Children of Israel

According to the Bible, the Israelites is an English language name given to that group of people who were the descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob who eventually inhabited the Canaan as nomads from 2192 H.C. in the Hebrew calendar^[1] (1569 BCE), or the Land of Israel as a populaton that established a permanent residence continuously until the current time of the State of Israel. As such, it is a historical people that claim to be physically related through evidence of habitation in the various parts of the World at various times in history, united primarily by their adherence to the Jewish religion which largely defines modern affiliation.

From Jacob's grandfather, Abraham, his descendants have acquired the name "Hebrews" (in English), and from contraction of the name of one of Jacob's sons Judah, the Israelites and their descendants have been referred to since the Hellenistic period as "Jews" (Hebrew: יְהוּדִי, Yehudi (sl.) in many other languages.

The Israelite legacy is claimed by, or for, several groups which can be divided into categories:

Some groups and communities self-identify as Israelites or Jews for reasons of religious belief or practice, but who do had not attempted any forms of conversion to Judaism or claim legacy to any groups that had lost their Jewish identity.

Other groups also claim a spiritual relationship to Israelites, Abraham, or being "new" Israelites, but which lack either a historical or evidential proof of relationship to the groups above, or both, or those that do not adhere to the Jewish religion, and claim that their form of belief had, is or should have replaced as the form of religious faith by those that identify as Israelites, Hebrews, Jews or Israelis.

Terminology

The term Israelite derives from Israel (Hebrew: ישראל (Standard Yisraʾel Tiberian Yiśrāʾēl)), the name given to the biblical patriarch Jacob after he struggled with an angel ( Genesis 32:28-29). His descendants are called the House of Jacob^[2], the Children of Israel, the People of Israel, or the Israelites.

The early history of the Israelites is mainly described in the Tanach, otherwise known as the Hebrew Bible. According to it, the Land of Israel (previously called Canaan) was promised to them by their God. Jerusalem was their capital, and the site of the temple in Jerusalem at the center of their faith's relationship with God. The rebuilding of this temple is at the core of Judaism's principles due to the requirement to perform Temple services that can not be performed anywhere else.

The terms Hebrews and Israelites describe the same people, claimed to be called Ebiru by the Ancient Egyptians^{citation needed} until their conquest of the Land of Canaan, Evri, Ebri or Ivri and the formation of the United Monarchy, with conclusive proof yet to be found. ^[4]

In the Torah the Israelites are most often referred to as the Children of Israel (B'nei Israel or B'nei Yisrael)^[5] by God, but until the exile the collective name for the members of the various tribes was Am Yisrael, or the People of Israel^[6] is used by a foreigner ^[7], or when referring to themselves to foreigners ^[8], or when contrasting themselves with foreigners ^[9]^[10], and by their tribal name when referring to specific affiliations, either territorial or communal. This was also used as an addition to the names of individuals, and persisted in some communities to medieval times. "Hebrew" as an adjective came into use in Europe derived from HaEbri (the Ebri) ^[11] with "Jewish" being also used alternatively, derived from the abbreviated "Jew" from Yehuda or Jehuda. The Hebrew language is the language historically associated with the Israelites and Jews.^[12]

In the Qur'an there are forty-three specific references to "Banū Isrāʾīl" (meaning the Children of Israel).^[13] There is a Surah (chapter) in the Qur'an titled ِAl-Isra (Arabic: سورة الإسراء, "The Night Journey"). This Surah was revealed in the last year before Hijrah and takes its name from Quran^[14]. Also starting from verse 40 in Sura Al-Baqara (سورة البقرة "The Cow") is the story of "Bani Israel".

In addition, a Jew is any member of the Jewish faith or people, regardless of the historical period or ancestry.

Historical organisation

Historically the organisation of Israelites can be divided into periods of their division:

Jacob's sons

The organisation of the Israelites was based on the line of descent from Jacob's sons. Jacob had twelve sons and one daughter by his four wives and concubines:

Twelve Tribes

The Israelites were divided along patriarchal lines, each called a shevet or mateh in Hebrew meaning literally a "staff" or "rod". The term is conventionally translated as "tribe" in English, although the divisions were not small isolated distinct ethnic groups in the modern sense of the term, representing some 2 million people according to the Biblical account.^[15]

The number twelve is derived from the number of Jacob's sons by his wives and concubines. However, Jacob on arrival in Egypt and following a meeting with Joseph, adopted Joseph's two sons by his Egyptian wife Asenath, Ephraim and Manasseh, as his own. ^[16] Accordingly, on the apportionment of the Land, the descendants of the two children of Joseph were allotted shares.

The names of the twelve tribes of Israel were recorded on the vestments of the Kohen Gadol (high priest). The tribe of Levi (and the sub-family of Kohanites (Kohanim)) was always considered to be a separate tribe and an integral part the Israelite people; though because of their priestly functions they did not share in the apportionment of the Land. Therefore, when the tribes are listed in reference to their receipt of land, as well as to their encampments during the forty years of wandering in the desert, the tribe of Joseph is replaced by those of Ephraim and Manasseh.

Some English speaking Jewish groups view the pronunciation, English transcription and Hebrew spelling of the tribal names to be extremely important. The transcriptions and spellings are as follows:

Camps following the exodus

Following the Exodus from Egypt, the Israelites were divided into thirteen camps (Hebrew: machanot) according to importance ^[18] with Levi in the center of the encampment around the Tabernacle and its furnishings surrounded by other tribes arranged in four groups: Judah, Issachar and Zebulun; Reuben, Simeon and Gad; Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin; Dan, Asher and Naphtali.^[19] Thus additionally Aaron and his descendants although descended from Levi were appointed as priests (kohanim) and came to be considered a separate division to the Levites.

This arrangement was not however a permanent order of the tribes, and in the chapter 1 of Numbers, the order is given as: Reuben, Simeon, Gad, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, Dan, Asher, and Naphtali. The order is changed yet again in chapter 2 when the three tribes with Judah at their lead take the leading place in the column's order of travel.

The division of the land

Moses assigned territories to Reuben, Gad and a portion of Manasseh on land east of the Jordan which they had requested. ^[20]^[21] Joshua assigned territories to Judah, Ephraim and the rest of Manasseh on land west of the Jordan which they had conquered. The tribe of Manasseh thus came to be divided into two parts by the Jordan each part referred to as a half-tribe (chatzi-shevet) of Manasseh, the part lying east of the Jordan being referred to as the half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead. Following the conquest of the remainder of Canaan, Joshua assigned territories to Asher, Benjamin, Dan, Issacher, Naphtali, Simeon and Zebulun. The land of Judah was considered too large for that tribe alone and Simeon was assigned a portion within the land of Judah instead of its own territory in the newly conquered land.^[22] Because the Levites, and kohanim (descendants of Aaron) priests played a special religious role of service at the Tabernacle to the people they were not given their own territories, but were instead assigned cities to live in within the other territories. Dan was assigned territory lying between Ephraim and Manasseh but was later displaced and subsequently settled in territory to the north of Naphtali.

After leaving Egypt, the Israelites incorporated many other populations into their society, during the conquest of Canaan in particular, but also during the period of the Judges and the united Kingdom.^[23]

Israelite kingdoms

The Israelites became a major political power with the United Monarchy of Kings Saul, David and Solomon, from c. 1025 BCE. However, soon after it the kingdom split into two kingroms which were immmediatelly subjected to a Egyptian raid confirmed by archaeological finds.^[24]

The Kingdom of Judah consisted of Judah, Simeon, Benjamin, and the parts of Levi within those lands, while the Kingdom of Israel contained Reuben, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, Ephraim, and the remainder of Levi.

The Kingdom of Israel was conquered in the 720s BC, by the Assyrians under Shalmaneser V and then under Sargon II, who, after conquering the land, destroyed Samaria, its capital, and, deported most of the occupants into exile, with the southernmost tribe - Benjamin - managing to survive by joining the Kingdom of Judah; Assyrian chronicles of the time report that only a small number of people were deported. Assyrian policy was for the deportees to be scattered, and assimilated into the Assyrian empire, and, as a result of this policy, the deported tribes lost their cultural identity, becoming traditionally known as the Ten Lost Tribes. Other defeated peoples of the Empire were in turn settled in the land.

Zedekiah, king of Judah (597-586 BCE), is considered the last king from the house of David. In 586 BC, he was toppled by Babylon, who ransacked Jerusalem, killed his heirs before his eyes, gouged out the king's eyes ensuring that would be the last thing he saw, and then deported the population into the Babylonian Captivity. Even after the elite was allowed to return from exile after some fifty years, the country was to remain a part of the Persian Empire as long as it existed.

The Lost Tribes

Although usually considered together, the so called "lost" tribes were led into exile in three groups:

Although often seen as monolithic population movements, there were in fact forced resettlement programs like those conducted with other populations conquered by the Assyrians, and the populations themselves did not undergo modern identity verification, with many families belonging to other tribes, including those of Judah and Benjamin being subjected to exile while many individuals and families originally form the territories subjected to exile remaining in the unconquered Judean and Benjamenite lands. The duration of 18 years that separated the first exile from the last, also suggests that the movement was purposelessly spaced by the Assyrian conquerors to allow accommodation of such large numbers of people over territories.

Israelite Diaspora

The creation of Israelite Diaspora is claimed to have occurred well before the forced exile of the tribes, and to some degree the exiles, and the later periods of conquest, encouraged emigration of Israelites, now "Jews" from the Levant communities to nearby and far regions, notably in Yemen, Syria, Anatolia, Mediterranean coast of Europe and North Africa, and eventually further, reaching the United States and eventually Japan in the modern period. Although the priestly identity survived in most communities, tribal identities survived only is some communities and families, notably though adaptation of the tribal names as modern family names such as that of Sir John Monash, claimed to be derived from Manasseh. While the priestly identity found confirmation in the new science of Genetics, tribal identities can not be confirmed in the same way with any degree of certainty due to degree of porosity of the Israelite populations based on inclusion requiring only acceptance of common religious practices rather than any racial selection.

Genetic evidence of common descent

Patrilineal descent can be documented by analysis of the Y-chromosome, passed from father to son. Of the many variants, or haplogroups, of the Y-chromosome, haplogroups J1 and J2, both originating from the Middle East, are the most common among Jewish men.

Thus, genetic evidences support a levantine patrilineal descent for a small portion of Jews, which may represents descent from one of the Israelite tribes. The discovery of the Cohen Modal Haplotype gives more weight to the Biblical and priestly claim of descent from a unique ancestor, namely Aaron ^[27], and also provides an objective test of claims of Israelite origin, as for example with the Lemba people. ^[28]

Note, however, that several Kohen families carry other Y-chromosome variants.^[29] Note also that the CMH gene pattern is found in populations not know to be related to Israelites ^[30].

Archeology of Israelites

The discipline of archaeology contributes the substantiation for the claim of groups of Israelites to be physically related through evidence of habitation in the various parts of the World at various times in history. There has been a great deal of interest among archaeologists and lay people as to whether the archaeological evidence in this period confirms or denies the historical accounts in the Hebrew Bible or whether archaeology should be expected to confirm every detail. A wide spectrum of opinions exist on the subject but until recently evidence has been inconclusive, for example in substantiating the conquest of Canaan.^[31]

Archaeologists by and large work on the premise of requiring physical substantiation of cultural or oral histories and are divided into the camps that seek to either prove or disprove identification of any of the historical Israelite groups, sometimes for ideological reasons of personal belief or disbelief on the Hebrew scriptures as a work of historical accuracy. To this end the work has been focused on identification of places mentioned in the Bible as places of habitation, the identification of Israelite presence in Egypt such as from the Mernaptah slab^[32], and their exodus from it, and the later period of Israelite settlement in Israel before the Assyrian exile.

Less archaeological work had been performed on investigating the direction and regions of post-Assyrian exile largely because those enthusiastic in pursuing this path of research usually lack skills while archaeologists lack funds, access unlike in Israel where the period of Judges had been to some degree substantiated by physical finds^[33], or interest in pursuing what is seen as a semi-mythical pursuit at the edge of serious research. Usually the lack of archaeological evidence has been explained by the assimilation theory that proposes the exiled Israelites adopting so much of their surrounding cultural traits that any unearthed artefacts can not be identified with them with any certainty.

Contents