Zoroastrianism and Judaism/Chapter 4

IN the scriptures of Zarathustra's faith, goodness, light and heaven are portrayed as waging incessant warfare against evil, darkness and hell. The host of heaven and the celestial hierarchy are pictured in clear colors. The host of hell and the infernal bands are less distinct, but they are not too shadowy and dim to admit of being outlined. The armies of the two kingdoms are almost marshalled in warlike array.

The Greeks with their anthropomorphic ideas of the pantheon of heaven were impressed by the ideal and spiritual character of the Iranian divinities.^[1] They noted, too, the absence of images among the Persians. Some images there were and Ahura Mazda is sculptured on the Behistun rock in Achaemenian times, but this meant little more than our own carvings of angels, or representatives of deity in earlier Christian art.

The supreme ruler of the heavenly host, of the kingdom of good, of light and of truth was Ahura Mazda, the Lord God of Iran. The spirituality and loftiness of the conception of Ahura Mazda has been already indicated. He is the all-wise god, omniscient, benign, and bounteous, righteous and ​immutable, undeceiving and undeceived, a guardian and protector, the father and creator of all good things. He, on his throne in the heavens, in the realm of eternal light, is surrounded by a company of ministering angels who do his bidding. These are the archangels, “Beneficent” (Spenta) “Immortals” (Amesha), or Immortal Holy Ones. They are six in number, and together with Ahura Mazda they constitute a seven-fold group or celestial council. Their names are personifications of abstract concepts or virtues, Vohn-Mano, Good Thought, Asha-Vahista, Righteousness, Khshathra-vairya Material Sovereignty, Spenta-Annaiti, Wisdom in Piety, Haurvatat, Health, and Ameretat, Life or Immortality.^[2] The separate names of these abstractions are frequently found in the Gathas,^[3] while a list of their names in the order given is in many places elsewhere.^[4] In the metrical Gathas the group title does not seem to be found, but is often met with in other Avestan writings.^[5] The adjectives Vohn, Vahista, Vairya, and Spenta which are the titles of the first four respectively are the standing epithets, inseparable from each. No adjective seems to be assigned to Haurvatat or Ameretat. In later literature the Amesha Spenta are augmented by other ​names included as archangels, but this is not Zoroastrian.

Ahura Mazda is the father and creator of the Amesha-Spenta.^[6] He brought them forth to aid him in his work. Their creative and organizing activity is part of their character as agents of Ormazd.^[7] By preference he acts through their ministering hands^[8] The Amesha Spenta receive special worship in the ritual, and are said to descend to the oblation upon paths of light.^[9] In paradise they sit upon thrones of gold.^[10] Each has a specific character and sphere.^[11] Vohn-Mano is the personification of Ahura Mazda's good spirit and divine wisdom. He is Ormazd’s first creation and the chief promoter of the kingdom. He welcomes the souls of the blessed,^[12] and is the archangel who leads Zarathustra to Ahura Mazda.^[13] The name is associated with peace as opposed to discord.^[14] In the material world, Vohn Manah has especial charge of useful animals.^[15] Asha Vahista is the personification of right representing divine law and moral order in the world. To live according to Asha was the Zoroastrian ideal.^[16] All fires are especially under the genius ​of Asha Vahista.^[17] Khshathra personifies Ahura Mazda’s might, majesty, sovereignty, representing the triumph of regal power. He presides. over the metals which stand as his sign and symbol.^[18] Spenta Arinaiti, a feminine being, daughter of Ahura Mazda and heaven, is the personification of religious harmony and piety. She presides over the earth which is a symbol of her bounteousness.^[19] Hauovatat and Ameretat are two feminine archangels always mentioned together. The first is a personification of complete health, perfection, the other of immortality. They are the promised reward of the blessed after death in paradise.^[20] Their charge is the water and the plants, and is mentioned as early as the Gathas.^[21] Each of the Immortal Holy ones has a special month assigned to his honor,^[22] each has a special day as a holy day, and each has a particular flower as an appropriate emblem,^[23] Along with Ahura Mazda they are worshipped and propitiated.^[24] Everywhere in the Zoroastrian system, the existence of the Amesha Spenta is a characteristic feature, and it is probable the doctrine originated with the Prophet himself.

The Yazatas, “adorable beings” stand third in ​rank, and serve like the Amesha Spenta still further to carry out the will of the divine Lord, Ahura Mazda. Their number theoretically is legion, and they are spoken of as rising up by hundreds and thousands.^[25] In practice, however, the only prominent Yazatas seem to be those to whom a day in the month ts assigned, as a holy day, or to whom a special season or form of ritual worship is consecrated. The days for Ahura Mazda and the six Amshaspands should be deducted. There are spiritual, heavenly, and material, earthly Yazatas recognized. At the head of the heavenly division stands Ahura Mazda, who is called “a Yazatas and the greatest of the Yazatas.”^[26] The chief of the earthly Yazatas is Zarathustra. Grouped together, the Yazatas are the guardians of the sun, moon, stars, and heaven, of the earth, air, fire, and water; or they are personifications of abstract ideas, like Victory, Truth, Uprightness, Peace, Power and kindred conceptions.^[27] Some of these Yazatas receive much attention, and have very important functions, especially Fire, Water, Sun, Mithra.

The Fravashis are a mighty army of spirits, belief in which is quite characteristic of the faith of ​Iran. The recognition of these genii probably dates from very early times. They help Ahura Mazda and also mankind by warning against evil, keeping guard, and promoting all that is useful and advantageous. Special worship is paid to these good genii. The first month of the year is sacred to their name, and a festival of several days is held in their honor. The thirteenth yast is devoted to their praise.

Just as each principal Yazatas is associated with some Amesha Spenta, so there are a number of lesser divine beings associated with the Yazatas themselves. They are coadjutors, auxiliaries of the angels. Most of these spiritual creations are embodiments of virtues or personifications of noble traits. Fabulous or mythological creatures are also recognized, but the fact need only be mentioned. Belief in them, perhaps, is tolerated because they are survivals from an older stage of the religion.

A sufficient outline has been given of the host of heaven, so that, in order to our purpose, only a little need be said of the opposing powers of darkness. Zoroastrianism attempted the solution of the problem of evil by maintaining from the beginning, a dualism of forces, one good and beneficent, the other evil and destructive. On the one hand is Ahura Mazda supported in his work by the archangels and angels, on the other hand is Angro Mainyu surrounded by a body of evil spirits and demons. Angro Mainyu is the highest, the prince among the evil spirits. He is the counterpart of Ahura Mazda, ​bringing forth only evil, while the latter brings forth only good. He existed along with Ahura Mazda as is expressed clearly in the Gathas:

The same antagonism is expressed in the following:

Whoever causes goodness, at the same time injures the evil spirit. No wonder, then, Angro Mainyu was distressed at the birth of Zarathustra ​who brought men to the true faith and to piety. His distress is painful: “Born, alas, is the holy Zarathustra in the house of Porushaspa. How can we contrive his destruction? He is a blow against the Daivas, he withstands the Daivas, he is an opponent of the Drujas; the worshippers of the demons shall fall down headlong.”^[30]

As Ahura Mazda surrounded by the Amesha Spenta and Yazatas is in the kingdom of light, so Angro Mainyu surrounded by the demons is in the kingdom of night and darkness. To the Amesh Spenta the group of six arch-demons are opposed as enemies in the same way as their chief and prince is opposed to Ahura Mazda.^[31] They form the immediate associates, to some extent the court of Angro Mainyu. The special foe against Vohu-Mano is Akomano,^[32] the evil mind; against Asha-Vahista is Andra or Indra, perhaps an old nature god who in the new religion is banished to the company of demons; against Khshathra is Saru, (the tyrant); against Spenta Armaiti, Naoghatya is named, who is sometimes identified with, sometimes distinguished from Taromat, (arrogance). Over against Haurvatat and Ameretat are Taru and Zarika, evil hunger and evil thirst. The arch fiends aim to destroy the work and influence of the good spirits. There are many other evil spirits “co-operating and confederate with ​them.”^[33] “Demons, too, who are furies are in great multitude. They are demons of ruin, pain, and growing old, producers of vexation and vile, revivers of grief, the progeny of gloom, and vileness, who are many, very numerous, and very notorious.”^[34] Individual demons need not be further mentioned. Enough has been said to indicate the belief in a great body of evil spirits, some of which appear more prominent and powerful than others.

We have then to inquire how the host of heaven, and the host of hell, in Zoroastrianism, are related to parallel conceptions in Judaism. Much has been written concerning Jewish angels and demons, and only the ideas that bear upon our discussion will be touched.

In the earlier Hebrew days the angel is represented as a being charged with divine authority. It is such a being that appears to Hagar,^[35] to Joshua,^[36] and to Manoah.^[37] It is a distinct angel or messenger, for Yahveh could not be called His own messenger. The fact that evil spirits are said to be sent from Yahveh, perhaps may be due to the nature of their work rather than to the character of the spirits.^[38] But there are many traces of magic, and necromancy is a well defined art.^[39] The angels stand as simple ministers or messengers of Yahveh, sometimes ​appearing in bodily shape. In pre-exilic times they be- long to popular rather than to prophetic religion. They occur in the earlier books almost exclusviely in the so-called folk-lore stories while the prophets are nearly silent concerning them.^[40] After the exile, however, angels spring into prominence and are a distinctive feature of the religion. This prominence is seen in the writings of Ezekiel and Zechariah. The conceptions of these writers is far surpassed by later Judaism. For then we discover the highly developed system and hierarchy of angels, which is represented in Daniel and Enoch, and in still later times is everywhere recognized. It became in time a vast and intricate system colored by prurient imagination, superstition, and foreign elements, and is described in the most hyperbolic language. In the time in which the Jews were in touch with the Persian religion, not only a complete system of angels was developed, but we find the abstract idea of angels and spirits, and names and numbers for spirits all of which is parallel to Zoroastrian conceptions. Yahveh is represented as surrounded by a great multitude of angels who do His bidding.^[41] Among these there are archangels, sometimes they are called Watchers and Holy Ones,^[42] sometimes they are distinctly ​referred to as the seven holy angels. “I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, which present the prayers of the saints, and go in before the glory of the Holy One.”^[43] As Ahura Mazda was recognized as one of the Amesha Spenta, and together they were called the seven Immortal or Holy Ones, it seems probable that the developed Jewish conception which came into prominence at this time had a Persian source. This is implied further in the number seven often occurring in sacred symbolisms.^[44] It is after Persian influence that we find names given to the archangels, Gabriel,^[45] Michael,^[46] Uhiel,^[47] Raphael. The Book of Enoch names the whole seven archangels.^[48] Long lists of names of angels occur in Enoch, and in other later literature.^[49] The names of the Biblical angels are Hebrew, which we would expect on the supposition that the Jews took general conceptions from the Persians and melded them in accordance with their own habits of mind. In the development of these ideas fer which Judaism was so largely indebted to Persia, we find, however, the name of one Persian daeva, Asmodcus.^[50] The Fravashis in the Zoroastrian faith are at once the souls of the deceased, and the protecting spirits of ​the living, created before their birth and surviving after their death. They appear in Judaism as guardian angels,^[51] and perhaps are the good angels of the second Book of Maccabees.^[52] The idea of angels as spirits, and of spirit as representing the inward being of God is a Jewish conception at this time.^[53] The personifications of wisdom in Job^[54] and Proverbs,^[55] and still more strongly in later literature,^[56] suggest the personifications of the Amesha Spenta in the Gathas. The Jews in such speculations had more to learn than they could teach. Later, Philo of Alexandria blended ideas from the Old Testament and Greek philosophy which he thought equally inspired. He framed his conception of the δυνάμεις, powers, logic, angels, which were agents between God and the world. The Logos is their sum collectively, through whom God deals with the world and with men. The Logos is wisdom, creator, mediator, interpreting God to men, and being the God of imperfect men. Darmesteter, holding to a late origin of the Gathas, advanced the theory that the doctrine of the Amesha Spenta was due to Neo Platonic influences, that Vohn Mano was a reflection of θειος Λοyος of Philo, and that the other Amesha ​Spenta were parallel to Philo’s Δυνάμεις, powers.^[57] The manner in which Yohn Mano is spoken of in the Avesta is often strikingly parallel to expressions used of the Logos by Neo-Platonists. But some of the names of the Amesha Spenta were of common occurrence by the end of the Achacmenian period, and the doctrine of archangels existed and was accepted at that time. It seems more likely that Philo gathering ideas and elements from every source may have borrowed also from the rich Zoroastrian creed.

Much that has been said concerning angels applies to the development of the idea of demons. The early traces of magic and necromancy already have been spoken of.^[58] The conception of a personal spirit of evil who is hostile to Yahveh was a growth. In the days of Ahab a scene is presented from the councils of Yahveh in which a spirit is commissioned to be a lying spirit.^[59] In the vision of Zechariah, there appears an angel to accuse Joshua, who bears for the first time the title, “Satan,” the “Adversary.”^[60] These are trusted officials; so is Satan in the prologue to the Book of Job,^[61] but his attitude has become more antagonistic. The development is seen in the passage in which the chronicler makes Satan instead of the Lord move David to number Israel.^[62] Satan develops into a distinct personality, an enemy of ​Yahveh and all good, and he is surrounded by a hierarchy of evil spirits who do his will. The number of demons is legion, and the names of many are given.^[63] The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs mentions two groups of seven evil spirits, as if in contrast to the seven archangels.^[64] Belief in the power of demons is an accepted faith.^[65] Satan is the head and ruler of the evil spirits.^[66] The beginning of all evil is ascribed to these evil angels.^[67] They bring only ruin and death to men.^[68] The parallel between Satan and Ahriman or Angro-Mainyu is obvious. But the Jews conceived of Satan as a fallen creature. His existence and the partial triumph of the powers of evil does not impugn the sovereignty of Yahvah. The archdemon is far from being equal to Him. The sovereignty of Ahura Mazda is, however, continually assailed by Angro Mainyu. In the Persian faith the sense of evil is so strong as to give rise to practically an evil deity. In the Jewish faith, the conception of Yahveh is so strong as to keep the evil powers in practical subordination to Him. But for the development of a system of demons, with names and evil functions such as the Jews came to hold, they were probably borrowers from the Persian religion.