Israelites

An Israelite is a member of the Twelve Tribes of Israel , descended from the twelve sons of the Biblical patriarch Jacob who was renamed Israel by God in the book of Genesis , 32:28 The Israelites were a group of Hebrews , as described in the Bible . There are modern historical debates about the origins of the Hebrews/Israelites. The English word Israelite derives from ישראל ("Struggled with God ", Standard Hebrew Yisraʾel , Tiberian Hebrew Yiśrāʾēl ). Please read this entry in conjunction with the entries on: History of ancient Israel and Judah Children of Israel Lost Ten Tribes Bnai Israel

The Biblical Israelites (also referred to as the Twelve Tribes or Children of Israel ) were the descendants of the Biblical patriarch Jacob , who also bore the name Israel. The term Israelite is derived from Israel (Hebrew: ישראל - Standard : Yisraʾel; Tiberian : Yiśrāʾēl, meaning "persevere with God"), the name given to Jacob after wrestling with an angel on the shores of the Jabbok. The verse explains the name as a combination of the Hebrew "yisra," to prevail, over "ayl," the divine, hence "Yisrael" or "Israel." His descendants are called the House of Jacob, the Children of Israel, the Sons of Israel, the People of Israel, or the Israelites. The Hebrew Bible is mainly concerned with the Israelites. According to it, the Land of Israel was promised to them by God . Jerusalem was their capital and the site of the temple at the center of their religion. The Israelites became a local political power with the United Monarchy of Kings Saul , David and Solomon , from c. 1025 BCE. Zedekiah , king of Judah (597-586 BCE), is considered the last king from the House of David .

Confederation of Iron Age Semitic-speaking tribes of the ancient Near East, who inhabited a part of Canaan For citizens of the modern State of Israel, see Israelis . According to the religious narrative of the Hebrew Bible , the Israelites' origin is traced back to the Biblical patriarchs and matriarchs Abraham and his wife Sarah , through their son Isaac and his wife Rebecca , and their son Jacob who was later called Israel , whence they derive their name, with his wives Leah and Rachel and the handmaids Zilpa and Bilhah . Modern archaeology has largely shown that determining the historicity of the religious narrative is impossible, with many scholars viewing the stories as inspiring national myth narratives with little historical value. Based on the archaeological evidence, according to the modern archaeological account, the Israelites and their culture did not overtake the region by force, but instead branched out of the indigenous Canaanite peoples that long inhabited the Southern Levant , Syria , ancient Israel , and the Transjordan region through a gradual evolution of a distinct monolatristic —later cementing as monotheistic —religion centered on Yahweh . The outgrowth of Yahweh-centric monolatrism from Canaanite polytheism started with Yahwism , the belief in the existence of the many gods and goddesses of the Canaanite pantheon but with the consistent worship of only Yahweh. Along with a number of cultic practices , this gave rise to a separate Israelite ethnic group identity. The final transition of their Yahweh-based religion to monotheism and rejection of the existence of the other Canaanite gods set the Israelites apart from their fellow Canaanite brethren. The Israelites, however, continued to retain various cultural commonalities with other Canaanites, including use of one of the Canaanite dialects , Hebrew , which is today the only living descendant of that language group. In the Hebrew Bible the term Israelites is used interchangeably with the term Twelve Tribes of Israel . Although related, the terms Hebrews , Israelites, and Jews are not interchangeable in all instances. "Israelites" ( Yisraelim ) refers to the people that the Hebrew Bible describes specifically as the direct descendants of any of the sons of the patriarch Jacob (later called Israel), and his descendants as a people are also collectively called "Israel", including converts to their faith in worship of the god of Israel , Yahweh . "Hebrews" ( ʿIvrim ), on the contrary, is used to denote the Israelites' immediate forebears who dwelt in the land of Canaan , the Israelites themselves, and the Israelites' ancient and modern descendants (including Jews and Samaritans ). "Jews" ( Yehudim ) is used to denote the descendants of the Israelites who coalesced when the Tribe of Judah absorbed the remnants of various other Israelite tribes. During the period of the divided monarchy "Israelites" was only used to refer to the inhabitants of the northern Kingdom of Israel , and it is only extended to cover the people of the southern Kingdom of Judah in post-exilic usage. The Israelites are the ethnic stock from which modern Jews and Samaritans originally trace their ancestry. Modern Jews are named after and also descended from the southern Israelite Kingdom of Judah , particularly the tribes of Judah , Benjamin , Simeon and partially Levi . Many Israelites took refuge in the Kingdom of Judah following the collapse of the Kingdom of Israel. Finally, in Judaism , the term "Israelite" is, broadly speaking, used to refer to a lay member of the Jewish ethnoreligious group , as opposed to the priestly orders of Kohanim and Levites . In texts of Jewish law such as the Mishnah and Gemara , the term יהודי ( Yehudi ), meaning Jew, is rarely used, and instead the ethnonym ישראלי ( Yisraeli ), or Israelite, is widely used to refer to Jews. Samaritans are not and never call themselves "Jews" יהודים ( Yehudim ), but commonly refer to themselves and to Jews collectively as Israelites, and they describe themselves as Israelite Samaritans "Israelite" . "Ethnicity and origin of the Iron I settlers in the Highlands of Canaan: Can the real Israel stand up?." The Biblical archaeologist 59.4 (1996): 198–212. The archaeology of the Israelite settlement. From nomadism to monarchy: archaeological and historical aspects of early Israel. "The archaeology of the United Monarchy: an alternative view." Levant 28.1 (1996): 177–87. After a century of exhaustive investigation, all respectable archaeologists have given up hope of recovering any context that would make Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob credible "historical figures" [...] archaeological investigation of Moses and the Exodus has similarly been discarded as a fruitless pursuit. The material culture of the region exhibits numerous common points between Israelites and Canaanites in the Iron I period (c. 1200–1000 BCE). The record would suggest that the Israelite culture largely overlapped with and derived from Canaanite culture... In short, Israelite culture was largely Canaanite in nature. Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People . A posthumous publication of the work of Israeli archaeologist Yohanan Aharoni and Michael Avi-Yonah, in collaboration with Anson F. Rainey and Ze'ev Safrai . Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People . A Short History of the Jews .

Iron Age Hebrew tribal people in Canaan For the citizens of the modern State of Israel, see Israelis . The Israelites ( / ˈ ɪ z r ə l aɪ t s , - r i ə -/ ; , Bənēy Yīsrāʾēl , transl. 'Children of Israel ' ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age , inhabited a part of Canaan . The name of Israel first appears in the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt , dated to about 1200 BCE. Modern archaeology suggests that the Israelites branched out from the Canaanites through the development of Yahwism , a distinct monolatristic —and later monotheistic —religion centred on the national god Yahweh . They spoke an archaic form of the Hebrew language , which was a regional variety of the Canaanite language , known today as Biblical Hebrew . In the Iron Age , the kingdoms of Israel and Judah emerged. The Kingdom of Israel , with its capital at Samaria , fell to the Neo-Assyrian Empire around 720 BCE; while the Kingdom of Judah , with its capital at Jerusalem , was destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 BCE. Some of the Judean population was exiled to Babylon , but returned to Israel after Cyrus the Great conquered the region. According to the Bible , the Israelites are the descendants of Jacob , who was later renamed Israel . Following a severe drought in Canaan , Jacob and his twelve sons fled to Egypt, where they eventually formed the Twelve Tribes of Israel . The Israelites were later led out of slavery in Egypt and subsequently brought back to Canaan by Moses ; they eventually conquered Canaan under the leadership of Joshua . Most modern scholars agree that the Torah does not provide an authentic account of the Israelites' origins, and instead view it as constituting their national myth . However, it is widely supposed that there may be a "historical core" to the narrative. The Bible also portrays the kingdoms of Israel and Judah as the successors of an earlier United Kingdom of Israel , though the historicity of the latter is also disputed. Jews and Samaritans both trace their ancestry to the ancient Israelites. Jews trace their ancestry to tribes that inhabited the Kingdom of Judah, including Judah , Benjamin and partially Levi , while the Samaritans claim their lineage from the remaining members of Ephraim , Manasseh , and Levi who were not deported in the Assyrian captivity after the fall of Israel. Other groups have also claimed affiliation with the Israelites . "Ethnicity and origin of the Iron I settlers in the Highlands of Canaan: Can the real Israel stand up?." The Biblical archaeologist 59.4 (1996): 198–212. The archaeology of the Israelite settlement. From nomadism to monarchy: archaeological and historical aspects of early Israel. "The archaeology of the United Monarchy: an alternative view." Levant 28.1 (1996): 177–87. Mark Smith in "The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" states "Despite the long regnant model that the Canaanites and Israelites were people of fundamentally different culture, archaeological data now casts doubt on this view. The material culture of the region exhibits numerous common points between Israelites and Canaanites in the Iron I period (c. 1200–1000 BCE). The record would suggest that the Israelite culture largely overlapped with and derived from Canaanite culture... In short, Israelite culture was largely Canaanite in nature. It is also clear that there were polytheistic Yahwists in ancient Israel who worshiped YHWH along with other deities Collins, Steven; Holden, Joseph M. The Harvest Handbook of Bible Lands: A Panoramic Survey of the History, Geography, and Culture of the Scriptures . At its inception, early Yahwism had animistic and polytheistic elements Steiner, Richard C. Judah in the Neo-Babylonian Period . Exile and Return: The Babylonian Context . But most biblical scholars still subscribe to some variation of the Documentary Hypothesis, and support the basic historicity of the biblical narrative." Dever, William (2001). After a century of exhaustive investigation, all respectable archaeologists have given up hope of recovering any context that would make Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob credible "historical figures" [...] archaeological investigation of Moses and the Exodus has similarly been discarded as a fruitless pursuit. In Berlin, Adele; Brettler, Marc Zvi (eds.). The Jewish Study Bible (2nd ed.). As this essay will show, however, the premonarchic period long ago became a literary description of the mythological roots, the early beginnings of the nation and the way to describe the right of Israel on its land. The archeological evidence also does not support the existence of a united monarchy under David and Solomon as described in the Bible, so the rubric of "united monarchy" is best abandoned, although it remains useful for discussing how the Bible views the Israelite past. [...] Although the kingdom of Judah is mentioned in some ancient inscriptions, they never suggest that it was part of a unit comprised of Israel and Judah. There are no extrabiblical indications of a united monarchy called "Israel." Adams, Hannah (1840). The history of the Jews : from the destruction of Jerusalem to the present time . A short history of the Jews . Legacy : a Genetic History of the Jewish People .

Iron Age Hebrew tribal people in Canaan For the citizens of the modern State of Israel, see Israelis . Map of the twelve tribes of Israel before the move of Dan to the north, based on the Book of Joshua Israelites were a Hebrew -speaking ethnoreligious group , consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age . Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanite populations and other peoples. They spoke an archaic form of the Hebrew language , which was a regional variety of the Canaanite languages , and worshipped Yahweh . In the Iron Age, the Israelites established the kingdoms of Israel and Judah , whose capital cities were Samaria and Jerusalem respectively. Around 720 BCE, the Kingdom of Israel fell to the Neo-Assyrian Empire , followed by the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 BCE. During the latter, some Judeans were exiled to Babylon but returned to the land of Judah after Cyrus the Great conquered the region. According to the Hebrew Bible , the Israelites were the descendants of Jacob , a patriarch who was later renamed as Israel . Due to a severe drought in Canaan, Jacob and his twelve sons fled to Egypt, where they gradually formed the Twelve Tribes of Israel . The Israelites were subsequently enslaved by the Egyptians but were liberated by Moses . Under the leadership of Moses's successor, Joshua , they also conquered Canaan . After the conquest, the Israelites established a kritarchy , followed by the United Kingdom of Israel. The latter split into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Modern scholars consider these narratives to be part of the Israelites' national myth but believe there is a 'historical core'. The historicity of the United Kingdom of Israel is also widely disputed. Jews and Samaritans both trace their ancestry to the ancient Israelites. Jews trace their ancestry to tribes that inhabited the Kingdom of Judah, including Judah , Benjamin and partially Levi , while the Samaritans claim their lineage from the remaining members of Ephraim , Manasseh , and Levi who were not deported in the Assyrian captivity after the fall of Israel. Other groups also claim affiliation with the Israelites . Ethnicity and Identity in Ancient Israel: Prolegomena to the Study of Ethnic Sentiments and Their Expression in the Hebrew Bible . Social and Religious History of the Jews . In Shaw, Ian; Jameson, Robert (eds.). A Dictionary of Archaeology . The Oxford History of the Holy Land . Mark Smith in "The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" states "Despite the long regnant model that the Canaanites and Israelites were people of fundamentally different culture, archaeological data now casts doubt on this view. The material culture of the region exhibits numerous common points between Israelites and Canaanites in the Iron I period (c. 1200–1000 BCE). The record would suggest that the Israelite culture largely overlapped with and derived from Canaanite culture ... In short, Israelite culture was largely Canaanite in nature. "Israel developed in the land and not outside of it (in Egypt, in the desert, etc.)." Steiner, Richard C. In Hetzron, Robert (ed.). Judah in the Neo-Babylonian Period . Exile and Return: The Babylonian Context . After a century of exhaustive investigation, all respectable archaeologists have given up hope of recovering any context that would make Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob credible 'historical figures' ... archaeological investigation of Moses and the Exodus has similarly been discarded as a fruitless pursuit. In Berlin, Adele; Brettler, Marc Zvi (eds.). The Jewish Study Bible (2nd ed.). As this essay will show, however, the premonarchic period long ago became a literary description of the mythological roots, the early beginnings of the nation and the way to describe the right of Israel on its land. The archaeological evidence also does not support the existence of a united monarchy under David and Solomon as described in the Bible, so the rubric of 'united monarchy' is best abandoned, although it remains useful for discussing how the Bible views the Israelite past. ... Although the kingdom of Judah is mentioned in some ancient inscriptions, they never suggest that it was part of a unit comprised of Israel and Judah. There are no extrabiblical indications of a united monarchy called 'Israel'. The history of the Jews: from the destruction of Jerusalem to the present time . A short history of the Jews . Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People . The Origins and History of Their Early Relations (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2013)" . There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).