Why are we here, what is our purpose in this world? These are questions that the human race has been trying to figure out since the beginning of history. As people began to settle and civilization began to thrive, religion became even more powerful and important than it had ever been before. Ancient hieroglyphics, writings, and buildings show us that thousands of years ago different groups of people were coming up with their own explanations and reasonings to this question. With civilization making people’s lives easier, they had more time to think about their existential meaning, and because of this, religions began to grow exponentially in these areas. Two very important and widespread ancient religions are Judaism, from the Hebrews in the fertile crescent area, and …show more content…
This is very different from all of the older religions due to the fact that they believed in one single god instead of multiple gods and goddesses. However it is though that early Israelites most likely believed in multiple gods, such as nature spirits that stayed in rocks and trees. However, after the sixth century B.C.E. these polytheistic ideas held by the Hebrew people shifted almost fully over to worshiping the single god Yahweh. They believed that Yahweh created the whole world and everything in it, and that he was not restricted by anything. They believed that Yahweh was not fully separated from what he had created, and could play a role in the people's lives. The Hebrew people also believed that their God was a just and good god. They believed that Yahweh expected that the relationship between himself and the Hebrew people to be respectful, and that anyone could have a personal relationship with him. Although they believed that Yahweh was a friendly god of love, they thought that if they did not obey him then he would punish them. They also believed that because they were the chosen people by Yahweh, that they would receive special treatment and safety from him. After all,