Knowra Israelites Israelites The Israelites were an ancient people who traced their ancestry to Jacob, also called Israel. Their traditions and history form the foundation of Judaism and Jewish history.
Jacob : In the Hebrew Bible, Jacob is the son of Isaac, the father of twelve sons, and the man renamed Israel. Israelite ancestry is traced to Jacob and his twelve sons.
Israelite religion : The religious traditions practiced by ancient Israelites before and during the development of Judaism. Shared worship and religious traditions helped define Israelite identity.
Kingdom of Israel : The northern Israelite kingdom that emerged after the united monarchy and fell to Assyria in the eighth century BCE. It was one major political expression of Israelite identity.
Judeans : The people associated with the ancient Kingdom of Judah and its inhabitants, especially in periods following the division of the monarchy. Judeans were a historically specific community within the broader story of Israelite identity.
Judaism : The monotheistic religion of the Jewish people, grounded in scripture, rabbinic interpretation, ritual, and communal tradition. Judaism inherited and developed religious traditions associated with ancient Israel.
Twelve Tribes of Israel : The traditional twelve kinship groups descended from Jacob’s sons, associated with the people of Israel. The tribes express how Israelite identity was organized through shared descent.
Yahweh : The national god of ancient Israel and Judah, whose name is represented in the Hebrew Bible by the four-letter divine name YHWH. Worship of Yahweh became central to Israelite religion.
Kingdom of Judah : An ancient kingdom centered on Jerusalem that emerged after the united monarchy and endured until the Babylonian conquest. Judah preserved Israelite traditions after the northern kingdom’s fall.
Samaritans : An ethnoreligious community whose traditions trace their ancestry to ancient Israelites and center worship on Mount Gerizim. Samaritan identity preserves a distinct Israelite heritage beside Jewish traditions.
Jewish diaspora : The dispersion and settlement of Jewish communities beyond the land of Israel across different historical periods. Exile and later migrations carried Israelite-derived traditions beyond the homeland.
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