Salvation History: Old Testament
 
Abram, then:
Abraham
was called by God out of Mesopotamia (Ur of the Chaldees) into the land of Canaan, later known as Palestine. His sons were:
Isaac, and
Jacob, also known as: Israel
12 Sons: The Twelve Tribes of Israel
(one list) Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, and
 
Joseph
 
Joseph is sold into slavery; ends up in Egypt as a servant to the Pharoah. Later, during a time of famine, his father Jacob and his brothers immigrate into Egypt. Happily reunited with Joseph (to their good fortune), they remain in Egypt and prosper, becoming a "great and populous nation."
The result: a people who belong in Canaan (the land of their fathers) is now enslaved and oppressed in Egypt, in need of deliverance. Deliverance is brought by:
 
Moses
(and Aaron)
who lead the people to God's mountain
 
Sinai
(or Horeb), where:
a) they make a covenant with God, thereby
b) become His people, and
c) receive God's law.

After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, Moses dies, and his leadership role is taken up by his right-hand man:

Joshua

who leads God's people across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land.
 
 
At first, the Israelites live in a loose association of the 12 tribes that has come to be called
The Tribal Confederacy
During this period, there is no central government over all the Israelites. Rather, in times of crisis, the people are rallied by charismatic leaders whom collectively we call
Judges
because they "judge" God's people, calling them to account to live faithfully in accord with their covenant with God and in obedience to His laws.
 
After a time, however, the people lost faith in God's protection (that is, according to a later interpretation, they lost faith in themselves, in the power of their own faith) and they yearned for a king to rule over them (like other nations). God "relented" and during the time of the prophet Samuel,
Saul
was appointed king. He eventually lost favor with God and was replaced by
David
"the son of Jesse," "from whose household was to come "Priest, Prophet, and King" over all. After David, his kingdom was ruled by his son
Solomon

who was the first to build a fixed temple for God in Jerusalem.

After Solomon, the ten tribes in the North revolted and split from the two in the South, resulting in the period of

 
The Divided Kingdom
Judah in the South Israel in the North
 
The Northern Kingdom fell to
Assyria
in 721 B.C. and many of its inhabitants were deported. Judah was left basically intact but it became a vassal state.
Finally, in 587 B.C., Judah fell to the
Babylonians
and many of its inhabitants were exiled; the approximately 60-year period of their exile is often called
The Babylonian Captivity
 
When the Babylonian Empire was subsequently conquered by the Persian Empire, under the rule of
Cyrus the Great
many of the people were restored to the Jewish homeland over a period of years in several waves.
 
In the second great wave of returning exiles was the new governor
Nehemiah
who rebuilt Jerusalem and its Temple. During this period, religious reform was undertaken by the High Priest
Ezra
 
After more than two centuries of Persian rule, Palestine came within the orbit of Greek control as a result of the world conquest of
Alexander the Great
 
After the death of Alexander, his empire was divided into three major sections, with
a) the Ptolemy dynasty in control of Egypt,
b) the Seleucids in control of Syria and much of Asia Minor (Turkey), and
c) the Antigonids in control of Greece and Macedonia.
Alexander's policy of imposing Hellenistic culture everywhere was continued by his successors.
At first, Palestine was under the control of the Ptolemies of Egypt. Later, as the balance of power shifted, it came under the sway of the Seleucid king
Antiochus Epiphanes
who was insistent on the process of Hellenization, to the point of putting statues of the Greek gods in the Temple at Jerusalem.
 
When Antiochus's policies were forced upon the Jewish people, open revolution broke out under the leadership of
Mattathias
and his sons, in particular,
Judas Maccabeus
who has given his nickname to this uprising:
The Maccabean Revolt
and to the dynasty that followed
The Maccabees
as well as the biblical books of the same name.
 
The Maccabees were able to achieve Jewish independence for a time, but eventually disputes broke out between the different parties, and the strife was finally settled by the imposition of order by the Roman general
Pompey
who installed a new king, who was eventually replaced by his scheming Head Chamberlain,
Antipater
whose son
Herod the Great
expanded the Temple in Jerusalem dramatically, but who is also reported to have killed (among many others, according to the accounts of his life) all the children of a certain age in an attempt to eradicate the danger he felt was presented to his rule by the birth of a certain child born in Jerusalem during the great census of the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus, a child named by his parents
 
Jesus