I think it was simply having a society which valued reading (the scriptures), writing, and engaging in discourse on such things sooner, longer, and more universally than most other cultures. In most other cultures this was valued by fewer people in restricted classes. Agriculture and military prowess was valued more by a larger portion of the population in other cultures.
It also hard to be sure when this actually happened. We don’t know for a fact that the Jews were more intelligent two millennia ago – only that they are so right now. Perhaps in ancient times the Greeks had the greatest intelligence – their accomplishments would suggest the possibility.
YES. I understand God as the Universal Conscuiosness or UC. We connect with UC if we believe in God. We can access universal knowledge. That make any person intelligent.
The child who has inherited the wealth of the father has to pay the debts of the father. It could be something like that at emotional level. I do not know.
The 3 causal factors are inheritance, environment and individual effort. Whether jews or brahmins. We may stress any one of these 3 factors. The Jews and brahmins both inherited the idea of one god. Their inheritance propelled them. But both threw it away by claiming exclusive right to that inheritance. The difference is that the Jews still cling to exclusivity while brahmins neither claim that right theologically nor do they cling to it today. Thus Jews continue to be persecuted while brahmins have melted away.
The central question is connecting to God.light.UC. both covenant and jesus are ways to connect to God.light.UC. Jesus did not claim exclusivity but Jews claimed. So jesus spread while Jews were persecuted.