The Religion Of The Ancient Hebrews Religion Essay

The religion of the ancient Hebrews is Judaism, and is one of the oldest known monotheistic religions, if not the very oldest. Early Jewish people lived in small tribal like communities in what is now present day Israel and Jordan.
According to long lasting tradition, Abraham was the very first Jew. Abraham embraced the idea that one God created and rules every aspect of the universe; an intriguing idea that still holds true in modern day Christianity.
Abraham’s descendants established kingdoms in the region of modern day Israel and Jordan until they were exiled by the Babylonians and Romans. They fled into scattered colonies throughout the world. This scattering is often called the Diaspora. Because of the vastness of the Diaspora, modern day Christianity reaches almost all parts of the world.
There is a lot to learn from the Hebrew culture and traits from both ancient and present Hebrew cultures are present in modern day Christianity. The ancient Hebrew culture followed the TaNaKh, which has three different parts to it. Also from the Ancient Hebrew culture came the Jewish religions, which lead to the start of Christianity and therefore the beginning of the different Christian religions.

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There is very little literature about the ancient Hebrew culture. The only literature is religious works. I believe this is because religion was a major part of everyday life for those belonging to the Hebrew culture and that is the only literature that was written. Our lecture notes say that the Hebrew literature was not put into writing until after the most prosperous time period. I believe that before the end of the Hebrews’ prosperous period, they did not believe that their culture would always be on top. Therefore at the end of their prosperous period, they put together the TaNaKh. The TaNaKh is the Hebrew bible and consists of the religious history and their religious principles. The majority of this religious principles and values still live on today.
The TaNaKh consists of three parts. The first part, the Torah, is also called the Pentateuch. This work consists of the Hebrew Mosaic law and the first five books of the Old Testament, Genesis through Deuteronomy. The Torah is the Hebrews’ set of instructions that the father gives to the child. The purpose of the Torah is to help guide children to maturity. The Torah is passed from the father to the child the way all Torah have been passed down.
The second part of the TaNaKh is the Nevi’im. The Nevi’im is the book of the Prophets. The Nevi’im has the former prophets and the latter prophets, such as Joshua, the two books of Samuel, and Jonah. The Nevi’im is about the nation’s history and land.
The third and final part of the TaNaKh is the Ketuvim. The Ketuvim is the part of the TaNaKh that consists of different writings and poetries. The Ketuvim contains the Book of Psalms, the Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther and Lamentations. The Ketuvim has less authority than the Torahs teachings or the Nevi’ims prophecies.
From the ancient Hebrew culture came the Jewish religion. The Jewish culture is one of the oldest Monotheistic religions. Those who belong to the Jewish culture, either through birth or through conversion, follow the TaNaKh. The primary difference between the ancient Hebrew culture and the present day Jewish culture is that ancient Hebrews had a governmental system to enforce the law of the TaNaKh. There is no such government for today’s Jewish culture. However, like the ancient Hebrew culture, Judaism believes in one just God.
Christianity originated from the ancient Jewish religion. Christians follow the Old Testament, which the ancient Hebrew culture follows along with the Jewish culture. Like the Hebrew and Jewish culture, Christians believed in a Messiah that was to come and be the savior of humanity. This Messiah brought about the largest following in the history of the world. After Jesus was born, His teachings became the foundation of Christianity. The Christian Bible consists of the Old Testament that came from the TaNaKh, and the New Testament that came from the teachings of Jesus. Among the Christian religions are Catholicism, Lutherans, and Baptist, among many more.
The Old Testament, I believe is what ties these three religious cultures together. The Hebrew culture used the Old testament to teach their children and also to use as a law as to what is expected of them from the culture. The Jewish culture also uses the Old Testament to teach and to rule over their followers, and follows the Hebrew culture fairly closely. The Christian culture uses the Old Testament the same way as the Hebrew and Jewish cultures, with the exception of the addition of The New Testament being implemented into the Christianity.
I believe that the Hebrew culture is a culture that has remained pretty much the same in structure and teachings with few changes from religion to religion. I believe that even the beliefs and structure has remained relatively the same even from religion to religion. To me they have pretty much the same belief system; all three believe in the coming of the Messiah. Also, all three use the Old Testament as a basis for teaching and as a guideline for living. All three a relatively old, With Hebrew being the oldest, Judaism being the second oldest, and Christianity shortly behind that. The Christian religion is one of the biggest worldwide religions of this time. To me, that shows that in a way, the ancient Hebrew culture has withstood over time. As I stated earlier, Judaism is one of the oldest Monotheistic religions still being practiced today, which means that the ancient Hebrew culture and religion is still being followed. The Hebrew culture has influenced several religious cultures of today, and several religions have taken teachings, structures, and laws from the Hebrew religion and incorporates them into their modern day practices and moral and religious values.