M
mojobadshah
Guest
I posted the same question on another thread but haven't heard back from anyone. I suppose this question is worth making a separate post anyhow.
I have been aware of Zoroaster's influence on the Abrahamic religions on the whole for quite some time now, but when it comes down to it-it would appear that most authors do not go into detail on the exactitudes of the matter and so I have taken it upon myself to sort them out.
On another post Bob X mentioned that in regards to receiving the designation Messiah "king (David, Solomon, etc.) and every priest (Aaron, Zadok, etc.) underwent this ritual to assume office."
However Peter Clark the author of Zoroastrianism: An Introduction to an Ancient Faith mentions that it isn't until the Book of Daniel that the Jews begin to develop the belief in messiah-type figures. What he doesn't mention is that Cyrus the Great was acknowledged as a Messiah in Isaiah which appears before Daniel in sequence (though I guess it may have been written afterwords?) and if I understand correctly the passage that mentions Cyrus in Isaiah 45 is actually a prophetic in that it refers to a "future deliverer." And it is this concept of a future deliverer that is said to be a Zoroastrian influence upon the Jews.
So now I'm wondering is what sets these pre-Exilic Messiahs apart from the Post-Exilic Messiahs of the Hebrew Bible? And why did Clark not give Cyrus as an example of one of these messiah-type figures?
I have been aware of Zoroaster's influence on the Abrahamic religions on the whole for quite some time now, but when it comes down to it-it would appear that most authors do not go into detail on the exactitudes of the matter and so I have taken it upon myself to sort them out.
On another post Bob X mentioned that in regards to receiving the designation Messiah "king (David, Solomon, etc.) and every priest (Aaron, Zadok, etc.) underwent this ritual to assume office."
However Peter Clark the author of Zoroastrianism: An Introduction to an Ancient Faith mentions that it isn't until the Book of Daniel that the Jews begin to develop the belief in messiah-type figures. What he doesn't mention is that Cyrus the Great was acknowledged as a Messiah in Isaiah which appears before Daniel in sequence (though I guess it may have been written afterwords?) and if I understand correctly the passage that mentions Cyrus in Isaiah 45 is actually a prophetic in that it refers to a "future deliverer." And it is this concept of a future deliverer that is said to be a Zoroastrian influence upon the Jews.
So now I'm wondering is what sets these pre-Exilic Messiahs apart from the Post-Exilic Messiahs of the Hebrew Bible? And why did Clark not give Cyrus as an example of one of these messiah-type figures?