1. The Israelites

2. Abram, a man that lived most of his life in the Sumerian City of Haran, was surrounded by Sumerians that were Polytheistic. His fellow neighbors believed in a god for good harvest, a god for clouds, and almost every part of nature.

3. However, Abram and his family did not believe in many gods
However, Abram and his family did not believe in many gods. They believed in one supreme being and were monotheistic. According to Abram, one day his god spoke to him and told him to leave Sumer and travel west to a land by the Mediterranean Sea called Canaan.

4. When he reached this land, Abram claims that God spoke to him again and said, “I will give this land to your children if your raise them to believe in ONE god!”

5. Abram made a covenant, or an agreement, with his God and promised that he would be monotheistic. At the same time, he changed his name to Abraham, which means, “Father of many Nations”, to prove his dedication to his God.

6. “Father of many nations” means… A
“Father of many nations” means… A. Abraham has children living in different civilizations throughout the Fertile Crescent. B. Abraham wants to rule the world. C. Being the first monotheistic person of record, Abraham promises to spread his beliefs to people all over the world. D. Abraham promises to have many children and raise each one in a different country.
To represent being the father of many different nations or to represent the father of all

7. Abraham and his wife Sarah gave birth to two sons while living in Canaan, Isaac and Ishmael. When Isaac had his son Jacob, who was later known as Israel, all of Israel’s children were called Israelites.

8. When famine struck the land of Canaan, many Israelites moved south to Egypt for food. However, when they got there they were quickly turned into slaves by Egyptian Pharaohs.

9. About 1280 BC, Moses a leader of the Israelites, led his people back to Canaan, which took many years and was filled with hardships. However, according to the Bible it was during this time that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, or a set of laws responsible for behaviors. Which sentence explains why God may have given the Israelites the 10 Commandments during their journey back to Canaan?

10. 10 Commandments
1. I am the Lord your God; you shall not have strange gods before Me. 2. You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain. 3. Remember to keep holy the Lord's day. 4. Honor your father and your mother. 5. You shall not kill. 6. You shall not commit adultery. 7. You shall not steal. 8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. 10. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.

11. These laws became an important part of Judaism, the religion of the Jewish people. Later Christianity and Islam would also adopt and accept the Ten Commandments. The stories of the Israelites are in the first five books of the Bible, or what the Jewish people refer to as the Torah.

12. the basis of Jewish belief: Creation, Revelation, and Redemption; God, Israel, and World. On the popular level, Jews continue to use the Jewish star as it was used for centuries: as a magical amulet of good luck and as a secularized symbol of Jewish identity.