1. Honors World Studies The Hebrews Mrs. Steinke

2. Hebrews  At the time the Amorites were founding the village of Babylonia (c. 2000 B.C.), another Semitic group migrated westward from Mesopotamia to Canaan, or Palestine.

3. Hebrews  This group, the Hebrews, recorded their history in a sacred text we now call the Bible.

4. Hebrews  Unlike the Mesopotamians or the Egyptians, the Hebrews believed in one god, and a key theme of the Bible was the covenant, or solemn agreement between God and the Hebrew people.

5. Hebrews  This covenant provided that God would protect the Hebrews from their enemies as long as the Hebrews obeyed him.

6. Hebrews  Around 1800 B.C., famine forced some of the Hebrews to migrate from Canaan to Egypt. There they were enslaved by the pharaohs.

7. Hebrews  The Bible tells, however, that God inspired a leader called Moses to lead the Hebrews out of their captivity and back to Canaan.

8. Hebrews  Through Moses, God gave the Hebrews a set of laws called The Ten Commandments.

9. Hebrews  In return for their obedience to these laws and their worship of him, God granted the land of Canaan to the Hebrews as his “chosen people.”

10. Hebrews  For several hundred years, the Hebrews battled the Philistines and other peoples for control of this promised land.

11. Hebrews  They finally conquered the region on 1025 B.C., under the leadership of a general named David. He became the ruler of the new Hebrew kingdom of Israel, and Solomon, his son, made Jerusalem into an impressive national capital.

12. Hebrews  After his death in 930 B.C., however, quarrels lead to the division of the country into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

13. Hebrews  This division made the two kingdoms more vulnerable, and in 722 B.C. Israel fell to the Assyrians. Not long after, 586 B.C., Judah was conquered by the Babylonians.

14. Hebrews  The Babylonians destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and carried away many Hebrews to Babylon.

15. Hebrews  At the end of the sixth century B.C., however, another turn of events led to the conquest of the Babylonians by the Persians. Cyrus, the Persian king, allowed the Hebrews to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple.

16. Hebrews  While ancient Israel never again achieved the power and independence it had enjoyed under David, the Hebrew contribution to Western culture has been of tremendous value.

17. Hebrews  Hebrew monotheism, or belief in a single God, served as a basis for two other world religions, Christianity and Islam.

18. Hebrews  In addition, Hebrew law demonstrated a greater respect for human life than had previously existed in the ancient Near East.

19. Hebrews  Also new was the Hebrew’s deep concern with moral behavior.

20. Hebrews  Uniquely among ancient Near Eastern peoples, the Hebrews saw themselves as actors in a historical drama: As God’s chosen people, they would eventually bring his word and his law to the nations of the world.