Chapter 3- Ancient Israelites

-The First Israelites

-The Kingdom of Israel

-The Growth of Judaism

Israelite Religion

The Israelites practiced monotheism which means belief in one God.

Their faith became modern day Judaism. Judaism later led to the development of both

Christianity and Islam. Jews, Muslims, and Christians all believe

they descended from Abraham and worship the same god that Abraham did.

Judaism helped shaped the beliefs of European and American societies.

The Early Israelites

Spoke Hebrew Wrote their history and beliefs in what later

became known as the Hebrew Bible.

The Hebrew alphabet is written from right to left, rather than left to right as in English, so Alef is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and Tav is the last. The Hebrew alphabet is often called the "alef-bet," because of its first two letters.

The Early Israelites

Mount Sinai

Israelite Origins

Israelites established themselves in Canaan around 1000 B.C.

Canaan is modern day Lebanon, Israel and Jordan.

The Early Israelites

Believed they were descended from Abraham

Believed that God told Abraham to settle in Canaan and worship one true God.

Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, raised 12 sons in Canaan. Their families became known as the 12 tribes of Israel.

12 Tribes of Israel

About the 12 tribes

Life In Canaan A long drought caused

the Israelites to leave Canaan after 100 years of settlement.

To survive the drought they moved into Egypt where they were enslaved.

Enslavement in Egypt

To keep the Israelites from rebelling the Pharaoh ordered all infant boys to be thrown into the Nile River.

One Israelite resisted and hid her child in a basket near the river. This basket was found by the Pharaoh’s daughter. She named the baby Moses.

Moses

Moses grew up to be a sheep herder in Egypt.

While tending a flock he saw a burning bush and heard a voice which he believed to be God.

The voice told him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

Plagues

The Bible says that God sent Ten plagues to Egypt.

The last one killed first born children except those of the Israelites who marked their doors with lamb’s blood. (Passover celebrates this.)

The Pharaoh agreed to free the Israelites

Passover Story- The Ten Plagues (6 minutes)

Exodus

After the Israelites began to leave, the Pharaoh changed his mind sending soldiers after the Israelites.

The Bible then says that God parted the Red Sea allowing the Israelites to cross.

The water flowed back when Egyptian soldiers tried to cross, drowning them and saving the Israelites.

Location of crossing

Back to Canaan

On the way back to Canaan Moses went to the peak of Mount Sinai and received laws from God. These are referred to as the Torah.

The Ten Commandments were included in the Torah

The travel to Canaan took about 40 years.

Moses died along the way and Joshua took over.

Ten Commandments

Exodus 20 Moses Ten Commandments

Ten Commandments are what God believes to be right and wrong.

They helped form the basic moral laws of many nations.

Did You Know??

The peak of Mount Sinai, where-according to the Bible- Moses received the Ten Commandments, can be reached by climbing 3,750 stone steps. The steps were created by the monks of St. Catherine’s Monastery.

Fighting Judges

After Joshua died, Israelites looked to judges as leaders. Judges were usually military leaders who led one or two tribes.

Deborah was one of the famous judges who became leader.

Eventually, the Israelites won the hilly region of Canaan, and the Canaanites kept the coastal areas.

Phoenicians

Group of Canaanites who developed an alphabet- group of letters that stands for sounds.

The Phoenicians passed on their alphabet to the Greeks and Romans. This alphabet is the basis for most Western alphabets today.

Phoenician Alphabet

Greek alphabet

Roman alphabet

CHAPTER3, SECTION 2The Kingdom of Israel

Did You Know?– Jerusalem has had different names throughout

history. Before King David conquered Jerusalem, the city was called Jebus. King David renamed the city the City of David. Accounts of the Assyrians’ conquering of the city referred to Jerusalem as the city of Judah.

The Israelites choose a King

The Philistines were the strongest of the people of Canaan around 1000 B.C.

Israelites feared them so they copied their ways and worshipped their gods.

To save their religion, the 12 tribes asked Samuel, a prophet, to choose a king. A prophet is a person who claims to be instructed by God. Samuel warned the Israelites against a king and did not choose one.

Israelites chose a king themselves (Saul). Samuel anointed him with oil. King Saul displeased God, so God chose another king, David.

anointing of oil

Review

Why did the Israelites want a king?– To unite them against their enemies

The Life of David

Read Page 88 in textbook- Biography of David

David and Solomon

Saul put David in charge of his armies after he defeated Goliath.

Israelite women sang his praises, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands”.

Saul became jealous of David and plotted to kill him. Saul and his three sons were killed in battle. Thus

David returned and became King in about 1000 B.C.

David

Drove the Philistines out of the area and conquered other neighbors to create an empire.

David made the Israelites pay a heavy tax so that David could expand his new capital of Jerusalem.

He wanted a fine temple there so that sacred religious objects cherished by Israelites would have a permanent home.

David died before he built the temple, however Israelites remember him as their greatest king.

Solomon

Built the temple that his father had planned to build Solomon's Temple Solomon was known for his Proverbs-wise sayings. When Solomon died the 12 tribes began fighting. Ten

tribes moved north and called their Kingdom Israel. The other two tribes moved south and called their kingdom Judah.

The capital of Judah was Jerusalem, and the people were called Jews.

A troubled time

After creating the two kingdoms, many Israelites forgot their religion. The prophets told the Israelites to return to God’s laws to create a just society.

The Assyrians conquered Israel and dispersed the 10 tribes throughout their empire. These tribes are referred to as the “Lost tribes of Israel”.

The Assyrians settled around Samaria and were called Samaritans.

A troubled time

The Samaritans thought God would be angry at them for taking the Israelites land.

To appease God, they offered sacrifices and began following Israelites’ religion.

People of Judah looked down on the Samaritans because they felt God only accepted sacrifices from the temple at Jerusalem. They thought they were only God’s people.

A Troubled Time

The Egyptians conquered the kingdom of Judah in 620 B.C.

The Chaldeans conquered Egypt in 605 B.C. The Jews joined forces with the Egyptians to

conquer the Chaldeans.

A Troubled Time

King Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans captured Jerusalem and punished the Jews. He sent 10,000 Jews to Babylon and appointed a new Jewish king.

In 586 B.C., the Jews revolted against the Chaldeans, and the Chaldean ruler crushed Jerusalem. The Chaldeans took the king and thousands of Jews to Babylon- known as the Babylonian Captivity.

Exile and Return

Jews called their time in captivity an exile-forced to live in foreign land.

While in Babylon, small groups of Jews met on the Sabbath- weekly day of worship and rest.

These meetings took place in synagogues- small houses of worship.

Menorah: The seven-branched lamp stand in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, one of the most common symbols of Judaism.

More about the meaning of the Menorah

Jewish Synagogue

Star of David

The Star of David is not mentioned in rabbinic literature until the middle ages. It was during the latter part of this era that Kabbalists began to associate the symbol with deeper spiritual meaning. The structure of the star, with two overlapping triangles, has also been thought to represent the relationship between God and the Jewish people. The star that points up symbolizes God and the star that points down represents the Jewish people on earth. Yet others have noticed that there are 12 sides on the triangle, perhaps representing the Twelve Tribes. Among the many meanings ascribed to the Star of David is that a six-pointed star receives form and substance from its solid center. This inner core represents the spiritual dimension, surrounded by the six universal directions. Similarly it would be the Sabbath, the seventh day that supplies balance and perspective to the six weekdays.

The Jews Return to Judah

Read pg. 94- Why did Jews Return to Judah?

Jewish Rabbi and the Torah scrolls

The Hebrew Bible

Along with the Torah, it includes 34 other books. (The Old Testament)

Ruth and Naomi Ruth is rightly remembered for her pledge of total

devotion and loyalty to Naomi (Ruth 1:16-17). Ruth clung to Naomi even at the cost of renouncing her people and her gods in favor of Naomi’s people, the Israelites, and Naomi’s God, Yahweh: “Your people will be my people and your God my God” (verse 16). The totality of this commitment is emphasized by its terseness (merely four words in the Hebrew: ‘amekh ‘ami we’lohaikh ‘elohai, which literally means “your people my people; your God my God”). Yet Ruth extended her commitment still further, beyond death itself: “Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried” (verse 17).

The book of Ruth, which is the festival scroll read at Pentecost, foreshadows what the Day of Pentecost began to make possible — gentiles becoming part of spiritual Israel, the church.

Jewish Way of Life

Sons were important because they carried on the family name.

Education was important. Jewish children’s first teachers were their mothers. When sons grew up their fathers taught them to earn a living and worship God. Later in life elders took over the role of teaching young men from the Torah.

Jewish Way of Life

Read Linking Past and Present

The Jewish Diet Under Jewish law, Jews could only eat certain animals

– you may eat any animal that has cloven hooves and chews its cud. Lev. 11:3; Deut. 14:6

– The Torah specifies that the camel, the rock badger, the hare and the pig are not kosher because each lacks one of these two qualifications. Cattle, sheep, goats, deer and bison are kosher

– you may eat anything that has fins and scales. Lev. 11:9; Deut. 14:9. Thus, shellfish such as lobsters, oysters, shrimp, clams and crabs are all forbidden. Fish like tuna, carp, salmon and herring are all permitted.

– The Torah prohibits consumption of blood. Lev. 7:26-27; Lev. 17:10-14. This is the only dietary law that has a reason specified in Torah: we do not eat blood because the life of the animal (literally, the soul of the animal) is contained in the blood. This applies only to the blood of birds and mammals, not to fish blood. Thus, it is necessary to remove all blood from the flesh of kosher animals.

General Rules

Although the details of Kosher are extensive, the laws all derive from a few fairly simple, straightforward rules:

Certain animals may not be eaten at all. This restriction includes the flesh, organs, eggs and milk of the forbidden animals.

Of the animals that may be eaten, the birds and mammals must be killed in accordance with Jewish law.

All blood must be drained from meat and poultry or broiled out of it before it is eaten.

Certain parts of permitted animals may not be eaten. Fruits and vegetables are permitted, but must be inspected for bugs (which

cannot be eaten) Meat (the flesh of birds and mammals) cannot be eaten with dairy. Fish, eggs,

fruits, vegetables and grains can be eaten with either meat or dairy. (According to some views, fish may not be eaten with meat).

Utensils (including pots and pans and other cooking surfaces) that have come into contact with meat may not be used with dairy, and vice versa. Utensils that have come into contact with non-kosher food may not be used with kosher food. This applies only where the contact occurred while the food was hot.

Grape products made by non-Jews may not be eaten. There are a few other rules that are not universal.

Jewish diet

The bagel is one of the most recognizable Jewish foods in the United States.

Jewish clothing

Jewish law forbade mixing some fabrics. Women either used flax or wool but never mixed the two.

Jewish men wore tunics made of linen They wore turbans or caps on their heads and

sandals on their feet. Women draped themselves in long, simple dresses.

They covered their heads with shawls and wore make up and jewelry.

Dead Sea Scrolls

Read History Matters- pg 100

During the role of King Herod the Jews were broken up into three groups:

Pharisees

Sadducees

Essenes-(historians believe they wrote the dead sea scrolls)

The scrolls helped historians understand more about Judaism during Roman times.

Western Wall

Jewish Temple after Romans destroy it in A.D. 70

Jewish revolts

During A.D. 60’s, Jewish hatred of Roman rule was at its peak. Jews were waiting for a messiah, or deliverer sent by God.

Other Jews known as zealots wanted to fight the Romans for their freedom.

Zealots were successful in driving the Romans out in A.D. 66. However 4 years later the Romans retook Jerusalem and killed thousands of Jews. Romans also destroyed the temple for the second time.

Rabbi

Despite losing their land, the Jews held onto their religion. Instead of using priest, leaders were called Rabbis- teachers of the Torah.

Israel today

For 2000 years most Jews lived outside of Palestine.

They often faced hatred and persecution. In A.D. 1948 Palestine was divided, and a new Jewish nation called Israel was created.

Johanan ben Zakkai

A Rabbi that had a decisive influence on the continuance and development of traditional Judaism after the destruction of the Temple (ad 70).