The Old Testament In the Light of The Historical Records and Legends Part 5

Here the obverse breaks off, and the end of the bilingual story of the Creation-story is lost. How many more lines were devoted to it we do not know, nor do we know how the incantation proper, which followed it, and to which it formed the introduction, began. Where the text (about half-way down on the reverse) again becomes legible, it reads as follows-

"Thy supreme messenger, Pap-sukal, the wise one, counsellor of the G.o.ds.

Nin-a?a-kudu, daughter of Aa, May she make thee glorious with a glorious l.u.s.tration (?), May she make thee pure with pure fire, With the glorious pure fountain of the abyss purify thou thy pathway, By the incantation of Merodach, king of the universe of heaven and earth, May the abundance of the land enter into thy midst, May thy command be fulfilled for ever.

O e-zida, seat supreme, the beloved of Anu and Itar art thou, Mayest thou shine like heaven; mayest thou be glorious like the earth; mayest thou shine like the midst of heaven; May the malevolent curse dwell outside of thee.

Incantation making (the purification of the temple).

Incantation: The star ... the long chariot of the heavens."

The last line but one is apparently the t.i.tle, and is followed by the first line of the next tablet. From this we see that this text belonged to a series of at least two tablets, and that the tablet following the above had an introduction of an astronomical or astrological nature.

It will be noticed that this text not only contains an account of the creation of G.o.ds and men, and flora and fauna, but also of the great and renowned sites and shrines of the country where it originated. It is in this respect that it bears a likeness to the fragmentary portions of the intermediate tablets of the Semitic Babylonian story of the Creation, or Bel and the Dragon, and this slight agreement may be held to justify, in some measure, its introduction here. The bilingual version, however, differs very much in style from that in Semitic only, and seems to lack the poetical form which characterizes the latter. This, indeed, was to be expected, for poetical form in a translation which follows the original closely is an impossibility, though the poetry of words and ideas which it contains naturally remains. It is not unlikely that the original Sumerian text is in poetical form, as is suggested by the cesura, and the recurring words.

In the bilingual account of the Creation one seems to get a glimpse of the pride that the ancient Babylonians felt in the ancient and renowned cities of their country. The writer's conception of the wasteness and voidness of the earth in the beginning seems to have been that the ancient cities Babel, Niffer, Erech and Eridu had not yet come into existence. For him, those sites were as much creations as the vegetation and animal life of the earth. Being, for him, sacred sites, they must have had a sacred, a divine foundation, and he therefore attributes their origin to the greatest of the G.o.ds, Merodach, who built them, brick, and beam, and house, himself. Their renowned temples, too, had their origin at the hands of the Divine Architect of the Universe.

A few words are necessary in elucidation of what follows the line, "When within the sea there was a stream." "In that day," it says, "eridu was made, e-sagila was constructed-e-sagila which the G.o.d Lugal-du-azaga founded within the Abyss. Babylon he built, e-sagila was completed." The connection of e-sagila, "the temple of the lofty head," which was within the Abyss, with eridu, shows, with little or no doubt, that the eridu there referred to was not the earthly city of that name, but a city conceived as lying also "within the Abyss." This eridu, as we shall see farther on, was the "blessed city," or Paradise, wherein was the tree of life, and which was watered by the twin stream of the Tigris and the Euphrates.

But there was another e-sagila than that founded by the G.o.d Lugal-du-azaga within the Abyss, namely the e-sagila at Babylon, and it is this fane that is spoken of in the phrase following that mentioning the temple so called within the Abyss. To the Babylonian, therefore, the capital of the country was, in that respect, a counterpart of the divine city that he regarded as the abode of bliss, where dwelt Nammu, the river-G.o.d, and the sun-G.o.d Dumuzi-Abzu, or "Tammuz of the Abyss." Like Sippar too, Babylon was situated in what was called the plain, the _edina_, of which Babylonia mainly consisted, and which is apparently the original of the Garden of Eden.

The present text differs from that of the longer (Semitic) story of the Creation, in that it makes Merodach to be the creator of the G.o.ds, as well as of mankind, and all living things. This, of course, implies that it was composed at a comparatively late date, when the G.o.d Merodach had become fully recognized as the chief divinity, and the fact that Aa was his father had been lost sight of, and practically forgotten. The G.o.ddess Aruru is apparently introduced into the narrative out of consideration for the city Sippar-Aruru, of which she was patron. In another text she is called "Lady of the G.o.ds of Sippar and Aruru." There is also a G.o.ddess (perhaps identical with her) called Gala-aruru, "Great Aruru," or "the great one (of) Aruru," who is explained as "Itar the star," on the tablet K. 2109.

After the account of the creation of the beasts of the field, the Tigris and the Euphrates, vegetation, lands, marshes, thickets, plantations and forests, which are named, to all appearance, without any attempt at any kind of order, "The lord Merodach" is represented as creating those things which, at first, he had not made, namely, the great and ancient shrines in whose antiquity and glorious memories the Babylonian-and the a.s.syrian too-took such delight. The list, however, is a short one, and it is to be supposed that, in the lines that are broken away, further cities of the kingdom of Babylon were mentioned. That this was the case is implied by the reverse, which deals mainly-perhaps exclusively-with the great shrine of Borsippa called e-zida, and identified by many with the Tower of Babel.

How it was brought in, however, we have no means of finding out, and must wait patiently for the completion of the text that will, in all probability, ultimately be discovered.

The reverse has only the end of the text, which, as far as it is preserved, is in the form of an "incantation of eridu," and mentions "the glorious fountain of the Abyss," which to was to "purify" or "make glorious" the pathway of the personified fane referred to. As it was the G.o.d Merodach, "the merciful one," "he who raises the dead to life," "the lord of the glorious incantation," who was regarded by the Babylonians as revealing to mankind the "incantation of eridu," which he, in his turn, obtained from his father Aa, we may see in this final part of the legend not only a glorification of the chief deity of the Babylonians, but also a further testimony of the fact that the composition must belong to the comparatively late period in the history of Babylonian religion, when the worship of Merodach had taken the place of that of his father Aa.

Of course, it must not be supposed that the longer account of the Creation was told so shortly as the bilingual narrative that we have introduced here to supply the missing parts of the longer version. Everything was probably recounted at much greater length, and in confirmation of this there is the testimony of the small fragment of the longer account, translated on p. 28. This simply contains the announcement that Merodach had made cunning plans, and decided to create man from his own blood, and [to form?] his bones, but there must have been, in the long gap which then ensues, a detailed account of the actual creation of the human race, probably with some reference to the formation of animals. One cannot base much upon this mutilated fragment, but, as the first translator has pointed out, the object in creating man was seemingly to ensure the performance of the service (or worship) of the G.o.ds, and the building of their shrines, prayer and sacrifice, with the fear of G.o.d, being duties from which there was no escape.

In the last tablet of the series-that recording the praises of Merodach and his fifty new names,-there are a few points that are worthy of examination. In the first place, the arrangement of the first part is noteworthy. The princ.i.p.al name that was given to him seems not to have been Merodach, as one would expect from the popularity of the name in later days, but Tutu, which occurs in the margin, at the head of six of the sections, and was probably prefixed to at least three more. This name Tutu is evidently an Akkadian reduplicate word, from the root _tu_, "to beget," and corresponds with the explanation of the word given by the list of Babylonian G.o.ds, K. 2107; _muallid ilani, muddi ilani_, "begetter of the G.o.ds, renewer of the G.o.ds"-a name probably given to him on account of his identification with his father, Aa, for, according to the legend, Merodach was rather the youngest than the oldest of the G.o.ds, who are even called, as will be remembered, "his fathers." In the lost portion at the beginning of the final tablet he was also called, according to the tablet here quoted, Gugu = _muttakkil ilani_, "nourisher of the G.o.ds"; Mumu = _mupi ilani_, "increaser (?) of the G.o.ds"; Dugan = _bani kala ilani_, "maker of all the G.o.ds"; Dudu = _muttarru ilani_, "saviour (?) of the G.o.ds"; ar-azaga = _a ipat-su ellit_, "he whose incantation is glorious"; and Mu-azaga = _a tu-u ellit_, "he whose charm is glorious"

(cf. p. 31, l. 33). After this we have a-zu or a-sud = _mude libbi ilani_ or _libbi ru?u_, "he who knoweth the heart of the G.o.ds," or "the remote of heart" (p. 31, l. 35); Zi-u?enna = _napat nap?ar ilani_, "the life of the whole of the G.o.ds" (p. 30, l. 15); Zi-si = _nasi? abuti_, "he who bringeth about silence" (p. 31, l. 41); Su?-kur = _muballu aabi_, "annihilator of the enemy" (p. 31, l. 43); and other names meaning _muballu nap?ar aabi, nasi? raggi_, "annihilator of the whole of the enemy, rooter out of evil," _nasi? nap?ar raggi_, "rooter out of the whole of the evil," _eu raggi_, "troubler of the evil (ones)," and _eu nap?ar raggi_, "troubler of the whole of the evil (ones)." All these last names were probably enumerated on the lost part of the tablet between where the obverse breaks off and the reverse resumes the narrative, and the whole of the fifty names conferred upon him, which were enumerated in their old Akkadian forms and translated into Semitic Babylonian in this final tablet of the Creation, were evidently repeated in the form of a list of G.o.ds, on the tablet in tabular form from which the above renderings are taken.

Hailed then as the vanquisher of Kirbi-Tiamtu, the great Dragon of Chaos, he is called by the name of Nibiru, "the ferry," a name of the planet Jupiter as the traverser of the heavens (one of the points of contact between Babylonian and Greek mythology), the stars of which he was regarded as directing, and keeping (lit. pasturing) like sheep. (G.o.ds and stars may here be regarded as convertible terms.) His future is then spoken of, and "father Bel" gives him his own name, "lord of the world."

Rejoicing in the honours showered on his son, and not to be outdone in generosity, Aa decrees that henceforth Merodach shall be like him, and that he shall be called Aa, possessing all his commands, and all his p.r.o.nouncements-_i.e._ all the wisdom which he, as G.o.d of deep wisdom, possessed. Thus was Merodach endowed with all the names, and all the attributes, of the G.o.ds of the Babylonians-"the fifty renowned names of the great G.o.ds."

This was, to all intents and purposes, symbolic of a great struggle, in early days, between polytheism and monotheism-for the ma.s.ses the former, for the more learned and thoughtful the latter. Of this we shall have further proof farther on, when discussing the name of Merodach. For the present be it simply noted, that this is not the only text identifying Merodach with the other G.o.ds.

The reference to the creation of mankind in line 29 of the obverse (p. 31) is noteworthy, notwithstanding that the translation of one of the words-and that a very important one-is very doubtful. Apparently man was created to the despite of the rebellious G.o.ds, but there is also just the possibility that there exists here an idiomatic phrase meaning "in their room." If the latter be the true rendering, this part of the legend would be in striking accord with Bishop Avitus of Vienne, with the old English poet Caedmon, and with Milton in his _Paradise Lost_. In connection with this, too, the statement in the reverse, lines 113 and 114, where "man's remote ages" is referred to, naturally leads one to ask, Have we here traces of a belief that, in ages to come ("in lateness of days"), Merodach was to return and live among men into the remote future? The return of a divinity or a hero of much-cherished memory is such a usual thing among popular beliefs, that this may well have been the case likewise among the Babylonians.

The comparison of the two accounts of the Creation-that of the Hebrews and that of the Babylonians, that have been presented to the reader-will probably have brought prominently before him the fact, that the Babylonian account, notwithstanding all that has been said to the contrary, differs so much from the Biblical account, that they are, to all intents and purposes, two distinct narratives. That there are certain ideas in common, cannot be denied, but most of them are ideas that are inseparable from two accounts of the same event, notwithstanding that they have been composed from two totally different standpoints. In writing an account of the Creation, statements as to what are the things created must of necessity be inserted. There is, therefore, no proof of a connection between two accounts of the Creation in the fact that they both speak of the formation of dry land, or because they both state that plants, animals, and man were created. Connection may be inferred from such statements that the waters were the first abode of life, or that an expansion was created dividing the waters above from those below. With reference to such points of contact as these just mentioned, however, the question naturally arises, Are these points of similarity sufficient to justify the belief that two so widely divergent accounts as those of the Bible and of the Babylonian tablets have one and the same origin? In the mind of the present writer there seems to be but one answer, and that is, that the two accounts are practically distinct, and are the production of people having entirely different ideas upon the subject, though they may have influenced each other in regard to certain points, such as the two mentioned above. For the rest, the fact that there is-

No direct statement of the creation of the heavens and the earth;

No systematic division of the things created into groups and cla.s.ses, such as is found in Genesis;

NO REFERENCE TO THE DAYS OF CREATION;

No appearance of the Deity as the first and only cause of the existence of things-

must be held as a sufficient series of prime reasons why the Babylonian and the Hebrew versions of the Creation-story must have had different origins.

As additional arguments may also be quoted the polytheism of the Babylonian account; the fact that it appears to be merely the setting to the legend of Bel and the Dragon, and that, as such, it is simply the glorification of Merodach, the patron divinity of the Babylonians, over the other G.o.ds of the a.s.syro-Babylonian Pantheon.

Sidelights:-Merodach.

To judge from the inscriptions of the Babylonians and a.s.syrians, one would say that there were not upon the earth more pious nations than they. They went constantly in fear of their G.o.ds, and rendered to them the glory for everything that they succeeded in bringing to a successful conclusion.

Prayer, supplication, and self-debas.e.m.e.nt before their G.o.ds seem to have been their delight.

"The time for the worship of the G.o.ds was my heart's delight, The time of the offering to Itar was profit and riches,"

sings Ludlul the sage, and one of a list of sayings is to the following effect-

"When thou seest the profit of the fear of G.o.d, Thou wilt praise G.o.d, thou wilt bless the king."

Many a penitential psalm and hymn of praise exists to testify to the piety of the ancient nations of a.s.syria and Babylonia. Moreover, this piety was, to all appearance, practical, calling forth not only self-denying offerings and sacrifices, but also, as we shall see farther on, lofty ideas and expressions of the highest religious feeling.

And the Babylonians were evidently proud of their religion. Whatever its defects, the more enlightened-the scribes and those who could read-seem to have felt that there was something in it that gave it the very highest place. And they were right-there was in this gross polytheism of theirs a thing of high merit, and that was, the character of the chief of their G.o.ds, Merodach.

We see something of the reverence of the Babylonians and a.s.syrians for their G.o.ds in almost all of their historical inscriptions, and there is hardly a single communication of the nature of a letter that does not call down blessings from them upon the person to whom it is addressed. In many a hymn and pious expression they show in what honour they held them, and their desire not to offend them, even involuntarily, is visible in numerous inscriptions that have been found.

"My G.o.d, who art displeased, receive (?) my (prayer?), My G.o.ddess, who art wroth, accept (my supplication)- Accept my supplication, and let thy mind be at rest.

My lord, gracious and merciful, (let thy mind be at rest).

Make easy (O my G.o.ddess) the day that is directed for death, My G.o.d, (grant that I be?) free (?).

My G.o.ddess, have regard for me, and receive my supplication.

Let my sins be separated, and let my misdeeds be forgotten- Let the ban be loosened, let the fetter fall.

Let the seven winds carry away my sighing.

Let me tear asunder my evil, and let a bird carry it aloft to the sky.

Let a fish carry off my trouble, and let the stream bear it away.

Let the beasts of the field take (it) away from me.

Let the flowing waters of the stream cleanse me.

Make me bright as a chain of gold- Let me be precious in thy eyes as a diamond ring!

Blot out my evil, preserve my life.

Let me guard thy court, and stand in thy sanctuary (?).

Make me to pa.s.s away from my evil state, let me be preserved with thee!

Send to me, and let me see a propitious dream- Let the dream that I shall see be propitious-let the dream that I shall see be true, Turn the dream that I shall see to a favour, Let Maara (?), the G.o.d of dreams, rest by my head, Make me to enter into e-sagila, the temple of the G.o.ds, the house of life.

Deliver me, for his favour, into the gracious hands of the merciful Merodach, Let me be subject to thy greatness, let me glorify thy divinity; Let the people of my city praise thy might!"