From: naturman@uctvax.uct.ac.za
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish,soc.culture.arabic
Subject: Re: ERETZ YISRAEL (was Re: deportation)
Keywords: Canaanites
Date: 11 Jan 93 17:39:52 GMT
Article-I.D.: uctvax.1993Jan11.153952.203449
Organization: University of Cape Town

> 
> The Canaanites are people who occupied what is now called Syria, Lebanon, 
> Palestine, and parts of Iraq. It is also beleived that Babylon (Bab-El) was
> actually founded by Canaanites, since they were the first people to name city
> gates after their Gods. It is also beleived that the Phoenicians who at one
> time occupied the coasts of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and parts of turkey are
> part of the Canaanite tribes.

False. The term "Canaanites" literally means people from Canaan (western
ancient Israel). In its widest sense it meant any person living in Canaan
including Hebrews. In the Bible it was usually used for the people ruling
Israel as vassels for the Egyptians. Often it is used in an even narrower sense
for specific groups among these people. As I said before, some were West
Semites like the Hebrews, others were invaders from Turkey. The western part 
of Syria was sometimes included under the name Canaan and some of the people 
in the coastal cities are called Canaanites by some modern writers. They were
never in Iraq. Babylon was founded by Sumerians. Its original name was Babilu
, a Sumerian name whose meaning is not understood. The Assyrians misunderstood
the name as Bab-El meaning gate of G-d, but this interpretation of the name is 
wrong. 

> 
> The Hebrew tribes were Nomads who are thought to have originated in the Arabian
> Peninsula and who have migrated into Iraq originally.

The term Hebrews comes from the old West Semitic root `-b/p-r meaning pass or
cross. The term was originally used for any semi-nomadic people but later
became an "ethnic" term describing the Israelites and related tribes such as
the Edomites, Moabites etc. They were descended from West Semitic people who
took up a semi-nomadic lifestyle due to the increase of the population around
the end of the third and beginning of the second millenium BCE. West Semitic
civilization originated in the area of Israel. It was made up of various waves
of people entering the area in different centuries and intermarrying with the
earlier inhabitants. The earliest ancestors of the West Semitic people were
already present c. 9000 BCE. The last wave, who brought the West Semitic
language which developed into Hebrew and Aramaic, arrived c. 3000 BCE probably
from Arabia. From 2500 - 2000 BCE West Semitic civilization spread eastwards as 
far as the Euphrates.

> The tribes were called
> the Hebrews which is a semitic word meaning "those who crossed". They were
> named as such because they crossed the two great rivers, Tigris and Eupharates.


> They have continued their migration path through Syria and eventually have
> settled in Palestine. In the process they aquired some of the Sumerian,
> Babylonian, and Canaanites culture and religious beleif.

Before continuing, I would like to point out to all readers that the story 
in the Bible describing the origins of the Hebrews is legend and not history.
(I do not see this as an argument against Judaism since I do not feel that
Judaism requires a person to blindly believe the Bible is 100% accurate
history.) The picture that emerges from the archeological evidence is that only
the tribes of Ephraim and West Menashe appear to have originated in Syria. The
legend of Abrahams journey from Haran to Canaan contains a remembrance of the
movement of the ancestors of these tribes into Canaan. (In general the legends
of the Chumash and the book of Joshua appear to be largely based on the
traditions of the these two tribes. However, all the other tribes appear to
have originated in Israel, including the eastern half of the tribe of Menashe.

Only the Ephraimites and Levites appear to have been in Egypt, and at different
times! (That's precisely why the story of the exodus cannot be fitted into the
historical record, the evidence in the Biblical story is contradictory,
containing bits and pieces from two different historical episodes.)

> The Archaeological
> excavations at Ebla and Ugarit (both in Syria) have lead most biblical scholars
> to conclude that the Jewish old testaments are based on the litrature of the
> Canaanite-Phoenician culture.


Not based on it, but using similar language and literary techniques. This
confirms that the Hebrews were very closely related to the people Western Syria
who were part of the West Semitic civilazation.

> Excavations at the ancient city of Mari (presently
> called Abu-Camal in Syria) has shown a letter by the king of Mari who was even
> refering to a nomadic tribe called "Ben-Jaminites", which were located on the
> outskirts of his kingdom at that time. 

The letters refer to Banu Yamina = Sons (people) of the South. These people
have nothing to do with the Israelite tribe of Benjamin. People living north
of Mari were called Banu Sim`al = Sons of the North. Both names referred
to people living in the Mari area. The Israelite tribe of Benjamin originated
in Israel. The belief that their ancestor was named Benjamin is in fact a
legend. It is generally thought that their name also means sons of the south
and that it was given to them by the Ephraimites who lived north of them.
They originated about 5 centuries after the Banu Yamina at Mari.


> 
> The Canaanite culture and language were replaced by that of the Aramaics. The
> Aramaic language at that time was the simplest semitic language, hence it became
> widely accepted and was the official political language of the M.E. during the
> rise of the Hebrew civilisation. 

Completely false. Aramaic became the official language at the time of the
Assyrian empire. Hebrew actually survived as a spoken language until about the
3rd century CE. Aramiac had been encroaching slowly over many centuries and
eventually replaced Hebrew completely only in the Talmudic period.


Later on, Aramaic was replaced by the Arabic
> language which was the language of the Quraish tribe of Arabia. At the begining
> of the Islamic conquest that language was not suitable enough, and most people
> had not converted to Islam. Arabic replaced Aramaic about 50 years into the
> Ummayd dynasty.

In Israel, Aramaic survived as the language of the Jews until last century.
Apparently the Samaritans can still speak a form of Aramiac.

> 
> |> 
> |> Not only are the modern Palestinians not related to the Canaanites, they do
> |> not seem to be related to the Arabs who invaded Israel in the 7th century CE
> |> since those Arabs assimilated into the Seljuk Turks.
> 
> How do you know that?. are you saying that the Hebrew tribes has comitted
> massive genocide to eliminate those Canaanites?.

No, the Canaanites are known have assimilated into the Jewish people. At the
time of David, many of his Jewish generals were of Canaanite descent. By the
time that the kingdom split the Canaanites had been completely assimilated into
the Jews. (Saul the first king of Israel was in fact descended from the people
of Gibeon who were Canaanites that had been incorpoarted into the tribe of
Benjamin. Solomon's mother Bathsheva is also thought to have been a Canaanite.)

> The Islamic conquest did
> eliminate the native people of the M.E. Hence, the people speak the Arabic
> language, however, it does not mean that every one has his roots in Arabia.
> 

The Turks always saw themselves as a different people to the Arabs. It is known 
that during the middle of the 18th century that there were no Arabs in Israel
(other than the Druze to the north). There were Jews, Turks and small Christian
minorities who were not Arabs.

During the 19th century Arabs were brought in by the Turks to work on the land.
Small groups of bedouins also entered. Many Palestinians only came after 1910.

> A.Faris
Colin