I. In ancient times monotheism was an abnormality when it came to religions. Most religions believed in more than one deity making the creation of Judaism a groundbreaking religion. Having a monotheistic background shaped the beliefs and practices to obey the rules of one almighty power and have all trust and faith in him. Doing the opposite only makes it harder for the follower to receive the blessings and understanding of his or her God. Jewish followers believed in YAHWEH, they saw him as the "Lord of Hosts," which at this time in history was called functional monotheism. The covenant which was the relationship that each follower had with YHWH was always meant to be maintained. This relationship is vital to being a follower of this religion because it is written that if "the covenants faithfulness" stays mutual then God will always do his part in your life, but if not then he will forsake you as you did him. The prophets that taught the word of God were followers of the religion and preached that if righteousness was not a priority for followers then they would receive judgment from God, (Judgment is the punishment you receive that is unpleasant, YAHWEH departs and foreigners conquer your land.)Israel who had followers that were unfaithful to the covenant had the same passage taught to them and were even spared before receiving judgment. Exile was put upon the nation of Israel for their unfaithfulness, due to their lack of understanding or just will to do what they please while worshiping YAHWEH. The guidelines of how to stay faithful and maintain the covenant is written in the holy scrolls, which is also known as the word of God. The holy scrolls consists of three main texts; Torah, Prophet, and the Talmud. The Torah is law, it contains five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. This is what most call the beginning which often makes followers want to call it "law  but with other writings that have precepts of judgment, making Torah "law" is somewhat of an invalid statement. The second text is Prophets, which hosts a number of warnings to get all followers back to the covenant. Lastly, you have the Talmud which has a long series of commentaries. Talmud is basically an extension of the Torah because it too has the rules and regulations on how to stay mutual with the covenant and bypass judgment and exile. The creation of the holy scrolls made the exile that Israel entered look self-imposed because these guidelines were given to them but they instead tested YHWH and as a result had no choice but to beg and earn their righteousness back making them ultimate believers, so much that many expected a messiah to bring about the return of YHWH and end the exile. They hoped this messiah would lead military liberation or suffer for the nation. The Talmud is a strong indicator of what was to come and eventually came