The Old Testament in 300 words

This is the story of this world’s beginning, the emergence of earliest humanity, down to one man, Abra(ha)m, founding patriarch, from whose descendants came a family, followed by a group of clans under the name, Israel. Abram had moved from Mesopotamia (now Iraq) via north Syria into Canaan (Palestine ). Later, his grandson and family came down to Egypt, staying there for generations, until they escaped to Sinai, had a covenant and laws with their deity as their ruler, and moved on to what is now Jordan back into Canaan. A checkered phase of settlement culminated in a local monarchy. David and Solomon are said to have subdued their neighbors, holding a brief ‘empire’ in the 10th century BC, until this was lost and the realm split into two rival petty kingdoms called Israel (to the north) and Judah (to the south). These lasted until Assyria destroyed Israel by 722BC and Neo-Babylon destroyed Judah by 586 BC, with much of their population exiled into Mesopotamia (the land of Abraham’s birth). Then Persia took over Babylon. Some captive Judeans (henceforth called Jews), were allowed back to Canaan to renew their small community during the 5th century BC, while others stayed on both in Babylon and in Egypt. The library of writings that contains this narrative includes versions of laws and covenant reputedly enacted at Mount Sinai, and renewed in Moab and Canaan. Writings in the names of various spokesmen or prophets were added. They sought to call the people back to their own god YHWH. The Psalms or Hebrew hymns and prayers, and various forms of wisdom literature, whether discussive or instructional, were also added. From Abraham to Ezra and Nehemiah, the entire history spanned around 1600 years, c.2000 to c.400 BC.