This suggests to me that the Israelite amphictyony may have actually been people from the settled areas of Canaan -- the Canaanites, Israelites, Moabites, Edomites, Midianites and other Western Semitic peoples were really a Greater Hebrew nation -- who voted with their feet and migrated into less governable areas of the central Palestinian highlands. And they recuperated the Canaanite El cultus at Bethel and adapted it to their own needs. This would make them a lot like Scott's Zomians, or the Tinkers, Travellers and Cossacks. -- Kevin Carson Research Associate, Center for a Stateless Society http://c4ss.org "You have no authority that we are bound to respect" -- John Perry Barlow "We are legion. We never forgive. We never forget. Expect us" -- Anonymous Homebrew Industrial Revolution:  A Low-Overhead Manifesto http://homebrewindustrialrevolution.wordpress.com Desktop Regulatory State http://desktopregulatorystate.wordpress.com