The Semitic nomads had encroached on the settled areas, gradually assimilated their inhabitants, and—by the middle of the second millennium—settled in the Jordan Valley, which becomes a Semitic language area.

Abraham (known to the Arabs as Ibrahim) and his household enter the area from the direction of Mesopotamia at about this time.

The Canaanites and others refer to this nomadic group of western Semites as the habiru, meaning wanderers or outsiders.

The name Hebrew probably derives from this term.

More abrupt had been the incursion of the Hyksos from the north, who had passed through Canaan on their way to Egypt.