The establishment of the Jewish tribes in Palestine took place in a cruel and lengthy struggle with the ancient inhabitants of this land, the Canaanites, the Semites, who spoke a language close to Hebrew. At the same time, the Jews had to fight off nomads advancing from the desert. The Hittites and Egypt tried to subjugate ancient Palestine to their influence. The danger rallied the Jewish tribes and accelerated the process of turning the union of tribes into a state. In the XIII century. BC. the Philistines invaded Palestine, participants in the resettlement of the "peoples of the sea" - tribes of various origins that destroyed the powerful Hittite state and forced Egypt to defend itself from their onslaught. Thus, the land of Canaan for some time got rid of the painful attention of neighboring great powers, which made it possible to create a rather strong state of Israel in Palestine. The time of its existence is the most beloved page of its history for the Jewish people, its golden age.
12 "tribes" of Israel united to fight against the Philistines, who managed to gain a foothold on the fertile coastal strip of Palestine. The Israelites chose Saul from the “tribe” of Benjamin (about 1030 BC) as their king. Saul won a series of victories over the Philistines and drove them out of most of Palestine. But then setbacks began, caused by claims to power from the ambitious and intelligent David of the tribe of Judah. When Saul and his sons died fighting the Philistines, Saul's son-in-law David (1004 BC) was elected king. He expelled the conquerors from the country, subjugated the last independent Canaanite city-states, and in 995 BC. took them impregnable, located on the rock city of Jerusalem. This city became the capital of his state, whose borders expanded significantly. David now controlled all trade between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Under him, Jerusalem became not only the political, but also the religious center of Israel. The Ark of the Covenant was transported here, a sacred casket, in which, according to the ideas of the Jews, the magical power of their harsh Yahweh, who became the supreme deity of the Jewish pantheon, invisibly resided.
