The Hebrews THE PEOPLE THE COVENANT THE KINGDOM

The Hebrews THE PEOPLE, THE COVENANT, THE KINGDOM AND THE LEGACY

People of the Covenant � Semitic group migrated westward to Canaan (now Palestine) from Mesopotamia in 2000 BC � Recorded their history in a sacred text we now call the Bible � Believed in ONE God � The Covenant was a solemn agreement between God and the Hebrew people � 1800 BC Famine forced some of the Hebrews to migrate to Egypt � Pharaohs enslaved them � 1300 BC God inspired Moses to lead the Hebrews out of captivity and back to Canaan � God gave the Hebrews a set of laws called the 10 Commandments � In return for their obedience to the laws, God granted the land of Canaan to the Hebrews as his “chosen people”

The Kingdom of Israel � The Hebrew battled the Palestinians for control of the promised land for hundreds of years � 1025 BC David conquered the region and became its leader � Solomon, David's son, made Jerusalem a national capital and built a temple that was a whole region � Solomon dies in 930 BC � Quarrels led to the division of the nation into Jerusalem in the north and Judah in the south � The division made both areas vulnerable � 722 BC Israel fell to the Assyrians � In 586 BC Judah was conquered, Jerusalem's temple was destroyed and many Hebrews were taken to Babylon � The Persians defeated the Babylonians � Persia's king, Cyrus allowed the Hebrews back to their homeland to rebuild the temple

The Hebrew Legacy �Hebrew monotheism became the basis for Christianity and Islam �Hebrew Law had a greater respect for human life �Hebrews held a deep concern for morality �Their mission to bring God's law to the world influenced the modern idea that history moved forward like an arrow rather than circling and recircling in endless cycles