The Rise of Judaism

Mr. Hawthorne

World Civilizations

Introduction

• Israelites = Hebrews = Jews

• Judaism stood apart from other religions because of monotheism (belief in one all-powerful god).

• Judaism shares many beliefs with two later religions: Christianity and Islam.

Introduction, cont.

• Abraham is regarded as the first Jew.

• He and his followers left Mesopotamia and settled in Canaan (now Lebanon, Israel and Jordan) at the commandment of God, in 1900 BC.

• Abraham’s grandson, Jacob (Israel), had 12 sons who each led his own tribe.

Abraham’s Journey to Canaan

Slavery and Exodus

• Famine caused the Israelites to migrate to Egypt, where Jacob’s son, Joseph, lived.– They were eventually

enslaved.

• Many of the monuments of Egypt’s New Kingdom were built by Israelite slaves.

Slavery and Exodus, cont.

• Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt in the 13th century BC, possibly when Ramses II ruled.– Ten Plagues

– Crossing of the Red Sea

• Shortly afterward, Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.

The Kingdom of Israel

• The Israelites fought for 200 years before successfully reclaiming Canaan.

• Saul became the first king of Israel, uniting the 12 tribes for the first time.

The Kingdom of Israel

The Kingdom of Israel, cont.

• Saul’s successor, David, ruled Israel from 1012 BC to 962 BC, and established Jerusalem as the capital.

The Kingdom of Israel, cont.

• David’s son, Solomon, built the magnificent temple in Jerusalem, at the cost of high taxes and intensive labor.

• After Solomon’s death (922 BC), the two southern tribes split from Israel to create the kingdom of Judah.

The Divided Kingdoms

Exile

• Israel was conquered in 722 BC by the Assyrians, who scattered the Israelites throughout their empire.

• Judah was conquered in 597 BC by the Chaldeans, under King Nebuchadnezzar.– In 586, after a rebellion, they destroyed the

Temple in Jerusalem and captured many Jews to be slaves in Babylon.

Exile, cont.

• Jews continued to maintain their religion while in exile.

• The Chaldeans were conquered in 539 BC by the Persians, under Cyrus the Great.– He allowed the Jews to

return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple.

After Exile

• Judah/Israel would eventually be ruled by:– the Greeks (Alexander the Great)– the Romans– the Islamic Empire (when it became known as

Palestine)– the Ottoman Empire

• Israel would not be an independent state until 1948.

Important Aspects of Judaism

• The Torah: the Jewish Bible, known by Christians as the Old Testament.– The first five books are

known as the Books of Moses.

• The Torah records the history of the Jews and is a collection of various Jewish holy writings.

Important Aspects of Judaism, cont.

• Every human being is made in the image of God and has infinite worth.

• People work in partnership with God to strive to achieve a better world.

10 Commandments

ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'

TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. '

THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'

FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'

FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'

SIX: 'You shall not murder.'

SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'

EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'

NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. '

TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'

Discussion Questions

1. What is monotheism?

2. How is Judaism similar & different from Egyptian & Mesopotamian religion?

3. Why might an Egyptian & a Jew disagree?

4. How are the Ten Commandments similar to and different from Hammurabi’s Code?

5. What plausible reasons might explain why Jews have been persecuted throughout their history?