What was one significant difference between the ancient Hebrews and other ancient civilizations of the Fertile Crescent?

Answer 1

They worshiped only One God.

Answer:

The Hebrews were different in that their religion rejected idolatry. Abraham worshiped "the Lord God of Heaven and Earth" (Genesis 14:22 and 24:3) and complained about the Philistines' lack of fear of God (Genesis 20:11).

Answer 2

The religion of the Hebrews (Judaism) differed from other ancient religions in the following ways:

1) It was the only religion in which God spoke to the entire assembled nation (Exodus ch.19) of over two million people.

2) It made a complete break from the surrounding idolatry. Their monotheism (belief in One God) set the Jews apart because other ancient nations did not share it. We've heard (for example) of the Greek mythology and Roman mythology. What not everyone is aware of is that idolatry tended to go hand in hand with cruel, licentious and excessive behavior, since the caprices which were narrated concerning the idols were adopted as an excuse to imitate those types of behavior.

Compare that to God, who reveals His attributes in the Torah as wise, kind, holy, and pure. God is One, so the command to imitate His attributes (Deuteronomy 8:6) was (and is) a straightforward matter once one is even minimally familiar with the Torah.

Accordingly, Judaism was:

3) The only ancient religion in which a large percentage of its adherents were literate and scholars.

4) It was the only religion in which the people were ruled by God, with no need for a king, for several centuries (see Judges 8:23 and 1 Samuel 8:4-7).

5) The concept of morality was also the work of the Hebrews' religion, including the dignity and value of a person. It is the responsibility of the community to support the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the stranger passing through.

6) Under the law of Judaism, everyone had recourse to the courts. A child, widow, wife, etc., could initiate legal action against any citizen to redress perpetrated harm. Compare this to those societies in which (at most) only mature, land-owning males had rights.

7) Government is accountable to a higher authority. In other ancient societies, the monarch was all-powerful. Among the Israelites, however, the king was under the constant scrutiny of the Divinely-informed prophets, who didn't hesitate to castigate him publicly for any misstep in the sight of God. And, other than for the crime of rebellion, the king couldn't punish any citizen by his own decision. He was obligated by the Torah-procedures like everyone else (Talmud, Sanhedrin 19a).

8) A robber repays double to his victim, or works it off. Unlike in many other ancient societies, in Judaism debtors are not imprisoned or harmed. They are made to sell property and/or work to repay what they owe. Compare this to the Roman practice by which anyone could accuse a man of owing them money and the debtor could be killed.

It is important to note that every one of the above existed in Judaism thousands of years earlier than in other nations. Here's just one example: Aristotle, who was among the greatest of the Greeks, and Seneca, the famous Roman, both write that killing one's young babies is perfectly acceptable.

Answer 3

Mark S. Smith (The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel) says that according to the available evidence, Hebrew religion in its earliest form did not contrast markedly with the religions of its Levantine neighbours in either number or configuration of deities. The number of deities in Israel was relatively typical for the region. He says that, as they did in the religions of surrounding states, some old Canaanite deities continued within an Israelite pantheon dominated by a national god. However, Judahite belief tended away from polytheism and towards monolatry in the late monarchy, becoming monotheistic after the Babylonian Exile. The period after the Babylonian Exile, known as Second-Temple Judaism, is also marked by the rejection of human sacrifice to God.

Answer 4

At the time of Abraham the Hebrew, the area where he lived was full of pagan cults; they were polytheistic, worshiping multiple deities. Abraham was the first to advance the idea of ethical monotheism: the worship of One God, and the appropriate ethical code of conduct.
The Israelites differed from other ancient peoples in the following ways:
1) It was the only religion in which God spoke to the entire assembled nation (Exodus ch.19) of over two million people.

2) It made a complete break from the surrounding idolatry.

See: Israelite monotheism

Their belief in One God set the Israelites apart because other ancient nations did not share it. We've heard (for example) of Greek mythology and Roman mythology. What not everyone is aware of is that idolatry tended to go hand in hand with cruel, licentious and excessive behavior, since the caprices which were narrated concerning the pagan gods were adopted as an excuse to imitate those types of behavior.

Compare that to God, who reveals His attributes in the Torah as wise, kind, holy, and pure. God is One, so the command to imitate His attributes (Deuteronomy 8:6) was (and is) a straightforward matter once one is even minimally familiar with the Torah.

(See: What do Jews believe God is like?)

Accordingly, Judaism was:

3) The only ancient religion in which a large percentage of its adherents were literate and scholars.

4) It was the only religion in which the people were ruled by God, with no need for a king, for several centuries (see Judges 8:23 and 1 Samuel 8:4-7).

5) The concept of morality was also the work of the Hebrews' religion, including the dignity and value of a person. It is the responsibility of the community to support the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the stranger passing through.

6) Under the law of Judaism, everyone had recourse to the courts. A child, widow, wife, poor person, etc., could initiate legal action against any citizen to redress perpetrated harm. Compare this to those societies in which only mature, land-owning males had rights.

7) Government is accountable to a higher authority. In other ancient societies, the monarch was all-powerful. Among the Israelites, however, the king was under the constant scrutiny of the Divinely-informed prophets, who didn't hesitate to castigate him publicly for any misstep in the sight of God.

And, other than for the crime of rebellion, the king couldn't punish any citizen by his own decision. He was obligated by the Torah-procedures like everyone else (Talmud, Sanhedrin 19a).

8) A robber repays double to his victim, or works it off. Unlike in many other ancient societies, in Judaism debtors are not imprisoned or harmed. They are made to sell property and/or work to repay what they owe. Compare this to the Roman practice by which anyone could accuse a man of owing them money and the debtor could be killed (Roman Twelve Tables of Law, 3:10).

It is important to note that every one of the above existed in Judaism thousands of years earlier than in other nations. Here's just one example: Infanticide was practiced in classical European nations until Judaism and its daughter-religions put a stop to it.

See also:

Israelite culture

Answer 5

The Hebrews were a west-Semitic people, whom we now know were descended from the coastal Canaanite people. The Hebrew language evolved from the Canaanite language, with the dialect of the Israelites to the north being more similar to that of the Phoenicians that to the Judah dialect, which more closely resembled that of the Moabites. Early Hebrew pottery was very similar to Canaanite pottery but slowly developed a different style.

It is in religion that there is a difference, because the people of Israel and Judah worshipped their own God, YHWH, but they also worshipped the same gods as their Levantine neighbours. Mark S. Smith (The Early History of God) says that according to the available evidence, Israelite religion in its earliest form did not contrast markedly with the religions of its Levantine neighbours in either number or configuration of deities. He says that in the Judges period, Israelite divinities may have included YHWH, El, Baal and perhaps Asherah as well as the sun, moon and stars. He adds the goddess Astarte for the monarchical period.

Another difference is the prohibition of the consumption of meat from certain animals, especially pigs. Archaeologists rarely find evidence of pork consumption by pastoral people, but the prohibition on religious grounds sets the Hebrews apart.

Answer 6

The Israelites, according to tradition, were always monotheistic. (Those who strayed from this were abandoning their people and tradition, and were no different than Jews for Jesus today.)

Even at the height of the unfortunate spread of idolatry among the less-loyal Ten Tribes, there were thousands who remained loyal to God (1 Kings 19:18).

See: Judaism and monotheism

Other Mesopotamians, however, believed in a number of deities, which sometimes led to aberrations in people's behavior (See: Cruelties of the polytheists). This was among the reasons why Abraham the Hebrew founded ethical monotheism.