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The First Israelites
Chapter 3-1
Early Israelites
• Israelites settled in Canaan
• Located along the Mediterranean Sea
• Canaan is modern day Lebanon, Israel
and Jordan
Monotheism
• Worshipping only one god
• Israelites worshipped only one god
– Judaism – name of their religion
– Jews – name of the people who followed this
religion
– Judaism had a big influence on other western
religions
Israelites
• Spoke Hebrew
• Wrote their beliefs and history in what later
became the Bible
• Herders and traders
Abraham
• Left Mesopotamia and brought followers to
Canaan
• God promised that Canaan would belong
to Abraham and followers
• “Father of the Israelites”
Jacob
• Abraham’s grandson
• Jacob’s 12 sons were the heads of the
twelve tribes of Israel
Drought
• Means no rain
• Drought caused the Israelites to move to
Egypt
• They became slaves in Egypt
Freedom
• According to the Hebrew Bible:
– Egyptian pharaoh said all Israelite baby boys
must be thrown into the Nile
– Pharaoh’s daughter found a baby in a basket
(Moses)
– Moses led the Israelites to freedom
– God sent 10 plagues to Egypt
– God parted the Red Sea so Israelites could
run away
Ten Commandments
• Moses went to the top of Mount Sinai
• Received the laws of God there (Torah)
• Covenant – agreement between the
Israelites and God (follow God’s laws and
He will protect them)
• Torah – God’s laws of right and wrong
• Ten Commandments – part of the Torah,
10 big rules
• Moses with the
Tablets, 1659, by
Rembrandt
Israelites return to Canaan
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It took them 40 years to return
Moses did not make it back
Joshua took over and led them back
Took over the Canaanites
Judges
• Leaders of the tribes
• A military leader
• Deborah, a woman judge
Phoenician Alphabet
• Alphabet – a group of letters that stand for
sounds
• Alphabet made writing simpler and helped
people keep records
• Phoenicians – Greeks – Romans – the
rest of the western world
List Jewish ideas that are important
in our society now.