The Old Testament was originally a religious scripture and a compilation of Hebrew documents and literature. In addition, some important works of ancient Hebrew literature are also included in the Second Classic and the Pseudo Classic, which were written later than the Old Testament.
As a collection of Hebrew literature, the original works of the Old Testament can be divided into four categories: myths and legends, stories, poems and novels.
Genesis is the main collection of Hebrew myths and legends. Among them, there are wonderful myths about the origin of heaven and earth, the creation of mankind, the Garden of Eden, the flood ark and so on. With its simple artistic conception and elegant and meaningful character, it has had a far-reaching influence on later literature and art.
Compared with the myths of other nationalities, the obvious feature of Hebrew mythology is that there is no genealogy of God. So this is because it is based on the belief of a god, which was established with the formation and development of the Hebrew nation. Its fundamental starting point is that Jehovah is the only God, and this God is a righteous God with moral attributes.
The Lord God creates and rules all things, and there is no evil God against the Lord. In Hebrew mythology, there are still conflicts and tensions, but not between gods, but between Jehovah and God.
According to the national tradition of Israel (which was also inherited by Christianity later), the sacred will of Jehovah was revealed to people in the process of human development. The highest ideal of an individual is to be a righteous person, and the highest ideal of human society is to be a just society.
The so-called "tzedek" means "integrity and integrity" in Hebrew. It comes from God, and the just judgment lies in God, not man. Therefore, following God's word, "walking with God" is not only the only condition to realize justice, but also the standard to judge whether a person and a society are just.
But God gave people the right to choose freely. People can choose to walk with God, or they can choose not to obey God, fall into sin and be punished by God.
This clear determinism of God's will has sprouted in Hebrew mythology. We can see that from pagan mythology to Hebrew mythology, we have actually completed a major cognitive leap and qualitative change.
The field of myth has changed from the stage of god's activity to the historical-moral category closely related to human beings. In this way, Hebrew mythology, which grew out of the ruins of pagan mythology, essentially eliminated the traces of worship of natural gods and reproductive gods in pagan mythology, transformed the comedy of gods with gods as the protagonist into a historical drama with moral attributes, and created and ruled everything.
This is the uniqueness of Hebrew mythology in ancient national mythology.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Hebrew