Zoroastrianism and Judaism/Chapter 8

PURITY in thoughts, in words and in deeds, is a summary of the ethical life of the Zoroastrian. It includes all moral precepts. This ideal is constantly found throughout the Avesta. There is much externality in the Iranian religion as has been shown, already, but the subjective element is also strong.^[1] “Thou Righteousness, when shall I see thee, knowing the Good Mind, and above all the personified Obedience, which constitutes the way to the most beneficient Ahura Mazda.”^[2] An external offering or sacrifice is made valuable through the good thoughts, words and deeds of an individual.^[3] Those who are not pure in thought are far from the Good Mind of Ahura Mazda.^[4] “Any one in the world here below can win purity for himself, namely, when he cleanses himself with good thoughts, words, and deeds. The will of the Lord is the law of holiness.”

“Holiness is the best of all good. Happy, happy the man who is holy with perfect holiness.”^[5] Many chapters of the eighth Dinkard close with the words, “Righteousness is perfect excellence.”^[6] In the Gathas ​Ahura Mazda, in response to prayer, is able to give “helpful grace” and “meet the spirit’s need.”^[7] In the ten admonitions given in a chapter of the Pahlavi literature is the following, “keep the way of the good open to your house, for the sake of making righteousness welcome in your abode.”^[8]

Love of truth is a characteristic of those in the Iranian faith. Nothing is more shameful than a lie. “The man of truth shall be more resplendent than the sun; the man of a lie goeth straightway to the demon whence he cometh.”^[9] Such lofty conceptions implied benevolence, charity, uprightness, eschewing of deceit and theft, purity of body as well as soul, temperance, restraint, and these are all in the teachings of the faith.

As Ahura Mazda looks upon the smallest sin with displeasure, so Yahveh knows the secrets of all hearts.^[10] The high moral conceptions of deity exalted the moral standards of the people. Among the Zoroastrians, morality was identified with the holy will of Ahura Mazda, and among the Jews with the holy will of Yahveh. The character of Yahveh was the final rule for men.^[11] The philosophy of the Wisdom Books reaches the same conclusion that it was “the whole of man” to “fear Yahveh and keep ​His commandments.”^[12] The will of Yahveh had been announced by priests and prophets, and then came to be embodied in the legal codes.

In pre-exilic times the ethical standards of the people were extremely low. The few writers who have higher conceptions, give little prominence to the inward life. The sins are mostly external and national, The Deuteronomist, Jeremiah and Ezekiel introduce the emphasis upon the inwardness of religion. In post-exilic times this receives its highest development in the Psalms, The upright man is good in thought and word and deed.^[13] But much of post-exilic literature is still external in its conceptions of holiness and sin.

The ethical standard of the Zoroastrian faith is not inferior to that in Judaism. The emphasis placed upon inwardness and spirituality in religion, even suggest whether Judaism may not have been helped to a grasping of spiritual conceptions by the followers of Zarathustra.

A primal factor of the morals and ethics of the Iranian religion is the freedom of the will.^[14] Every individual must choose to be on the side of Ahura Mazda, or on the side of Angro Mainyu, and he must fulfil the duties which are consequently imposed upon him. Indifferentism or failure to choose is impossible. Every good deed a man does increases ​the power of good, every evil deed the power of evil. Zarathustra declared himself sent to assist men to the good.^[15] Freedom to choose means responsibility. This is a strong characteristic of the religion. A strict watch is kept by the divinities over every individual, and all deeds are recorded. Even the demons were not evil by nature, but became so by choosing to place themselves in opposition to Ahura Mazda.^[16] Such moral earnestness colored the whole life of the Zoroastrian. In Jewish writings there is everywhere recognized, or assumed, the same freedom of man’s will. He is under no coercion. Every man is responsible for his deeds.^[17] The Iranian and Jewish faiths are precisely the same in this respect.