The history and characteristics of the Hebrews are fully dealt with in
the Old Testament, the important parts of which should be familiar to
everyone.
They were a pure Semitic race, akin to the Phœnicians, Chaldeans, and
Assyrians. The founder of the nation was Abraham, who, about the
twenty-third century before Christ, removed from the plains of
Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan, on the southeastern coast of the
Mediterranean Sea. This land has since been variously named Palestine,
Canaan, the Land of Israel, or the Holy Land, and was the scene of most
of the great events of the Bible. Just as the old name Canaan denoted
originally the low-lying country along the coast, so Palestine means
literally “Land of the Philistines,” and was not used of the inland
districts before the time of the Romans.