Who were the ancient Israelites?

Answer 1

They were a people of 12 tribes who were earlier called Hebrews.

Opinion: The early stories in the Old Testament are folklore - where are the remains today of the many palaces that Solomon is supposed to have had, or any real evidence of a city of David and Solomon? The earliest record of them is in Egyptian writings, which record Habiru as tribes of brigands and herders living in the Judean hills. A Moab stone tablet records an attempt to take them over, which was repulsed.

The Israelites were and are the descendants of Jacob (grandson of Abraham), whom God renamed Israel (Genesis 35).

The Hebrew Bible tells of the Israelites, whose descendants are today's Jews.

Although critics contended that the Hebrew Bible is unhistorical and untrustworthy, time and time again, the archaeological record supports places, times, and events mentioned in Scripture.

Archaeological finds, such as the Ugarit documents and those of Nuzu, Mari, Susa, Ebla, and Tel el-Amarna, have repeatedly caused doubters to retract specific claims. The entire social milieu portrayed in the Torah, once criticized as anachronistic, has been shown to be historically accurate, including customs of marriage, adoption, contracts, inheritance, purchases, utensils, modes of travel, people's names and titles, etc. Professor Gleason Archer Ph.D of Harvard University states: "In case after case where historical inaccuracy was alleged as proof of late and spurious authorship of the biblical documents, the Hebrew record has been vindicated by the results of recent excavation, and condemnatory judgment has been proved to be without foundation."
"One city after another, one civilization after another, one culture after another, whose memories were enshrined only in the Bible, have been restored to their proper places in ancient history by the studies of archaeologists" (Prof. Gleason Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction).