The Hebrews
Jigsaw
World History Honors
NAME:
Use packet given to you in class to answer the following questions. Remember, detail is key in
any history class so your answers should not be skimpy. Answer as completely as you can.
A. The Land
1. Explain the importance of the Mesopotamia to Hebrew History.
2. Explain the importance of Egypt to Hebrew History.
3. Explain the importance of Palestine to all of history, not just the Hebrews. What made
this land valuable?
The Age of Patriarchs (c. 1950- c. 1500 BCE)
4. Why is it difficult to know, with absolute accuracy, the History of the Hebrews?
5. Who wrote the history of the earliest Hebrews? Why Is it difficult to know if it is
accurate?
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6. How did the Hebrews as a group & religion begin?
7. Who is Yahweh or “Elohim”? What promises does this figure make to Abraham & his
descendants? What do Abraham and his descendants have to promise in return?
8. During the time when the Hebrews were a tribal society, how did one get to have a
special relationship with Yahweh?
9.
In this early part of Hebrew History, why didn’t the Hebrews choose a king among
them?
10. What evidence does the author of this piece give that it would make sense for the
Hebrews to move into Egypt during the end of the Middle Kingdom?
11. Describe early Hebrew religion? Was it Judaism or something different? Explain!!
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12. Where do historians believe the word “Hebrew” came from?
B. Egypt & the Wanderings c. 1500 BCE – c.1250 BCE
1. Why is the Hebrew’s migration out of Egypt the most important event in Hebrew history?
2. Why is it difficult to know about the Hebrew’s lives in Egypt and even their migration
out of Egypt for certain?
3. Hebrew history in the bible describes being enslaved in Egypt, if this was the case, why
would the life of the Hebrews have been so difficult in Egypt? What kind of labor might
they have been forced to do?
Moses & the Yahweh Cult
4. Explain the importance of Moses to Hebrew History and the questions concerning WHO
he really was.
5. What are some of the questions surrounding the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt?
6. How did the Hebrew’s religion become a Yahweh religion after the Exodus?
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7. What is the importance of the Midianites and Mount Sinai to Hebrew history?
The Occupation of Canaan c. 1250 BCE – c. 1050 BCE
8. How were the Hebrews different from the people who already occupied Canaan (modern
day Israel) when they arrived there after the Exodus?
9. Who were the Philistines? How are they important to Hebrew history?
The Judges and Deliverers
10. What was the role of the Judges among the Hebrews?
11. What was the role of the Deliverers among the Hebrews ?
C. The Monarchy c. 1050- c. 920 BCE
Saul
1. Why did the Hebrews decide to start a monarchy (leadership by a king)?
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2. Who chose the Hebrew’s first king? Why was Saul chosen? How long did he rule?
3. Why was the monarchy seen as a negative development in Hebrew history? What
Conflict began because of it?
David
4. Who was David? Why was he chosen to be the second king of the Hebrews?
5. What were the accomplishments of David?
6. With all of his accomplishments, why is David’s transition to monarchy still viewed as a
negative development?
Solomon
7. What were the accomplishments of Solomon?
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8. What were some of the “bad” things that Solomon did as king?
9. The Torah, or Old Testament, paints a very positive picture of Solomon. How do
historians know that this is not entirely accurate?
10. What happened to the Hebrew tribes after Solomon’s death?
D. The Two Kingdoms 920 BCE – 597 BCE
1. What were Israel & Judah? Describe where Israel and Judah were located in relation to
each other, and what their capital cities were.
2. Describe the Kingdom’s of Israel and Judah about 100 years after the death of King
Solomon? How did they get this way and why were they in danger?
The Conquest of Israel
3. What are the “ten lost tribes of Israel” and how did they get lost?
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The Samaritans
4. Who were the Samaritans? Why did the Jews of Judah dislike the Samaritans?
The Conquest of Judah
5. The history of Judah, Egypt, and Mesopotamia is a series of struggles back and forth
between the Egyptians & whoever had control of Mesopotamia. Judah just kept getting
stuck in the middle, so why did Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar decide to punish Judah
in 597 BCE?
6. How did Nebuchadnezzar punish the state of Judah (both in 597 & 588 BCE)? How was
this different from what the Assyrians had done in Israel?
Exile 597-538 BCE
7. What was the Exile?
8. What was life like for the Jews who remained in Judah during this time period?
9. What division occurred in the Jewish community during the Exile?
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10. Why were the Babylonian Jews able to keep their religion when the “ten lost tribes of
Israel” were not?
11. Why do parts of the bible written during or after the Exile seem “despairing” or
“hopeless”?
12. What did the Babylonian Jews blame their misfortune on? How did Jewish theology
change in this time period?
13. What incredibly important Jewish text was created in, or shortly after, this time period?
E. After the Exile 538-332 BCE
Cyrus
1. Who was Cyrus the Great and why did was he trying to conquer the world? How was
this different from conquests before him?
2. Describe the religion of Zoroastrianism, followed by Cyrus the Great.
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3. Why did Cyrus the Great send the Jews back to Judah?
The Rebuilding of the Temple
4. Why did Judah become “Theological State” after the Exile? How was that different than
what it has been before the Exile?
5. How did society change in Judah after the Exile?
6. What were beliefs that many Jews adopted from the Persians? Why didn’t they become
“official” parts of Judaism? What religion would officially adopt these beliefs?
Yavan in the House of Shem: Greeks and Jews 332 BCE – 63 BCE
7. In the Torah, or Old Testament, what was “Yavan”? What was “Shem”?
8. How did Judah become a Greek possession?
9. Why did the Jews resent the Greeks?
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10. How did the Greeks treat the Jews & Judah?
11. What event started a revolt by the Maccabees? What was the result? (fyi: This is the
story from which the Hanukkah celebration stems)
12. In the Hellenistic world (the empire created by Alexander the Great) why were Jews able
to move to new cities and maintain their Jewish identity?
13. When the Greeks decided to translate the Torah from Hebrew to Greek, what problems
did they encounter? Why did the final translation vary from the actual words of the
Torah? Please write down as many of these errors as you can find in this article.
14. If it was so imperfect, why was the Greek translation of the Torah still incredibly
important for the history of Jews and Christians?
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The Diaspora (extra notes)
● The term Diaspora means “scattering.” When written with a capital D it always denotes
the Jewish Diaspora, or the scattering of Jews outside of Judah/Israel.
● The first Diaspora began in 722 BCE when the Assyrians forced the Israelites to move
from their homes and scatter throughout the Assyrian Empire, at which point they lost
their Jewish identities and became Assyrian.
● The second Diaspora of 597 & 586, under Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, also forced
the Jews to migrate into Mesopotamia, but this time they settled as a group in Babylon
and many returned home when Persian leader Cyrus liberated them by conquering
Babylon.
● In 63 BCE, Judea came to be controlled by the Romans who conquered all of the
land surrounding the Mediterranean. A Roman governor ran Judea’s business &
was in charge of Taxation. His goal was to collect as much money as possible from
the new region. The Romans also viewed their emperor as a God, and demanded
that all people living in Roman territories make offerings to their Emperor. As
monotheists, the Jews could not acknowledge the emperor as a God. This did not sit
well with the Romans who were polytheistic. In 70 CE, the Jewish people revolted
against Rome. By 73 CE, the last of the revolutionaries were hiding from the
Roman legion in a mountain top fort called Masada. The Romans waged war
against this fort for two years, finally building a huge earthen bridge to reach the
top. Rather than allow their families to be taken as prisoners by the Romans, who
would probably have sold the women and children into slavery, and brutally killed
all the men, over 1000 Jewish men, women, and children decided to take their own
lives.
● THE DIASPORA: Starting in 73 CE, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, and began
to kick out all the remaining Jews. Jews were forced to spread all over. Most went
to North Africa or spread across Europe. From this point, until the creation of the
state of Israel in 1948, Jewish history is that of a people with no homeland, spread
out over a huge amount of territory, living as a minority group everywhere they
went, and trying to maintain their Jewish identity.
Extra Credit:
The Jewish people will soon celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, ringing in the
year 5772. The Jewish calendar is a Lunar Calendar like that of the Mesopotamians. This
alone cannot account for the difference in counting years. Jewish history begins around 1950
BCE. This too cannot account for the difference since 2010+1950 = 3960. For extra credit,
try to find out why the Jewish calendar says it is year 5772.
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