About 2000 before the birth of Jesus Christ a group of shepherds their sheep. This nomadic race is popularly known as the Hebrews' or the Jews'. Their story is related in the Old Testament, the early part of the sacred religious book The Bible. From this book we come to know that the Jews are the descendants of a person named Abraham. The Jews were spending their days quite merrily by wandering here and there. At long last they settled down at Ur on the coast of the river Euphrates. At one time in that there was famine which led the Jews to take refuge in Egypt. After living for nearly 500 years there when a foreign race called Hyksos invaded Egypt from the north, the Jews took sides with them. In Egypt the Jews lived safely and in peace so long as the Hyksos kept Egypt under their domination. Almost a hundred years later the Egyptians revolted against the Hyksos and very soon drove them out and won freedom. This marked the beginning of the days of the Jews. The Egyptian Pharaoh started torturing the Jews severely the plea that they had helped the Hyksos who were their enemies. The Jews were made into slaves and forced to perform many laborious tasks like the construction of roads and pyramids. The Pharaoh issued a decree that a newly born Jewish male child would be thrown into the water of the Nile so that the Jews might not increase in number. A vigilant watch was also kept at the frontier of Egypt so that the Jews might not escape from the land. The unbearable tortures inflicted on the Jews by the Pharaoh, however, helped them to be united into a strong nation. After many years of misery and distress the Jews were liberated from the bondage of the Pharaoh through the leadership of a young man named Moses.
