Mesopotamia Egypt and the Hebrews
Williams 1 Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Hebrews To fully comprehend and understand the Old Testament it is essential to look at the civilizations that would have influenced the Hebrews. Mesopotamia and Egypt played a vital role in shaping the nation of Israel and its religious literature, the Hebrew TaNaK. ... Mesopotamia was the land of four primary civilizations: the Sumerian, the Akkadians, the Babylonian and the Assyrians. The Hebrews, like the Akkadians, belong to a group of people known as Semites and from there we can see the influence of Mesopotamian culture in some of the Hebrews traditions. During the same time, civilization began in Egypt, and there can be seen a distinct difference in the social, religious and political system from Mesopotamia. The link between the two civilizations are the Hebrews, and although no historical records are available aside from the Holy Scriptures, it is believed that the Hebrews settled in Egypt during the era of Hyksos domination in the seventeenth century B. ... This legend appears to have been used by all the civilizations in Mesopotamia in order to satisfy the need to know why we die and to justify the instincts that drove the people of these societies to war, to kill and to control as a must for survival. ... The story of the flood is probably the strongest passage that connects Mesopotamian traditions to the Hebrews and the main difference lays in the moral value the Hebrews place on the story, versus the lack of it of the Mesopotamians. ... It could be argued that this could be an isolated attempt or that the Hebrews somehow influenced Amenhotep IV to this change. It is very important to consider this possibility since it would make the transferring of similar traditions between the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians and the Hebrews civilizations understandable. ... The Hebrews evolved from a polytheistic society to a monotheistic society and retained the latter due to its obvious benefit. ... In the exodus from Egypt Moses has been given a total of six-hundred and thirteen laws which comprises the Hebrew laws as the most elaborate set of laws ever in the ancient western civilization. ... It could be suggested that perhaps the Hebrews are the by-product of two greatest civilization , the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians, and they have been the only ones to successfully preserve their entire set of traditions in the western world and thus far are the most integral community which still retains the fundamental principles of the TaNaKh which has influenced all of western civilization.