The Origins of the Israelites

In the first episode of our series on Ancient Israel and also Judah we are joined by Dr. Aren Maeir who guides us into the controversial and heavily debated origin or origins of the Ancient Israelites. He discusses the scholarship on the subject such as: Did the Israelites develop out of the Canaanite populations? Did they migrate in over time? If so, then from where? Or is the answer both? Did natives and migrants eventually come together to form a distinctly different group? We also talk archaeology, ancient DNA, dietary laws, primary sources for the earliest evidence of the Israelites outside of the Bible and so very much more. We also discuss thought provoking topics such as: Is the term Israel derived from a pagan Canaanite deity? How should we view the Old Testament when studying history? Can we use both the term Israelite and Hebrew interchangeably? But as we leave off Dr. Maeir reminds us to be cautious of how we use results from ancient DNA studies while reminding us how often the results get misconstrued. Check out our new store! https://teespring.com/stores/the-history-shop Get your Sea Peoples | Late Bronze Age Merch below! Mugs: https://teespring.com/new-sea-peoples-mediterranean?pid=658&cid=102950 Hoodies | Shirts | Tank Tops: https://teespring.com/get-sea-peoples-mediterranean?pid=212&cid=5819 Get your Hittite Merch below! Mugs: https://teespring.com/HittiteEmpireMug?pid=658&cid=102950&sid=front Shirts | Tank Tops | Hoodies: https://teespring.com/hittite-empire-shirt?pid=2&cid=2397 Trojan War Merch Below! Mugs: https://teespring.com/trojan-war-coffee-mug?pid=658&cid=102950 Tank Tops | Shirts | Hoodies: https://teespring.com/TrojanWarShirt?pid=2&cid=2397 Support Dr. Maeir and his work at these links! Academia : https://biu.academia.edu/AMaeir YouTube Channel : https://www.youtube.com/user/arenmaeir The Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project Official (and Unofficial) Weblog : https://gath.wordpress.com/ To support the channel, become a Patron and make history matter! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/The_Study_of_Antiquity_and_the_Middle_Ages Donate directly to PayPal: https://paypal.me/NickBarksdale Check out our newly opened store! https://teespring.com/stores/the-history-shop Get your SPQR Face Masks today! https://spqr-emporium.com/collections/face-masks?aff=3 Enjoy history merchandise? Check out affiliate link to SPQR Emporium! http://spqr-emporium.com?aff=3 *Dislaimer, the link above is an affiliate link which means we will earn a generous commission from your magnificent purchase, just another way to help out the channel! Join our community! Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/THESTUDYOFANTIQUITYANDTHEMIDDLEAGES/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/NickBarksdale Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/study_of_antiquity_middle_ages/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/164050034145170/ Attribution for video footage relating to the Philistines goes to the YouTube Channel of Dr. Aren Maeir. Cuneiform Script Video Text created by Juan Casco | https://www.juancasco.net/