Name two ways that early Judaism differed from other religions of the time?

Answer 1

During this time the concept of monotheism(belief in one God) was almost unheard of at this time. An equally unheard of idea was that a god one form a relationship with humans and constantly and actively be in their lives. People who lived during the time of the Israelites would make sacrifices to their gods hoping that the gods would not interfere in their lives. Jewish beliefs and practices were very different. People would pray to God to be present and to be a powerful force in their life. They also believe that everything upon the planet was created in His image-both male and female.

AnswerLang, cited by Keel and Uehlinger (Gods, Goddesses and Images of God in Ancient Israel) tells us of Israelite and Jewish beliefs prior to the Babylonian Exile: "In the four and a half centuries during which there were one or two Israelite monarchies (ca. 1020-586 B.C.), there was a dominant, polytheistic religion that was indistinguishable from that of neighboring peoples. Insofar as there were differences between the Ammonite, Moabite, Edomite, Tyrian, etc. versions of religion, these beliefs stayed within the framework of Near Eastern polytheism, and each should be interpreted as a local variant of the same basic pattern. The Israelites . . . venerated their own protector god who was there to provide for health and family. But they venerated Yahweh [God] as well, the regional and national god, whose special domain dealt with war and peace issues. Finally, they worshiped gods who performed specific functions, those that were responsible for various special needs: weather, rain, women's fertility, etc." This is not the view that has come down to us in the Tanach (Old Testament), but we are enjoined not to confuse the minority opinion expressed in the religious literature preserved in the Tanach with the historic religion of Israel in the pre-Exilic period.

The Bible tells us that King Josiah, in the late monarchy of Judah, introduced religious reforms, making monotheistic worship of the God the national religion of Judah. As noted by Andrew D. H. Mayes (The World of Ancient Israel: Sociological, Anthropological and Political Perspectives, Sociology and the Old Testament) those reforms were either written back into the Bible at a later date, or were only partly successful prior to the Babylonian Exile. By the post-Exilic period, Jewish belief was either thoroughly or predominantly monotheistic, and thus differed from the religious beliefs of Judah's neighbours. Apart from Judaism, only the Zoroastrian religion of the Persians, who had liberated the Jews, was monotheistic. Post-Exilic Judaism and Zoroastrianism were the only religions that believed in heaven as a place of reward after death, angels and the devil (although Judaism soon discarded the concept of a devil, regarding Satan as a loyal assistant to God, tasked with testing the righteousness of the faithful).

Answer 2

• Judaism was monotheistic.
• Judaism did not believe in making statues to represent G-d.