How do we know about the Hebrews?

Answer 1

Apart from the biblical account little is known about the ancient Hebrews before the beginning of the first millennium BCE. From burial sites and garbage dumps, archaeologists know that there seems to have been an influx of people iinto the Palestinian hinterland around 1250 BCE, and that these people rarely ate pork, because of the scarcity of pig bones. At first, this was thought to be conclusive evidence of the arrival of the Hebrews, but some scholars have pointed out that nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples rarely kept pigs. So these arrivals could have been the earliest Hebrews, or they could simply have been nomadic people who were beginning to settle. Pottery styles suggest that there was no significant divergence from the dominant Canaanite culture until around 1000 BCE, when there may have been new arrivals in the territory. Scholars simply are not sure exactly when the Hebrews settled in the Palestinian hinterland, but they do generally agree that there was no military conquest around 1400 BCE as described in The Bible.

Even earlier, during the fourteenth century (from about 1370), a few of the Amarna letters speak of Habiru or 'Apiru who seem to have been rebels or brigands who harrassed some of the outlying Canaanite towns or joined mercenary forces. They may have been forerunners of the Hebrews, but scholars caution against using the coincidence of names to arrive at a firm conclusion.

Scholars are certain that the Hebrews were a West Semitic people, closely related to the Canaanites and speaking a very similar language. Many believe that during the turbulent years of the late thirteenth century, they left the Canaanite cities along the coast, to take their chances in the relatively unoccupied hinterland.

Right up until well into the twentieth century, the Old Testament was seen as the standard for archaeological discoveries. Archaeologists felt fortunate to have such a historically reliable document to compare their discoveries against. When evidence of a magnificent Israelite kingdom was found, at Megiddo and elsewhere, this evidence was naturally dated to the time of David and Solomon. And when similar styles of artefacts were found elsewhere in the Near East, they were dated to the same period. Gradually, though, scholars began to notice discrepancies in their dating of material. Finally, some archaeologists began to realise that the magnificent kingdom of their evidence was not from the time of David and Solomon, but from the time of Kings Omri and Ahab. They had been assigning the wrong dates because of an over-reliance on the Old Testament.

Even the existence of the legendary Kings David and Solomon has been called into question. Until 1993, there was no extra-biblical evidence that either king ever lived. Then a fragment of a victory stele was discovered, dating from about 835 BCE, some150 years after David lived or would have lived. On this stele, King Hazael of Damascus boasted in part: "I killed Jehoram son of Ahab king of Israel, and I killed Ahaziahu son of Jehoram king of the House of David. . ." Thus we have circumstantial proof that a King David had once lived, or at least that the Judahites believed that he had.

Scholars are now more cautious about accepting the Old Testament as a historical record, until it can be verified against other records. And other records are gradually coming to light - in Palestine itself, and elsewhere in the Near East as archaeologists sift through the evidence.

Answer 2

A:The traditional source of information about the Hebrews is the Old Testament. It says that Abraham travelled from the city of Ur in Mesopotamia, and that his descendants settled in Egypt, where they became enslaved. Moses freed the Hebrews, who travelled to the land of the Canaanites and slaughtered everyone, then occupied the country. The Bible then describes the judges and kings of Israel and Judah, down through the centuries.

A modern source of information about the Hebrews is based on Archaeology. This says that the Hebrews were actually Canaanites who migrated from the region of the rich Canaanite coastal cities, to settle in the hitherto sparsely populated hinterland. Scholars say that there was no biblical Exodus from Egypt and no military conquest of Canaan. They are gradually putting together a history of the Hebrews during the Israelite and Judahite monarchies and comparing this with the Bible.

Answer 3

Most of the information we have comes from the Torah.