Jewish History Project - Religion 25

God Calls Abraham

2000 BCE

God calls Abram, changes his name to Abraham, and promises him to be the "father of many nations". He then gives Abraham a son, Isaac, but tells him to sacrifice him. Just as Abraham is about to, however, God stops him. Abraham marks the beginning of the Jewish faith. Genesis 12-25

Joseph is Sold into Slavery and Interprets The Pharaoh's Dream

1900 BCE

Joseph, Isaac's grandson, is envied by his brothers and is sold into slavery. Eventually, the Pharaoh has a dream which he hears Joseph can interpret. Joseph explains that there will be 7 years of plenty for the land, followed by 7 years of famine. After this, Joseph rises to Pharaoh's right-hand side. When nobody else prepared for this famine, Joseph made sure to. Eventually, even Joseph's brothers came and, but they reunited as a family. All of the Israelites then moved to Egypt.

Moses Leads the Israelites From Egypt

1446 BCE

The Israelites are enslaved to the Pharaoh of Egypt. Moses, however, is raised by the Pharaoh's daughter but flees upon hearing he is an Israelite. God calls him as an everburning bush and tells him to return to Egypt and demand that the Pharaoh release Israel. After a series of 10 plagues, Pharaoh finally allows Israel to leave, but he later changes his mind and chases after them. Moses then "parts" the Red Sea to allow the Israelites to pass through while the Egyptians in pursuit drown.

Moses Receives the 10 Commandments and the Golden Calf

1445 BCE

The Israelites are led by Moses first to Mount Sinai. Moses ascends the mountain to converse with God. Atop the mountain, God gives Moses all of the laws and rules that Israel must follow in this new covenant. When Moses descends the mountain, however, he finds that the Israelites have already abandoned the Lord and begun worshipping an idol: a golden calf which they had made. In his anger, Moses breaks the 10 commandments and must climb the mountain again to receive a second copy of them.

Joshua Leads the Israelites into the Promised Land

Period: 1406 BCE to 1400 BCE

After Moses dies, the Israelites are allowed to cross into the Promised Land: Canaan. Over the next 5 years, Joshua leads Israel as they take over control of this land from the original inhabitants, all according to God's instructions. After they take control of the land, they split it among all twelve tribes accordingly.

The Judges Rule Over Israel

Period: 1375 BCE to 1050 BCE

Over the course of the next few hundred years, Israel has no definite ruler, but instead follows a cycle of faith and abandonment. Instead of a ruler, they have a series of 15 leaders known as judges who keep the people firm in faith. Each time one of the judges dies, Israel turns back to pagan ways and another nation would rule over them until another judge came to bring them out of slavery and back into their faith. This cycle continued for a very long time.

Saul Becomes King of Israel

1043 BCE

The Jewish people decide that they need a king, and God instructs Samuel, the last of the Judges, to anoint Saul as their king. Saul had God's blessing in all that he did, and conquered the Philistines, but he took their belongings against the Lord's command and as such lost that blessing. Later, Saul became jealous of his successor, David, who was blessed by the Lord in all he did, yet was still a faithful subject to Saul. He attempted to kill David numerous times, but he was able to escape.

Highlighted Person: King David

1025 BCE

David was Israel's second king, and led a life full of faithfulness to God. With God's power, David became the king of Israel and took control of many of the neighbouring nations who had oppressed Israel. Above all, David shows us how to devote ourselves fully to our faith, even in times of difficulty. Another lesson he teaches us all is that God must be put first in everything we do. Over the course of his life on earth, David follows these two values in everything that he does.

David Succeeds Saul

1024 BCE

Samuel sees that Saul will not be succeeded by his own son, so he searches and God brings him to the house of Jesse. Samuel sees all of Jesse's strong, educated, faithful sons, but knows that none of them will be king. Samuel then sees Jesse's youngest son, David, who is not as strong as his brothers, but is God's choice for Israel. David is anointed as the spirit of God leaves Saul, who goes into depression. David is hired as Saul's harpist, so play music which cheers up Saul.

David Succeeds Saul: 2

1010 BCE

During the war with the Philistines, David joins the lines, armed with only a sling, and, with the help of the Lord, defeats Goliath: the Giant from the Philistines. This brings David great fame, and Saul's daughter Michal as a wife. As David grows in popularity, however, Saul grows in jealousy of David. Saul attempts to kill David several times, and David is forced into hiding. Twice David catches Saul off guard and could have killed him, but does not, because Saul has been anointed by God.

David Succeeds Saul: 3

1000 BCE

After Saul dies, David assumes kingship over first Judah, then all of Israel. He defeats the Philistines and takes Jerusalem, naming it the new capital of Israel. David wants to build a temple to the Lord there, for the Ark of the Covenant ,but is told not to, and is instead promised that his son will be the one to build it. Later, as David is pacing on the roof of his palace, he sees a beautiful woman bathing. He is told that he is the wife of Uriah, one of his generals who is away at war.

David Succeeds Saul: 4

993 BCE

Bathsheba becomes pregnant, so David sends her husband Uriah off to the front lines of the conflict so that he dies. Nathan is then sent by God to inform David that a man with many sheep has stolen a poor man's only sheep and killed it, as a metaphor for what David has done. David sees his mistakes and repents. Bathsheba's son dies in infancy as punishment for what David has done. Soon after, however, Bathsheba is pregnant again, this time with Solomon, who will eventually be David's successor.

Solomon Succeeds David

967 BCE

Solomon, David's son, became the king at the young age of twelve. God appeared to him in a dream and asked Solomon what he wanted. His response was wisdom. As such, Solomon was given wisdom to rule Israel well and settle all of the disputes of the people. Solomon built the Temple and ruled Israel justly for many years. Eventually, however, Solomon becomes corrupt and takes too many wives for himself. He starts to follow their idolatry and so the era of peace and prosperity for Israel ends.

Israel is Divided

930 BCE

Solomon's son Rehoboam follows him after he dies and goes into the northern part of Israel to be crowned. While he is there, he receives a list of grievances from many of the people living there, mostly because of the high costs that building the Solomon's building of the temple had had. Instead of heeding their words, however, Rehoboam ignores them. As such, the northern tribes of Israel split off, and the kingdom is split into Israel (or Samaria) in the North and Judea in the South.

The Prophets and the Exile

Period: 900 BCE to 587 BCE

Following the division of Israel, the time is marked by religious disgrace and weak kings who allow Israel to fall back into the hands of their enemies: Assyria and Babylonia. Throughout this time, there are a number of prophets who attempted to call people back to faith, but without much success. When the Babylonians take over Jerusalem in 597 BC, thousands of the inhabitants were exiled from the land and taken as captives . The Babylonians proceeded to destroy both the city and the temple.

Return to Judah

538 BCE

The Persians eventually overcome the Babylonians, opening the doors back up to the Jewish people. The population migrates back towards their own land, rebuilding the Temple. Instead of a king, the Jewish people appoint a high priest. It is at this point in time that the people begin to identify with the term Jewish. Eventually, there developed two main classes of religious leaders: the priests, who offered sacrifices in the temple, and the scribes, who taught everybody the Law of Moses.

Jesus is Born

1 CE

At long last, Jesus the Messiah is born in Bethlehem. He preached the word of God and taught everybody who would listen about the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus also performed countless miracles, including healing the sick and disabled, multiplying food for thousands of people to eat, walking on water, changing water to wine, and countless other miracles. Eventually, he was crucified by his own people on a cross, but was able to rise again from the dead just three days later on Easter Sunday.

Sources

2

1. The Holy Bible
2. Google (for the images)
3. The textbook
4. Wikipedia (for verification)
5. http://biblehub.com/timeline/old.htm
6. https://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/david_the_shepherd3_the_warrior/