A SHORT HISTORY OF THE HEBREWS

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The Ancient Semitic Language of the Israelites

People in the ancient world usually worshipped many gods and goddesses, a practice called "polytheism." The Phoenicians, for example, worshipped three principal deities: a head god known as El, Baal, or Melqart; and a young god named Adonis, whose annual death and resurrection reflected the cycle of the seasons. The Hebrews - another people living in Canaan - were an exception among the ancient polytheistic cultures. They brought a new idea to the world, "monotheism," or the belief in one all-powerful God. The Hebrews believed that God, whom they called "Yahweh," determined right and wrong and expected people to deal justly with each other and to accept moral responsibility for their actions. The teachings of the Hebrews exist today as the religion of Judaism, which in turn has influenced two other monotheistic religions - Christianity and Islam.

Living in Canaan

The Bible remains one of the main sources of ancient history in the Fertile Crescent. Rooted in the geography of the Middle East, the Bible describes many notable sites. The story of the Tower of Babel, for instance, refers to the great ziggurat built for the god Marduk in the city of Babylon in Mesopotamia. As a record of the early Hebrews, the Bible helps trace their origins to Abraham, a herder and trader who lived in the Mesopotamian city of Ur. Around 1900 B.C. Abraham and his household left Ur and settled in Canaan at the command of Yahweh, or God. The Hebrews believed that God made a covenant, or agreement, with Abraham at this time. "I will make of you a great nation" was God's promise to bless Abraham and his descendants if they would remain faithful to God. Once in the land of Canaan, the Hebrews shared the varied land with several other peoples, such as the Phoenicians and Philistines. Canaan contained rocky hills and desert, fertile plains and grassy slopes, with the best farming in the valley of the Jordan River. Most Hebrews lived as nomads herding sheep and goats.

Migration to Egypt

Abraham's grandson Jacob, also named Israel, raised twelve sons in Canaan, and each son led a separate family group, or tribe. These groups became the twelve tribes of Israel, and the Hebrews became known as the Israelites. After a severe drought struck Canaan and brought terrible famine to the land, the Israelites migrated to Egypt, perhaps during the time that the Hyksos ruled. The Israelites lived peacefully in the Egyptian province of Goshen for several generations until the pharaohs decided to enslave them.

Moses as Leader

"The Egyptians," according to the Bible, "ruthlessly ... made life bitter (for the Israelites) with hard labor at mortar and bricks and with all sorts of tasks in the field." In the 1200's B.C. the Israelite leader Moses rallied his people and led them out of Egypt in an "exodus," or departure, into the Sinai Desert. Every year during the festival of Passover, Jews today retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt.

The Ten Commandments

During the long trek across the desert of the Sinai Peninsula, God, according to the Bible, renewed the covenant made with Abraham. Moses and the Israelites pledged to reject all gods other than the one true God and to obey God's laws, the most important of which would be called the Ten Commandments. And in return for their loyalty, God promised the Israelites a safe return to the land of Canaan. Moses died before reaching Canaan, but his successor, Joshua, led the Israelites across the Jordan River into Canaan. For about 200 years the Israelites struggled to gain the region. They fought the Philistines and the Canaanites who now occupied the land.

The Fighting Judges

Lack of Unity among the twelve tribes of Israel prolonged the military campaign to acquire Canaan. Leaders known as "judges" ruled each tribe. Serving as both judicial and military leaders, some of the judges attempted to rally the Israelites. The Bible relates how Deborah, a judge widely admired for her wisdom, planned an attack on a Canaanite army camped near Mount Tabor. Through God's intervention, the Israelites won the battle.

The Davidic Monarchy

Around 1020 B.C. the continual warfare with their neighbors in Canaan led most of the Israelite tribes to unite under one king, Saul. Although he was popular at first, Saul's power waned when he proved unable to defeat the Philistines. David, who had once fought the Philistine Goliath on Saul's behalf, took the throne in 1012 B.C. and ruled for the next 40 years. King David set up a capital at Jerusalem, organized a central government, and enlarged the borders of his kingdom. During his reign, the Israelites enjoyed a period of economic prosperity. David's son Solomon succeeded his father in 973 B.C. Solomon founded new cities and rebuilt old ones. He also lavished money on building projects, constructing a magnificent temple to God in Jerusalem. The Israelites resented Solomon's high taxes and his requirement of all men to work on his projects without pay. After Solomon's death in 922 B.C. the ten northern tribes broke away from the two tribes remaining in the south. The northern tribes continued to call their kingdom Israel. The two southern tribes called their kingdom Judah, and kept Jerusalem as their capital. The word Jew comes from the name Judah.

Exile and Return

Although split politically, the people of Israel and Judah continued to share one religion. However, the two kingdoms were too weak to resist invasions by powerful neighbors from the east. In 722 B.C. the Assyrians of Mesopotamia swept in and conquered the kingdom of Israel, scattering the people of the ten northern tribes throughout the Assyrian Empire. Then in 586 B.C. another Mesopotamian people, the Chaldeans gained control of Judah. After suppressing a Hebrew revolt, the Chaldeans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. They enslaved some of the city's residents and carried them off to exile in the Chaldean capital city of Babylon. During this difficult period, prophets - preachers who interpreted God's will - arose among the Israelites. Some prophets, such as Jeremiah, condemned abuses in society and blamed the Babylonian exile on the Jews' forgetting their duties to God and to one another. The prophets also helped the people of Judah retain their culture during the Babylonian captivity and exile. While in Babylon the Jews no longer had an elegant temple in which to worship God. Instead, small groups began to meet on the Sabbath, the holy day of rest, for prayer and discussion. The institution of local synagogues developed from these gatherings. Many Jews continued to hope for a return to Jerusalem. Finally in 539 B.C. the Persians conquered the Chaldeans. The Persian king, Cyrus II allowed the Jewish exiles to return to Judah and to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. In the 400s B.C., under the leadership of a scribe named Ezra, Jewish holy writings were collected and organized into the Torah, made up of the five books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Although a new Jewish community flourished in Jerusalem, many Jews chose to remain in Babylon, and some migrated to other areas in the Middle East. Ever since this time, communities of Jews have existed outside their homeland in what has become known as the Diaspora, a Greek word meaning "scattered."

A Lasting Legacy

Their troubled history - with its cycles of slavery, exile, and return - made the Jews keenly aware of their past. Seeing events as having a God-directed purpose, the Jews recorded their history and examined it for meaning. The Jewish Bible, called the Old Testament by Christians, begins with the Torah and includes the writings of the prophets. As the Jews scattered beyond Canaan, they took the Torah with them, and its teachings spread around the world. From the Torah has come the concept that every human being, made in the image of God, has infinite worth. Further, humans work in partnership with God, striving to achieve a perfect world, and this link between God and humans makes people accountable for what happens in the world.

Empire Builders

The Phoenicians, Aramaeans, Lydians, and Hebrews contributed to the world their alphabet, language, commercial practices, and religious beliefs. But these peoples lacked the military power of their neighbors, and the conquering armies of a series of warlike empires came to dominate the Fertile Crescent. The Hittites Rule Asia Minor

Around 2000 B.C. the Hittites - perhaps coming from areas beyond the Black Sea - conquered the local people of Asia Minor. The Hittites set up several city-states on a large, central plateau called Anatolia, and by about 1650 B.C. they had established a well-organized kingdom. Archaeologists have deciphered the writing on some of the clay tablets found in the ruins of Hattusas, the Hittite capital. Other information about the Hittites comes from records of people they confronted as they expanded their empire. An Egyptian source, for example, described the Hittite custom of wearing their hair in a long, thick pigtail that hung down in back. The kings who ruled the Hittites assembled a fearsome army - the first in the Middle East to wield iron weapons extensively. The army employed light, spoke-wheeled chariots that could carry two soldiers and a driver. This gave the Hittites a decided advantage in battle because they were able to field twice as many troops as their foes in two-person chariots. Overwhelming any army that stood in their way, the Hittites pushed eastward and conquered the city of Babylon about 1595 B.C. The Hittite Empire - spanning Asia Minor, Syria, and part of Mesopotamia - lasted until about 122 B.C. Although their culture was largely borrowed from Mesopotamia and Egypt, the Hittites contributed to Middle Eastern civilization a legal system considered less harsh than Hammurabi's code of law. Hittite law emphasized payments for damages rather than harsh punishments.

Assyrian Conquests

The Assyrians, a people living in the hilly country of northern Mesopotamia, had faced constant invasions from adjoining Asia Minor - including those by the Hittites. About 900 B.B. the Assyrians finally became strong enough to repel attacks from the west. They also began to launch their own military campaigns to subdue their Mesopotamian neighbors.

A Powerful Army

The Assyrian army earned a reputation after 900 B.C. as the most lethal fighting force in the Middle East. The Assyrians organized their professional soldiers into units of foot soldiers, charioteers, and fast-moving cavalry fighting on horseback. They were described as warriors "whose arrows were sharp and all their bows bent, the horses' hooves were like flint, and their (chariot) wheels like a whirlwind." Like the Hittites, the Assyrians fought with iron weapons. They also used battering rams against the walls of the cities they attacked. The Assyrians treated conquered peoples cruelly. They burned cities and tortured and killed thousands of captives. The Assyrians routinely deported entire populations from their homelands. Resettling the land with people from other parts of the empire, the Assyrians forced these settlers to pay heavy taxes.

Assyrian Empire

By about 650 B.C. the Assyrian kings controlled an empire stretching from the Persian Gulf to Egypt and into Asia Minor. They divided their empire into provinces, each headed by a governor directly responsible to the king. Officials sent from the imperial government collected taxes to be used to bolster the army and to fund building projects in Nineveh, the Assyrian capital. To improve communication, the Assyrians built a network of roads connecting the provinces. Imperial messengers and Aramaean merchants traveled these roads, protected by soldiers from bandits. In spite of these links, the Assyrian Empire eventually began to fracture as conquered peoples continually rebelled. In 612 B.C. the Chaldeans, who lived in the ancient city of Babylon, formed an alliance with the Medes from the east. The alliance captured Nineveh and brought down the Assyrian Empire.

The Chaldeans of Babylon

Soon after the Assyrians fell, the Chaldean Empire succeeded in dominating the entire Fertile Crescent. Most of the Chaldeans - sometimes called the New Babylonians - were descended from the people of Hammurabi's Babylonian Empire of the 1700s B.C. The Chaldeans reached the apex of their power during the reign of one of their greatest rulers, King Nebuchadnezzar, from 604 to 561 B.C. He extended the boundaries of the Chaldean Empire as far west as Syria and Canaan, conquering the city of Jerusalem and the Phoenician city-state of Tyre and forcing the people of the kingdom of Judah into a Babylonian exile in 586 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar also amassed great wealth and rebuilt Babylon into one of the largest, most stunning cities of the ancient world.

After 2,100 years, Marko Marulic (1450-1524 A.D.), a great Croatian historian from Spalato Dalmatia wrote an epic poem called "JUDITH" which was published in 1521. It was based on the story of the heroine in the Book of Judith. Judith in Apocrypha was a beautiful Jewess of Bethulia who, when her town was besieged by Holofernes, the General of Nebuchadnezzar, attended him in his tent, and when he was drunk, she killed him and cut off his head. Then her townsmen fell upon the Assyrians and defeated them in a great slaughter.

Historians of the time counted two features of Babylon among the so-called Seven Wonders of the World - its wall and its Hanging Gardens. An immense, snaking wall surrounded the city, standing 50 feet (15 meters) high and bristling with watchtowers every 100 yards (90 meters). Nebuchadnezzar created the Hanging Gardens for his wife. Constructed on several levels and designed to be visible from any point in Babylon, the elaborate park was fed by water pumped from a nearby river. The Chaldeans were also noted for their interest in astrology. They recorded their observations of the stars and made maps that showed the position of the planets and the phases of the moon. Their studies laid the foundations for the science of Astronomy. After Nebuchadnezzar's death, a series of weak kings held the throne. Poor harvests and slow trade further sapped the strength of an empire whose people had been severely taxed and plundered. Then, in 539 B.C. the Persians under Cyrus II came from the mountains to the northeast, seized Babylon, and then conquered the short-lived Chaldean Empire.

The Persians' Large Empire

The Persians had originated from a larger group of people now called Indo-Europeans. As warriors and cattle herders on the lookout for new grasslands, the Persians and the Medes, another Indo-European group, migrated out of central Asia in about 2000 B.C. They settled on a plateau between the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea, today part of the country of Iran.

The Conquests of Cyrus

During the 540s B.C. Cyrus had developed a strong army, conquered the Medes, and advanced into neighboring lands. He quickly added northern Mesopotamia, Syria, Canaan, and the Phoenician cities to his empire and brought an end to the Jews' Babylonian exile. Cyrus also took over the kingdom of Lydia and the Greek city-states in Asia Minor. In 525 B.C. Cyrus's son Cambyses conquered Egypt, bringing all the Middle East under Persian control. The Persian Empire, then second to none, stretched from the Nile River to the Indus River, a distance of 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers). Within this immense empire, the Persians ruled more than 50 million people.

Darius's Empire

The best organizer among the Persian kings was Darius I, who reigned from 522 to 486 B.C. To administer his empire effectively, Darius divided the realm into provinces and assigned provincial governors to rule. Military officials and tax inspectors, chosen by the king from among the conquered people themselves, assisted governors in carrying out the king's decrees in the provinces. In addition, inspectors called "Eyes and Ears of the King" made unannounced tours of the provinces. In contrast to the Assyrians, the Persians were tolerant rulers who allowed conquered peoples to retain their own languages, religions, and laws. The Persians won the loyalty of conquered peoples by respecting local customs. Darius brought artisans from many of his conquered lands to build Persepolis, the most magnificent city in the empire. To encourage trade among the peoples of the empire and aid the movement of soldiers, he had Persian engineers improve and expand the network of roads first laid down by the Assyrians. The Royal Road, the most important thoroughfare in the Persian Empire, stretched more than 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) from Susa in Persia to Sardis in Asia Minor. Every 14 miles (22.4 kilometers) stations along the Royal Road provided travelers with food, water, and fresh horses. Royal messengers could travel the length of the road in just seven days, a journey that had taken three months before the road was built. During his reign, Darius waged war against the Greeks over the control of city-states in Asia Minor. After Darius died, his son Xerxes led the forces of Persia in a disastrous campaign to conquer Greece in 480 B.C., crippling the Persian Empire in the process.

Persian Religion and Culture

Before the Persian Empire, the Persian people worshiped many gods associated with the sky, sun, and fire. Then about 570 B.C. a prophet names Zoroaster began to call for reform of the Persian religion. Zoroaster preached that the world was divided by a struggle between good and evil. The god Ahura Mazda led the forces of good, and another god, Ahriman, commanded the forces of evil. At the end of time, Ahura Mazda would triumph over Ahriman. According to Zoroaster, all humans who fought on the side of Ahura Mazda against evil would be rewarded with eternal life. Those who chose Ahriman would be condemned to eternal darkness and misery. Some scholars believe that Zoroaster's teachings about paradise, hell, and the Last Judgment - or the separation of good and evil at the end of time - may have influenced Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Other aspects of Persian culture lived on, too, and mixed with Greek culture when Alexander the Great absorbed the Persians into his own empire in the 300s B.C.

> Excerpted from "World History, The Human Experience", by Mournir Farah, Ph. D., and Andrea Berens Karls, copyright 1992, pg 69-78

Compiled by Marko Marelich, Retired Mechanical Engineer
San Francisco, California USA
March, 2008