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.
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 The Exodus Reality: Unearthing the Real History...
Upon entering Canaan, they likely merged with the existing local population. Their story of a liberating God was so powerful that it eventually became the collective history of all the tribes of Israel, regardless of whether their specific ancestors were ever in Egypt. Canaanite Roots While a mass migration of two million people