The Israelites (/ˈɪzriəlaɪts/; Hebrew: בני ישראל‎ Bnei Yisra'el)
were a confederation of Iron Age
Semitic-speaking tribes of the ancient Near East
inhabiting parts of Canaan during the tribal &    monarchic periods;
Modern archaeology has largely discarded
the historicity of the Jewish religious narrative;
re-framing it as constituting an inspired national myth:
The Israelites & their culture according to modern
archaeological accounts,
         did not overtake the region by force,
instead branching out from the indigenous         [Canaanite peoples
long inhabiting the Southern Levant, Syria,
ancient Israel, and the Trans-Jordan region]
through the development of a distinct                  monolatristic—
[Monolatry (Greek: μόνος (monos) = single,
and λατρεία (latreia) = worship) is the belief
in the existence of many gods    but with the
consistent worship of the one deity; the term
      "monolatry" was perhaps first used
             by Julius Wellhausen;

Modern scholars of Israel's religion have
become much more circumspect in how
they use the Old Testament;     not least
because many have concluded      the Bible
is not a reliable witness to the true religion
of ancient Israel and Judah;     representing
the beliefs of only a small segment of the
ancient community                                          centered in Jerusalem
             & devoted to the exclusive worship
             of the god "Yahweh": Monolatry is
             distinct from monotheism,
  which asserts the existence of only one god;
and henotheism,  a religious system in which
the believer worships one god w/out denying
that others may worship different gods with
equal validity]; later cementing as a monotheistic religion
centered on Yahweh, one of the Ancient Canaanite deities;
the outgrowth of Yahweh-centric beliefs
along with a number of cult practices
gradually gave rise to a distinct Israelite
ethnic group setting them apart
                       from the other Canaanites