History of the Hebrews

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History of the Hebrews

Moving from Mesopotamia to Egypt to Canaan to Jerusalem, the Hebrews were a traveling people with faith in one god. They believed that their god was the only god and vowed to worship him. During their worship, they often experienced great oppression tot their beliefs. Although the Hebrews often experienced difficulty in their quest to worship their god, Yahweh, and to become a united people, their belief in Yahweh allowed them to hold out hope that one day they would be free and allowed to return to Judah.

The early Hebrews were a peaceful people who originated in Mesopotamia and then migrated to Canaan. In ancient times, Mesopotamia was the land located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. It is there that the Hebrews first became a civilized people. After migrating to Canaan, they were faced with a serious problem, famine. They had no food to eat and would not have survived as a people if they had stayed there; therefore, they migrated to Egypt.

The herdsmen and farmers were one of the first to have migrated to Egypt. Soon other Hebrews followed and they became a great civilization. They grew rapidly in numbers and, although they were a peaceful people, they were seen as a threat to the Pharaoh and enslaved. The Pharaoh believed that because of their population was so great; they would be able to take control of Egypt if given the opportunity. He believed that enslaving them would prevent them from becoming a larger people and avoid the threat he believed they could posed. Hebrews were treated very poorly by the Egyptians who enslaved them. The enslaved Hebrews were forced to build cities and roads for the Pharaoh. The oppressed Hebrews longed for the day when they could return to their...