Where were the Hebrews located before Canaan?

Answer 1

The earliest Hebrews were Abraham's uncles and cousins for several generations back. They were among the Western Semites and lived in northern Mesopotamia, near the confluence of the Balikh and the Euphrates. Ancient towns were named after the ancestors (Genesis ch.11) of Abraham:
The "city of Nahor" was found near the city of Haran which still exists to this day. Equally clear signs of Hebrew residence appear in the names of other towns nearby: Serug (Assyrian SARUGI), Terah (TIL TURAKHI, "Mound of Terah"), and Peleg (PALIGA, on the Euphrates near the mouth of the Habur).

Biblical tradition says that the Hebrew patriarch came from Ur of the Chaldees, in southern Mesopotamia. Centuries later, they conquered the cities of Canaan, to become the dominant ethic group in the southern Levant.

However, the strong consensus of scholars is that the Hebrew people were themselves rural Canaanites who migrated away from the rich Canaanite cities on the Mediterranean coast, into the hitherto sparsely populated hinterland, only later developing legends of a mass Exodus from Egypt and conquest of the Canaanite cities. On this basis, the Israelites were West Semitic people like the Aramaeans to the north. At this stage, we do not know where the West Semitic people came from, but of course they were closely related to other semitic groups in Mesopotamia and Arabia. One hypothesis is that the Semites migrated from the region of the Black Sea around 8000 BCE, at the end of the Little Ice Age.

Answer 2

Nobody knows. The only information about this in the Torah is that Abraham's family came from a place called Ur-Kasdim (אוּר כַּשְׂדִים). No one knows where this is, but a prevailing theory is that it was in Southern Mesopotamia.

Answer 3

The earliest Hebrews were Abraham's uncles and cousins for several generations back. They were among the Western Semites and lived in northern Mesopotamia, near the confluence of the Balikh and the Euphrates. Ancient towns were named after the ancestors (Genesis ch.11) of Abraham:
The "city of Nahor" was found near the city of Haran which still exists to this day. Equally clear signs of Hebrew residence appear in the names of other towns nearby: Serug (Assyrian SARUGI), Terah (TIL TURAKHI, "Mound of Terah"), and Peleg (PALIGA, on the Euphrates near the mouth of the Habur).

Answer 4

Biblical tradition says that the Hebrew patriarch came from Ur of the Chaldees, in southern Mesopotamia. Centuries later, they conquered the cities of Canaan, to become the dominant ethic group in the southern Levant.

However, the strong consensus of scholars is that the Hebrew people were themselves rural Canaanites who migrated away from the rich Canaanite cities on the Mediterranean coast, into the hitherto sparsely populated hinterland, only later developing legends of a mass Exodus from Egypt and conquest of the Canaanite cities. On this basis, the Israelites were West Semitic people like the Aramaeans to the north. At this stage, we do not know where the West Semitic people came from, but of course they were closely related to other semitic groups in Mesopotamia and Arabia. One hypothesis is that the Semites migrated from the region of the Black Sea around 8000 BCE, at the end of the Little Ice Age.

Answer 5

In the Holy Land.