a nation, i.e. the state, was formed at the end of the 18th dynasty (Akhenaten / Moses) and the start of the 19th (Founded by Vizier Rameses I), however, prior to the Semites arrival in the Lower Egypt, at the beginning of the 12th dynasty (Amenemhat I / Abraham), along side with the so-called Hyksos, "derives from the Egyptian expression hekau khaswet [HkAw xAswt] ("rulers [of] foreign lands"),"*1 a name, i think, is more likely in reference to the nomadic army of the Hittite empire that was multiracial, and included the Hurrians, of Mitanni kingdom, Semites, Phoenicians aka Canaanites*3, the Semitic people, who later became known as the Jews, Hebrews, Israelites, where well established in the Sinai Peninsula region, "who inhabited part of Canaan during the tribal and monarchic periods,"*2 the Canaan at that time being under the Egyptian control, which was regularly challenged by the Hittites and many other empires throughout history, and before then, the early Semites were smelting copper and mining turquoise in the Sinai desert and trading it with the Sumerian civilization, way before the 1st dynasty of the old kingdom of Egypt was ever conceived.

"During the Late Bronze Age, the Mediterranean region hosted a complex international world in which Egyptians, Mycenaeans, Minoans, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Cypriots and Canaanites all interacted, creating a cosmopolitan and globalized world-system."

*1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyksos
*2 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelites
*3 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaan