ion
of Israel.

6. As soon as Jewish monotheism had once been conceived by the Jewish mind
as the universal truth, the idea of the mission of Israel as a bearer of
light and a witness of God for the nations, as enunciated by
Deutero-Isaiah, became ever more firmly established. Many Psalms exhort
the people to make known the wondrous doings of God among the nations, so
that the heathen world might at last acknowledge the One and Only
God.(1070) Nay, Israel is even called God's anointed and prophet,(1071)
and in one Psalm we find Zion, the city of God, elevated to be the
religious metropolis of the world.(1072) The book of Jonah is simply a
refutation of the narrow nationalistic conception of Judaism; it holds
forth the hope of the conversion of the heathen to the true knowledge of
God. In the same spirit Ruth the Moabitess became the type of the heathen
who are eager to "take refuge under the wings of God's majesty."(1073) The
author of the book of Job no longer knows of a national God; to him God is
the highest ideal of morality as it lives and grows in the human heart.
The wisdom literature also teaches a God of humanity. Under His wings Shem
and Japheth, the teaching of the Jew and the wisdom of the Greek, can join
hands; the religious truth of the one and the philosophic truth of the
other may harmoniously blend.

7. Thus a new impulse was given to Jewish proselytism in Alexandria, and
the earlier history of Israel, especially the pre-Israelite epoch with its
simple human types, was read in a new light. Enoch(1074) and Noah(1075)
became preachers of penitence, heralds of the pure monotheism from which
the heathen world had departed. Abraham especially, the progenitor of
Israel, was looked upon as a prototype of the wandering missionary people,
converting the heathen.(1076) Wherever he journeyed, his teaching and his
example of true benevolence won souls for the Lord proclaimed by him as
the "God of the heaven and the earth."(1077) In this sense of missionary
activity were now interpreted the words, "Be thou a blessing ... and in
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."(1078) This was no
longer understood in the original sense, that Abraham by his prosperity
should be an example of a blessed man, to be pointed out in blessing
others; the words were given the higher meaning that Abraham with his
descendants should become a source of blessing for mankind through his
teachings and his conduct, so that al