>>2557843IMO you should interpret this with a sharp historical and critical lens.
This was the equivalent of netflix/wikipedia in 300 BC, so I think these lines can be viewed propaganda against the tribe's enemies. Also they're pseudo historical accounts in mythic form.
Religious extremists probably look at this literally and to me are equivalent to ISIS and Al Qaeda. Thankfully there's not too many of them.
You shouldn't look at an ancient story and judge people by it. I don't think cultures today should be judged by slavery that happened hundred of years ago. Judge us by contributions to science and statecraft, economics, and in general the pursuit of knowledge and morality.
>>2557836Not really disagreeing with you.
Most if not all cultures point to their own supremacy, obviously we're not different. Same goes for religions. Lol nobody who says "everyone is better than us, we suck" gets anywhere meaningful in life.
The "chosen people" bit is definitely spicy but you're missing the part of the deal where we have to give up. Conformance to the 613 commandments, strict & immediate punishment for straying. I think our sages set a high bar for how we should act and clearly it's paid off.
At the same time, being chosen =/= being better. It's sort of like the caste system in India which dates to around the same time, as well as feudalism. Everyone has their function is society/the world. This is the prescription on we're supposed to live and to me it's without a value judgement on others.