In the scientific study of the ancient history of the Levant, it is crucial to distinguish precisely between Israelites, Israelis, and Jews. These terms are not equivalent, and confusing them leads to serious anachronisms, especially when the modern State of Israel merges them in a historically inaccurate way for political purposes and for reinforcing cultural and narrative identity.
Here is a clear summary grounded in academic sources.
1. Basic concepts: Israelites, Israelis, and Jews
– Israelites were a Canaanite population inhabiting the highlands of Canaan during the Iron Age I–II (ca. 1200–586 BCE).
– Israelis are the citizens of the modern State of Israel (founded in 1948), a contemporary national and civic identity tied to a Jewish state.
– Jews form an ethno-religious identity that consolidates mainly after the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE) and is definitively redefined after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, with Rabbinic Judaism (Cohen, 1999; Mason, 2007; Meyers, 2009; Staples, 2021).
2. The Israelites: Canaanite people, polytheistic/henotheistic, centered on the kingdom of Israel
The Israelites did not emerge from a massive external invasion but were part of the local Canaanite cultural continuum. Archaeology shows absolute continuity between Late Bronze Canaanites and the settlements in the highlands from the 12th century BCE: same pottery (ribbed-edge jars), four-room houses, identical agricultural and subsistence patterns. There is no evidence of a large-scale external conquest as described in the Book of Joshua. Ancient Hebrew is a Canaanite language (Dever, 2003; Faust, 2012; Finkelstein, 1988).
Israel (north) was a kingdom from the 9th century BCE, with its capital in Samaria, centralized administration, a complex economy, and monumental constructions. Judah (south), by contrast, was marginal for most of the Iron Age, with no clear signs of a complex state before the 8th century BCE: early Jerusalem was small, without monumental fortifications, and with low population density. Even conservative perspectives accept that Judah was not a full kingdom in the 10th–9th centuries BCE, but a secondary or underdeveloped entity; when it became one, it was small and limited (Faust, 2012; Finkelstein, 2013; Kletter, 1999).
Religiously, they practiced typical Canaanite polytheism or henotheism, with strong syncretism. They worshiped Yahweh as the main god, but also Baal (storm and fertility god), Asherah (possibly Yahweh’s consort), and other deities of the regional pantheon.
The cult of Baal is well-documented archaeologically (figurines of the “striking god” in Khirbet el-Rai and Lachish, seals with Baal-Seth motifs in Jerusalem, altars in Samaria and Dan). Inscriptions at Kuntillet Ajrud (8th century BCE) mention “Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah” and “Yahweh of Teman and his Asherah,” alongside Baal in similar contexts, showing that Yahweh was invoked as primary but alongside other gods in both official and popular practices. Female figurines (probably Asherah) and altars appear at many Israelite sites, confirming uninterrupted Canaanite polytheism (Noll, 2007; Smith, 2001; Dever, 2005). There was no exclusivity or denial of other gods; only prophetic minorities criticized these cults, while the majority considered them normal.
3. The origin of modern Judaism: Rabbinic Judaism after 70 CE
Strict monotheistic Judaism with daily Torah regulations (Sabbath, circumcision, purity, prohibition of images) did not exist in the time of the Iron Age Israelites. These practices only became widespread centuries later: clear evidence appears from the mid-2nd century BCE (Hasmonean/Maccabean periods) in everyday remains, such as mikvaot (ritual baths), stone vessels against impurity, and the near disappearance of figurines (previously common in polytheistic cults).
They consolidated after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, when Rabbinic Judaism adapted without a temple or sacrifices (Adler, 2022).
Without a temple or Zadokite priesthood, Pharisees and rabbis created a new system: the synagogue as a community center, prayer replacing sacrifices, intensive study of the Torah, and compilation of the oral tradition.
The Mishnah was written around 200 CE, the Talmuds (Jerusalem and Babylonian) between the 5th–6th centuries CE. This is how halakha, the liturgical calendar, the 613 commandments, and the daily liturgy of modern Judaism emerged.
Rabbinic Judaism took its recognizable form as “modern Judaism” with the final redaction of the Talmuds in the 5th–6th centuries CE (Boccaccini, 2002; Cohen, 1987; Schwartz, 2011; Adler, 2022).
4. Genetic evidence: continuity with ancient Levantine populations
Paleogenomic studies confirm significant genetic continuity with the ancient Canaanite and Israelite populations of the Bronze and Iron Age Levant.
Modern populations such as Palestinians and Lebanese show a high correspondence with this ancestral substrate (models indicate 81–93% Levantine ancestry from Bronze/Iron Age in some analyses, with minimal external dilution and strong in situ continuity).
In contrast, modern Jews average less (around 50–65% or lower overall), with notable European admixture especially in Ashkenazi Jews (the majority group, with ~37–65% European/Southern European introgression).
Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews maintain greater regional similarity, but the current Israeli Jewish population does not reach the level of continuity observed in local Levantine populations such as Palestinians and Lebanese (Agranat-Tamir et al., 2020; paleogenomic studies 2020–2026).
Conclusion
The Israelites were a polytheistic/henotheistic Canaanite people, politically centered in the northern kingdom (Israel). Jewish identity emerged centuries later, mainly after 70 CE. The ancient Israelites were never Jews in any historical, ethnic, or religious sense; they were cultural and partially biological ancestors of later Jews, but from a different world.
References
Adler, Y. (2022). The origins of Judaism: An archaeological-historical reappraisal. Yale University Press. https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300268379
Agranat-Tamir, L., et al. (2020). The genomic history of the Bronze Age southern Levant. *Cell, 181*(5), 1146–1157.e28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.024
Boccaccini, G. (2002). Roots of rabbinic Judaism: An intellectual history, from Ezekiel to Daniel. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Cohen, S. J. D. (1987). From the Maccabees to the Mishnah. Westminster John Knox Press.
Cohen, S. J. D. (1999). The beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, varieties, uncertainties. University of California Press.
Dever, W. G. (2003). Who were the early Israelites and where did they come from? William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Dever, W. G. (2005). Did God have a wife? Archaeology and folk religion in ancient Israel. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Faust, A. (2012). The archaeology of Israelite society in Iron Age II. Eisenbrauns. https://doi.org/10.5325/j.ctv1bxgz6f
Finkelstein, I. (1988). The archaeology of the Israelite settlement. Israel Exploration Society.
Finkelstein, I. (2013). The forgotten kingdom: The archaeology and history of northern Israel. Society of Biblical Literature.
Kletter, R. (1999). Pots and polities: Material remains of late Iron Age Judah in relation to its political borders. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 314, 19–54. https://doi.org/10.2307/1357450
Mason, S. (2007). Jews, Judaeans, Judaizing, Judaism: Problems of categorization in ancient history. Journal for the Study of Judaism, 38(4–5), 457–512.
Meyers, E. M. (2009). Israel and its neighbors then and now: Revisionist history and the quest for history in the Middle East today. Bible and Interpretation.
Noll, K. L. (2007). Canaanite religion. Religion Compass, 1(1), 61–92. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2006.00010.x
Schwartz, S. (2011). Were the Jews a Mediterranean society? Reciprocity and solidarity in ancient Judaism. Princeton University Press.
Smith, M. S. (2001). The origins of biblical monotheism: Israel’s polytheistic background and the Ugaritic texts. Oxford University Press.
Staples, J. A. (2021). The idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism: A new theory of people, exile, and Israelite identity. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108906524
