The study - by Professor Thomas Thompson, one of the world's foremost authorities on biblical archaeology - says that the first 10 books of the Old Testament are almost certainly fiction, written between 500 and 1,500 years after the events they purport to describe.
Israel is the only country where the majority of the population identify as Jewish. Approximately 41% of the global Jewish population reside in Israel. The country is home to a diversity of Jewish and Christian traditions, while most Muslims identify with the Sunni tradition.
Genesis, Hebrew Bereshit (“In the Beginning”), the first book of the Bible. Its name derives from the opening words: “In the beginning….” Genesis narrates the primeval history of the world (chapters 1–11) and the patriarchal history of the Israelite people (chapters 12–50).
Hebrew Bible, also called Hebrew Scriptures, Old Testament, or Tanakh, collection of writings that was first compiled and preserved as the sacred books of the Jewish people.
The religious affiliation of the Israeli population as of 2019 was 74.2% Jewish, 17.8% Muslim, 2.0% Christian, and 1.6% Druze. The remaining 4.4% included faiths such as Samaritanism and Baháʼí as well as "religiously unclassified", the category for all who do not belong to one of the recognized communities.
JudeaChristianity began in Judea in the present-day Middle East. Jews there told prophecies about a Messiah who would remove the Romans and restore the kingdom of David. What we know about Jesus's life and his birth around 6 B.C.E., comes from the four Gospels.
There are several books (such as parts of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, the opening of Deuteronomy, and some Psalms including 78, 105, 106, 107) similar to some in this grouping of "Historical Books" in the sense that they contain narratives about the past, but they are found in different sections of the Bible.
For thousands of years, the prophet Moses was regarded as the sole author of the first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch.
The main story of the Bible is God revealing to us who He is: that He is a God of love and righteousness in complete contrast to sin and unrighteousness, with a constant appeal to us from God: 'I want you to come to know, love, trust and obey me, so that you may have abundant and eternal life, instead of death and ...
Israel is a gender-neutral name of Hebrew origin. Derived from the Hebrew Yisrael, it means "God perseveres" and shares its name with a Middle-Eastern nation. Israel is used for boys and girls and can be shortened to Izzy or Rae as an endearing nickname.
Southern LevantThe Land of Israel (Hebrew: אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל, Modern: ʾEreṣ Yīsraʾel, Tiberian: ʾEreṣ Yīsrāʾēl) is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant.
Even after nearly 2,000 years of its existence, and centuries of investigation by biblical scholars, we still don't know with certainty who wrote its various texts, when they were written or under what circumstances.