Posted by
Tim on Sunday, December 23, 2007 11:33:52 PM
Recently, I can't remember where, but I heard someone equating Iranians with the Persians. I consider the story in the Gospel about the Magi. They were very likely Persians, but Iranians they were not...at least not as we see them today. Iranians are Muslims. The Persians, however, followed a different religion, namely, Zoroastrianism.
Zoroastrianism has an extremely small following today, primarily from Muslim persecution. The vast majority of believers fled to India during the expansion of Islam in the Sixth Century. This religion was founded by their great prophet Zarathushtra (Zoroaster is the Greek form) between 1000 and 800 BC. It has very strict rules of decency. They were to perform the "good thought", the "good word" and the "good deed." In their belief, the thought of murdering someone was just as evil as to physically doing it. In the days of the Persian Kings, they believed that they were the tools of the Creator in bringing perfection on Earth closer to fruition. Goodness was of utmost importance. Today, Zoroastrians, in India for example, are notorious for wisdom, decency and charity. It was no different for the early Persian kings.
In the books of Ezra and Isaiah, the Persian king, Cyrus, is raised up on a pedestal, God "called him by name," and "took him by the right hand." He is even called "annointed one." Let's look at what Cyrus did, but first, we have to look at the world in which he lived.
The Median Empire lay south of the Caspian Sea, primarily. It was quite a large empire. To the south of the Median Empire sat the Babylonian Empire - the two most powerful empires in the world at that time. When these empires conquered a people, it was the custom to allow some of the native rulers to remain as subordinates to the Emperor, while the populations were removed to different regions in order to weaken them. We have read about these things in several books of the Bible, specifically relating to the "Babylonian Captivity." However, it wasn't just the Jews which the Babylonians and Medes picked on. Almost every population was relocated to ensure the security of the thrones. And many were enslaved.
Cyrus, the king of a petty kingdom, called Anshan, inherited his position from his father. This kingdom, however, was basically a satellite kingdom to the Median Empire. In some strange way, which even baffles many historians, Cyrus rose and was able to conquer both Empires in the span of about twenty years. And this is where it gets interesting. According to some sources, when he faced the Medes, the Median soldiers turned and fought with Cyrus. Stranger still, when Cyrus turned his sights on Babylon, he walked in with little resistance (hence as quoted in Isaiah, "I will open doors for him.")
Now, to the meat of the matter: Persian culture is nothing like modern Iranian culture. Cyrus' claim to fame was freeing the Jews from captivity. Of course, he returned all of the populations to their homelands. What's more, he also sent them back with monies (from his Treasury) to rebuild their holy sites. He gave his own money to rebuild temples which the Babylonians had razed. He abolished the slavery of the previous regimes, and paid workers to build for the empire. Wow! It's no wonder that Cyrus is known as a just king. King Cyrus was tolerant of other religions, while the Empires of Babylon and Media, as well as modern Iran were/are far from tolerant - they're oppressive.
Interesting also that the Persian kings never took any credit for their accomplishments. Glory was given to "Ahura Mazda" ("The Creator"). Very interesting.
Everyone, have a Merry Christmas...and consider that believers of another religion (Zoroastrianism) came to visit Jesus because He was KING!