Judaism and the Hebrew nation started at the beginning of the Old Testament, after man was dispelled from the Garden of Eden. Eventually, man became wicked and God decided to destroy the earth with a flood, except for his servant Noah, his family, and two of every animal. Noah built an ark to survive the flood. After it, God promised to never destroy the earth again. 

Noah’s descendant Abraham left where he was living in the Mesopotamian city of Ur and was sent by God to start a great nation in the land of Canaan. Abraham’s son Isaac and his wife Rebekah continued the nation. When Isaac had grown old, his son Jacob tricked his brother Esau into giving him his father’s blessing. This caused Esau to grow angry and attempt to kill Jacob. 

Jacob and his brother soon reconciled, and Jacob married Rachel and moved to Bethlehem. His favorite son Joseph was sold to Egyptian slave traders by his brothers because of their jealousy. Despite being a slave, Joseph gained favor with the Pharaoh by interpreting dreams. The Egyptians were able to stock up food since Joseph had predicted a devastating famine, which caused many Hebrews to move to Egypt in search of food. Fearing a revolt because of their large numbers, the Egyptians enslaved the Hebrews.

One of the Hebrew children Moses was adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter and raised in the palace. God, in the form of a Burning Bush, told Moses to deliver the Hebrews from the Egyptians. After demanding the Pharaoh let his people go to no avail, Moses prayed to God to bring pestilences to Egypt. The final plague caused Pharaoh to accept, but he changed his mind as the Hebrews were leaving Egypt. Moses parted the Red Sea and escaped the Egyptians’ wrath. 

The Ten commandments were given to the people and they wandered through the desert for 40 years before they forcefully subdued the Canaanites who were living in their old land. The Hebrew people now had King Saul as their leader and fought the Philistines for control of Canaan. King David and his son Samuel started building a temple for the Ark of the Covenant and constructed fortifications for their capital city Jerusalem. Shortly after this, the Hebrews split into two kingdoms, Israel in the north, and Judah in the south. 

In 722 BC, Israel was conquered by the Assyrians, and in 586, Judah met the same fate to the Babylonian forces, and the temple was destroyed. Three years later, the Persians defeated the Babylonians, who allowed the Jews to go back to Jerusalem. In 198 BC, Israel was conquered again by the Syrians, who forced them to adopt Greek customs. This caused a successful revolt led by Judas Maccabeus.

Unfortunately, 60 years later they were occupied by the Roman Empire. After the time of Jesus, the Romans put Jerusalem under direct control, which caused a Jewish revolt. This time, however, they were unsuccessful and the rebellion was put down harshly. Jerusalem and the temple were burned, and many Jews were massacred or sold into slavery. During the Medieval Ages, the Jewish people were scattered across Europe and wouldn’t start returning to their original land until the 19th century.