Download Unit 1: From Pre-History to Early Civilizations

Section IV: The Beginnings of Judaism
(Pages 42-45)
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This section is about:
How the geography of
Canaan influenced the
ancient civilization of the
Hebrews.
How Judaism was
founded, and how it alter
became a major world
religion.
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Another group who lived in
the area of the Fertile
Crescent were the Hebrews.
But, they were a little
different than the other
groups we’ve seen so far.
We know a lot about them,
because they recorded events
important to them in their
Hebrew Bible (Many groups
only use an oral history)
How do you know about you
and your family’s past?
Ask your teacher about the
20 foot long book he has
about the history of the
Hebrew people.
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One of their peoples
(Abraham) brought the
Hebrews from Mesopotamia
to Canaan.
That was where God and
Abraham made a covenant
(agreement/contract)
If Abraham and his people
would worship only one god
(monotheism), then God
would give Abraham many
descendants (through the
Twelve Tribes of Israel).
Worshiping one God was
different than the other
groups from the Fertile
Crescent.
These Twelve Tribes were nomads
and they eventually ended up…
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… in Egypt (where they were
made into slaves).
After a while, one of their
leaders (Moses) got them
their freedom (the Exodus).
When they left Egypt, they
traveled around the Sinai
Peninsula for many years.
It was during that time that
Moses got the Ten
Commandments from God –
again a covenant that if they
followed these rules, they
would be “God’s own
people.”
They eventually ended up
settling in Canaan (the land
promised to Abraham).
Canaan is now called Israel.
Kingdoms of
the Israelites
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The Hebrews (Twelve Tribes of
Israelites) had to continually fight
for this land.
They figured it was better to unite
and their first king was Saul (killed
in battle).
His son David took over, created a
stronger Israel, and made
Jerusalem it’s capital.
David’s son Solomon made Israel a
rich nation which had a huge
temple, big army, good trade,
improved roads and ports…
When Solomon died, there were
problems: Israel even split into two
kingdoms: most Israelites were
taken over by Assyria and Judah
was conquered by Babylonia.
Much of the oral history of the Hebrew people
was written down during the time
the people of Judah were conquered.
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When the Persians
conquered Babylonia,
they let the Jews
return to their old
kingdom – where
they re-built their
temple (although still
living under Persian
control)
This idea of Monotheism still influences
and dominates many religions today
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The sacred book for Hebrews is the
Torah (first 5 books of the bible)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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Genesis (creation, Abraham, and his
descendants)
Exodus (leaving Egypt)
Leviticus
Numbers
(Jewish laws and instruction)
Deuteronomy
The oldest Torah stories we have
come from the Dead Sea Scrolls
(written about 800AD and just found
in the 1100’s.
Judaism
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World’s 8th biggest
religion (14-18 million)
Spread out around the
world – many in Israel
(40%), America (40%),
Europe, Russia, etc…
Many still follow these
old Hebrew rules and
“laws” – as part of
Abraham’s covenant
and their faith that they
are God’s chosen
people