Where Did the Early Israelites Come From?

Biblical traditions also stress the close affinity of the earliest Israelites with the Arameans who lived in the Syrian desert, and not with the city-dwelling Canaanites or Amorites. When Abraham commands his servants to find a wife for Isaac, his servants head east, back to Aram-Naharaim, the city of Nahor, Abraham’s grandfather (Genesis 24:10). Rebecca, the bride they find, is an Aramean (Genesis 25:20). Likewise, Jacob’s wives, Rachel and Leah, are the daughters of “Laban [Abraham’s nephew] the Aramean” (Genesis 31:20, 24).

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