1. Ancient Israel Essential Questions:
What were the beliers and religious practices of the ancient Israelites?
How did the Israelites interact with other societies and what happened as a result?
(Answer in 3-5 Sentences)
Ancient Israel

2. 1450-1300 B.C. Slavery in Egypt, according to Old Testament
Questions
Notes
Title: Key Dates
Question:
B.C. Slavery in Egypt, according to Old Testament
B.C. United Kingdom
B.C. Political Split of Israelite Kingdom into Israel and Judah
721 B.C. Israel Falls to the Assyrians
587 B.C. Judah Falls to the Babylonian Empire

3. Title: Israelites Question:
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Notes
Title: Israelites
Question:
The Israelites are a people from the middle east that have impacted the world through religion.
Through the Old Testament or Torah, the history to the Israelite people is something read by many around the world.
Because the Old Testament or Torah was not written to be a straight forward history but a story of faith it becomes difficult to get the full story of the Israelite people.
According to biblical accounts, the Israelites were from the Mesopotamia area, then moved to the Palestine as a result to the Kassite invasion.
They moved according to the bible, to Egypt as a result of famine in Palestine.

4. Title: Egypt Question:
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Notes
Title: Egypt
Question:
Egyptian practices during the New Kingdom Era was to enslave or push new immigrants into forced labor.
This practice came up as a result of the Hyksos Invasion of Egypt.
The Israelites were forced to work on public projects like the creation of Pyramids. (Egyptians also had to do public works projects)
In 1300 B.C. Moses, an Israelite according to the bible who trained as an Egyptian scribe, led the enslaved Israelites out of Egypt back to the promise land of Canaan.
The Promise land was Modern Israel, Jordan and Lebanon.

5. Day 2

6. The Israelites called their god Yahweh.
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Notes
Title: Religion
Question:
The Israelite faith was called Judaism, and was unique in Western culture as it was a state sponsored Monotheistic Religion that succeeded.
Monotheism- Worship of a single God.
The Israelites called their god Yahweh.
According to Exodus, Moses received a set of Laws known as the Ten Commandments directly from God or Yahweh.
This set of laws became the bases of Judeo- Christian ethics.

7. He built Solomon’s temple as a worship center for the Israelites.
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Notes
Title: Culture
Question:
The Israelites wrote and spoke Hebrew, and written Hebrew was based off of the Phoenician Alphabet.
King Solomon used his vast wealth from trade routes to create Jerusalem as a massive city.
He built Solomon’s temple as a worship center for the Israelites.
Women, in Israel were treated slightly better than Mesopotamian women, they were able to own land, and take people to court.
Israelites also as a culture, can not eat pork.

8. Title: Politics Question:
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Notes
Title: Politics
Question:
Israelites originally were loosely organized into tribes, and leaders of each tribe would vote on issues that were common to all the tribes.
As a result of war, Israel went to a Monarchy to have a king lead a unified army.
Education was a key part of Israelite life, as all Israelites were required to learn how to read and write.
When Israel split into 2 countries, Israel’s capital city was Samaria and Judah’s was Jerusalem.

9. The most famous of cities was the Siege of Jericho.
Questions
Notes
Title: Canaanites
Question:
In the tradition of the Torah, the Hebrews defeated the Canaanite cities around B.C.
The most famous of cities was the Siege of Jericho.
Fighting with the Canaanites continued for 200 years, in that time the Israelites adopted the Canaanite language, alphabet and culture.
Historically, it is believed that the struggle between the Canaanites and Israelites was more peaceful and change in rule might have resulted from a social revolution

10. Day 3

11. Title: United Israelite Kingdom Question:
Questions
Notes
Title: United Israelite Kingdom
Question:
As a result of the invasion of the Philistines the Israelite people decided to unify into a single Kingdom.
After loosing a battle against the Philistines at Aphek, Saul was anointed the first King of Israel around 1020 B.C..
Saul fought against the Philistines and was able to have minor successes against them with a unified country.
His successor David ( B.C.), was able to defeat the Philistines and increase the size of Israel.
By Solomon’s rule, ( B.C.) Israel invaded and controlled Syria-Palestine, as well as forcing tribute from Phoenicia.

12. Title: Israel and Judah Question:
Questions
Notes
Title: Israel and Judah
Question:
During the Reign of Solomon, Syria and other provinces broke away and became independent states.
They split as a result of the heavy taxation under Solomon.
By the death of Solomon the United Kingdom of Israel separated into two countries.
The two countries became known as Israel and Judah.
This ended Jerusalem’s period of Empire.

13. Title: Collapse Question:
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Notes
Title: Collapse
Question:
Israel was defeated and conquered by the Assyrian Empire. The King, cavalry and nobility scattered across the Middle-East.
They eventually faded from history and became known as the ten lost tribes of Israel.
Judah survived the attacks from the Assyrian Empire only to be conquered by the Babylonians who overthrew the Assyrians.
Solomon’s temple was destroyed, political and intellectual leaders were forced to live as captives in Babylon.
Much later on, the Israelites would be banished from their ancestral homelands by the Romans in the Jewish Roman Wars and would live outside of the Middle-East until the end of WWII.