THIEVES FROM THE VERY START OF THEIR EXISTENCE :
During the Late Bronze Age, specifically 1500 BC to 1100 BC, monotheistic Canaanites kikels were being arrested and killed because they were engaged in HIGHWAY ROBBERY along the caravan trade route between Egypt and Syria ... at the time, during the Late Bronze Age, these Canaanites kikels tribes were coalescing to form the APIRU / HABIRU / IVRI / IBRI confederation. Egyptian records indicate that these were BRIGANDS / THIEVES / HIGHWAY ROBBERS.
So stealing / thievery is part of their very DNA / existence, right from the very beginnings of their ancient past.
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LET'S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK :
There is strong evidence from Egyptian records and Near Eastern sources that, between 1500–1100 BC, 350p to 3100 years ago, groups labeled as Apiru (Habiru) were associated with acts such as highway robbery and banditry and murders along major trade routes, including those connecting Egypt and Syria.
These people were monotheistic Canaanites, but also included amorphous, marginalized social class including outlaws, mercenaries, raiders, and fugitives who often joined or were integrated into the Apiru / Habiru tribal confederation.
Egyptian sources and diplomatic letters (the Amarna letters) often refer to the Habiru/Apiru as brigands or thieves, and ENEMIES who threatened stability in Canaan and the Levant.
● Apiru/Habiru/Ibri/Ivri Origins and Role :
The terms Apiru, Habiru, and their variants were widely used in Egyptian, Akkadian, and other documents to describe people of "low" or outsider status—referred to as rebels, outlaws, raiders, or bandit groups operating on the margins of settled society in the general area of today's PALESTINE including the West Bank, as well as the Sinai Peninsula and north-west Arabia, often called South Canaan.
By 1500 BC, these tribes / groups were coalescing into MONOTHEISTIC CANAANITES tribes, of a single ethnicity, but often included displaced peasants, runaway laborers, and sometimes desert nomads, drawn together by economic hardship or oppression, including tax burdens imposed by Egyptian rulers in Canaan. These displaced people would eventually be integrated / converted.
Over time, these "brigands" in the Levantine region became the monotheistic Canaanite kikels.
Remember that they were Arabs, ORIGINALLY from Yemen and Nabataea (today's Jordan and Syria) ... so they spoke ANCIENT ARABIC , quite different from today's ARABIC ... that Arabic in that region would eventually become a locatlized variation / dialect of Arabic called ARAMAIC by 1200 BC ... Aramaic would last as the everyday language / vernacular language of the general population until around 500 AD ... of the local liturgy until 900 AD.
● Egyptian Descriptions: Brigands and Thieves
Egyptian texts and the Amarna letters (1300s–1200s BC) explicitly describe the Habiru as disruptive elements prone to raiding, attacking, and looting settlements and trade caravans across Canaan and the Levant.
Kings of Canaanite / Levantine cities - - at that time populated by POLYTHEISTIC ARABIC CANAANITES inhabiting the inland region, as well as the recently-arrived INDO-EUROPEAN / ARYAN / WHITE PALESET PEOPLES (from the European Balkan region and Southern Europe (Achaea / Hellenes / Greece), Mycaenea, and Macedonia, and from Anatolian (today's Turkey) Indo-European empires like Hittites and Mitanni, along the Levantine coastline, in their cities like Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ashdod - - wrote to the Egyptian Pharaoh for protection from these groups, whose raids threatened vital trade arteries between Egypt and Syria.
● Social Dynamics and Consequences :
The rise of the Apiru/Habiru as a pronounced social phenomenon is closely linked to the pressures of Egyptian imperial rule and social-economic strain in the region, leading many impoverished or disenfranchised individuals to join these Ancient Canaanites monotheistic kikels.
▪︎ Arrests, punitive campaigns, and executions of accused bandits or highwaymen are recorded in court documents and correspondence, evidencing Egypt’s efforts to maintain law and order.
There are pictographic representations of these ancient monotheistic Canaanites kikels and their converts being arrested and brutally killed after being accused of highway robbery/banditry / thievery.
...CONTINUED IN PART #2...
...PART #2...
● Religious Identity :
There is little direct evidence in Egyptian or Mesopotamian records linking these Apiru/Habiru groups with formalized monotheism during the Middle Bronze Age, 2000 BC - 1500 BC, but by 1500 BC to 1100 BC or Late Bronze Age, the arrested and killed thieves are clearly marked as ENEMY (monotheists) ... the earliest clear developments of Canaanite monotheism seem to appear at this time, Late Bronze Age.
Canaanite society during the period 2000 BC to 1500 BC, or Middle Bronze Age, was predominantly polytheistic, although some early theological tendencies toward a high god may have been present in some circles, especially those persons who had visited Egypt and witnessed/experienced Atenism (which I have described in a previous post and will do so again soon).
● In summary, Egyptian and Near Eastern records affirm that groups later remembered as Apiru, Habiru, or possibly early so-called "Hebrews" / "Israelites" , the proper designation should be MONOTHEISTIC CANAANITES, between 1500 BC and 1200 BC, were often described as bandits and highway robbers along the Egypt-Syria caravan trade—facing arrests and executions for their actions.
While these groups contributed to the ETHNO-GENESIS of later so-called "Israelites" / "Hebrews", they were not defined by monotheism any earlier than 1500 BC.
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LINKS/ READINGS/ SOURCES/ REFERENCES :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CA%BFApiru
https://www.academia.edu/8639555/The_Apiru_and_the_Egyptian_domination_of_Late_Bronze_Age_Israel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaanite_religion
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Canaanite-religion
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrews
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