What did God promise Abraham in his covenant?

What was the first covenant between Abraham and God?

Key Stage 1

Religious education

Judaism

﻿We're learning about religious education, and our religion is Judaism. And our big question for today is going to be this one here. What was the first covenant between Abraham and God? What was the first covenant between Abraham and God? Now there's some new language in there. So we're going to have to learn lots and lots to be able to answer this question today, but that's okay. The first part of our lesson, we're going to look at where Judaism began, where and when this religion began. Then you're going to find out about this person called Abraham, and all about how we know about him. After that, you're going to find out about how God gave Abraham a test or how Jews believe that Abraham was tested by God. Then we're going to finish up drawing a lovely story map, and I'm going to show you how to do that. Finally, we will have our end of lesson quiz. Our first question... Oh, before we get started in part. What are you going to need in this lesson? Remember that you will need a piece of paper or an exercise book to write in. So I'm going to ask you to stop and pause and write, and that means you're going to need a pencil or a pen. And for today's lesson, it will be quite helpful if you had a coloured pen or some coloured pencils as well. If you don't have one, then that's fine; don't worry. But if you do have one, it will be useful. So you can pause the video and make sure you've got all of your equipment now. Lovely. And in today's lesson, we're going to be learning some new vocabulary, some new words to use for our new subject. So let's look at what some of our key vocabulary is going to be. Our first word is going to be Canaan. Canaan. I'm going to say it and then I want you to say it. Canaan. Canaan. Great work. Saying it out loud helps you to remember it much better. Our next word is Tanakh. Tanakh. Excellent. It's okay if you don't know what these words mean at the moment. I'm going to teach you all about them in the lesson. Canaan and Tanakh, we're going to see those words. Covenant. My turn, your turn. Covenant. Good; Can you say it with a low voice like this? Covenant. And can you say it with a high voice like this? Covenant. You're amazing; covenant. And lastly, sacrifice. Can I hear you? Sacrifice. Well done. You can already say all of those new words, Canaan, Tanakh, covenant, sacrifice. We're going to be using all of those words today, so you're already going to learn lots of new things. So where did Judaism begin? Let's start by looking at a map of the world. Here it is. Here's the map of the world; can you point where we live? Can you find Great Britain? Can you find England? Can you find where we live? Can you point to it? If you are pointing to here, then give yourself a pat on the back; well done. This is where we live and here's all of Europe here, but we are going to be flying across Europe and towards this place here, and we call this area the Middle East. Okay, so it just going to be focused on the Middle East for this lesson. And in fact, I'm going to just take this away. In fact, I can make this a little bit bigger if I've got your help. So I want you to grab the screen with your hands and put it towards you and see if we can make it zoom; get ready. One. One, two, three. Great work, you made it get really big. So we zoomed in to the Middle East. This white bit here is all sea. So this is the Mediterranean Sea and these bits, the grey and the green, these are all the countries that we're going to be looking at. We're going to be looking at this area in particular, because this is where Judaism began. I'm going to give you a different map so you can see it now. So Let's change the map. So it looks very similar. It looks like that map to that map. And we're looking at this area. It's sometimes called the Levant, but for our lesson, we're going to call it Canaan. That's its old name. In the olden times, this area was called Canaan. What was it called? Canaan And near to Canaan, there was the country of Egypt, which you might know. There was an Anatolia, which we call Turkey these days. There was Mesopotamia, which now we call Iraq. And there's the Arabian Peninsula, which is Saudi Arabia. So the names of these places have changed as new countries have come. But in the olden times, and by the olden times, I mean 4,000 years ago, which is where we're looking at, this is what all of the different places were called. Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Anatolia, and this red area here, Canaan. And you need to know this map because this is where all happened. This is where the religion began. And in fact, I want you to know that map so well that I would like to see if you could copy this map. It's a tricky challenge to start us off with, but could you pause the video and in your book, or if you've got a plain piece of paper, see if you can copy this map? Now you're going to need to use your pen or pencil to trace the line along the coast. You can see I'm doing my red pointer now. And really carefully, see if you can copy all of these different coasts so that you have a map of Canaan, just like the one on the screen now. So in your book, copy the map of the Middle East. Pause the video and have a go at that now. Super; I would love to see your maps to see how neatly you've drawn them. That way of it is a bit tricky. You might need to try a few times, but you'll be able to get a really good map if you look hard at that picture and copy it onto your piece of paper. So we're in the Middle East; we're in Canaan. That's where we're looking at. Okay, that's where Judaism began. And the person that started Judaism is this person called Abraham. Abraham. We know about Abraham because he was written all about in a book. It's actually kind of like a scroll, and the scroll looks like this. You can see it on your screen now. And this scroll has a special name. It's the holy book for Jews, okay? So the religion is Judaism and people that follow that religion are called Jews. Okay, so you're a Jew if you follow the religion of Judaism; and it began, this religion, with Abraham, and we know all about him from this book, the special sacred holy book for Jews, and that book is called the Tanakh. I told you that we'd learn about it. That's what that book is called. My turn, your turn; the Tanakh. Tanakh is the Jewish holy book. And that book, some people think that that book was written by somebody called Moses, and we're going to learn all about Moses in a later lesson. Some people think that that book was written by Moses. The Tanakh was written by Moses. Not everybody thinks that. Some people think maybe it was written later by other people, but a lot of people think that it was written by Moses. And we call this book; in fact, we call any holy, religious text "scripture." That's what we call it. So let's find out a little bit about what the Tanakh tells us about Abraham. Well, Abraham lived... To begin with, Abraham didn't live in Canaan, okay? He wasn't there to begin with; that's not where he was born. He was actually born in a different place, where you can see that red dot, and that place was called Ur. Ur. And that was in Mesopotamia, which is what we now call Iraq. That was where he was born, and he was born there in about 1800 BCE, 1,800 years before Jesus was born, so before the year zero. So we've had 2020 years back to zero and then another 1800 years. So it's about, well, can you work it out? How many years ago was Abraham born? Can only be worked out. It's about 2000 years and then about 2000 years. So how many years ago was Abraham born? About? About 4,000; well done. You're very good at maths; I'm really impressed. About 4,000 years ago. That's when Abraham was living in Mesopotamia. And something very special happened to Abraham. This is what Jews believe. Something very special happened because one day, he was visited by God. God spoke to Abraham. He hadn't spoken to anybody before, but he spoke to Abraham. Now where Abraham lived in Ur, in Mesopotamia, they believed in lots and lots of gods. They were polytheists. We learned about that in the Shang Dynasty; polytheists. There were lots of gods, and people thought there were lots of gods. But God said to Abraham, hey, you think that there's lots of gods. That's what everybody thinks. You're all polytheists. That is wrong. There are not lots of gods, there's only one God, me. So you should worship just one God, me, because there aren't any other gods. Everybody else is wrong. That's what God told Abraham, and he gave him a promise or a covenant. A covenant is like a deal or a promise. And he said, "If you just worship me, then I will give you your own nation. I'll give you your own land, and that nation will be filled with millions and millions of children and people. It will be filled with people." Now Abraham, at this point, was about 100 years old and he didn't have any children. So he thought, "How could this be true? I'm 100 years old; my wife is 90 years old. How can we have a nation full of children when we don't have any children? And so God gave him another promise. He said, "I will give you a son. I will give you a son and you will call the son, Isaac, if you only worship me, if you only wish me as your only God." And then he said, "Leave your place and go on a journey." So Abraham went on a journey. He travelled all the way up from Ur. He travelled all the way up the river and down into Canaan. Trace your finger now along Abraham's journey. Use your finger to trace that along. You can see he's going up north all through Mesopotamia, along the river, and down the coast here, and into Canaan. That's where he went, that's where Abraham travelled. So could you draw that journey on your map that you did? Can you draw a map from Ur? So you have to find that place of Ur. And could you draw a line like that to show Abraham's journey that he went on with his wife to Canaan? Pause the video and try and do that now. Lovely work; you're working so hard and you're already learning so much about Judaism. You already know about Abraham and about how he got a message from God. And God said, "You need to go with your wife to a new land that will become your nation and I will give you a son." So Abraham travelled with his wife. So here's a question for you to see if you can remember one of the key facts that I'm trying to get you to remember. How many years ago did Abraham live? When was Abraham born? How many years ago did he live? It could have been about 40 years ago. Did Abraham live about 40 years ago, about 400 years ago, about 4,000 years ago, or about 4 million years ago? Stop and have a little bit of a think. How many years ago did Abraham live? Did you put 4,000 years ago? Well done if you did. Abraham lived about 4,000 years ago. That's when the religion of Judaism began. The next part of our lesson is going to be a little bit scary. It's a story all about how God tested Abraham. I'm going to show you a picture and I want you to look really closely at it. What can you see? I can see that there's a man here and I can see that there's a boy here, and the boy is carrying something. What is the boy carrying? Say out loud, what do you think he's carrying? It looks like some sticks, doesn't it? Some sticks all tied together. And I can see that they're walking through the trees, and I can see oh my gosh, can you see that? Can you see what the man is holding? Have another look. He's holding a sword, a big sword, and he's pointing up towards something. And I can see here. If I look closely, I can see the word Abraham, Abraham down here. Now I can't read the rest of it 'cause it's actually written in another language called Latin, and I don't speak Latin, but it's written in Latin. And this picture was drawn about 700 years ago, and it's a picture of Abraham. And it's a picture of Abraham and his son, Isaac. Because just like God said, even though Abraham was 100 years old and his wife, Sarah, was 90 years old, she had a son, Isaac. Abraham and Isaac... Abraham and Sarah had a son called Isaac. Even though they thought they were too old to have a son, God promised it to them, and so they had a son. This is what Jewish people believe. This is what Jews believe. And Abraham and Sarah were so happy. They didn't think that they were going to get to have a son, and then they had a son. So they were delighted until one morning, this is the story of God's test for Abraham from the Tanakh. I'm going to tell it to you now. One morning, God said to Abraham, "I want you to take your son, Isaac. I want you to take him up a mountain called Mount Moriah and I want you to kill him. I want you to sacrifice your son, Isaac, to me." Now, at this time, people would give sacrifices to gods, usually animals. So they would kill animals on altars, like tables, and they would often burn them. They would burn them afterwards, and that was a sacrifice. It was like a gift to God to say, I'm going to give this to you. But God was saying to Abraham, I want you to sacrifice your only son to me. I want you to sacrifice Isaac that you've just got. Now, Abraham didn't want to disappoint God, and he was scared of God, and he had faith in God. So he took Isaac up the mountain. And Isaac said, "Father, we're going to give an offering to God. We're going to give a sacrifice, but where's the offering? Where's the sacrifice? Where's the lamb or what are we going to sacrifice?" And Abraham said, "Don't worry, son. When we get to the top of the mountain, God will provide a sacrifice." And they climbed up and they got to the top of the mountain. And when they did, there was nothing there. So Abraham put down the sticks, took out a cord, and he wrapped it around Isaac to tie him up. And he lay him down on the sticks. And just as he did, God sent down an angel and said, "Stop, stop! You don't need to kill your son, Isaac. You don't need to sacrifice him. You've passed my test. I can see that you had complete faith in me and that you had fear of me, and so you've passed my test and you don't need to sacrifice your son anymore. And I will give you lots more sons and I will give you your nation." And that's the story of Isaac and Abraham. Before they went down, they saw a ram, which is a kind of a male sheep that had his horn sort of stuck in a bush. And so Isaac looked at it and said to his father, "Father, look, there's a ram. That could be the sacrifice." And so they sacrificed the ram instead and burned that to offer it up to God. That's the story of Abraham and his son, Isaac; and it's the story of the star of the religion of Judaism, where God made promises to Abraham and told him that he would have a great nation in Canaan. And in Canaan now, we call that place now Israel and Palestine, and that's where lots of Jewish people live now, that land. And way back 4,000 years ago, Jews believe that Abraham first went there and first began to create that nation of Jewish people to that one God in Canaan. So let's see if we can remember all the steps of that story. We're going to draw a story map now. So I'm going to draw a little bit of a grid that looks a little bit like that. Now you can fold your piece of paper if it's helpful, or you can use a ruler to try and draw it. I've got one, two, three boxes here, and then I've got some little boxes for some writings. I want to write a sentence. And then four, five, six. So I've got some more boxes down here and then again, and little space for some writing. So you need to draw all of these boxes or you can fold your paper to help you. So pause the video now to see if you can draw that grid so that you're ready to draw your story map. Pause the video and draw your grid. Great; you ready to go? We're going to draw a story map, and that means drawing pictures to show what happened in the story of Abraham and Isaac. So I'm going to help you with this and there's a few different things that you could do. You could, if you wanted to, you could stop after every sentence, after every picture. You can pause the video and just draw that picture. Or you can wait for me to recap the whole story and then all of your pictures about all of the story. Okay, it's your choice. Either listen and pause, or listen to the whole thing, then pause and draw. So what happened first in our story? Well, the first thing is that Abraham travelled to Canaan with his wife, Sarah. What would you draw for Abraham travelling to Canaan with his wife, Sarah? You could draw the map with the journey. You could draw a picture of them. Maybe they're travelling by donkey. Pause the video now and draw that, or you can wait until the end and draw all the pictures. Next. What happened next in our story? Well, Abraham had a son, Isaac. Even though he was 100 years old and his wife, Sarah, was 90 years old, Abraham still had his son, Isaac. Pause the video now and draw that if you'd like to. And what happened next in our story? Right after that, God told Abraham to take Isaac to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him. Remember he told him, you need to take your son up to the top of the mountain and sacrifice him to me. That was his test. Pause the video and draw that if you'd like to. Abraham followed God's instruction. He tied Isaac up, ready to kill his son. But then God said, "You don't have to kill Isaac. You've passed my test." He sent an angel down and told Abraham, "You don't have to kill him, you've passed my test." And so Abraham and Isaac saw the ram and they decided, let's sacrifice the ram instead. So make sure you've got a picture for each of those. And you could write that sentence in below as well. And well done. You've learned how the religion of Judaism began. This is what all Jews believe. The first prophet to speak to God happened with the first prophet. And it's not just Jews actually, Christianity and Islam also believe that Abraham was a great prophet who spoke to God. That's why they're called the Abrahamic religions. So Christianity and Judaism and Islam are all called Abrahamic religions. Abrahamic because of Abraham. That's why they call Abrahamic religions. And they all believe hat God first made a covenant, a promise to Abraham, where he told him, you will be the father of a great nation and you will have lots of children. And because Abraham passed his test, it became the first covenant with God and people. Well done for working so hard with our new topic all about Judaism. In the next lesson, we're going to learn about another special man called Moses, and another prophet who God also spoke to. We're going to learn about how Moses had to lead his people, the Jewish people, out of Egypt, where they were being oppressed as slaves. Now, if you've drawn a lovely story map, which I'm sure that you have, then I would love to see it. And the way that you can show it to me is you can ask your parents or your carers to put it onto Twitter, and post it onto Twitter, I'll be able to see it. And I see all of those and I read all of those and I try to respond to as many as I can. So I'd love to see yours. So if you want me to see yours, then take a photo of your lovely picture. Make sure it's really good, because if you're putting on Twitter, it needs to be your best work. And then you can it in. Ask your parents and carers to send it in and I will be able to see it. The last thing that you need to do to lock all of your new learning in is having another go at that quiz. So close this video now, go on to the next screen and answer the quiz, and I will see you for our next lesson all about Judaism and religion. Thank you for working so hard. Great work. I'll see you next time.

What was the first covenant between Abraham and God?

What was the first covenant between Abraham and God?

Slide deck

Lesson details

Key learning points

Licence

Video

Exit quiz

6 Questions

Lesson appears in

UnitReligious education / Judaism

Religious education