=57–75 |issn=0021-2059 |jstor=27926956}} 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.{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Beard |encyclopedia=The Jewish Encyclopedia |url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2690-beard |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240314092309/https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2690-beard |archive-date=14 March 2024 |last2=Muller |first2=W. Max |last3=Ginzberg |first3=Louis |last1=Adler |first1=Cyrus}}

{{further|Israelite highland settlement}}

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, had four-room houses and lived by an egalitarian ethos, which was exemplified by the absence of elaborate tombs, governor's mansions, certain houses being bigger than others etc. They followed a mixed economy, which prioritized self-sufficiency, cultivation of crops, animal husbandry and small-scale craft production. New technologies such as terraced farming, silos for grain storage and cisterns for rainwater collection were simultaneously introduced.{{Cite book |last=Rendsburg |first=Gary A. |chapter-url=https://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/docman/rendsburg/877-ch-3-text-notes/file |title=Ancient Israel: From Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple |date=2021 |publisher=Biblical Archaeology Society |editor=John Merill |chapter=The Emergence of Israel in Canaan |editor2=Hershel Shanks |isbn=978-1-880317-23-5 |pages=59–91}}

These settlements were built by inhabitants of the "general Southland" (i.e. modern Sinai and the southern parts of Israel and Jordan), 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 the Sea Peoples, particularly the Dan(an)u.Mark W. Bartusch, Understanding Dan: an exegetical study of a biblical city, tribe and ancestor, Volume 379 of Journal for the study of the Old Testament: Supplement series, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2003 Nonetheless, they intermingled with the former nomads, due to socioeconomic and military factors. Their interest in Yahwism and its concern for the underprivileged was another factor. Possible allusions to this historical reality in the Hebrew Bible include the aforementioned tribes, except for Issachar and Zebulun, descending from Bilhah and Zilpah, who were viewed as "secondary additions" to Israel.

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.{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=Theodore J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-erqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA73 |title=The Origin and Character of God: Ancient Israelite Religion through the Lens of Divinity |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0190072544 |pages=73–118}}{{sfn|Cross|1973}}

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 like incest, homosexuality, polygamy etc. in {{Bibleverse|Leviticus|18-20}}. While the death penalty was legislated for these 'secret crimes', they functioned as a warning, where offenders would confess out of fear and make appropriate reparations.{{Cite book |last1=Himbaza |first1=Innocent |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt284v7w.7 |title=The Bible on the Question of Homosexuality |last2=Schenker |first2=Adrien |last3=Edart |first3=Jean-Baptiste |date=2012 |publisher=Catholic University of America Press |isbn=978-0813218847 |pages=45–72|jstor=j.ctt284v7w.7 }}

{{Main|Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)||}}

File:Black Obelisk side 4 Jewish delegation.jpg, 841–840 BCE.{{cite book|last1=Delitzsch|first1=Friedrich|url=https://archive.org/stream/babelbibl00deli/babelbibl00deli#page/78/mode/1up|title=Babel and Bible;|last2=McCormack|first2=Joseph|last3=Carruth|first3=William Herbert|last4=Robinson|first4=Lydia Gillingham|date=1906|location=Chicago |publisher=The Open Court |page=78}}]]

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 by Eilat Mazar and Yosef Garfinkel show some support for the existence of the United Monarchy.

From 850 BCE onwards, a series of inscriptions mention the "House of David". They came from Israel's neighbours.{{sfn|Joffe|2002|p=450}}{{cite web|date=2 July 2014|title=Divided Kingdom, United Critics|website=Biblical Archaeology Society|url=https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/reviews/divided-kingdom-united-critics/|access-date=25 April 2021|archive-date=9 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190409185456/https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/reviews/divided-kingdom-united-critics/|url-status=live}}

File:LMLK,_Ezekiah_seals.jpg, son of Ahaz, king of Judah" – royal seal found at the Ophel excavations in Jerusalem]]{{Main|Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Judah|Expulsions and exoduses of Jews}}

Compared to the United Monarchy, the historicity of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah is widely accepted by historians and archaeologists.{{cite book |last1=Finkelstein |first1=Israel |author-link1=Israel Finkelstein |title=The Bible unearthed: archaeology's new vision of ancient Israel and the origin of its stories |last2=Silberman |first2=Neil Asher |author-link2=Neil Asher Silberman |date=2001 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-684-86912-4 |edition=1st Touchstone |location=New York}}{{rp|169–195}}{{cite web |last1=Wright |first1=Jacob L. |date=July 2014 |title=David, King of Judah (Not Israel) |url=http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/2014/07/wri388001.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301164250/http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/2014/07/wri388001.shtml |archive-date=1 March 2021 |access-date=15 May 2021 |website=The Bible and Interpretation}} Their destruction by the Assyrians and Babylonians respectively is also confirmed by archaeological evidence and extrabiblical sources.{{cite web |title=British Museum – Cuneiform tablet with part of the Babylonian Chronicle (605–594 BCE) |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/c/cuneiform_nebuchadnezzar_ii.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030154541/https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/c/cuneiform_nebuchadnezzar_ii.aspx |archive-date=30 October 2014 |access-date=30 October 2014}}{{cite web |title=ABC 5 (Jerusalem Chronicle) |url=https://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/abc5/jerusalem.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505195611/https://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/abc5/jerusalem.html |archive-date=5 May 2019 |access-date=8 February 2022 |website=www.livius.org}}{{Cite book |last=Faust |first=Avraham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NcnPAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA119 |title=Judah in the Neo-Babylonian Period: The Archaeology of Desolation |publisher=Society of Biblical Lit. |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-58983-641-9 |pages=140–143}}{{cite journal |author=Yardenna Alexandre |year=2020 |title=The Settlement History of Nazareth in the Iron Age and Early Roman Period |url=http://www.atiqot.org.il/download.ashx?id=1797 |url-status=live |journal='Atiqot |volume=98 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200526102938/http://www.atiqot.org.il/download.ashx?id=1797 |archive-date=26 May 2020 |access-date=26 May 2020}}{{rp|306}}

Christian Frevel argues that Yahwism was rooted in the culture of the Kingdom of Israel, who introduced it to the Kingdom of Judah via Ahab's expansions and sociopolitical cooperation, which was prompted by Hazael's conquests.{{cite journal |last=Frevel |first=Christian |date=2021 |title=When and from Where did YHWH Emerge? Some Reflections on Early Yahwism in Israel and Judah |journal=Entangled Religions |volume=12 |issue=2 |doi=10.46586/er.12.2021.8776 |issn=2363-6696 |doi-access=free |hdl=2263/84039 |hdl-access=free }} Frevel has also argued that Judah was a 'vassal-like' state to Israel, under the Omrides. 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.{{Cite book |title="And in Length of Days Understanding" (Job 12:12): Essays on Archaeology in the Eastern Mediterranean and Beyond in Honor of Thomas E. Levy |last1=Gadot |first1=Yuval |publisher=Springer Nature |year=2023 |isbn=978-3-031-27330-8 |pages=771–786 |last2=Kleiman |first2=Assaf |last3=Uziel |first3=Joe |editor-last=Ben-Yosef |editor-first=Erez |chapter=The Interconnections Between Jerusalem and Samaria in the Ninth to Eighth Centuries BCE: Material Culture, Connectivity and Politics |editor-last2=Jones |editor-first2=Ian W. N. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NcPOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA772}}

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.{{Cite journal |last=Faust |first=Avraham |date=2019 |title=Israelite Temples: Where Was Israelite Cult Not Practiced, and Why |journal=Religions |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=106 |doi=10.3390/rel10020106 |issn=2077-1444 |doi-access=free}} According to William G. Dever, Israelite identity in the 9th-8th centuries BCE can be identified through a combination of archaeological and cultural traits that distinguish them from their neighbours. These traits include being born and living within the territorial borders of Israel or Judah, speaking Hebrew, living in specific house types, using locally produced pottery, and following particular burial practices. Israelites were also part of a rural, kin-based society, and adhered to Yahwism, though not necessarily in a monotheistic way. Their material culture was simple but distinct, and their societal organization was centered around family and inheritance. These traits, while shared with some neighbouring peoples, were uniquely Israelite in their specific combination.{{Cite book |last=Dever |first=William G. |title=Beyond the texts: an archaeological portrait of ancient Israel and Judah |date=2017 |publisher=SBL Press |isbn=978-0-88414-218-8 |location=Atlanta |pages=505–506}}

The Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire around 720 BCE.{{sfn|Hasegawa|Levin|Radner|2018|p=55}} The records of Sargon II of Assyria indicate that he deported part of the population to Assyria. Some Israelites migrated to the southern kingdom of Judah,{{Cite journal |last=Finkelstein |first=Israel |date=28 June 2015 |title=Migration of Israelites into Judah after 720 BCE: An Answer and an Update |url=https://doi.org/10.1515/zaw-2015-0011 |journal=Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft |language=en |volume=127 |issue=2 |pages=188–206 |doi=10.1515/zaw-2015-0011 |issn=1613-0103 |s2cid=171178702}} while those that remained in Samaria, concentrated mainly around Mount Gerizim, developed a new ethnic identity as Samaritans.{{sfn|Shen|Lavi|Kivisild|Chou|2004}}{{Cite book |last=Finkelstein |first=Israel |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/949151323 |title=The forgotten kingdom : the archaeology and history of Northern Israel |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-58983-910-6 |pages=158 |oclc=949151323}} Foreign groups were also settled by the Assyrians in the territories of the conquered kingdom. Research indicates that only a portion of the surviving Israelite population intermarried with Mesopotamians settlers.{{Cite book |last=Cline |first=Eric H. |title=From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible |date=2008 |publisher=National Geographic (US) |isbn=978-1-4262-0208-7}}{{Cite journal |last1=Shen |first1=Peidong |last2=Lavi |first2=Tal |last3=Kivisild |first3=Toomas |last4=Chou |first4=Vivian |last5=Sengun |first5=Deniz |last6=Gefel |first6=Dov |last7=Shpirer |first7=Issac |last8=Woolf |first8=Eilon |last9=Hillel |first9=Jossi |last10=Feldman |first10=Marcus W. |last11=Oefner |first11=Peter J. |date=2004 |title=Reconstruction of patrilineages and matrilineages of Samaritans and other Israeli populations from Y-Chromosome and mitochondrial DNA sequence Variation |journal=Human Mutation |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=248–260 |doi=10.1002/humu.20077 |issn=1059-7794 |pmid=15300852 |s2cid=1571356}} In their native Samaritan Hebrew, the Samaritans identify as "Israel", "B'nai Israel" or "Shamerim/Shomerim" (i.e. "Guardians/Keepers/Watchers").{{sfn|Manzur|1979}}{{cite journal |last1=Bowman |first1=John |date=8 February 1963 |title=BANŪ ISRĀ'ĪL IN THE QUR'ĀN |journal=Islamic Studies |publisher=Islamic Research Institute |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=447–455 |jstor=20832712 |quote=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).}}{{cite web |title=The Samaritan Identity |url=https://www.the-samaritans.net/ |access-date=15 September 2023 |publisher=The Israelite Samaritan Community in Israel |quote="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."}}{{cite web |date=26 May 2020 |title=The Keepers: Israelite Samaritan Identity |url=https://www.israelite-samaritans.com/history/keepers-israelite-samaritan-identity/ |access-date=15 September 2023 |publisher=Israelite Samaritan Information Institute |quote="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."}} Despite this, belief in the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel emerged because of the heavy assimilation faced by Samarian deportees.{{cite journal |last1=Lyman |first1=Stanford M. |year=1998 |title=The Lost Tribes of Israel as a Problem in History and Sociology |journal=International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=7–42 |doi=10.1023/A:1025902603291 |jstor=20019954 |s2cid=141243508}}

Towards the end of the same century, the Neo-Babylonian Empire emerged victorious over the Assyrians, leading to Judah's subjugation as a vassal state. In the early 6th century BC, a series of revolts in Judah prompted the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II to lay siege to and destroy Jerusalem along with the First Temple, marking the kingdom's demise. Subsequently, a segment of the Judahite populace was exiled to Babylon in several waves.{{cite news |last1=Baker |first1=Luke |date=3 February 2017 |title=Ancient tablets reveal life of Jews in Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-archaeology-babylon-idUSKBN0L71EK20150203 |newspaper=Reuters}} Judeans were progenitors of the Jews,{{Cite book |last=Spielvogel |first=Jackson J. |title=Western Civilization: Volume A: To 1500 |publisher=Wadsworth Publishing |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-495-50288-3 |pages=36 |quote=The people of Judah survived, eventually becoming known as the Jews and giving their name to Judaism, the religion of Yahweh, the Israelite God.}} who practised Second Temple Judaism during the Second Temple period.{{cite book |author=Catherine Cory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SsZcCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA20 |title=Christian Theological Tradition |date=13 August 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-34958-7 |at=p. 20 and forwards}}{{cite book |author=Stephen Benko |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LHHxkapsiEgC&pg=PA22 |title=Pagan Rome and the Early Christians |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-253-34286-7 |at=p. 22 and forwards}}

{{Main|Jewish History|Samaritans#History|Ten Lost Tribes}}

With the fall of Babylon to the rising Achaemenid Persian Empire, king Cyrus the Great issued a proclamation known as the Edict of Cyrus, encouraging the exiles to return to their homeland after the Persians raised it as an autonomous Jewish-governed province named Yehud. Under the Persians ({{circa|539–332 BCE}}), the returned Jewish population restored the city and rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem. The Cyrus Cylinder is controversially cited as evidence for Cyrus allowing the Judeans to return.{{cite book |last=Winn Leith |first=Mary Joan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFhvECwNQD0C&q=The+Oxford+History+of+the+Biblical+World |title=The Oxford History of the Biblical World |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-19-513937-2 |editor=Michael David Coogan |location=Oxford; New York |page=285 |chapter=Israel among the Nations: The Persian Period |format=Google Books |lccn=98016042 |oclc=44650958 |access-date=14 December 2012 |orig-date=1998 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFhvECwNQD0C&q=The+Oxford+History+of+the+Biblical+World}}{{cite book |last=Becking |first=Bob |title=Judah and the Judeans in the Persian Period |publisher=Eisenbrauns |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-57506-104-7 |editor1-last=Lipschitz |editor1-first=Oded |location=Winona Lake, IN |page=8 |chapter="We All Returned as One!": Critical Notes on the Myth of the Mass Return |editor2-last=Oeming |editor2-first=Manfred |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1zi2i_C1aNkC&q=%22Cyrus+cylinder%22+Jerusalem&pg=PA8}} The returnees showed a "heightened sense" of their ethnic identity and shunned exogamy, which was treated as a "permissive reality" in Babylon.Katherine ER. Southward, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wbo5h0BYOrIC&pg=PA193 Ethnicity and the Mixed Marriage Crisis in Ezra, 9–10: An Anthropological Approach,] Oxford University Press 2012 pp.103–203, esp. p.193.{{Cite web |last=Pearce |first=Laurie |date=2022 |title=Jews Intermarried Not Only in Judea but Also in Babylonia |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/jews-intermarried-not-only-in-judea-but-also-in-babylonia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240412043706/https://www.thetorah.com/article/jews-intermarried-not-only-in-judea-but-also-in-babylonia |archive-date=12 April 2024 |website=TheTorah.com}} Circumcision was no longer a significant ethnic marker, with increased emphasis on genealogical descent or faith in Yahweh.{{Cite book |last=Thiessen |first=Matthew |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/5287/chapter/148016316?login=true#273599969 |title=Contesting Conversion: Genealogy, Circumcision, and Identity in Ancient Judaism and Christianity |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-991445-6 |pages=87–110}}{{Cite journal |last=Lau |first=Peter H.W. |date=2009 |title=Gentile Incorporation into Israel in Ezra - Nehemiah? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42614919 |journal=Peeters Publishers |volume=90 |issue=3 |pages=356–373 |jstor=42614919 }} Jason A. Staples argues that the majority of contemporary Jews, regardless of theology, wished for the reunion of northern Israelites and southern Jews.{{Cite book |last=Staples |first=Jason A. |title=The Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism: A New Theory of People, Exile, and Israelite Identity |date=2021 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1108842860 |edition=1st}}

In 332 BCE, the Achaemenid Empire fell to Alexander the Great, and the region was later incorporated into the Ptolemaic Kingdom ({{circa|301–200 BCE}}) and the Seleucid Empire ({{circa|200–167 BCE}}). The Maccabean Revolt against Seleucid rule ushered in a period of nominal independence for the Jewish people under the Hasmonean 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.{{Cite book |last1=Helyer |first1=Larry R. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/961153992 |title=The World of the New Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts |last2=McDonald |first2=Lee Martin |publisher=Baker Academic |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8010-9861-1 |editor-last=Green |editor-first=Joel B. |pages=45–47 |chapter=The Hasmoneans and the Hasmonean Era |oclc=961153992 |quote=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 |editor-last2=McDonald |editor-first2=Lee Martin}}{{Cite book |last=Ben-Sasson |first=H.H. |title=A History of the Jewish People |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1976 |isbn=0-674-39731-2 |pages=226 |quote=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.}}{{Citation |last=Smith |first=Morton |title=The Gentiles in Judaism 125 BCE - 66 CE |date=1999 |work=The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 3: The Early Roman Period |volume=3 |pages=192–249 |editor-last=Sturdy |editor-first=John |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-judaism/gentiles-in-judaism-125-bcece-66/1AC78E99125BFE8E215AC8137DD8FE32 |access-date=20 March 2023 |series=The Cambridge History of Judaism |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/chol9780521243773.008 |isbn=978-0-521-24377-3 |quote=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. |editor2-last=Davies |editor2-first=W. D. |editor3-last=Horbury |editor3-first=William}}{{Cite book |last=Ben-Eliyahu |first=Eyal |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1103519319 |title=Identity and Territory: Jewish Perceptions of Space in Antiquity |date=30 April 2019 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-29360-1 |pages=13 |oclc=1103519319 |quote=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.}} Some scholars argue that Jews also engaged in active missionary efforts in the Greco-Roman world, which led to conversions.Louis H. Feldman, [http://cojs.org/louis-h-feldman-omnipresence-god-fearers-biblical-archaeology-review-12-5-1986/ "The Omnipresence of the God-Fearers"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024145011/http://cojs.org/louis-h-feldman-omnipresence-god-fearers-biblical-archaeology-review-12-5-1986/ |date=24 October 2020 }}, Biblical Archaeology Review 12, 5 (1986), Center for Online Judaic Studies.Shaye J. D. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah (1989), pp. 55–59, Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, {{ISBN|978-0-664-25017-1}}.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, {{ISBN|978-15-55406-96-7}}. "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 titled Judaism 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."{{Cite book |last=Goodman |first=Martin |url=https://brill.com/display/title/12543?language=en |title=Judaism in the Roman World |date=2006 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-47-41061-4}} Several scholars, such as Scot McKnight and Martin Goodman, reject this view while holding that conversions occasionally occurred.{{Cite journal |last=Gregerman |first=Adam |date=2009 |title=The Lack of Evidence for a Jewish Christian Countermission in Galatia |url=https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/scjr/article/view/1513 |journal=Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=13 |doi=10.6017/scjr.v4i1.1513 |issn=1930-3777 |doi-access=free}} A similar diaspora existed for Samaritans but their existence is poorly documented.{{Cite journal |last=Zsengeller |first=Jozsef |date=2016 |title=THE Samaritan Diaspora in Antiquity |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA509729366&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00445975&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7E311d56ca&aty=open-web-entry |journal=Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae |volume=56 |issue=2 |pages=157–175 |doi=10.1556/068.2016.56.2.2 |via=Gale Academic Onefile}}

In 63 BCE, the Roman Republic conquered the kingdom. In 37 BCE, the Romans appointed Herod the Great as king of a vassal Judea. In 6 CE, Judea was fully incorporated into the Roman Empire as the province of Judaea. During this period, the main areas of Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel were Judea, Galilee and Perea, while the Samaritans had their demographic center in Samaria. Growing dissatisfaction with Roman rule and civil disturbances eventually led to the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), resulting in the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, which ended the Second Temple period. This event marked a cataclysmic moment in Jewish history,{{Cite book |last=Karesh |first=Sara E. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1162305378 |title=Encyclopedia of Judaism |publisher=Facts On File |year=2006 |isbn=1-78785-171-0 |oclc=1162305378 |quote=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.}} prompting a reconfiguration of Jewish identity and practice to ensure continuity. The cessation of Temple worship and disappearance of Temple-based sects{{cite journal |last=Alföldy |first=Géza |year=1995 |title=Eine Bauinschrift aus dem Colosseum |journal=Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik |volume=109 |pages=195–226 |jstor=20189648}} facilitated the rise of Rabbinic Judaism, which stemmed from the Pharisaic school of Second Temple Judaism, emphasizing communal synagogue worship and Torah study, eventually becoming the predominant expression of Judaism.{{Cite journal |last=Westwood |first=Ursula |date=1 April 2017 |title=A History of the Jewish War, AD 66–74 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.18647/3311/jjs-2017 |journal=Journal of Jewish Studies |volume=68 |issue=1 |pages=189–193 |doi=10.18647/3311/jjs-2017 |issn=0022-2097}}{{Cite book |last=Maclean Rogers |first=Guy |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1294393934 |title=For the Freedom of Zion: The Great Revolt of Jews against Romans, 66-74 CE |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-300-26256-8 |location=New Haven and London |pages=3–5 |oclc=1294393934}}{{Cite journal |last=Goldenberg |first=Robert |date=1977 |title=The Broken Axis: Rabbinic Judaism and the Fall of Jerusalem |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/xlv.3.353 |journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion |volume=XLV |issue=3 |pages=353 |doi=10.1093/jaarel/xlv.3.353 |issn=0002-7189|url-access=subscription }} Concurrently, Christianity began to diverge from Judaism, evolving into a predominantly Gentile religion.{{cite book |author-last=Klutz |author-first=Todd |title=The Early Christian World |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |isbn=9781032199344 |editor-last=Esler |editor-first=Philip F. |edition=1st |series=Routledge Worlds |location=New York and London |pages=178–190 |chapter=Part II: Christian Origins and Development – Paul and the Development of Gentile Christianity |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6fyCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA178 |orig-date=2000}} Decades later, the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135 CE) further diminished the Jewish presence in Judea, leading to a geographical shift of Jewish life to Galilee and Babylonia, with smaller communities scattered across the Mediterranean.

Jews and Samaritans share a connection with the biblical Land of Israel.R. Yisrael Meir haKohen (Chofetz Chayim), The Concise Book of Mitzvoth, p. xxxv. This version of the list was prepared in 1968.The Ramban's addition to the Rambam's Sefer HaMitzvot.{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=About Israelite Samaritans |url=https://www.israelite-samaritans.com/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240412092211/https://www.israelite-samaritans.com/ |archive-date=12 April 2024 |website=Israelite Samaritan Information Institute}} Some argue that some Palestinians descend from Israelites who were not exiled by the Romans.Gil, Moshe. [1983] 1997. A History of Palestine, 634–1099. Cambridge University Press. pp. 222–3: "David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak 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."[https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/a-tragic-misunderstanding-pbw3x8cp0r6 A tragic misunderstanding] – Times online, 13 January 2009.

Other groups claim continuity with the Israelites, including Pashtuns,{{Cite book |last=Houtsma |first=Martijn Theodoor |title=E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936 |publisher=BRILL |year=1987 |volume=2 |page=150 |isbn=90-04-08265-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GEl6N2tQeawC&pg=PA150 |access-date=24 September 2010}}{{cite encyclopedia |title=The Virtual Jewish History Tour, Afghanistan |encyclopedia=Jewish Virtual Library |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Afghanistan.html |access-date=10 January 2007 |last=Oreck |first=Alden}} British Israelists,{{cite book |last1=Brackney |first1=William H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YhUvxfkWW2oC&pg=PA61 |title=Historical Dictionary of Radical Christianity |date=3 May 2012 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-7365-0 |pages=61–62 |language=en |access-date=9 April 2017}} Black Hebrew Israelites,{{cite web |last1=Lee |first1=Morgan |date=24 January 2019 |title=The Hebrew Israelites in That March for Life Viral Video, Explained |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/january-web-only/hebrew-israelites-urban-apologetics-covington-march-life.html |access-date=22 May 2020 |publisher=Christianity Today |language=en |archive-date=27 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230627214846/https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/january-web-only/hebrew-israelites-urban-apologetics-covington-march-life.html |url-status=dead }} Igbos,{{Cite news |last=Subramanian |first=Samanth |title=The lost Jews of Nigeria |newspaper=The Guardian |date=26 April 2022 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/26/lost-jews-of-nigeria-igbo-judaism-israel}} Mormons,{{Cite web |last=Davies |first=W.D. |title=Israel, the Mormons and the Land |url=https://rsc.byu.edu/reflections-mormonism/israel-mormons-land |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240412091018/https://rsc.byu.edu/reflections-mormonism/israel-mormons-land |archive-date=12 April 2024 |website=Religious Studies Center}} and evangelical Christians that subscribe to covenant theology.{{Cite web |last=Wellum |first=Stephen |date=2023 |title=Dispensational and Covenant Theology |url=https://christoverall.com/article/concise/dispensational-and-covenant-theology/#:~:text=Covenant%20theology%20argues%20that%20there,signify%20the%20same%20spiritual%20reality%2C |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240412091335/https://christoverall.com/article/concise/dispensational-and-covenant-theology/ |archive-date=12 April 2024 |website=Christ Over All}}

{{further|Genetic history of the Middle East|Canaan#Genetic studies}}

{{see also|Genetic studies on Jews|Samaritans#Genetic studies}}

File:Flickr - Government Press Office (GPO) - Samaritan Elder in Passover Prayer Service.jpg

As of 2024, only one study has directly examined ancient Israelite genetic material. The analysis examined First Temple-era skeletal remains excavated in Abu Ghosh, and showed one male individual belonging to the J2 Y-DNA haplogroup, a set of closely-related DNA sequences thought to have originated in the Caucasus or Eastern Anatolia, as well as the T1a and H87 mitochondrial 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.{{cite web |title=DNA of Ancient Israelites | last =David| first =Ariel| date =9 October 2023| publisher =Haaretz|url=https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2023-10-09/ty-article/in-first-archaeologists-extract-dna-of-ancient-israelites/0000018b-138a-d2fc-a59f-d39b21fd0000}}

A 2004 study (by Shen et al.) comparing Samaritans to several Jewish populations (including Ashkenazi Jews, Iraqi Jews, Libyan Jews, Moroccan Jews, and Yemenite 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 the Assyrian conquest of the kingdom of Israel."{{cite web |title=Reconstruction of Patrilineages and matrilineages of Samaritans and Other Israeli Populations From Y-Chromosome and Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Variation |url=http://evolutsioon.ut.ee/publications/Shen2004.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508024921/http://evolutsioon.ut.ee/publications/Shen2004.pdf |archive-date=8 May 2013 |access-date=10 May 2010}} (855 KB), Hum Mutat 24:248–260, 2004.

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 earlier Neolithic 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 the Bronze Age collapse, which was mostly true for inland cities such as Tel Megiddo and Tel Abel Beth Maacah. Elsewhere, European-related and East African-related components were added to the population, from a north-south and south-north gradient respectively. Late Neolithic and Bronze Age Europeans and Somalis were used as representatives.{{Cite journal |last1=Agranat-Tamir |first1=Lily |last2=Waldman |first2=Shamam |display-authors=1 |date=28 May 2020 |title=The Genomic History of the Bronze Age Southern Levant |journal=Cell |language=en |volume=181 |issue=5 |pages=1146–1157.e11 |doi=10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.024 |issn=0092-8674 |pmc=10212583 |pmid=32470400 |s2cid=219105441 |doi-access=free}}

• Demographic history of Palestine
• God-fearers
• Groups claiming affiliation with Israelites
• Hebrews
• Jacob in Islam
• New Israelites, former Protestant sect (1790s-1802)
• Segmentary society
• Twelve Tribes of Israel
• Who is a Jew?

{{notelist}}

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• {{Cite book |editor-last=Dunn |editor-first=James D.G |editor-last2=Rogerson |editor-first2=John William |title=Eerdmans commentary on the Bible |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8028-3711-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Vo-11umIZQC&q=John+W.+Rogerson+Deuteronomy&pg=PA153 |access-date=1 November 2020 |archive-date=1 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701141233/https://books.google.com/books?id=2Vo-11umIZQC&q=John+W.+Rogerson+Deuteronomy&pg=PA153 |url-status=live }}
• {{Cite book|last=Edelman|first=Diana|chapter=Ethnicity and Early Israel|editor-last=Brett|editor-first=Mark G.|title=Ethnicity and the Bible|publisher=Brill|year=2002|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RfFRhC4FpZkC&pg=PA45|isbn=978-0-391-04126-4}}
• {{Cite book|title=Israel's Ethnogenesis: Settlement, Interaction, Expansion and Resistance|last=Faust|first=Avraham|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|isbn=978-1-134-94208-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGneCwAAQBAJ|access-date=28 May 2023|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701141233/https://books.google.com/books?id=hGneCwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last1=Finkelstein|first1=Neil Asher|last2=Silberman|title=The Bible Unearthed|year=2001|isbn=978-0-7432-2338-6|publisher=Simon and Schuster|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lu6ywyJr0CMC|access-date=14 August 2015|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701141233/https://books.google.com/books?id=lu6ywyJr0CMC|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book |title=History of Ancient Israel |last=Frevel |first=Christian |publisher=SBL Press |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-62837-514-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yvy6EAAAQBAJ |access-date=27 April 2023 |archive-date=1 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230501133544/https://books.google.com/books?id=Yvy6EAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}
• {{Cite book|last=Gnuse|first=Robert Karl|title=No Other Gods: Emergent Monotheism in Israel|publisher=Sheffield Academic Press|year=1997|isbn=978-1-85075-657-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Kf1ZwDifdAC}}
• {{Cite book|last=Golden|first=Jonathan Michael|title=Ancient Canaan and Israel: An Introduction|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2004a|isbn=978-0-19-537985-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EResmS5wOnkC}}
• {{Cite book|last=Golden|first=Jonathan Michael|title=Ancient Canaan and Israel: New Perspectives|publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=2004b|isbn=978-1-57607-897-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yTMzJAKowyEC&pg=PA62}}
• {{Cite book|title=The Ancient Israelite World|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2022|isbn=978-1-000-77324-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4beREAAAQBAJ|editor-last=Keimer|editor-first=Kyle H.|editor-last2=Pierce|editor-first2=George A.|access-date=27 April 2023|archive-date=16 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230516053101/https://books.google.com/books?id=4beREAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|title=The Oxford Handbook of the Historical Books of the Hebrew Bible|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2020|isbn=978-0-19-026116-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7y4DEAAAQBAJ|editor-last=Kelle|editor-first=Brad E.|editor-last2=Strawn|editor-first2=Brent A.|access-date=31 March 2023|archive-date=13 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230513091548/https://books.google.com/books?id=7y4DEAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last=Killebrew|first=Ann E.|title=Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An Archaeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanites, and Early Israel, 1300–1100 B.C.E.|publisher=Society of Biblical Literature|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VtAmmwapfVAC&q=Biblical+peoples+and+ethnicity:+an+archaeological|isbn=978-1-58983-097-4|access-date=1 November 2020|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701141247/https://books.google.com/books?id=VtAmmwapfVAC&q=Biblical+peoples+and+ethnicity:+an+archaeological|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last1=King|first1=Philip J.|last2=Stager|first2=Lawrence E.|title=Life in Biblical Israel|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|year=2001|isbn=0-664-22148-3|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeinbiblicalis0000king|url-access=registration}}
• {{Cite book |title=Geschichte Israels und Judas im Altertum |last1=Knauf |first1=Ernst Axel |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2021 |isbn=978-3-11-041168-3 |language=de |url=https://www.academia.edu/73668469 |last2=Niemann |first2=Hermann Michael |access-date=27 April 2023 |archive-date=26 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426212616/https://www.academia.edu/73668469 |url-status=live }}
• {{Cite book|last=Kuhrt|first=Amélie|title=The Ancient Near East c. 3000–330 C|publisher=Routledge|year=1995|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V_sfMzRPTgoC|isbn=978-0-415-16763-5}}
• {{Cite book|last=Lehman|first=Gunnar|chapter=The United Monarchy in the Countryside|editor-last=Vaughn|editor-first=Andrew G.|editor-last2=Killebrew|editor-first2=Ann E.|title=Jerusalem in Bible and Archaeology: The First Temple Period|publisher=Sheffield|year=1992|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yYS4VEu08h4C|isbn=978-1-58983-066-0|access-date=14 August 2015|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701140948/https://books.google.com/books?id=yYS4VEu08h4C|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|title=The Oxford History of the Holy Land|last=Lemaire|first=André|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2023|isbn=978-0-19-288687-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pyG3EAAAQBAJ|editor-last=Hoyland|editor-first=Robert G.|chapter=Israel and Judah (c.931–587 BCE)|author-link=André Lemaire|editor-last2=Williamson|editor-first2=H. G. M.|access-date=28 May 2023|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701141234/https://books.google.com/books?id=pyG3EAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last=Lemche|first=Niels Peter|title=The Israelites in History and Tradition|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|year=1998|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JIoY7PagAOAC|isbn=978-0-664-22727-2}}
• {{Cite book|last=Levy|first=Thomas E.|title=The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land|publisher=Continuum International Publishing|year=1998|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-etsKv-4V2oC&q=The+archaeology+of+society+in+the+Holy+Land++Thomas+E.+Levy|isbn=978-0-8264-6996-0|access-date=1 November 2020|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701141458/https://books.google.com/books?id=-etsKv-4V2oC&q=The+archaeology+of+society+in+the+Holy+Land++Thomas+E.+Levy|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last=Lipschits|first=Oded|title=The Fall and Rise of Jerusalem|publisher=Eisenbrauns|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=78nRWgb-rp8C&q=Lipschitz,+Oded+fall+and+rise|isbn=978-1-57506-095-8|access-date=1 November 2020|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701141500/https://books.google.com/books?id=78nRWgb-rp8C&q=Lipschitz,+Oded+fall+and+rise|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last1=Lipschits|first1=Oded|first2=David|last2=Vanderhooft|chapter=Yehud Stamp Impressions in the Fourth Century B.C.E.|editor-last=Lipschits|editor-first=Oded|editor-last2=Knoppers|editor-first2=Gary N.|editor-last3=Albertz|editor-first3=Rainer|display-editors=1|title=Judah and the Judeans in the Fourth Century B.C.E.|publisher=Eisenbrauns|year=2006|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6NsxZRnxE70C&pg=PA75|isbn=978-1-57506-130-6}}
• {{Cite book|last=Mazar|first=Amihay|chapter=The Divided Monarchy: Comments on Some Archaeological Issues|editor-last=Schmidt|editor-first=Brian B.|title=The Quest for the Historical Israel|publisher=Society of Biblical Literature|year=2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jpbngoKHg8gC|isbn=978-1-58983-277-0|access-date=14 August 2015|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701141608/https://books.google.com/books?id=jpbngoKHg8gC|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|editor-last=Mays|editor-first=James Luther|display-editors=etal|title=Old Testament Interpretation|publisher=T&T Clarke|year=1995|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SNLN1nEEys0C|isbn=978-0-567-29289-6}}
• {{Cite journal|last=Merrill|first=Eugene H.|year=1995|title=The Late Bronze/Early Iron Age Transition and the Emergence of Israel|journal=Bibliotheca Sacra|volume=152|issue=606|pages=145–62}}
• {{Cite book|title=Rediscovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context|last=Meyers|first=Carol|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-19-991078-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Aq1X6wNpxSQC|access-date=28 May 2023|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701141520/https://books.google.com/books?id=Aq1X6wNpxSQC|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last=Middlemas|first=Jill Anne|title=The Troubles of Templeless Judah|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jrpx-op_-XkC|isbn=978-0-19-928386-6}}
• {{Cite book|last1=Miller|first1=James Maxwell|last2=Hayes|first2=John Haralson|title=A History of Ancient Israel and Judah|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|year=1986|isbn=0-664-21262-X|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uDijjc_D5P0C|access-date=14 August 2015|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701141455/https://books.google.com/books?id=uDijjc_D5P0C|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last=Miller|first=Robert D.|title=Chieftains of the Highland Clans: A History of Israel in the 12th and 11th Centuries B.C.|publisher=Eerdmans|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gtm7NtK87poC&q=Chieftains+of+the+highland+clans|isbn=978-0-8028-0988-9|access-date=1 November 2020|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701142155/https://books.google.com/books?id=Gtm7NtK87poC&q=Chieftains+of+the+highland+clans|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|title=The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Ancient Israel|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2016|isbn=978-0-470-65677-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-eMACgAAQBAJ|editor-last=Niditch|editor-first=Susan|access-date=27 April 2023|archive-date=1 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601224551/https://books.google.com/books?id=-eMACgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last=Niehr|first=Herbert|chapter=Religio-Historical Aspects of the Early Post-Exilic Period|editor-last=Becking|editor-first=Bob|editor-last2=Korpel|editor-first2=Marjo Christina Annette|title=The Crisis of Israelite Religion: Transformation of Religious Tradition in Exilic and Post-Exilic Times|publisher=Brill|year=1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lak_YWjCjDMC|isbn=978-90-04-11496-8}}
• {{Cite book|last=Nodet|first=Étienne|title=A Search for the Origins of Judaism: From Joshua to the Mishnah|publisher=Sheffield Academic Press|year=1999|orig-date=Editions du Cerf 1997|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rE49wYHz5YUC|isbn=978-1-85075-445-9|access-date=14 August 2015|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701142225/https://books.google.com/books?id=rE49wYHz5YUC|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Pitkänen |first=Pekka |title=Ethnicity, Assimilation and the Israelite Settlement |journal=Tyndale Bulletin |volume=55 |year=2004 |pages=161–82 |url=http://www.tyndalehouse.com/tynbul/library/TynBull_2004_55_2_01_Pitkanen_EthnicityIsraelSettlement.pdf |issue=2 |doi=10.53751/001c.29171 |s2cid=204222638 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717120935/http://www.tyndalehouse.com/tynbul/library/TynBull_2004_55_2_01_Pitkanen_EthnicityIsraelSettlement.pdf |archive-date=17 July 2011 }}
• {{Cite book|editor-last=Silberman|editor-first=Neil Asher|editor-last2=Small|editor-first2=David B.|title=The Archaeology of Israel: Constructing the Past, Interpreting the Present|publisher=Sheffield Academic Press|year=1997|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qX7r2lAQdFkC&q=hesse+wapnish&pg=PA238|isbn=978-1-85075-650-7|access-date=1 November 2020|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701142155/https://books.google.com/books?id=qX7r2lAQdFkC&q=hesse+wapnish&pg=PA238|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Mark S.|title=Untold Stories: The Bible and Ugaritic Studies in the Twentieth Century|publisher=Hendrickson Publishers|year=2001}}
• {{Cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Mark S.|title=The Early History of God|publisher=Eerdmans|year=2002|orig-date=Harper & Row 1990|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1yM3AuBh4AsC&q=Smith+Early+History+of+God|isbn=978-0-8028-3972-5|access-date=1 November 2020|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701142159/https://books.google.com/books?id=1yM3AuBh4AsC&q=Smith+Early+History+of+God|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last=Soggin|first=Michael J.|title=An Introduction to the History of Israel and Judah|publisher=Paideia|year=1998|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dzw_H5GhkfYC&q=An+introduction+to+the+history+of+Israel+and+Judah++By+J.+Alberto+Soggin|isbn=978-0-334-02788-1|access-date=1 November 2020|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701142230/https://books.google.com/books?id=Dzw_H5GhkfYC&q=An+introduction+to+the+history+of+Israel+and+Judah++By+J.+Alberto+Soggin|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last=Stager|first=Lawrence E.|chapter=Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel|editor-last=Coogan|editor-first=Michael D.|title=The Oxford History of the Biblical World|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1998|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFhvECwNQD0C|isbn=978-0-19-513937-2|access-date=14 August 2015|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701142202/https://books.google.com/books?id=zFhvECwNQD0C|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=Thomas L.|title=Early History of the Israelite People|publisher=Brill|year=1992|url=https://archive.org/details/earlyhistoryofis00thom|url-access=registration|isbn=978-90-04-09483-3}}
• {{Cite book |title=An introduction to early Judaism |last=Vanderkam |first=James |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-4674-6405-5 |edition=2nd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1cuAEAAAQBAJ |access-date=27 April 2023 |archive-date=25 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325210637/https://books.google.com/books?id=1cuAEAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}
• {{Cite book|last=Van der Toorn|first=Karel|title=Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria, and Israel|publisher=Brill|year=1996|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VSJWkrXfbLQC&q=Family+religion+in+Babylonia,+Syria,+and+Israel|isbn=978-90-04-10410-5|access-date=1 November 2020|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701142204/https://books.google.com/books?id=VSJWkrXfbLQC&q=Family+religion+in+Babylonia,+Syria,+and+Israel|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last1=Van der Toorn|first1=Karel|last2=Becking|first2=Bob|last3=Van der Horst|first3=Pieter Willem|title=Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible|publisher=Koninklijke Brill|year=1999|edition=2d|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&q=Dictionary+of+Deities|isbn=978-90-04-11119-6|access-date=1 November 2020|archive-date=1 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701142705/https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&q=Dictionary+of+Deities|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last=Wylen|first=Stephen M.|title=The Jews in the Time of Jesus: An Introduction|publisher=Paulist Press|year=1996|url=https://archive.org/details/jewsintimeofjesu0000wyle|url-access=registration|isbn=978-0-8091-3610-0}}
• {{Cite book|last=Zevit|first=Ziony|author-link=Ziony Zevit|title=The Religions of Ancient Israel: A Synthesis of Parallactic Approaches|publisher=Continuum|year=2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=db4hr55j0yYC&pg=PA1|isbn=978-0-8264-6339-5|access-date=27 April 2023|archive-date=27 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427124936/https://books.google.com/books?id=db4hr55j0yYC&pg=PA1|url-status=live}}

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