Quote:You really think they just started a civilization on their own?
Absolutely not. They were Canaanites, complete with their own pantheon of gods, language, pottery, agricultural technology suitable to the arid hill country where they coalesced, and a tradition as pastoralists which to me indicates a fusion of various groups.
What they were not were "slaves" in Egypt.
The key to the Levant lays with the Sea People...not yahweh.