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Mary Tran
At this point, the population of Israelites in Egypt has grown exponentially, and the Egyptians fear that they would rebel and take over the land. Starting from c. 1428 BCE, the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites, forcing them to build cities like Pitom and Ramses. The Pharaoh also decreed that all male Hebrew infants were to be drowned.
Moses was sent to free the Israelites from the Egyptians. Adopted and raised by Egyptian royalty, he fled Egypt after killing a slave overseer. It was during his exile that God called Moses to free His chosen people. When Moses relayed the message to the Pharaoh, the latter refused to listen. (Egyptians were polytheistic, so they did not believe that the One God sent Moses to do this.) God then delivered ten plagues onto Egypt to convince the stubborn Pharaoh to release the Israelites. When the Egyptians attempted to recapture their former slaves, they drowned in the Red Sea.
When the Israelites reached Mount Sinai, Moses went up the mountain to speak to God. When he came back down with the Ten Commandments, he saw the Hebrews worshiping a golden calf, an idol that he swiftly and angrily destroyed. Moses went back to ask God for forgiveness for the people. God decided to once again guide and protect them and instructed them to build a tabernacle where He could dwell. Then He led the Israelites to their Promised Land, although Moses never got there. The journey took 40 years.
Abraham was born in the city-state of Ur in Mesopotamia. In his days, idolatry and polytheism were dominant. At this moment, Babylonia, led by King Hammurabi who is now famous for the Hammurabi Code, was gaining power in the Fertile Crescent.
God revealed Himself to Abraham and called him to move to Canaan. God promised that Abraham would become father to God’s chosen people, and promised the land Abraham settled in to him and his descendants. This land would be known later as the Promised Land. In return for God blessing, protecting, and guiding them, the Hebrews were to worship and believe in only God Himself. This was the first covenant between God and the Hebrews.
Abraham had a child named Ishmael with his wife’s handmaid, Hagar. Afterward, God granted the elderly Abraham and his wife Sarah a son, whom they named Isaac. God then tested Abraham’s devotion by telling him to sacrifice Isaac, but stopped him before he followed through, content with Abraham’s obedience. Three generations of Abraham’s descendants would live in this area.
The Greeks were on the rise for power. Originally, after Alexander the Great's conquest in 331 BCE, Jewish communities were allowed to thrive, but there was a clash between Jewish beliefs and Greek beliefs, Jewish culture and Greek culture. Antiochus IV Epiphanes, a Greek king, forced Hellenization upon the Jews by banning their practices and replacing Jewish leaders with his people. He would order torture and murder upon those who resisted.
Matthias was an elder of Modi'in, a Jewish town. He and his sons organized a guerrilla army to fight against the persecution that Jews faced in the Greek Empire. They managed to regain Jerusalem. They experienced a miracle in the Second Temple: a single vial of oil kept their menorah lit for eight days. The Jews rededicated the Temple and celebrated their victory over the Greeks in Jerusalem with the holiday of Chanukah. It was not until 142 BCE that the Jews regained sovereignty, however.
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Following Moses’ death, Joshua led the people of Israel into the Promised Land. There were already Canaanite people living there, however.
At first, the Jews asked the Canaanites to leave peacefully, but they refused. A conquest of the land was necessary before they could settle there. Fortunately for the Jews, God was on their side, and led them to victory in conquering cities in the area (e.g. the Battle of Jericho). The Promised Land was the Jews’ once again.
After Joshua's death came the Time of Judges (Judges were prophets and warriors), but the people wanted a monarchy. So God gave them kings.
The reign of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, started in a time when there was some tension between the north and south of Israel. Because the king did not listen to their complaints, the tribes of the north seceded from the nation. The northern part was then referred to as Israel, and the southern Judah.
Israel was ruled by King Jeroboam, who started off as a great scholar but ended up corrupted by power. Fearing that the people still had strong connections to Jerusalem and Judah, Jeroboam built new temples in the north, complete with golden calves for worship, which went against God’s will. Thus began a series of bad kings in Israel.
A noteworthy prophet of this time was Elijah, who lived in the 9th century BCE. He did not turn to idolatry even as the masses succumbed, and he was still devoted to God. Elijah performed miracles to convince the people to believe in God again, but could not achieve this goal.
As the kingdom of Israel weakened, rising forces nearby waited for a chance to strike.
In 63 BCE, the Romans overrun the Greek Empire. Israel became Judea, a Roman province. Romans oppressed the Jews through taxation and looting.
In 66 CE, the Jews revolted and took over the Temple Mount. In retaliation, the Romans sent four legions and started a siege of Jerusalem. Even though Jerusalem was well supplied with food and water, a civil war among the sects broke out. The Zealots damaged food storehouses to prompt the others to fight the Romans.
Seeing that Jerusalem was about to fall, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai of the Pharisees went to the Roman general Vespasian, delivered a prophecy that came true soon after, and asked the general to save the Torah sages. Thanks to his actions, the Oral Law of Judaism was preserved.
In 70 CE, the Romans broke into Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple.
Works Cited
"Heritage Civilization and the Jews Historical Timeline." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.
Jewish Virtual Library. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.
Spiro, Ken. "History Crash Course #68: Timeline: From Abraham to the State of Israel." Aish.com. Aish.com, 16 Mar. 2002. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.
At the beginning of this period, the Assyrians had become a feared power in Mesopotamia. In 722 BCE, three Assyrian kings took over Israel (the north), and exiled the ten tribes that lived there. These tribes assimilated and became known as the ten lost tribes.
On the other hand, Judah had some righteous leaders, such as Hezekiah. He, with the help of God and the prophet Isaiah, fortified Jerusalem and resisted the Assyrian attacks. God sent a plague onto the Assyrians and protected Jerusalem. Unfortunately, the following kings were not as great. Meanwhile, the Babylonians conquered the Assyrian empire.
Around 600 BCE, the Babylonians invaded Judah. Then the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar ordered a siege around Jerusalem. They took over Jerusalem and destroyed Solomon’s Temple in 586 BCE. The Jews were exiled from the Promised Land.
The people of Israel wanted a king to govern them like the other nations in the area. Samuel, the final Judge, anointed King Saul. Saul leads the Israelites against several invasions. However, he was too lenient towards the Amalek, whom God told him to wipe out. This disobedience led to the end of Saul’s reign.
Samuel anointed another king, King David, who led the Israelites to defeat the Philistines and conquer Jerusalem. The Ark of the Covenant is brought to this city’s Mount Moriah, where the First Temple would be built. David rules for 40 years until his son Solomon succeeds him.
Solomon was king for 40 years, and Israel was peaceful and prosperous. God gave Solomon wisdom to rule over His people. Solomon builds the First Temple on Mount Moriah to house the Ark of the Covenant. Unfortunately, the reign of peace and prosperity came to an end with the next king.
Persia conquered Babylon, and the Jews were allowed to return to their Promised Land. The Samaritans were already settled there, however, and they disliked the Jews, so they appealed to the Persian emperor to halt the construction of the Second Temple for 18 years. Then the Jews got Emperor Darius II’s permission to finish their temple, which was built on Temple Mount. The Ark of the Covenant was not found, however, and the Second Temple was only a shadow of Solomon’s Temple.
Ezra, a scribe and scholar, took the role of leadership in rebuilding the Temple and the Jewish community. He reinstated the law of the Torah, as it was straying from these laws that led to tragedies for the Jews. Ezra gathered a group of wise men, the Men of the Great Assembly, to return the spirituality to Jewish life.
At this moment in time, the Egyptian civilization, led by the Pharaoh, who was believed to be a living god with absolute power, was flourishing.
Joseph, great-grandchild of Abraham, led the Hebrews into Egypt when a great famine occurred. He was sold to Egypt as a slave by his jealous brothers. He had a special talent for interpreting dreams, which helped him gain the favor of the Pharaoh. Joseph explained that two of Pharaoh’s dreams predicted seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine. The impressed Pharaoh made Joseph Viceroy and let him oversee the stockpiling of food during the plentiful years.
When the famine hit Mesopotamia and Egypt, the latter was well-prepared. Jacob’s family was not so lucky, however. They asked for help in Egypt, and Joseph tested them before revealing himself. Then his family, consisting of 70 members, moved into Egypt, where the Pharaoh greeted them hospitably. They continued to live in Egypt for the next 200 years.