Ancient Israel
The children of Abram
5 themes of geography:
Location/Region: Israel is in the Middle East. It is NE of Egypt and
SW of Mesopotamia. It borders the Mediterranean Sea on its
western coast.
Place: hot, arid, desert climate with rolling hills. Jordan River flows
through it, and it has access to the Sea of Galilee, Mediterranean
Sea, and Dead Sea. Vegetation-short, dry scrub brush and
grasses, limited trees.
People-known as Israelites and Jews
Speak- Hebrew
Religion-Judaism (monotheistic, God is Yahweh); Hebrew Bible
consists of Torah and other writings, including Psalms (poems),
proverbs (advice), and the 10 Commandments.
Human-environmental Interaction-many were fishermen, due to
proximity to seas. Irrigated to farm.
Movement-people & goods moved by boat, donkey, camel, or foot.
Ideas spread through their writing, which used an alphabet and
through spoken word.
Israel
The
Empire of
King David
and King
Solomon
Abram-Father of Many Nations
Abram, a Sumerian man from Ur in Mesopotamia, comes from a family that is
monotheistic.
His god, Yahweh, tells him to move his wife and children to another land and
establish his home there.
Abram arrives in a region of rolling hills, valleys, and coastal plains known as
Canaan around 2000 BC, where he made a covenant, or special agreement,
with Yahweh.
◦ He promised to be faithful to the one true god, who in return promised to give
the land of Canaan to Abram’s descendants as their home country. Abram
changed his name to Abraham (father of many nations in Hebrew) to mark
this covenant. Even today, he is known as the father of the Jewish
people through his son Isaac, and the father of the Arabic people
through his son Ishmael.
His grandson Jacob, also knows as Israel, raised 12 sons in Canaan. His
descendants would become the 12 tribes of Israel.
Hard times come to the Israelites
A 100-year drought forced many Israelites to flee Canaan
for Egypt.
◦ Why would a drought force people to leave their homes?
Eventually, the Egyptian pharaohs would enslave the
Israelites that lived in Egypt.
After many years of slavery, a prophecy began to spread
than a Jewish leader would be born to lead the Jews out of
slavery. To prevent this, the pharaoh ordered that all
Jewish baby boys be killed.
◦ To save her son, one Israelite woman put her baby boy in a reed
basket and sent him floating down the Nile River. As luck would
have it, the pharaoh’s daughter found him and decided to adopt
him. She called the boy Moses.
◦ When Moses became a teenager, he worked as a herdsman in the
hills. One day he saw a burning bush and heard the voice of
Yahweh telling him to lead his people (the Jews) out of Egypt.
Moses leads the Israelites to
freedom
❏ The Hebrew Bible says that when the pharaoh refused to
release the Jewish people from slavery, Yahweh sent 10
plagues against the Egyptians.
❏ The final plague killed all first-born children in the land. In order
to separate themselves from the Egyptians, Jewish families
marked their doors with lamb’s blood.
❏ Finally, after losing his own son to the last plague, the pharaoh
agreed to release the Israelites. However, he changed his mind
as soon as they left and sent his army after them.
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The Israelites fled toward their ancient home of Canaan, heading east to
the Red Sea. According to the Bible, the Red Sea parted and allowed
the Jews to flee, but drown the entire Egyptian army that followed them.
As a punishment for sins, the Jews wandered the desert for 40 years
before reaching Canaan. During the wandering time, Moses went to the
top of Mount Sinai and received a series of 10 Commandments, or laws,
from Yahweh. These 10 Commandments are known as the Torah,
which became the first part of the Hebrew Bible. The 10
Commandments are important in human history because they form the
basic moral law of many nations.
⚫ Where do you think Mount Sinai is located?
The 10 Commandments
Do not worship any god except me.
2. Do not...bow down and worship idols.
3. Do not misuse my name.
4. Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it sacred.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. Do not murder.
7. Be faithful in marriage.
8. Do not steal.
9. Do not tell lies about others.
10. Do not want anything that belongs to someone
else.
1.
What influence do these laws have on the cultures that
Fighting for the Promised Land
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Moses died before the Israelites reached Canaan,
so they selected Joshua to lead them.
When they arrived in Canaan, the people who
had settled on the land after the Israelites left
were NOT willing to give it up without a fight.
Joshua led the Israelites into battle against the
Canaanites at the Battle of Jericho.
❖ To take the walled city of Jericho, God told the Israelites to march
around the city while blowing trumpets. On the 7th day, the army
stopped marching, one last trumpet volley sounded, the army
shouted, and the walls of Jericho fell, allowing Joshua’s army to
defeat Jericho.
❖ After the Battle of Jericho, Joshua led the Israelites in 3 more wars.
He divided the land among the 12 tribes of Israel.
Who were the judges?
● Following the death of Joshua, judges took over
leadership of the 12 tribes. A judge was a military
leader. Usually they only led 1 or 2 tribes, not all 12.
● The Hebrew Bible tells about many judges, including
Barak, Samuel, Eli, Gideon, Samson, and Deborah.
○ Deborah was a female judge. Although judges were
military leaders, she did not fight. Instead she acted
as an advisor to Barak on the battlefield.
● Eventually, the Israelites won control over the hilly
region of central Canaan. The Canaanites kept the flat,
coastal areas. To protect their newly won territories, the
Israelites built walled cities and towns.
Alphabet soup
The Israelites borrowed their alphabet from a group
of Canaanites called the Phoenicians, who were
skilled sailors and traders. Because they traded
all along the Mediterranean Sea, their idea of an
alphabet also spread to far-away places like
Greece.
The Kings of Israel
● The prophet & Judge, Samuel, chose a warrior-farmer
named Saul to be the 1st king of Israel.
● Saul was a successful warrior-king, but he disobeyed
God, so God told Samuel to appoint a young shepherd
boy named David to be the new king.
● David was a friend of Jonathan, Saul’s son,
and became a famous warrior. As a young
man, he killed the Philistine giant, Goliath,
with just a slingshot and some rocks.
● When Saul is killed in battle, David became king. As a
king, he expanded Israel into an empire, but he also
made the Israelites pay high taxes to expand its capital,
Jerusalem.
More kings of Israel
Upon David’s death, his son Solomon inherited the
throne. Solomon was not a popular king because
he forced the Israelites to pay even higher taxes
than his father, and he forced the young men of
northern Israel to work in his mines.
As an older man, Solomon was considered very
wise. He wrote the proverbs, which are a
collection of wise sayings that are part of the
Hebrew Bible.
Divide and Be Conquered
● Upon the death of Solomon, the northerns rebelled and fighting
broke out. 10 tribes set up a kingdom in the north called Israel.
● 2 tribes formed a kingdom to the South called Judah.
○ During the division of the two kingdoms, a group of religious
teachers called prophets taught the Israelites to work for a just
society by leading moral lives, and gave them hope for the
future.
● While the Israelites were dividing into 2 kingdoms, the Assyrians
and Chaldeans were building their empires in Mesopotamia.
● In 722 BC, the Assyrians conquered Israel. As with all the lands
they conquered, they forced many of the Israelites to leave their
homes and move to Mesopotamia. They also destroyed many of
the towns and temples of Israel.
● The Assyrians who moved into Israel mixed with the remaining
Israelites and assimilated many of the cultural traits of Israel,
including their God. This culture was different from that of the
Israelites, and came to be known as the Samaritans.
The 2 Kingdoms of Abraham’s
People:
Israel
Judah
What did the prophets teach the Israelites?
Elijah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, &
Ezekial
Persian, Chaldean, Egyptian
Empires
Judah falls...
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After the fall of Israel to the Assyrians, Judah held
out for a while.
In 620 BC, the Egyptians conquered Judah and
forced them to pay tribute.
The Chaldeans (New Babylonians) conquered
Egypt, so Judah fell under their control. Against
the advice of the prophet Jeremiah, the Jews
rebelled. The Chaldean king, Nebuchadnezzar,
was furious and punished them by capturing
Jerusalem, destroying Solomon’s temple, and
exiling the Jews to Babylon. This 50 year period
of exile is known as the Babylonian Captivity.
A scattered people with a
growing religion...
During the Babylonian Captivity, the Jews kept
their religion alive by meeting every Sabbath in
synagogues.
When the Persians conquered Mesopotamia,
including the Chaldeans, Persia’s King Cyrus
allowed the Jews to return to Judah.
The Jews that returned to Judah rebuilt Jerusalem
and the temple.
Cyrus appointed officials to rule the country and
collect taxes, but allowed Jewish religious leaders
to rule their society.
The Greeks Take Over
Alexander the Great-the Macedonian Greek who
conquers the Persian Empire and down into India.
His Greek army also conquers Judah, bringing
with them Greek math, architecture, literature, and
language.
The Diaspora refers to the scattering of Jews away
from their homeland. It began under the
Assyrians and continued through the time of the
Greeks.
Initially, the Greeks let the Jews have their own
religion. However, Antiochus decided in 168 BC
to force the Jews to adopt Greek polytheism. An
And now the Romans...
In 63 BC the Romans took over Judah and
renamed it Judaea.
At first the Romans allowed Jews to rule Judaea.
King Herod was a famous Jewish king of this time
period. He is known for the incredible additions he
made to the Jewish temple in Jerusalem.
Upon Herod’s death, Roman officials took over
running Judaea, which displeased the Jews.
How shall I think?
3 groups dominated Jewish thinking at the time of
Roman rule:
Pharisees-taught the Torah & how to apply its laws to
everyday life, especially within the home and family.
Taught the oral traditions of Judaism, as well as the
written. Popular with common people.
Sadducees-Also followed the Torah, but applied it more
to temple priests. They emphasized written law and
commandments, rejecting the oral traditions taught by
the Pharisees. Mostly scribes and priests.
Essenes-a group of priests who broke away from the
temple in Jerusalem and moved into the desert to pray
for God to deliver them from the Romans. Essenes
strictly followed the written law, like the Sadducees.
Jewish Revolts Against the
Romans
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AD 60s-Jews are waiting for a messiah to deliver
them from the hated Romans.
A group of men knows as Zealots want to fight
against the Romans and drive them out of Israel.
They were successful in AD 66, but the Romans
retook Jerusalem 4 years later.
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During their reconquest of Jerusalem, the Romans
destroyed the temple. Today, only the Western Wall
remains.
After another attempt at rebellion, the Romans
kicked all Jews out of Jerusalem and renamed it
Palestine, after the Philistines that the Jews had
defeated centuries before.
How to maintain your identity in
exile:
1) study your religious documents in school
● Yohanan ben Zaccai was a famous rabbi who
founded Jewish schools in Judaea for studying
the Torah. Other rabbis followed his example in
places as far away as Babylon and Egypt.
2) maintain your unique cultural traits, like your
language, sabbath, food prohibitions, rules about
clothing, and headwear (yarmulkes for men and
shawls for women).
For the next 2000 years...
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Most Jews lived outside of Palestine.
They made very notable contributions to
commerce and many professions, such as
medical science.
They faced centuries of hatred, oppression, and
persecution in many of the places they settled
across Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Under the Nazi Party of Germany, over 6 million
Jews were rounded up, forced to live in ghettos
(ethnic neighborhoods) and work in labor camps
before being murdered by the Nazis.
1948-a new Jewish nation called Israel was
created after the horrors of the Holocaust.