the map is a linguistic map. you can trace the history of peoples through their language, its permutations, its spread. in the same way that all european languages are known to have an indo-aryan lineage. semitic languages have a very traceable genealogy which accords to actual, real, material histories in the region. the languages that people speak, each and every day, is kind of a better record than superstious myths and tales of miracles, don't you think? words enclose philological lineages. but let's ignore spoken language and focus on tales of resurrections and wanderings in the desert. LMAO.
nations, constitutions, borders are all legal fictions. but a language is a material, actual fact. people have been speaking languages recognisable as 'semitic' in those regions for thousands of years. it is clear that jews are from the area historically known as canaan. NOT egypt. the fact that jewish foundation myths mention a period of exile and enslavement in egypt is meant as a prelude to their RETURN to the 'promised land', i.e. that from whence they originally came. jesus fuck you are dumb.
in terms of actual history, the tribes of canaan are thought to have consolidated their groupings after the late bronze age collapse in the mediterranean, when small, threatened peoples moved into the highlands. this is the period when egypt lost its dominance over canaan and when the philistines, another group in the region, also arrived from the collapsing mycenaean kingdom and consolidated: thus the deliverance of 'the promised land' to the small israelite tribes and thus commencing the historical enmity between israelites and philistines, another tale that has been much mythologized in biblical texts. you know, ACTUAL history with MATERIAL evidence.
amazing how quickly you abandon all scientific pretence when it suits you.
Canaan for around three centuries was a playground for Egypt. It had been partly depopulated, few of its towns had defensive walls, and its petty kings put in place by Egypt crawled at Pharaoh’s feet. Egypt ruled Canaan with an iron fist.
The arrival of the Sea People [i.e. marauding groups during the bronze age collapse] on the Nile delta put the previously unassailable Egyptian army on the back foot. Forced to defend herself against wave after wave of invasion Egypt had little spare time to maintain the empire it had built up – Egyptian influence in Canaan began to decline. Retreating home from Canaan the Egyptian forces left a power vacuum in their wake, a vacuum that allowed smaller powers to emerge and control territories and kingdoms of their own.
Donald B. Redford, “The Coming of the Sea Peoples”, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times (Princeton University Press, 1992)
the archaeological record is definitive on this: the israelites emerged in the canaan highlands at the beginning of the first iron age (~1200-1000 BCE) and settled down in small villages which they built from scratch. their historical homeland is NOT egypt.
Last edited by uziq (2021-05-13 20:58:10)