History

I think we might have divergent views on this one: other than the periods when the Jewish state was a vassal state of Egypt, I see little Egyptian influence: esp. on the proto-Israelites.

No doubt that Egypt has been a force throughout the ancient history of the near east: and, since at various time the Israelites were either controlled or conquered by the Egyptians, the influence was there. But I think it has been more of backward influence than a forward one: by this I mean that the Jewish writings took the Egyptians that they were familiar with and then worked them BACKWARDS into a "history" of the early Israelites. William Dever and Israel Finkelstein pretty much cinched that the Israellites were never in Egypt, that the exodus mever happened, and that they are in fact indiginous Canaanites

Hi NJoy    -  find  (long title) " WHO WERE THE EARLY ISRAELITES AND WHERE DID THEY COME FROM" by William G Dever.  Dever uses the site surveys done by Israel Finkelstein to prove his ideas.  Dever and Finkelstein are about the top two Near Eastern archaeologists in the field.  Funny thing is , they are bitter enemies who have feuded for years over the difference in dating much of biblical archaeology by about 100 years:  then Dever ended up using the site surveys of late bronze, iron 1, and iron 2 done by Finkelstein to base his reasearch.  Another good book is "THE BIBLE UNEARTHED: ARCHAEOLOGY'S NEW VISION OF ANCIENT ISRAEL AND THE ORIGIN OF ITS SACRED TEXTS" by Israel Finkelstein and N A Silberman.