Ancient Israelite Activists

This is an ongoing series of meditations on faith, in response to readings from the articles that preface The Oxford Study Bible.

I will trust the reader to dig up the context if the meaning is unclear.

It may be that ancient Israel was non-ecumenical, actively shaping themselves in contrast to their surroundings, but I suppose that side of their tradition didn't come of age until the advent of early Judaism, when the exiled people were forced to survive without an intact nation in an alien world.

I see them, before then, almost as activists, setting up the rules of their federation in protest against the monarchies and hierarchies nearby (pages 35-36), visionaries dreaming of some unknown alternative. Though they were deeply influenced by the givens, as well.