The Jews borrowed the idea of Messiah during the Persian period from the Zoroastrian idea of the Saoshyant. Response?
Question:
It has been claimed that Jews borrowed Zoroastrian elements regarding the “final savior” during their time in Persia. According to Zoroastrians, an individual, called the “Saoshyant,” will usher in the final era and lead the battle against evil spirit (cf. Zech. 14:3) and all people will remain of one accord in the religion of Ahura Mazda, owing to the will of the creator, the command of that apostle, and the resources of his companions (cf. Mic. 4:2). What’s your response?
Answer:
I have seen many claims of Jewish borrowing from Zoroastrian sources. I have found these, without exception, rather weak arguments which involve cherry-picking of Zoroastrian scripture. Besides, the evidence is that nearly all of Zoroastrian scripture was written in the fifth century BC or later, which means that most of the Zoroastrian scripture was written AFTER the Hebrew scripture. By definition, the Hebrew scripture cannot be borrowing from a Zoroastrian writing at a later date! For example, you use a passage in Micah, which was written in the late eight century or early seventh century BC, which is almost certainly earlier than the Zoroastrian scripture, and the Persian period, from which you are drawing.
Unfortunately, you did not supply for me the “Zoroastrian elements.” What passages of what Zoroastrian scripture are you quoting from? Any parallel between Zoroastrian ideas about Saoshyant and the Hebrew scripture are at least a bit questionable because the Zoroastrianism is a dualistic religion which proposes two deities–one good and one evil. For example, your quote includes something about a battle against a dualistic “evil spirit.” This idea is foreign to Judaism. Zechariah 14:3 is about the final victory of God over evil at the end of time. Zoroastrianism does not conceive of such a final day in which good fully triumphs over evil.
In any case, it is necessary that you point me toward the passage in the Zoroastrian scripture, rather than give someone’s interpretation. Otherwise, it is difficult to give a specific response to the claim of parallelism. I suppose I could take your word for it that in Zoroastrianism this “Saoshyant” will usher in the final era and lead the battle against the evil spirit, but I strongly prefer to see the original passage from which this is taken. I suspect that you are reading what another wrote as a criticism of the Old Testament, but I really need to look more closely at the passage from which the parallel is drawn. It has been my experience that when we look at these claims of Jewish borrowing, but then look at the supposed passage which is borrowed from, the claim falls apart, as the parallel is virtually non-existent.
John Oakes
