History is filled with enigmas and accidents, of great empires and cultures that last for millennia only to fade into the soil on which they arose, and small and insignificant cultures, mere specks on the world in their time, which profoundly alter the course of human history forever. The Hebrews are in the latter category. The Hebrews, their religion, and their brief state, could easily have faded away from history in the same way their close neighbors did: the Edomites, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and even the Philistines. They all had profound religions, powerful states, and a highly developed civilization. So why have we forgotten them? What happened in history that elevated the Hebrews to such a foundational role in the cultures of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, indeed, of the whole world because of the spread of Christianity and Islam.
The answer lies in a few accidents in history; embedded in those accidents, is the story of a great and profoundly brilliant people. They begin in utter obscurity as laborers on the Nile delta, remain in obscurity as a loose band of tribal groups scratching out a living in the least hospitable areas of Palestine, emerge for the blink of an eye as a great empire, and fall back again under the yoke of foreign domination. However, during that domination by foreign powers, the books of their history are translated into Greek and the unique Hebrew vision of history becomes a permanent fixture of human experience. For not only did the Hebrews develop the first monotheistic religion, they believed that the one and only one god had especially selected their people to work out his intentions for the world. That vision of God, as singular and as operating purposefully in history to intervene for his people, would form the core of later European and Islamic world views.
It's an odd history, filled with brief glories and multiple disappointments, and it begins in the soil of the biblical lands. For no aspect of Hebrew history can be understood without fully appreciating the geographical uniqueness of the ground on which it took place.
Each section concludes with the title of the next section. Click on that title to move to the next section. If you want to review any section, return to the central page for the Hebrews.
©1996, Richard Hooker
For information contact: Richard Hines
Updated 6-6-1999
