How true! For example:
“The Egyptian artifacts date to the 13th century B.C.E., during the 19th Egyptian Dynasty that included the reign of Ramesses II. Peter van der Veen writes, “Egypt was not new to Canaan in the 19th dynasty … Canaan was in effect an Egyptian province during the 14th century B.C.E.” In the famous Amarna letters, Abdi-Heba, the puppet-king of Jerusalem, proclaims that “the king has placed his name in Jerusalem forever.” While Bronze Age Jerusalem was not situated on Canaanite trade routes, Peter van der Veen notes that it controlled north-south traffic between Hebron and Shechem, as well as east-west traffic from the Via Maris to the King’s Highway. The Egyptians established a garrison at Manahat, just two miles southwest of Bronze Age Jerusalem.”
Then there’s the recent archaeological work at Jaffa - - showing that Egypt was driven out of Canaan by the Philistines (and Canaanites presumably inspired by the Philistines):
[Be sure to click on the image to enlarge font size to the maximum!]
Below is an Egyptian stele (along with a statue of Pharaoh Ramesses III) erected at Beth Shean,
which was the major Egyptian administrative center in Canaan … right up until the garrison at Jaffa
was compromised… around 1125 BCE !
