1. The Phoenicians lived in a region at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea that was is now known as Palestine.
It became the home of the Hebrews and they referred it to it as Canaan.

2. Ancient Palestine’s location made it a cultural crossroads of the ancient world.
To the east, there was Assyria and Babylonia
To the west, there was Egypt.
The Hebrews settled Canaan, it was between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea

3. Let’s find out how the Hebrews migrated to
Canaan!

4. Most of what we know about the Hebrews, we know from the first five books in the Hebrew Bible
The Torah
The Old Testament
In the Torah, God chose Abraham to
be the father of the Hebrew people.

5. Origins of Hebrews in Canaan:
God’s words to Abraham expressed a promise of land.
Abraham was a shepherd living in the city of Ur.
The book of Genesis tells its readers that God commanded Abraham to move his people to Canaan.

6. Around 1800 B.C., Abraham, his family, and his herds made their way to Canaan.
Abraham and his family moved from Mesopotamia to Canaan to Egypt and back to Canaan
All the while, their God Yahweh watched over them.

7. Unlike other religions at that time, the Hebrews worshipped one God.
Monotheism
The Hebrews proclaimed the Yahweh was the one and only God.
In their eyes, Yahweh had power over all people.
To the Hebrews, God was not a physical being.

8. According to the Bible, Yahweh looked after the Hebrews because they obeyed and listened to the orders he gave Abraham.
No sacrifices
No gifts
No ritual ceremonies
*The covenant: Mutual promise between God and Abraham

9. The Hebrews migrated to Egypt because a drought in Canaan threatened a massive famine.
At first, the Hebrews were given places of honor in the Egyptian Kingdom.
Later, however, they were forced into slavery.

10. The Hebrews fled Egypt between 1300-1200 B.C.
The event is known as the Exodus
It’s celebrated every year during the festival of Passover
The Torah says the man who led the escape was a man named Moses.

11. Moses was the adopted son of an Egyptian princess, but he did not forget his Hebrew roots.
When God commanded Moses to move the Hebrews out of Egypt, he followed his command.
A new covenant was born.

12. Moses climbed the mountain to talk to God.
During their escape from Egypt, Moses and the Hebrews stopped on Sinai mountain.
Moses climbed the mountain to talk to God.
When he came down, he had two stone tablets
The Ten Commandments

13. The Ten Commandments became the basis for the civil and religious laws of Judaism
The Hebrew people believed that these new laws created a new covenant between God and the Hebrew people.
God promised to protect the Hebrew people
The Hebrews promised to follow the ten Commandments.

14. The Torah reads that the Hebrews wandered the Sinai Desert for forty years
After the death of Moses, the Hebrew people returned to Canaan  where Abraham lived.
The Hebrews evolved from a nomadic society to a settled civilization.

15. The Hebrews in Canaan were twelve sparsely separated tribes.
Occasionally the tribes would band together and fight against the Philistines
Another civilization in Canaan
Eventually there was one large tribe left  Came to be known as The Jews
Their religion was transformed into Judaism

16. 1020 to 922 B.C., the Hebrews united under three kings.
Saul
David
Solomon
*The new Kingdom was called Israel.
Solomon
David
Saul

17. Saul was the first of the three Kings
Became popular after he drove the Philistines from the central hills of Palestine
………………………………………………………………………
David was the son-in-law of Saul
Extremely popular because he united the Jewish tribes
Established Jerusalem as the capital city

18. About 962 B.C., David was succeeded by Solomon.
Solomon was the mightiest of the Hebrew Kings
Established a trading empire with the Phoenicians
Built a great temple in Jerusalem which housed the Ten Commandment tablets
The Temple was not large but inner walls were gold with bronze pillars were outside  Displayed wealth

19. Solomon’s building project called for high taxes and forced labor.
The distress ultimately caused a split amongst the Jews.
By 922 B.C., there were two Jewish empires.
The North: Israel
The South: Judah

20. The next two hundred years, the two kingdoms of Israel were kind of confusing.
Sometimes they fought each other.
Sometimes they joined forces to fight others.
In 738 B.C., both Kingdoms began paying tributes to more power Assyrians
Tributes are peace payments.

21. Judah resisted for another 150 years but eventually fell.
725 B.C., the Assyrians began relentless sieges of the two Jewish Kingdoms.
By 722 B.C., Israel had fallen.
Judah resisted for another 150 years but eventually fell.
The destruction of Judah came by the hands of the Babylonians
Attack led by King Nebuchadnezzar
Solomon’s temple was destroyed.

22. After the success of the Babylonian attacks, many of the Jews were exiled to Babylon.
During their exile, the bible describes that the prophet Ezekiel urged his people to keep their religion alive in the foreign land.
Ezekiel

23. In 539 B.C., the Persian King Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon.
Cyrus allowed 40,000 exiles to return to Jerusalem and they rebuilt the temple.
In 445 B.C., the Walls of Jerusalem were built.

24. Soon, however, other empires dominated the region.
First the Persians, then the Greeks, and then the Romans
These empires would all take control of Palestine.