History Israel and Christianity

Israelites  Loose collection of nomadic groups  Engaged in herding  Later became sedentary  Lived in permanent settlements due to…  farming

Stories of Israelites  Hebrew Bible  Old Testament of Christians  Collection of interpretations of past events  Not written down until tenth (900 BCE) century BCE  Written in Phoenician language  Text today comes from 4 th Century BCE (300 BCE)  Written in language closely related to Phoenician known as….  Hebrew

Christianity  Was founded in the early 1st century AD, with the teaching, miracles, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.  Religious book is the bible.  Today it is the largest religion in the world, with around 2 billion followers. Especially dominant in the western world.  Christianity has a wide variety of forms, beliefs and practices but all center around faith in Jesus Christ.

Beliefs  The beginnings of the Israelites began with the family of ….  Abraham in the Mesopotamian city of Ur  Traveled w/ family to land of Israel

Beliefs  Land was promised to as part of pact with Israelite god known as….  Yahweh  Abraham’s son Isaac and grandson Jacob became leader of Israelites

Exodus of Israelites from Egypt  Enslaved by Egyptians  Led out of captivity by Moses  Wondered in the desert for 40 years  Yahweh made covenant with Israelites  If they worship him, they will be “Chosen people”  This was confirmed in the….  10 Commandments

Settling of Israelites  Successor of Moses--Joshua settled in the land of Canaan in 13 th Century BCE  12 Tribes of Israel  Claimed to be the decedents from the sons of Jacob or Joseph

Monarchy of Israel  Established monarchy due to conflict with the Philistines  Saul became first king of Israel in 1020 BCE  David became second king c BCE  Established Israeli capital of Jerusalem  Solomon ruled from c BCE  Israel became wealthier due to trade  First Temple of Jerusalem built

Split of Israel  Split into two in 920 BCE  Israel in north  Judah in South  Why?  Death of Solomon  Citizens resented demands of monarchy

Conquering of the Israelites  Assyrians destroyed Israel in 721 BCE  Chaldean Babylonians under leadership of …  Nebuchadnezzar captured Judah’s capital in 587 BCE  Enslaved many of Judah’s citizens

Diaspora  Greek word meaning scattering  Due to conquering of Assyrians and Babylonian captivity  Caused many Jews to leave homeland and not return since independent Israel no longer existed

Then what?!  “Israel” was lead by many rulers and countries ending with the Muslims and the British  UNTIL WWII  Anti-Semitism  Jews flee to Palestine  British notice conflicts between Jewish population and Palestinians

Independence  Israel created where it had historically been  May 14, 1948 Declared an independent state  1948 Arab-Israeli war  While the establishment of the state of Israel was seen by Christian Zionists as a sign that God was fulfilling his promises to Abraham and Jacob, the early political leaders of Israel were primarily secular.  Still conflicts in the area: Gaza strip and the West Bank

Troubles!

Review  Origins of the Israelites  Father of the Israelites  Introduced “covenant” with God to Israelites  Established Jerusalem as capital of Israeli people  Built Temple of Jerusalem  Two groups that destroyed Israel and Judah  Diaspora