"After the Exodus from Egypt — probably in the Thirteenth Century BCE but perhaps earlier — the Children of Israel settled in the land of Canaan."
IMO the Exodus began in 1628BC during the explosion of the island of Thera, the island was populated by Minoians (The Sea People) an advanced people.
The Minoian survivors (soon to be called the Philistines) of the explosion made their way to the Gaza area and established a 'beachhead' while the Jews were wandering around in the desert following the plume ('Staff by day' torch by night') of the erupting Thera.
Once the Jews arrived in Israel they were totally dependent on the Philistines (The Sea People) for all their metal works, even metal repairs.
During periods of conflict between the Jews and the Philistines, the Philistines would with-hold all metal works and supplies to the Jews. ( I assume that the Minoians were eventually assimilated into the surrounding population...and yes I do know that Minoian is mis-spelled). Also, I think there have been a number of different groups of people (at different times and places) who have been known as 'The Sea People.'
A friend of mine has called me 'one of those sea people', she says even my sneakers smell like saltwater. :-)
I believe Thera could well have been the cover under which the early Israelites who left by sea (aka the Proto-Celts) escaped, the rest escaping by land in the traditional EXODUS a century or two later.
In any case, none of these Iraelites were Jews. They were just Israelites, and not even divided into Northern and Southern Kingdoms at this point. The designation "Jew" for a small percentage of these Israelites offspring was not in common use until 500 BC, over a thousand years later.
For the details, click on my Profile.
... assume that the Minoians were eventually assimilated into the surrounding population
I go real slow on assuming any population was "assimilated" into any other population. While
this certainly could have happened, and assimilation is not unknown, I think its claim is widely abused, and used mostly when the author simply doesn't know what happened. The story isn't complete without some final "explanation".
The most blatant of these "assimilation" errors, involving by far the LARGEST group of people, is the claim that the Lost Tribes of Israel were "assimilated" by their captors,
the Assyrians, and that's the end of their story. After even the most superficial examination of their history, the application of this "explanation" strains credulity.
When the Lost Tribes of Israel joined with the Medes and Persians to whip their
Assyrian captors, about 600 BC, their population was over 5 MILLION, and that was almost 10 Percent of the Global population! Ten percent of the global population is not easily assimilated by anyone, and it has to be someone even bigger, or at least more powerful. There weren't many Ten Percents around that part of the world to do such assimilating!
Since the previously totally unknown CELTS just happened to suddenly appear in massive quantity at the same time and the same place the Lost Tribes of Israel disappear, the only "assimilation" I can find is in their renaming. (But this does step on a number of oh-so-sensitive toes...)
For more details , see my Profile.