Canaan
The Philistines Invaders
The Canaanites of the Late Bronze Age
When Civilization Collapsed
The Biblical Conquest Tradition
Peaceful Infiltration Model
Peasants’ Revolt Model
Developing a Synthesis Model
The Merneptah Stele Puzzle
The Book of Judges reflects considerable diversity in the premonarchical religion of Israel, and this is confirmed by archaeology. The final editors of the Hebrew Bible (OT) had a rather idealistic view of religious conditions—the Levites led the other tribes in the worship of Yahweh, which contrasted sharply with the idolatry of the Canaanites. Once we get behind the editorial framework of the compilers, however, we find a far more complex situation.
In the beginning of our article about Canaan, we must to bear in mind some archeological findings about the so-called Canaanite area that held true throughout the Middle – Late Bronze Ages and beyond: