>>17821641I'm pretty sure it was several factors, including what you write here. There was clearly an ongoing political spat between Northern and Southern Canaanites. The North was the center of Canaanite civilization up to that point, with the land claimed by the Jews being the irrelevant hinterlands throughout history. Thus the political fighting resulted in a mass cultural movement by southerners to try and distance themselves from the Canaanite identity and upturn traditional values like ancestor worship, burial rites, etc. and claim their own cities as the "true religious capital of 'El"
We know this because scriptures written by Jews around the time of the Babylonian exile contain a rather large amount of animosity towards the northerners which is absent in other versions of the scriptures. The Quran for instance diverges heavily on these matters because it has much of its text originating in an earlier version of the Judaistic religion. It of course evolved and would later incorporate later additions to the text, but much of the political shitflinging is completely absent from this version. Even if you don't find this conjecture particularly convincing, it should be more than enough to raise an eyebrow that something has been afoot for a long time.