It is no accident that the Jewish creed begins with the words: “Hear, O Israel!”
In the Old Testament we read how the people “heard” the word of the Lord,
and the Jewish prophets usually began their sermons with the words: “Thus
spake Jehovah (God).”
“Hearing” the word of God is also emphasized in Christianity. The
religious ceremonies of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are all characterized
by reading aloud or “reciting.”
I also mentioned that the Indo-Europeans always made pictorial
representations or sculptures of their gods. It was just as characteristic for the
Semites that they never did. They were not supposed to create pictures or
sculptures of God or the “deity.” The Old Testament commands that the
people shall not make any image of God. This is still law today both for
Judaism and Islam. Within Islam there is moreover a general aversion to both
photography and art, because people should not compete with God in “cre-
ating” anything.
But the Christian churches are full of pictures of Jesus and God, you are
probably thinking. True enough, Sophie, but this is just one example of how
Christendom was influenced by the Greco-Roman world. (In the Greek Or-
thodox Church—that is, in Greece and in Russia— “graven images,” or
sculptures and crucifixes, from Bible stories are still forbidden.)
In contrast to the great religions of the Orient, the three Western
religions emphasize that there is a distance between God and his creation.
The purpose is not to be released from the cycle of rebirth, but to be
redeemed from sin and blame. Moreover, religious life is characterized more
by prayer, sermons, and the study of the scriptures than by self-communion
and meditation.
Israel
I have no intention of competing with your religion teacher, Sophie, but
let us just make a quick summary of Christianity’s Jewish background.
It all began when God created the world. You can read how that
happened on the very first page of the Bible. Then mankind began to rebel
against God. Their punishment was not only that Adam and Eve were driven
from the Garden of Eden—Death also came into the world.
Man’s disobedience to God is a theme that runs right through the Bible.
If we go further on in the Book of Genesis we read about the Flood and
Noah’s Ark. Then we read that God made a covenant with Abraham and his
seed. This covenant—or pact—was that Abraham and all his seed would
keep the Lord’s commandments. In exchange God promised to protect all the
children of Abraham. This covenant was renewed when Moses was given the
Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai around the year 1200 B.C. At that time
the Israelites had long been held as slaves in Egypt, but with God’s help they
were led back to the land of Israel.
About 1,000 years before Christ—and therefore long before there was
anything called Greek philosophy—we hear of three great kings of Israel. The
first was Saul, then came David, and after him came Solomon. Now all the
Israelites were united in one kingdom, and under King David, especially, they
experienced a period of political, military, and cultural glory.
When kings were chosen, they were anointed by the people. They thus
received the title Messiah, which means “the anointed one.” In a religious