1. true or false: ancient hebrews were the predecessors for modern jews
2. why were hebrew beliefs fairly unique for their time?
3. what was deborah's role and why was it special?
4. name the three hebrew kings and their contributions.
5. what do christians believe about jesus?
6. why was jesus punished?
7. in your own words, explain how christianity spread.
8. true or false: islam was always central to arab religious society.
9. what event made muhammed decide to begin teaching islam?
10. how did muhammed deal with other religions?
11. describe the 5 duties of a muslim.
12. true or false: islam is a polytheistic religion.

1. True

The Ancient Hebrews are considered to be the predecessors of the modern day Jews. The Judaism was what was defining this ethnic group throughout history, and it was also what held them together, Even though on multiple occasions the Ancient Hebrews had to change locations, sometimes willfully, sometimes forcefully, they kept their identity and kept their ethnic and religious core. Over time, there has been certain influx of other ethnic groups, but the core has remained as it has been in general, so we can comfortably say that the modern day Jews are the descendants of the Ancient Hebrews.

2. The Hebrews were the people that invented and started off the religion known as Judaism. This religion was actually their trademark and what was defining them from the other people. The Judaism was unique though for its time, as it was a monotheistic religion, meaning that it had only one supreme God. There were also other sacred figures in the sense of prophets, but only one God, while all the other religions of that time were still polytheistic. The Judaism is actually the basis on which the two other major monotheistic religions emerged, the Christianity and the Islam.

3. In the Bible, Deborah has a unique and very important role. What is unique is that she is the only woman that had an important role in the Bible, as there is no other female figure that bears any important title. Deborah was a Judge, the Fourth judge to be more specific, according to the Book of Judges. She is also considered as a prophet, something that has always been attributed to male figures, so she breaks that uninterrupted line.

4. The three Hebrew kings come from three different houses that were the most important and most influential. From the House of Gideon it is Gideon's son, Abimelech, from the House of Saul it is Saul, and from the House of David it was David. The greatest achievement of Abimelech was that he was the first king that established a kingdom for the Hebrew people. Saul's greatest achievement was that he managed to unite all of the Hebrew people in order to make the kingdom stronger and fence of the foreign threats. The biggest achievement of David was that he established Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and set the basis for it to become a sacred city.

5. The Christians believe that Jesus is the last prophet sent by God on Earth. Also, they believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus was considered as a sacred person, as demi-God in many ways, and he was the chosen one that was supposed to get the humans back on the right way. Jesus though was not a Christian himself, nor was he propagating a new religion, but instead he was Jew, and was trying to reform and get back on track the Judaism.

6. Jesus was punished because of two major reasons. One was that the Jewish priests that wanted to keep things in the old way wanted him out of the picture, and the other was that he became a big threat to the Roman rule in Israel. Instead of keeping his back and join in, the Jewish priests saw Jesus as threat and that he was not propagating the religion in the rightful manner, thus they even collaborated with the Romans in order to set him up and eliminate him. The Romans were concerned because Jesus was rapidly gaining a big following, so they feared that if he continues like that the people will turn on them and they will lose the territory, so the end decision was to crucify him and eliminate him.

7. The Christianity started off in Israel. It was rapidly gaining large following, and even after Jesus was crucified the trend continued. The word quickly spread around about Jesus’ actions and teachings, and lot of people, especially the poor and enslaved ones found the new faith very appealing. The Christianity spread in the Middle East and Northern Africa very quickly, as well as Ethiopia through the trade routes. Next, through Anatolia, the Christianity came on European soil, with the Macedonians being the first ones to accept it, and then followed the Greeks, and the rest of people in the Balkans. Despite the religion being illegal and the followers of it were persecuted, they still continued to spread. Over time, the Christianity was made an official religion in many states, and it was mostly spreading through missionaries, politics, and conquering and converting.

8. False

The Islam has not always been the central religion of the Arab societies. The Arabs were polytheistic, they believed in numerous Gods, and they had several different religions, depending from place to place. The Islam only came to be the dominant religion among the Arabs since the sixth century, and by the seventh century it was the religion that dominates the whole peninsula and region. The closest connection between the ancient Arab beliefs and the Islam is the Ka'aba, which is actually a pagan sacred site which has also become the most sacred site in Islam as well.