What do historians believe is the reason Hebrews migrated out of Canaan and into Egypt?

Answer 1

The Hebrews were known to the Egyptians as Habiru, brigands and pastoralists who lived in the Judean highlands behind the Palestinian coastal plains. The Egyptians also employed them as frontier guards in the south of Egypt against intrusions from the Nubians - remains of a Jewish temple are located there. These guards were employed on contract, and when these expired, they would return down the Nile Valley back to the Judean Hills, and a new group come to replace them. So movement of Hebrews to and from Egypt was common enough and provided a basis for the stories.

The Biblical story of there being 3 million Hebrews in Egypt who fled Pharaoh is sheer fantasy. If indeed Joseph's family had migrated to Egypt, the couple of hundred could hardly have multiplied into 3 million or more (the story of 600,000 fighting men! which came back to conquer Palestine). These stories are the myths and legends of the Jewish people, like those of other people, but multiplied in numbers like no other peoples seem to have engaged in.

Answer 2

Although it comes as a surprise to many, few modern historians believe the Hebrew nation was ever in Egypt. The clear consensus of historians is that there was no Exodus from Egypt as described in The Bible, and no unified conquest of Canaan. They say that what really happened is that the Israelites were rural Canaanites who left the region of the rich coastal cities and settled in the hitherto sparsely populated hinterland. Centuries later, they developed stories of a glorious past, of enslavement in Egypt, of escape from Egypt and of the defeat of the now despised Canaanites.