In the Persian Empire of the book of Esther, the Gnostic fire ... - WBM

Zoroastrianism
Good vs. Bad
Zoroastrians live in a world divided
The Superpowers: The force of good, Ahura Mazda (Lord Wisdom), and the
force of evil, Angra Mainyu (the Evil Spirit) are locked in eternal conflict
Head over Heels: The upper part of the body is ruled by positive powers,
while the lower half is controlled by negative forces. The two halves should be
separated by a belt or girdle
Fighting the Fight: A good Zoroastrian fights on the side of good and
opposes evil in its various forms, which include lies, impurity, and insects
the prophet Isaiah has this to say:
Thus said the Lord to Cyrus, His
anointed one, whose right hand He has
grasped, treading down nations before
him.... I am the Lord, and there is none
else; beside Me, there is no god; I engird
you, though you have not known Me.... I
form light and create darkness. I make weal
and create woe – I, the Lord, do all these
things. (Isaiah 45:1, 5, 7)
According to the famous Cyrus Cylinder, the
chief Babylonian god Marduk chose Cyrus to
bring peace to the Babylonians. Similarly, as
reflected in the biblical passage above, Judaism
viewed the Persian destruction of Babylonia as
an opportunity to reconstruct what had been
destroyed. Cyrus had the power to bring the
Jews back to the Land of Israel and, as he did
for Marduk, to help rebuild their Temple. From
the prophet’s perspective, however, there was
a problem. Since Cyrus did not recognize the
Jewish God, nor did he understand the cosmic
significance of his conquests, he required
a lesson in Monotheism 101. Isaiah 40–48
presents itself as a kind of theological primer
addressed to Cyrus, and it does not mince
words: The Jewish God is exclusive and allpowerful.
He is the Creator of heaven and earth
and everything therein. Most important, this
God is responsible not only for all that is light
and good, but for darkness and misfortune
as well. When the verses from Isaiah are
juxtaposed with
parallels from the Avesta
– the Zoroastrian sacred texts,
which were transmitted orally from as early
as the second millennium BCE – a fascinating
mirror effect emerges. The attributes associated
with Ahura Mazda in the Avesta are defiantly
attributed to Isaiah’s God, but while the Avesta
does not hold Ahura Mazda responsible for
misfortune, the God of Isaiah 45 proudly
associates His name with “woe.” This early
intersection was to set the tone for future
interactions between Jews and Zoroastrians.
Interestingly, unlike the polemics against
other cults found in the Later Prophets, which
include parodies of icon production and idol
worship, the Jewish-Zoroastrian encounter
took place primarily in the intellectual and
theological spheres.
From the Scroll of Esther
to the Dead Sea Scrolls
Cyrus did not finish building the Second
Temple, but the process was indeed completed
under Persian auspices, as we read in the biblical
books of Ezra and Nehemiah. One might have
expected the dispatches between Persia and
One of the
great Jewish
intellectual
mysteries is
how Second
Temple sects
engaged in
a protracted
dialogue
with Iranian
ideas
Fire altars. Left: a coin from
the Persian Sasanian era,
contemporaneous to the
talmudic period
Courtesy of the Oriental Institute
Museum, Chicago
Right: Coin of the Sasanian
emperor Hormazd II, fourth
century
Classical Numismatic Group
34 February/March 2012 www.segulamag.com