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many references of early Israel are found in Egypt

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defeat, subjugation, conquest and destruction stand at the beginning of Israel's history

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these kinds of events also mark the pivotal events in Israel's history

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Israel's experience of defeat is closely tied to the rise and fall of empires throughout the ancient Near East

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so to understand the history of Israel, you need to understand the empires throughout history in this part of the world

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some of the most ancient cities and settlements in human history are found within the land of Israel

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Jericho

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most people know this city from the Battle of Jericho

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Joshua 6:1-27, the first battle of the Israelites during their conquest of Canaan, according to the narrative, the walls of Jericho fell after Joshua's Israelite army marched around the city blowing their trumpets

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Jericho had been inhabited since 10,000 BC

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wall of 3.6 meters high and 1.8 meters wide

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impressive settlements there continued for millenia

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according to the Biblical account, Israel conquered this Canaanite city in the late Bronze Age (3300-1200 BC) but by that time, the city had become basically a village

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Canaan cannot be said to be a center of ancient Near Eastern civilization

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not where we witness major technological advancements, erection of pyramids and ziggurats, organization of huge armies, or the invention of writing

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to find these things we need to look to places that had more abundant and reliable water sources

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for Egypt, this is the Nile

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an impressive civilization developed, beginning in the late fourth millennium

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for Mesopotamia, which means "the land between the rivers", it was the Tigris and Euphrates

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here the Sumerian people developed writing in the fourth millennium

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cities such as Kish, Uruk, Ur, Lagash, Nippur, Girsu

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developed highly stratified and complex societies

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the complexities of these societies is due to their population size

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made possible by the presence of rivers

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writing was invented and adopted for administrative and accounting purposes, mostly for temple economies

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writing later takes on more magical and commemorative functions

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so Canaan throughout the Bronze Age had two much more advanced civilizations arising on both sides, to the east in Mesopotamia, and to the south west in Egypt