Episode list

In 586BC, the Babylonians lead almost all that remains of the tribe of Judah, the Israelites, to exile in Babylon. Only a few generations earlier, the northern tribes of the Israelites were taken into exile and vanished forever. Now the Judeans, too, seem destined to disappear. They fight back, however, by writing a book. Using Judean stories from the past to explain present disastrous situations, the book becomes the earliest edition of the most influential work in history: the Bible. This introduces the early and profoundly influential figures of Judaism: Abraham, who is the first to recognize the concept of one God; Moses, who receives the Ten Commandments from God; and David, whose sins teach the Israelites that no one is above the law of God.

The second program in the series begins with the arrival in Jerusalem of a scribe named Ezra, in 458 BC, who proceeds to read the Bible to the mostly illiterate Judeans. Study of the Bible then becomes an essential part of Jewish life.

The Roman general Pompeii leads his legions into the land of Judea. It is the beginning of a clash of cultures between Rome and the Jews that would grow into one of the most brutal conflicts in history. It also pits Jew against Jew.

With the destruction of the Temple, the Romans destroy the only place on earth where Jews can worship God, leaving rabbis struggling to reinvent the religion of Moses and David.