God promised Abraham that the Jews (his descendants) would inherit the land of Canaan. .
The teachings of Judaism are based upon the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), which consists of three sections: Torah, Prophets and Writings. The collection as a whole is referred to as the Tanak. The Torah consists of the first five books of the Hebrew bible written by Moses. Traditionally it is believed to be the revelation of God to Moses. While, conventional Judaism teaches that God revealed the Torah to Moses, eccentric forms of Judaism recognize the insights and approaches of modern biblical scholarship (Rosenberg pg.32). The Torah tells the story of the foundation of Judaism. More importantly, Torah consists of the defining cornerstone on which Judaism is built and will rest. (Robinson pg. 264) The books contained in Torah are the basis of belief (Robinson pg. 279). The second section of the Hebrew bible, Nevi"im (the Prophets) is considered to have been written by people blessed with the spirit of prophecy. It contains a record of most of the important history in the years after Moses. The third portion of the Hebrew bible, Ketuvim (the Writings), is made up of various kinds of writings. The books in the Writings are considered to be less sacred than the books of the Prophets. Although both the Prophets and the Writings are believed to have been the work of people blessed with the spirit of prophecy, the books of the Prophets are deemed to have been written under direct inspiration from God, while the books in the Writings are supposed to be the work of prophets working in a normal manner. (Rosenberg pg. 36) .
Although most Jews lived by the laws of the Torah, the interpretation of the Torah is what caused the Jewish people to divide into three major sections: the Sadducees, Essenes, and Pharisees. The Sadducees believed in the Torah and only the Torah. They taught that only the written law of the Torah represented the revelation of God.
