Did Israel have two kingdoms called Canaan and Judah?

Answer 1

No. Scholars now realise that the Israelites were in fact dissident Canaanites who left the coastal cities and settled in the mountainous hinterland, in more or less the same area as the modern West Bank. Over time, they consciously rejected their links with the Canaanites and developed a tradition of being a separate people who arrived by military conquest, as ordained by God.

Biblical tradition says that the Hebrew people were initially united into a single nation of Israel, first under the Judges then under Kings Saul, David and Solomon. However, archaeologists such as Israel Finkelstein say that there was never a united monarchy and that Saul, David and Solomon, if indeed they existed, were only local warlords.

After the time attributed to the United Monarchy there were two kingdoms, known as Israel and Judah. The larger of these, Israel, only lasted three to five centuries and was destroyed by the Assyrians. Israel became known as Samaria, while Judah continued to survive until the Common Era, although almost always under foreign domination.