Introduction
Greek and Hebrew traditions show a number of differences with respect to their leaders and the masses they led. Most aspects of these ancient civilizations contributed significantly to the development of western culture. Joseph as the leader of the Hebrew influenced most aspects of their culture and tradition. For instance, their religion being Christianity Joseph had a divine role to play in that society. This paper explores both the Greek and Hebrew cultures how they differed and how they contributed to western culture.
To begin with, it is important to note that the Greeks unlike the Hebrews gave great importance to an individual for instance their leader Achilles was even granted godly qualities and was very influential in decision making. They, therefore, gave the man a lot of powers over the natural world. For instance, their rulers could have control over everything and nothing could stop them. On the other hand, the Hebrews believed in one God who gave them wisdom through their leader Joseph and made them have fear of supernatural forces like the ones in the God of Joseph.
Main body
The Hebrews practiced monotheism whereby only one God was worship. In this tradition, the one God was Unique and was a representation of good and good things. This is still the case in the western culture but this belief system has been abused in the western culture which has come up with a lot of evil doings which are propagated by the people and the leaders. The Greek tradition had many gods with human-like qualities a true representation of the physical world.
In case of any misfortune, it is the gods who took the blame unlike in Hebrew where God was characterized by good. The Greeks perceived their gods to be the cause of their misfortunes yet they themselves were the causes. Their belief that God is the giver of everything in terms of good is still evident in western culture. Joseph taught his people how to avoid sinning because in heaven everybody will have to carry his own cross during the judgment day.
This is unlike the Greeks who felt like there was nothing like sinning as it could be seen even some of the gods engaged in sin. The people were not responsible for their bad actions, unlike the Hebrews who feared the judgment day where everybody will account for their actions.
This has contributed significantly to the moral decay of western culture. People engage in sin without caring about their responsibility for instance adultery, murder, robbery, and prostitution are very common in western culture. In the Hebrew tradition, a leader was considered to be a symbol of God. They believed that Joseph was chosen by God Himself to show them the way to salvation and eternal life. Therefore the people thought Joseph to be working for the overall good of his people.
This is unlike the situation in the Greek culture whereby the leaders are in their positions just for personal glory. This is characteristic of the western culture where politicians are in their positions just to satisfy their selfish interests.
The Hebrews are characters who have believed in salvation which had good rewards in heaven and this was fundamental in shaping their morality.
This is not the case in the Greek traditions there is nothing like rewards coming afterlife. Their life after death was not well defined and things like rewards and punishments do not exist they, therefore, do not contribute much towards shaping their morality.
Western culture has copied a lot from the Hebrew as we can see Christians living a morally upright life in preparation for life after death in heaven.
In their way of life, the Hebrew gives us an impression that they valued life after death because of paradise while on the other side we see the Greek working hard towards human beauty and perfection In the Greek, there is evidence of leaders is more important than the masses as seen in the heroic code of honor unlike in the Hebrew where Joseph served his people just for their good. In the western culture, there are also features of leadership whereby there comes a time when the nation is more important than the leaders.
The Greeks focused on perfecting the qualities of the human being for instance beauty and other physical attributes. This is unlike the Hebrews who believed that at the end of life there will be an end called heaven whereby life will be full of riches and so many other desirable things.
They also believed that God will provide eternal life after death for the righteous people who lived a morally upright life but for the wicked, there is hell awaiting them.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is important to note that western culture has borrowed aspects of Greek culture and traditions. The western people and Christians to be specific are very much influenced by the Hebrew traditions in their way of life.
Reference
The Northon Anthology of Western Literature, Vol. 1, 8th Edition.