[lbo-talk] Re: Alex Cockburn

[C. G. Estabrook]

Some scholars (George Mendenhall, Norman Gottwald) have suggested that the
origins of ancient Israel lie not in conquest by an outside group but
rather in a revolt of the lowest orders in the city-states of Canaan, part
of the Egyptian empire, in the 13th century BCE.  The word "Hebrew" may
come from a word meaning outlaw or bandit.  Israel was founded in a social
revolution in which the the Hebrews "went out of Egypt," but the exodus
may have been more a successful revolution than a migration.  (The most
complete account is Gottwald, The Tribes of Yahweh, 1979.) --CGE

On Sun, 17 Aug 2003, Bryan Atinsky wrote:
> 
> ...Present theories, as far as I understand, hold that it is more
> likely that the 'Hebrews' were a local Cananite tribe who usurped
> political control rather than tribes from further East in Iraq as the
> Abraham story would tell you...
>