Download The Ancient Hebrews

The Ancient Hebrews
Monotheism
 Up until this point, we have only studied polytheistic
religions
 Judaism is monotheistic, meaning “one god”
 The term Judaism comes from the tribe of Judah, one of
the 12 tribes that descended from Abraham (the father of
the Jews)
The Beginnings in Canaan
 The Hebrew _________ traces back to a man named
______________________.
 God told Abraham to leave his home in
__________________
 Abraham settled in _____________________
The Hebrew’s
 Abraham’s ___________________-The Hebrews-lived in
Canaan for many years.
 Later some Hebrews moved to ______________, because
of a ___________________ in Canaan.
 The Hebrews lived well in Egypt, and their
______________________ grew.
 The pharaoh feared the Hebrew’s would become too
__________________ so he made them _____________.

The Israelites
 Over time, the Hebrews took the name Israelites (where
we get the country Israel)
 For a while the Israelites were the slaves of the Egyptians
 What do you think the Egyptians made the Israelite
slaves do?
Moses
 The Israelites remained the slaves of Egypt until a man
named Moses helped them leave
 The Exodus (meaning departure of a large group of
people) was the time when the Israelites left Egypt
After the Exodus
 After the Israelites left Egypt, they wandered around the
Sinai desert for 40 years
 According to the Torah, Moses went to the top of Mount
Sinai and God gave him two stone tablets known as the
Ten Commandments
 The Ten Commandments became the basis of the laws
for the Israelites
Return to Canaan
 The giving of the Ten Commandments led to the
Israelites moving back to their original home
(CanaanMesopotamia)
 When they got back to Canaan, the Israelites divided
into 12 tribes and spread out to establish cities
 This was not a peaceful time; fighting continued for 200
years
Kingdoms and Captivity
 Recall some knowledge: when the Israelites returned to
Canaan from wandering in the Sinai Desert, there was
lots of fighting and clashing with the inhabitants of the
region
Kingdoms and Captivity
 The Israelites’ beliefs set them apart from the other
cultures in Mesopotamia and the surrounding regions
 In 1029 B.C.E, a group named the Philistines began to
invade the Israelites
 The Israelites were divided up into 12 different tribes, so
they were not united and therefore were weak, they
knew they had to unite themselves or be defeated
The First Kings
 The Israelites selected Saul as their first king, who helped
the Israelites take back some land from the Philistines
 After Saul, the Israelites selected a new king, David, who
helped the Israelites drive out the rest of the Philistines
 After David came Solomon, David’s son. With David as
king, Israel became a powerful nation
A Kingdom Divided
 When the Israelites were under attack, they united in a
new kingdom called Israel
 However, as soon as the threat ended, the Israelites
began to quarrel and fight with each other
 Once the wise King Solomon died, the fighting and
quarrelling intensified, which led to the kingdom
splitting into two
A Kingdom Divided
 The kingdom of Israel divided over something that
countries today are still fighting about today: taxes
 It split into two kingdoms: Israel (North, 10 tribes) and
Judah (South, 2 tribes)
 The Southern kingdom of Judah remained loyal to
Solomon’s son, the king. Today we get the word
“Judaism” and “Jew” from the name Judah
Both Kingdoms Conquered
 The Assyrians invaded Israel and conquered it, forcing
both kingdoms to pay tribute. What is tribute???
 Then the Babylonians took over under King
Nebuchadnezzar (bonus: what was he famous for?)
 In summary, the Babylonians took the Israelites from
both kingdoms as slaves in a time known as the
Babylonian captivity. This is when the Israelites became
known as the Jews
 Hebrews  Israelites  Jews
Babylonian Captivity
 During captivity, the Jews became exiles, a word
meaning “people removed from their native land”
 The exiles dreamed of a time when they could return
home to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem
 They also dreamed of one day having their own king,
who they referred to as the Messiah, meaning “anointed
one” (later, those who believed Jesus Christ was the
Messiah became known as Christians)
The Temple is Rebuilt
 The Persians conquered the Babylonians under a king by
the name of Cyrus the Great
 King Cyrus let everyone worship as they wanted.
 The Israelites were allowed to return to their homeland
and rebuild their cities, especially their sacred temple
*Rome and Judea*
 The Jews were allowed to return to their homeland
where they once again had to ask themselves the
question: Do we want to be united with a king or divided
with more freedom to rule ourselves?
 What happened when the Jews were divided?
 What happened when they decided to unite?
 So, what lessons can they learn from history?
Rome Conquers Judea
 The Jews were a free people, but not for long. An empire
that had been growing now controlled their region:
Rome
 Unlike Cyrus, who allowed the Jews to practice their
religion and choose their own kings, Rome picked the
leaders for the Jews
 Why would Rome want to pick the leaders of the Jews?
Another choice
 Once again the Jews were under control of another ruler,
so they began to argue amongst themselves about what
to do: should they cooperate or should they fight?
 Some decided they were going to fight back, these Jews
were known as the Zealots
 Based on history, how do you think this worked out?
The Diaspora
 The Zealots were defeated, the second temple was
burned to the ground, and Jerusalem was taken
 This led to the Diaspora (Greek word meaning
“scattered”)
 The Diaspora was the time when Jews began to leave
Judea for other parts of the world
 Some Jews were taken back to Rome as slaves
1. Hebrews were slaves in Egypt
2. Moses frees the
Hebrews
7. Diaspora, some
taken as slaves
The
Hebrews/Israelites
/Jews
6. Cyrus allows
them to return,
back to being free
5. Babylonian
Captivity  back
to being slaves
3. Wander in desert fo
40 years (slaves to
God)
4,Return to homeland,
Elect kings, are free
Judaism Today
 After the Diaspora, the Jewish people worried that they
would lose their faith and identity
 Wherever Jews settled, they set up synagogues, which
are places for prayer and worship
 The religious leaders are known as rabbis