e writers of the New Testament, the very expressions used by
them--not only their language, but their thoughts, their allusions,
illustrations, and similes--would enable us to say that some
historical contact had taken place between the philosophers of Greece,
the lawgivers of Rome, and the people of Judea. Why then should not
the same question be asked with regard to more ancient times? Why
should there be any hesitation in pointing out in the Old Testament an
Egyptian custom, or a Greek word, or a Persian conception? If Moses
was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, nothing surely would
stamp his writings as more truly historical than traces of Egyptian
influences that might be discovered in his laws. If Daniel prospered
in the reign of Cyrus the Persian, every Persian word that could be
discovered in Daniel would be most valuable in the eyes of a critical
historian. The only thing which we may fairly require in
investigations of this kind is that the facts should be clearly
established. The subject is surely an important one--important
historically, quite apart from any theological consequences that may
be supposed to follow. It is as important to find out whether the
authors of the Old Testament had come in contact with the language and
ideas of Babylon, Persia, or Egypt, as it is to know that the Jews, at
the time of our Lord's appearance, had been reached by the rays of
Greek and Roman civilisation--that in fact our Lord, his disciples,
and many of his followers, spoke Greek as well as Hebrew (i. e.
Chaldee), and were no strangers to that sphere of thought in which the
world of the Gentiles, the Greeks, and Romans had been moving for
centuries.

Hints have been thrown out from time to time by various writers that
certain ideas in the Old Testament might be ascribed to Persian
influences, and be traced back to the Zend-Avesta, the sacred writings
of Zoroaster. Much progress has been made in the deciphering of these
ancient documents, since Anquetil Duperron brought the first
instalment of MSS. from Bombay, and since the late Eugene Burnouf, in
his 'Commentaire sur le Yasna,' succeeded in establishing the grammar
and dictionary of the Zend language upon a safe basis. Several
editions of the works of Zoroaster have been published in France,
Denmark, and Germany; and after the labours of Spiegel, Westergaard,
Haug, and others, it might be supposed that such a question as the
influence of Persian ideas on the w