Which nation has the strongest roots on our planet? Perhaps this question is relevant for any historian. And almost every one of them will answer with confidence - the Jewish people. Despite the fact that humanity has inhabited the Earth for hundreds of thousands of years, we know our history at best for the last twenty centuries of our era and approximately the same amount BC. e.
But the history of the Jewish people dates back much earlier. All events in it are closely intertwined with religion and consist in constant persecution.
First mentions
Despite their considerable age, the first mention of the Jews dates back to the time of the pyramids of the Egyptian pharaohs. As for the records themselves, the history of the Jewish people from ancient times begins with its first representative - Abraham. The son of Shem (who, in turn, is the son of Noah), he was born in the expanses of Mesopotamia.
As an adult, Abraham moves to Canaan, where he meets the local population, subject to spiritual decay. It is here that God takes this man under his protection and concludes a contract with him, therebyputting his mark on him and his descendants. It is from this moment that the events described in the gospel stories, which are so rich in the history of the Jewish people, begin. Briefly, it consists of the following periods:
- biblical;
- ancient;
- antique;
- medieval;
- new times (including the Holocaust and the return of the Jews of Israel).
Moving to Egypt
In the lands of Canaan, Abraham starts a family, he has a son, Isaac, and from him - Jacob. The latter, in turn, gives birth to Joseph - a new bright figure in the gospel stories. Betrayed by his brothers, he ends up in Egypt as a slave. But still, he manages to free himself from slavery and, moreover, to become close to the pharaoh himself. This phenomenon (the presence of a miserable slave in the retinue of the supreme ruler) is facilitated by the closeness of the very kind of pharaoh (Hyksos), who came to the throne due to vile and cruel actions that led to the overthrow of the previous dynasty. This genus is also known as shepherd pharaohs. Once in power, Joseph transports his father and his family to Egypt. This is how the strengthening of the Jews in a certain area begins, which contributes to their rapid reproduction.
Beginning of persecution
The history of the Jewish people from the Bible shows them as peaceful shepherds, doing their own thing and not getting involved in politics, despite the fact that the Hyksos dynasty sees them as a worthy ally, giving them the best lands and other conditions necessary for the economy. Before entering Egypt, Jacob's family consisted of twelve tribes (twelvetribes), which, under the auspices of the shepherd pharaohs, grew to a whole ethnic group with its own culture.
Further, the history of the Jewish people tells of deplorable times for them. An army leaves Thebes for the capital of Egypt in order to overthrow the self-appointed pharaoh and establish the power of a true dynasty. She will soon be able to do this. They still refrain from reprisals against the favorites of the Hyksos, but at the same time turn them into slaves. Jews endure long years of slavery and humiliation (210 years of slavery in Egypt) before the arrival of Moses.
Moses and the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt
The history of the Jewish people in the Old Testament shows Moses as coming from an ordinary family. At that time, the Egyptian authorities were seriously alarmed by the growth of the Jewish population, and a decree was issued - to kill every boy born in a family of slaves. Miraculously surviving, Moses ends up with Pharaoh's daughter, who adopts him. So the young man finds himself in the ruling family, where all the secrets of government are revealed to him. However, he remembers his roots, which begins to torment him. He becomes unbearable from the way the Egyptians treat his brethren. On one of the walking days, Moses kills the overseer, who severely beat the slave. But he turns out to be betrayed by the same slave, which leads to his flight and forty years of hermitage in the mountains. It was there that God turns to him with a decree to bring his people out of the lands of Egypt, while endowing Moses with unprecedented abilities.
Further events include various miracles that Moses demonstrates to Pharaoh, demanding the release of his people. Notthey also end after the exit of the Jews from Egypt. The History of the Jewish People for Children (Gospel Stories) shows them as:
- ten plagues of Egypt;
- flow of the river before Moses;
- dropping manna from heaven;
- rock splitting and formation of a waterfall in it and much more.
After the release of the Jews from the power of the pharaoh, their goal is the lands of Canaan, which were assigned to them by God himself. That is where Moses and his followers go.
Establishment of Israel
After forty years, Moses dies. Right in front of the walls of Canaan, where he gives his power to Joshua. For seven years, he conquers one Canaanite principality after another. On the occupied land, Israel is formed (translated from Hebrew as “the God-fighter”). Further, the history of the Jewish people tells about the formation of the city - both the capital of the Jewish lands and the center of the world. Such famous personalities as Saul, David, Solomon and many others appear on his throne. A huge temple is erected in it, which the Babylonians destroy and which is restored again after the liberation of the Jews by the wise Persian king Crete.
Israel is divided into two states: Judah and Israel, which are subsequently captured and destroyed by the Assyrians and Babylonians.
As a result, several centuries after the conquest of Canaan by Joshua, the Jewish people dispersed throughoutearth, losing his home.
Following tenses
After the collapse of the Jewish and Jerusalem states, the history of the Jewish people has several branches. And almost every one of them comes to our times. Perhaps there is not a single side where the Jews went after the loss of the promised land, just as there is not a single country in our time where the Jewish diaspora would not exist.
And in every state they met "God's people" in different ways. If in America they automatically had equal rights with the indigenous population, then closer to the Russian border they were awaited by mass persecution and humiliation. The history of the Jewish people in Russia tells of pogroms, from Cossack raids to the Holocaust during World War II.
And only in 1948, by the decision of the United Nations, the Jews were returned to their "historical homeland" - Israel.
