The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria Part 28

Instead of food, I eat bitter tears, Instead of date-wine, I drink the waters of misery, For my drink I have bitter waters, Instead of clothes, I am enveloped in sin,[483]--

proceeds to a fervent appeal:

O my G.o.d who art angry with me, accept my prayer, O my G.o.ddess who art wroth with me, accept my appeal, Accept my appeal, may thy liver be at rest!

My lord in mercy and compa.s.sion [look upon me?]

Who guides the span of life against the encroachments (?) of death, accept my prayer!

O my G.o.ddess, look upon me, accept my appeal; May my sins be forgiven,[484] my transgressions be wiped out.

May the ban be loosened, the chain broken, May the seven winds carry off my sighs.

Let me tear away my iniquity, let the birds carry it to heaven, Let the fish take off my misfortune, the stream carry it off.

May the beasts of the field take it away from me, The flowing waters of the stream wash me clean.

Let me be pure like the sheen of gold.

As a ring (?) of precious stone, may I be precious before thee.

Remove my iniquity, save my soul.

Thy [temple] court I will watch, thy image (?) I will set up.[485]

Grant to me that I may see a favorable dream, The dream that I see, let it be favorable, The dream that I see, let it be unfailing, The dream that I see, turn it to a favorable [issue].

The G.o.d Makhir (?), the G.o.d of dreams stand at my head.

Let me enter into E-sagila, the temple of the G.o.ds, the house of life.

Commend me to Marduk, the merciful one, for favor, I will be subservient to thy greatness, I will exalt thy divinity.

There follows a line from which one may further conclude that the psalm is one composed for the royal chief of Babylonia. It is evidently only a ruler who can a.s.sure the deity that

The inhabitants of my city,[486] may they glorify thy power.

We know from the historical texts that previous to a military engagement the kings were particularly desirous of some sign from the deity that might serve to encourage the soldiery. Such a sign was ordinarily a dream. The circ.u.mstances, therefore, seem to point to our psalm being a royal prayer for forgiveness of transgressions, uttered before some impending national crisis, in the hope of securing, with the divine pardon, the protection of the deity who, up to this point in the campaign, must have manifested his displeasure rather than his favor.

More distinct references to national events are found in another royal penitential psalm:[487]

How long, O my mistress, will the mighty foe oppress thy land, In thy great city Erech famine has settled, In E-ulbar, the house of thy oracle, blood is poured out like water, Throughout thy districts he has kindled conflagrations, and poured [fire] over them in columns (?).[488]

O my mistress, I am abundantly yoked to misfortune, O my mistress, thou hast encompa.s.sed me, thou hast brought me into pain, The mighty foe has trodden me down as a reed, I have no judgment, I have no wisdom, Like a 'dry field' I am desolate night and day, I thy servant beseech thee, May thy heart be at rest, thy liver be pacified.

At times specific requests are inserted into these hymns, such as release from physical ills. Sickness being, as any other evil, due to divine anger, the sick man combines with his prayer for forgiveness of the sin of which he is guilty, the hope that his disease, viewed as the result of his sin, may be removed. A hymn addressed to Ishtar of Nineveh by Ashurnasirbal, a king of a.s.syria,[489] is of this character. It begins by an adoration of the G.o.ddess, who is addressed as

The producer, the queen of heaven, the glorious lady, To the one who dwells in E-babbara ... who hath spread my fame, To the queen of the G.o.ds to whom has been entrusted the commands of the great G.o.ds, To the lady of Nineveh ...

To the daughter of Sin, the twin-sister of Shamash, ruling over all kingdoms, Who issues decrees, the G.o.ddess of the universe, To the lady of heaven and earth, who receives prayer, who hearkens to the pet.i.tion, who accepts beseeching, To the merciful G.o.ddess who loves righteousness.

The king calls upon Ishtar to listen to his prayers:

Look upon me, O lady, so that through thy turning towards me the heart of thy servant may become strong.

Ashurnasirbal appeals to the G.o.ddess on the ground of what he has done to promote the glory of the G.o.ddess in his land. He has devoted himself to the service of the G.o.ddess. He has observed the festivals in her honor. He has repaired her shrines. No less than fourteen images of the G.o.ddess were set up by the king. Nay, more, he claims that before his days Ishtar was not properly worshipped.

I was without understanding, and did not pray to thy ladyship, The people of a.s.syria also lacked judgment, and did not approach thy divinity; But thou, O Ishtar, mighty weapon of the great G.o.ds, By thy grace[490] thou didst instruct me, and didst desire me to rule.

The statement that the Ishtar cult was introduced or even reinstated by Ashurnasirbal can hardly be taken literally; but it distinctly points to a movement in the days of the dynasty to which the king belonged, that brought the worship of the G.o.ddess into great prominence.

In return for all that he has done to the house of Ishtar, the king pleads:

I, Ashurnasirbal, full of affliction, thy worshipper, Who takes hold of thy divine staff, Who prays to thy sovereignty, Look upon me and let me appeal to thy power!

May thy liver be appeased for that which has aroused thy anger; Let thy whole heart be strong towards me.

Make my disease come forth and remove my sin, Let thy mouth, O lady, proclaim forgiveness.

The priestly va.s.sal who worships thee without change, Grant him mercy and cut off his affliction.

The historical references found in the penitential psalms are valuable indications, not only for determining the age of these compositions, but for ascertaining the occasions on which they were employed. Neither the Babylonian nor the a.s.syrian rulers ever reveal to us in their official annals or dispatches any check that they may have encountered in their careers or any misfortune that may have occurred to them or to the state. These psalms tell their own story. They point to seasons of distress, when recourse had to be taken to appeals to the G.o.ds, accompanied by the confession of wrongs committed. As against the incantations which are the outcome of the purely popular spirit, and which are the _natural_ expression of popular beliefs, the penitential psalms seem to represent a more official method of appealing to the G.o.ds. The advance in religious thought which these productions signal may, therefore, be due, in part at least, to a growing importance attached to the relationship existing between the G.o.ds and the kingdom as a whole, as against the purely private pact between a G.o.d and his worshippers. The use of these psalms by a.s.syrian rulers, among whom the idea of the kingdom a.s.sumes a greater significance than among the Babylonians, points in this direction. It is significant, at all events, that such psalms were also produced in a.s.syria; and while they are entirely modeled upon the earlier Babylonian specimens, the contribution to the religious literature thus made in the north must be regarded, not as the outcome of the extension of the literary spirit prevailing in Babylonia, but as prompted by a special significance attached to the penitential ritual in removing the obstacles to the advancement of the affairs of state.

Despite, therefore, the elevated thought and diction found in these psalms, there is a close bond existing between them and the next branch of the religious literature to be taken up,--the oracles and omens, which similarly stand in close contact with affairs of state, and to which, likewise, additions, and indeed, considerable additions, to the stock received from Babylonia were made by the a.s.syrian _literati_.

FOOTNOTES:

[465] _Babylonische Busspsalmen_, pp. 1, 2.

[466] _I.e._, of the deity.

[467] See an article by Francis Brown, "The Religious Poetry of Babylonia," _Presbyterian Review_, 1888.

[468] Compare the relationship existing between Ea and Marduk, noted above, p. 276. Similarly, Nusku was the messenger to Bel. See p. 279.

[469] On the wider aspects of this conception of the priest among ancient nations, see Frazer, _The Golden Bough_, pa.s.sim.

[470] Zimmern, no. 1; IVR. 29, no. 5.

[471] Lit., 'accepts.'

[472] In the original appears a phrase which signifies literally 'when at last,'--an abbreviation for 'when will there be rest,' and which has become a kind of technical phrase to indicate, again, the hoped-for pacification of the deity.

[473] The colophon to one of them (IVR. 10, Reverse 52) declares that the production in question is a "penitential psalm for any G.o.d whatsoever."

[474] IVR. 10. Zimmern, no. 4.

[475] _I.e._, be pacified.

[476] _I.e._, 'whoever he may be,' as we would say.

[477] Among many nations fasting is resorted to as a means of atonement.

It must have been common among the Hebrews during the period of the Babylonian exile--perhaps through Babylonian influence. See Isaiah, lviii. 3.

[478] Lit., rushing water.

[479] _I.e._, very numerous.

[480] Be pacified.

[481] _E.g._, IVR. 61.

[482] _Ib._ 59, no. 2.

[483] Delitzsch, _a.s.syr. Worterbuch_, p. 378. In another psalm the penitent says similarly, "Food I have not eaten, weeping is my nourishment, water I have not drunk, tears are my drink."

[484] Lit., 'released.' The underlying metaphor represents the individual held fast by sin, just as the demons seize hold of a man.

[485] A somewhat puzzling line, but which appears to convey the promise on the part of the penitent that if forgiven he will observe the rites demanded by the deity.