Every culture leaves something that we remember it by.

Rome left art and food and amazing architecture. (And not incidentally, an amazing public water system that to this day, continues to bring water to the city of Rome).

The Greeks left philosophy and buildings.

Even the English leave a heritage of law and literature.

But unlike these and other cultures, what did the Hebrews leave?

No buildings to speak of. No music. No plays. Not even a cuisine.

What they left is a book. Specifically, a library of more or less 66 books (depending on what religious tradition we’re following). What we usually call The Bible.

But the book they left has changed the world. And continues to do so.

As much as I’d like for people to read Plato, most folks never will. And as much as I’d like for everyone to see the Pantheon, the majority of people won’t.

But every day, millions of people are reading from those 66 books. And every moment of every day, there’s someone reading publicly from those books in the services of Christian churches around the world. And they’re reading them in hundreds of languages on every continent.

Some of those readers are scholars but most of them aren’t. Most of them are fairly ordinary people.

So when you think of civilizations, take a thought for the ancient Hebrews. They left none of the normal marks of a civilization. But what they did leave is a text that has permeated a world far beyond the borders of Palestine, a text read every day in Mongolia and Canada and Tibet and even in Antarctica. A text that has changed the world. And when our descendants no longer have direct contact with the marks of other ancient civilizations, they will still read and hear and live in a world inhabited by a text.

Words are powerful. These words most especially.