B. Judaism 1. History. God called Abram to the land of Canaan, and established a covenant with him, promising that in Abram and his descendants, all peoples of the earth would be blessed See Genesis 12:1-3 ). Then God renamed Abram as Abraham, the father of many nations (Genesis 17:4 ). Jews regard Abraham as their father. To escape famine, Abraham’s grandson, Jacob (later called Israel), led the Hebrews to Egypt. Eventually the Egyptians enslaved the Hebrews, but God used Moses to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. After living in the desert for forty years, the Hebrews—led by Joshua—entered Canaan again. Judges led the Hebrews until Saul was anointed king of Israel in 1050 B.C. 13 Following successive reigns by Saul, David, and Solomon, the Kingdom was divided into Israel (in the north) and Judah (in the south. In 721 BC, Israel fell to the Assyrians, and the Hebrews of the northern Kingdom of Israel intermarried with other people. In 606 BC, the Babylonians conquered Judah, and began taking the Israelites captive to Babylon The Hebrews began returning to Jerusalem in 536 BC During the conquests of Alexander the Great of Greece (336-323 BC, Israel was taken, and Aramaic and Greek became the primary languages in Palestine Judas Maccabaeus led a revolt in 167 BC. that won independence for the Jews. In 63 BC, the Roman General Pompey took control of Israel In AD. 70, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. Since that time, the Israelites have wanted to rebuild the Temple. But today the Dome of the Rock, a Muslim Sanctuary, occupies the site where the Jewish Temple once stood. After being dispersed and persecuted for centuries, many Jews returned to their homeland beginning with the rebirth of their nation in 1948.
Share with your friends: |