How is Zoroastrianism important for the understanding of the Semitic religions?

thanks, this really helped me. from what i understand now, Zoroastrianism influenced other religions to inherit the ideas of god, as the good goes to heaven, and the bad goes to hell.

It is monotheistic, just like the Abrahamic religions are, & believe in Heaven for the Righteous, & Hell for the Wicked.

It was the first monotheistic religion. It gave us astrology and demons and angels and all kinds of stuff that was imported into most religions in the area. If you read the Gnostic Gospels the influence of Zoroastrianism becomes apparent. Frequently the authors would reference Zoroastrian literature. Especially a Gnostic Christian document called "Zostrianos"

Here's a link to what they could find...

http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/zostr.html

it was the first monotheistic religion.

As I understand it, there is an ancient Zoroastrianism and a Newer form.

If you mean the ancient one, I can comment on that one.

According to what I've studied, Zoroastrianism (Zarathrustrianism), started earlier than some older estimates. It was formed in Iran because Zoroaster's beliefs were rejected in India.

There are a lot of errors about Zoroastrianism on the Internet today (The number of disciples, the resurrection, miracles, etc.) .

Also, Zoroaster did something peculiar, he reversed the significance of the angelic and demonic forces. So in the beliefs of others, he was calling angels "demons" and demons "angels".

He also preached a works based salvation system. It did hold that to disbelieve made you an enemy and that you should be killed for disagreeing. So faith wasn't alien to the religion.

I think it is important because it points to the errors of yet another religion which makes salvation an act of works. "The wicked have no agriculture" is one noted quote.

I think it's important to understand this because Christianity is not about being saved by works. It is a gift from God for trust, which is synonymous with Faith.