Discovering Our Past: Ancient Civilizations

Chapter 3: The Ancient Israelites

Chapter Overview

The Israelites practiced monotheism, or the belief in one God. Although the Israelite population was small, their religion, today known as Judaism, influenced Christianity and Islam.

The twelve tribes of Israel lived in Canaan for about 100 years. A drought forced them into Egypt. The Egyptian pharaoh later enslaved the Israelites. Moses led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery. According to the Hebrew Bible, Moses received the moral laws known as the Torah from God. Included in the Torah are the Ten Commandments. The Israelites believed they had a covenant with God, promising to return them to Canaan if they followed his laws.

The Israelites had to fight the Canaanites to return to their homeland. The Israelites won control over the hilly region in central Canaan, while the Canaanites controlled the coastal areas. The Israelites built walls around their towns to protect themselves.

The twelve tribes of Israel often quarreled, so they asked a prophet to choose a king to unite them against their enemies. Under Kings David and Solomon, Israel became a great empire with Jerusalem as its capital. David also wrote some of the Psalms of the Hebrew Bible. Solomon wrote the Proverbs and built a large temple to God in Jerusalem that became the center of the Jewish religion. After Solomon died, the twelve tribes split into two kingdoms: Israel and Judah.

Israel was soon conquered by the Assyrians and most of its people were scattered. Judah became the center of the Israelite religion and its people became known as Jews. Judah was later conquered by the Chaldeans and many of its people were exiled to Babylon. Later, the Persians conquered the Chaldeans and allowed the Jews to return home. It was at this time that Jewish religious leaders combined the Torah with other Jewish writings to create the Hebrew Bible. In the 330s B.C., the Greeks conquered Judah and many Jews adopted Greek culture and moved to Greek lands. When the Greeks tried to impose their religion on the Jews in the 160s B.C., the Jews rebelled and drove them out. Then, in 63 B.C., the Romans conquered Judah.

Under Roman rule, the Jews splintered into different groups, including the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. The Jews revolted time and again against the Romans. Many Jews were waiting for a messiah, or deliverer. In A.D. 70, the Romans destroyed the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Then, in A.D. 132, the Romans forbade the Jews to live in or visit Jerusalem. Religious teachers called rabbis kept the study of the Torah alive and helped the Jews survive the loss of the temple in Jerusalem.