Similarity of Concept and Function of Good and Evil Forces in Ancient Iran and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Subject Areas : Christianity

طاهره حاج ابراهیمی ¹ (ندارد)
علی قادری اردکانی ² (ندارد)

Received: 2010-12-29 Accepted : 2011-03-02 Published : 2010-09-23

Keywords: Dead Sea Scrolls, Essenes, Qumran community, angelology, demonology,

Abstract :

The manuscripts unearthed in 1947 between the border of Israel andJordan on the shore of the Dead Sea are known as The Dead SeaScrolls. They belong to Essenes who had cut off from the main body ofJudaism in opposition and constituted a community known as Qumran.There are interesting concepts in the Scrolls that are very similar toZoroastrian ideas. The main idea in the Dead Sea Scrolls is the war ofthe Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness which is similar to thecontrast between Ahura Mazda and Ahriman in Zoroastrian mythology.The confrontation of the Good and the Evil leads to a universal warbetween angels and demons which finally by the victory of the Goodforces comes to an end. Moreover, in both traditions the Good and Evilforces are organized in a precise hierarchy. Since these concepts areabsent in the early Jewish traditions and Hebrew Bible, some scholarsbelieve that they appear in Jewish tradition under the influence ofZoroastrianism.