The Avim in the Old Testament

Old Testament

The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

 were a people dwelling in Hazerim, or "the villages" or "encampments" on the south-west corner of the sea-coast . David Rohl

David Rohl

New Chronology is the term used to describe an alternative Chronology of the ancient Near East developed by English Egyptologist David Rohl and other researchers beginning with A Test of Time: The Bible - from Myth to History in 1995...

 surmises that after the Inachids were conquered by Caphtor

Caphtor

Caphtor is a locality mentioned in the Bible and related literature. The people of Caphtor are called Caphtorites and are named as a division of the ancient Egyptians. Caphtor is also mentioned in ancient inscriptions from Egypt, Mari and Ugarit. Traditional Hebrew sources place Caphtor in the...

 the Avim, whom he identifies as Aamu, moved to adopt Hathor

Hathor

Hathor , is an Ancient Egyptian goddess who personified the principles of love, beauty, music, motherhood and joy. She was one of the most important and popular deities throughout the history of Ancient Egypt...

 as patron setting themselves up in lesser Hyksos Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 as petty rulers such as Yakbim Sekhaenre, Yammu Nubwoserre, Qareh Khawoserre and Ammu Aahotepre

Aahotepre

Ammu Ahotepre was a minor Hyksos pharaoh of Dynasty XIV of ancient Egypt.-Identification:Ryholt identified 'Ammu Ahotepre in his reconstruction of the Turin canon....

. He suggests Ahhotep II

Ahhotep II

Ahhotep II was an Ancient Egyptian queen, and likely the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Kamose.-Different Ahhoteps:The naming / numbering by Egyptologists of the queens named Ahhotep has changed during the years....

 who drove the Greater Hyksos

Hyksos

The Hyksos were an Asiatic people who took over the eastern Nile Delta during the twelfth dynasty, initiating the Second Intermediate Period of ancient Egypt....

 Caphtorim out of Egypt was an important descendant of this earlier Palestinian group and became the inspiration behind the legend of Io

Io (mythology)

Io was, in Greek mythology, a priestess of Hera in Argos, a nymph who was seduced by Zeus, who changed her into a heifer to escape detection. His wife Hera set ever-watchful Argus Panoptes to guard her, but Hermes was sent to distract the guardian and slay him...

 . Rabbinical tradition equates them with the earlier Philistines

Philistines

Philistines , Pleshet or Peleset, were a people who occupied the southern coast of Canaan at the beginning of the Iron Age . According to the Bible, they ruled the five city-states of Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath, from the Wadi Gaza in the south to the Yarqon River in the north, but with...

 of Abimelech

Abimelech

Abimelech was a common name of the Philistine kings.Abimelech was most prominently the name of a king of Gerar who is mentioned in two of the three wife-sister narratives in Genesis...

 who were subdued and driven away by the Caphtorim. A trace of them is afterwards found in , where they are called Avites.