Ancient Jewish HistoryTo the Building of the Second Temple

Abraham

• Son of idol worshipper, but thought idol worship was ridiculous

• God told him to leave his home in Canaan and go to a land that He would show him.

• If he did this, God would make him into a great nation

• Abraham believed and became the founder of the Jewish people

Lineage of Abraham

• Abraham had two sons: Ishmael, son of Hagar the maidservant, who started the Arab people and Isaac, son of Sarah Abraham’s wife, who is the ancestor of the Hebrew people

• Isaac had two twin sons: Jacob and Esau

Slavery in Egypt

• Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob• Joseph’s brothers, jealous of him, trapped him in a well

and sold him to Ishmaelite slave traders who then sold Joseph to the Egyptians

• Joseph was favored in God’s eyes and with his help, he became the ruler of Egypt

• After Pharaoh died, the new Pharaoh saw that Joseph’s people had became a great portion of Egypt, and feared that they would take over the country

• He enslaved the Hebrew people in order to save his dynasty

Moses and the Exodus out of Egypt

• Moses was born a Hebrew, but after Pharaoh ordered all Israelite baby boys dead, Moses' mother sent him in a basket down the Nile River

• Moses was found by Pharaoh’s sister and raised in the house of Pharaoh as a prince

• As a young adult, Moses discovered that he was Hebrew and meant to be the deliverer of the Hebrew slaves

• Moses was banned from Egypt and lived in Midian with his wife for many years as a shepherd

• One day, as he was retrieving a stray sheep, God appeared to him as a burning bush and told him to return to Egypt and deliver his people

• Moses returned and told Pharaoh to let his people go• Pharaoh refused, so God sent ten plagues,

the last being the death of the firstborn

• To protect themselves from the angel of death, the Hebrew people painted goat’s blood on their door. This way, the angel of death would pass over their home. This is why Jewish people celebrate Passover

• After Pharaoh’s son died, he allowed Moses to leave with the Hebrew slaves

• Pharaoh, angry at Moses, sent his army in pursuit of the Israelites

• To save the Hebrew people, Moses parted the Red Sea and the Israelites crossed through safely

• After traveling through the desert for three months, Moses went up to Mt. Sinai

• God appeared to Moses and gave him the Ten Commandments, which would govern the Israelites’ lives, on two stone tablets

• The tablets were placed in the Ark of the Covenant to keep them safe

• Moses was going to then take the Israelites to the promised land, but they had sinned while he was on the mountain and had to stay in the desert for forty more years

Joshua

• God showed Moses the promised land, but told him that he himself would not make it there

• Moses entrusted Joshua with the task of leading the Israelites to the promised land in Canaan

12 Tribes of Israel

• The people of Israel split into twelve tribes, each the descendants of one of Jacob’s 12 sons

• Each received a portion of Canaan• The tribes were ruled by a series of judges

The First Temple

• King David was one of the most noteworthy kings of the Israelites

• He made the plans to make a temple for worshipping God and making sacrifices to God

• King David died before the temple could be built so Solomon, his son and heir, built the temple for him in the city of Jerusalem

• Because of this the temple is often referred to as Solomon’s Temple• Solomon placed

the sacred Ark of the Covenant in the newly built temple

Destruction of Solomon’s Temple and Exile from Israel

• The Israelites were exiled to Babylon by the ruler Nebuchadnezzar

• The Babylonians destroyed the Temple in 586 B.C. after conquering Jerusalem

Return to Israel and the Second Temple

• In 538 B.C., Cyrus of Persia overthrew the Babylonians and encouraged the Israelites to return to Israel

• Zerubbabel led 50,000 people in the first return

• Ezra the Scribe led even more people from Babylon and in 535 B.C., the construction of the Second Temple began

• The temple was finished in 516 B.C.

• http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=7F197E5C-93CA-403A-BF69-06495CB5286F&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US

• An Introduction to Human Geography by James M. Rubenstein

• http://www.science.co.il/Israel-history.asp• The Bible• http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/

entry/Babylonian_exile