Chapter 3
Judaism: Discovering Our
Religious Roots
Pages 59 - 85
Overview of Chapter 3
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
A People of Promise
The Beginning of a People - Abraham
From Slavery to Freedom – Moses
The Promised Land – David
Babylonian Exile
After the Exile
Aim: Who are the People of Promise? 3-1
Read 59-62 For REVIEW 2nd and 3rd questions
• Jews chosen by God
 Covenant – a solemn promise between God and his people
• Judaism = the religion of the Jews
Nearly 4 thousands years ago
• Salvations History- the story of God’s action and Revelations among a
people throughout their history
The Beginnings of a People 3-2
pages 63-65 Students completed an outline
Aim: What was the beginning of God’s chosen people?
I. Abraham, Father of Biblical Faith
A. Hebrews = Abraham’s people
B. The Covenant Begins
1. Abraham’s family would be as numerous as the starts
2. Sarah – Abraham's wife
3. Canaan – the promised land where the Hebrews
settled
4. Physical sign – male’s circumcised, sign of
commitment
C. One God
1. Polytheism – belief in many gods
2. Monotheism – belief in only one God
3. Abraham = Father of three Religions: Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam
II. Abraham’s Descendants, the Israelites
A. Ishmael – Abraham son by a slave, Muslin descendants
B. Descendants:
1. Isaac – son of Abraham & Sarah, married
a. Rebekah – wife of Isaac, gave birth to
2. Jacob – God gave him the name Israel “one who
contended with divine & humans beings”
a. Israelites – Jewish people would be known as
b. Had twelves son, favorite was Joseph
C. Patriarchs and Matriarchs
1. Patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph
2. Matriarchs – Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel
D. Joseph in Egypt
1. Special robe – coat of many colors
2. brothers tried to kill him
3. sold as a slave to Egypt
a. pharaohs – Egyptian kings
From Slavery to Freedom 3-3
Read pages 66 – 70. Review question on page 70
Aim: How did the Jew’s go from Slavery to Freedom?
I. Moses, the people’s greatest leader
A. son of a Hebrew slave but raised by pharaoh
B. All male Jewish baby condemned to death, saved by
pharaoh’s daughter
C. Yahweh – “I am who am”
1. Very nature of God- present yet beyond us
2. Refused to pronounce it – Lord
II. The Exodus: Escape from Slavery
A. Exodus – the events of God’s freeing the Israelites from
slavery
B. Returned to Canaan = Promised Land
III. The Passover Feast
A. Exodus is remember every year with a special memorial meal,
the Seder
1. Lamb and Unleavened bread
2. Bringing the liberating power of the Exodus into the mist
of the present
IV. In the Desert
A. manna and quail provided by God
B. Mount Sinai where the encounter between Moses and
Yahweh took place
1. Sinai Covenant the pledge between God and the Israelites
a. The Law describes the Israelites end of the bargain =
their responsibility in the sacred covenant
2. Mosaic Law = the Ten Commandments = cornerstone
a. Elevated human understanding of morality =
right/wrong
b. Promotes freedom because it is an expression of how
to love God and neighbor
c. Not a burden, devotion to God who had freed them
C. Wandering for Forty Years
1. Moses spend 40 days receiving the Law
2. People built idol of a golden calf & festival to honor it
3. To trust more deeply in God who had saved them
The Promised Land
3-4
Read pages 70 -73. FOR REVIEW page 73
Aim: How did the Hebrew’s live in the Promised Land?
I. The Promised Land – the land flowing with milk and honey
A. today = Palestine, Israel, the Holy Land
II. Taking over the Land
A. Joshua led the Israelites into Canaan, Moses had died
B. constant warfare between Israelites & other tribes
C. abandoned Yahweh during hard times
D. Judges were appointed to bring the people back to Yahweh
1. Like ruler or chief
2. recognized by the way they made the spirit of Yahweh
present
3. Samson superhuman feats
E. Twelve Tribes of Israel from the twelve sons of Jacob
III. A Kingdom for the Israelites
A. United Kingdom under David. all twelve tribes
1. David chosen by God and anointed by prophet Samuel
2. thousand year before Jesus
3. set up the capital at Jerusalem
4. “Glory Day” under David
5. God can act through persons of great weakness, flaws
and who sin
6. God’s promise, David’s line would deliver them
7. Solomon, David's son
a. build the Temple in Jerusalem
b. rich, powerful, famous for his wisdom
B. Solomon, not a model king at the end
1. after his death kingdom split into two
a. northern kingdom Israel, capital Samaria
b. southern kingdom Judah, capital Jerusalem
C. Prophets: calling the People back to covenant with Yahweh
1. critics society and injustices, especial treatment of the
poor
2. interpret events from God’s point of view
a. Isaiah
b. Amos
c. Elijah
d. Hosea
e. Micah
f. Jeremiah
g. Ezekiel
3-5 Crushing Defeat and Painful Exile
Homework: Read pages 74 – 77. Answer the FOR REVIEW questions on page 77
Aim: How did the Israelites handle crushing defeat and painful Exile?
I. Israel, the northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians 722 BC
A. They were dispersed, never to return
B. Jewish Dispersion, settlement of the Jews outside the
Promised Land
II. The Babylonian Exile (50 years)
A. southern kingdom Judah fell to the Babylonian Empire
587 BC
B. forced to leave, exiled to a place intolerant of the
Jewish religion
C. city of Jerusalem and Temple destroyed
III. Renewal in the Midst of Exile
A. Led to deeper thought, more serious reflection
B. Yahweh did not abandoned then, they abandoned
Yahweh
C. Began to worship more informally
1. Synagogue, where they prayed, retold ancient
stories, sang psalms
2. Sabbath sacred day of rest, marked them as
different
D. Purified by the experience, became closer to God
E. New covenant Jeremiah 31:33 “ I will put my law within
them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be
there God, and they shall be my people”
IV. People of the Book, writing of Hebrew Scripture
A. Book of Genesis, creation, Adam and Eve, Noah,
Abraham and patriarchs
B. Written down to help understand and preserve their
worldview
C. Creations stories not historical
1. God made all of creation, it is good
2. All creation is a gift from God
3. Completely dependent on God
4. Deserves to be treated with respect
3-6 After the Exile
Homework: Read pages 78- 84. Answer the FOR REVIEW question on page 84
Aim: What was life like for the Israelites after the Exile?
I. Persian Empire concurred the Babylonians after 50 years
A. Remnant, the Jews who had remained faithful,
returned to Judah
B. Persians were kind, help them rebuild the Temple
C. Jews, derived from Judah, used after the Exile
II. The Faithful Practice of Judaism
A. Rebuild the city of Jerusalem
B. Judaism was practiced with integrity
III. Series of Oppressors
A. The Greeks 300 years
1. Cruel, defiled the Temple
2. Hanukkah / Festival of Lights remembrance how
the Jews rededicated the Temple
B. The Romans 63 years before Jesus
1. Tolerated the Jews, still oppressive dictatorship
2. Temple destroyed by Romans after Jesus death,
70 BC
C. Longing for a Messiah
1. Hope in the coming of a savior to rescue them from
oppression
2. Isaiah pointed to someone coming to bring lasting joy
and peace
a. “Suffering servant” save the people by suffering
for them, (Jesus)
3. Messiah the “anointed one” would come from the line
of David
4. Coming of the Messiah as the fulfillment of the
covenant
a. Great military leader
D. Groups among the Jews
1. Sadducees - priestly class, rigidly followed the law,
committed to proper worship and daily sacrifices in the
Temple
2. Pharisees, Law could be expanded to better direct the
lives of people in every detail
a. many burdensome laws
b. Conflict with Jesus
3. Zealots, revolutionary zeal to overthrow the Roman
Empire
4. Social Outcast
a. Women, lower than men
b. Samaritans, not accepted as true Israelites’, they
intermarried with pagans, did not worship
“properly”
c. People with leprosy or diseases
IV. Jesus: Fulfillment of the longing for a Messiah