Monotheistic Religion

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• Abraham was the founder of Judaism. Abraham was wandering around when one day he saw a vision of God: "Leave your own country and your father's house, and go to a country that I will show you." Abraham believed this vision and went away to find the country God showed him. Abraham finds himself in Canaan and creates his Kingdom there. When Abraham was 99 years old, God said "I will make a covenant between myself and you." This meant that all of Abraham's children will be followers of Judaism. Abraham one day had a son Isaac, but God told Abraham to sacrifice him. Abraham loved his son, but went mountain to sacrifice her. Just when Abraham was about to do it, God sent an Angel to stop him from killing Isaac. The Angel said that Abraham had proved his faith to God, so God renewed the promise. “I will make your descendants as many as the stars of heaven.” The Hebrews, that populated the nation, descended from Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, whom an angel from God had named Israel. He had introduced the belief in a single God. Jews were rewarded the promised land because of Abraham's covenant with God.

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• In 1250, many descendants of Abraham were living in Egypt as slaves, because of their growing power and increasing numbers. God heard them suffering so he told Moses to go to the Pharaoh and free the Hebrew. Moses couldn’t convince the Pharaoh so God sent 10 plagues to punish the Pharaoh. In the last plague, God sent an angel to kill every firstborn son in Egypt. The Pharaoh finally agreed to let the Hebrews go, but then changed his mind and sent the army to chase the Hebrews. When the Hebrews came to the Red Sea, Moses raised his staff and the sea parted so they could get across. When the Egyptians tried to cross, the sea came together and the Egyptian army drowned. The Hebrews were traveling for 40 years, and at one point Moses went up Mount Sinai to pray. Moses then came down with two tablets with Ten Commandments. These commandments had laws that were Hebrews’ duties to God and some were simple moral laws.

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• When David died in 965 BCE, Solomon has taken rule over Judah. Solomon built a temple for the Ark of the Covenant to stay inside and be the center of Jewish worshiping. Solomon gained power in his kingdom by making many treaties with neighboring kingdoms and increased the trade between foreign countries. Solomon became famous from his wisdom and many things in the Hebrew Bible were attributed to him. King David and Solomon and created a holy city for the jews and made a powerful symbol of their faith.

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• In 1000 BCE, Hebrews were in war with the Philistines. The Philistines promised they would be the Hebrews’ slaves if they beat their toughest warrior, Goliath. David was furious with the Philistines and hit Goliath with just one rock throw. God rewarded David by making him the king. David had then defeated his enemies and united Israel and Judah into one kingdom, Israel. He then chose Jerusalem to be the capital city, a center for political and religious life. He brought the Ark of the Covenant, that held the Ten Commandments, to Jerusalem, which made it a holy city.

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• Paul started off hating Christianity until one day, when he had a vision of Jesus which had changed his life. After that vision Paul kept convincing people to be Christians. Paul kept saying that everyone was son of God, and Jesus was just the chosen one. Paul traveled through the Roman Empire convincing Romans to be Christian. He even went to the Asia Minor and Greece as people believe that the religion is bad. Finally Paul was imprisoned in Rome, but continued to write letters to other Christians. Paul was beheaded in 65 CE, just as Romans begun to persecute Christians. 

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•     p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0pBefore Jesus was born, an angel cam to his mother Mary, and said that she would have a child and she would name him Jesus. Mary got Jesus at 6 BC, and when he was 12, Jesus had great knowledge and wisdom in the Jewish law.  When Jesus was finally 30, he was identified as the Messiah Jews had been waiting for. Jesus prayed in the wilderness for 40 days and Jesus then began to preach in Galilee. Jesus got many followers called disciples, and Jesus taught them through parables or stories. Jesus’s teachings had made Jews angered as others worried that they would cause trouble for the Romans. One day, a disciple betrayed Jesus and told where Jesus could be found. Jesus was then order to be executed. The Roman way of executing is by nailing or tying someone to a cross. Three days after Jesus’s death. Jesus was resurrected which is what convinced the disciples that he was son of God. 

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• Romans were cruel to the Jews and treated them poorly. When Jesus came and spreader Christianity, Romans saw that this was a huge problem, and thought that one day Jesus will lead a revolt against Rome. When one of Jesus’s disciples betrayed him,  the Romans immediately set execution to Jesus. 

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• Judea was under control of the Romans, and made Judeans paid taxes to Rome. Judea was peaceful since Jewish priests ruled it, but many Jews hated the Romans and believed that one day God will sent a savior, just like how he sent Moses to free the Israelites. The savior was called the Messiah or Anointed One, which meant blessed with oil.