East of Judea lay the region of Perea, and beyond that, the Nabataean kingdom with its capital at Petra, the red rock city. A bit further east was the Arabian desert, home to nomads, and beyond that, the capital of the Parthian Empire in the fertile crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
This region, the cradle of Mesopotamian civilization, had been home to great empires like Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia, Assyria, Neo-Babylonia, Persia, Macedonia, the Seleucids, and Parthia. The Jews had long-standing connections to this area as well. Abraham’s hometown of Ur was a Sumerian city-state on the lower Euphrates, and the capital of Neo-Babylonia-where the Jews were exiled after the fall of the southern kingdom of Judah-was also in this region. Many diaspora Jews had established settlements and lived there, gradually forgetting their ancestral language after generations in foreign lands. But the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Bible created under the Ptolemaic dynasty, allowed Jews in this region to learn about God again.
Among them was a Gentile who encountered the Bible through these diaspora Jews. He made his living predicting world events by observing the stars and held an important position as an advisor to the Parthian royal court. This weighty responsibility made him eager to gather any material that might help him foresee the situations of neighboring countries, and what caught his eye was the book of Daniel. Daniel contained prophecies about the history of surrounding regions that were more accurate than any predictions he knew. Though he couldn’t blindly trust ancient records without knowing when the Bible was written, these prophecies included not only past events but also future ones. And it wasn’t just any prophecy, but material that seemed to allude to Rome, Parthia’s most powerful rival. Though relations between the two countries were good now, they had been at war until just a few decades ago, so no one knew when conflict might return. In such circumstances, knowing the future in advance could mean gaining an advantage over Rome.
Realizing this, he began to seriously consider the credibility of the material he had obtained. If these prophecies were true, they would be tremendously valuable, potentially determining the fate of himself and his country. But if they were false, he might make the wrong judgments, risking his position or even his life. Therefore, investigating the truthfulness of the Bible containing these prophecies became his top priority. He began reading the Bible from the beginning, devoting himself to its study.
As he read Genesis, he thought: “So this is how this book explains the creation of the world. What message did the God of the Jews want to convey through this story?” As he analyzed it, he found some content similar to stories he already knew, so it didn’t feel too unfamiliar. Then he noticed the part about a man named Abram leaving his hometown of Ur. Ur was the old name of his own hometown where he had lived until his youth, and he found it striking that, unlike himself who left home to succeed, Abram went to Canaan believing only in God’s word. How could Abram believe in the word of God, not the god his ancestors worshipped? Although there was a promise that he would become a great nation, make his name great, be a blessing, and that all peoples on earth would be blessed through him, God had given him nothing until then. If God had given him something before making such promises, perhaps even an unfamiliar god could be trusted. But on what basis could one have faith without receiving anything?
He felt sorry for Abram, who seemed almost deceived. Just as he thought, Abram endured many hardships in Canaan. He even deceived others by calling his wife his sister when he went down to Egypt during a famine, and once fought in battle to rescue his nephew who had been taken captive. Though he clearly built up considerable power in Canaan, he was still just a nomad who couldn’t settle down. What was most incomprehensible was God’s attitude of promising to give him a child but continually not giving one. From when he first left Haran, then in Hebron, after meeting Melchizedek king of Salem, even when he already had a son, Ishmael, God kept saying He would give a son through his wife Sarah but didn’t. Why was this God acting like this? If He wanted Abram to believe in Him, wouldn’t it have been better to give him a child right away rather than continually testing his hope? This almost seemed like God was testing Abram as a person. As if asking, “Can you still believe in me even if I do this?” But why would a god need to test people?
Reading a bit further, there was finally a scene where a son was born to the now elderly Abram. Just when he thought it had taken so long, the very next scene told Abram to offer his young son as a burnt offering. This was absurd. After promising to give, now saying He would take away again? But thinking about the region of Canaan, it seemed possible. Since parents offered many infants as human sacrifices to Molech, the Phoenician god, the God of Canaan could make such demands too.
But right after that came an unexpected turn: an angel urgently called out to stop him from killing his bound son. And seeing that he did not withhold even his son, the angel said now he knew Abram feared God. Why had this God acted this way all along? Why was He so intent on confirming Abram’s faith? Why was He so concerned with human faith?
Come to think of it, this God had shown very unusual behavior patterns from the beginning. Other gods he knew created humans for divine reasons like serving the gods and building temples. But this God created humans in His own image and told them to rule over the world. He blessed them and told them to be fruitful and fill the earth, not telling them to do anything for Him. Instead, there was only the instruction not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
There was another difference. Generally, gods tend to act as they please. Regardless of what happens to humans, gods do whatever they want. But this God speaks and then doesn’t immediately act, but waits and waits. He did this when Adam sinned, in Noah’s time, and when destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. This God waits as if hoping for people to repent and turn back. He could simply judge them and start over with others who would serve Him, so why does this God act like this?
Thus, this God showed a unique personality different from other gods. Though having the power to do anything, He doesn’t use that power recklessly. This is different from the Greek gods, and clearly different from the gods of this region or Canaan. Though God is divine, He doesn’t lord it over people.
As he carefully read through the Bible, he learned more about God. Surprisingly, God said He alone was the only God in the world. Judaism was monotheistic. Though polytheism was mainstream, the concept of monotheism wasn’t so unfamiliar to him. There had been a monotheistic religion in Egypt before, and even in his Parthian homeland there was Zoroastrianism. But unlike Zoroastrianism, which spoke of the struggle between light and darkness, good and evil, the God of Judaism had such a prominent personality. Usually infinitely good, but terrifyingly fierce when judging. And most of that judgment happened when people betrayed God, not for no reason. Seeing God’s behavior patterns so different from typical gods, he found himself drawn into the Bible without realizing it.
Several months passed like this. As he read and reread the Bible, he came to know Jewish history and learned more about the God who appeared and spoke to them throughout their history. But the more he learned about the God of the Jews, the more incomprehensible He became. God placed such great significance on people’s responses to Him. It was like the heart of a parent toward a child, or a lover toward their beloved. God is divine. So why does He express such intense emotions toward people? Usually, humans suffer because of events in the world of the gods, and gods solve problems among humans. But this God endures when there are problems in His relationship with people, and becomes angry when people do evil. This means He considers people more important than Himself.
The attitude of the Jews was equally difficult to understand. Reading the Bible, no nation was loved by God as much as the Jews, and no nation betrayed and disappointed God as much as they did either. Despite hearing so many words and experiencing miracles, they always kept their distance from God. They kept turning to other Canaanite gods, leaving the God who said He alone was the only true God. They not only worshipped Baal, the god of fertility, but even practiced human sacrifice, offering their children as sacrifices to Molech in the Valley of Hinnom south of Jerusalem. And when crisis struck the kingdom of Judah, self-proclaimed prophets would appear and persecute the true prophets sent by God. People also took their side and persecuted God’s prophets. How could such a nation exist? And why does God not give up on them, despite being rejected so many times?
* * *
To judge the truthfulness of any material, one must see how well it aligns with actual history and whether it has internal consistency. By these standards, the Bible seemed to have at least a basic level of truthfulness. Since many religions have creation stories, one should examine not the method of creation but what message the story aims to convey. This reveals how the God of Judaism views the world and His purpose in creating it.
Regarding historical records, due to limited accurate data on ancient history, comparisons can only be made for known periods. The Bible records histories of nations surrounding Judea, but all content is written from a Jewish perspective, which must be taken into account. Upon review, there didn’t seem to be much incorrect content. However, some prophecies were so accurate as to raise doubts about their authenticity. This was especially true for Daniel, as such precise records could have been written after events occurred, disguised as earlier prophecies. The problem was that some unfulfilled prophecies remained, particularly regarding Rome. To verify if these prophecies, including past ones, were accurate would require carefully observing current history for comparison. If signs of the times became similar to Biblical content, one could then believe it as truth and report to the royal court.
This alone could achieve his purpose, but reading the Bible revealed some surprising and interesting aspects. One was that despite multiple authors living in different eras, they spoke from nearly identical perspectives. While historical books sometimes offer different evaluations of the same events due to author viewpoint, they could ultimately be understood as conveying the same content. From a Jewish perspective, since all worldly events occur with God’s permission, they might consider anything that happens as God’s doing, whether directly by His will or through someone else He allows. Whether this claim is right or wrong, it represents a somewhat different perspective from Zoroastrianism’s concept of good and evil in conflict.
While this was refreshing, the truly interesting fact was that among writings by numerous authors, there were prophecies about a single figure. God gave prophecies to the Jews not just to give hope amid suffering. Since God often caused that suffering, it also included the concept of judgment for idol worship. But God also said He would rebuild their kingdom if they repented and turned back to Him. The king of that kingdom is the Christ figure, which seems to speak of complete restoration in giving salvation after judgment, but there were also aspects that made this difficult to say definitively.
Christ is both an anointed king and a suffering servant. Though he was unsure how Jews viewed this Christ, the figure he read about in the Bible had these two contrasting aspects. If He is a king, He should rule as a king does-so why must Christ the king suffer? Seeing this unique savior figure, unlike any in other religions, his curiosity grew even more. And so, several more months passed.
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