The Hebrew Influence

As I write September 11 has dawned. No one need explain the significance of this day to anyone in America, or in the literate world for that matter.

Whenever our nation is threatened, and the threat is clear to any thinking person, one must reflect on what has made Western civilization what it is. It isn’t great because those of us who were blessed to be born at this time and in this location happen to inhabit time and space here. Those who don’t understand the greatness of this civilization simply do not know or understand history.

But what has caused this civilization to be so wonderful?

The answer lies in another question; what culture has made the most significant contribution to Western civilization? There are several to consider. Two millennia before Jesus walked the earth Egypt was a great nation. It was powerful, majestic and rich. They built pyramids, the construction of which still baffles the modern mind. They had an understanding of the human anatomy that spawned delicate brain surgery which remained unequaled until the 20^th Century. But Egypt had a two class society. There was Pharaoh and everybody else. It was not America.

The Greeks gave us democracy but America is not a pure democracy. The Romans provided us with a structure of government but our first president is revered because he would not become an American Caesar. In fact our founders read the works of Cato and Cicero who died resisting the Roman machine.

And even the strength of the Roman army was no match for Greek culture. Other cultures bequeathed language, an alphabet, a system of coinage. But which of these made the greatest contribution to America?

The answer ironically is none of the above. According to Professor Thomas Noble the people to whom Western civilization owes the most is the Hebrews. How shocking! And this is no intellectual lightweight. He has earned awards as one of the most distinguished professors in America and is the coauthor of “Western Civilization: The Continuing Experiment” one of the most common college text books in use today.

Speaking of the Hebrews Dr. Noble says, “Never has a people been so politically insignificant, yet culturally so critical in the history of Western civilization. It is the religion of the Hebrews that has left so deep an imprint.”

“The central religious ideas contained in the Hebrew Bible, taken together, constitute the key foundations of Western civilization.” Professor Noble says that among other concepts, one that has so influenced Western culture is the idea of ethical monotheism. That is, that God demands a particular standard of behavior as a guarantee of his continuing benevolence. It is from this concept that our system of justice developed.

Professor Noble asks, “Does it seem odd to you that a people who were not politically, militarily, or economically powerful exercised such a potent influence on Western civilization?”

How unusual that a culture that had a relatively short period of independence should have such influence on the world nearly 3,000 years later.

September 11 provides a good opportunity for America, and all Western civilization, to reflect on the blessings God has given us. Is there something else that offers America a better alternative? There is no government, religion, prophet or philosopher that has so positively shaped the culture of a nation and the world as the God of the Bible.

God’s grand experiment was to make a covenant with one man Abram, to keep his law and teach it to his family. Then God would make that family into a nation that would change the world. Can schools teach any better history? Can courts find any better laws?

Until next time,