Editing Israelites (section)

==Historical Israelites==
{{see also|History of ancient Israel and Judah|History of Israel|History of Palestine}}Efforts to confirm the biblical ethnogenesis of Israel through [[Biblical archaeology|archaeology]] have largely been abandoned as unproductive.<ref name=":0" /> Many scholars see the traditional narratives as [[national myth]]s with little historical value, but some posit that a small group of exiled Egyptians contributed to the Exodus narrative.{{efn|"While there is a consensus among scholars that the Exodus did not take place in the manner described in the Bible, surprisingly most scholars agree that the narrative has a historical core and that some of the highland settlers came, one way or another, from Egypt&nbsp;..." "Archaeology does not really contribute to the debate over the historicity or even historical background of the Exodus itself, but if there was indeed such a group, it contributed the Exodus story to that of all Israel. While I agree that it is most likely that there was such a group, I must stress that this is based on an overall understanding of the development of collective memory and of the authorship of the texts (and their editorial process). Archaeology, unfortunately, cannot directly contribute (yet?) to the study of this specific group of Israel's ancestors."{{sfn|Faust|2015|p=476}}}} [[William G. Dever]] cautiously identifies this group with the [[Tribe of Joseph]], while [[Richard Elliott Friedman]] identifies it with the [[Tribe of Levi]].{{sfn|Dever|2003|p=231}}<ref name="Friedman2">{{Cite book |last=Friedman |first=Richard Elliott |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_sbADQAAQBAJ |title=The Exodus |date=2017-09-12 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-06-256526-6 |language=en |access-date=15 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701135632/https://books.google.com/books?id=_sbADQAAQBAJ |archive-date=1 July 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Josephus]] quoting [[Manetho]] identifies them with the [[Hyksos]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Assmann |first=Jan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XEMadfTi_U4C&q=Osarsiph&pg=PA227 |title=The Mind of Egypt: History and Meaning in the Time of the Pharaohs |date=2003 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-01211-0 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/L186JosephusILifeAgainstApion |title=L 186 Josephus I Life Against Apion |language=English}}</ref> Other scholars believe that the Exodus narrative was a "[[collective memory]]" of several events from the Bronze Age.{{sfn|Na'aman|2011|pp=62-69}}<ref name=":04">{{cite book |title=Rethinking Israel: Studies in the History and Archaeology of Ancient Israel in Honor of Israel Finkelstein |last=Killebrew |first=Ann E. |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-57506-787-2 |pages=151–158 |editor-last=Lipschits |editor-first=Oded |chapter="Out of the Land of Egypt, Out of the House of Slavery..." (Exodus 20:2): Forced Migration, Slavery and the Emergence of Israel |editor-last2=Gadot |editor-first2=Yuval |editor-last3=Adams |editor-first3=Matthew Joel |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/43737298}}</ref>

In addition, it is unlikely that the Israelites overtook the [[southern Levant]] by force, according to archaeological evidence. Instead, they branched out of indigenous [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite peoples]] that long inhabited the region, which included [[History of Syria#Classical Antiquity|Syria]], [[ancient Israel]], and the [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan region]].{{sfn|Tubb|1998|pp=13–14}}{{sfn|McNutt|1999|p=47}}<ref>K. L. Noll (2001). [https://books.google.com/books?id=2rnyjxLHy-QC&pg=PA164 ''Canaan and Israel in Antiquity: An Introduction'']. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701140145/https://books.google.com/books?id=2rnyjxLHy-QC&pg=PA164|date=1 July 2023}} A&C Black. p. 164: "It would seem that, in the eyes of Merneptah's artisans, Israel was a Canaanite group indistinguishable from all other Canaanite groups." "It is likely that Merneptah's Israel was a group of Canaanites located in the Jezreel Valley."</ref> Their culture was [[monolatristic]], with a primary focus on Yahweh (or El) worship,{{sfn|Cross|1973}} but after the Babylonian exile, it became [[monotheistic]], with partial influence from [[Zoroastrianism]]. The latter decisively separated the Israelites from other Canaanites.{{sfn|Tubb|1998|pp=13–14}}<ref name="auto1" />{{Failed verification|date=May 2024|reason=None of these sources mention anything about Zoroastrianism.}} The Israelites used the [[Canaanite script]] and communicated in a Canaanite language known as [[Biblical Hebrew]]. The language's [[Modern Hebrew|modern descendant]] is today the only surviving dialect of the [[Canaanite languages]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moore Cross |first=Frank |title=Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in History of the Religion of Israel |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1997 |isbn=0-674-09176-0 |location=Massachusetts |page=62 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kuzar |first=Ron |title=Hebrew and Zionism: a discourse analytic cultural study |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |year=2001 |isbn=3-11-016993-2 |location=Berlin |page=235 }}</ref> Genetic studies show that contemporary ethnicities in the Levant were, like Israel, distinguished by their unique cultures, due to their descent from a common ancestral stock.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Haber |first=Marc |last2=Doumet-Serhal |first2=Claude |last3=Scheib |first3=Christiana |last4=Xue |first4=Yali |display-authors=3 |date=2017 |title=Continuity and Admixture in the Last Five Millennia of Levantine History from Ancient Canaanite and Present-Day Lebanese Genome Sequences |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5544389/ |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=101 |issue=2 |pages=274-282 |via=NCBI}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Feldman |first=Michal |last2=Master |first2=Daniel M. |last3=Bianco |first3=Raffaela A. |last4=Burri |first4=Marta |display-authors=3 |date=2019 |title=Ancient DNA sheds light on the genetic origins of early Iron Age Philistines |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6609216/ |journal=ScienceAdvances |volume=5 |issue=7 |via=NCBI}}</ref>

===Origins===
[[File:Canaanites and Shasu Leader captives from Ramses III's tile collection; By Niv Lugassi.png|thumb|[[Ramesses III prisoner tiles]] depicting precursors of the Israelites in Canaan: Canaanites from [[city-state]]s and a Shasu leader.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/34/6/9|title=Shasu or Habiru: Who Were the Early Israelites?|date=24 August 2015|website=The BAS Library|access-date=16 October 2022|archive-date=16 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016114617/https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/34/6/9|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch04-2.htm|title=Israelites as Canaanites|website=Macrohistory: World History|access-date=3 March 2019|archive-date=3 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190103145513/http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch04-2.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/34/6/8|title=Inside, Outside: Where Did the Early Israelites Come From?|date=24 August 2015|website=The BAS Library|access-date=16 October 2022|archive-date=16 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016114612/https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/34/6/8|url-status=live}}</ref>|upright=0.7]]
Several theories exist for the origins of historical Israelites. Some believe they descend from raiding groups, itinerant nomads such as [[Habiru]] and [[Shasu]] or impoverished Canaanites, who were forced to leave wealthy urban areas and live in the highlands.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Killebrew |first=Ann E. |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Historical Books of the Hebrew Bible |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-19-026116-0 |editor-last=Kelle |editor-first=Brad E. |pages=79–93 |chapter=Early Israel's Origins, Settlement, and Ethnogenesis |access-date=31 March 2023 |editor-last2=Strawn |editor-first2=Brent A. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7y4DEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA79 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331202929/https://books.google.com/books?id=7y4DEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA79 |archive-date=31 March 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Toorn" /> [[Gary Rendsburg]] argues that some archaic biblical traditions and other circumstantial evidence point to the Israelites emerging from the [[Shasu]] and other seminomadic peoples from the desert regions south of the [[Levant]], later settling in the highlands of Canaan.<ref>{{cite book |title="An Excellent Fortress for His Armies, a Refuge for the People": Egyptological, Archaeological, and Biblical Studies in Honor of James K. Hoffmeier |last=Rendsburg |first=Gary A. |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-57506-994-4 |pages=327–339 |editor-last=Averbeck |editor-first=Richard E. |chapter=Israelite Origins |editor-last2=Younger (Jr.) |editor-first2=K. Lawson |chapter-url=https://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/docman/rendsburg/845-israelite-origins-hoffmeier-fs-1}}</ref> The prevailing academic opinion is that the Israelites were a mixture of peoples predominately indigenous to Canaan, with additional input from an Egyptian matrix of peoples, which most likely inspired the Exodus narrative.<ref>Mittleman, Alan (2010). "Judaism: Covenant, Pluralism and Piety". In Turner, Bryan S., ed. [https://books.google.com/books?id=RheC7rG9u6gC&pg=PA345 ''The New Blackwell Companion to the Sociology of Religion'']. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 340–363, 346.</ref><ref name="Gottwald">Gottwald, Norman (1999). [https://books.google.com/books?id=L_dIEeMj2EYC&pg=PA455 ''Tribes of Yahweh: A Sociology of the Religion of Liberated Israel, 1250–1050 BCE'']. A&C Black. p. 433. cf. 455–56.</ref><ref>[[Richard A. Gabriel|Gabriel, Richard A.]] (2003). [https://books.google.com/books?id=72ZR9KCh9lUC&pg=PA63 ''The Military History of Ancient Israel'']. Greenwood. p. 63: "The ethnically mixed character of the Israelites is reflected even more clearly in the foreign names of the group's leadership. Moses himself, of course, has an Egyptian name. But so do Hophni, Phinehas, Hur, and Merari, the son of Levi."</ref> Israel's demographics were similar to the demographics of [[Ammon]], [[Edom]], [[Moab]] and [[Phoenicia]].<ref name="Gottwald" />{{sfn|Tubb|1998}}{{page needed|date=March 2024}} 

Besides their focus on Yahweh worship, Israelite cultural markers were defined by body, food, and time, including [[male circumcision]], [[Pork taboo|avoidance of pork consumption]] and marking time based on the Exodus, the reigns of [[Kings of Israel and Judah|Israelite kings]], and [[Biblical Sabbath|Sabbath observance]]. The first two markers were observed by neighboring [[Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples|west Semites]] besides the [[Philistines]], who were of [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean Greek]] origin. As a result, intermarriage with other Semites was common.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Hendel |first=Ronald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=An08DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |title=Remembering Abraham: Culture, Memory, and History in the Hebrew Bible |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-517796-1 |pages=3–30}}</ref> But what distinguished Israelite circumcision from non-Israelite circumcision was its emphasis on 'correct' timing.<ref name=":16">{{Cite journal |last=Fleishman |first=Joseph |date=2001 |title=On the Significance of a Name Change and Circumcision in Genesis 17 |url=https://janes.scholasticahq.com/article/2434-on-the-significance-of-a-name-change-and-circumcision-in-genesis-17 |journal=Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society |volume=28 |issue=1 |via=JTS}}</ref><ref name=":17">{{Cite book |last=Thiessen |first=Matthew |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/5287/chapter/148014788 |title=Contesting Conversion: Genealogy, Circumcision, and Identity in Ancient Judaism and Christianity |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199914456 |pages=43–64}}</ref> Israelite circumcision also served as a [[mnemonic]] sign for the circumcised, where their 'unnatural' erect circumcised penis would remind them to behave differently in sexual matters.<ref name=":16" /> [[Yom-Tov Lipmann-Muhlhausen]] suggests that Israelite identity was based on faith and adherence to sex-appropriate commandments. For men, it was circumcision.  For women, it was ritual sacrifice after childbirth ({{Bibleverse|Leviticus|12:6}}).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Shaye J.D. |url=https://dokumen.pub/why-arent-jewish-women-circumcised-gender-and-covenant-in-judaism-9780520920491.html |title=Why Aren't Jewish Women Circumcised?: Gender and Covenant in Judaism |date=2005 |publisher=978-0520212503 |isbn=978-0520212503 |pages=180–190}}</ref>

[[File:IHM מזבח הר עיבל.jpeg|thumb|The [[Mount Ebal site|Mount Ebal structure]], seen by many archeologists as an early Israelite cultic site]]Genealogy was another ethnic marker. Whilst it was likely that Israelite identity was not exclusively [[Blood quantum laws|based on blood descent]],<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":9" /><ref name=":19">{{Cite book |last=Olyan |first=Saul |title=Rites and Rank: Hierarchy in Biblical Representations of Cult |date=2000 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-02948-1}}</ref> the Israelites used genealogy to engage in [[narcissism of small differences]] but also, [[self-criticism]] since their ancestors included morally questionable characters such as Jacob. Both these traits represented the "complexities of the Jewish soul".<ref name=":9" />

Names were significant in Israelite culture and indicated one's destiny and inherent character. Thus, a name change indicated a 'divine transformation' in one's 'destines, characters and natures'. These beliefs aligned with the Near Eastern cultural milieu, where names were 'intimately bound up with the very essence of being and inextricably intertwined with personality'.<ref name=":17" />

In terms of appearance, rabbis described the Biblical Jews as being "midway between black and white" and having the "color of the boxwood tree".{{sfn|Goldenberg|2009|p=95}} Assuming [[Frank J. Yurco|Yurco]]'s debated claim that the Israelites are depicted in reliefs from [[Merneptah]]'s temple at [[Karnak]] is correct,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Yurco |first=Frank J. |author-link=Frank J. Yurco |date=1986 |title=Merenptah's Canaanite Campaign |journal=Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt |volume=23 |pages=195, 207 |doi=10.2307/40001099 |jstor=40001099}}</ref> the early Israelites may have wore the same attire and hairstyles as non-Israelite Canaanites.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hasel |first=Michael G. |date=2003 |title=Merenptah's Inscription and Reliefs and the Origin of Israel (The Near East in the Southwest: Essays in Honor of William G. Dever) |journal=Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research |location=Boston |publisher=American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=58 |pages=27–36 |isbn=0-89757-065-0 |jstor=3768554 |editor-first1=Beth Alpert |editor-last1=Nakhai}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Stager |first=Lawrence E. |author-link=Lawrence Stager |title=The Oxford History of the Biblical World |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-513937-2 |editor-last=Coogan |editor-first=Michael |page=92 |chapter=Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DVHJRFW3mYC&pg=PA92}}</ref> Dissenting from this, [[Anson Rainey]] argued that the Israelites in the reliefs looked more similar to the Shasu.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Rainey |first=Anson F. |year=2001 |title=Israel in Merenptah's Inscription and Reliefs |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=57–75 |issn=0021-2059 |jstor=27926956}}</ref> Based on biblical literature, it is implied that the Israelites distinguished themselves from peoples like the Babylonians and Egyptians by not having long beards and chin tufts. However, these fashion practices were upper class customs.<ref name=":15">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Beard |encyclopedia=The Jewish Encyclopedia |url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2690-beard |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240314092309/https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2690-beard |archive-date=March 14, 2024 |last2=Muller |first2=W. Max |last3=Ginzberg |first3=Louis |last1=Adler |first1=Cyrus}}</ref>

==== Early Israelite settlements ====
{{further|Israelite highland settlement}}
In the 12th century BCE, many Israelite settlements appeared in the central hill country of Canaan, which was formerly an open terrain. These settlements lacked evidence of pork consumption, compared to Philistine settlements, had [[four-room house]]s and lived by an [[Egalitarianism|egalitarian ethos]], which was exemplified by the absence of elaborate tombs, governor's mansions, certain houses being bigger than others etc. They followed a [[Mixed economy#Mix of markets and economic planning|mixed economy]], which prioritized [[Self-sufficiency economy|self-sufficiency]], [[Crop farming|cultivation of crops]], [[animal husbandry]] and [[Small business|small-scale]] [[craft production]]. New technologies such as [[Terrace Farming|terraced farming]], [[silo]]s for grain storage and [[cistern]]s for rainwater collection were simultaneously introduced.<ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last=Rendsburg |first=Gary A. |chapter-url=https://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/docman/rendsburg/877-ch-3-text-notes/file |title=Ancient Israel: From Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple |date=2021 |publisher=Biblical Archaeology Society |editor=John Merill |chapter=The Emergence of Israel in Canaan |editor2=Hershel Shanks |isbn=978-1-880317-23-5 |pages=59–91}}</ref>

These settlements were built by inhabitants of the "general Southland" (i.e. modern [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]] and the southern parts of [[Israel]] and [[Jordan]]), who abandoned their pastoral-nomadic ways. Canaanites who lived outside the central hill country were tenuously identified as Danites, Asherites, Zebulunites, Issacharites, Naphtalites and Gadites. These inhabitants do not have a significant history of migration besides the Danites, who allegedly originate from the [[Sea Peoples]], particularly the [[Danaoi|Dan(an)u]].<ref name=":10" /><ref>Mark W. Bartusch, ''Understanding Dan: an exegetical study of a biblical city, tribe and ancestor'', Volume 379 of ''Journal for the study of the Old Testament: Supplement series'', Continuum International Publishing Group, 2003</ref> Nonetheless, they intermingled with the former nomads, due to socioeconomic and military factors. Their interest in Yahwism and its concern for the underprivileged was another factor. Possible allusions to this historical reality in the Hebrew Bible include the aforementioned tribes, except for Issachar and Zebulun, descending from [[Bilhah]] and [[Zilpah]], who were viewed as "secondary additions" to Israel.<ref name=":10" />

El worship was central to early Israelite culture but currently, the number of El worshippers in Israel is unknown. It is more likely that different Israelite locales held different views about El and had 'small-scale' [[sacred space]]s.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=Theodore J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-erqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA73 |title=The Origin and Character of God: Ancient Israelite Religion through the Lens of Divinity |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0190072544 |pages=73–118}}</ref>{{sfn|Cross|1973}}

Himbaza et al. (2012) states that Israelite households were typically ill-equipped to handle conflicts between family members, which may explain the harsh sexual taboos enforced against acts like [[incest]], [[homosexuality]], [[polygamy]] etc. in {{Bibleverse|Leviticus|18-20}}. Whilst the [[Death penalty in the Bible|death penalty]] was legislated for these 'secret crimes', they functioned as a warning, where offenders would confess out of fear and make appropriate reparations.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Himbaza |first1=Innocent |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt284v7w.7 |title=The Bible on the Question of Homosexuality |last2=Schenker |first2=Adrien |last3=Edart |first3=Jean-Baptiste |date=2012 |publisher=Catholic University of America Press |isbn=978-0813218847 |pages=45–72|jstor=j.ctt284v7w.7 }}</ref>

===Monarchic period===
==== United Monarchy ====
{{Main|Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)||}}

[[File:Black Obelisk side 4 Jewish delegation.jpg|thumb|Part of the gift-bearing Israelite delegation of King Jehu, [[Black Obelisk]], 841–840&nbsp;BCE.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Delitzsch|first1=Friedrich|url=https://archive.org/stream/babelbibl00deli/babelbibl00deli#page/78/mode/1up|title=Babel and Bible;|last2=McCormack|first2=Joseph|last3=Carruth|first3=William Herbert|last4=Robinson|first4=Lydia Gillingham|date=1906|location=Chicago |publisher=The Open Court |page=78}}</ref>]]
The historicity of the United Monarchy is heavily debated among archaeologists and biblical scholars: biblical maximalists and centrists ([[Kenneth Kitchen]], [[William G. Dever]], [[Amihai Mazar]], [[Baruch Halpern]] and others) argue that the biblical account is more or less accurate, while biblical minimalists ([[Israel Finkelstein]], [[Ze'ev Herzog]], [[Thomas L. Thompson]] and others) argue that Israel and Judah never split from a singular state. The debate has not been resolved, but recent archaeological discoveries by [[Eilat Mazar]] and [[Yosef Garfinkel]] show some support for the existence of the United Monarchy.<ref name="Zachary" />

From 850 BCE onwards, a series of inscriptions mention the "[[Davidic line|House of David]]". They came from Israel's neighbors.{{sfn|Joffe|2002|p=450}}<ref>{{cite web|date=2014-07-02|title=Divided Kingdom, United Critics|website=Biblical Archaeology Society|url=https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/reviews/divided-kingdom-united-critics/|access-date=2021-04-25|archive-date=9 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190409185456/https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/reviews/divided-kingdom-united-critics/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Kingdoms of Israel and Judah ====
[[File:LMLK,_Ezekiah_seals.jpg|thumb|"To [[Hezekiah]], son of [[Ahaz]], king of Judah" – [[Seal (emblem)|royal seal]] found at the [[Ophel]] excavations in Jerusalem]]{{Main|Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Judah|Expulsions and exoduses of Jews}}
Compared to the United Monarchy, the historicity of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah is widely accepted by historians and archaeologists.<ref name="Finkelstein">{{cite book |last1=Finkelstein |first1=Israel |author-link1=Israel Finkelstein |title=The Bible unearthed: archaeology's new vision of ancient Israel and the origin of its stories |last2=Silberman |first2=Neil Asher |author-link2=Neil Asher Silberman |date=2001 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-684-86912-4 |edition=1st Touchstone |location=New York}}</ref>{{rp|169–195}}<ref name="Wright2">{{cite web |last1=Wright |first1=Jacob L. |date=July 2014 |title=David, King of Judah (Not Israel) |url=http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/2014/07/wri388001.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301164250/http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/2014/07/wri388001.shtml |archive-date=1 March 2021 |access-date=15 May 2021 |website=The Bible and Interpretation}}</ref> Their destruction by the Assyrians and Babylonians respectively is also confirmed by archaeological evidence and extrabiblical sources.<ref name="Broshi 2001 174" /><ref name="BabylonianChronicles">{{cite web |title=British Museum – Cuneiform tablet with part of the Babylonian Chronicle (605–594 BCE) |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/c/cuneiform_nebuchadnezzar_ii.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030154541/https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/c/cuneiform_nebuchadnezzar_ii.aspx |archive-date=30 October 2014 |access-date=30 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=ABC 5 (Jerusalem Chronicle) |url=https://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/abc5/jerusalem.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505195611/https://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/abc5/jerusalem.html |archive-date=5 May 2019 |access-date=8 February 2022 |website=www.livius.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Faust |first=Avraham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NcnPAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA119 |title=Judah in the Neo-Babylonian Period: The Archaeology of Desolation |publisher=Society of Biblical Lit. |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-58983-641-9 |pages=140–143}}</ref><ref name="Atiqot98">{{cite journal |author=Yardenna Alexandre |year=2020 |title=The Settlement History of Nazareth in the Iron Age and Early Roman Period |url=http://www.atiqot.org.il/download.ashx?id=1797 |url-status=live |journal='Atiqot |volume=98 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200526102938/http://www.atiqot.org.il/download.ashx?id=1797 |archive-date=26 May 2020 |access-date=26 May 2020}}</ref><ref name="Finkelstein" />{{rp|306}}

Christian Frevel argues that Yahwism was rooted in the culture of the Kingdom of Israel, who introduced it to the Kingdom of Judah via [[Ahab]]'s expansions and sociopolitical cooperation, which was prompted by [[Hazael]]'s conquests.<ref name=":11">{{cite journal |last=Frevel |first=Christian |date=2021 |title=When and from Where did YHWH Emerge? Some Reflections on Early Yahwism in Israel and Judah |journal=Entangled Religions |volume=12 |issue=2 |doi=10.46586/er.12.2021.8776 |issn=2363-6696 |doi-access=free |hdl=2263/84039 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Frevel has also argued that Judah was a 'vassal-like' state to Israel, under the [[Omrides]].<ref name=":11" /> This theory has been rejected by other scholars, who argue that the archaeological evidence seems to indicate that Judah was an independent socio-political entity for most of the 9th century BCE.<ref>{{Cite book |title="And in Length of Days Understanding" (Job 12:12): Essays on Archaeology in the Eastern Mediterranean and Beyond in Honor of Thomas E. Levy |last1=Gadot |first1=Yuval |publisher=Springer Nature |year=2023 |isbn=978-3-031-27330-8 |pages=771–786 |last2=Kleiman |first2=Assaf |last3=Uziel |first3=Joe |editor-last=Ben-Yosef |editor-first=Erez |chapter=The Interconnections Between Jerusalem and Samaria in the Ninth to Eighth Centuries BCE: Material Culture, Connectivity and Politics |editor-last2=Jones |editor-first2=Ian W. N. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NcPOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA772}}</ref>

Avraham Faust argues that there was continued adherence to the 'ethos of egalitarianism and simplicity' in the Iron Age II (10th-6th century BCE). For example, there is minimal evidence of temples and complex tomb burials, despite Israel and Judah being more densely populated than the Late Bronze Age. Four-room houses remained the norm. In addition, royal inscriptions were scarce, along with imported and decorated pottery.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Faust |first=Avraham |date=2019 |title=Israelite Temples: Where Was Israelite Cult Not Practiced, and Why |journal=Religions |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=106 |doi=10.3390/rel10020106 |issn=2077-1444 |doi-access=free}}</ref> According to [[William G. Dever]], Israelite identity in the 9th-8th centuries BCE can be identified through a combination of archaeological and cultural traits that distinguish them from their neighbors. These traits include being born and living within the territorial borders of Israel or Judah, speaking Hebrew, living in specific house types, using locally produced pottery, and following particular burial practices. Israelites were also part of a rural, kin-based society, and adhered to Yahwism, though not necessarily in a monotheistic way. Their material culture was simple but distinct, and their societal organization was centered around family and inheritance. These traits, while shared with some neighboring peoples, were uniquely Israelite in their specific combination.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dever |first=William G. |title=Beyond the texts: an archaeological portrait of ancient Israel and Judah |date=2017 |publisher=SBL Press |isbn=978-0-88414-218-8 |location=Atlanta |pages=505–506}}</ref>

The Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] around 720 [[Common Era|BCE]].{{sfn|Hasegawa|Levin|Radner|2018|p=55}} The records of [[Sargon II]] of [[Assyria]] indicate that he deported part of the population to Assyria. Some Israelites migrated to the southern kingdom of Judah,<ref name=":23">{{Cite journal |last=Finkelstein |first=Israel |date=2015-06-28 |title=Migration of Israelites into Judah after 720 BCE: An Answer and an Update |url=https://doi.org/10.1515/zaw-2015-0011 |journal=Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft |language=en |volume=127 |issue=2 |pages=188–206 |doi=10.1515/zaw-2015-0011 |issn=1613-0103 |s2cid=171178702}}</ref> while those that remained in Samaria, concentrated mainly around [[Mount Gerizim]], came to be known as [[Samaritans]].{{sfn|Shen|Lavi|Kivisild|Chou|2004}}<ref name=":13">{{Cite book |last=Finkelstein |first=Israel |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/949151323 |title=The forgotten kingdom : the archaeology and history of Northern Israel |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-58983-910-6 |pages=158 |oclc=949151323}}</ref> Foreign groups were also settled by the Assyrians in the territories of the conquered kingdom.<ref name=":13" /> Research indicates that only a portion of the surviving Israelite population intermarried with Mesopotamians settlers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cline |first=Eric H. |title=From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible |date=2008 |publisher=National Geographic (US) |isbn=978-1-4262-0208-7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shen |first1=Peidong |last2=Lavi |first2=Tal |last3=Kivisild |first3=Toomas |last4=Chou |first4=Vivian |last5=Sengun |first5=Deniz |last6=Gefel |first6=Dov |last7=Shpirer |first7=Issac |last8=Woolf |first8=Eilon |last9=Hillel |first9=Jossi |last10=Feldman |first10=Marcus W. |last11=Oefner |first11=Peter J. |date=2004 |title=Reconstruction of patrilineages and matrilineages of Samaritans and other Israeli populations from Y-Chromosome and mitochondrial DNA sequence Variation |journal=Human Mutation |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=248–260 |doi=10.1002/humu.20077 |issn=1059-7794 |pmid=15300852 |s2cid=1571356}}</ref> In their native [[Samaritan Hebrew]], the Samaritans identify as "Israel", "B'nai Israel" or "Shamerim/Shomerim" (i.e. "Guardians/Keepers/Watchers").{{sfn|Manzur|1979}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bowman |first1=John |date=8 February 1963 |title=BANŪ ISRĀ'ĪL IN THE QUR'ĀN |journal=Islamic Studies |publisher=Islamic Research Institute |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=447–455 |jstor=20832712 |quote=This tiny community called by the Jews and the Christians, the Samaritans, call themselves Israel or Shomerim, the Keepers (of the Torah, i.e., Tawr?t).}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Samaritan Identity |url=https://www.the-samaritans.net/ |access-date=15 September 2023 |publisher=The Israelite Samaritan Community in Israel |quote="Our real name is, 'Bene- Yisrael Ha -Shamerem (D'nU- -D'7nU) - in Hebrew , which means 'The Keepers', or to be precise, the Israelite - Keepers, as we observe the ancient Israelite tradition, since the time of our prophet Moses and the people of Israel. The modern terms, 'Samaritans' and 'Jews', given by the Assyrians, indicate the settlement of the Samaritans in the area of Samaria, and the Jews in the area of Judah."}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=26 May 2020 |title=The Keepers: Israelite Samaritan Identity |url=https://www.israelite-samaritans.com/history/keepers-israelite-samaritan-identity/ |access-date=15 September 2023 |publisher=Israelite Samaritan Information Institute |quote="We are not Samaritans; this is what the Assyrians called the people of Samaria. We, The Keepers, Sons of Israel, Keepers of the Word of the Torah, never adopted the name Samaritans. Our forefathers only used the name when speaking to outsiders about our community. Through the ages we have referred to ourselves as The Keepers."}}</ref> Despite this, belief in the [[Ten Lost Tribes of Israel]] emerged because of the heavy assimilation faced by Samarian deportees.<ref name=":12">{{cite journal |last1=Lyman |first1=Stanford M. |year=1998 |title=The Lost Tribes of Israel as a Problem in History and Sociology |journal=International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=7–42 |doi=10.1023/A:1025902603291 |jstor=20019954 |s2cid=141243508}}</ref>

Towards the end of the same century, the Neo-Babylonian Empire emerged victorious over the Assyrians, leading to Judah's subjugation as a [[vassal state]]. In the early 6th century BC, a series of [[Judah's revolts against Babylon|revolts in Judah]] prompted the Babylonian king [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] to lay [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|siege to and destroy Jerusalem]] along with the [[Solomon's Temple|First Temple]], marking the kingdom's demise. Subsequently, a segment of the Judahite populace was [[Babylonian captivity|exiled to Babylon]] in several waves.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Baker |first1=Luke |date=3 February 2017 |title=Ancient tablets reveal life of Jews in Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-archaeology-babylon-idUSKBN0L71EK20150203 |newspaper=Reuters}}</ref> Judeans were progenitors of the Jews,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Spielvogel |first=Jackson J. |title=Western Civilization: Volume A: To 1500 |publisher=Wadsworth Publishing |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-495-50288-3 |pages=36 |quote=The people of Judah survived, eventually becoming known as the Jews and giving their name to Judaism, the religion of Yahweh, the Israelite God.}}</ref> who practiced [[Second Temple Judaism]] during the [[Second Temple period]].<ref name="Cory2015">{{cite book |author=Catherine Cory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SsZcCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA20 |title=Christian Theological Tradition |date=13 August 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-34958-7 |at=p. 20 and forwards}}</ref><ref name="Benko1984">{{cite book |author=Stephen Benko |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LHHxkapsiEgC&pg=PA22 |title=Pagan Rome and the Early Christians |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-253-34286-7 |at=p. 22 and forwards}}</ref> 

=== Later history ===
{{Main|Jewish History|Samaritans#History|Ten Lost Tribes}}

With the fall of Babylon to the rising [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid Persian Empire]], king [[Cyrus the Great]] issued a proclamation known as the [[Edict of Cyrus]], encouraging the exiles to [[Return to Zion|return to their homeland]] after the Persians raised it as an autonomous Jewish-governed province named [[Yehud Medinata|Yehud]]. Under the Persians ({{circa|539–332 BCE}}), the returned Jewish population restored the city and rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem. The [[Cyrus Cylinder]] is controversially cited as evidence for Cyrus allowing the Judeans to return.<ref name="MaryJ1">{{cite book |last=Winn Leith |first=Mary Joan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFhvECwNQD0C&q=The+Oxford+History+of+the+Biblical+World |title=The Oxford History of the Biblical World |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2001 |isbn=0-19-513937-2 |editor=Michael David Coogan |location=[[Oxford]]; [[New York City|New York]] |page=285 |chapter=Israel among the Nations: The Persian Period |format=[[Google Books]] |lccn=98016042 |oclc=44650958 |access-date=14 December 2012 |orig-date=1998 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFhvECwNQD0C&q=The+Oxford+History+of+the+Biblical+World}}</ref><ref name="Becking">{{cite book |last=Becking |first=Bob |title=Judah and the Judeans in the Persian Period |publisher=Eisenbrauns |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-57506-104-7 |editor1-last=Lipschitz |editor1-first=Oded |location=Winona Lake, IN |page=8 |chapter="We All Returned as One!": Critical Notes on the Myth of the Mass Return |editor2-last=Oeming |editor2-first=Manfred |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1zi2i_C1aNkC&q=%22Cyrus+cylinder%22+Jerusalem&pg=PA8}}</ref> The returnees showed a "heightened sense" of their ethnic identity and shunned [[exogamy]], which was treated as a "permissive reality" in Babylon.<ref name="Southward">Katherine ER. Southward, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wbo5h0BYOrIC&pg=PA193 ''Ethnicity and the Mixed Marriage Crisis in Ezra, 9–10: An Anthropological Approach,''] Oxford University Press 2012 pp.103–203, esp. p.193.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Pearce |first=Laurie |date=2022 |title=Jews Intermarried Not Only in Judea but Also in Babylonia |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/jews-intermarried-not-only-in-judea-but-also-in-babylonia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240412043706/https://www.thetorah.com/article/jews-intermarried-not-only-in-judea-but-also-in-babylonia |archive-date=April 12, 2024 |website=TheTorah.com}}</ref> Circumcision was no longer a significant ethnic marker, with increased emphasis on genealogical descent or faith in Yahweh.<ref name=":33">{{Cite book |last=Thiessen |first=Matthew |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/5287/chapter/148016316?login=true#273599969 |title=Contesting Conversion: Genealogy, Circumcision, and Identity in Ancient Judaism and Christianity |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-991445-6 |pages=87–110}}</ref><ref name=":21">{{Cite journal |last=Lau |first=Peter H.W. |date=2009 |title=Gentile Incorporation into Israel in Ezra - Nehemiah? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42614919 |journal=Peeters Publishers |volume=90 |issue=3 |pages=356–373 |jstor=42614919 }}</ref> Jason A. Staples argues that the majority of contemporary Jews, regardless of theology, wished for the reunion of northern Israelites and southern Jews.<ref name=":26" />

In 332 BCE, the Achaemenid Empire fell to [[Alexander the Great]], and the region was later incorporated into the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]] ({{circa|301–200 BCE}}) and the [[Seleucid Empire]] ({{circa|200–167 BCE}}). The [[Maccabean Revolt]] against Seleucid rule ushered in a period of nominal independence for the Jewish people under the [[Hasmonean dynasty]] (140–37 BCE). Initially operating semi-autonomously within the Seleucid sphere, the Hasmoneans gradually asserted full independence through military conquest and diplomacy, establishing themselves as the final sovereign Jewish rulers before a prolonged hiatus in Jewish sovereignty in the region.<ref name=":032">{{Cite book |last1=Helyer |first1=Larry R. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/961153992 |title=The World of the New Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts |last2=McDonald |first2=Lee Martin |publisher=Baker Academic |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8010-9861-1 |editor-last=Green |editor-first=Joel B. |pages=45–47 |chapter=The Hasmoneans and the Hasmonean Era |oclc=961153992 |quote=The ensuing power struggle left Hyrcanus with a free hand in Judea, and he quickly reasserted Jewish sovereignty... Hyrcanus then engaged in a series of military campaigns aimed at territorial expansion. He first conquered areas in the Transjordan. He then turned his attention to Samaria, which had long separated Judea from the northern Jewish settlements in Lower Galilee. In the south, Adora and Marisa were conquered; (Aristobulus') primary accomplishment was annexing and Judaizing the region of Iturea, located between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains |editor-last2=McDonald |editor-first2=Lee Martin}}</ref><ref name="auto12">{{Cite book |last=Ben-Sasson |first=H.H. |title=A History of the Jewish People |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1976 |isbn=0-674-39731-2 |pages=226 |quote=The expansion of Hasmonean Judea took place gradually. Under Jonathan, Judea annexed southern Samaria and began to expand in the direction of the coast plain... The main ethnic changes were the work of John Hyrcanus... it was in his days and those of his son Aristobulus that the annexation of Idumea, Samaria and Galilee and the consolidation of Jewish settlement in Trans-Jordan was completed. Alexander Jannai, continuing the work of his predecessors, expanded Judean rule to the entire coastal plain, from the Carmel to the Egyptian border... and to additional areas in Trans-Jordan, including some of the Greek cities there.}}</ref><ref name=":22">{{Citation |last=Smith |first=Morton |title=The Gentiles in Judaism 125 BCE - 66 CE |date=1999 |work=The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 3: The Early Roman Period |volume=3 |pages=192–249 |editor-last=Sturdy |editor-first=John |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-judaism/gentiles-in-judaism-125-bcece-66/1AC78E99125BFE8E215AC8137DD8FE32 |access-date=2023-03-20 |series=The Cambridge History of Judaism |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/chol9780521243773.008 |isbn=978-0-521-24377-3 |quote=These changes accompanied and were partially caused by the great extension of the Judaeans' contacts with the peoples around them. Many historians have chronicled the Hasmonaeans' territorial acquisitions. In sum, it took them twenty-five years to win control of the tiny territory of Judaea and get rid of the Seleucid colony of royalist Jews (with, presumably, gentile officials and garrison) in Jerusalem. [...] However, in the last years before its fall, the Hasmonaeans were already strong enough to acquire, partly by negotiation, partly by conquest, a little territory north and south of Judaea and a corridor on the west to the coast at Jaffa/Joppa. This was briefly taken from them by Antiochus Sidetes, but soon regained, and in the half-century from Sidetes' death in 129 to Alexander Jannaeus' death in 76 they overran most of Palestine and much of western and northern Transjordan. First John Hyrcanus took over the hills of southern and central Palestine (Idumaea and the territories of Shechem, Samaria and Scythopolis) in 128–104; then his son, Aristobulus I, took Galilee in 104–103, and Aristobulus' brother and successor, Jannaeus, in about eighteen years of warfare (103–96, 86–76) conquered and reconquered the coastal plain, the northern Negev, and western edge of Transjordan. |editor2-last=Davies |editor2-first=W. D. |editor3-last=Horbury |editor3-first=William}}</ref><ref name="auto2">{{Cite book |last=Ben-Eliyahu |first=Eyal |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1103519319 |title=Identity and Territory: Jewish Perceptions of Space in Antiquity |date=30 April 2019 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-29360-1 |pages=13 |oclc=1103519319 |quote=From the beginning of the Second Temple period until the Muslim conquest—the land was part of imperial space. This was true from the early Persian period, as well as the time of Ptolemy and the Seleucids. The only exception was the Hasmonean Kingdom, with its sovereign Jewish rule—first over Judah and later, in Alexander Jannaeus's prime, extending to the coast, the north, and the eastern banks of the Jordan.}}</ref> Some scholars argue that Jews also engaged in active missionary efforts in the [[Greco-Roman world]], which led to conversions.<ref name="Feldman">[[Louis H. Feldman]], [http://cojs.org/louis-h-feldman-omnipresence-god-fearers-biblical-archaeology-review-12-5-1986/ "The Omnipresence of the God-Fearers"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024145011/http://cojs.org/louis-h-feldman-omnipresence-god-fearers-biblical-archaeology-review-12-5-1986/ |date=24 October 2020 }}, ''[[Biblical Archaeology Review]]'' 12, 5 (1986), Center for Online Judaic Studies.</ref><ref name="Cohen">[[Shaye J. D. Cohen]], ''From the Maccabees to the Mishnah'' (1989), pp. 55–59, [[Louisville, Kentucky]]: [[Westminster John Knox Press]], {{ISBN|978-0-664-25017-1}}.</ref><ref>A. T. Kraabel, J. Andrew Overman, Robert S. MacLennan, ''Diaspora Jews and Judaism: essays in honor of, and in dialogue with, A. Thomas Kraabel'' (1992), [[Scholars Press]], {{ISBN|978-15-55406-96-7}}. "As pious gentiles, the God-fearers stood somewhere between Greco-Roman piety and Jewish piety in the synagogue. In his classic but now somewhat outdated study titled ''Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era'', Harvard scholar George Foot Moore argued that the existence of the God-fearers provides evidence for the synagogue's own missionary work outside of Palestine during the first century C.E. The God-fearers were the result of this Jewish missionary movement."</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Goodman |first=Martin |url=https://brill.com/display/title/12543?language=en |title=Judaism in the Roman World |date=2006 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-47-41061-4}}</ref> Several scholars, such as [[Scot McKnight]] and [[Martin Goodman (historian)|Martin Goodman]], reject this view while holding that conversions occasionally occurred.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gregerman |first=Adam |date=2009 |title=The Lack of Evidence for a Jewish Christian Countermission in Galatia |url=https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/scjr/article/view/1513 |journal=Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=13 |doi=10.6017/scjr.v4i1.1513 |issn=1930-3777 |doi-access=free}}</ref> A similar diaspora existed for Samaritans but their existence is poorly documented.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zsengeller |first=Jozsef |date=2016 |title=THE Samaritan Diaspora in Antiquity |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA509729366&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00445975&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7E311d56ca&aty=open-web-entry |journal=Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae |volume=56 |issue=2 |pages=157–175 |doi=10.1556/068.2016.56.2.2 |via=Gale Academic Onefile}}</ref>

In 63 BCE, the [[Roman Republic]] conquered the kingdom. In 37 BCE, the Romans appointed [[Herod the Great]] as king of [[Herodian Kingdom of Judea|a vassal Judea]]. In 6 CE, Judea was fully incorporated into the [[Roman Empire]] as the [[Judaea (Roman province)|province of Judaea]]. During this period, the main areas of Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel were Judea, [[Galilee]] and [[Perea]], while the Samaritans had their demographic center in [[Samaria]]. Growing dissatisfaction with Roman rule and civil disturbances eventually led to the [[First Jewish–Roman War]] (66–73 CE), resulting in the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, which ended the [[Second Temple period]]. This event marked a cataclysmic moment in Jewish history,<ref name=":52">{{Cite book |last=Karesh |first=Sara E. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1162305378 |title=Encyclopedia of Judaism |publisher=Facts On File |year=2006 |isbn=1-78785-171-0 |oclc=1162305378 |quote=Until the modern period, the destruction of the Temple was the most cataclysmic moment in the history of the Jewish people. Without the Temple, the Sadducees no longer had any claim to authority, and they faded away. The sage Yochanan ben Zakkai, with permission from Rome, set up the outpost of Yavneh to continue develop of Pharisaic, or rabbinic, Judaism.}}</ref> prompting a reconfiguration of Jewish identity and practice to ensure continuity. The cessation of Temple worship and disappearance of Temple-based sects<ref>{{cite journal |last=Alföldy |first=Géza |year=1995 |title=Eine Bauinschrift aus dem Colosseum |journal=[[Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik]] |volume=109 |pages=195–226 |jstor=20189648}}</ref> facilitated the rise of [[Rabbinic Judaism]], which stemmed from the [[Pharisees|Pharisaic]] school of Second Temple Judaism, emphasizing [[Synagogue|communal synagogue worship]] and [[Torah study]], eventually becoming the predominant expression of Judaism.<ref name=":42">{{Cite journal |last=Westwood |first=Ursula |date=2017-04-01 |title=A History of the Jewish War, AD 66–74 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.18647/3311/jjs-2017 |journal=Journal of Jewish Studies |volume=68 |issue=1 |pages=189–193 |doi=10.18647/3311/jjs-2017 |issn=0022-2097}}</ref><ref name=":52" /><ref name=":82">{{Cite book |last=Maclean Rogers |first=Guy |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1294393934 |title=For the Freedom of Zion: The Great Revolt of Jews against Romans, 66-74 CE |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-300-26256-8 |location=New Haven and London |pages=3–5 |oclc=1294393934}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Goldenberg |first=Robert |date=1977 |title=The Broken Axis: Rabbinic Judaism and the Fall of Jerusalem |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/xlv.3.353 |journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion |volume=XLV |issue=3 |pages=353 |doi=10.1093/jaarel/xlv.3.353 |issn=0002-7189}}</ref> Concurrently, [[Christianity]] [[Split of Christianity and Judaism|began to diverge]] from Judaism, evolving into a predominantly [[Gentile]] religion.<ref name="Klutz 2002">{{cite book |author-last=Klutz |author-first=Todd |title=The Early Christian World |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2002 |isbn=9781032199344 |editor-last=Esler |editor-first=Philip F. |edition=1st |series=Routledge Worlds |location=[[New York City|New York]] and [[London]] |pages=178–190 |chapter=Part II: Christian Origins and Development – Paul and the Development of Gentile Christianity |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6fyCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA178 |origyear=2000}}</ref> Decades later, the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] (132–135 CE) further diminished the Jewish presence in [[Judea]], leading to a geographical shift of Jewish life to Galilee and [[Asoristan|Babylonia]], with smaller communities scattered across the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]].

===Modern-day groups seen as descendants, or claiming connections===
Jews and Samaritans share a connection with the biblical [[Land of Israel]].<ref>R. Yisrael Meir haKohen ([[Chofetz Chayim]]), ''The Concise Book of Mitzvoth'', p. xxxv. This version of the list was prepared in 1968.</ref><ref>The [[Nachmanides|Ramban]]'s addition to the [[Rambam]]'s Sefer HaMitzvot.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=About Israelite Samaritans |url=https://www.israelite-samaritans.com/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240412092211/https://www.israelite-samaritans.com/ |archive-date=April 12, 2024 |website=Israelite Samaritan Information Institute}}</ref> Some argue that some [[Palestinians]] descend from Israelites who were not exiled by the Romans.<ref name=":72">[[Moshe Gil|Gil, Moshe]]. [1983] 1997. ''A History of Palestine, 634–1099''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 222–3: "[[David Ben-Gurion]] and [[Yitzhak Ben-Zvi]] claimed that the population at the time of the Arab conquest was mainly Christian, of Jewish origins, which underwent conversion to avoid a tax burden, basing their argument on 'the fact that at the time of the Arab conquest, the population of Palestine was mainly Christian and that during the Crusaders' conquest some four hundred years later, it was mainly Muslim. As neither the Byzantines nor the Muslims carried out any large-scale population resettlement projects, the Christians were the offspring of the Jewish and Samaritan farmers who converted to Christianity in the Byzantine period; while the Muslim fellaheen in Palestine in modern times are descendants of those Christians who were the descendants of Jews, and had turned to Islam before the Crusaders' conquest."</ref><ref name="Hider">[https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/a-tragic-misunderstanding-pbw3x8cp0r6 A tragic misunderstanding]&nbsp;– Times online, 13 January 2009.</ref>

Other groups claim continuity with the Israelites, including [[Theories of Pashtun origin#Israelite theory|Pashtuns]],<ref name= Houtsma>{{Cite book |last=Houtsma |first=Martijn Theodoor |title=E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936 |publisher=BRILL |year=1987 |volume=2 |page=150 |isbn=90-04-08265-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GEl6N2tQeawC&pg=PA150 |access-date=24 September 2010}}</ref><ref name= JVLAfgh>{{cite encyclopedia |title=The Virtual Jewish History Tour, Afghanistan |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Virtual Library]] |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Afghanistan.html |access-date=10 January 2007 |last=Oreck |first=Alden}}</ref> [[British Israelists]],<ref name= Brackney>{{cite book |last1=Brackney |first1=William H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YhUvxfkWW2oC&pg=PA61 |title=Historical Dictionary of Radical Christianity |date=3 May 2012 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-7365-0 |pages=61–62 |language=en |access-date=9 April 2017}}</ref> [[Black Hebrew Israelites]],<ref name= Lee2019>{{cite web |last1=Lee |first1=Morgan |date=24 January 2019 |title=The Hebrew Israelites in That March for Life Viral Video, Explained |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/january-web-only/hebrew-israelites-urban-apologetics-covington-march-life.html |access-date=22 May 2020 |publisher=[[Christianity Today]] |language=en}}</ref> [[Igbo Jews|Igbos]],<ref>{{Cite news  |last=Subramanian |first=Samanth |title=The lost Jews of Nigeria |newspaper=The Guardian |date=26 April 2022 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/26/lost-jews-of-nigeria-igbo-judaism-israel}}</ref> [[Mormons]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Davies |first=W.D. |title=Israel, the Mormons and the Land |url=https://rsc.byu.edu/reflections-mormonism/israel-mormons-land |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240412091018/https://rsc.byu.edu/reflections-mormonism/israel-mormons-land |archive-date=April 12, 2024 |website=Religious Studies Center}}</ref> and [[evangelical Christians]] that subscribe to [[covenant theology]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wellum |first=Stephen |date=2023 |title=Dispensational and Covenant Theology |url=https://christoverall.com/article/concise/dispensational-and-covenant-theology/#:~:text=Covenant%20theology%20argues%20that%20there,signify%20the%20same%20spiritual%20reality%2C |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240412091335/https://christoverall.com/article/concise/dispensational-and-covenant-theology/ |archive-date=April 12, 2024 |website=Christ Over All}}</ref>