City-States of Canaan That Determined Our Lives

 Nadene Goldfoot                                          

Nobody wanted to cross the desert.  They stuck to foliage and water sources for travel. 

Abraham's journey to Canaan began in Ur of the Chaldees, passing through or settling in key locations including Haran (where his father died), followed by Shechem, the plain of Moreh, and the region between Bethel and Ai. He later moved to the Negev and spent time in Gerar. 

Haran was the brother of of Abraham, obviously the first to establish a home.   Haran was the father of Lot.  Haran lived and died at Ur of the Chaldees  in Gen.11:26-

31.  His home became a trading town of NW Mesopotamia and a center of the 

moon cult.  It is 

mentioned several times in Genesis with reference to the patriarchs;  Abraham,

 Isaac and 

Jacob.  Even Assyrian inscriptions from this time mention a Habiru (Hebrew) 

settlement in the vicinity which some scholars link with Terah (Abraham's 

father) residence there.  By the 12th century, Benjamin of Tudela found

a small Jewish community still in existence in Haran. 

Shechem (Nablus)  This was an ancient Caananite town, originally 

situated between Mt. Gerizim and Mt.  Ebal.  Its identification was established

by excavation under German auspices on the site in 1913-34.  It was in

Jordanian territory from 1948 to 1967 and since then has been controlled

by Israel.  Its earliest walls date from about 2000 BCE and was under Egyptian

control as early as the period of the 12th dynasty.  The biblical patriarchs

camped under its walls and it was pillaged by Simeon and Levi (Gen.34).  

A small Jewish community existed here, but the present finds Shechem

renamed as Nablus with 44,000 people by 1967.  It was overwhelmingly 

Moslem (with a tiny Samaritan community) and has for decades been a

center of fanatical Arab nationalism.   

Later, Shechem was in he territory of Ephraim, a levitical city and a city of

refuge, as well as the center of the HOUSE OF JOSEPH.  Joseph himself

being buried there.  Abimelech presumably tried to establish his kingdom 

at Shechem, while the northern tribes who broke away from Rehoboam

encamped there when Jeroboam was made king.  

Abimelech was the illegitimate son of Gideon.  In an attempt to establish 

a monarchy in Israel in the 12th century BCE, he slew his 70 brothers, 

minus Jotham.  He ruled for 3 years in Shechem, largely with the support

of the chiefs of that city, and was killed in the ensuing revolt as told in

Judges 9. 

       Gideon was one of the JUDGES of Israel for 40 years, from the

tribe of Manasseh. Gideon’s father was Joash (also spelled Joas or Jehoash), an Abiezrite who lived in Ophrah. Joash belonged to the tribe of Manasseh and maintained an altar to Baal. The biblical record (Judges 6-8) does not name Gideon’s mother, focusing instead on his father's role and property. (so similar to today)  

 He defeated the Midianites near En Harod using a 

group of picked volunteers, and then offered the kingship but refused out 

of loyalty to the principle that G-d is king of Israel-also told in Judges6-8.

Gideon's father's story is amazing!  "The following morning, when the townspeople discover the desecration of the altar, they demand Gideon's life. Joash, however, defends his son with a bold statement: "If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar" (Judges 6:31). This response not only saves Gideon but also challenges the legitimacy of Baal worship, suggesting a turning point in Joash's own faith journey."  Wow!  

Gerar is an ancient Palestinian city in he Western Negev.  It was visited

by Abraham and his son, Isaac when its king was Abimelech.  It is not

mentioned in the later Biblical Period, but reappears in Byzantine times as

a bishopric located on the imperial domain.  Its actual site is doubtful. 

 UR of the CHALDEES, Abraham's birthplace 4,000 years ago

Ur of the Chaldees, often identified as the ancient Sumerian city of Ur (modern Tell el-Muqayyar in southern Iraq), is significant in the Bible as the birthplace of Abraham and the starting point of his journey to Canaan (Gen 11:28, 31). Located in Mesopotamia, it was a prosperous, 3rd-millennium BCE metropolis known for its massive ziggurat and advanced trade.  Abraham saw that it was no place to start monotheism

so they packed up and left with others who happened to also be migrating at the same time.  

Ur of the Chaldees was excavated by British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley between 1922 and 1934. Working for the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania Museum, he discovered the Royal Cemetery, including the intact tomb of Queen Puabi, the Standard of Ur, the Ram in a Thicket figurines, musical instruments, and extensive evidence of human sacrifice. (I had his book.  Amazing with pictures!)

• Key Finds: Along with gold jewelry and artifacts, Woolley discovered the city's Ziggurat and residential areas.  He uncovered a death pit with 40 bodies.  Last year we recovered the ground plan of a king’s grave; this year we have traced the sections of such graves and they are hardly less illuminating. The first clue was given by the discovery, not very deep down, of a layer of reeds extending up to the mud brick walls of what seemed to be a small room. The reeds were removed and under them, crushed to fragments by the weight of the soil, were innumerable clay pots, animal bones, and several human skeletons, all lying on a floor of beaten clay. It was easy to recognize that these things had been buried from the outset, were in fact an underground votive deposit,  People were buried with the king.  I don't thinkAbraham liked that idea.  

                                                                             

                                                                              

Map of the Earliest Inhabitants of the Land of Ancient Israel

Way back in Abraham's day, Canaan was being settled slowly with city-states; a group of 3 families living close to each other for comfort and protection.  It was a time of very few people populating the earth.  

Estimates for the world's population during the time of Abraham (circa 2000 B.C.E, roughly 350–400 years after the Flood) suggest it had grown from eight people to many tens of thousands, or possibly hundreds of thousands. While some models suggest higher numbers, this population size was sufficient to support the cities,, kingdoms, and, nomadic groups described in Genesis. 

Each person has 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, 16 great 

great grandparents, 32 gggrandparents, 64 ggggrandparents  and shortly 

each is reproducing as well with a possible 8 or more children each.  It doesn't take long.  Look at the population

in Gaza and how fast they reproduced.  

The number eight holds deep significance in Judaism

, symbolizing

 transcendence, a new beginning, and a level above the natural order 

(

$7$

days of the week,

$7$

representing nature/completion). Key examples 

include b'rit milah (circumcision) on the 8th day, the 8 days of Hanukkah, 

and the 8th day of Shemini Atzeret following Sukkot. 

• Covenant and Initiation: The b'rit milah (covenant of circumcision)
•  takes place on the eighth day of a baby boy's life, marking a 
• connection to God that goes beyond nature.
• Hanukkah: The Festival of Lights lasts eight days to commemorate 
• the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days in the Temple.
• Spirituality and Transcendence: In Jewish mysticism, the number
•  seven represents the natural world, while eight represents a step 
• above it—a supernatural, spiritual plane.

At the start, Abraham married his niece, so we know that kinship matches

were to be expected, the sharing of common genes.  

Egypt went to the extreme, marrying siblings, which is not allowed by

Abraham's people, but they did not want their children to marry into other

lines of people who did not think like they did.  Abraham had monotheistic

plans in a world of polytheism.  He later concluded to discard human

sacrifices after he himself was stopped to sacrifice his only son, Isaac,

by an angel, he said.  So a lot of yucky stuff went on with many poly-

theists.  In their world, it was G-d who brought this upon Abraham, and

he was to carry this out.

(frankly, I get the same experience, as ideas come to me and I act on them,

and who is not to say that G-d pressed the button in my brain and gave

me these ideas?) 

Out of the 3 families, came the need for 3 men in prayer.  In Jewish law, a minyan (quorum) requires 10 adult Jewish males for public prayer and specific rituals, not three. While 10 is the standard for communal services (e.g., Kaddish, Torah reading), a group of three adult males is specifically used to form a Beth Din (rabbinical court) for particular functions, such as the Hatarat Nedarim (annulment of vows) or Hatavat Chalom (annulment of dreams). 

• 3 Men (Beth Din/Study): Used for legal or quasi-judicial acts, such as formal annulment of vows or dreams.
• Grace After Meals (Zimmun): While 10 is the standard minyan, a quorum of three men is the minimum required to invite others to say grace after meals together.

By the time 10 families were living together, they considered that as a city-state and chose a strong leader of the men;  a king.  

• 10 Men (Minyan): Required for public services, including Barchu, Kedushah, Torah reading, and Birkat HaGomel.

During the earliest times there were many peoples and tribes of giants (tall people )who migrated into the Land of ancient Israel (called "The Land of Canaan" in the Bible), and these were races of people who conquered other people and became powerful nations. The information regarding these inhabitants of ancient Canaan before the conquest of Israel is somewhat limited in exact detail although there is evidence of several migrations.

We see how well-developed these places were that existed in the 2nd

millennium BCE in years like 1948 BCE, which mean at least almost

4,000 years ago. They were on the base of 10; were worshipping such

things as the moon in groups of people; were developed into having

a judge for each settlement of people to keep the peace, and Jews

were developing out of these Israelites or 12 tribes of Israel, and who was Israel? It was JACOB, of Abraham, son Isaac, and son Jacob; our 3 patriarchs. In the Bible, Israel is a name change from Jacob. According to Genesis 32:28 and 35:10, God renamed the patriarch Jacob to Israel (meaning "strives with God" or "God strives") after he wrestled with a divine messenger, marking a shift in his identity. The name subsequently refers to the nation and descendants of Jacob. 

Abraham won out and monotheism continued to exist despite all

odds.  We have Abraham to thank for receiving and following

through with his concept, and Jacob to thank to be able to continue

on by fighting against the angel and winning out.  We can all

recognize that battle.  

Resource; 

Bible, Genesis in Old Testament/Torah 

https://www.penn.museum/sites/journal/9181/

Jewish Traders and Their Affects In The World

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           

            During the Stone Age, people traded goods through a barter system, exchanging one item for another. Trade was a significant change that occurred when people began to settle in towns and villages and develop a surplus of food and other resources. Eretz Yisrael was created from Canaan, and Abraham headed there with niece/wife Sarah and family.  This would be today's Syria from 15th to 13th century BCE along the coast of  Eretz Yisrael, called Palestine after 135 CE.  People lived in  small city-states then.                                     

 Abram and Sarai, as they were first called, came from Ur of the Chaldees,  on the Euphrates River, an ancient Babylonian city full of interesting man-made items.  Abram's journey took him first to Haran, a trading town of NW  Mesopotamia, also the center of a moon cult.  There was a Habiru (Hebrew?) settlement there as well.   You can be sure that they must be on a trading quest, meeting people and trading with them till they arrive at  their destination, Hebron (Kiriath-Arba) , which became part of Judah.  It used to be a city under control by the Hittites.  Abraham bought a plot of land here, the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron in which to bury Sarah, and himself when the time came.                                            

Trading would have gone on between the people neighboring Eretz Yisrael.  Trading would have started when they saw what Judeans used and made and needed. Trading practices must have started early in stone age periods.   The history of trade is the evolution of commerce over time, from local exchanges to global interactions. Trade has been a part of human existence for over 100,000 years, and has played an important role in the development of civilizations                                        

                                        Turkey (Anatolia) Greece and Israel 

The Philistines were a Mediterranean people most likely originating from Asia Minor.  Asia Minor is now part of Turkey. Asia Minor, also known as Anatolia, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up most of Turkey's land area.  They also came from   Greek locations that were fairly close by via the sea.  They came in different time periods. 

     Gerar, a  Nahal (River) and Negev Desert.  

One group arrived in the pare-patriarchal period and settled South of Beersheba in Gerar where they came into conflict with Abraham and his son, Isaac.  Gerar is a city and region in the Hebrew Bible that appears in the Book of Genesis and the Second Book of Chronicles:  Gerar, in Hebrew meaning "lodging-place, was a Philistine town and district in whatis today south central Israel, mentioned in the bible.  Gerar was also a Philistine town in the Negev,  south of Gaza and near the Mediterranean coast.  It was a reference   point for the southern end of the Canaanites territory.    Abraham and Isaac lived here.(Gen.chs.20,26) Abraham traveled here during a famine and presents Sarah as hissister to avoid being killed by the locals.   (The Negev or Negeb is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba)

                                                                                       

Another group came from Crete, an island off of the shores of Greece after being driven out of Egypt by Rameses III in 1194 BCE.  They then seized the southerncoastal area of Eretz Yisrael where they founded 5 principalities:  Gaza, Ascalon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath.    Gaza stands to this day but with Palestinian Arabs.  It's 2 miles from the sea. 

Commercially, it was noted for its black pottery and in Nabatean times was an entrepot of trade passing from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. Entrepot trade, also known as transhipment, is a type of international trade where goods are imported into a country and then re-exported without being distributed within the importing country.

                                        In the 12th century  BCE,  Gaza was captured by the Philistines and taken over and  was used for the       Temple of Dagon, god of the soil and plant-growth and widely worshipped in the Middle Eastern countries.    

By nature, they were a fighting people, not traders.  They dominated parts of Judah in the period of the Judges when they would have interaction with the people, around 1220 to 1950.    

From the time of Herodotus, Greeks called Eretz Yisrael after the Philistines; the Syrian Palaestina.  Under Hadrian,  the Romans gave the name officially to the former land of Judah.                      

Shalmaneser , king of Assyria, (860-825 BCE) held a siege of Samaria, part of Israel;  and Sargon, his successor, captured it  in 721 BCE.  He then annexed the country and deported  27,290 Israelitesto Assyria, which had been an aggressive kingdom by the 20th century BCE expanding rapidly in the 13th -10th centuries, no doubt through trading peopleand goods.                                   

Jews were leaving Eretz Yisrael for trading before the Greek and Roman invasions.They went to Rome first, and Spain for trade, possibly decided by the rabbi they werefollowing  into safety.  

According to historical evidence, Jews likely traveled to Greece for trade before the time of Alexander the Great, with some records indicating a Jewish presence in Greece dating back to the Babylonian exile, even though these communities were likely small and scattered before Alexander's conquests established a more significant Jewish presence in the region.   Jews were in Spain (Sepharad) from the period of the destruction of the 1st Temple of Solomon in 597 BCE by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia.  The history of the Jews in Greece can be traced back to at least the fourth century BCE. The oldest and the most characteristic Jewish group that has inhabited Greece are the Romaniotes, also known as "Greek Jews."                                            

            Part of Arch of Titus, proof of Romans invading and stealing goods from the Temple in 70 CE before they burnt down Temple and Jerusalem.  It shows how Jews, taken as slaves, were forced to carry their holy articles from the Temple for the greedy Romans.              

Jews were in Rome in 139 BCE as Judeans.  The first century B.C. in Rome corresponds with the last decades of the Roman Republic and the start of the rule of Rome by emperors.  It was an exciting era dominated by strong men, like Julius Caesar, Sulla, Marius, Pompey the Great, and Augustus Caesar, and civil wars.                                                            

      Whoops!    Silk Roads!  many ways to get there.  One leaves from Gaza.  

The Silk Road trade brought Jews to Kaifeng, China in the early 12th century (1100 CE). For 800 years this community maintained both economic and religious contact with the rest of world Jewry, which in turn allowed them to maintain their own Jewish practices.  The Silk Road was a transportation hub that connected China and the Mediterranean region, and it played a significant role in the history of Jewish people:                                                           Jewish merchants

• Jewish merchants traveled the Silk Road as early as the 9th century, and may have been involved in forming the basis for some Jewish communities. Jewish traders from Persia and Western Europe began to settle in China in the 8th century, and a Persian-speaking Jewish community settled in Kaifeng in the 12th century. This community maintained economic and religious ties with the rest of the Jewish world for 800 years. Jews may have arrived in India as early as the 1st century CE, and a large Jewish community developed in the port city of Cochin. After the Sasanian ruler Cyrus freed the Jewish population in 559 B.C.E., many Jews chose to stay in Iran and created Jewish settlements along the Silk Road. There was a large Jewish population in Afghanistan, especially in the north near the trade routes. 

  

                                                                 Genetic connection
• Genetic analysis suggests that there is a direct genetic connection between Jews and Chinese, with some Eastern Eurasian haplogroups shared between the two groups. The Silk Road is experiencing a renaissance, with the World Tourism Organization promoting international tourism ventures along the road.  Many male Jews have the Y haplotype of J1, or J2.  Many women have the Mt haplotype of K.  
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• Jews were in China from Persia in about 1000 CE.  They had a community at KAI FENG FU  and became completely assimilated to Chinese customs and mores.  They disappeared at the end of the 18th century.  In the 19th century, Jews from Baghdad lived in Hong Kong and Shanghai.  Even during WWII, a few Jews managed to escape to a Chinese city for refuge.  They weren't persecuted over religion and being forced to convert or harmed for being Jewish.  

  

  
  
• As Germany ended their use of the Jewish people and forced them to leave, they sought out other hopeful places for homes in eastern Europe.  
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• Lithuania  had Jews living there from 1321.  1492's Spanish Inquisition caused Jews to flee for their lives.  10,000 Jews  entered Lithuania in Vilna, Grodno and Kovno by 1495.  They soon monopolized foreign trade.  They would not convert, so the Jewish badge was forced upon them to wear from 1566 to 1572. 
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•  Jews lived in Poland since the 9th century (800s).  Their 1st Jewish settler came from either West Germany, Bohemia, or the south of the kingdom of Kiev and the Byzantine Empires, and were reinforced by KHAZAR elements.  They would have been traders, who in the Dark Ages helped to open up the area to civilizing influences.  According to legend, the 1st  charter was granted in 905.  Polish coins of the 12th-13th centuries struck by Jewish mint-masters bear Hebrew inscriptions, thus showing the significance of the Jews in economic life.  

Many countries invited Jews to come and live in order to have someone deal with the needed trading businesses. Jews have had a significant presence in European cities and countries since the fall of the Roman Empire, including Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and Russia, mainly to help out the kings by loaning money or doing foreign trade.

 Jews were literate and had experience.  After they brought success to the emperor or king,  they were often discarded;  no longer needed.  

Resource:

https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/02/how-jews-became-merchants.html

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://www.southwesternrugsdepot.com/history-native-american-baskets/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Greece#:~:text=The%20history%20of%20the

%20Jews,least%20the%20fourth%20century%20BCE.

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