Download The Ancient Hebrews

ISS World History 9
Guiding Question
• What was the lasting influence of the
Israelites?
• Monotheism
• The Torah
• The Ten Commandments
Israelites
• To the south of the Phoenicians lived
another group of people known as the
Israelites.
• Minor factor in politics, but their religion,
Judaism, flourished.
• Influenced religions of Christianity, Islam.
Referred to as:
-Israelites
-Hebrews
-Jews
Terms used
interchangeably
Judaism
• The Jews are monotheistic
• Believe in one god who is the creator of
the world and everything in it.
• God created nature, but is not identified
with it.
• The sun, wind, etc, are not gods, but
God’s creation to be admired but not
worshipped.
The Torah (Old Testament)
 The most sacred
text in the Jewish
religious tradition.
 The first 5 books
of the Hebrew
Bible :
1. Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy
Abraham’s Covenant
• The story of the Israelites begins with
Abraham, the forefather, and the
covenant he made with God.
• Covenant = a contract, or binding
agreement
• The covenant that God made with
Abraham commonly referred to as the
"Abrahamic Covenant" begins to unfold in
Genesis 12.
• In that passage, god calls Abraham to
leave his people in Ur, take his wife and
move to “the promised land” Canaan.
Abraham’s Journey from Ur
2085-2075 BC
Canaan  The “Promised Land”
• There are three main features to the Abrahamic Covenant:
• 1. The promise of land - God called Abraham from Ur to a land
that he would give him (Canaan).
• 2. The promise of descendants. God promised Abraham that he
would make a great nation out of him. Abraham, who was 75
years old and childless was promised many descendants (he
later conceived Isaac with his wife Sarah).
• 3. The promise of blessing and protection. God promised to
bless Abraham and the families of the earth through him.
• In return, Abraham and his people would worship one god and
ONLY one god
Abraham’s Journeys
The Binding of Isaac
• According to the biblical
story, God commands
Abraham to offer his son
Isaac as a sacrifice.
• After Isaac is bound to an
altar, the angel of God
stops Abraham at the last
minute, saying "now I know
you fear God."
• At this point Abraham sees
a ram caught in some
nearby bushes and
sacrifices the ram instead
of Isaac.
Moses
•According to the Book of Exodus, Moses
was born in a time when his people, the
Children of Israel, were increasing in
number
•The Egyptian Pharaoh (Amenhotep II)
was worried that they might help Egypt's
enemies.
•Other accounts suggest that there was a
famine in Judea (Israel) that forced the
Israelites to Egypt for sustenance.
In Egypt, the Israelites were forced into
slavery
Moses
• Moses' mother hid him in a reed basket
when the Pharaoh ordered all newborn
Hebrew boys to be killed.
Moses and the Burning Bush
• After killing an Egyptian
slave-master, Moses fled
across the Red Sea
where he encountered the
God of Israel in the form
of a "burning bush".
• God sent Moses to
request the release of the
Israelites from slavery in
Egypt.
The Ten Plagues: Let My People Go!
John Martin's painting of the plague of hail
and fire (1823).
The Exodus
Parting of the Red Sea
Route of the Exodus
Moses and the 10 Commandments
A new “covenant” with
god
The Golden Calf
Mount Sinai
St. Catherine’s Monastery
at Mount Sinai
Judaism Still Practiced Today