Jerusalem is a big
city and is the capital if Israel, its one of the oldest cities in the world. It
is located in the central hill country, and is near the border of the Judean
desert. It is far removed from any major trade routes. Canaan was the land in
which the Hebrew people settled. To the Hebrews, Canaan was the “promised land”
when “God” told Abraham, the leader of the Hebrew people, that the land would
belong to the people who will descend from him. At the time when they settled,
the Hebrews were not wealthy and didn’t have any power. They wrote many books
about their history and anything that was related to their religion, called
“Judaism.” In 2000 B.C., Canaan was located to the right, next to the
Mediterranean Sea. On the map of Canaan in the Ancient Middle East, the city of
Jerusalem is located to the left of the Dead Sea. In the eleventh century B.C.
a powerful group of people called the Philistines came from across the
Mediterranean Sea and then settled. Israelites, who were also living in Canaan,
were challenged for land possession. The Israelites decided that the people
should unite and live under just one ruler. The Hebrews thought that they
should have a king who is just and good. Later, there was a war with the
Philistines, which caused the kingdom to fall apart. A man named David helped
defeat the Philistines by throwing a stone so powerfully that it killed one of
the Philistines warriors. Under the command of David, the Israelites had
success with getting their territory back. The Hebrew army ended up capturing
the city of Jerusalem from the Philistines, and later, David made the city as
capital of his kingdom. Then the Israelites decided to call it the City of
David. Solomon is the son of David. He became the king when David was an old
man and gave up the throne. Solomon made a temple in Jerusalem and ruled with
many skills like diplomacy. Solomon’s temple became a special center for Hebrew
worship. Using the temple, people offered sacrifices of animals, fruit or grain
in order to honor “God.” Jerusalem was an important city because for many
people, some of the religions for many different people originated there. The Hebrews
didn’t enjoy when the philistines threatened Canaan. Apart from the Israelites
the Hebrews thought that having a single king was a bad idea, they decided God
is ruling the people. Their army of the Hebrew People helped defeat the
philistines during the war with them and captured Jerusalem. Some of the
Hebrews decided to try worshiping more than one "God," but that brought
the Hebrew people trouble. The Hebrews were warned that they might be forced to
leave their land. They ignored such warning, which led to another group of
people, called the Assyrians, to appear and cause problems. The Assyrians have
destroyed the kingdom of the Israelites. Other people like another king named
Nebuchadnezzar, also attacked Jerusalem and caused other problems. Some people
were captured and taken to a place called Babylon. Some of the Hebrews who
stayed in Jerusalem tried to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar. This lead to more
attacks, and later, a siege for Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar sent his people, the Babylonians
after Jerusalem. The interaction between the Hebrews and Babylonians was not
very friendly. Many of the Israelites ended up being slaves in Babylon and
spent a long time in captivity. Overall, there was no friendly interaction
between the Hebrews, Assyrians, and Babylonians, as there was nothing but
fighting, war, and captivity.
