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Discovering Our Past: Ancient Civilizations
Chapter 3: The Ancient Israelites
Chapter Overview
The Israelites practiced monotheism, or the belief in one God. Although the Israelite
population was small, their religion, today known as Judaism, influenced
Christianity and Islam.
The twelve tribes of Israel lived in Canaan for about 100 years. A drought forced
them into Egypt. The Egyptian pharaoh later enslaved the Israelites. Moses led the
Israelites out of Egyptian slavery. According to the Hebrew Bible, Moses received
the moral laws known as the Torah from God. Included in the Torah are the Ten
Commandments. The Israelites believed they had a covenant with God, promising to
return them to Canaan if they followed his laws.
The Israelites had to fight the Canaanites to return to their homeland. The Israelites
won control over the hilly region in central Canaan, while the Canaanites controlled
the coastal areas. The Israelites built walls around their towns to protect
themselves.
The twelve tribes of Israel often quarreled, so they asked a prophet to choose a king
to unite them against their enemies. Under Kings David and Solomon, Israel became
a great empire with Jerusalem as its capital. David also wrote some of the Psalms of
the Hebrew Bible. Solomon wrote the Proverbs and built a large temple to God in
Jerusalem that became the center of the Jewish religion. After Solomon died, the
twelve tribes split into two kingdoms: Israel and Judah.
Israel was soon conquered by the Assyrians and most of its people were scattered.
Judah became the center of the Israelite religion and its people became known as
Jews. Judah was later conquered by the Chaldeans and many of its people were
exiled to Babylon. Later, the Persians conquered the Chaldeans and allowed the Jews
to return home. It was at this time that Jewish religious leaders combined the Torah
with other Jewish writings to create the Hebrew Bible. In the 330s B.C., the Greeks
conquered Judah and many Jews adopted Greek culture and moved to Greek lands.
When the Greeks tried to impose their religion on the Jews in the 160s B.C., the Jews
rebelled and drove them out. Then, in 63 B.C., the Romans conquered Judah.
Under Roman rule, the Jews splintered into different groups, including the
Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. The Jews revolted time and again against
the Romans. Many Jews were waiting for a messiah, or deliverer. In A.D. 70, the
Romans destroyed the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Then, in A.D. 132, the Romans
forbade the Jews to live in or visit Jerusalem. Religious teachers called rabbis kept
the study of the Torah alive and helped the Jews survive the loss of the temple in
Jerusalem.
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