English 12 Demo

In the years after David and Solomon ruled, the kingdom of the Hebrews was divided into two separate lands, Israel and Judah.

The history of the early Hebrews is known primarily from one of their sacred texts, the Torah, which comprises the first five books of the Old Testament of the Bible. According to the Torah, Abraham is the ancestral patriarch of the Hebrew people.

Abraham was born in the Sumerian city of Ur. After Abraham's father died, Yahweh visited Abraham and instructed him to smash the idols of his father's gods, to worship the one and only true god, Yahweh, and to move his family to Canaan. Yahweh promised Abraham that if he followed these laws, he would found a great nation that would live in a land flowing with milk and honey.

This land, known as Canaan in ancient times, is roughly located in the same place as modern-day Israel.

Abraham's migration took place some time between 2000 B.C.E. and 1700 B.C.E. It occurred at a time when the Canaanites lived in relatively small, independently governed, walled cities. They were accustomed to outsiders coming into their territory. The Hebrews, who were nomadic herders, were tolerated by the Canaanites.

The land that Abraham and his followers found did not flow so easily with milk and honey. The dry climate and rough environment required considerable effort to survive. Drought forced Abraham and his family to move to Egypt.