{"id":9274,"date":"2023-11-27T23:37:56","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T23:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elbespurling.com\/salvation\/?page_id=9274"},"modified":"2024-07-18T01:43:53","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T01:43:53","slug":"02-the-persian-period","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/elbespurling.com\/salvation\/?page_id=9274","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 2: The Persian Period"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Chapter 2<\/mark><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Persian Period<\/mark><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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The Persian Period<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Artist depiction of Cyrus of Persia leading his army<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the mid-500s BCE, an obscure Persian prince in the eastern extremity of the Babylonian Empire began a rapid rise to prominence. Successfully leading his surrounding neighbors in a revolt from Babylonian rule, he quickly went on to lead armies in a successful invasion of lands as far west as Greek Anatolia (today\u2019s Turkey), and as far east as the borders of India. When he decisively defeated the Babylonians at the Battle of Opis, he then marched his forces unopposed into the city of Babylon, taking control of its subject lands, and thereby establishing the largest empire the world had yet known. In just 14 more years, Egypt too would become subsumed as another part of the mighty and sprawling Persian Empire.1<\/a><\/sup>Waters, M. (2014). Ancient Persia: A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550\u2013330 BCE.<\/em> Cambridge University Press.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Map showing the greatest territorial extent of the Persian Empire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Artist depiction of Persian Emperor Cyrus and wife Cassandane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Bible paints a picture of Cyrus as a messiah (\u201csavior\u201d) of the Israelites, who magnanimously allowed them to return home from their \u201cBabylonian Captivity\u201d.2<\/a><\/sup>Isaiah 45:13<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span> As has become abundantly clear, there are always strong reasons to question Biblical accounts of history. The notion that masses of Israelites, after 70 to 100 years or more would voluntarily uproot themselves to \u201creturn\u201d to an ancestral home they had never themselves known\u2014where they held no land and had no standing\u2014strains credulity on the face of it, and is unsupported by evidence.3<\/a><\/sup>Davies, P.R. (1992). In Search of “Ancient Israel”: A Study in Biblical Origins. A&C Black.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of olive oil production in Judah.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is not to say the whole idea of Cyrus and his successor emperors sending peoples to settle the devastated and sparsely-populated former lands of Judah and Samaria is entirely off-base. The Persians sought to develop and exploit all the lands \u201cBeyond the River\u201d\u2014the name they gave all lands between the Euphrates River and the Mediterranean Sea. Judah was of particular interest, not merely for its valuable olive oil production, but because of its defensible position near the border with Egypt which was constantly threatening to break free of Persian control. For these reasons, it was imperative that the local government and power structure in Judah be 100% dependable and loyal to the emperor.4<\/a><\/sup>Magee, M.D. How Persia Created Judaism. Academia. https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/22882969\/How_Persia_Created_Judaism<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of foreign nobles set to mold Judah to Persian policies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the Assyrians had done after conquering the northern Israelites 250 years earlier, the Persians selected peoples from other parts of their empire to install as new noble and priestly classes to take over the crucial institutions of local government, military, and religion. These newcomers may have included some Israelites who had fully assimilated into Persian culture and won the trust of their overlords, but most were likely from other points of origin.5<\/a><\/sup>Davies, P.R. (1992). In Search of “Ancient Israel”: A Study in Biblical Origins. A&C Black.<\/span> Unable to speak the local language Hebrew, it was at this time that the language of business and the government in Judah switched to match that of the empire: Aramaean (that is to say Syrian), which would go on to be adopted by all the people of Judah, Samaria, and would eventually be the language of the first Christians.6<\/a><\/sup>Magee, M.D. How Persia Created Judaism. Academia. https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/22882969\/How_Persia_Created_Judaism<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of the Jerusalem temple during the Persian Period<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To say there was friction between the native Israelites\u2014who had stayed behind as peasants and shepherds–and the incoming elites would be an understatement. Efforts to rebuild Jerusalem and its walls were stymied by armed local attackers who must have seen this project from their perspective as a foreign act of oppression. But the walls did get completed, and within 100 years, Jerusalem had a temple to Yahweh. Such temples were vital to empires like Persia, for they acted as tax collection centers as well as treasuries storing government funds and accumulated wealth. In Jerusalem, the Persians saw a capital not just of Judah, but a major regional city in the Beyond the River province.7<\/a><\/sup>Magee, M.D. How Persia Created Judaism. Academia. https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/22882969\/How_Persia_Created_Judaism<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Persian Religion: Zoroastrianism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Artist depiction of key events in the life of Zoroaster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The religion of the Persians stood out from all other forms of worship in the ancient world. Its founding figure is said to have been a prophet named Zoroaster who lived in the extreme northeast of Persia (near today\u2019s Turkmenistan and Afghanistan) sometime between 1500 and 1000 BCE. He is credited with reforming the polytheistic faith he inherited, preaching that there is only a single omnipotent god Ahura Mazda (\u201cWise Lord\u201d). Zoroastrianism is, therefore, considered the world\u2019s first monotheistic religion. But this is not to say that the religion does not also include a great many other supernatural figures, divine or otherwise. In fact, Zoroastrian theology is rigorously dualist, seeing every aspect of life as part of a struggle between the righteous Forces of Light and the evil Forces of Darkness. Leading the latter group is Ahriman (\u201cDestruction\u201d), who presides over whole armies of lesser evil spirits (\u201cdaevas\u201d or demons), who from the time of creation have continuously sought to undo the great works of Ahura Mazda.8<\/a><\/sup>Boyce, M. (1989). A History of Zoroastrianism, Vol. 1: The Early Period.<\/em> Brill.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of Persians burning down a temple in Babylon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to the Bible and other Persian propaganda of the time, Cyrus’s empire has garnered a reputation for great religious tolerance among its many and varied subject peoples. But this characterization is exaggerated.9<\/a><\/sup>Fitzpatrick-McKinley, A. (2015). Empire, Power and Indigenous Elites: A Case Study of the Nehemiah Memoir. Brill.<\/span> That tolerance could be and was revoked at any sign of a revolt. When Cyrus took Babylon, for instance, he had first laid the groundwork by using pro-Persian prophets there to preach to the Babylonians that the high Babylonian god Marduk was angry with the king of Babylon, and that Marduk was bringing them a savior in the form of Cyrus. After the conquest, the Persians made great efforts to equate Marduk with Ahura Mazda, and reduced the other Babylonian gods to the level of lesser supernatural beings. The Persians then funded and controlled the Babylonian priesthood as well. But when the Babylonians attempted to revolt in 484 BCE, Emperor Xerxes ordered a retribution that was swift and severely punishing, including the destruction of several great temples and removal of Babylonian\u2019s main cultic image, the sacred golden Statue of Marduk.10<\/a><\/sup>Magee, M.D. How Persia Created Judaism. Academia. https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/22882969\/How_Persia_Created_Judaism<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of Israelites worshiping Yahweh as a bull<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Zoroastrianism is an aniconic faith, meaning the use of images in worship is strictly forbidden, and the Persians were known at times to oppress temples using statues and other religious icons if polytheism was being practiced. This strong bias against imagery was unknown elsewhere in the ancient Near East, and was not previously practiced by the ancient Israelites who had created depictions of Yahweh in the form of a man or symbolically represented as a bull. But aniconism would become just one of the many uniquely Persian doctrines adopted into the new religion of the Jews.11<\/a><\/sup>Magee, M.D. How Persia Created Judaism. Academia. https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/22882969\/How_Persia_Created_Judaism<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Origin of Jewish Monotheism<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Persians took a keen interest in strongly influencing the people and religion of their prized new temple (and regional tax collecting) state of Judah. This meddling did not all take place at once, but was introduced piecemeal throughout the 200 years in which the Jews were loyal subjects of Persia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Timeline comparing length of years of independent Israel and Judah and their periods as vassals to Babylon and Persia. All dates BCE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Artist depiction of Yahweh merged with El and equated with the supreme being Ahura Mazda.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

First and foremost, as with the Babylonians\u2019 high god Marduk, the Persian agents who were settled in Jerusalem to control the government and priesthood brought with them a strict monotheism that they pushed on the local populace. In Judah at this time, there were still two different gods worshiped as the head of the pantheon by different subgroups: El the traditional Levantine chief deity, and Yahweh the storm and creator god imported from the south. Rather than choose one or the other, there was a decision to merge these two gods, and equate them with Ahura Mazda under the name and title Yahweh Elyon (\u201cThe Supreme Being\u201d or \u201cGod Most High\u201d). Worship of any other deities was outlawed, including the long venerated Baal, Asherah, Chemosh, Tammuz, Astarte, Qos, Anat and many others.12<\/a><\/sup>Magee, M.D. How Persia Created Judaism. Academia. https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/22882969\/How_Persia_Created_Judaism<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of native Jews who continued the polytheistic religion of their ancestors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For the native population of Jews who had always practiced their ancestors\u2019 polytheism on their ancestral lands, this top-down introduction of a foreign faith by foreign agents was continually met with strong resistance.13<\/a><\/sup>Eames, C. (2019). Discovered: Nehemiah’s Wall. Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archeology. https:\/\/armstronginstitute.org\/204-discovered-nehemiahs-wall<\/a><\/span> But it was the Persian-sponsored settlers who held power in both the palace and the temples. They responded by unflaggingly pushing a fiction that it was they who were the descendants of the ruling class and priests who had been carried off to Babylon, and that they had now returned to teach the \u201cpeople of the land\u201d (as they dismissively referred to them) the true religion of their ancestors which they had somehow forgotten in their absence and reverted to dreadful polytheism.14<\/a><\/sup>Magee, M.D. How Persia Created Judaism. Academia. https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/22882969\/How_Persia_Created_Judaism<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of a scribe composing a book of law for the Jews<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is in this atmosphere that the Bible\u2019s first writings came about, for they could not have been written any earlier. Only at this point in history, with the patronage of a world power, did the Jerusalem priesthood and nobility have the requisite support and infrastructure to maintain a scribal school that could produce writings of this nature.15<\/a><\/sup>Thompson, T. (1999). The Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology and the Myth of Israel. Pimlico.<\/span> As their first matter of business, the Persians did what they had done in other provinces as well: set forth a book of law to establish acceptable order. In Judah, the book of law they thus produced is in fact the earliest version of what we know as the Bible\u2019s book of Deuteronomy.16<\/a><\/sup>Magee, M.D. How Persia Created Judaism. Academia. https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/22882969\/How_Persia_Created_Judaism<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Origin of Biblical Writing: The Law<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Scholars have long noted an odd quirk of Deuteronomy is that it takes the traditional form of an ancient Near Eastern contract between an overlord nation and its submissive vassal state. That is to say it includes a preamble identifying the overlord, a history of the relationship between the two parties, general obligations of the vassal, specific stipulations, followed by a litany of blessings the vassal can expect for keeping the agreement, and a list of dire curses that will befall them if they do not.17<\/a><\/sup>Mann, T.W. (2013). The Book of Torah, Second Edition. Wipf and Stock Publishers.<\/span> This is quite odd if one thinks of this as purely a religious document, but makes perfect sense as a document of laws imposed by the Persians on the Jews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo of an ancient scroll of Deuteronomy with the oldest known version of the Ten Commandments<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Artist depiction of Yahweh about to curse the Jews with fireballs for their disobedience<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most notably Deuteronomy is obsessed with the above-mentioned novel (to the native Jews) idea of exclusive monotheistic worship of Yahweh. Strict loyalty to the Supreme God, it promises, will be rewarded with great national prosperity,18<\/a><\/sup>Deuteronomy 28:1-13<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span> while any deviance will be met with not just personal misfortune but national ruin.19<\/a><\/sup>Deuteronomy 28:15-68<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span> This point is driven home over and over again, making it clear that to the Persians, establishing monotheism was the most important first step in making a foreign religion acceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Depiction of “unclean” animals forbidden for consumption in the Jewish law book<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another key part of Deuteronomy is its prohibitions of certain foods as \u201cunclean\u201d and forbidden while denoting other foods as \u201cclean\u201d and acceptable to consume. This is a notion that is also uniquely attributable to Zoroastrianism,20<\/a><\/sup>Daryaee, T. (2012). Food, Purity and Pollution: Zoroastrian Views on the Eating Habits of Others. Iranian Studies, 45(2), 229\u2013242. http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/44860982<\/span> and became adopted with variations by the Jews, and is still practiced to this day . Finally, the other stark distinction laid out in Deuteronomy is between those who worship Yahweh monotheistically and all other people, with marriage and interbreeding between the two groups outlawed on pain of death.21<\/a><\/sup>Deuteronomy 7:3-4<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Deuteronomistic History<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Artist depiction of the native Jews actively resisting the imposition of a new religion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The continuing widespread unpopularity of Persian-style monotheism among the native Jews must have been the strongest motivator for the composition of the next books of the Bible to be written. Because they share precisely the mindset and goals of Deuteronomy, these writings have come to be called by scholars the \u201cDeuteronomic History\u201d that stretches across the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have already seen that throughout the Bible\u2019s unique (and almost entirely inaccurate) telling of the history of the ancient Israelites, a single pattern repeats ad nauseam: the chosen people gravely sin by worshiping a god other than Yahweh, or anger Yahweh by intermarrying with non-Yahweh worshipers, and are then subjected to extreme retribution from their own god. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of Cyrus of Persia as the king of kings and savior of the Jews<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Only after many years of awful suffering do the Israelites see the error of their ways and call out to Yahweh to save them, which time and time again he does. Except when he doesn\u2019t. The Bible\u2019s writers pin the blame for Babylon\u2019s utter destruction of Jerusalem and all of Judah on the unfaithful populace, for by this time Yahweh has had enough, and he allows the destruction of his own temple and the decimation and enslavement of his people with no salvation in sight\u2014until the arrival of Cyrus the Savior generations later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of tax collection at the temple of Jerusalem<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another theme in the Deuteronomic History is one that also seeks to break the patterns of worship in the traditional Israelite religion. While for centuries the Israelites had worshiped at shrines and temples all across the land (and likely in foreign cities as well), the writers of Deuteronomy stress that there is only one legitimate place of worship for the Jews.22<\/a><\/sup>Deuteronomy 12:5<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span> Practicing religious rites at any other site is another grave sin that Yahweh is said to find infuriating. This consolidation of worship in the Judahite capital had everything to do with orderly tax collection and retaining strict priestly control of the new faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of Ezra reading the book of law to the Jews<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All of this pointed storytelling and promotion of novel doctrines acted as propaganda to win over (with both enticement and terrible threats) the many local holdouts in accepting the new Persian-crafted religion.23<\/a><\/sup>Magee, M.D. How Persia Created Judaism. Academia. https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/22882969\/How_Persia_Created_Judaism<\/a><\/span> In one of the later-written Bible books that may contain a kernel of truth, two characters from this period named Nehemiah and Ezra\u2014both Persian officials\u2014oversee the reconstruction of the Jerusalem walls and temple, and then are said to provide the first reading of The Law to a great crowd of Jews who are portrayed as hearing it for the first time.24<\/a><\/sup>Nehemiah 8:1-8<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span> This can strike the reader as an oddity, since the Deuteronomic History projects Jewish monotheism backward in time, anachronistically foisting it on to the purely polytheistic ancient Israelites. But this squares with the Persian settlers’ narrative that the native Jews had somehow forgotten their own history and religion, and it was up to the \u201creturners\u201d to set them straight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Prophets and the Day of the Lord<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Artist depiction of a prophet preaching to the Jews<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In addition to Persian-commissioned prophets preaching Persian-sponsored messages in Judah during this period, it is also the time when the Bible\u2019s first books of the prophets were written. Just as with monotheism and other religious innovations, most of these prophets were consciously retrojected to an earlier era, giving them an air of venerable tradition rather than novelty,25<\/a><\/sup>Magee, M.D. How Persia Created Judaism. Academia. https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/22882969\/How_Persia_Created_Judaism<\/a><\/span> and conveniently allowing them to \u201cpredict\u201d a future that had already come to pass so as to establish their perceived credibility.26<\/a><\/sup>Doak, B.R. (2014). Predicting the Past, Remembering the Future: Vaticinia ex eventu in the Historiographic Traditions of the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East. Academia. https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/1658530\/Predicting_the_Past_Remembering_the_Future_Vaticinia_ex_eventu_in_the_Historiographic_Traditions_of_the_Hebrew_Bible_and_the_Ancient_Near_East<\/em><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Modern Zoroastrian artist depiction of the Saoshyant (coming messiah)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Zoroastrian worldview was markedly different from that of ancient Israel. Human history was seen as a 6,000-year period broken into a set number of inevitable stages, the last of which was rapidly approaching. These End Times would be ushered in by the appearance of a Saoshyant (\u201csavior\u201d or “messiah”) who would lead the Forces of Light to victory in a final epic battle against all the Forces of Darkness.27<\/a><\/sup>Mehr, F. (2003). The Zoroastrian Tradition: An Introduction to the Ancient Wisdom of Zarathushtra. Mazda Publishers.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of Zoroastrian view of heaven and hell at Judgment Day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This would be swiftly followed by a resurrection of all the dead to allow their participation in Judgment Day. At that event, based on their lifetime of thoughts, words, and deeds recorded in the Book of Life, each person would be welcomed to paradise to enjoy a blissful afterlife, or would be sentenced to eternal torture in Hell.28<\/a><\/sup>Boyce. M. (2001). Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Psychology Press.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not all aspects of these Zoroastrian doctrines were subsumed into the Judaism of the Bible. The vast majority of the Old Testament employs the worldview that stretches back as far as the ancient Sumerians, in which all humans are bound to live out an endless afterlife in a dreary netherworld realm known as Sheol.29<\/a><\/sup>Sheol. Encyclopedia Britannica. https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/sheol<\/span> Ahriman (a Satan equivalent) and his supernatural \u201cForces of Darkness\u201d30<\/a><\/sup>Sheol. Encyclopedia Britannica. https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/sheol<\/span> are entirely absent, and instead, all things both good and evil are attributed to Yahweh.31<\/a><\/sup>Isaiah 45:7<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of the traditional Israelite belief that all the dead, good and bad, spend eternity in dreary Sheol<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Artist depiction of angels fighting the enemies of the Jews on the Day of the Lord<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But in the books of prophets we do see the burgeoning notion of a coming \u201cDay of the Lord\u201d32<\/a><\/sup>Isaiah 13:9<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span> or a \u201cDay of Vengeance\u201d33<\/a><\/sup>Jeremiah 46:10<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span> that prophets long for when Yahweh will provide comeuppance to all the enemies of the Jews and reward the faithful.34<\/a><\/sup>Joel 2:28-32<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span> This concept is nowhere fully explicated, nor is the notion of an End Time resurrection of the dead, though hints of it are given.35<\/a><\/sup>Joel 2:28-32<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will now turn our attention, however,  to the writings of a subset of Jews who, in the wake of  the Persian period, incorporated a great deal more Zoroastrian theology into their devout Judaism, and would eventually bequeath their particular worldview to the first Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Book of Watchers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Artist depiction of angels descending to earth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Composed around 300 BCE, a Jewish religious writing known as The Book of Watchers<\/em> became widely read and influential. Among many Jews and the earliest Christians it was treated as scripture. But for reasons that will later be discussed, a decision was made many centuries later not to include it in the Hebrew Bible canon (which was not settled on by Rabbinic Jews until at least 200 CE).36<\/a><\/sup>Carr, D. M. (2011). Formation of the Hebrew Bible: A New Reconstruction. Oxford University Press.<\/span> Here in this ancient writing we find almost the entire Zoroastrian worldview fully melded with Judaism, and can recognize a great many Persian doctrines that would find their way into Christianity, separating it from what would one day be known as Rabbinic or mainstream Judaism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The narrative of the book is a longform version of a bizarre tale later summarized with extreme brevity in Genesis 6:1-6.37<\/a><\/sup>Genesis 6:1-6<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span> A number of generations after the creation of humankind, a supernatural group of beings referred to as the \u201csons of God\u201d are said to lust after human women and have sex with them, leading to the creation of a hybrid race of giants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of angel raping a human woman as described in Genesis chapter 6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Artist depiction of a giant surviving The Flood on a giant unicorn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These giants are explained by the writer of Genesis to be the heroes of ancient legends. Some are even said to have survived the Great Flood. How such a thing was possible, like the rest of the story, is left unexplained, though later non-Biblical Jewish folktales would run with this notion to explain the appearance of the giant Og of Bashan in the book of Numbers.38<\/a><\/sup>Mayim Archonim. The Amazing Story of Og, the Giant King of Bashan. https:\/\/www.mayimachronim.com\/the-giant-og-king-of-bashan\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In The Book of Watchers<\/em>, these same \u201csons of God\u201d are referred to as \u201cWatchers\u201d\u2014and are said to be a cohort of 200 angels tasked with monitoring humankind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of Samyaza, a leader of the Watchers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Their leader is named Samyaza, and he convinces all his fellow Watchers to swear a binding oath that they will impregnate human women and thereby gain children for themselves.39<\/a><\/sup>Winter, J. (2015). The Complete Book of Enoch. Winter Publications. https:\/\/ia601001.us.archive.org\/19\/items\/TheCompleteBookOfEnochStandardEnglishVersionJayWinter\/The%20Complete%20Book%20of%20Enoch%2C%20Standard%20English%20Version%20-%20Jay%20Winter.pdf<\/span> In contrast to the Hebrew Bible where angels lack individual names, we are told the personal names of 20 of the ringleaders among the Watchers in a style reminiscent of Zoroastrian ranked angelology lists.40<\/a><\/sup>Kallen, S.A. (2008). Angels. Capstone.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of ancient humans about to become snack food for some very hungry giants<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As in Genesis, the resulting offspring are gigantic, but further details are supplied: they are thousands of feet tall, and these voracious giants consume all of the humans\u2019 harvested food, their crops and animals, and then begin eating humans, and even one another. A different chief of the Watchers named Azazel then sins further by revealing forbidden knowledge to the humans, teaching them metallurgy so they can make swords, shields, and armor. He also teaches them how to create and wear jewelry and makeup. Samyaza then teaches them root-cutting and sorcery. Others among The Watchers reveal to them various aspects of astronomy.41<\/a><\/sup>Winter, J. (2015). The Complete Book of Enoch. Winter Publications. https:\/\/ia601001.us.archive.org\/19\/items\/TheCompleteBookOfEnochStandardEnglishVersionJayWinter\/The%20Complete%20Book%20of%20Enoch%2C%20Standard%20English%20Version%20-%20Jay%20Winter.pdf<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of the four archangels introduced in the Book of Watchers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile in Heaven, four good angels observe the sin and carnage below. For the first time in Jewish literature, we are introduced to Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel, figures who in late Biblical and extra-Biblical writings are presented as Yahweh\u2019s archangels\u2014with Michael appearing in the book of Daniel 150 years later42<\/a><\/sup>Daniel 12:1<\/a>. The Bible. New English Translation.<\/span> and the Revelation of John some 250 years later.43<\/a><\/sup>Revelation 12:7<\/a>. The Bible. New English Translation.<\/span> Gabriel also later appears as the angel who visits Mary in the Gospel of Luke.44<\/a><\/sup>Luke 1:26-27<\/a>. The Bible. New Interational Version.<\/span> In The Book of Watchers<\/em> these archangels now report to God what they\u2019ve seen and urge him to judge humankind and the fallen angels. God pronounces his judgments, first sending Uriel to warn Noah of the coming cataclysmic flood.45<\/a><\/sup>Winter, J. (2015). The Complete Book of Enoch. Winter Publications. https:\/\/ia601001.us.archive.org\/19\/items\/TheCompleteBookOfEnochStandardEnglishVersionJayWinter\/The%20Complete%20Book%20of%20Enoch%2C%20Standard%20English%20Version%20-%20Jay%20Winter.pdf<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of giants held in a subterranean prison<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel are told that they must bind the fallen angels and imprison them until the great judgment at the End Times when they will be cast into the abyss of fire and torment forever. This marks the debut in Jewish literature of the Zoroastrian-imported concept of Hell. The four Jewish archangels introduced here are also obvious parallels of Ahura Mazda\u2019s archangels known as the Amesh Spentas (\u201cHoly Immortals\u201d).46<\/a><\/sup>Winter, J. (2015). The Complete Book of Enoch. Winter Publications. https:\/\/ia601001.us.archive.org\/19\/items\/TheCompleteBookOfEnochStandardEnglishVersionJayWinter\/The%20Complete%20Book%20of%20Enoch%2C%20Standard%20English%20Version%20-%20Jay%20Winter.pdf<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Enoch<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Artist depiction of an angel guide appearing to an ancient patriarch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An \u201capocalypse\u201d (from Greek \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03ba\u03ac\u03bb\u03c5\u03c8\u03b9\u03c2, meaning \u201crevelation\u201d) is a genre of writing pioneered by the Persians then adopted by the Jews.47<\/a><\/sup>Cohn, N. (2001). Cosmos, Chaos, and the World to Come: The Ancient Roots of Apocalyptic Faith. Yale University Press.<\/span> Though the most famous example today is that of the Revelation of John which is found at the end of the New Testament, dozens of other Jewish apocalypses preceded it,48<\/a><\/sup>Wikipedia: List of Non-canonical Jewish Apocalyptic Writings https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Apocalyptic_literature#Non-canonical<\/span> and the first of those is found in The Book of Watchers<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the defining features of an apocalypse is that it relates in detail the story of a single individual\u2014typically a revered figure from the past\u2014as they are taken by an angelic guide up to the highest heaven where God sits enthroned. The genre\u2019s name refers to the revealing of secret knowledge and wisdom that is imparted to the human during his encounter, which often comes in the form of visions of the past and the future.49<\/a><\/sup>Apocalyptic Literature. Encyclopedia Britannica. https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/art\/apocalyptic-literature<\/a><\/span> The first known instance of the genre is in the Zoroastrian scriptures when Zoroaster himself visits heaven.50<\/a><\/sup>The teaching of Zoroaster: Complete Edition.\u00a0(2023).\u00a0(n.p.):\u00a0Sanzani Edizioni.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of Enoch being taken by God<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In this first Jewish apocalypse, it is an early Biblical patriarch named Enoch who plays this role. Despite the fact that Genesis would later relate almost nothing about this figure, he nonetheless stands out there for the description that\u2014unlike the rest of the patriarchs\u2014instead of dying, the text cryptically reads \u201cHe walked with God and he was no more, for God took him.\u201d Enoch is introduced in The Book of Watchers<\/em> when God calls on him to go to the Watchers and announce to them the penalty for their actions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of Enoch arguing on behalf of the Watchers before God in heaven<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This Enoch dutifully does. And, trembling, the Watchers then convince Enoch to beseech God for their forgiveness. So Enoch makes their case, but God is unmoved and the punishment goes unaltered: they will be tied up and held captive in a dark subterranean abode until Judgment Day when they will be thrown into the fires of hell.51<\/a><\/sup>Winter, J. (2015). The Complete Book of Enoch. Winter Publications. https:\/\/ia601001.us.archive.org\/19\/items\/TheCompleteBookOfEnochStandardEnglishVersionJayWinter\/The%20Complete%20Book%20of%20Enoch%2C%20Standard%20English%20Version%20-%20Jay%20Winter.pdf<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of evil spirits roaming the earth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The fate of the Watchers\u2019 giant offspring is then pronounced: they will die and become immaterial evil spirits roaming the Earth, attacking humankind, and afflicting them with destruction and oppression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enoch is then lifted up to the heavenly throne room which he describes in lush and detailed descriptions that will be echoed in later apocalyptic writings such as Daniel and the Revelation of John. Uriel and Raphael then guide him on a whirlwind tour looking down on the Earth below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of Enoch’s view of the earth from heaven<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He is shown all the various lands and animals from every location in the world, and then shown the supports which hold up the Earth. He is brought back up to the sky to behold the places where wind, rain, and hail are stored; and he visits all the realms of Heaven above. At one point he is shown a place of suffering\u2014a prison under a lofty mountain where the souls of dead humans are kept to await final judgment.52<\/a><\/sup>Winter, J. (2015). The Complete Book of Enoch. Winter Publications. https:\/\/ia601001.us.archive.org\/19\/items\/TheCompleteBookOfEnochStandardEnglishVersionJayWinter\/The%20Complete%20Book%20of%20Enoch%2C%20Standard%20English%20Version%20-%20Jay%20Winter.pdf<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next few centuries, additional Jewish literature centered around the holy figure of Enoch would be written, eventually to be collected along with related works like Jubilees<\/em>53<\/a><\/sup>Jubilees. Early Jewish Writings. https:\/\/www.earlyjewishwritings.com\/jubilees.html<\/span> (that share the same outlook and concerns) into the Book of Enoch<\/em>,54<\/a><\/sup>Winter, J. (2015). The Complete Book of Enoch. Winter Publications. https:\/\/ia601001.us.archive.org\/19\/items\/TheCompleteBookOfEnochStandardEnglishVersionJayWinter\/The%20Complete%20Book%20of%20Enoch%2C%20Standard%20English%20Version%20-%20Jay%20Winter.pdf<\/span> offering an especially Zoroastrian-influenced take on the Jewish history and cosmology. Despite their later rejection by Jewish orthodoxy and Christian Catholicism, they survived the ages thanks to their acceptance into the Ethiopian Christian church,55<\/a><\/sup>Gottheil, R. & Littmann, E. Ethiopic Book of Enoch. Jewish Encyclopedia. https:\/\/www.jewishencyclopedia.com\/articles\/5773-enoch-books-of-ethiopic-and-slavonic<\/a><\/span> and being found among the Dead Sea Scrolls56<\/a><\/sup>Dillon, G. Book of Enoch | Facts, the Dead Sea Scrolls & the Bible. https:\/\/study.com\/academy\/lesson\/book-enoch-history-summary-facts-1.html#:~:text=The%20First%20Book%20of%20Enoch,included%20in%20any%20biblical%20canon<\/a>.<\/span> collected by the Essene sect of Jews whom we will learn more about in the chapters to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The End of the Persian Period<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Artist depiction of a Greek temple burned by the Persians<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At its height, the Persian Empire\u2019s western borders stretched across Greek Anatolia and into Europe. The Persian Emperor Xerxes managed to hold the northern Greek mainland of Macedonia for about 25 years. He was even able to sack the city of Athens. But the Persian army and navy was eventually driven back by an alliance of powerful city-states led by Sparta. Tension between the two powers lasted throughout the time of Persia\u2019s empire.57<\/a><\/sup>Bivar, A.D.H., Dresden, M.J., & Ghirshman, R. Ancient Iran. Encyclopedia Britannica. https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/ancient-Iran<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of the execution by crucifixion of the Greek rebel leader<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In another incident in the 400s BCE, some of the Greek states in Anatolia revolted during the reign of Darius I of Persia. The uprising was eventually crushed, and in response, Darius had their Greek temples destroyed, and the leader of the revolt crucified (a Persian punishment later adopted by other nations).58<\/a><\/sup>Magee, M.D. How Persia Created Judaism. Academia. https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/22882969\/How_Persia_Created_Judaism<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the Persian Empire eventually fell, its influence on the world is incalculable. Without their proselytizing of Zoroastrian-style monotheism, there would be no Judaism. And without Judaism and an even heavier mix of Zoroastian beliefs, certainly no Christianity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Continue Reading:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapter 3: The Maccabean Revolt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Footnotes<\/h3>