The Pattern of the Israelite Settlement in Canaan

Abstract

The stories of the migration of the Hebrew ancestors to the land of Canaan and the settlement of their descendants are without parallel in the great cultures of the ancient Near East: Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Hittites. In both the Hebrew and Greek cultures, one finds that a gap of several centuries separates the first and second stages. This chapter concerns the second stage of the traditions: that of group settlement, for which an identical model can be found underlying both the Israelite and Greek traditions. It indicates that the description of the apportionment of the Land underwent a process of nationalization and schematization. The Israelite traditions, which belong to an earlier period than those of the Greeks, may help to arrive at a better understanding of the development of the Greek traditions of the foundation of settlements which are known only from the beginning of the 7th century onwards. Keywords: Canaan; Greek cultures; Hebrew cultures; Israelite settlement; nationalization; schematization