He completed the tasks. When Hercules was dying, he was placed upon a funeral pyre, where he "ascended to Olympus, where he was granted immortality and lived among the gods" (Ellingson). The Hebrew culture approaches the question of the interrelationship of the human and the divine in a manner substantially different than the Greek or Roman cultures. In fact, there are substantial differences in the Greek and Hebrew schools of thought, even down to descriptions of objects. For example, "the Greek culture describes objects in relation to the object itself. The Hebrew culture describes objects in relation to the Hebrew himself" ("Hebrew Thought"). Therefore, any Hebrew description of the divine automatically reflects the interrelationship between the divine and the human.

Both ancient Greeks and ancient Romans believed that the gods were actively and intimately involved in the lives of humans. In fact, modern Christianity can be said to arise from the perfect unification of Judaism and Hellenic ideas (Epstein). Modern Christianity developed from Judaism, which, in turn, developed from the ancient Hebrew Religion, which "refers to the ancient religion of the Hebrew people in Biblical times and up to the first century of the common era" ("Judaism"). However, the Hebrew culture brought something different to the concept of divine enlightenment than either the Hebrew or Roman cultures; "like the Assyrians and most of the other Semites, they [the Hebrews]regarded themselves as the chosen people of their god" ("Ancient Hebrew Civilization"). Furthermore, the ancient Hebrews began to think of theirs "as the only real God, all-powerful over other races of men" ("Ancient Hebrew Civilization").

Although the ancient Hebrews believed that they were the chosen people of their god, the concept of one divine being actually lessened the interrelationship between the human and the divine. While the gods were seen as participants in the daily life of ancient Greeks and Romans, god became more and more separate in the Hebrew culture. The later promises of a messiah, or human manifestation...

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