In Canaan, the Israelites encountered Semitic tribes and isolated groups of Hittites, a people who had founded an empire in the region in the 17th century BCE but whose power was now dwindling.
According to the biblical account, God had ordered the eradication of the people of Canaan. Some settlers burned towns and villages and slaughtered the inhabitants, but more often than not, this occupation was peaceful—and the native populace was left alone to coexist peacefully with the Israelites.
The Israelites and Canaanites spoke related Semitic languages and were able easily enough to communicate with each other. Religion became a point of conflict, however. It is clear from biblical accounts that the Israelite settlers did not always keep to their tribal faith—the worship ofYahweh, God of Abraham—and were attracted to local pagan cults. The main deities worshipped in Canaan at this time were the rain and fertility god Baal and Ishtar, a goddess of war and sexual love.
Shiloh
The Israelites set up a sanctuary to Yahweh at Shiloh that contained the Ark of the Covenant. Also referred to as the Ark of the Law, the Ark of the Testimony, or the Ark of God, this wooden chest was, according to biblical accounts, 2.5 cubits (3 feet, 9 inches; 1.15 m) long and 1.5 cubits (2 feet, 3 inches; 0.7 m) wide and high. The Israelites took it with them on military campaigns and carried it into battle on poles. The Ark was said to contain both a pot of manna (the food that God sent to feed the Israelites in the desert after their escape from Egypt) and the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were carved.
To many Israelites, Yahweh took on the aspects of a god of war. In addition to the sanctuary at Shiloh, the Israelites worshipped Yahweh at Bethel, Gilgal, Mizpah, and Hebron. The Canaanites built sanctuaries to Baal and Ishtar beside the Israelite sanctuaries.
World History
