These are just some of the notes I have been taking while I have been trying to research the evidence to support the location we are calling Israel considering there is no evidence this location was ever known as Israel throughout history. They comprise opinions that contradict at times, but I thought someone else might be interested in the actual archeology of the area. So here are my thoughts and the references for you to investigate for yourselves.
Starting with the ugarite texts that were found in Syria in 1982 that represent original cuneiform writings. It is good to keep in mind that nothing in the Bible exists as a cuneiform original, and you would assume that this is the original form that they would be in. Where is the Old testament in the original cuneiform? It is assumed that the Ugarite texts represent evidence of the early Canaanites, which is fascinating.
The cuneiform writings of the ugarite texts are said to be the closest to what we consider Hebrew as well. They use El to refer to God and there are many similarities to the writing on these tablets and Hebrew writing.
They also include an interesting reference to a people known as Habiru. This is an article about the connection between Habiru and Hebrew by someone who describes himself as a secular Jew who was raised by Jewish progressives.
https://www.newenglishreview.org/Robert_Wolfe/From_Habiru_to_Hebrews:_The_Roots_of_the_Jewish_Tradition/
It is interesting to note his comments on the response he received from progressives when he tries to present the connection that can be made between Habiru and Hebrew. The main problem that his research creates is that it contradicts some aspect of the recorded history of the Hebrews in the Bible so that people are not inclined to see his findings as evidence.
I think he makes a fantastic case. He says that the Habiru reference which is present all throughout the ancient world actually to a sort of slander in the ancient world. It is like being called a slave. The author's response to this,
"The best way of finding out how the Habiru felt about being called “Habiru” is by examining how the Hebrews felt about being called “Hebrew.” All the texts which mention the Habiru were written by others and therefore don’t reflect a Habiru point of view, but the Hebrews had ample opportunity to make their views known. And the first thing which every Biblical scholar has noticed about the way the term “Hebrew” is used in Tanach is that it is hardly used at all. In the whole of Tanach, the term “Hebrew” appears only 33 times. In the Torah, the Hebrews are almost always described as the “sons of Israel” (“b’nei Israel” in Hebrew, usually translated as “children of Israel” or “Israelites”). In the later books of Tanach other terms are used, but hardly ever “Hebrew.” "
So the scriptures seem to support the historical evidence that the term was used with negative connotations rather than the way we see the term today.
It is in this article or this one
http://www.imninalu.net/Habiru.htm that discusses the wandering nature of the Habiru and how they can be found in multiple locations including southern Mesopotamia, western Arabia, Egypt, and Canaan. There was not a fixed location where these people existed.
The second article says that "What is remarkably interesting is that the ancient peoples ascribe to the Habiru a mysterious relationship with the Divinity. In Hittite documents, long lists of gods are invoked to protect the treaties. They include deities from many different regions and people. The curious nature of this invocation is illustrated by a treaty with Egypt. This list concludes with the following words: "and so on to... and the Hapiri Gods...". Significantly the Hapiru/Habiri Elohim had special mention, and although they are not identified by Name, they also could not be forgotten."
The Habiri also have a history of bondage documented by the Egyptians that would justify the account in Exodus to a certain extent.
The article about the Hyksos from the same website is also fascinating.
http://www.imninalu.net/Hyksos.htm
Basically, what this means is that there was a corruption of the text in the time surrounding the second temple period so that most everything regarding the exile up through the books of Maccabees is corrupted information that is likely to be connected with the disappearance of the Phoenicians who were traders and descendants of the Canaanites.
There was a corruption, assumed identity, and forced conversion. It is recognized on Wikipedia that when the Hasmonean dynasty was able to assume power, they used this power to force conversion to Judaism, which increased the number of people identifying as Jews in the time of Christ even though these people were not descended from the group this identity originated from.
"Hyrcanus conquered
Transjordan,
Samaria,
[65] Galilee, and
Idumea (also known as
Edom), and forced Idumeans to convert to Judaism:
Hyrcanus ... subdued all the Idumeans; and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would circumcise their genitals, and make use of the laws of the Jews; and they were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of circumcision, (25) and of the rest of the Jewish ways of living; at which time, therefore, this befell them, that they were hereafter no other than Jews.
[66]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasmonean_dynasty
There is also a book by a Israeli professor called The Invention of the Jewish People that discusses the same thing.
"Sand argues that it is likely that the ancestry of most contemporary Jews stems mainly from outside the
Land of Israel and that a "nation-race" of Jews with a common origin never existed, and that just as most Christians and Muslims are the progeny of converted people, not of the first Christians and Muslims, Jews are also descended from converts. According to Sand, Judaism was original, like its two cousins, a
proselytising religion, and mass conversions to Judaism occurred among the
Khazars in the Caucasus,
Berbertribes in North Africa, and in the
Himyarite Kingdom of the Arabian Peninsula."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invention_of_the_Jewish_People
This supports the theory that the Habiru are the true historical Israelites as they are not recorded as maintaining sovereign hold of any location in particular. The only people who have a recognized "claim" to the land we call Israel that is legitimately recorded in history were the Canaanites who are probably responsible for the corruption of the text that makes the assumption that the land
belongs to the Jews.
Why would they do this? According to the Ugarite texts, they didn't really like the Habiru, which is evidenced by referring to them as Habiru, which is a form of slander.
The Habiru are also recognized within writings that can actually be considered ancient as having mystical qualities. There is a book called The Secret Society of Moses. I have not read a whole lot of it yet, but so far it is about how the genealogy of Moses is hidden and used as the foundation for the creation of secret societies.
This is an interesting point that I had not considered. The genealogy of Moses is lost in the Bible and few people question why we don't recognize the descendants of Moses in later parts of the text. It is my early prediction that this contributes to the motivation to corrupt the text in some way and this motivation persists in attempts to corrupt the text of the early church and gain control over this new group through the creation of the Catholic church.
This is an article about Josephus who is supposedly descended from a special priest class, the cult of Mithras, and the creation of the Catholic church
http://www.viewzone.com/mithras.html
This would eventually lead to further corruption of the original Septuagint translation into the Masoretic text in order to control the conflict created by the early followers of Jesus by corrupting the verses pertaining to the coming of the Messiah and verses that would be considered verbatim quotes from the New Testament; so that today, we are living in bondage of thousands of years of corruption. This is what the prophecy refers to as the mystery of lawlessness that will be revealed so that all things can be restored.
Christ came to set the captive free.
Finally, I believe continuing this investigation will further prove that what we call the state of Israel is what the prophecy refers to as mystery Babylon and it will eventually fall because it has been built on multiple layers of deception that have increased to the point of creating apostacy from the message of Christ.