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Modern archaeology suggests that the Israelites were largely indigenous to Canaan. Rather than a conquest from the outside, the "Exodus" may have been a domestic social revolution. As the Egyptian Empire’s grip on Canaan weakened in the Late Bronze Age collapse (c. 1200 BCE), marginalized groups settled in the central highlands, forming a new, egalitarian society that eventually became Israel. The Power of the Narrative
This absence has led many scholars to conclude that the Exodus, as described in the Book of Exodus, is a national origin myth—a "useful past" compiled centuries later to unify a people under a single identity. The "Small Exodus" Theory
While a mass migration of two million people lacks evidence, many historians support the "Small Exodus" theory. This suggests a smaller group of Semitic people—perhaps "Levites" or "Habiru" (outcasts/mercenaries)—did escape Egyptian servitude.