Formation of the Jewish Identity

Abstract

Though Jewish communities regarded the Romans, Byzantines, and Arab conquerors from the perspective of natives facing foreign invasion, biblical tradition describes the Jewish people as a group who themselves found and conquered a Promised Land located on foreign soil. The Bible informs us that the family of Abraham, father to the tribes of Israel, left Ur in South Mesopotamia and settled in the city of Harrān in North Mesopotamia.¹ Abraham and his family then fled Harrān after he had burned the temple of idols.² Around 1200 BC , the family traveled southwest to the Promised Land, settled among the Canaanites around Jerusalem (Aramaic: Ur Shalim, “city of Salem”), and paid tribute to Melchi-Sedek (Aramaic: “Righteous King”), the Canaanite priest-king of the god named Salem. After a period spent in Egypt, the biblical figure Joshua would conquer the Promised Land, dividing it among 12 tribes that were said to have descended from Abraham’s family.