The Bible and Zoroastrianism

[Lonewolf]

..the central teaching of Zoroaster seems clear. There is only one true God in all the world and his name is Ahura Mazda. It is he who created the world.

This I ask Thee, tell it to me truly, Lord! Who set firmly earth below and kept the sky sure from falling? Who the streams and trees did make? Who their swiftness to the winds and clouds hath yoked? O Mazda, was the founder of Good Thought?
This I ask Thee, tell it to me truly, Lord! Who, benignant, made the darkness and the light? Who, benignant, sheep and walking did create? Who the morning noon and evening did decree as reminder to the wise of duty’s call?

With this point Zoroaster began. All the many gods of nature (daevas) that his people worshiped and the gods to whom they offered sacrificial animals were declared to be false gods. For its time, Zoroaster’s monotheism must have been revolutionary. Prior to him there were few who believed there was only one god. Moses, who probably lived in the thirteenth century B.C. , is said to have taught the Israelites that they were to have no other gods before Yahweh, but he never denied the existence of other gods. It is no wonder that Zoroaster’s assertion that there was only one god was so controversial.

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Perhaps Zoroaster’s greatest contribution to the religions of the world was in the area of the problem of evil. The world is full of both good and evil. It is easy enough to ascribe the good in the world to the good god who has created the world, but who is responsible for the evil? If the creator god is responsible for the evil of the world, then where is his goodness and justice? Many religions have their powers of darkness, their demons, but it remained for Zoroaster to systematize and delineate the forces behind the world’s evil..

According to him, two spirits emanate from Ahura Mazda, one is Spenta Mainyu, the Beneficient Spirit, the other is Angra Mainyu, the evil spirit.. These two spirits do not exist independently but relate to each other and meet in the unity of Ahura Mazda. Neither is free from the influence of the other and each is bound by the other. In the truest sense, Zoroastrianism remains monotheism with the forces of both good and evil under the control of Ahura Mazda.

Angra Mainyu is also known by other names. He is sometimes known as Ahriman and at other times, Shaitin or Satan. He is surrounded and abetted by a host of demons who do his bidding in tempting and tormenting human beings..

All the daevas of pre-Zoroastrianism religion came to be identified as demons in the corps of Angra Mainyu. One of the most frequently mentioned of these demons is Aeshma, the demon of wrath. Aeshma is second in command to Angra Mainyu and stalks the earth, polluting it and spreading disease and death.

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Zoroastrian influence on people and religions other than the Persians.. The Jews came under Persian control in 538 B.C. when Cyrus conquered Babylon, where many Jews lived in captivity. According to the Hebrew Bible, Cyrus allowed the captive Jews to return to Jerusalem. Apparently, a minority of the Jews returned, but most stayed in Mesopotamia and became part of the culture there. If the book of Esther is correct, a Jewish woman even became the wife of the king of Persia..

How much influence did Zoroastrianism have on Judaism during this period? We cannot be certain. However, there are certain changes in the theology of Judaism between pre-exile days of 586 B.C. and the postexilic period beginning in 538 B.C. Biblical books that reflect the period prior to 586 B.C. have no Satan figure. However, the literature written after the exile speaks of a Satan figure four times.
In the Intertestamental literature Satan and his demons are mentioned frequently, and in the New Testament literature they are accepted as a regular part of life. Jesus is confronted by Satan as He begins His public ministry, and a large part of that ministry is devoted to exorcising demons.

Pre-exilic biblical books have no mention of the heaven or hell, no mention of God’s plan for bringing the earth to an end, only an occasional mention of angels, and no word about a day of judgment. Each of these themes, which were a part of the teachings of Zoroastrianism, developed in Judaism after the exile and had become vital parts of the religion by the time of Jesus.

Excerpts taken from ~> Lewis M. Hopfe "Religions of the World"

[B. W.]

I would not get too gung-ho about this.

Suggest you investigate this further. Much of Zoroastrianism came later from those trying to discredit Christianity and those writings are held in suspect. The Founder had a human father, and it is a salvation by works religion. The founders death had no impact and multiple myths concerning him dying several different ways ( one by being struck by lightening).

Now, when you read Acts 17:26, 27 you will find some interesting points made. One being God revealing himself to humanity in many ways so that people would search for him. Adam and Eve were monotheistic, and the first humans to be so I might add. Cain, Abel, Seth too were monotheistic as they encountered God. This spread to later to Enoch. Others in the human family tree, fell away due to sin and twisted into polytheism, etc. Therefore, some of the first human generation's monotheism was passed on to future generations and thus became tainted as well due to sin. Zoroastrianism would fit that line of reasoning. Some scholars make note of the early Yahwist traditions such as Melchizedek priest of Salem, Moses' father in law Jethro being a Yahwist Priest, as was Balaam the prophet for a contrast in how Balaam fell into sin.

Exodus 18:1, Now Jethro, the priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moses, heard of everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. NIV

By Yahwist, I mean those folks who learned about God as passed on from Adam and Eve to successive generations and not so much the documentary hypothesis's Yahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomist, and the Priestly traditions of textual criticism. The Yahwist tradition involves the earliest writings so hense, Yahwist can also refer to those first groups of people who from Adam thru Moses' time who held to the traditions about one God that were passed on to them.

So it stands to reason, monotheism was around way before Zoroastrianism and that Zoroastrianism is but one straying element, due to the sin nature of human beings, of Adam's monotheism. I would suggest that you investigate this further as I am only being very - very brief in a short synopsis to help you refocus on who the earliest monotheist were - Adam and Eve etc and etc
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[Lonewolf]

Besides monotheism, can you share some knowledge or insight as to the other assertions made by the author, such as.. " Biblical books that reflect the period prior to 586 B.C. have no Satan figure. However, the literature written after the exile speaks of a Satan figure four times," and "Pre-exilic biblical books have no mention of the heaven or hell, no mention of God’s plan for bringing the earth to an end, only an occasional mention of angels, and no word about a day of judgment."

[B. W.]

Besides monotheism, can you share some knowledge or insight as to the other assertions made by the author, such as.. " Biblical books that reflect the period prior to 586 B.C. have no Satan figure. However, the literature written after the exile speaks of a Satan figure four times," and "Pre-exilic biblical books have no mention of the heaven or hell, no mention of God’s plan for bringing the earth to an end, only an occasional mention of angels, and no word about a day of judgment."

Deuteronomy was written approx 1406 BC as was Exodus and Numbers. In these is the mention of Hell in Numbers 16:30-32 and Deut 32:22. As for the rest, the bible is revelationary in the sense that it revels truth in stages and not all at once. In fact, let me ask you this:

How do you learn algebra? Do you not first learn rudimentary basic math skills. The next on to intermediate mathematics, and then beginning algebra? Isn't that learning by revelation, one step at a time?

How come the author and others cannot see this same principle concerning the revelation of biblical truth learned one step at a time? Why do some demand that God must explain everything in Genesis chapter one about heaven and hell and Satan (note Satan was revealed in Genesis Chapter three), then accept how to learn algebra one stage at a time?

We demand text books and writings from the ancient world that were written by Adam himself to provide proof for our modern thesis. Maybe such books existed at one time in some form. In fact some maybe painted on a cave wall, yet, we cannot read these, and any book would have disintegrated by the march of time by now...

So the bible comes as a revelation and teaches us things one stage at a time. The author of the article and even yourself may not like this, but accept the math anyways...
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[Lonewolf]

Deuteronomy was written approx 1406 BC as was Exodus and Numbers. In these is the mention of Hell in Numbers 16:30-32 and Deut 32:22. As for the rest, the bible is revelationary in the sense that it revels truth in stages and not all at once. In fact, let me ask you this:

How do you learn algebra? Do you not first learn rudimentary basic math skills. The next on to intermediate mathematics, and then beginning algebra? Isn't that learning by revelation, one step at a time?

How come the author and others cannot see this same principle concerning the revelation of biblical truth learned one step at a time? Why do some demand that God must explain everything in Genesis chapter one about heaven and hell and Satan (note Satan was revealed in Genesis Chapter three), then accept how to learn algebra one stage at a time?

We demand text books and writings from the ancient world that were written by Adam himself to provide proof for our modern thesis. Maybe such books existed at one time in some form. In fact some maybe painted on a cave wall, yet, we cannot read these, and any book would have disintegrated by the march of time by now...

So the bible comes as a revelation and teaches us things one stage at a time. The author of the article and even yourself may not like this, but accept the math anyways...
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If I'm reading the author correctly, Moses was a contemporary (if not of a later era) than Zoroastrian, therefore the writing of Genesis itself came after Zoroastrian's teachings.

I was going to ask if there is any known writings of the Jewish lineage, pre-dating Moses?

And don't worry about me, or about what I like or what I don't like. I'm not here to try and make converts out of anyone. I'm here to try and learn, and in the process partake with fellow believers in God, that's all.