2.5 The Early Israelites and the Worship of One God The people who came to be called the Israelites were related to other peoples of the Fertile Crescent. Over time, however, they developed their own culture. The Israelites believed that God created each person in God's image. God called on them to act based on ethics, or ideas of right and wrong. As described in the Torah, which consists of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, God told Abraham to leave the city of Ur and travel with his family to Canaan on the Mediterranean coast. The Torah says that God then made a covenant, or binding agreement, with Abraham. The agreement held that the land of Canaan would belong to Abraham’s descendants. This land became known as the Promised Land. Under Abraham’s son Isaac and his grandson Jacob, the followers of Abraham developed a society in Canaan and became known as the Israelites.

What Was the Exodus? The Torah tells how a famine in Canaan led Jacob's descendants to move to Egypt. There the Egyptian ruler was distrustful of the Israelites and enslaved them. An Israelite named Moses led his people out of Egypt and away from slavery, an event known as the Exodus. During the 40-year journey, the Israelites received a series of instructions from God, learned ways to worship, and created important religious objects. While wandering in the desert, Israelites questioned the leadership of Moses and of God. However, they came to believe that if they obeyed God’s commands, God would provide for them.

What Are the Ten Commandments? The Book of Exodus says that during the Israelites’ journey, they stopped at the foot of Mount Sinai. The Torah tells how Moses climbed the mountain. There, God gave Moses the Torah, which forms the foundation of Judaism. The Torah includes many laws, among them the Ten Commandments. The accounts of Exodus and the Ten Commandments are important to Jews, Christians, and others. For them, the lesson of Exodus is that if people believe in God and obey God’s laws, God will protect them and support them.

Return to the Promised Land According to the Torah, after the Israelites received the laws from Moses, they continued to the Promised Land. Following Moses’ death, the Israelites were led by Joshua and went on to conquer several other kingdoms in Canaan. Then each of the tribes descended from Jacob’s 12 sons settled in a different area. According to the Hebrew Bible, the Israelites maintained their identity. They sometimes strayed from God’s commandments, but they always returned to the teachings of the Torah, including the belief in a single God.