4. The Israelitish nation inherited from Abraham, according to the priestly Code, the rite of _circumcision_ as a “sign of the covenant,”(115) but under the prophetic influence, with its loathing of all sacrificial blood, the _Sabbath_ was placed in the foreground as “the sign between God and Israel.”(116) In ancient Israel and in the Judean commonwealth the Abrahamitic rite formed the initiation into the nationality for aliens and slaves, by which they were made full-fledged Jews. With the dispersion of the Jewish people over the globe, and the influence of Hellenism, Judaism created a propaganda in favor of a world-wide religion of “God-fearing” men pledged to the observance of the Noahitic or humanitarian laws. Rabbinism in Palestine called such a one _Ger Toshab_—sojourner, or semi-proselyte; while the full proselyte who accepted the Abrahamitic rite was called _Ger Zedek_, or proselyte of righteousness.(117) Not only the Hellenistic writings, but also the Psalms, the liturgy, and the older Rabbinical literature give evidence of such a propaganda,(118) but it may be traced back as far as Deutero-Isaiah, during the reign of Cyrus. His outlook toward a Jewish religion which should be at the same time a religion of all the world, is evident when he calls Israel “a mediator of the covenant between God and the nations,” a “light to the peoples,”—a regenerator of humanity.(119) 5. This hope of a universal religion, which rings through the Psalms, the Wisdom books and the Hellenistic literature, was soon destined to grow faint. The perils of Judaism in its great struggles with the Syrian and Roman empires made for intense nationalism, and the Jewish covenant shared this tendency. The early Christian Church, the successor of the missionary activity of Hellenistic Judaism, labored also at first for the Noahitic covenant.(120) Pauline Christianity, however, with a view to tearing down the barrier between Jew and Gentile, proclaimed a new covenant, whose central idea is belief in the atoning power of the crucified son of God.(121) Indeed, one medieval Rabbinical authority holds that we are to regard Christians as semi-proselytes, as they practically observe the Noahitic laws of humanity.(122) 6. Progressive Judaism of our own time has the great task of re-emphasizing Israel’s world-mission and of reclaiming for Judaism its place as the priesthood of humanity. It is to proclaim anew the prophetic idea of God’s covenant with humanity, whose force had been lost, owing to inner and outer obstacles. Israel, as the people of the covenant, aims to unite all nations and classes of men in the divine covenant. It must outlast all other religions in its certainty that ultimately there can be but the one religion, uniting God and man by a single bond.(123) B. The Idea Of God In Judaism Chapter IX. God and the Gods