Religious_Ideas,_the_Hebrews_vs_the_Mesopotamians_and_the_Egyptians

Religious Ideas Compared and Contrasted: The Hebrews versus the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians The foundation of the Hebrew religious’ idea was monotheism, the act of worshiping one god. This meant that there was no place for other gods to exist or be worship. It also allowed for the message of god to be consistently delivered by their scriptures. Hebrews saw god as transcendent, above nature and not part of nature. Unlike the Egyptians and Mesopotamians, Hebrews removed the myths away from religion and nature. This gave way to the beginning of reasoning and scientific thinking. The Hebrew monotheistic belief marked a clear brake from the Near Eastern religious believes of the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations. Both of them while clearly different, had many elements in common like the worshiping of multiple gods. The Mesopotamians by default of their geographical location with rivers overflowing and other hostile acts of nature believed that gods and demons were everywhere in nature and were the cause for many of their misfortunes or successes. For Mesopotamians, people were given life so that they can execute on earth the will of gods in heaven. The gods while not being able to be viewed by the human eye controlled the entire universe and everything in it. They also believed in personal Gods who provided them protection against evil spirits. Egyptians by contrast, while believing in multiple gods, accepted many different representations of said gods. Polytheism manifested in many form including the worship of animals, for the Egyptians believe that gods manifested them self in animal shapes. For Egyptians religion did not need to make sense, as everything around them was mythical. Like the Mesopotamians, Egyptians believed in the great power of nature and the gods of the sun, earth, sky and the Nile. Divine Kingship was a central institution of both Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, for they believe kings were gods or agents of gods in Mesopotamia’s case. Along with the Hebrew’s monotheism, came self-awareness and responsibility for ones actions whether good or bad. Hebrew’s believed that god made them autonomous and gave them the ability of choosing right from wrong. The Torah focused on the purpose of earthly life, which is to fulfill one's duties to god and one's fellow man. The focused was not really on the afterlife but on the present life. Egyptians believed in the afterlife and believed that they would have the same elements of the present life, possessions, wealth, friends and family. However, they did not look forward to dying because their current existence was not an unhappy one. Mesopotamians on the other hand believed in the afterlife but, didn’t view it in the same manner as the Egyptians--they thought the afterlife could be one filled with pain and unrest. Essential to the Hebrew religious thought and history was the covenant, god’s agreement with the Hebrew people. Hebrews as the chosen people saw their principal purpose in life as to lead other to know god and believed the Ten Commandments to be their divine moral code to live by. Unlike the Mesopotamian’s Hammurabi Code, which placed different values on people according to their social status. Hebrews had greater awareness of their responsibilities for their pears, the poor, weak and widows. However, the Hebrew like Mesopotamian and Egyptian saw woman as subordinate or lesser than themselves. On the other hand, the Hebrews were known to respect woman--shown by their respect for their female prophets. One of the Ten Commandments reinforces this respect for woman by commanding them to honor both their father and mother.