How Do Ancient Civilizations Fit Into Judaism’s View of History?

According to Jewish belief, God directs the wheels of history, raising up or subjugating nations as reward or punishment for the Jewish people. In addition, the Jewish nation is meant to be a light unto the nations, spreading the values of the Torah to the rest of the world.

How do the Mayans and uncontacted indigenous peoples of the Americas — who lived around the time of the First Temple, in lands that were still unknown to the rest of the world, fit into this role of Judaism? They were blatant idol worshippers, violent and cruel, with no path to know the Creator. They also seem to have had no influence on the Jewish people in any way that I can think of. Maybe some people point to their prophecy about the “end of days”, but it’s hard to believe that something God never revealed to any of His prophets would be given to a group of cruel idol-worshippers.

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God does not expect the nations of the world to keep the entire Torah or to convert to Judaism. Rather, they are obligated only in the Seven Noahide Laws, which are also understandable through human reason (for example, prohibitions against murder, theft, and tearing a limb from a living animal, etc.). These seven commandments can be derived from simple moral reasoning, just as Abraham our forefather understood them even before the Torah was given — even though he too lived in a world steeped in idolatry.

Every non-Jew, therefore, has the possibility of keeping the Seven Noahide Laws and thereby earning a share in the World to Come.

At the same time, creation has a purpose and is moving through a process toward its fulfillment. To prepare the world for redemption, God arranged for the Torah to become the most widely published and influential book on earth. In this way, when Mashiach comes and the final redemption arrives, all nations will already know who the Jewish people are and what the Torah is, so that all humanity can join together in serving God with one heart.

We must also remember that God judges every person with perfect justice and mercy, according to their capacity to understand and their circumstances. God knows the heart of each human being, including what they knew, what they could have observed, and what was beyond their reach. There is a difference between someone who sins by mistake and someone who is completely prevented from knowing better. Only God, who “searches hearts and minds,” can judge every individual fairly. As the prophet says: “Great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of men, giving each person according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds” (Jeremiah 32:19).

The reason God revealed Himself to Abraham was because Abraham sincerely sought truth and longed to do God’s will. God helps those who genuinely seek Him. By contrast, the peoples you mentioned did not search for God, and therefore they did not attain spiritual, moral, or legal achievements.