I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezra 1-2.

    There is no evidence outside of the Bible for the edict of Cyrus listed here. However, this edict is consistent with the policies of Cyrus for which we do have archeological records. It is interesting to note that over most of the course of the Empire which Cyrus founded there were no idols used as part of official worship. All of this would have been contemporaneous with the rise of Zoroastrianism. Many scholars see certain aspects of Judaism as borrowings from Zoroastrianism while rejecting the idea that Zoroastrianism may have derived from Judaism. Zoroastrianism is named after the prophet Zoroaster (or Zarathustra). There is reason to believe that Zoroaster was part of a much older religious tradition. Now what makes this interesting to me is that while the exact geographical origins of Zoroastrianism is clouded by time, it was likely close to where Abraham was born (at least as close as the land of Israel). We do not know why Abraham’s father left the land of his birth, but the Bible records there were others who worshiped God with varying degrees of fidelity. I want to note that the oldest known copy of the Zoroastrian scriptures dates to the 14th Century. That manuscript, and all others which are currently known to exist, is based on a compilation created sometime between the Third and Seventh Centuries. If one believes the Genesis account to be historical, not only does it make sense to consider that Zoroastrianism and Judaism are divergent parts of the same religious tradition but that Cyrus and the Persians were aware of this fact.