HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS
Published February, 1914
So
WILLIAM WEST FRAZIER
A TRIBUTE
OF ESTEEM AND AFFECTION
PREFACE
WHEN the kind invitation was extended to me
by the authorities of Oberlin College to become the
Haskell Lecturer for 1913, I welcomed the oppor
tunity to bring to a temporary close studies on the
relationship between Hebrews and Babylonians that
had occupied me, though with prolonged interrup
tions, for a long term of years. Impressed by the
fact that the civilisation of the Hebrews and Baby
lonians moved along such different lines, despite the
many features they had in common, I felt that the
real problem involved in a comparative study of
Hebrew and Babylonian folk-tales, beliefs, religious
practices, and modes of thought was to determine
the factor or factors that led to such entirely dif
ferent issues in the case of the two peoples. Ar
chaeological research, in combination with the ascer
tained and generally accepted results of biblical
studies, had demonstrated the close bond existing
between Hebrew and Babylonian traditions to use
a conveniently comprehensive term beyond ques
tion. It is idle at this stage to deny either the
composite character of the stories in the early chap
ters of Genesis, or the late date at which they must
have received their present form; it is equally fu
tile to deny the factor of evolution in the develop-
vii
viii PREFACE
ment of religious ideas among the Hebrews. The
evidence is overwhelming; and whether we turn to
the legal sections of the Pentateuch, or to the his
torical records, or to the Prophets and Psalms, we
see everywhere the traces of a long-continued proc
ess of thought with many windings and turns, cul
minating in ethical monotheism, by which I mean
a view of divine government based on a spiritual
and ethical interpretation of the God-idea.
On the other hand, the rediscovery of Babylonia
and Assyria through the excavations conducted on
the sites of ancient cities in the Euphrates Valley
and along the banks of the Tigris has placed at
the disposal of students an enormous mass of ma
terial which has thrown much light on the origin
of the traditions and early beliefs of the Hebrews;
it has demonstrated that Hebrew history is unin
telligible without constant recourse to the data ob
tained from cuneiform literature. Hebrews and
Babylonians start out on their careers with much
in common; they share traditions regarding the
manner in which the world came into being, they
have common traditions regarding a disastrous Del
uge that swept over the part of the world known
to them. The source of the antediluvian chronology
of the Bible is to be sought in traditions current in
the Euphrates Valley; and there is a steady stream
of influence emanating more particularly from Baby
lonia from a very early period onward that helps
to maintain a close association with beliefs and
practices among the Hebrews up to the time when
PREFACE ix
the latter begin to move in an entirely different
and novel direction. To be sure, there are other
influences at work in the early history of the He
brews besides those that are to be traced to Baby
lonia and Assyria. Some of the tribes forming part
of the confederacy of the Bene Israel had at one
time much in common with the nomad Arabs, and
all of them with the agricultural Canaanites whom
they gradually dispossessed, but who passed on to
the conquerors many of their religious practices.
Egyptian culture also must have had some share in
bringing about conditions that arose in Palestine,
but Babylonia by virtue of early associations and
by almost continuous contact, though closer at some
periods than at others, is the most important ele
ment in that phase of Hebrew life and thought with
which we are concerned in this work.
Accepting the ascertained results of modern re
search, the question, then, with which we are con
fronted is to account for the tremendous influence
exerted by Hebrew traditions in the form finally
given to them, and to explain why the religious
thought and practices of the Hebrews became, with
the heritage of Greek and Roman culture, the foun
dation structure on which the superstructure of
modern civilisation has been erected. That fact is
as undeniable as are the postulates of biblical crit
icism and of archaeological investigations.
Despite the many essays, monographs, and larger
works that have appeared during the past three
decades on the various phases of the relationship
x PREFACE
existing between Hebrews and Babylonians, I feel
that there is room and need for a work like this
one, devoted primarily to pointing out the differ
ences between Babylonian myths, beliefs, and prac
tices, and the final form assumed by corresponding
Hebrew traditions, despite the circumstance that
these traditions are to be traced back to the same
source which gave rise to the Babylonian traditions
as we find them in the literature of Babylonia and
of the offshoot of Babylonia Assyria.
This, then, is my purpose as set forth more fully
in the first chapter and as emphasised in all of the
chapters. It is quite likely that the book will not
be pleasing to "extremists/* whether of the ultra-
conservative type, who present a resolute front
against departures from traditional views regarding
the books of the Old Testament, or of the equally
rigid ultra-unemotional type who, with a limited
historical horizon, are unable to enter sympathet
ically into the unfolding of the religious thought of
a people and are inclined to belittle the value of
religious beliefs as a factor in human evolution, for
fear of appearing to countenance a religious attitude
with which they themselves are not in accord. One
can readily understand how even learned and con
scientious scholars through a determination to cling
to certain views can acquire an attitude of mind
which prevents them from weighing evidence judi
ciously and fairly. This observation applies particu
larly to those who deceive themselves by imagining
that they are pursuing studies in an open-minded
PREFACE xi
spirit, whereas in reality they are merely seeking a
confirmation of views which they hold quite inde
pendently of their studies, and generally held antece
dent to any investigation. But the observation may
be extended also to scholars of a more scientific type
who, in a spirit of reaction against views which they
have come to regard as untenable, fail to penetrate
into the depths of their subject because too much
absorbed in the externalities in textual criticism, or
in investigations of special points without reference
to the necessary relationship of even the infinitesi
mal parts of a subject to the subject as a whole.
Whatever may be the verdict pronounced on the
method followed in my work and on the results
reached by me through this method, I feel that I
may assure my readers that I have approached the
many difficult and delicate themes included in this
work in a spirit of pure historical inquiry, and in
a frame of mind free from bias, without any predilec
tions for any special theological postulates. Indeed,
I have aimed to keep my own position towards the
problems presented by the study of ancient relig
ions in the background, except in so far as my per
sonal creed includes a sympathetic attitude towards
the struggle of man everywhere and at all times to
reach out to an understanding of the mysteries by
which he is surrounded mysteries that even in
early stages of culture are dimly perceived, and that
become more clearly defined and correspondingly
more profound as with enlarged experience and with
increasing knowledge man realises how much must
xii PREFACE
always remain for him within the shadow of the
unknown and the unknowable the dark impene
trable territory beyond the border line, to which
Job s paradox (10 : 22) may be applied, "where
even light is as darkness/
Naturally, in a single course of five lectures only
certain phases of the large topic could be treated.
I chose those which seemed to be of greatest impor
tance and which seemed best adapted to illustrate
the different directions taken by Hebrew and Baby
lonian traditions, namely, the views about Creation,
the relationship existing between the Hebrew and
Babylonian Sabbath, the unfolding of beliefs regard
ing the after-life, and a survey of Hebrew and Baby
lonian ethics. These aspects are sufficiently diverse
to test the application of the main thesis in the
investigation. Perhaps on another occasion I shall
take up in the same way a comparative study of
Hebrew and Babylonian legislation, of sacrificial
rites, of divination practices, of marriage and funeral
customs, and of the position of woman, all of which
are calculated to illustrate the distinctive features
of each of the two civilisations. Since, however, in
the course of the subjects treated in the five chap
ters, I had occasion to refer several times to the
biblical and Babylonian narratives of the Deluge,
I have thought it useful both on this account and
because it was George Smith s discovery in 1872
of a fragment of the Babylonian Deluge story 1 that
1 Read before the Society of Biblical Archaeology at the memorable
meeting on December 3, 1872, and published in the Transactions of the
Society, vol. II, pp. 213-234.
PREFACE xiii
originated the study of Babylonian and Hebrew
traditions, to add in an appendix an analysis with
copious extracts of the various versions of the Baby
lonian tale regarding the great catastrophe that
overwhelmed mankind, and then to set forth as
an illustration of the modern method of biblical
study the two accounts of the Deluge in Genesis
that have been dovetailed into a continuous narra
tive. Incidental remarks and a summary at the
close of this Appendix will show how the point of
view from which the ancient tradition is regarded
in its transformed garb in Genesis is in keeping with
the process to be detected in the biblical Creation
stories and in other traditions, such as the tale of
man s forfeiture of Paradise. I am particularly
indebted to Dr. Arno Poebel for his kindness in
placing at my disposal the advance sheets of his
forthcoming publication of Sumerian texts contain
ing the oldest known versions of both the Creation
and Deluge myths of ancient Babylonia. These
texts Dr. Poebei discovered among the tablets found
at Nippur by the expedition of the University of
Pennsylvania, and which are now in the Museum
of Archaeology of the University. Dr. Poebel has
been actively at work since the summer of 1912
on the valuable material unearthed at Nippur, and
his publication which is to appear in several volumes
and which will greatly advance also our knowledge
of Sumerian, the ancient non-Semitic speech of the
Euphrates Valley, is being looked forward to with
great interest. His generosity in allowing me to
xiv PREFACE
utilise the results of his labours even before their
formal appearance has enabled me, in the Appendix,
to place before my readers the relationship of the
oldest Babylonian version of the Deluge to the
latest one as embodied in the Gilgamesh Epic the
most notable literary production of Babylonia.
My thanks are also due, as on all former occasions,
to my wife, who has carefully read the whole of the
manuscript as well as the proofs. Traces of her
valuable suggestions are to be found on almost
every page. Realising her conscientious devotion
to a most unselfish task, I feel how inadequate the
mere word of acknowledgment is to convey my
feelings of gratitude towards her.
I am also under obligations to my dear friend
and colleague, Professor James A. Montgomery, of
the University of Pennsylvania, for his kindness in
reading a proof of the entire book, and in letting
me have the benefit of his valuable criticisms and
suggestions. My pupil, Dr. B. B. Charles, now in
structor of Semitic languages at the University of
Pennsylvania, kindly undertook to prepare the index
for the volume, and he has carried out the task in
the same careful manner that marked his work on
a former occasion. I feel deeply grateful to him
for transferring this task from my shoulders to his
more youthful ones. The lectures appear here in
an entirely revised and considerably enlarged form
from that originally given to them for oral delivery.
In order to adapt them to a reading public, I have
also in all except a few instances removed the ear-
PREFACE xv
marks of the lecture style, but I trust that if I
shall be fortunate enough to have among my readers
some who listened so sympathetically to the spoken
word, they will recognise that the spirit has not
been altered. They will also find questions which
could be only partially discussed in the lectures
more fully treated in the enlarged book. For me the
week spent amidst the charming surroundings of
Oberlin College while delivering the lectures will re
main always a happy recollection. I feel under
special obligations to Professor Albert T. Swing, on
whom fell the burden of making the arrangements
for these lectures, and who contributed so much to
the pleasure of my stay.
Lastly, I regard it as a privilege to be permitted
to dedicate this volume to a dear and highly es
teemed friend, whose friendship has been a source
of happiness and of strength to me during a long
term of years.
MORRIS JASTROW, JR.
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA,
December, 1913.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. RELATIONS BETWEEN HEBREWS AND BABY
LONIANS i
II. THE HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ACCOUNTS OF
CREATION 65
III. THE HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH . . 134
IV. THE HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN VIEWS OF
LIFE AFTER DEATH 196
V. HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS . . . 254
APPENDIX HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN AC
COUNTS OF THE DELUGE 321
INDEX 367
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN
TRADITIONS
CHAPTER I
RELATIONS BETWEEN HEBREWS AND
BABYLONIANS
IT will be my main aim in this investigation to
set forth some of the aspects presented by a com
parison of two civilisations that have much in com
mon, that were developed by peoples belonging in
part to the same stock, and that have both exer
cised a wide influence, though in totally different
directions. Despite many features in common, each
of these civilisations went its own way, the one
unfolding great political strength, supported by an
elaborate military organisation, and producing, as
outward expressions of this strength, monuments
of gigantic proportions, temples and palaces filled
with works of art; it built great cities, created an
extensive commerce, and made certain permanent
contributions to the thought and achievements of
mankind; the other, with little of outward display,
politically insignificant, working out its destiny with
apparently no thought of any extension of its influ-
1
2 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
ence beyond narrow boundaries, yet becoming one
of the most potent factors in the religious history
of mankind. The problem involved in a compari
son between the Hebrew civilisation and the Eu-
phratean culture, as we may briefly designate the
Babylonian-Assyrian civilisation, since Assyria is
merely an extension of the impulse that arose in
the south and extended to the north, is to deter
mine the point of separation between the two that
led to such totally different issues. Why is it we
may properly ask that with agreement in regard
to many traditions, with religious ideas and prac
tices that at one time bore a close resemblance to
one another, with a general view of life, of divine
government, of the fate of man after death, of prac
tical ethics at the outset not sharply differentiated
from one another, the courses taken by Hebrew and
Babylonian traditions were so dissimilar. For it
is to the different courses taken by this common
stock of traditional ideas and practices that the
contrast presented by Hebrews and Babylonians is
to be traced a contrast no less striking than the
points of resemblance that once existed between
the two civilisations. These resemblances have often
been treated during the past decades, both in spe
cial investigations and in general summaries. They
have been discussed from various points of view:
on the one hand, by critics whose aim appeared to
have been to show the dependence of Hebrew ideas
upon those of Babylonia and Assyria; and on the
other, by those whose view-point was directed to-
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 3
wards securing confirmation of the data presented
by biblical records. I have little sympathy with
either mode of treatment. To extend the claims
of Babylonian-Assyrian civilisation so as to make
Hebrew achievements merely a pale reflection of the
picture presented by Euphratean culture is to forfeit
the possibility of any real understanding of the
spirit of Hebrew history, is to miss the point of
that history, and to abandon the key that will en
able us to solve the problem involved in the pro
found influence exerted by the religious thought of
the Hebrews. On the other hand, to press the apol
ogetic attitude to the extent of assuming the un
approachable quality of the entire Old Testament
without distinguishing between incidental and es
sential elements, and to carry on our historical re
search merely with a purpose of finding a confir
mation of preconceived points of view, is to place
the Old Testament in a false light and to pursue
a method that is both vicious and disingenuous.
We must frankly and unreservedly take as our start
ing-point in a comparative study of Babylonian
and Hebrew traditions, the factor of evolution, by
which I mean the assumption of a progress in re
ligious thought, and apply that factor to Hebrew
history precisely in the same manner and to the
same degree as to the history of Babylonia and As
syria. The Hebrews were subject to outside influ- 1
ences in precisely the same manner and to the same
degree as were all other ethnic groups. They begin
their career with the same mental equipment as
4 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
other nations; the differentiating factor in He
brew history is to be found in the outcome and not
in anything that has to do with its beginnings.
That history is unfolded under the same laws to
be observed elsewhere in the annals of a people.
What gives to the history of the Hebrews its unique
quality from a certain period is the introduction
of an element that, as an expression of the pecul
iar genius of the people, gradually changes the en
tire aspect of their attitude towards life. Gradual
growth must be assumed and not a sudden depar
ture from the normal gradual growth in the polit
ical and social life and in the religious life as well.
We can trace this religious growth in the pages of
the Old Testament with the same definiteness that
we can follow the political and social unfolding of
the people, and even where our material is insuffi
cient for following this evolution in detail, we must
nevertheless assume such evolution or involve our
selves in hopeless difficulties from which we can
extract ourselves only by sophistry or by some
other form of vicious reasoning. It will therefore be
one of my aims to elucidate the special and pecul
iar element in Hebrew history which, manifesting
itself in diverse ways, leads to a wide deflection of
Hebrew traditions from their Babylonian counter
parts. Our comparative study will be directed
chiefly towards an elucidation of the ultimate
differences that arise between Hebrew and Baby
lonian points of view despite earlier and very
noticeable points of agreement; and I venture to
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 5
think that the real value of a comparative study
of any kind lies in bringing out differences. Only
a superficial view of comparisons stops at pointing
out resemblances.
Gradual growth involves survivals, that is to say,
indications of older views and customs carried over
into later periods. Evolution means not only trans
formations through historical processes, but a mix
ture of old and new. It will therefore be also
part of my purpose to trace the process of growth
in both Hebrew and Babylonian traditions, and to
show in how far older views were replaced, how far
they survived, and how, combined with new thought,
they gave rise to new religious practices.
II
It was to be foreseen at an early stage in the
exploration of Babylonian and Assyrian cities the
work of the last seventy years 1 and in the study
of the material unearthed, that the bearings of this
material upon Hebrew traditions, on Hebrew his
tory, and on Hebrew religious ideas would be mani
fold and important. Hebrew traditions carried back
the beginnings of the Hebrews to settlements in
the Euphrates Valley. Nay more, the first home
of mankind was fixed in this region, as is suffi
ciently evidenced by the mention of two rivers, the
Euphrates and Tigris, watering the Garden of Eden,
1 A full account of these explorations will be found in chapter I of
a forthcoming work of the author, The Civilization of Babylonia and
Assyria.
6 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
where the first man and his consort were placed.
A writer intent upon giving an answer to two fun
damental questions, how mankind came to be dis
persed over the face of the globe, and why there
are so many different languages, 1 tells the curious
tale in the tenth chapter of Genesis itself a com
bination of two stories, one about the building
of a city, the other of a high tower which repre
sents the dispersion as radiating from the city of
Babylon in the land of Shinar (a general term for
the Euphrates Valley) as a centre, and the con
fusion of languages as a device of Yahweh to pre
vent the people from carrying out their design to
build the tower. The city of Babylon symbolised
for the writer the entire civilisation of the Euphra
tes Valley. The tower that the writer had in mind
was a characteristic feature of the sacred architec
ture in the Euphrates Valley the staged construc
tion with broad terraces, heaped one above the other
in imitation of a mountain, with a winding road
leading to the top where the deity to whom the
tower was dedicated had his seat. 2 The story thus
not only takes us back to Babylonia, but represents
a characteristic protest of Old Testament writers
against Babylonish customs. It voices the feelings
of these writers towards Babylonia as a wicked place,
as a source of mankind s misfortunes and ills.
The contact between the Euphrates Valley and
Palestine is maintained in Hebrew traditions after
1 See below, p. 56.
2 See Jastrow, Aspects of Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria,
pp. 282 seq.
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 7
the migration of the Terahites from Ur and Ha-
ran. Abraham sends his servant to his old home
in order to obtain a wife for his son from there
an indication of the persistency of the tradition
which assumed close bonds between the Hebrew
settlements in Palestine and the Euphrates Valley.
From the Babylonian side we find this relationship
in the political sense confirmed; for an ancient con
queror, Sargon, who is to be placed somewhere
around 2600 B. C., extends his sway to the west
ern lands comprised under the name of Amurru,
which, in the broad sense, included Palestine. A
thousand years later we find the Babylonian lan
guage as the current medium of diplomatic exchange
between Palestine and Egypt. The reference to a
"cloak of Shinar" (Jos. 7 : 21) in the account of
the Hebrew conquest of Jericho is an interesting
testimony to commercial intercourse between Pal
estine and Babylonia; and I need hardly remind
you of the way in which Assyria and Babylonia
interfered with the fortunes of the Hebrew king
doms, from the middle of the ninth century on,
leading directly to the destruction of both. It was
therefore a moment of intense interest (though it
ought not to have been a surprise) when in the his
torical annals found in the remains of Babylonian
and Assyrian cities scholars began to read of these
political relations. Subsequently, traditions con
cerned with the Creation of the world and with a
disastrous Deluge that recalled the narratives in the
early chapters of Genesis began to come to light.
8 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
Interest in Babylonian-Assyrian research was in
creased when, on penetrating still deeper into the
religious literature and religious customs of Baby
lonia and Assyria, institutions and rites were re
vealed for which parallels could be found in the
pages of the Old Testament, including views re
garding life after death and hymns expressive of
ideas that reminded us of what was found in bib
lical psalms, and that were couched in phrases strik
ingly similar to biblical parlance. It is with this
material that we are chiefly concerned in this in
vestigation; but, in order to understand its real bear
ings, we must stop for a few moments to consider
the origin and character of Babylonian civilisation
which spread from the south the Euphrates Val
ley to the north, or to what was known as Assyria.
The impulse to the development of a high degree
of culture in the Euphrates Valley came from the
mixture of two heterogeneous races Semites, whose
oldest designation appears to have been Akkadians,
and a non-Semitic people known as Sumerians, who
gave their name to the valley which survives, in a
somewhat distorted form, as Shinar in the book of
Genesis. Whether the Semites or the non-Semites
were the first settlers is a question which in the
present state of our knowledge cannot be deter
mined. The indications are such, at least, is my
view 1 that the Semites were the first to arrive and
there are reasons for believing that they came from
the northeastern or northwestern region known as
1 Following Eduard Meyer, Sumerier und Semiten in Babylonien, p. 1 1 1.
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 9
Amurru, though the majority of scholars still in
cline to central Arabia as the oldest centre from
which Semitic hordes first entered the valley. These
Semites, taking up a settled form of life in ex
change for earlier nomadic habits, cultivated the
soil and had probably made some advances on the
road to civilisation when the Sumerians, entering
either from the northwestern or from the northeast
ern mountainous districts, conquered the country.
What the state of Sumerian civilisation was at the
time is also a pure matter of conjecture. The con
querors must have been superior to the Semites, for
in the oldest period to which our sources at present
take us, we find the Sumerians in more or less com
plete control. The language of the oldest historical
inscriptions is Sumerian, the commercial documents
down to about 2000 B. C. are likewise largely in
Sumerian. To this oldest period belong Sumerian
votive inscriptions, Sumerian hymns and lamenta
tions, rituals appealing to the gods to desist from
their wrath which had manifested itself in some po
litical catastrophe or in havoc wrought by destruc
tive storms; and it is a fair inference that the
script developing from a pictorial or hieroglyphic
form of writing was the invention of the Sumerians,
though developed with Semitic co-operation. For,
even in this earliest period, Semitic influences may
be detected. We find Semitic names and Semitic
words in very early inscriptions. The Sumerians
brought their gods with them but, as always hap
pened in the case of conquests in early days, the
10 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
conquerors also adopted the gods of the region into
which they came and transformed the character of
their own deities to conform to the new conditions
by which they were surrounded. One of the oldest
centres of Sumerian settlements that acquired the
rank of a religious as well as of a political capital
was Nippur. The patron deity of Nippur, Enlil
(or Ellil), was brought there by the Sumerians from
their mountain homes, and, like most gods who have
their seat on mountain tops, was a personification
of the storms and tempests, of the thunder and the
lightning. Transferred to a valley in which agri
culture was the mainstay of the population, Enlil
was associated with an earlier deity, Enmasht 1
commonly spoken of as Ninib who presided over
vegetation and the fertility of the soil. Enlil, as
the god of the conquerors, becomes the father, and
Enmasht the son. This relationship merely mir
rors the superiority of the newcomer who takes on
the traits of Enmasht, and as the head of the pan
theon receives the attributes most needed by a
deity in whose hands the welfare of an agricultural
population lay. In this way then and in various
others, the religion of the Sumerians is transformed
through adaptation to their new surroundings, a
transformation that extends to the adoption into
their pantheon of deities already worshipped in the
district to which they had come, and which carries
with it the adoption of religious rites, festivals, and
forms of appeal suitable to agricultural communi-
1 See Clay, Amurru, p. 121.
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 11
ties. Both elements of the population, therefore,
contribute to the further unfolding of religious ideas
and customs, just as the general advance in civili
sation is due to mutual co-operation and mutual
influence, although the one element remained for
a long time the predominating factor. The result is
a Sumero-Akkadian civilisation arising from the
stimulus of one ethnic group meeting another.
The observation has general application that a high
order of civilisation arises only through the com
bination of two or more ethnic factors. The mix
ture of races because of this mutual stimulus al
ways produces a higher type of culture than is
brought about by a race that holds itself aloof from
others. An absolutely pure race probably does not
exist. If it did, it is safe to predict that it would
not proceed far along the road of civilisation with
out dying of inanition. The great and the greatest
achievements of mankind in the domain of cul
ture, in government, in art, in literature, in philo
sophic thought, and in scholarship have been ac
complished by the mixed races by the Greeks with
the admixture of Asiatic elements; by the Romans
with the admixture of the Etruscans as the for
eign mass to leaven the Italic stock; by the Egyp
tians, a mixture of Hamitic and Semitic groups.
Even among the ancient Hebrews we encounter
the admixture of foreign groups which include Hittite
elements. The Pentateuchal Codes protest against
the commingling with the "seven" nations as they
are conventionally termed, with an insistency that
12 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
proves the extent to which the admixture had
proceeded.
The predominance of the Sumerian element begins
to wane about the middle of the third millennium
B. C., perhaps already some centuries earlier. The
impending change in control manifests itself at first
by the breaking up of the Euphrates Valley into
separate districts, each grouped around some city
as a political and religious centre no one of which
seemed strong enough to hold the others under its
control. 1 At most, we now find one or the other
of these districts or states exercising a jurisdiction
over some adjoining one, and this for a limited
period, to be followed by a reversal that brings a
rival state more prominently forward. The strug
gle comes to a head in a more sharply accentuated
rivalry between Sumerian and Akkadian settle
ments, the former found chiefly in the more south
ern sections, the latter more towards the north,
though the geographical division is not absolute.
Sargon, with his capital at Agade, a city not far
from Babylon, is the first Semite to establish a
strong empire; it is he who apparently introduces
the policy of world-conquest which becomes the
aim of Babylonian and more particularly of Assyr
ian rulers. Sargon spreads his victorious arms in
all directions and founds a real empire, though of
short duration a kingdom of "the four quarters of
the world," as it is officially designated. The in-
1 See, for this early period, L. W. King, A History of Sumer and Akkad
(London, 1910).
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 13
dependence and extension of the rule of Sargon and
of his immediate successors is a symptom of the
strength that the Semites had acquired, and though
a reaction bringing the Sumerians back to power
for almost two centuries sets in, still the impend
ing change was inevitable; and about the year 2000
B. C. a union of the states of the Euphrates Val
ley was brought about through a great conqueror,
the Semite Hammurapi 1 who establishes his centre
at Babylon, and with whom the Semitic conquest
of the Euphrates Valley becomes complete. The
civilisation, however, had received its stamp from
the mixture of Sumerian and Akkadian elements,
with merely a transfer of the predominance of the
non-Semitic element to the Semitic contingent.
Ill
It is about the time of Hammurapi that we may
with probability fix the migration of the Terahites,
first from Ur to Haran and thence to the north
west, entering Palestine by way of a descent along
the eastern banks of the Jordan. The fourteenth
chapter of Genesis, in which Amraphel, King of Shi-
nar (i.e., of Babylonia), and Abraham are introduced
as contemporaries, is generally regarded and I
think correctly as a very late addition to the nar
ratives of Genesis. 2 Despite this, it embodies a re
markable store of historical tradition which is either
based on very old oral sources or rests on the di-
1 Or Hammurabi, though the writing with p is more correct.
8 See, e. g., Skinner s Commentary on Genesis, pp. 271-6.
14 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
rect use of written historical sources. Amraphel is
;/none other than Hammurapi, and the spread of
Semitic control under this great conqueror fits in
well with the movement of Semitic groups from
Babylonia to the west. The migration of the Tera-
hite group to which Abraham belongs is part of this
movement. The later Jewish rabbis of the Tal-
mudic period were fond of spinning out the tales
of Abraham s relations to Babylonia and the Baby
lonians, 1 implied in the sojourn at Ur and Haran;
and while the stories themselves are purely fanci
ful, how Terah, the father of Abraham, was a man
ufacturer of idols, how the son gradually realised
the futility of idol-worship and argued with his en
vironment against the personification of the powers
of nature as the basis of religious worship, yet the
initiative for these tales is the deep-grained recol
lection on the part of some of the tribes that
eventually formed the group of the Bene Israel of
a close affiliation between themselves and the in
habitants of the Euphrates Valley. Youthful mem
ories are tenacious in the case of a group as of an
individual. Association with Babylonians necessa
rily entailed an acceptance of Babylonian customs
and ideas and at least a partial absorption of Euphra-
tean culture in its various manifestations. It is
therefore most reasonable to assume that the agree
ment between Hebrew and Babylonian traditions
regarding the Creation of the world and regarding
a great catastrophe that wiped out mankind is due
1 See Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, vol. I, pp. 195-216.
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 15
to this early contact, just as on the other hand the
tradition which places the original habitat of man
kind in the Euphrates Valley and such tales as
that of the city and tower of Babylon represent a
sediment due to this same contact. It is a natural
process that leads a people to identify the recol
lections of its origin with the origin of the world;
and dim and confused as such recollections become
in the course of time, unless we assume some his
torical starting-point, we lose the possibility of find
ing a reasonable explanation for their existence and
persistence.
To account for the presence of nomadic groups
in the Euphrates Valley at the period to which we
are led back in tracing the migrations of tribes that
formed an element in the later confederation of
Hebrew tribes, 1 it is sufficient to recall that a higher
culture is always a source of attraction to those
who occupy a lower grade. Central and northern
Arabia formed at all times a great reservoir of no
madic Semitic hordes, the overflow from which
passed naturally into the Euphrates Valley which
lay open to invaders from almost all sides. Some
of these nomadic groups were permanently won
over to more settled conditions of life, and were
sooner or later assimilated to the Sumero-Akkadian
1 1 say "an element" because it is now certain that the Hebrews rep
resent the result of a mixture of various elements, including probably
Hittites as well as Arabs, entering Palestine without submitting to the
mediatory influence of Babylonian civilisation. This mixed character
of the confederation formed in the twelfth century by "Hebrew" tribes
accounts for the double strain of traditions and popular customs, one
directing us to Babylonia, the other to Arabia.
16 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
culture, while others continued to move forward
and backward and frequently became a menace to
the native population. 1 The pressure from the
south appears to have been followed at frequent
intervals by a further movement of these nomads
to the north. One of the goals of such a move
ment was Syria which was reached by following
the course of the Euphrates and its tributaries, and
as pressure followed upon pressure there ensued the
further descent towards the seacoast or into the
interior along the valley of the Jordan.
In return, there was also a movement from Syria
into both Babylonia and Assyria. Recent investiga
tions have shown that these Amorites, as the people
from the northwest were generally termed, consti
tute an important factor in the Babylonian-Assyrian
civilisation, leaving their traces in the names of
certain deities that form part of the pantheon and
in other phases of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion. 2
There thus resulted a steady shifting of the popu
lation of the Euphrates Valley, and to account for
this, we must bear in mind that the same ease
which enabled those accustomed to nomadic life
to take on within a short time a veneer of culture
also facilitated the backward step to former condi
tions. Arabic history furnishes several instances
of tribes which, after some generations of settled
1 In the historical inscriptions as well as in the legends of Babylonia
and Assyria these nomads are frequently referred to as Suti, and the
probable explanation of the name as the "southerners" is thus indica
tive of the region whence they came.
2 See Clay, Amurru, the Home of the Northern Semites (Philadelphia,
1909).
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 17
life, abandoned their settlements to take up again
the untrammelled existence of the desert and the
wilderness. Moreover, not all who were attracted
towards the Euphrates Valley were won over to
Babylonian culture. The opportunity for plunder
proved an equally forcible magnet. These non-
assimilating Bedouins likewise passed into Syria and
thence to the south and southwest, and commin
gling there with the body of the population, pastoral
and agricultural, that had been subjected to Babylo
nian influences, also became tainted with Babylonian
ideas and traditions. In short, the deeper we pene
trate into the history of Babylonia, the more abun
dant is the evidence pointing to the close connec
tion between the Euphrates Valley and western
Asia Minor in general. A famous ruler of a Baby
lonian state, Gudea of Lagash (c. 2400 B. C.), finds
it perfectly natural to send his emissaries to the
Lebanon range and to the Phoenician coast to ob
tain wood and stone for his buildings and works of
art, 1 just as, on the other hand, he obtains diorite
from Magan and copper from Kimash. He speaks of
these districts as though they were outlying provinces
of Babylonia, and we have already referred to the
still earlier notice, 2 embodied in a collection of his
torical omens, of Sargon of Agade carrying his tri
umphant arms to Amurru and the "sea of the set
ting sun," by which the Mediterranean is meant. 3
It is therefore to this early contact between Baby-
1 See L. W. King, History of Sumer and Akkad, p. 263.
2 Above, p. 7. 3 King, ib., p. 225.
18 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
Ionia and the west that we must ascribe the de
cidedly Babylonian strain in Hebrew traditions.
To assume, as has sometimes been done, that the
agreement between Hebrew and Babylonian tradi
tions is due to a contact in the later historical pe
riods, culminating in the transfer of large sections
of the Jerusalem population and of the surround
ing districts to the Euphrates Valley, is, I think,
quite impossible. The people were in no mood to
assimilate ideas and customs from those who ap
peared to them in the light of ruthless destroyers;
but, quite apart from this, the leaven of the new
teachings introduced by the Hebrew Prophets had
by this time begun to work. The religious thought
of the masses was too advanced even in the eighth
century, when the prophetical movement sets in,
to take up traditions that arose among a people in
an early state of culture. The impression one re
ceives from the style of the narratives in the early
chapters of Genesis is that they are incorporated
because they had formed for many centuries part
and parcel of the life of the people. The stories
were too popular to be suppressed or crowded out;
they are therefore transformed and adapted to
new conditions. The mythical element is reduced,
as we shall see, to a minimum; the ethical spirit is
introduced, and the materialistic conception of
Creation is replaced by a superior monotheistic
interpretation of divine rule. Tales embodying pop
ular tradition of long standing are thus made to
appear in a new light. To be sure, there was a
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 19
steady stream of Babylonian influence into Pales
tine during the centuries in which Babylonia exer
cised some measure of control over political affairs
in the west the period which resulted in making
Babylonian speech in the fifteenth century B. C., a
medium of official communication between gov
ernors of cities and districts in Palestine and Syria
and their Egyptian masters. An adjacent civilisa
tion of a high order necessarily spreads its influ
ence in all directions, and Palestine was as little
able to escape this influence of Babylonian ideas,
Babylonian ways, and Babylonian views of life as
it could escape, on the other side, the influence of
the great civilisation that arose along the banks of
the Nile. This contact between Palestine and Baby
lonia, strongest just before the formative period of
the Hebrew nation in the thirteenth or fourteenth
century B. C., and which waned with the union of
the confederated tribes into a monarchy about
1000 B. C., may be accounted as an important factor
in maintaining the early traditions in undisturbed
rigour; but even this period would be too late for the
first introduction of these traditions.
Moreover, the specific mention of Ur and Haran
as stopping places of the Terahites in their wander
ings which eventually brought them into Palestine,
lends a further support for the thesis of an early
contact to account for the agreement in Hebrew
and Babylonian traditions. Both Ur and Haran
are old religious and important political centres, and
it is rather curious that in both the worship of the
20 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
moon-god, Sin, was predominant. This can hardly
be a coincidence, but instead of seeing in this cir
cumstance a trace of a lunar myth in connection
with Abraham, as some scholars are inclined to do, 1
it seems more plausible to ascribe the juxtaposi
tion of Ur and Haran to the combination of two
traditions, 2 one of which embodies a recollection of
a movement from Ur, the other from Haran. It
is quite in keeping with the character of traditions,
dimmed by the lapse of ages and revived in the
course of a literary process, to amalgamate events
separated from one another by longer or shorter
periods. We may perhaps even go a step farther
and recognise in the mention of Ur and Haran a
recollection of two periods of early Babylonian his
tory in which Ur and Haran respectively exercised
a supremacy over the Babylonian states. In re
gard to Ur we know that this was the case c. 2400
B. C., when the kings of Ur claimed sovereignty
over Sumer and Akkad, which had become the desig
nation for southern and northern Babylonia. Of
the older history of Haran we know as yet very
little, but the existence of a sanctuary at the place
to which rulers of Babylonia and Assyria as late as
the seventh and sixth centuries 3 pay their respects
speaks in favour of the supposition that the place
at one time also enjoyed political pre-eminence, for
1 See Jeremias, Das Alte Testament im Lichte des alien Orients, p. 332,
following the late Hugo Winckler s Geschichte Israels, II, pp. 23 seq.
2 A similar view is taken by Gunkel, Genesis, p. 145, who, however,
regards Haran and Ur originally as variants.
8 Johns, An Assyrian Doomsday Book, Introduction.
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 21
religion and rule are close allies in ancient Baby
lonia. Be this as it may, the specific character of
the tradition regarding the sojourn of the Terahites
in certain Babylonian centres justifies our confi
dence in its substantial correctness.
Looking upon Babylonia as their home, it was
almost inevitable that when the Hebrews came to
speculate upon the question of origins they should
hit upon the Euphrates Valley as at one time the
home of all mankind, and it is equally natural that
Hebrew writers should have fallen in line with the
Babylonian tradition which regarded the settlement
of the valley as the result of a movement vaguely
described as "from the east." 1 It is not, there
fore, as a real solution of the difficult problem of
the origin of the human race, which still perplexes
modern ethnologists, that the tradition has any
value, but as an illustration of the dependence of
Hebrew views upon the historical bond uniting He
brews with Babylonians. This dependence of itself
would not necessarily lead to agreement in regard
to another problem of "origins" the origin of the
world; for not only does speculation on this prob
lem begin at an earlier period in the cultural devel
opment of a people than attempts to specify a place
as the original home of mankind, but it is precisely
in Creation myths that the individuality of a people
and the reflex of its immediate surroundings manifest
themselves. While there is, of course, a general
similarity between the Creation stories of people
^en. ii : 2.
22 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
living in a state of primitive culture, this similar
ity affects chiefly the limitations of the primitive
intellect which cannot conceive of any real begin
ning. But apart from this, the variations of the man
ner in which the world is supposed to have been
set in motion constitute the striking feature of
primitive Creation myths. It would therefore have
been quite within the range of possibility for the
Hebrews to have produced a Creation myth of their
own, either before they found their way into Baby
lonia or after they had entered Palestine. But if
we encounter in the first two chapters of Genesis
Creation stories clearly modelled upon Babylonian
prototypes, the obvious conclusion is that the early
contact between Babylonians and Hebrews exerted
a profound religious as well as a social influence.
The only hypothesis, then, that meets the condi
tions involved is the one assuming a very early relig
ious influence exerted by Babylonian ideas upon
those who moved into the Euphrates Valley, and
which was maintained by that contact between
Babylonia and the Semitic settlements to the west
up to the borders of the Mediterranean, which, as we
have seen, was practically uninterrupted for several
millenniums.
If the biblical tradition which carries the history
of the Hebrews back to an old settlement in Baby
lonia has any value, it points to a deep and perma
nent impress made upon the people during their
"Babylonian" period. Had this not been the case
the tradition would not have survived. The com-
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 23
pilers of Genesis, to emphasise the point once more,
are not a set of imaginative writers who spin out
romances; they merely record what belongs to a
common stock of knowledge, and their originality
consists in the manner in which they transform the
material. There would not have been any occasion
for carrying Hebrew history back to the Euphrates
Valley had this tradition not been so deeply em
bodied in the minds of the populace that a history
of the Hebrews, such as the first eight books of the
Bible in their present form aim to be, would have
been regarded as hopelessly defective without a no
tice of the former settlement in the Euphrates dis
trict of tribes from which the Hebrews reckoned their
descent. We may furthermore conclude, unless
we reject the tradition altogether, that the sojourn,
whether at Ur, Haran, or elsewhere, was not a short
one, not a mere passage of nomadic hordes on their
way from Arabia to Syria, for again we must argue
that in that case the tradition would not have sur
vived with such persistency. There would have
been no occasion for its surviving. A relatively
permanent settlement, however, involves partial as
similation to the ways of the country, and we are
therefore safe in placing the Hebrews among the
immigrants who drank deep of Babylonian culture,
even though they relapsed into the life of pastoral
nomads, when with other Semites they passed into
Syria and Palestine.
We must distinguish however in our study of
these traditions, between the traditions themselves
24 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
and the period when they assumed their final lit
erary shape. The stories in the early chapters of
Genesis, the account of Creation, the habitat of the
first human pair, the early fortunes of the human
race, the narrative of the Deluge, the wanderings of
the Terahites, their entrance into Palestine, are an
cient, forming part of a stock of traditions held in
common by Babylonians and Hebrews from time
immemorial, just as the stories of the patriarchs, of
the sojourn in Egypt, and of the Exodus are old,
strengthened by their currency through a long pe
riod during which they sank deep into the minds
and hearts of the populace. The stories themselves,
however, underwent modifications as the Hebrews
passed from the nomadic to the agricultural stage
of life, and from this again to the founding of cities,
to the unfolding of more advanced forms of govern
ment, to the elaboration of an official ritual, and the
establishment of priesthoods in various centres: in
Shiloh, in Nob, in Bethel, in Ramah, in Shechem,
and, above all, in Jerusalem. When these tradi
tions were submitted to the influence of the new
ideals set up by the Prophets, their original charac
ter was still further modified until in the postexilic
period they assumed their present literary shape.
It is this somewhat complicated and composite
character of the Hebrew traditions that lends to
them their fascination for the student whose task
it is to trace the process of growth, just as it is that
because in their final shape they reflect the advanced
Jewish thought, they make a religious and emo-
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 25
tional appeal to us at the present time, despite the
recognition of their historical evolution. The tra
ditions in their final form have stood the test of
modern criticism which has taught us to look at
them in a manner that enables them to convey a
message even to the modem mind. 1
IV
Accepting, then, the position that the Hebrews
passed through a long period of probation, involv
ing an evolutionary process before their religion
reached the stage reflected in the books of the Old
Testament in their final form, wherein does the pe
culiar quality of Hebrew monotheism lie, or, in
other words, what was the course taken by religious
thought among the Hebrews that gives to Hebrew
traditions, to Hebrew conceptions of life after
death, to Hebrew views of sin, to Hebrew institu
tions, to Hebrew ethics, to the Hebrew system of
divine government, a direction that separates these
traditions, conceptions, views, institutions, ethics,
and system from the Babylonian counterparts with
which at one time they had so much in common?
No elaborate proof is any longer required to show ]
that at one time the Hebrews shared, to all prac
tical intent, the religion of their surroundings. As a
branch of the Semitic race, their religion during their
1 A good illustration of the results to be obtained from a systematic
study of the process through which the traditional lore of the Hebrews
passed is to be seen in Hugo Gressmann s recent work, Mose und seine
Zeit (Gottingen, 1913).
26 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
early sojourn in Palestine was that of the Semites
in general. The pages of the Old Testament are
full of indications that the Hebrews, like their fel
low Semites, attached a sacred significance to stones
at certain places, to trees, to wells, to mountain
tops. The most primitive type of the Semitic altar
is a stone in which the deity is supposed to dwell
or which is the deity himself. The "rock of the
dome/ as the large stone within the chief mosque
at Jerusalem the Haram esh-Sherif 1 is called, rep
resents one of these ancient sacred stones, the sanc
tity of which reaches back far beyond the time
when the Hebrews took possession of Mount Zion, 2
where the deity manifested itself because it was his
seat, that is, because he dwelled there. The He
brews took over the sacred rock at the time when
they dispossessed the Jebusites, who worshipped at
that place. Solomon built his temple there, because
the stone had made it a sacred site. Palestine was
full of such sacred stones. The stone on which Jacob
slept at Bethel was a sacred object. Jacob has a
vision of the deity there, because the stone is the
dwelling-place of the deity. He anoints the stone,
regards it as a masseba (which is the common designa
tion of stone pillars), because the deity is in it or
manifests himself through it. Viewed in this light, the
words which Jacob utters upon awakening, "Behold
Yahweh is in this place" the Hebrew word makom
designates a holy spot "and I knew it not" (Gen.
1 Commonly, though erroneously, known as the Mosque of Omar.
2 The name Moriah for the mount (II Chron. 3:1) represents a late
and unreliable tradition.
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 27
28 : 16), receive a significance superior, I think, to
the traditional interpretation. The oak or terebinth
at Mamre, associated with Abraham, is a sacred tree
the dwelling-place of a deity who, therefore, ap
pears to Abraham at that place. Palestine is full
of sacred trees, regarded as such even by the Arab
population of the present day, who hang bits of
clothing and ornaments on such trees as a symbol
of their attachment. 1 Abraham and Isaac are asso
ciated with Beer-Sheba, where there was a well the
name of which, "the well of the oath," 2 or (through
a play on the word 3 ) "the well of seven" seven
being a sacred number attests its sanctity. Ka-
desh, where the Hebrews remained for a period be
fore entering Palestine in their wanderings after the
Exodus from Egypt, is a sacred place. The name
"Kadesh" means "holy," and the wells there, no
doubt, represent the reason for the sanctity of the
place. Palestine has many such holy wells. The
deity dwells in the water as he does in stones and
trees. Mount Sinai, Mount Nebo, Mount Seir, and
Mount Zion all represent dwelling-places of the
deity, and the Hebrews on entering Palestine ac
cepted the current views which associated deities
with mountain tops or high eminences. These places
became sacred spots in Hebrew history, because the
Hebrews fell in with the current religious thought
and practices of their fellow Semites. In the tradi-
1 On the present-day survivals of old Semitic stone, tree, river, well,
cults, etc., see S. I. Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religion To-day (Chicago,
1902), especially chapter VII.
2 Gen. 21 : 31. 3 Gen. 26 : 33.
28 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
tions associated with sacred stones, with trees, with
wells, and high eminences, we have, therefore, the
survivals of Semitic religion at the nomadic stage.
But the Semites advanced to settled life which is
marked by the agricultural stage. The Canaanites,
who occupied Palestine proper at the time of the
Hebrew conquest, represented an agricultural pop
ulation who had to be dispossessed by the con
querors. For the Canaanites the old Semitic dei
ties became the protectors of the soil, presiding over
vegetation. In general, these protectors were viewed
as personifications of the sun. Each centre had such
a protector, who was called "Baal" or "lord" of the
place. When the Hebrews became agriculturists
they adopted the "Baals" of the Canaanites; but,
associating Baal with their national or tribal deity,
Yahweh, originally having his seat on Mount Sinai,
or, according to other traditions, 1 on Mount Seir,
the cult of Yahweh took on the forms of Baal wor
ship. The festivals of the Hebrews became agricul
tural feasts, coincident with the seasons of impor
tance to tillers of the soil the spring, summer, and
the final harvest of the fall; and there is no longer
any doubt that these festivals, as described in the
Pentateuchal Codes and in incidental references in
the historical books, were taken over from the Ca
naanites. Offerings of first-fruits and of the flock
were brought to the sanctuaries throughout the land,
in imitation of the example set by the Canaanites.
1 E. g., in the Song of Deborah (Judges 5 : 4), where Yahweh comes
from Seir.
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 29
Yahweh becomes the "Baal" or "lord" of the soil,
and the transfer of the traits of a Baal to Yahweh
was made so naturally that down to the days of
David we find the two terms, Baal and Yahweh,
used almost interchangeably. The Canaanitish Baals
had their altars and sanctuaries on eminences, known
as bamoth or "high places," and it was on such
places that the cult of Yahweh was carried on by
the Hebrew agricultural population. The Hebrew
Prophets and the historical books are our witnesses
that the Hebrews adopted even the symbolical of
fering of their children to Malik another designa
tion of Baal, which pious Hebrew writers distorted
to Molech 1 from the Canaanites; and it is signif
icant that in the Priestly Code a provision is made
for the redemption or ransom of the first-born
through the payment of a certain sum (Num.
13:16). Such a provision assumes as a recognised
custom the rite of devoting the first-born to the
deity, and the purpose of the enactment to buy
off this sacrifice which the deity may claim is to
1 Molech represents an intentional disguise for Malik, brought about
through the attachment of the vowels of a word, bosheth, meaning
"shame," to the consonants of Malik, which gives us Molek. The later
Hebrew writers to whom the name Baal was so obnoxious as to prompt
them to avoid using it, went so far as to substitute Bosheth for Baal
even in proper names, as, e. g., Ish-Bosheth ("man of shame") for
Ish-Baal ("man of Baal"). On the other hand, there was also devel
oped a disposition to avoid names too sacred for ordinary use. This
led to giving to the consonants J (or Y) H W H, which form the sacred
name of Israel s deity, the vowels of Adonai meaning "lord," " master,"
resulting in the form Jehovah in place of Jahweh or Yahweh, which
was the original pronunciation. See, on the history of this disguise, G.
F. Moore s article in Old Testament and Semitic Studies, in memory
of W. R. Harper, pp. 143-163, and the references there given.
30 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
abolish the older method of symbolically offering a
child to Malik by "passing him through the fire," 1
itself probably a substitute of a more merciful age
for a former actual burning of the child. The under
lying principle enunciated in the dictum, "Every
first issue of the womb among men and cattle be
longs to Yahweh" (Lev. 13 : 2; Ex. 34 : 19), rep
resents a direct adoption of the Canaanitish prac
tice, and this is further borne out by the use of the
very same term, "and thou shalt cause every first
born to pass through to Yahweh" (Ex. 13 : 12),
which elsewhere occurs in describing the " passing
through" of children to Malik (II Kings 16 : 3
[Ahaz]; II Kings 21 : 6; II Chron. 33 : 6 [Manasseh]).
The redemption through money means therefore
the abolition of the Canaanitish rite, but the re
tention of the principle underlying the rite. In
order to justify the principle, the explanation is of
fered (Ex. 13 : 14): "If thy son should ask thee to
morrow, What is the meaning of this, thou shalt say
to him: With a strong hand Yahweh brought us out
of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And when
Pharaoh hardened himself against sending us forth,
Yahweh killed every first-born in Egypt from the
first-born of man to the first-born of cattle. There
fore I sacrifice to Yahweh every first male issue of
the womb, and every first-born of my sons I redeem."
: The phrase to "pass through the fire" shows that the victim was
not actually burned, but merely brought into contact with the fire as the
sacred element and the symbol of Malik, the sun-god. The custom is
of the same order as jumping across the fire in connection with the Saint
John s festival of the midsummer solstice. See Frazer, The Dying God,
p. 262, and the footnote references there given.
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 31
This is clearly an endeavour to find a justification
within Hebrew history for a rite which, by evidence
furnished through the Old Testament itself, is part
of the general religion of the Semites in Palestine.
If any further evidence is desired to show how com
pletely up to a relatively late period the Hebrews
shared the religious practices of their neighbours, the
frank statement of the royal chronicler (II Kings
21 : 3-8), about Manasseh s course will surely suf
fice. "And he again built high places which his
father Hezekiah had destroyed and he erected altars
to Baal and he made an Asherah 1 as Ahab the King
of Israel had done, and he bowed down to the host
of heaven and worshipped them . . . and he built
altars to all the hosts of heaven in the two courts
of the house of Yahweh; and he caused his son to
pass through the fire, and he practiced divination
and magic and necromancy and he increased doing
evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provocation and he
set up the Asherah post which he had made in the
house of which Yahweh said to David and to Solo
mon his son, In this house and in Jerusalem which
I choose of all the tribes of Israel I shall place my
name forever.
Here you have the whole paraphernalia of the
religion of the Semites, both that belonging to the
more primitive type and to the more advanced type
1 A poster pillar set up at the side of the altar, symbolising the female
element in nature, as the altar originally the stone which was both the
dwelling of the deity and the deity himself symbolised the male ele
ment. The post may have originally been a tree. See the article
"Asherah," in Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible, or in the Encyclopedia
Biblica.
32 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
Baal worship, tree worship, fire worship, astral
worship, and divination of all kinds. In the refer
ence to the hosts of heaven and to divination prac
tices we may see traces of that steady stream of
Babylonian influences in Palestine to which we have
referred, and which represents the natural overflow
of a civilisation constantly extending in scope and
power. This influence was naturally not limited to
the Hebrews. The astral-theological system, ac
companied by recourse to the observation of the
heavens as a means of ascertaining what the future
had in store, led to an attitude towards the moon,
planets, and stars which superimposed an additional
layer over the cult of Baals and Asherahs through
out Palestine. The references to the "host of
heaven" increase as we approach the period of di
rect interference on the part of the Assyrian and
then of the neo-Babylonian empire in the affairs of
the Hebrew kingdoms. The pages of the Old Testa
ment particularly the Books of Kings and the ora
tions of the pre-exilic Prophets are full of references
to astrological practices and other modes of divina
tion betraying Babylonian influence by the side of
Canaanitish customs, just as the legal codes in their
protest against these practices and customs betray
the extent to which they were followed down to
postexilic days.
In the passage that I have quoted we have, how
ever, also the evidence that the turning-point in the
history of the religion of the Hebrews was soon to
come. The reign of Manasseh, which may be dated
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 33
as 697 to 642 B. C., is portrayed as a period of re
action from the religious reforms instituted by his
father, Hezekiah (726-698 B. C.), who is a contem
porary of Isaiah. The first step demanded by the
Hebrew Prophets, of whom Isaiah may be regarded
as the type, was the overthrow of the Canaanitish
or general Semitic practices. The protest voiced
by the Prophets against everything for which Ma-
nasseh stood was historically justified, for the religion
practised by the Hebrews after their conquest of
.Palestine was an adaptation of agricultural cults
that they found awaiting them. They are correct
in their assumption that the practices during the
nomadic period were simpler and not overweighted,
as were those coincident with the agricultural stage,
with an elaborate ritual, marked by festival sea
sons, sacrifices and purification rites, but the ear
lier practices of the Hebrews were likewise such as
were shared by other Semitic groups living in the
nomadic stage of culture. Yahweh, as the tribal
deity of the Hebrews, differed in no essential par
ticular from other tribal deities of nomadic groups;
and the chief festival of this early period was a
sheep-shearing occasion at which a blood rite was
observed, resting on the old Semitic view of blood
as a symbol of life. 1 The point of departure in the
Hebrew religion from that of the Semitic in general
in the nomadic stage and from the later agricul-
1 This festival with some later modifications and with the superim
posed association with the Exodus from Egypt as a justification for its
existence as part of the genuine Yahweh cult, led to the Passover festi
val, the time of the ripening of the first barley in Palestine.
34 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
tural stage did not come until the rise of a body
of men who set up a new ideal of divine government
of the universe, and with it as a necessary corollary
a new standard of religious conduct. Throwing
down the barriers of tribal limitations to the juris
diction of a deity, it was the Hebrew Prophets who
first prominently and emphatically brought forth
the view of a divine power conceived in spiritual
terms, who, in presiding over the universe and in
controlling the fates of nations and individuals, acts
from self-imposed laws of righteousness tempered
with mercy. To be sure, centuries before the Proph
ets, who began to make their appearance in the
eighth century B. C., a great leader had arisen who
gave to the people a higher view of Yahweh than
that current of tribal deities among surrounding
nations, but the god of Moses was still essentially
the god of the Hebrews in the same sense that
Kemosh was the god of Moab, and Milkom the god
of Ammon. Nor were the people, then in the begin
ning of their national life which was ushered in
through the powerful personality of their leader in
a position to rise beyond the conception of a god
limited in jurisdiction to a group, and concerned
with that group as a father is for his own children.
But Moses so much may be concluded from a
study of our sources 1 had invested the national
1 See Gressmann s admirable and important work (already referred
to above) Mose und seine Zeit, showing, as a result of a careful study
of the various layers in the traditions regarding Moses, the line of de
marcation between legendary accretions and historical facts, and thence
the steps leading to the idealisation of the great leader without reference
to facts.
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 35
Yahweh with certain ethical traits that differentiated
him from other tribal deities and which paved the
way for the fuller and more complete conception of
the Prophets of a power of universal sway, working
through righteousness and making for righteousness.
The Decalogue in its original form 1 may be regarded
as embodying Moses conception of Yahweh and
as furnishing in rough outlines the standards of life
and conduct set up by him. The Yahweh of Moses
is a god who punishes wrong-doing and who rewards
good deeds. He is not to be worshipped by images;
he demands that children should honour their parents,
by which is meant the recognition of parental au
thority; he puts his protest on theft and murder;
he insists upon the preservation of the purity of
family life, and he goes even further in condemn
ing the longing for the possessions of another as a
crime, as almost equal to the actual seizure. Such
a sentiment marks the introduction of an ethical
ideal superior to the conventional distinction be
tween right and wrong, dictated merely by prac
tical considerations. The development of this idea
of divine government, however, reaches a point be
yond which it cannot go, if the deity is to be thought
of as bound by loyalty to a certain group or to a
1 In the so-called Book of the Covenant (Ex. 21-24) as we ll as m tne
Pentateuchal Codes, many of the enactments, at least in their oldest
form, belong to the earliest period of Hebrew history and reflect, as,
e. g., in the treatment of slaves, the social conditions correlative with
the early tribal organisation such as may have existed in the days of
Moses. We may therefore justly attribute to him a part of the legis
lation which many centuries afterwards in its final shape, after passing
through a long and complicated process of development, was to pass
under his name. See further in chapter V.
36 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
certain place. The favouritism or special concern
for a particular people is in itself a limitation to the
ethical qualities of such a power. The step of re
moving the barriers of nationalism in the concep
tion of the divine was essential to the production
of that peculiar type of ethical monotheism which
marks the distinction between the religion of the
Hebrews in its early and tribal stage, and the later
religion which grows into Judaism in the proper
sense of the term.
The two centuries preceding the fall of Jerusalem
were critical ones in the religious history of the
Hebrews. They mark the preparation for Judaism.
The continuation of the process leads, during the
exilic period, to the definite formation of Judaism
as a religion embodying both the spirit and the con
tent of the messages of the Prophets. But this new
phase of religion which meant a complete break
with the normal course of the religion of the Sem
ites did not, on that account, involve a break with
past traditions. However it may be in modern
times and in our Occidental civilisations, in antiq
uity and in the Orient the past is never entirely
superseded by the present it is carried along by
the tide into the present and assimilated to new con
ditions. Accordingly, when the new religious move
ment among the Hebrews took on a definite shape,
when the ideals of the Prophets as the soul of the new
religion had to be encased in a body, the old tradi
tions that had struck their roots deep into the life and
hearts of the people were taken up once more, and
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 37
under modified forms not only brought into accord
with the new thought, but made the medium for con
veying that thought. We shall have occasion to see at
greater detail in the next chapter that many features
in the biblical account of Creation or rather in the
two accounts that have been combined in the first
two chapters of Genesis are not at all original; they
find their parallel in Babylonian versions and, like
the latter, point to the real character of the tale as
a nature-myth, symbolising the change of season
from the winter to the spring. In the same way,
in the two biblical accounts of the Deluge 1 that have
been dovetailed into each other, the basis of the
story is the yearly phenomenon of the rainy and
stormy season which lasts in Babylonia for several
months and during which time whole districts in
the Euphrates Valley are submerged. Great havoc
was caused by the rains and storms until the per
fection of canal systems regulated the overflow of
the Euphrates and Tigris, when what had been a
curse was converted into a blessing and brought
about that astonishing fertility for which Babylonia
became famous. The Hebrew story of the Deluge
1 See, e. g., Skinner s Genesis, pp. 147-150. Of the two accounts that
of the Jahwist and the one embodied in the Priestly Code the former
"is the fuller and also the one that betrays more of the earlier features
which we encounter again in the main Babylonian version; for, in Baby
lonia, too, there were several versions. The exact enumeration of the
duration of the Deluge until the earth reassumed a normal appearance
and such features as the distinction between clean and unclean animals
belong to the priestly account. The Jahwist uses seven (number of ani
mals and intervals between sending out the raven, the dove, and the
second dove) and forty (duration of storm) as round numbers, but the
two accounts have been so closely intertwined that only by a close anal
ysis can the two be separated from each other. See the Appendix.
38 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
recalls a particularly destructive season that had
made a profound impression, and the comparison with
the parallel story found on clay tablets of Ashur-
banapal s library confirms this view of the local
setting of the tale that represents a nature-myth
of the same character as the underlying stratum
of the Babylonian and biblical Creation narratives.
But in the form assumed by the old traditions re
garding the Creation and the Deluge once held in
common by the Hebrews and Babylonians, the dis
tinguishing mark of the biblical narratives lies in
the reduction of the original mythical element to
a minimum. So thoroughly has this process been
carried out, that it was only through the discovery
of the parallel tales on cuneiform tablets that the
original character of the biblical Creation and Del
uge stories was revealed. The transformation in
the case of the Creation story has been even more
thorough than that of the Deluge. There remained
of the old tradition merely the skeleton outlines
the description of primeval chaos, a certain logical
order in the process of creation, and in the sec
ond biblical version a trace of the conception of a
deity making man as an artist moulds a form out
of clay. The story, retained partly because of its
popularity, partly because of that natural desire to
carry back history to beginnings, is in all other re
spects completely remodelled and becomes a sub
lime poem, furnishing in impressive diction the pic
ture of a great, spiritually conceived power creating
the universe by the mere utterance of his intent
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 39
God wills and it comes to pass. That is the pur
pose which in its present form the story was in
tended to serve. The narrative of the order of Crea
tion becomes merely the illustration used in order
to bring out this conception of Deity, due to the
transformation that the view of divine government
underwent among the Hebrews through the influ
ence of the Prophets. The view of a divine Creator
is the main thing, the incidents including such
questions as the order and the division into six days
are secondary, aye, more than this, merely incidental.
The same reasoning may be applied to the story
of the Deluge, the real purport of which is not to
recount an old tradition of a destructive overflow
that wiped out mankind, but to account for the
special favour shown to Noah. He is singled out to
be saved because he is just. In the Babylonian
story Utnapishtim, or, as he is called in another
version, Khasisatra, and again in a third version,
recently discovered, Ziugiddu, described as a king,
is saved, but all that we are told is that he was a fa
vourite of Ea or of some other god who in a dream
revealed to him the intention of the gods. Thus
warned, he saves himself and his family and be
longings by taking refuge on a ship that he builds.
Corresponding to the picture of a divine Creator
conceived as a spiritual power and not as a mate
rialistic manifestation of some phenomenon of na
ture, we have in the biblical accounts of the Deluge
a distinctively ethical quality associated with that
Power who rules by meting out justice, who pun-
40 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
ishes the wrong-doers and saves the righteous. Xb^
two_jdews the conception of a supreme God ex
pressed in terms of spiritual power and the ethical
content of the monotheistic view of divine govern
ment of the universe embody the "main teachings
of the Prophets. The same spirit is to be observed
in the biblical story of the fall of man, which will
be taken up in detail later on. 1 The framework of
the tale, or rather of the two interwoven tales, is
primitive in character. The serpent, as the wisest
of the animals, talking and acting as a human being;
a tree the fruit of which results in death; another
which is capable of endowing man with eternal life;
God described as walking about in the garden in
the cool of the evening; the intimate converse be
tween God and the first human pair all are pictures
that belong to the nai vest folk-lore period of prim
itive culture.
But this biblical story is raised far above the
level of a primitive tale, as the nature-myth under
lying the story of the Deluge is removed into an
entirely different sphere, by their both being made
the medium for illustrating the dire consequences
of disobedience to the dictates of a God who de
mands adherence to His behests, that are promul
gated in man s interest. Such transformations of
old tales that in themselves have no distinguishing
Hebrew features are again due to the totally trans
formed point of view of God s relationship to man
brought about by the teachings of the Prophets.
1 See below, pp. 47 seq.
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 41
This may be confidently asserted despite the pes
simistic strain running through the tales that looks
upon work as a curse due to disobedience and that
declares man to be hopelessly inclined to evil. 1 The
Prophets not infrequently imply that man s lot on
earth is full of vexations and sorrows. The minor
note is often struck in the Psalms and in the later
liturgy of Judaism, just as a strong pessimistic strain
may be detected in mediaeval Christianity, which
was inclined to look upon this sojourn as a vale
of tears. We need only recall the dominant pessi
mism in Buddhistic doctrines to be convinced that
the sadder undertone and even an attitude border
ing on despair are part and parcel of higher forms
of faith.
Primitive tales are thus retained and transformed.
They are given a new interpretation in the light of
the teachings of the Prophets whose discourses are
all so many melodies based on the one theme the
dire results of disobedience. Israel s sin, by which
she lost her national independence and eventually
became a wanderer on the face of the earth a Cain
with the mark of God on his brow is disobedience
to the commands of a Deity who, while the embodi
ment of right and justice tempered with love and
mercy, is yet a God intolerant of deliberate wrong
doing, which is inevitably followed by punishment.
Similarly, throughout the Pentateuch and the histor-
1 See below, pp. 57 seq.
42 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
ical books proper the key-note is obedience. Abra
ham, the type of the perfect Hebrew, obeys the
commands of Elohim and is ready to sacrifice his
son, though no reason is assigned why this demand
is made of him. On the other hand, all misfortunes
are attributed to a single cause disobedience to the
commands of Yahweh. The obedience must be
absolute. Hence in the significant twenty-eighth
chapter of Deuteronomy this theological principle is
summed up in the statement that all possible bless
ings will follow upon obedience, and all possible
curses be the fruit of disobedience. Hebrew his
tory, with its ups and downs and its final catas
trophe, is regarded by these biblical writers merely
as an illustration of this single principle. There is
nothing of this stern and yet exalted point of view
in the Babylonian-Assyrian theology which contin
ues to conceive the gods as strong, all-powerful,
but arbitrary, protecting their favourites whether
they merit it or not, accessible to flattery and bribes
in the form of homage and sacrifices, who may be
relied upon as aids if one only carries out the
forms of the ritual, and whose anger, made manifest
by disaster in war, by poor crops, by pestilence,
or by other misfortunes, is ascribed to neglect of
their cult or even to such trivial causes as an unin
tentional error in some ceremonial detail.
The Pentateuchal Codes, though as full of ritual
as are the incantation texts and the other branches
of religious literature of Babylonia and Assyria, are
demarcated by this same trait of stern ethical ideal-
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 43
ism. The older purely legal regulations for deter
mining the relationships of men to one another
in commerce, in questions of life and property, in
marriage and family affairs are modified in the
long process of development by the test of con
formity to the spirit of justice and righteousness
that finds its fullest expression in the utterances of
the Prophets. "Holy shall ye be, for holy am I,
Yahweh, your God," is the crisp formula of pro
phetic doctrines as characteristic of legalistic Judaism
as is the Mohammedan formula of "no God but
Allah, and Mohammed is his apostle" of Islamism,
or as is the trinitarian formula of traditional Chris
tianity. The aim of the law is to make the people
holy. It is this point of view that reconciles us in
a measure to the detailed and rather wearisome
sacrificial and ceremonial regulations of the Penta-
teuchal Codes regulations which further amplified
by traditional customs not specifically provided for
in the codes and by further deductions from the
codes, changed the Judaism of the Prophets into a
vast legal compilation in which the spirit was in
constant danger of being stifled by the letter. There
is nothing particularly novel or particularly inspir
ing in the provisions of the Pentateuchal Codes for
the daily sacrifices, for the steadily increasing ani
mal and cereal offerings for the festal occasions,
or even in the provisions for offerings in the case
of sins unintentionally committed. Similar sacri
ficial codes were developed among many peoples by
a natural process, wherever the state encouraged
44 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
the growth of a temple administration extending
its scope and power with the enlargement of the
state. The food laws of the Priestly Code fall
within the category of taboos, such as we encoun
ter among primitive people everywhere. The reg
ulations of "cleanliness" and "uncleanliness," for
the one who has come into contact with a corpse,
for the man with an unclean "issue," for the woman
in her monthly sickness or who is recovering from
childbirth, contain just the same minimal proportion
of hygienic considerations and the same maximum
of taboo and demonology that hold good for similar
provisions in all other religious systems of the prim
itive or of the more advanced types. The line of
demarcation in these sections of the Pentateuchal
Codes lies again in the endeavour to make the laws
serve as the expression of certain ethical ideals.
These same ideals led to humanitarian regulations
regarding criminals and captives, regarding depend
ent classes, and even regarding the treatment of
trees and fields which are a noteworthy feature
more particularly of the Deuteronomic Code (Deut.
12-26), though also marked in the other codes. I
hold no brief for the sacrificial and ceremonial mi
nutiae so largely survivals of primitive customs and
the symbolism natural to primitive views of nature
and of the gods. They eventually proved an im
pediment to the further unfolding of the teachings
of the Prophets who protested so strongly against
the dangers inherent in every ceremonial system.
An impartial survey, however, demands the recogni-
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 45
tion that the Pentateuchal Codes breathe the genu
ine spirit of ethical monotheism that distinguishes
the Prophets. The attempt is clearly made in these
codes to conform ritualistic practice to the teach
ings of the Prophets, just as we have noted this
endeavour in the transformation and adaptation of
the early traditions regarding the creation of the
world, of the disastrous catastrophe that destroyed
mankind, or of the traditions accounting for man s
hard lot and for the presence of death in the world.
The spirit everywhere is the same. The entire Old
Testament is soaked with this spirit. The nation s
past is viewed and reviewed from the standpoint
of the ethical monotheism of the Prophets. The
stories of the Patriarchs partly tribal traditions,
partly purely fanciful are retold from this point
of view. Episodes are selected and episodes even
invented that might illustrate the teachings of Juda
ism as set forth in the writings of the Prophets.
Abraham, the traditional ancestor, we have seen,
becomes the type of the pious Jew. Isaac, Jacob,
and Joseph, to whom a variety of folk-tales are
attached many of them not specifically Hebraic,
others embodying dimmed recollections of tribal
struggles, of intrigues and hostilities are likewise
types made to conform in a greater or less degree
to the ideals brought to the highest point of per
fection in Abraham and Moses. The heroes of the
more clearly outlined historical periods, Samson,
Gideon, Saul, Samuel, David, and Solomon, are
idealised from this point of view, and so naively
46 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
idealised that their real character crops out in the
stories told of them with such charm and power. 1
The historical sources of the northern and southern
kingdoms are re-edited and rewritten to serve as
illustrations of the key-note of the teachings of the
Prophets that righteousness exalts a people and
that all the misfortunes of Israel are due to a de
parture from these teachings, which are carried back
to the beginnings of the national life of the people
and even beyond this to the very beginnings of time.
Moses, Abraham, Noah, and Abel are viewed as
personages who aimed to conform to the law of di
vine obedience and who derived their strength by
drinking of the never-failing well of righteousness.
The change brought about in the religion of the
Hebrews through the new factor introduced by the
Prophets thus produced equally profound changes
both in the general ethical ideals and in the religious
institutions which were transformed and interpreted
in accord with a faith centring around the doctrine
of ethical monotheism. It is also a direct result
of this phase of monotheism that the views regard
ing life after death underwent most striking changes.
At an earlier stage, the traditions among the He
brews regarding the fate of a man after his earthly
career is closed were hardly to be distinguished, as
will be pointed out, from what we find among the
Babylonians and Assyrians, the agreement being
again due in part to early contact and in part to
the possession of common traditions carried along
1 See further in chapter V.
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 47
from the most primitive phases of culture. Into
these traditions an ethical element having that spe
cial flavour which is the unmistakable indication of
the prophetical spirit is infused, and lo! the old
tradition assumes a new aspect in which merely
traces of earlier views remain, just enough to war
rant us in predicating an evolution from the same
traditions to which the Babylonians and Assyrians
clung with but minor changes to the close of their
long and eventful history.
VI
Let me, in conclusion, give you in more detailed
manner a particularly striking illustration of the
way in which a tradition belonging to a primitive
order of thought, through the infusion of the ethical
element and with a view of adapting it to an ethical
conception of divine Providence in place of a merely
physical view of the government of the universe, is
so radically transformed among the Hebrews as to
obscure the original identity with a Babylonian
counterpart.
Among the myths found among the tablets of
Ashurbanapal s library was a tale of a certain Adapa 1
who is endowed with great wisdom so that he be
comes a leader of men. Ea, the god of humanity,
1 See, for the full text so far as preserved, Ungnad-Gressmann, Oriental-
ische Texte und Bilder, I, pp. 34-38. A fragment was also found among
the tablets of the cuneiform archive discovered in 1887 in Tell-Amarna
(Egypt). Unfortunately, the four fragments do not give us the story
in full. For the interpretation, see also Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia
and Assyria, pp. 544-555.
48 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
had lavished upon him all qualities except that of
eternal life.
"Great understanding he 1 had granted him to reveal the fate of
the land; 2
Wisdom he had given him, but eternal life he had not given
him."
In Eridu, the city of Ea, this "wisest" of men,
who seems to have been accounted, like Gilgamesh 3
and other heroes, as belonging to a minor order of
divine beings, ruled supreme, and, besides being wise,
he appears to have been perfect.
"Without blemish, with pure hands, a priest (?) who observed
the laws of the gods/
He is represented also as a zealous provider for the
sanctuary at Eridu, baking bread, providing food
and drink for the temple, and catching fish in the
Persian Gulf described as a "sea" on or close to
which Eridu was situated. One day as he was fish
ing "for the lord," that is, for Ea s temple, the
south wind dipped him into the water, and in re
venge Adapa broke the wings of the south wind,
so that for seven days 4 no south wind blew. The
god Anu, the chief god of heaven, notices this, and
upon inquiring the reason of his vizier Ilabrat is
told:
"My lord! Adapa has broken the wings of the south wind."
1 Ea is probably meant.
2 /. e., to divine the future, an indication of great wisdom derived
directly from the gods.
3 See below, p. 85 and the Appendix.
4 Seven as a large and round number.
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 49
Anu, enraged, orders Ea to send his favourite to
heaven to answer for his crime. Ea obeys and in
structs Adapa how to conduct himself. He tells
him to put on mourning garb. At the gate of Anu
he will find two gods, Tammuz and Gishzida, who
will ask:
"Why this appearance, Adapa? For whom dost thou wear a
mourning garb?"
Adapa is to reply:
"Two gods have disappeared from our land, therefore do I ap
pear as I am."
He will then be asked who these gods are, and is
to reply by mentioning the names of Tammuz and
Gishzida, who will look at one another in amaze
ment, and out of pity for Adapa will then intercede
in his behalf with Anu. Ea continues his instruc
tions as follows:
"When thou comest into the presence of Anu, they will offer
thee food of death, do not eat it;
They will offer thee water of death, do not drink it;
They will offer thee a dress, put it on;
They will offer thee oil, anoint thyself with it.
The advice that I give thee do not neglect,
The word that I tell thee observe."
Everything happens as Ea had foretold. Adapa,
in reply to Anu s query why he broke the wings of
the south wind, tells him the south wind tried to sink
him into the water and that his action was in re
venge for this. His plea is apparently self-defence.
50 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
Then Tammuz and Gishzida plead with Anu on
behalf of Adapa and the god s anger is appeased.
He is reconciled to Ea s protection of Adapa.
"He [i. e. y Ea] has made him strong, has given him a name.
What can we do in addition?
Bring him food of life that he may eat."
Adapa, remembering the counsel of Ea, who said
that food and water of death would be offered to
him, declines Anu s offer:
"Food of life they brought him he did not eat;
Water of life they brought him he did not drink;
A dress they brought him he put it on;
Oil they brought him he anointed himself;
When Anu saw this he was amazed;
Now, Adapa, why didst thou not eat? Why didst thou not
drink?
Now thou wilt not remain alive. "
Adapa replies:
"Ea, my lord, commanded, Do not eat, do not drink. "
The remainder of the narrative is badly pre
served and only so much is clear: that Adapa is
sent back to earth, presumably to live the life of
a mortal and eventually to die.
Owing to the fragmentary condition of the text,
the interpretation of the story is encumbered with
difficulties. I am inclined to believe that two in
dependent tales have been combined in the narra
tive, one a nature-myth symbolising the change of
seasons, the other a tale intended to explain the
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 51
presence of death in the world. Tammuz and Gish-
zida are gods of vegetation. 1 Their removal from
earth marks the end of the summer season, when
decay sets in and nature puts on a mourning garb.
The south wind is the prevailing wind in tropical
climes during the summer and dry season. Its
ceasing to blow is therefore again indicative of
the summer s end. With these two elements of a
nature-myth, a story has been combined which, like
many similar stories among primitive peoples, is in
tended to explain the fact that men die. As will
be pointed out in the last chapter, primitive man
can only with difficulty bring himself to believe
that life should come to an absolute standstill. He
sees life in nature constantly being revived. Why
should man not revive and continue to live? We
owe to J. G. Frazer 2 the collection of a large num
ber of stories among Australian tribes and elsewhere,
all of which are told to account for the presence of
death in the world; and in many cases the eating
of some food is introduced into these tales as the
cause of death. So among some tribes the fact that
a remote ancestor ate bananas instead of river-
crabs 3 brought death into the world. The tale of
Adapa evidently belongs to this order. The com
bination with a nature-myth is due to a literary
process that is a characteristic feature of Baby-
1 See Zimmern s monograph, Der Babylonische Gott Tamuz (Leipzig,
1911); and Jastrow, Aspects of Belief and Practice in Babylonia and
Assyria, pp. 343-350.
2 Belief in Immortality, I, pp. 59-86.
3 Frazer, ib. y I, p. 70.
52 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
Ionian literature. 1 It is not quite clear from the
story of Adapa whether Ea did not wish his fa
vourite who becomes a type of mankind in general
to have immortal life, knowing that Anu would
offer water and food of life, or whether he did not
anticipate Anu s change of his original intent. The
main thought is that man forfeited immortality by
his own act. He had the chance of eating of the food
of life and drinking of the water of life, but failed
to avail himself of the opportunity. Hence death
came into the world, and all mankind is doomed
to die because of Adapa s unfortunate mistake.
Now the Hebrews must have known of this tale.
Indeed it is not impossible, as Professor Sayce was
the first to suggest, that the name Adapa, which
can also be read Adawa, is identical with the He
brew Adam which may have been intentionally
modified so as to suggest the play upon the Hebrew
word adamd, "earth," out of which according to the
second version of Creation (Gen. 2 : 5-25), man is
fashioned. Be this as it may be, a careful reading
of the story of the fall of man shows that it has
been modified from its original form and entirely
recast. The narrative in its present form is some
what confused owing to the introduction of two
trees, the tree of knowledge of good and evil and
the tree of life. The solution of the problem is sug
gested by the twenty-second verse of chapter three,
which reads as follows:
1 See further illustrations of this mode of composition in Jastrow,
Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, chapter XXIII.
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 53
"And Yahweh Elohim said, Behold man is become as one of
us, knowing good and evil; and now lest he put forth his hand
and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever."
To avoid this contingency the first pair are re
moved from the garden and Cherubim, represent
ing some inferior order of divine beings, are placed
to guard the approach to the tree of life. 1 It is evi
dent from this that there was a tale current among
the Hebrews according to which Yahweh Himself
did not want man to live for ever. He is afraid
that man may eat of the tree of life, as Ea may
have been afraid that Adapa would eat of the food
of life, and He prevents him from doing so. That
is one type of stories current among primitive
peoples, told to explain the presence of death in
the world, stories in which some god or demon pur
posely prevents man from eating the food that will
give him everlasting life. Now, the story of Yah-
weh s permission to man to eat of all the trees of
the garden with the exception of the tree in the
midst of the garden, interpreted in the recast form
as the tree of knowledge of good and evil, assumes
that it was God s intention to keep man perma
nently in the garden, there to enjoy life without
1 The picture is suggested by the design, so frequently placed on seal
cylinders and which is also a favourite subject of decoration on the
sculptured walls of Assyrian palaces, of winged beings, standing in front
of the tree of life, and marked as gods by the caps on their heads. See
Jastrow, Aspects of Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, p. 367,
and the explanation to Fig. 2 (PI. 26), facing p. 318. Some rational-
istically inclined editor, offended by the reference to Cherubim, sug
gested as a substitute "a flaming sword turning about" which, creep
ing into the text, brought about the incongruous picture of Cherubim
with flaming swords.
54 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
interruption. Death, according to this tale, comes
into the world because man eats a fruit of some kind.
It will not be considered too bold a conjecture, in
view of the analogy presented by the story of Adapa,
to assume that this fruit must have been the fruit
of death or what amounts to the same thing the
food of death. This part of the story then in its
original form must have contained a caution not to
eat of some fruit as in the Adapa story which
would entail death. This is distinctly implied in
the woman s speech to the serpent (Gen. 3:3):
"But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst
of the garden, Elohim 1 said, Ye shall not eat of it
or touch it, lest ye die." According to this the
command of Yahweh in Gen. 2 : 16-17 must have
originally read:
"Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the
tree in the midst of the garden thou shalt not eat nor touch
it, lest thou diest."
This would then form a parallel to Ea s order to
Adapa not to eat of the food of death nor to drink
of the water of death. The tree the fruit of which
is not to be eaten must have been the tree of death.
There were thus two tales known to the Hebrews:
one of the tree of life of which God did not want
man to eat, the other of the tree of death, the fruit
of which was not to be eaten. We may go a step
further. In the case of the second tale a deception
1 The fact that Elohim is used here instead of Yahweh Elohim (orig
inally Yahweh to which Elohim is attached) is also an indication of a
different stratum.
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 55
is practised on man, just as Adapa is deceived.
Ea tells him not to eat, but instead of the food of
death and the water of death, the food of life and
the water of life are offered to him. Adapa obeys
Ea and forfeits immortality. In the biblical story
the serpent, intended as a demon or evil spirit,
tells the woman that the tree is not the tree of
death but the tree of life. This is implied in the
words of the serpent (Gen. 3 : 4-5), "Ye shall not
die ... ye shall be like Elohim," 1 which can only
mean that if one eats of the fruit one will live for
ever as Elohim. Man is deceived by some divine
being, though of a lower order than the gods and
thus loses the chance of everlasting life.
These two tales were combined, but in addition
they were subjected to a process of radical transfor
mation. The substitution of a tree of knowledge of
good and evil for the tree of death seems to be an
original feature in the modified Hebrew tradition.
A tree of life and its counterpart, a tree of death,
fall within the category of primitive conceptions;
not so, however, a tree the fruit of which endows
one with knowledge, with mature judgment, with
wisdom. Such is clearly the meaning of the phrase
"knowing good and evil," marking the change from
the innocence and ignorance of the child to the full
mental and physical vigour of the adult. 2 The writer
1 Naturally, the speech of the serpent is not entirely preserved in its
original form; it has been modified to meet the requirements of the
transformed combined tale.
2 The debilitated old man, therefore, as the child, is described as "with
out knowledge of good and evil"; e. g., II Sam. 19 : 36, where Barzilai
says: "I am eighty years old, do I know good from evil?"
56 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
who introduces this tree is the same philosopher
who seeks to explain how mankind came to be scat
tered on the face of the globe and why people speak
different languages, 1 how the arts originated, 2 how
cities came to be built, 3 how people came to wear
clothes, 4 the reason for the strength of the marriage
bond. 5 The tree of knowledge of good and evil is
therefore introduced to explain how man came to
be endowed with wisdom, to develop maturity of
intellect, to know how to cultivate the ground, to
provide for himself instead of having everything
furnished to him as in the Garden of Eden. This
philosopher is also inclined to take a rather gloomy
view of things in this world, of the character and
position of man; and we shall have occasion to
see 6 that he merits being called the father of pessi
mism. The spread of people on the globe is, from
his point of view, a misfortune brought about as a
punishment for man s audacity in attempting to
build a tower that should reach up to the domain
of the gods. Similarly, the fact that people speak
different languages so that one group does not un
derstand the other is regarded by our pessimistic
philosopher as an evil inflicted upon mankind so as
1 These two questions are involved in the story of the building of the
city and tower, above, p. 6.
2 Gen. 4 : 21-22.
3 Gen. 4 : 17.
4 Gen. 3:7-8. The Hebrew word ordinarily translated "aprons *
means "loin cloths," the most primitive form of dress. Originally, ac
cording to this author, the coverings were made of leaves (Gen. 3:7);
afterwards of skin (Gen. 3 : 2l). Our author thus shows his interest in
the evolution of dress.
6 Gen. 2 : 23-24. 6 Chapter V.
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 57
to prevent them from carrying out their mischievous
purposes. Work, according to this thinker, is like
wise a curse, a punishment sent to man because of
disobedience by which he forfeited a life of ease and
comfort in the primeval habitation. This author
views human life with open eyes. He sees how full
of hardships it is, how people must struggle to gain
their daily bread, how women suffer in giving birth
to offspring, whereas the animals seem to throw off
their young without difficulty, and he concludes that
thfjalof man is
of_his evil ways. Nor has he much hope of the
future, for it is the same philosopher who makes
Yahweh repent of having created man. 1 The Deluge
is brought on because of man s wickedness; but,
though the world was peopled anew of the seed of
Noah, as offspring of the man who was "righteous
and perfect in his generation" (Gen. 6 : 9), corrup
tion again enters the world. Yahweh resolves never
to bring on another Deluge, but merely because he
recognises that it is not worth while to try to re
form mankind, "because the inclination of the mind 2
of man is evil from his youth on." Man is a hope
less sinner. Knowledge, too, is regarded as an evil.
Man in a state of ignorance was innocent and happy,
dwelling in a Paradise and having everything that
his heart could desire without any effort on his part;
but with knowledge, with maturity of intellect and
physical vigour, came also the necessity to work and
1 Gen. 6 : 6.
2 The Hebrew uses "heart," but as the seat of the intellect.
58 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
struggle. The philosopher sees how the strength of
man leads him to tyrannise over a weaker brother,
how knowledge and skill are turned to evil purposes,
and how the struggle for life leads to incessant hos
tility. The greatest evil of all, however, to his
mind, seems to be woman. He is a misogynist, if
ever there was one, for he traces back to woman
the original act of disobedience which entails all
the misfortunes and miseries of human existence.
Woman is weak, weaker, at all events, than man.
Therefore the demon succeeds without difficulty in
deceiving her. Adam becomes the innocent victim
of her wiles. 1 There can be no doubt that the epi
sode in introducing a woman in the story intended
to explain the presence of death in the world is
conceived from this point of view, to prove that
woman is responsible for man s forfeiture of ever
lasting life. We have already had occasion to touch
upon this austere attitude towards life 2 which mani
fests itself in other ways in the pages of the Old
Testament, and we shall come back to it in the
last chapter. Here it is sufficient to have furnished
the proof that the change from the tree of death
to the tree of knowledge of good and evil is made
with a view of accounting for man s hard fate, end
ing after a constant struggle 3 in death. "Dust
thou art and unto dust shalt thou return." 4 The
1 "Because thou didst hearken to the voice of thy wife" (Gen. 3 : 17)
can misogyny go further?
2 Above, pp. 41 seq.
8 "In pain thou wilt eat bread all the days of thy life" (Gen. 3 : 17).
4 Gen. 3 : 19.
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 59
whole character of the primitive tradition is changed
by this procedure, and only enough remains of the
original tale to justify us in carrying back the He
brew story of Adam s forfeiture of eternal life to
the same source that produced the tale of Adapa
a story which, as we have seen, is quite independ
ent of the nature-myth with which it has been com
bined. This combination of a Babylonian folk-tale
with a nature-myth is as characteristic of the Baby
lonian mind as is the transformation of the Hebrew
tradition into a tale with an ethical substratum for
the development through which Hebrew thought
passed. The story of a Deity trying to prevent man
from eating of the tree of life was incompatible with
the later point of view, which we have endeavoured
to outline in this chapter and which we will have
occasion to amplify in the succeeding chapters. A
God who is pictured as a spiritual force, who is
above all else holy, who is enthroned in justice and
righteousness, free from all caprice, cannot possibly
be supposed to be afraid of man, just as little as
He can be conceived to be actuated by any hostil
ity towards man. This tale therefore is instinc
tively set aside and there merely remains of it the
faint trace in the verse to which attention has been
called, 1 so disguised moreover as to be almost un
recognisable as the torso of the primitive tale. The
other tale, about the tree of death the tree in the
midst of the garden was also too bald in its original
form to be incorporated in a collection of traditions
1 Above, p. 53.
60 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
that were to be made the medium of illustrating
the divine government of the universe by a power
whose majesty reaches its climax in the picture of
a Creator bringing the world into being by His mere
command His Word/
The vitality of the primitive tradition was, how
ever, strong enough to preserve some of its features,
such as the deception practised upon man, the eat
ing of a fruit as the explanation of death and the
serpent as a symbol of an evil demon; but the main
stress is laid in the spirit of the Prophets upon
disobedience to the divine behest. The story, one
cannot help feeling, would have been more impres
sive had the sin of disobedience been portrayed in
a more direct manner. Adam, as the type of man,
should have been held up as the real sinner. The
introduction of the woman as a medium between the
serpent and the man carries the pessimism too far;
it gives to the author s view of human existence
an almost forbidding character, but nevertheless
the main thought jhat___disobedience is responsi
ble for _alL-the_exils.jpf the world stands out promi
nently in the narrative in its present form. Through
this element the primitive tale is lifted up into a
higher region. Even its original character as fur
nishing an explanation of death becomes secondary,
and the story acquires the force of an impressive
parable to illustrate the fundamental principle of
the higher religion that brought about the wide de
parture of so many other Hebrew traditions from
their Babylonian counterparts the principle of obe-
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 61
dience to the will of a Power of universal scope,
who guides mankind in love and mercy. Looked
at in this light, we can overlook the trace of primi
tive conceptions involved in picturing a serpent as
a demon, a notion that is so prominent in primitive
beliefs. 1 Viewed as a parable, we are reconciled
even to the pessimistic strain running through the
tale and which represents merely the extreme of
the ethical aspect of life as revealed in the Prophets,
who look upon life as a serious responsibility and
who, while recognising the sinful nature of man,
hold out the hope of salvation by an uncompro
mising attachment to high ideals of conduct. Taken
by itself, the transformation of a nai ve tradition
born of primitive beliefs into a parable of deep
ethical import and of spiritual power, is thus a wit
ness to the change in the attitude towards life. If
this testimony can be confirmed by being shown to
be in harmony also with the treatment accorded to
other traditions which the Hebrews once held in
common with the Babylonians, we shall have estab
lished the thesis here maintained: that Hebrew and
Babylonian traditions using tradition in the larger
sense, as embracing views and beliefs handed down
as precious heirlooms from one generation to the
1 On this view of the serpent and the reasons for the belief which sees
a demon in a serpent, see Jastrow, Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens,
II, pp. 775 seq. It is not impossible that the suggestion for the combina
tion of man, woman, and serpent may have come from Babylonia. See
the seal cylinder in Ward, Seal Cylinders of Western Asia, Fig. 388, por
traying a man and woman (who appear to be gods) seated on either
side of a tree the tree of life and a serpent in the background. To
discuss the point involved, however, would carry us too far.
62 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
other tend to diverge until finally, through the
totally different direction taken by religious thought
and ethical ideals among the Hebrews, we find these
traditions so altered and recast as to show merely,
through incidental "survivals/* the path that leads
us to Babylonia and Assyria as the centre from
which they started out.
The main problem, then, involved in a study of
Hebrew and Babylonian traditions, is to take note
of the differences by the side of points of contact
and to account for them. It is through these dif
ferences that the specific quality of the Hebrew civ
ilisation as distinguished from the Babylonian-As
syrian is revealed. The resemblances are of value
chiefly in pointing to a common ethnic stock to
which both Babylonians and Assyrians and Hebrews
belong though it must always be borne in mind
that Babylonians and Assyrians represent a mix
ture of non-Semitic elements with Semites, and that
the Hebrews are far from being a pure, unmixed
Semitic race. 1
Naturally, in a limited course the subject cannot
be treated exhaustively. A selection must be made
from the many phases that it presents, and only a
number of the problems involved can be set forth.
I choose therefore as illustrations of my main the
sis such fundamental aspects as the study of the
Hebrew and Babylonian views of Creation, the He-
1 Ezekiel in a notable passage (16 : 3) reminds his people that "thy
father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite," aji interesting refer
ence to the mixed character of the Hebrews. See p. 15, note I.
HEBREWS AND BABYLONIANS 63
brew and Babylonian views of the Sabbath, the
Hebrew and Babylonian views of life after death,
and Hebrew and Babylonian ethics. 1 Through a
consideration of these aspects we shall, I venture to
hope, obtain a firm grasp of the important and fas
cinating subject. The general plan will be in the
case of each of these subjects, first to set forth the
Babylonian traditions and points of view, follow
ing their development so far as our material per
mits us to do so, arid then to set forth the course
of development taken by the corresponding Hebrew
traditions and points of view. In the course of the
treatment the points of resemblance will suggest
themselves to you without much effort on my part,
while it will be my chief task to endeavour to inter
pret the real and deeper significance of the points
of difference. The method to be followed in the
discussion will be the historical one, by which I
mean that as a student of ancient civilisations I
am actuated by no other motive than the desire
to set forth the facts as I see them frankly, with
out bias or prejudice but, I trust, with sympathy
for the impressive struggle of mankind in its at
tempt to penetrate the mystery by which it ever
finds itself surrounded, and to attain to that modi
cum of truth which it is within the power of the
finite mind to grasp. The great lesson to be de
rived from the historical study of religions and
this applies to the whole field as to every part of
it is that the goal of mankind is truth, even though
1 In an appendix also Hebrew and Babylonian accounts of a Deluge.
64 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
it be that the search for truth will never end so long
as man survives; for truth is infinite, even as the
source of truth is infinite aye, is the Infinite Him
self.
CHAPTER II
THE HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ACCOUNTS OF
CREATION
THE desire to trace things to their origin is
so strong in man as to suggest the possibility of
its being a deeply ingrained instinct. From the
child s curiosity to see the wheels go round to the
question, "what makes them go round ?" is merely
a step, and from this, again, to "who makes the
wheels?" another step, and not a very large one.
Curiosity is, indeed, the beginning of wisdom, and
the most modern and most advanced scientific spirit
is merely curiosity, plus the application of a proper
method to satisfy it. Creation stories abound every
where among people in a primitive state of culture,
the stage of nai ve curiosity, and from this stage
they are carried over to the higher level, the stage
of methodical inquiry, modified somewhat and trans
formed to adapt them to higher points of view but
in all essentials they are still the old stories, handed
down from generation to generation by word of
mouth until through the rise of the literary spirit
they are given a definite form. The characters in
these early endeavours to picture the universe com-
65
66 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
ing into being are naturally the gods, and as the
religious life, keeping pace with the social status
and the political turmoils, becomes more definitely
regulated, the gods assume a definite relationship
to one another with variations in rank correspond
ing to those which hold good for human society.
Instead of an indefinite series of powers, represent
ing the personification of the many forces mani
festing themselves in nature and that condition
man s welfare, we have a selection, and the powers
so selected form a pantheon which becomes more
or less systematically organised. At this stage
Creation stories one may say everywhere, for the
exceptions if such there be are negligible assume
the character of a nature-myth, that is to say, a
story of some occurrence in nature in which gods
as actors personify the occurrence itself. The par
ticular myth chosen will depend largely upon cli
matic conditions. In tropical districts, suitable for
man in the early stages of culture, the two seasons
of the year, the rainy and the dry, generally sug
gest by analogy the change from the rainy to the
dry season as the beginning of the universe, or at
all events, as the condition for the appearance of
life in nature, of regularity and order as contrasted
with the violence of storms and the destruction
wrought during the rainy season, when forces of dis
order seem to be in unbridled control. Such is the
case with the various versions of Babylonian Crea
tion myths that have been preserved, wholly or in
part, but which appears most clearly in what may
.ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 67
be designated as the main version. This is the
story of a contest between the forces of evil and
lawlessness, symbolising the wintry and rainy sea
son, and the opponents of these forces endeavouring
to establish law and order.
We can now say with certainty that in each one
of the great religious centres of Babylonia sub
stantially the same story was told, with merely a
different arrangement of the actors on the stage.
The hero who triumphs in the contest with violent
forces is in each case the chief deity of a particular
centre. So in Nippur, which early acquired a sacred
position, it is Enlil, the patron of the city, who is
represented as quelling a general uprising of the
powers of nature. At Eridu, situated on or near
the Persian Gulf, it is a water deity, Ea. At Uruk
it is a solar deity, Anu; and, no doubt, at Sippar, the
chief city of the worship of Shamash (the general
designation of the sun), it was the sun-god who was
pictured as the conqueror. But these originally
distinct and early phases all gave way in time to
the claims of the god of the city of Babylon, Mar-
duk, who, with the rise of Babylon as the political
capital of the entire Euphratean Valley, definitely
assumes the headship of the pantheon. In its final
and most elaborate form the Babylonian Creation
story thus becomes a paean in praise of the power
of Marduk, who, endowed with the attributes of
all the other gods and thus surpassing any one of
them in strength and glory, is represented as accom
plishing a task in which others fail, or from which
68 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
they shrink. The local variations of the nature-
myth are combined, but instead of any of the local
gods, whether sun-deities or water-gods or storm-
gods, succeeding in establishing order and in creat
ing the universe, they are represented in this final
version as having been foiled in the attempt and
as proclaiming Marduk to be the only one who can
overcome the chaotic condition produced through
the rainy and stormy season. This condition was at
an early date symbolised as the rule of a huge mon
ster, with an army of minor but yet formidable
monsters at her command.
II
Let us take up this story, which is known to us
chiefly from fragments of clay tablets in the library
of Ashurbanapal, King of Assyria (668-626 B. C.)>
though we also have some portions of it in neo-
Babylonian tablets from some of the temples in
the south, such as Babylon, Borsippa, and Sippar. 1
In addition to these we have much-distorted ac
counts in Greek writers, who quote as their source
Berosus, a Chaldean priest who flourished in Baby
lonia towards the end of the fourth century, and
who wrote a history of Babylonia and Assyria which
is unfortunately lost. The story, which is poetic
in form, begins as follows:
"When above, the heavens were not named,
Below, the terra firma was not called a name.
1 See the complete publication of all the material, with a translation
and commentary by L. W. King, The Seven Tablets of Creation (Lon
don, 1902. 2 vols.).
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 69
Apsu, first of their seed,
Mummu (and) Tiamat, producer of all of them,
Their waters were joined together,
Soil had not yet been marked off, shoot had not yet sprung up.
There was a time when none of the gods had as yet burst forth,
Not been called a name, fates had not been fixed;
Then were created the [twelve gods],
Lakhmu and Lakhamu burst forth.
Ages increased.
Anshar and Kishar were created and over them . . .
Days grew long there came forth . . .
Anu, their son . . .
Anshar, (?) Anu . . .
Nudimmud whom his father [had begotten],
Abounding in wisdom, . . .
Exceedingly strong, . . .
Without a rival, . . .
Thus were established [the great gods]."
The attempt is evidently made here to set up a
genealogy of the gods and we are fortunately in a
position to supplement this enumeration through
lists that have come down to us in the library of
Ashurbanapal, 1 of powers or deities that are desig
nated as the twenty-one male and female offspring
of a divine progenitor symbolised as the heaven or
the god of Heaven. To be sure, such lists repre
sent the purely theoretical speculations of later
priests or theologians, but they are nevertheless
valuable as embodying traditions of ages when other
gods than those which formed the object of wor
ship in later times existed. In only a few cases do
we know the nature of these early deities, but we
1 Published in Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, etc., in the
British Museum, Parts XXIV-V.
70 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
are reminded in a general way of the similar geneal
ogies found in Hesiod s Theogony, giving us several
successive generations of deities who presided over
the Olympian pantheon. First in order are: Gaia
(Earth), and Uranos (Heaven), who produce the
Titans, the youngest of whom, Kronos, establishes
a new rule which in time is replaced by that of
Zeus, though not before many other series of gods
are brought forth through Kronos and Rhea. The
analogy between Hesiod s Theogony and that de
vised by Babylonian theologians can be carried
further, for in both cases the ultimate source to
which the powers or, what amounts to the same
thing, the generations of gods are traced back is
the heaven, the Uranos of Hesiod corresponding to
Anu in the Babylonian list. In Hesiod s Theogony
Kronos and Rhea, just as Zeus and Hera, represent
a divine pair. The male element in both instances
is again identical with the heavens, precisely as is
Uranos, the earliest progenitor of divine beings,
while Rhea and Hera as the female elements are
types of Gaia (the Earth), but become in both the
Babylonian and the Greek systems merely consorts
of the god of Heaven. The Babylonian lists of
divine pairs thus bring out the same thought as
found among the Greeks, only in a more definite
and clearer form. An (the sign for Heaven) and Ki
(Earth) are identified in these lists with Anum and
Antum, the divine pair, the god of Heaven and
his consort. In the same way the other pairs in
these lists, like Ib and Ninib, An-shar-gal and Ki-
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 71
shar-gal (z. e., "the great universe of what is above"
and "the great universe of what is below"), An-
shar and Ki-shar, Du-ur and Da-ur, Lakhmu and
Lakhamu, Alala and Belili, En-ur-ul-la and Nin-ur-
ul-la, are merely so many designations of the same
divine pair symbolised by the heaven as the male
element, while the female element, originally the
earth or that which is below, fades into a mere re
flection of the male element and becomes the fe
male companion of the god of Heaven. Hence
the interchange in these names between the use of
the element Ki, which means the earth, and Nin,
which signifies the female element without further
qualification. 1 The later stratum of thought is also
shown by the divine pair to which these groups are
traced back and which are no longer heaven and
earth, but heaven and his heavenly consort, Anum
and Antum, both being actually designated by the
same sign a star, as a symbol of the heavenly
expanse.
All this points to the tendency both among the
Greeks and Babylonians to give to the pantheon
an astral character; in other words, to project the
gods, quite independently of their original char
acter, on to the heavens. We shall have occasion
to refer to this later on. 2 I mention it here as an
illustration of the frankly materialistic aspect of
the Babylonian theology. This limitation in the
conception of the divine involved the association
1 The later male element corresponding to Nin is En.
2 See chapter III.
72 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
of the manifestation of the divine with some sub
stantial, visible object. "The heavens proclaim
the glory of God," says the Psalmist, 1 in a sublime
burst of admiration at the beauty of the stars; for
the Babylonian the heavens proclaimed the gods
were gods. Between the two conceptions lies the
difference between a spiritualistic and a material
istic faith, a view of divine government expressed
in poetical metaphors as a means of conveying ideas
for which ordinary language does not suffice, as
against the literal interpretation of the metaphor.
This materialistic aspect is the characteristic key
note of all the Babylonian Creation stories, and this
despite certain impressive features, particularly in
the Marduk epic, which we must not overlook. Let
us proceed with the account.
The Theogony of Hesiod assumes at the begin
ning of things, Chaos, apparently conceived as an
immeasurable empty space; then comes the triad
Earth (Gaia), the Depth (Tartaros), and Love
(Eros). Out of Chaos come Erebos and Night,
and from these, the Atmosphere (Ether) and Day
(Hemera). The process of creation was thus evolu
tion from darkness to light. This triad Gaia,
Tartaros and Eros has a counterpart in the specu
lations of the Babylonian theologians in Apsu,
Mummu, and Tiamat; but more consistently, or at
least more reasonably, than the Greek speculation,
Chaos is pictured as a time when water alone filled
all space. Apsu, antedating heaven and earth, is
1 Psalm 19 : I.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 73
the watery expanse. Tiamat, "the mother of all,"
associated with Apsu, is the watery deep, and
Mummu, apparently the offspring of the two through
the commingling of their waters, is again a term
signifying water. It is a time of "water, water
everywhere." A later attempt at differentiation
makes Apsu the sweet, and Tiamat the bitter or
salt waters, with Mummu as the generic designa
tion for water without further specification. How
ever this may be, Apsu and Tiamat, in the continu
ation of the story, are represented in control, with
Mummu as the messenger and an army of monsters
as followers. The description of these monsters as
"huge serpents, sharp of tooth and with merciless
fangs, their bodies filled with poison instead of
blood, dragons, raging hounds, scorpion-men, fish-
men, devastating tempests, and fish-goats, all bear
ing cruel weapons, and fearless of spirit," reminds us
of the Cyclops and the Hekatocheiron (the hundred-
handed monster), who in Hesiod s Theogony form
part of the progeny of Gaia and Uranos by the
side of the Titans. Berosus also, in his Babylonian
history, 1 recalls these traditions of an age in which
monstrous beings of hybrid form flourished. In
Hesiod we do not learn, however, of any opposition
between this army of monsters and the gods, whereas
the main features of the Babylonian tale rest on a
coming conflict between the two forces. The mon
sters are not the creation of Anu and his consort, or
1 See the translation of the passage in Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 58;
or Zimmern, Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament, pp. 488 seq.
74 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
of An (Heaven), and KJ (Earth), but the brood of
Apsu and Tiamat; and if we may follow Berosus,
who says that a woman named Homorka 1 presided
over this strange host, a version existed in which
the female element as the source of the monstrous
brood was alone introduced.
Apsu and Tiamat are disturbed through the
creation of the gods Lakhmu, An-shar, Anu, Nu-
dimmud and their consorts. They feel that with
the gods a new element has been introduced presag
ing the end of their own rule. The daybreak of a
new order is always coincident with the twilight
of the gods of the dissolving order, but the old does
not pass away without a severe struggle. Accord
ingly, Apsu and Tiamat decide to call upon their
forces for a desperate encounter for life and death.
We can detect in the description of the struggle
traces of several versions, each presumably belong
ing to a separate centre that have been combined
in accord with the regular principle of composition
in the ancient and later Orient, which in myths,
legends, and historical narratives is always and es
sentially a combination of existing traditions. Tak
ing the version however as it stands, the under
current of thought which betrays the higher spirit
of the priests in their remodelling of nature-myths
is the contest between the chaotic and lawless con-
1 Homorka is a corruption of some Babylonian or Sumerian term.
Since in the course of the story a female being, Ummu-khubur, is intro
duced, pointing to a version in which she takes the place assigned to
Tiamat in our story, it may well be that we have here the original and
correct form of Homorka.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 75
ditions symbolised by Apsu and Tiamat and their
followers on the one hand, and order and higher
law on the other, represented by the gods. The
new order is the higher one, in which respect we
again find an analogy with Hesiod who places the
rule of Kronos on a higher nlane than that of his
father, while Zeus as the son of Kronos becomes
the symbol of law and justice.
Apsu and Tiamat bewail the growing power of
the gods: "By day I have no rest, at night I have
no sleep; but I will wipe out their course; I will
sweep them away; lamentations shall set in and
after that we shall have rest again. " . Mummu comes
to give counsel to Apsu and Tiamat, and the three
plan a test of strength. There are indications at
this point of the story that in an earlier version
the gods selected Ea (or Nudimmud) to head the
fight in their behalf. 1 Since Ea is the chief god of
Eridu probably the oldest of the sacred cities of
Babylon the prominence of Ea points to a version
originating in this centre. If this be so, we may be
sure that in this version Ea was celebrated as the
vanquisher of Apsu and Tiamat. In another ver
sion Anu was depicted as leader and victor, point
ing to a form of the story that originated in Uruk,
the seat of Anu worship; but Ea and Anu must
yield their claims to a greater than either, to the
favourite of all the gods who succeeds where others
failed, who excels them all in strength and courage.
1 See the writer s article, "The Composite Character of the Creation
Story," in the Noldeke Festschrift, II, pp. 969-982.
76 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
This is Marduk, the chief god of Babylon. In his
interest, and to add to his glory, all the other ver
sions of the nature-myth are transformed so as to
lead up to his triumph over chaos and lawlessness.
Instead of Ea and Anu despatching the army of
monsters, they are represented as succeeding merely
in disposing of Apsu and Mummu, but Tiamat, the
mother of the brood of monsters, remains at large.
As already suggested, Apsu, Mummu, and Tia
mat are identical figures and represent the various
names given to the same chief symbol of watery
chaos in various centres but combined in the latest
form of the story and placed in relationship to one
another. In Babylon the name of the chief mon
ster was Tiamat. She is, therefore, the one against
whom Marduk in the final form of the tale directs
his attack, but the story also implies that with
Apsu and Mummu out of the way little has been
accomplished, so long as Tiamat flourishes. Once
more with true epic breadth the army of monsters,
banded together at the side of Tiamat, are described
in terms calculated to strike terror in the breast of
the gods. Eleven monsters of especially terrific as
pect are fashioned by Tiamat. She makes Kingu
her consort and appoints him as the general of the
army. To Kingu she assigns the command over
all the gods and as a sign of his power hangs the
tablets of destiny on his breast. The main thought
of the story, as thus once more revealed, is to pic
ture the opposition between the old and the new
order, but with this nuance, that the new order
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 77
has already proceeded far enough to place the gods
in control and that only Tiamat remains to be over
come. In her despair Tiamat takes the offensive
and openly revolts, assuming the power of decreeing
fates which, it is implied, already belongs to the new
order about to triumph. Thus, as the story takes
final shape, new features are introduced which, while
adding also to the dramatic power, are of value
chiefly because they reflect the thought and specula
tion of the compilers.
Anshar, who presides over the assembly of the
gods convened to take measures for quelling the re
volt, calls upon his son Marduk to stand up against
Tiamat.
"The Lord rejoiced at the word of his father,
He drew nigh and stood in Anshar s presence.
Anshar looked on him and his heart was filled with joy,
He kissed him on the lips and fear departed from him. *
Marduk declares his readiness to go against Tia
mat. Nay, he is impatient to trample her under
foot, but exacts as a condition that in case of suc
cess he shall be supreme in command.
" If I, your avenger/ he says to Anshar,
Vanquish Tiamat and give you life,
Then appoint an assembly, make my destiny supreme.
In Upshukkinaku 1 seat yourselves joyfully.
My word instead of yours shall decree fates.
What I determine to bring about shall not be altered;
The utterance of my lips shall not be taken back or super
seded/"
1 The mystical chamber of fate in which the gods meet for counsel and
for decreeing destinies.
78 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
These lines reveal the aim of the story in its final
form, namely, to explain and to justify the supreme
rank accorded to Marduk as the head of the later
Babylonian pantheon. He won his right to this
claim by virtue of his power, and the claim is thus
carried back in the poem to the beginning of time.
The story of Creation becomes secondary to the pur
pose of singing the praises of Marduk. Hence three
of the seven tablets are taken up with a description
of the preparation for the final conflict and with the
conflict itself, ending in the complete discomfiture of
Tiamat. The materialistic aspect of the old nature-
myth is emphasised to such a degree in these three
tablets as to border on vulgarity. The gods are so
happy at the prospects of Marduk s victory that
they gorge themselves at a banquet and become
roaring drunk.
"They were greatly at ease, their liver was exalted,
For Marduk, their avenger, they decreed power."
Even before he sets out they address him as
"Marduk, thou art our avenger!
We give thee sovereignty over the whole universe.
Thy fate [i. e., thy power] be supreme among the gods!
For destroying and creating speak thou the word and it will be
fulfilled."
As proof of his power he is told to command a
garment to vanish, and it promptly disappears; and
upon his command it reappears. He is hailed as
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 79
"Marduk is King!" Sceptre, throne, and ring are
bestowed on him, and weapons are offered to him.
"Go and cut off the life of Tiamat
And let the wind carry her blood to remote places."
Marduk then arms himself with weapons which
betray the naturalistic element of the original story.
He provides a net with which to enclose Tiamat;
he stations the winds as gods, so as to prevent her
escape; various destructive winds are created by
him and sent forth to arouse Tiamat. He then
mounts his chariot, which is called "The Storm,"
and drives headlong towards the monster. In ter
ror and dismay Tiamat utters her powerful charms,
but they are of no avail. Undismayed, Marduk ap
proaches.
"You and I," he shouts, "come, let us fight."
Graphically the encounter is described. Tiamat in
a rage opened her mouth, and Marduk drove in the
evil wind which filled her belly. She gasps for
breath, and Marduk, taking advantage of this mo
ment, seizes the spear and bursts open her belly,
severs her entrails and penetrates clear to her heart.
The army of Tiamat flees in terror, but the mon
sters are all caught in Marduk s net and held pris
oners.
Thus the opposition to the gods is overcome, and
Marduk to symbolise his control takes from Kingu,
the consort of Tiamat, the tablets of fate ("which were
not rightfully Kingu s," the text adds) and hangs
them on his own breast. With the triumph of Mar-
80 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
duk over Tiamat the story returns to its original
purpose, the account of Creation.
This account thus turns out to be a curious mix
ture of primitive notions such as are found in cos
mogonies of other peoples, with a more advanced
symbolism that leads Marduk, for example, to split
the flattened body of Tiamat in half and to use
one side of it as a covering for the heavens. He
draws a bolt across the expanse and stations a
watchman, so as to restrain the waters from gush
ing forth. This is a purely primitive conceit to ac
count for the control of the waters that come from
above. Water, as the primeval element, is still
everywhere as it was in the beginning, only under
control below, through the bounds set to it; above,
through the expanse which is stretched like a cover
ing or curtain across the heavens. The same picture
of the waters above and below and of the expanse to
prevent the upper waters from escaping is found in
the biblical story; but combined with this naive and
childlike conception there is in the Babylonian tale
the more advanced thought that through the sun of
the spring, symbolised by Marduk, the storms and
rains of winter are driven back to the heavens and
kept in control there like prisoners behind bolts
and bars under the surveillance of a watchman.
Still a third and likewise a relatively advanced
thought is woven into the primitive tale, one that
is closely bound up with Babylonian-Assyrian astral
mythology, according to which there is a perfect
correspondence between phenomena on earth and
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 81
the occurrences in heaven. The waters of the earth
are regarded as united to one another. They en
circle the earth which was conceived of as a float
ing island, but these waters have their counterpart
in the heavens. Marduk, accordingly, is repre
sented as measuring out space for the waters in
heaven to correspond to the structure of the deep.
Nudimmud, or Ea, as the god of the waters, is pro
jected to the heavens and becomes the lord of the
upper as well as of the lower waters, for whom a
laxge mansion is constructed. The continuation of
the story is even more astral in character. The
heavens in Babylonian-Assyrian astrology were di
vided into three large divisions, one assigned to
Anu, the second to Enlil, and the third to Ea.
These three gods constitute a triad that plays a
great part in the theology of Babylonia and Assyria.
Originally local deities, Anu is the sun-god whose
centre of worship was in Uruk; Enlil, the chief god
of Nippur and the head of the older Babylonian
pantheon, is a storm-god who, however, also ab
sorbs the attributes of solar and agricultural deities;
while Ea, a water deity, had his centre at Eridu
and presided over the Persian Gulf the father of all
the waters, from the Babylonian point of view. In
time, and through a process which we cannot stop
to consider here, these three gods are delocalised and
become abstractions symbolising the three regions
of the universe, the heaven above, the earth and the
atmosphere immediately above it, and the waters
around and under the earth the same three di-
82 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
visions which we encounter in the Decalogue, where
in evident allusion to the personification of the three
divisions, the prohibition is emphasised against mak
ing "any image of what is in the heaven above, on
the earth beneath or in the waters under the earth"
(Ex. 20 : 4; Deut. 5 : 8). Under the influence of as
trological doctrines which transformed popular be
liefs into a more systematic theology, Anu, Enlil,
and Ea as the three factors controlling the uni
verse are projected on to the heavens and become
the three governors of the starry heavens, each hav
ing a region of his own. The heavens then become
the domain or, as the Babylonians called it, the
"way" of Anu, Enlil, and Ea. All the great gods,
irrespective of their origin, are projected on to the
heavens symbolised by stars. Marduk assigns
places to these gods. Astrology forming the basis
of the calendar, the year is divided into twelve
months by Marduk and placed under the control
of the stars. He fixes the courses of the planets; he
places a gate at either end of the heavens. Through
the one the sun was supposed to pass out in the
morning and to enter through the other at night;
he intrusts the night to the moon-god and regulates
the phases of the moon. At this point, unfortu
nately, the fifth tablet in which this work of Mar
duk is detailed becomes defective, but enough re
mains to warrant the assumption that the chief
constellations are also established in their places in
the heavens. Whether there was also included in
the tablet an account of the creation of plants and
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 83
verdure on the earth, as has been supposed by some
scholars, is a point in regard to which no certain
conclusions can be reached because of the defective
condition of the tablet. Up to this point, then, we
have only four themes: (i) the description of pri
meval chaos; (2) a conflict between the older and
the newer order; (3) the triumph and glorification
of Marduk; (4) the regulation of the movements in
the heavens or astral cosmogony, if this expression
be allowed. A detailed plan of creation does not,
therefore, appear to have been the main aim, at
least of this version, of the Babylonian tale and
this despite the fact that in the sixth tablet the
creation of man is introduced.
The point of view from which this work of crea
tion is done is interesting. The gods are in full
control. The older order represented by Apsu, Tia-
mat, Mummu, Kingu, Ummu-khubur has disap
peared. The gods ought to be happy, but apparently
are not. They are lonely in their solitary grandeur,
just as Adam is represented as being lonely without
a companion; but the loneliness of the gods is of a
different order. The Babylonian could not conceive
of gods without temples and worship. His view
of divine government of the universe was limited
by his conception of the gods themselves and their
consorts. Creating their gods in their own image,
the Babylonians, in common with other peoples of
antiquity, endowed them with purely human attri
butes and needs. Hence the gods have female con
sorts and raise families. They are rulers, but as
84 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
such they must not only have a kingdom to rule
over like earthly kings, but they demand homage
and tribute. What is the use of being a god if
there is no one there to pay worship if there are
no temples in which offerings and sacrifices can be
brought and homage paid? Strange as it may seem,
the complaint of the gods to Marduk that they feel
lonely, unhappy, and neglected because there is no
one to worship them is assigned as the reason for
the creation of man. It is provoking that the sixth
tablet in which the creation of man is recounted
breaks off at the most important juncture. Let us
hope that a lucky chance will some day supply the
missing sections without which our view of the Mar
duk epic of necessity remains defective. The open
ing lines read as follows: 1
"Upon Marduk s hearing the utterance of the gods he was
prompted to carry out [a clever plan].
He opened his mouth and unto Ea [he spake],
What he had conceived in his heart he revealed to him.
My blood I will gather and bone [I will (take)],
I will set up man that man may . . .
I will create man to inhabit [the earth],
That the worship of the gods may be established, that shrines
[may be built].
I will change the ways of the gods, I will alter.
Altogether shall they be honored, against evil [will they set
their face]/ "
What a contrast to the biblical account where
man is created in the image of God to be the crown-
1 The bracketed words indicate conjectural restorations of defective
lines.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 85
ing point of the universe, placed in an earthly Para
dise by the favour of the Almighty; whereas here
man exists because the gods are lonely and in their
vanity crave worship and adoration. An interest
ing feature, however, of the Babylonian narrative
which redeems it in a measure from its crude aspect
is the creation of man from the blood of Marduk
himself. This touch is confirmed by the account in
Berosus which, preserved for us through secondary
sources, 1 confirms the cuneiform account, though the
tradition has become somewhat distorted. Bel, as
Marduk is called in the extract from Berosus, see
ing that the earth was not cultivated, is represented
as cutting off his head or ordering one of the gods
to do so; and from the flowing blood mixed with
earth, man was created. Through this blood man
is brought into association with the gods a link 1
is forged connecting man with the divine. We may
properly assume that this thought was in the mind
of the compilers of the Babylonian tale, and that it
reflected the view held of man s dignity, thus rising
supreme over the animal world. In so far man and
God are, as it were, placed on the same level; and
the association of the two plays a part in the Baby
lonian theology which, e. g., in the case of the hero
of the national epic, describes Gilgamesh as two-
thirds god and one-third man. The deification of
kings which we encounter at various points of Baby-
1 Through Alex. Polyhistor and Nicholas of Damascus (sixth century
A. D.). See the translation in Cory s Ancient Fragments, p. 60; or
Zimmern, Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament, pp. 489 seq.
86 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
Ionian history 1 is another expression of this relation
ship between gods and men, which is involved in
the doctrine that gives to man the blood of the
gods.
The Babylonian-Assyrian religion may be said to
revolve largely around the two ideas which we find
expressed in the sixth tablet of the Marduk epic
the worship of the gods as one of the purposes for
which man exists, and the presence of a divine ele
ment in man, typified by the blood of Marduk which
is the life-giving quality of the god s own being. It
is a fair inference that the continuation of the sixth
tablet embraced an account of the creation of ani
mals as given in the tradition of Berosus and
perhaps also of plants. At all events, towards the
end of the tablet we see the gods assembled in Up-
shukkinaku the great hall where the fates are de
termined. Marduk has snatched from Kingu the
tablets of fate and hung them around his own neck.
He is hailed as the great conqueror who has deliv
ered the gods from their opponents; and the seventh
and closing tablet of the series is taken up with the
enumeration of the fifty names bestowed upon Mar
duk names that represent in part attributes to
indicate his manifold powers, in part other gods
whose essence and powers are transferred to him
as the one who absorbs the minor and most of the
major gods of the pantheon. Attached to each
name is an explanation of its meaning and applica-
1 See on this King, History of Sumer and Akkad, pp. 251, 273 seq.,
298 seq.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 87
tion. Asari, "the bestower of planting, the estab-
lisher of seeds, creator of grain and plants, causing
the green herbs to spring up"; Asari-alim, "revered
in the house of counsel"; Asari-alim-nunna, "the
mighty one, the light of the father who begat him,
who directs the commands of Anu, Enlil, and Ea";
Tutu, "who creates anew"; and so on through the
long list celebrating Marduk as the sun-god, as the
god of vegetation, as the creator of everything on
earth, and as the guide of the movements in the
heavens. He thus becomes in fact the god of heaven
and earth, "without a rival among the gods," as it
is expressly stated. Besides attributes of strength,
ethical qualities are also ascribed to him among the
titles heaped upon him. He is the subduer of the
disobedient, director of righteousness, the destroyer
of all the wicked; but the climax is reached when
the older heads of the pantheon Enlil of Nippur,
and Ea of Eridu, whom Marduk supplants bestow
their names upon him, and with their names their
very beings in accordance with the ideas anciently
associated with the name. 1
" The lord of the worlds/ father Enlil called him,
The designation proclaimed by all the Igigi. 2
Ea heard it and his liver rejoiced.
*He whose name his father made glorious
Shall be even as I Ea be his name.
The control of all decrees be his sphere.
All my commands shall he make known/ "
1 The name, according to the prevailing view in antiquity, is the es
sence of a being or object. To have a name is to exist; to wipe out
one s name is to destroy one.
2 A name comprising a lower order of divine beings.
88 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
Thus the older version in which Ea is celebrated
as the creator is combined with the new one. Ea
is replaced by Marduk. The aim of the story
the celebration of the deeds of Marduk is dis
tinctly avowed in the epilogue attached to the nar
rative, in which all are called upon to hold the fifty
names in remembrance.
"Let the wise and the man of understanding consider them
together,
Let the father repeat them and teach them to his son,
Let them resound in the ears of pastor and shepherd.
May one rejoice in Marduk the lord of the gods,
That his land may prosper glory to him!
His word stands firm, his command is unalterable,
The utterance of his mouth no god alters.
If he is enangered, his neck is not turned,
If he is wroth, no god can oppose him.
But wide is his heart, broad is his compassion."
These closing lines touch the high-water mark of
religious thought in Babylonia and Assyria. They
show that even in a materialistic conception of di
vine government and despite the crude manner in
which primitive traditions are handed down, the
deeper religious note is sounded, and the aspiration
of man to reach out to an understanding of the
mysteries of life and of the universe finds an utter
ance, even though it be a weak one.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 89
III
There is another Babylonian version of the story
of Creation 1 which likewise shows evidence of hav
ing been adapted from an older form to serve the
purposes of the priests of Babylon to add to the glory
of Marduk, and about which a few words need to
be said before we pass on to a consideration of the
Hebrew accounts. It is important to note that in
this second version unfortunately preserved only
in part the same idea that the earth existed pri-v
marily for the sake of the temples of the gods can
be traced. As in the other version, the primitive
state of things is pictured as a time when the waters
covered everything, but the interesting touch is
added that the dry land appears through the gath
ering of the waters into a channel. In order to de
scribe the primeval period the account begins by
saying that no holy house, no house of the gods,
no sacred place had been built. It continues as
follows :
"No reed had sprung up, no tree had been planted,
No brick laid, no building erected,
No house made, no city founded."
It will be observed that there is no direct refer
ence to the fact that the earth did not exist. Its ex
istence, indeed, appears to be assumed, only that it
1 See King, Seven Tablets of Creation, II, pp. 130-9 a Sumerian
original with an Akkadian translation.
90 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
is submerged through the waters which everywhere
abound. The account then mentions three of the
most ancient cities Nippur, Uruk, and Eridu and
says that none of these three had been founded and
their temples did not yet exist. Again, it will be
observed, the association of city with temple, as
though the one without the other were inconceiv
able. "All the land," the account continues, "was
sea."
The adaptation of the older version to a form which
would accord with the position of Marduk as the
head of the pantheon is to be seen in the enumera
tion of the first places to appear after the waters
had flowed into a channel, in consequence of which
the dry land came into view. Eridu and Babylon
take the place of Nippur, Uruk, and Eridu in the
opening lines of this version. We might, indeed,
have expected Babylon to be mentioned as the first
city, but a concession is made to established tradi
tion in joining Eridu with Babylon because of the
close association between Marduk, the god of the
city of Babylon, and Ea, the god of the much older
city of Eridu. Marduk, despite his position at the
head of the pantheon, is invariably and through all
periods of history designated as the son of Ea,
which points to the transfer of the Marduk cult
from Eridu to Babylon. This transfer is also shown
in the circumstance that the name of Ea s sanctuary
at Eridu is identical with that of Marduk s temple
at Babylon, called E-Sagila, the "lofty house/ We
therefore read in this second version:
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 91
"Then Eridu was established and E-Sagila built.
E-Sagila where in the midst of the deep the god Lugal-dulazagga
has his dwelling.
Babylon was built, E-Sagila completed.
The Anunnaki 1 together were created.
The holy city, the dwelling of their choice, they proclaimed as
supreme."
The purpose of these lines lies on the surface-
to justify the pre-eminent position occupied by the
city of Babylon, the sanctity of which is thus car
ried back to the very beginning of time. As in the
first version, mankind is created by Marduk for the
sake of the gods, though the purpose is put some
what differently in this version.
"In order that the gods may be induced to dwell in the dwell
ing place of their choice, he created mankind."
The gods proclaim Babylon as the city of their
choice, but in order to induce them to retain this
preference for all times, mankind is created to render
them the homage and tribute that will keep them in
a happy frame of mind, favourably disposed for all
time towards the city of their heart. At this point
the most interesting feature of the second version
is introduced. A distinct reference is made to an
earlier form of the story in which Marduk is the
creator but in association with a goddess Aruru.
In order to combine Marduk with Aruru the old
version is modified to read:
1 Another name to comprise a lower order of divine beings like the
Igigi (above, p. 87). As a means of differentiating between the two,
the Anunnaki are represented as the spirits of the earth, and the Igigi
as the spirits of heaven.
92 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
"The goddess Aruru, together with him, created the seed of
mankind."
We have not, as yet, been able to ascertain in
what centre this goddess Aruru was worshipped. We
come across her occasionally in the religious litera
ture, but generally as the consort of Marduk. The
circumstance, however, that in this second version
her name appears first and that it is she who, to
gether with Marduk (and not vice versa), creates
mankind is most significant as a proof that in the
older form of the story the prominent part in the
creation of mankind, at least, and probably also in
the creation of animals, was played by the personi
fication of the female principle in nature. There
now follows in a systematic though brief form the
account of the creation of animals and of verdure.
"Cattle of the field, living creatures were created in the field.
(Tigris and Euphrates were created and placed in position;
Good names were given to them.) 1
Grass, reed, . . . were created.
The verdure of the field was created."
The composite character of the account is revealed
in the following lines, showing evidently a variant
account with an interesting distinction between wild
and domesticated animals:
"Lands, marshes and steppes, 2 . . .
The wild cow and her young, the wild calf,
the ewe and her young, the lamb of the stall,
Gardens and woods,
Goat and wild mountain goat."
1 These two lines represent, I believe, a later insertion.
2 The exact meaning of two further terms for plant life escapes us.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 93
It is not necessary for our purposes to consider
the problems involved in this compilation in detail.
We may content ourselves with the general state
ment that in the older forms of this second version
the beginning is made with the creation of mankind
in order that he may worship the gods; that this
creation was brought about by the goddess Aruru,
who also brings into being the beasts of the field
and the living creatures of the field. Then, in order
to make the earth habitable, reeds are formed, trees
created, bricks laid, buildings set up, houses erected,
cities established, living creatures placed therein;
and, finally, corresponding to the enumeration of
cities at the beginning of the story:
"Nippur was established, E-Kur 1 was built,
Uruk was made, E-Anna 2 was erected,
Eridu was made, E-Sagila built."
The tablet on which this second story is recounted
turns out to be an incantation text. Accordingly,
after the story is finished, the writer passes on to a
prayer and to instructions for the ritual in connec
tion with the recital of the sacred formulas.
In the same way we find in other texts forming
prayers or incantations references to the great con
test against Tiamat, to the creation of mankind, and
to early conditions existing on the globe. So, in
one of these texts 3 the enormous size of the dragon
"The mountain house " the name of Enlil s sanctuary in Nippur.
"The heavenly house " the name of the goddess Nana s sanctuary
in Uruk.
3 King, ib., II, pp. 116-127.
94 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
is dwelt upon as covering about three hundred miles
in length and six miles in breadth, his mouth meas
uring six cubits and his ears(?) fourteen cubits.
The variations in current tradition are illustrated in
this account of the dragon by making the one who
despatches it not Marduk but a god Tishpak; and,
strangely enough, the dragon is represented as appear
ing after mankind had been created and cities had
been founded. This touch is of importance as fur
nishing a further proof for the thesis that all the
versions of creation current among the Babylonians
and Assyrians are merely poetic representations of
the contest between winter and spring. There is
/ no real creation of the world in the correct sense
of the term, but only a conquest of the waters at
one time covering everything, driving them back, as
it were, so as to afford a place for the dry land.
In the same way the gods, or at least the same
group of gods, are regarded as having been in exist
ence even at the beginning of things. The only real
act of creation is that involved in putting man on
earth in order to serve the gods and in connection
with man, other forms of animal life; while verdure
and plants are represented as springing up natu
rally after the dry land had appeared. Perhaps even
animal life was placed here for the sake of man, just
as the vegetation that sprung up on the earth is
assumed to exist because it is necessary for man s
subsistence. Without pressing this point too far,
emphasis should, however, be laid on the limited
scope of creation in the Babylonian-Assyrian stones.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 95
The main point of view is not to indicate the source
or the successive stages in the work of creation, but
to ascribe to the one god or the other the glory of
having conquered the storms and rains of the win
try seasons, symbolised by a great monster who is
surrounded by a host of lesser monsters. In other
words, the glory of some local deity is the leading
thought in all these versions, and for our purposes
it matters little whether the divine hero is Enlil,
Ea, Marduk, Tishpak, or the goddess Aruru. The
nature-myth predominates.
A still older form of the nature-myth has recently
been discovered by Doctor Arno Poebel 1 in the col
lections of the University of Pennsylvania. In con
tradistinction to the main version, which is in Bab
ylonian, this new text is written like the second
version in Sumerian, but without an accompanying
translation an indication of its great antiquity.
Coming from the temple archives at Nippur, it is
natural to find a part in the work of creation as
signed to Enlil; but associated with Enlil is his
consort Ninkharsag, 2 besides Anu the god of Uruk,
and a deity, Enki, or Ea, the water-god of Eridu.
The association of Anu, Enlil and Enki clearly
points to a combination of this Nippur version
with older Uruk and Eridu versions. The Sumerian
priests of Nippur evidently received their account
of Creation from still older centres, of whose history
1 "Historical, Grammatical, and Religious Texts Chiefly from Nippur,"
Text No. i in vol. VI of the new series of the Babylonian Publications
of the Museum of Archaeology of the University of Pennsylvania
(Philadelphia, 1913). 2 Also called Nintu.
96 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
we know as yet practically nothing, but transferred
the role of creator to their favourite, Enlil. In this
version we are told:
" After Anu, Enlil, Enki and Ninkharsag had created the black-
headed people,
The animals, the four-legged ones they artfully created.
Then he established the sublime commandments and pre
cepts.
He founded . . . cities on clean spots.
Their names were called and they were allotted to ...
[As the first] of the cities he assigned the city of Eridu to the
leader Nudimmud
Secondly, he assigned the city of Bad-nagar-dish . . .
Thirdly, he assigned the city of Larak to Pabil-kharsag
Fourthly, he assigned the city of Sippar to the warrior Shamash
Fifthly, he assigned the city of Shuruppak to the god of Shu-
ruppak."
The order in which the great cities of the Euphra
tes Valley arose naturally differs in the different
versions, but it is interesting to note that in this
new version also Eridu is assigned the first place, a
valuable indication of the oldest source to which
probably all the Babylonian creation stories are to
be traced.
The story then passes over to an account of a
deluge from which Ziugiddu, a king and priest
(of Shuruppak[?]), is saved. The Creation myth
thus serves in this version as an introduction to
the description of the Deluge. 1 In its complete
1 Doctor Poebel is of the opinion that the tablet in question forms
one of a series which began with a full account of the creation of the
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 97
form the tablet (or a preceding one of the series)
no doubt contained an account of the conflict be
tween Enlil and the dragon which, we have seen, is
the invariable feature of Babylonian creation stories,
symbolising the change of seasons from winter to
spring.
It is, in fact, because of the strong hold acquired
by this ancient tradition of the world coming into
existence in the spring as a result of the conquest
of winter, that Babylonia and Assyria were pre
vented from reaching out to a more impressive view
of the creation of the world, one that would be
marked by an attempt to trace the various steps
in an evolutionary process.
To sum up then, the various Babylonian creation
stories remain on the level of nature-myths. They
contain a variety of interesting pictures as well as
thoughts and suggestions which indicate the attempt
to rise superior to the myth, but an attempt that is,
on the whole, weak and completely fails. There is
little if anything of a spiritual character in these
tales. The gods impress one as majestic and grand,
but with decided limitations of character due to
the materialistic form in which they are conceived.
Even man, though viewed as a special creation of
world after the conquest of the dragon by Enlil, then took up the nar
rative of the great Deluge and passed on in another tablet to a list of
kings from the time of the Deluge onward. If this view be correct, we
would have in this continuous narrative a parallel to the biblical com
pilation of narratives of Creation and of the Deluge with chronological
lists sandwiched in (Gen. chap. 5). The high figures assigned in
Genesis to the lives of the antediluvian patriarchs are again paralleled
by the extraordinary lengths assigned to the reign of the earliest Baby
lonian rulers in the tablet published by Poebel (ib., Nos. 2-4, of vol. VI).
98 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
one god or the other, whichever happened to be at
the head of the pantheon in the centre in which
the version arose, is not endowed with any spiritual
powers. True, the blood of the god was given to
man, but this gift merely reflects the current view
that life comes from the gods and that there is a
link uniting man with the higher powers. Man ex
ists for the sake of the gods. Mankind is created
to provide worshippers for the gods and to build
temples in their honour. That is the characteristic
last word of the Babylonian-Assyrian view of man s
place in nature.
IV
Turning now to the story of Creation as recounted
in the first two chapters of Genesis, we note, in the
first place, that, as among the Babylonians, there
were several versions current. Two of these, differ
ing considerably from one another in matters of de
tail, are preserved in the first two chapters of Gene
sis. 1 In addition, we have scattered references, in
poetical books like Job, in some of the Psalms, in
poetical passages embodied in the orations of the
Hebrew Prophets, and in the apocalyptic literature 2
which indicate the existence of a considerable
amount of what may be called popular tradition in
regard to the creation of the world, and which, it is
quite possible, likewise existed in a definite literary
1 See the analysis in Skinner s or Gunkel s Commentary on Genesis.
2 Collected and discussed in Gunkel s Schopfung und Chaos, pp. 29-
iii (Gottingen, 1895).
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 99
form. Since, however, it is evident from internal
evidence that the collection known as the Old Testa
ment represents only a portion of the literature
produced by the Hebrews in pre-exilic and post-
exilic days, there is a strong presumption in favour
of the view that the two versions of the Creation
preserved for us by no means exhaust the literary
material once current among the Hebrews in regard
to the ever-fascinating subject of Beginnings.
The second version, beginning with the fourth
verse of chapter 2 and extending to the end of the
chapter, is the briefer of the two and, evidently in
the form preserved, assumes the existence of chap
ter I, the compiler contenting himself with intro
ducing in the second chapter only such features as
are not covered in the first. It begins with the state
ment: "These are the generations of Heaven and
Earth as they were created," to which there is added
as an explanatory comment: "On the day that Yah-
weh Elohim made Earth and Heaven." The second
part of this verse is apparently attached in order
to prepare us for what follows, which is entirely
devoted to an account of what happened on earth
the springing up of verdure, vegetation, and the
creation of man. Nothing whatever is said about
the heavens presumably for the reason already
suggested that in the first version this has been
covered, and we may therefore conclude that the
second version was in this respect identical with the
first. All that we learn therefore from the second
version is that the earth, the special creation of
100 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
which is not indicated, is a desolate waste because
not fertilised by rain and because man was not
there to cultivate the ground. The point of view,
it will be observed, is distinctly agricultural; and
this is borne out by the continuation of the story
which tells how moisture arose from the earth and
soaked or watered the ground and how God created
man through dust from the soil and blew into his
nostrils the breath of life. The earth thus becomes
the mother of mankind, and the source of all life
and vegetation. The earth having been watered,
Yahweh Elohim plants a garden to the east of Eden
which appears to be used here for a district in
southern Babylonia and there he places man orig
inally for the purpose of enjoying the fruits of the
trees planted by God Himself and without any ef
fort on man s behalf. But in verse 15 we come
across a somewhat different tradition, according to
which man was placed in the Garden of Eden "to
cultivate it and to guard it," suggesting a com
parison with the account of the creation of man as
given by Berosus, 1 and according to which man is
placed here because the earth was barren, there
being none to cultivate it. From the same ground
from which man is taken Yahweh Elohim creates
the animals of the field, and the birds of heaven.
It is noticeable that there is no reference in this
version to animal life in the waters. The version
in fact seems to glide rapidly over the whole work
of creation in order to reach the main point of the
1 See above, p. 85.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 101
compiler, which is to set forth his theory of the posi
tion of man in nature, and the reason for the condi
tions of life which he finds, on the whole, to be hard
and harsh. On the one hand, man is the lord of
creation, as in the first version, and this is symbol
ised by the privilege accorded to him of giving names
to all the animals. There seems to have been still
present in the mind of this compiler the old notion
that the name was an essential part of the being.
He did not go so far as to assume that the one who
gave the name was also the creator, but, at least,
in supplying the name, he completed Creation itself
by the addition of an essential factor. But why,
this compiler asks himself, is it that man whose
superiority over the rest of creation is thus acknowl
edged, is himself a hard-working slave, compelled
to drudge in order to maintain life that gift of
God, given to him by the Creator Himself? Our
compiler is a philosopher who ponders over the
problems of existence arid whose conclusions are so
gloomy in character that he may with some justice
be called the father of pessimism. There is, to be
sure, a somewhat brighter touch in his account of
the creation of woman. He represents man as being
lonely and finding no worthy associate among the
animals. In the Babylonian epoch of Gilgamesh 1
there is an interesting account of primitive man ac
tually living with the animals, and it may well
be that the compiler of the second version had a
1 Tablet I, 86-91 according to Ungnad-Gressmann s edition of Das
Gilgamesch-Epos. (Gottingen, 1911).
102 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
faint recollection of such a tradition. 1 He has,
however, an exalted view of the superior position
occupied by man in nature; hence he introduces
the woman for the purpose of securing an associate
worthy of man, but the associate alas! helps to bring
about man s fall from divine favour.
Interested as the compiler is in all origins, he at
taches to the account of the creation of woman the
explanation for the marriage tie which binds man
and woman to such an extent as to prompt him
even to give up parental ties in order to establish
a household of his own in association with the woman
of his choice. The pessimistic note is unmistak
ably struck in the third chapter in the remarkable
story of the temptation and fall. In addition to
the original purport of the story to explain the pres
ence of death in the world, 2 it furnishes for our
compiler the medium for explaining why man, orig
inally placed on earth by a beneficent Deity who
provided everything for him, is now forced to work
in the sweat of his brow throughout his life until,
exhausted with toil, he lies down to eternal rest in
the ground whence he was taken. Work, according
to this writer, is the curse put upon man through
disobedience, while the woman s fate is painted in
even gloomier colours. She will be under the con
trol of her husband, at the mercy of his pleasure and
his passion, and be obliged to endure the throes and
1 See an article by the writer on "Adam and Eve in Babylonian Lit
erature," in the American Journal of Semitic Languages, vol. XV, pp.
193-214.
2 See above, p. 53.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 103
pains of childbirth. Work and suffering are to be
the fate of mankind. This gloomy and pessimistic
outlook is continued in the succeeding chapters, par
ticularly in the account of the Deluge, which is
brought on through the growing wickedness of man
kind; and even when, after the Deluge, God prom
ises not to bring on another catastrophe, the reason
assigned for the resolve is that it is not worth while
to curse the entire earth for the sake of man, since
"the inclination of his heart is towards evil." 1 God
repents having made man, and therefore encompasses
his destruction. The righteous is saved and a new
race created, but without any hope of permanent
improvement.
It will be evident from this brief survey that this
second version of Creation has few points in com
mon with any of the Babylonian versions discussed.
Not only is there no chaos at the beginning of things
and no conflict between the lower and higher order,
but there is a total absence of any element that
might be called mythical. The version, so far as
preserved, is a very sober and rather prosaic record
of the way in which vegetation arose, why man was
created, how the beasts were created and named;
and in all this the main purpose of the writer is
evidently philosophical and religious, with the story
itself merely as a framework. The point of view
is of a remarkably advanced type, and it is fair to
presume that this account represents the science of
the day rather than the remnants of popular tradi-
1 Gen. 8 : 21.
104 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
tion. Even the touch which might suggest a more
primitive form of thought, according to which man
is formed out of the dust of the earth and the breath
of life breathed into his nostrils, is primitive only
in so far as it assumes the material substance of
man to be the same as that found in the earth; and
yet the endeavour to trace back all things in and on
the earth to the earth itself takes us into a realm
of thought considerably removed from naive and
primitive speculation.
The case is quite different when we come to con
sider the version of Creation in the first chapter of
Genesis and extending through the third verse of
the second chapter. This account, according to the
modern analysis, forms part of a large compilation
conveniently known as the Priestly Code, in which
in a framework of history and law things are traced
back to their beginnings. In its present form the
account in the Priestly Code must be later than the
second version, and yet in a comparison of the two
the second stands on a higher plane of thought and
has also a decidedly more rationalistic tinge. The
purpose of the compiler or compilers of the Priestly
Code in beginning the history of Israel with the crea
tion of the world was twofold. In the first place,
it was prompted by the natural desire to trace his
tory back as far as possible, and, secondly, to show
the workings of the great Power of the universe from
the beginning of time, indicating through incidental
references the special concern of this divine Power
for the fate of the Hebrews as the chosen people.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 105
In the second version there is no trace of this na
tionalistic view but the Priestly Code, having as its
starting-point the special place assigned to the peo
ple of Yahweh in the universe, the origin of the Sab
bath as a distinctly Hebrew institution is attached
to the work of creation. God Himself institutes the
seventh day as a day of rest, and the compiler does
not shrink from the anthropomorphic implication
in representing the Creator of the universe as rest
ing from his labours precisely as a man might. He
is concerned with the justification of the central
institution of Judaism.
It may seem strange at first sight, therefore, that
this narrative should be the one which contains many
points of resemblance to the main type of the Baby
lonian creation stories. One would have supposed
that a compiler so saturated with the monotheistic
Jewish spirit would have taken care to remove from
his account of Creation all traces that seemed to
be non-Jewish in character. That he did not see
fit to do so may be taken as a proof of the popu
larity assumed by the tradition embodied in the
first chapter, and also as an indication that the
compiler himself could not, or did not wish to cut
himself loose from popular traditions, but on the
contrary desired to use them in illustration of his
conception of divine government. The story of
Creation, in other words, becomes in the mind of
this compiler a kind of parable, told not so much
because it furnishes an account of the successive
creative acts, but because it illustrates the manner
106 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
in which all manifestations of the universe, includ
ing life in its various forms, go back to the one
cause the Word of Elohim. This emphasis in
the case of each creative act upon the power of the
Word, which when uttered brings about the Crea
tion itself, is the key-note to the chapter. Bearing
this in mind, let us proceed to a closer analysis with
a view of ascertaining exactly wherein the resem
blance to Babylonian Creation myths lies.
At the very beginning of this account we have
perhaps the most striking evidence of the ultimate
identity of the Hebrew and Babylonian Creation
traditions, for in the statement that the earth was
Tohu and Bohu ("void and waste") and that dark
ness was over the face of the deep (Tehom), we
have the Hebrew counterpart to the Babylonian de
scription of primeval chaos. At the same time the
description furnishes the evidence for the thesis that
in the biblical account the mythical element has
been reduced to the utmost possible minimum.
This is indicated by the use of the terms Tohu and
Bohu in place of personifications like Apsu and
Mummu, and more particularly in the entirely im
personal use of the term "Tehom" in the sense of
"watery deep," as against the personification of the
primeval waters as Tiamat, and this despite the
fact that the Hebrew version still uses the very
same term, "Tehom," as the Babylonian. 1
1 On the identity of Tehom and Tiamat, which is an amplified form of
tamtu, "sea," see Skinner s Genesis, p. 16, note 2; or Driver s Genesis, p.
28.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 107
There are traces elsewhere in the Old Testa
ment that Tehom was once personified, though the
personification became, in the advanced Hebrew
thought, merely a poetical metaphor. In the beauti
ful twenty-eighth chapter of Job, where man s search
for wisdom is so impressively described, we read:
" But wisdom, where may she be found, and where
is the place of understanding? Man does not know
her way and she is not found in the land of the
living; Tehom says, She is not in me, and the
sea says, Not with me." Further on we read:
"Abaddon 1 and death say, We have heard a rumor
about her: God understands her way and He knows
her place." 1 Elsewhere, as in the iO4th Psalm as
well as in the various references to Rahab and the
Leviathan and the dragon, particularly in Isaiah
and Job, 2 we have the further proof that the He
brews were well acquainted with the nature-myth
in its more primitive form, for such figures as Rahab
and Leviathan pictured as huge serpents are merely
the reflections, in the form of poetical metaphors, of
the original personification of primeval chaos as a
period in which monstrous beings were in control.
It is worth while to consider some of these refer
ences to the nature-myth which will furnish the
point for the thesis here maintained that in the
1 "Destruction," a name for the nether world, where the dead are hud
dled together. See chapter IV.
2 See Gunkel, Schopfung und Chaos, pp. 29-111.
108 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
Priestly Code the mythical element was intention
ally suppressed or, as it may also be put, the crea
tion of the world by a spiritual Being, universal in
scope and acting by the power of His word, being
incompatible with the representation of Creation as
a mere change in seasons pictured as a conflict against
a monster the symbol of primeval chaos and law
lessness the natural result would be to retain only
that modicum of the old nature-myth essential to
the account of the order of Creation. The pictures,
however, drawn of primeval monsters in poetical
passages in various parts of the Old Testament, and
the frequency with which these pictures are intro
duced, show not only that the Hebrews knew of
these nature-myths, but that the one symbolising the
change from the rainy to the dry season applicable
to Palestine as well as to the Euphrates Valley,
though not in the same degree had sunk so deep
into the popular mind as to leave its traces in the
literature of the postexilic period down across the
threshold of our era. When Job, in one of his
descriptions 1 of the divine Power which lay so
heavily on him in his unbearable sufferings, ex
claims:
" By His power he has quieted the sea,
With his intelligence shattered Rahab.
The bolts of heaven are in terror before Him; 2
His hand has crushed the winding 3 serpent,"
x job 26: 12-13.
2 So the Greek rendering of this line, the Hebrew text of which is
corrupt.
3 On this translation, see Gunkel, Schopfung und Chaos, p. 47.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 109
there can be no doubt that the philosophical poet
has in mind the picture of a Tiamat, a great mon
strous serpent, suggested, as we have seen, by the
billows of the agitated sea. Rahab represents one
of the names of this monster and the parallelism
with "sea" leaves no doubt as to the character of
the personification. The lines imply a conflict with
Rahab in which God is triumphant. By His power
He subdues the monster, just as Marduk vanquishes
Tiamat; and we have a further reminder of the
Babylonian myth in the reference to the bolts of
heaven which, it will be recalled, Marduk attaches
to the gates established at either side of the heav
enly expanse, and at which he places watchmen as
guards. In another speech of Job, 1 portraying the
irresistible force of God s anger, the "helpers of
Rahab" are described as "bent" under the divine
wrath, a definite indication that among the Hebrews,
as among the Babylonians, Rahab-Tiamat was rep
resented as having an army of monsters to assist
her, and which Marduk captures after he has over
come Tiamat. Even more explicit is a passage in
a late chapter of the postexilic portion of Isaiah 2
in the reference to Rahab as a being that belongs
to primeval days, to the very beginning of time.
Calling upon the people to place their trust in Yah-
weh as the supreme vanquisher of all foes, however
numerous and strong, the Prophet calls upon God
Himself to manifest His power as at the time when
He overcame Rahab.
13. Isa. 51 : 9.
110 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
"Awake, awake! gird on strength, O arm of Yahweh!
Awake as in the days of Beginning, 1 the generations of distant
times!
Art not thoti the one who didst shatter Rahab, crushing the
dragon ? "
The picture here forms a complete analogy to the
Babylonian myth even to the conception of Rahab
as a dragon. Similarly in Psalm 89 : n, in a de
scription of Yahweh s power in quieting the billows
of the angry sea, the same reference to the con
quest of Rahab is introduced as a metaphor; and
it is only a further and natural step in poetical
imagery to apply Rahab to Egypt as is done in
Psalm 87 : 4 and Isa. 30 : 7, 2 for Egypt, like Baby
lon with which it is placed in juxtaposition in the
former passage, is a huge monster in comparison
with the small and puny Israel, but Yahweh so
poet and Prophet assume will stand up against
Egypt, just as He quelled the uprising of Rahab in
primeval days. In the course of time the term
loses its original force of a proper name, as Tehom
lost it, and Rahab becomes a poetical synonym for
wickedness, violence, and hostility to Yahweh s
kingdom of justice and order. It is so used in
Psalm 40 : 5, which is to be rendered as follows:
"Happy the man who makes Yahweh his trust,
And turns not to the Rahabs 3 and to lying rebels."
1 So the literal translation of Hebrew phrase.
2 The ordinary rendering of the close of this verse is senseless. By a
very simple procedure, Gunkel (p. 39) obtains the reading "the silenced
Rahab," i. e., the monster who has been overcome and made harmless.
3 The plural form is used a further indication of the disassociation
from its original personification.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 111
Corresponding to the various names for the mon
sters associated with primeval chaos that we en
counter in the Babylonian myth of Creation
Tiamat, Ummu-khubur, Kingu, besides Apsu and
Mummu due, as has been suggested, to the com
bination of various versions to form the great Mar-
duk epic we have in Hebrew poetry, by the side
of Rahab, other designations conveying the same
picture. Prominent among these is Leviathan, oc
curring likewise in Psalms, in a prophetical utter
ance embodied in Isaiah, but which belongs to
the postexilic period, 1 and more particularly in
Job.
The 74th Psalm reveals its origin in the Macca-
bean period perhaps just before the uprising in
so unmistakable a manner that scholars are prac
tically agreed in assigning it to about 165 B. C.
It is, therefore, of special significance to find in so
late a production a poetical metaphor introduced
which would be unintelligible without the assump
tion that the imagery is based on a pure nature-
myth, and evidently the same myth that underlies
the references to Rahab a conflict in primeval
days between Yahweh and a huge monster. After
describing the desolation wrought by the enemy
the Greek supremacy the defilement of the sanc
tuary, the burning of synagogues throughout the
land, and lamenting the absence of prophets and
of signs indicative of any relief, the psalmist ap
peals to God : 2
1 Chapter 27. See Duhm s lesaias, p. 165. 2 Verses 12-17.
112 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
"Thou, O Yahweh, art my king from of old,
Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
Thou hast divided the sea with thy arm,
Thou has broken the heads of the dragons in the waters,
Thou hast crushed the heads of Leviathan,
Gavest him as food for 1 . . .
Thou hast split fountain and brook,
Thou hast dried up the streams of primeval time.
Thine is the day, aye thine is the night.
Thou hast fixed the moon and sun,
Thou hast set all the bounds of the earth.
Summer and winter thou hast formed."
The entire description is evidently a reminiscence
of the work of creation, though the poet avails
himself of his licence in deviating somewhat from
the conventional order set forth in the first chapter
of Genesis. The creation of day and night, the
work of the second day, is followed in a logical
sequence by the reference to the creation of moon
and sun, 2 the work of the fourth day. This in
turn leads to an allusion to the limits set to the dry
land which forms part of the work of the third day.
The reference to the two seasons resulting from the
establishment of order and law in the universe re
veals the substratum of myth in the description,
for it will be recalled that the Creation epic is based
on the change from the wintry and rainy to the
dry and warm season. We are therefore justified
1 The text is corrupt. The ordinary rendering, "for the people of the
wilderness," is without sense.
2 The precedence of moon over sun reminds us of the order in Baby
lonian-Assyrian texts, where under the influence of astrological notions
the moon-god, Sin, is invariably placed before Shamash, the sun-god.
See Jastrow, Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens, II, p. 457. Poetic
usage follows archaic traditions.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 113
in interpreting verses 13-14 as a reminiscence of
the very first work of creation the conquest of
the great monster and of her numerous brood. The
dragons in the waters represent the army of Tia-
mat, while Leviathan here described as a many-
headed Hydra is clearly synonymous with Tiamat
herself. Poetic licence leads the poet to introduce
in verse 15 the description of Yahweh s power in
causing springs to gush forth, brooks alternately to
stream with water and to be dried up. 1 Isaiah uses
the old nature-myth in apocalyptic fashion 2 to fore
tell the coming destruction of the enemies of Israel.
Leviathan, like Rahab, 3 becomes a symbol of a pow
erful nation Egypt, Babylon or Assyria, as the
case may be. The myth is introduced as a mere
metaphor, and the Prophet, having in mind three
powerful enemies, has no scruples in suggesting three
monsters instead of one.
"On that day Yahweh will visit with his sword the cruel, the
mighty and the powerful, 4 Leviathan, the winding 5 serpent, and
Leviathan, the twisted serpent, and he shall kill the dragon in the
sea."
The winding and the twisted serpent and the dragon
in the sea are identical variant descriptions of the
great monster Tiamat.
1 The reference might also be to "the fountains of the deep" (tehom)
which, when they are "split open" (Gen. 7 : ll), cause the destructive
Deluge.
2 1 follow Gunkel s interpretation (Schopfung und Chaos, pp. 45 se q.)
3 Above, pp. 109 seq.
4 Corresponding to these three terms we have three serpents two
Leviathans and a dragon.
5 The same attribute as above, p. 108.
114 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
We must turn, however, to the magnificent for
tieth and forty-first chapters of Job to learn the
extent to which poetic fancy went among the He
brews in picturing the primeval monster whom
Yahweh alone was able to subdue. To illustrate
the weakness of man in contrast with the Deity, and
therefore the folly of man to question God s ways, 1
the poet asks: 2
"Canst thou draw Leviathan out with a hook?
And with a cord fasten his tongue?
Canst thou put a hook in his nose?
Or bore his jaw with a ring?
Will he make supplication to thee?
Or speak soft words to thee ?
Will he make a covenant with thee?
So that thou takest him for a servant forever?
Wilt thou play with him as with a bird?
Or tie him like a dove for a child ? 3
Canst thou fill his skin with spears?
Or his head with fish spears?
Just lay thy hand upon him and thou wilt not think
of a battle (with him) again!"
Yahweh alone can deal with Leviathan. He can
overcome him catch him as one hooks a fish, use
him as a toy, 4 as one plays with a pet bird. All
this is poetic fancy, but the nature-myth runs
through the lines and is manifest in the reference
1 The chapter belongs to the supplementary portion of the book of
Job.
2 Chapter 40 : 25-32; in the English version, chapter 41 : 1-8.
3 1 follow Gunkel s (p. 50, note 2) ingenious and simple emendation
of the text.
4 Cf. Psalm 104 : 26, "Leviathan whom thou hast formed as a play
thing" so the correct rendering.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 115
to Leviathan s appeal for mercy to the powerful
Yahweh who has captured him, as Marduk caught
Tiamat and made her subservient to his wishes.
The further description of the monster, strong of
fangs (41 : 6), raising himself up to a great height
(41 : 17), to whom iron is as straw (41 : 19), sug
gests in various ways the description of the brood
of monsters who constitute the army of Tiamat,
though touches are added, such as the flames issu
ing from his mouth (41 : 12-13), which appear to
be original creations of the Hebrew poet who allows
his fancy free flight. In the description of the huge
monster Behemoth in chapter 40, though the poet
probably has in mind the hippopotamus, there are
allusions which suggest an association with Levia
than; and it may be that Behemoth is also a des
ignation for the primeval dragon, symbolising the
chaos at the beginning of time. The huge size of
both Leviathan and Behemoth reminds one of the
description of the dragon in one of the Babylonian
versions above discussed. 1 Be this as it may, enough
evidence has been brought forward to show that up
to a late period the Hebrews were perfectly famil
iar with the old nature-myth of the conflict with
the monster Tiamat, or whatever name we choose
to apply to it; and it is also a justifiable conclusion
that what has become a metaphor in Hebrew poetry
was once popularly regarded as an actual occurrence,
to account for the existence of law and order in the
world in place of primeval chaos and lawlessness.
1 Above, pp. 93 seg.
116 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
VI
Coming back now after this somewhat long di
gression to the first chapter in Genesis, we find that
here even the metaphor has disappeared as incom
patible with an account of Creation by a purely
spiritual Power, whose word alone suffices to bring
about the desired result. No conflict is required.
Indeed, the suggestion of a conflict would mark a
limitation to the supreme majesty of the divine com
mand. Hence the addition to the description of
primeval chaos, in the second verse of the first chap
ter, of the words "and the spirit of Elohim brooded
over the face of the waters," which dispose briefly
but effectively of the entire conception of any con
flict at the beginning of time. In place of the con
flict we have the picture of the divine afflatus hov
ering over the watery mass. We need not stop in
an attempt to specify the picture that the compiler
had in mind. The vagueness is inherent, the evi
dent aim being to remove all traces of any material
istic conceptions of divine Power. The limitations
of human language are particularly apparent when
we endeavour to describe the beginning of things,
but it is difficult to imagine a more profound and
at the same time a more sublime description of such
a beginning than is suggested in the simple phrase,
"The spirit of Elohim brooded over the face of the
waters." Throughout the chapter, in accordance
with this high plane of spiritualised religious thought,
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 117
the source of all creation is concentrated in the di
vine command. The Deity in the Hebrew story is
not an artificer who by a process of work gradually
brings things into being; He is one whose word im
mediately produces the result. Fiat lux! God said
"Light.be, and light was."
In this creation of light as the result of the first
utterance of God we may, I think, see a direct pro
test against the Babylonian version which makes
some particular personification of nature the water-
god, Ea; the storm-god, Enlil; or, in the latest ver
sion, Marduk, the sun-god the creator of everything.
The sun being recognised throughout antiquity as
the source of light, Marduk himself is the light.
The Hebrew poet, reflecting the view of the Proph
ets to whom God is the supreme spiritual power
rising above the universe, makes the light a part
of His Creation. Fiat lux represents the protest
against the assumption that a power which itself
represents the light can be the source of being.
There is One superior even to the light by whom
light must be first created. We find a trace again
of earlier conceptions, recalling the description of
Marduk s making a covering out of one side of Tia-
mat stretched across the heavens to prevent the
upper waters from flowing out, in the biblical de
scription of an expanse (rekia) to separate the waters
below from the stars above. The expanse, which
evidently is still conceived as a material substance,
is called "heaven." Similarly, we have another
direct trace of the common origin of the Hebrew
118 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
and Babylonian traditions in the conception that
the gathering of the waters below the heavens to
one place reveals the dry land. The earth is there
fore assumed as in existence, merely submerged
through the waters abounding everywhere. When,
therefore, we read, "Elohim said, Let the waters
under the heaven be gathered to one place so that the
dry land may appear, and it was so," we must
admit the parallelism with one of the versions of
the Babylonian stories, in which it will be recalled
the gathering of the waters into a channel results
in the appearance of terra firma. 1
The vegetation of the earth follows in the biblical
account as a natural consequence of the gathering
of the waters. The thought is here, as I have al
ready indicated, on a higher plane than that which
we find in the second chapter according to which
the earth existed in a barren state until it was
soaked through moisture and until man came to
cultivate it.
In the account of the creation of the great bodies
in the heavens, the sun and moon, and to which a
later commentator added the stars, we have a most
suggestive parallel with Marduk s regulation of the
movements of the heavenly bodies after his victory
over Tiamat, and of which we have encountered a
reminiscence in a description of the conflict with the
Leviathan. 2 As in the Babylonian account, the pur
pose of the lights in the heavens is to regulate time
and seasons, or, in other words, to furnish a basis
1 Above, p. 89. 2 Above, pp. 113 seq.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 119
for the calendar. But whereas in the Babylonian
version we find the moon placed in supreme con
trol, time being calculated according to its phases,
in the biblical version emphasis is laid upon the two
lights, the greater one for the control of day, and
the lesser one for the control of night. The cir
cumstance that Marduk was in reality a personi
fication of the sun necessarily hampered the Baby
lonian priests in their endeavour to explain the
existence of movements in the heavens. Under the
sway of astral theology the moon, planets, and stars
constituted the main occupants of the heavens, and,
as a matter of fact, in the astrological texts of the
Babylonian and Assyrian priests the moon and
planets play a very much more important part
than the sun, which is invariably, in any enumera
tion, placed after the moon. 1 The Hebrew com
pilers, freed from the shackles of astral conceptions
of the universe, and assuming at the head of the uni
verse a spiritual power superior to the sun and to
the light of which the sun is regarded as a symbol,
placed sun and moon precisely in the same cate
gory. It may be that in the term "as signs" (verse
14), in connection with sun and moon, there is a
trace of the observance of the heavenly bodies to
obtain "omens," which would point to the influ
ence of the astral theology of Babylonia and As
syria, but through the addition of "and for seasons,
days and years" the calendrical purpose served by
1 See Jastrow, Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens, II, p. 457. See a
trace of the same order in Hebrew poetry; above, p. 112, note 2.
120 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
the sun and moon is emphasised perhaps with in
tent to remove the possible implication of astrology
in the use of the two heavenly bodies as "signs."
The question has often been asked, Is there not a
strange inconsistency in the biblical story in assum
ing the creation of light at the very beginning of
time as the work of the first day, whereas the sun
is not called into being until the fourth day? The
question, it seems to me, is an idle one and misses
the point of the biblical poem. No doubt the com
pilers of Genesis knew as well as we do that the illu
mination of the earth is due to the sun; common ex
perience would have been sufficient to have made this
self-evident. In describing the work of the fourth
day, the aim is rather to specify the position ac
corded to the sun in the regulation of material phe
nomena. Standing under the influence of the pop
ular tradition, which assumed the purpose of the
heavenly bodies to be the regulation of the calen
dar, the paragraphs about the moon are retained,
but consistent with the higher conception which
makes both sun and moon the products of the one
Power presiding over the universe, the older form of
the tradition is essentially modified.
The creation of animals follows, and it is inter
esting to note the order in creation: first, the life
in the waters and then the birds flying over the
earth across the expanse of the heavens. There are
further specifications regarding these two classes of
animals, but the creation of land animals is not
mentioned until the work of the sixth day. It is
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 121
doubtful whether in the mind of the compiler any
special significance was attached to this division in
the creation of animals or whether he laid any
stress on the order water animals, air animals, and
land animals. So far no parallel to this order has
been encountered in any of the Babylonian and
Assyrian versions, though it is, of course, possible
that one may yet be found. The order follows
perhaps a logical sequence. Since water and the
atmosphere above the waters are supposed to be
in existence earlier than the land, the animals of the
water and of the air are mentioned first. It is, how
ever, of importance to note that among the life that
swarms in the waters, "the great dragons" are sin
gled out for special mention. The word used for
dragons 1 is identical with the term occurring in the
poetical allusions to the nature-myth of the con
flict between Yahweh and the great primeval mon
ster, pictured as a dragon and accompanied by an
army of dragons. 2 The introduction of the term is
hardly accidental, and I have no hesitation in recog
nising in the specific mention of the "great dragons"
as the creation of Yahweh, a further protest against
the nature-myth which assumed the great dragons,
including their leader Tiamat or Rahab or Levia
than, as pre-existent. This is again, therefore, a
deliberate effort to expunge the mythical element
which we have seen to be one of the characteristic
aims of the Creation version in the Priestly Code.
1 Tanninim, plural of tannin. 2 Above, p. 109.
122 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
VII
So far, then, we have encountered plenty of traces
of the existence among the Hebrews of the same
nature-myth as is revealed in the various Baby
lonian versions to account for the creation of the
world, but with the unmistakable tendency in the
biblical versions to remove the mythical aspects
and to minimise this element of myth when it can
not be entirely eliminated. The wide departure
from Babylonian traditions is, however, particularly
apparent in the spirit of the transformed Hebrew
tradition which changes the Creator from a van
quisher of hostile forces, and from an artificer after
the fashion of a human workman, into a spiritual
Power, acting by His Word alone. The Word
brings about light, the Word causes the dry land to
appear and clothes the fields with verdure, the
Word brings forth trees and plants, and fills water,
air and land with living beings. This Word of
Yahweh is frequently introduced in the Prophets
and Psalms to describe not merely the power but
the very essence of the Deity, conceived as a uni
versal Being and pictured as a spiritual force. To
be sure, in Babylonian and Assyrian hymns the
word of Enlil, of Marduk, of Ea, of Shamash,
and so through the list of the chief gods of the pan
theon, also plays a prominent part. Compositions
bewailing some great catastrophe that has overtaken
the land describe the power residing in the word
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 123
of a god, which causes heaven and earth to tremble
and spreads terror on all sides:
"The word that causes the heavens on high to tremble,
The word that makes the earth below to quake,
The word that brings destruction to the Anunnaki, 1
His word is beyond diviner and seer,
His word is a tempest without a rival." 2
The conception, however, remains on a material
istic basis, and when applied to other than storm-
gods whose word is the thunder, it is the actual
strength and power of the god that is meant. We
have a trace of this conception of the word in po
etical metaphors occurring in Psalms such as the
twenty-ninth :
"The voice of Yahweh is upon the waters,
The God of glory thunderethu
The voice of Yahweh is full of power,
The voice of Yahweh is full of might.
The voice of Yahweh hews flames of fire,
The voice of Yahweh shakes the wilderness,"
but the higher point of view, marking the departure
from the Babylonian conception, finds an expression
in the scene of Elijah on the mount 3 where a strong
wind, a violent earthquake and fire passed before
the Prophet. Yahweh was not in the storm, or in
the earthquake, or in the fire, but manifested Him-
1 Above, p. 91, note I.
2 See many other illustrations in Jastrow, Religion Babyloniens und
Assyriens, II, pp. 26 seq., and Zimmern in Der Alte Orient, XIII, I pp.
21-27.
3 1 Kings 19 : 11-12.
124 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
self in the "still, small voice" a decided contrast,
therefore, to the "voice of Yahweh" in the Psalm
from which we have quoted. The "thin, small
voice" illustrates the endeavour to spiritualise the
power of Yahweh, an endeavour that finds its full
expression in the Word of the Deity as conceived
by the Prophets, and of which the Word that
creates the light, the heavenly bodies and the earth
and all there is in it, is a direct reflection. The
Word of God in the development of Hebrew religi
ous thought becomes more than a mere phrase or a
metaphor; it shows a tendency to become personi
fied, as though it had an independent being, though
at the same time always identical with the divine
Power Himself. When in the famous eighth chapter
of the book of Proverbs, celebrating the power of
wisdom, Wisdom is similarly personified (verse 23) :
"Yahweh acquired me [i. e., Wisdom] at the beginning of
his way, before his works of primeval days.
I was set up from the very beginning of the earth when
there were no deeps, 1
I was produced when there were no fountains, 2
I was in honor 3 before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills I was produced,
Before yet he had made the earth.
When he established the heavens, I was there,
When he fixed a circle around the face of the deep. 4
1 Tehomot, the plural of tehom, originally the personification of the
deep, as we have seen.
2 The fountains of the deep which feed the streams and rivers. See
the illustration, Fig. I, in Schiaparelli s Astronomy in the Old Testament.
3 Conjectural emendation of the Hebrew text, suggested by the par
allelism.
4 Tehom, as above.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 125
When he gave a bound to the sea,
Beyond which its waters were not to pass;
When he appointed the foundations of the earth,
I was by him constantly,
His daily delight,
Rejoicing before him at all times,"
it is clear that wisdom is here used almost as a syno
nym for the divine Word/ which naturally is the
word of Wisdom. The description given of Crea
tion may be regarded as a poetical paraphrase of
the account of Creation in Genesis. It is based on
this account, and Wisdom thus associated with every
phase of the work of creation, existing even before
primeval chaos, is the spirit of God Himself "brood
ing over the waters," as well as the divine Word
through which everything is created. The three
terms, God, Word, and Wisdom, are almost iden
tical. Word and Wisdom become theological con
cepts, endeavours to picture the workings of a Power
conceived entirely as a spiritual force. This per
sonification of wisdom as the companion of God in
the work of creation, the medium through which
the Divine transforms His desires into actions, is re
flected in the twenty-eighth chapter of Job 1 to
which a reference has already been made. After
describing the hopeless search of man for wisdom
not to be found in the sea nor in the depths nor
1 Above, p. 107. The chapter has no connection with the book of Job,
and is only loosely related to the problem with which the book deals.
It is an independent composition, a fragment perhaps of a larger dis
quisition on wisdom, closely allied to the eighth and ninth chapters of
Proverbs. We must, however, be grateful to the editor who inserted
the chapter on Job, and thus preserved for us one of the gems of ancient
Hebrew literature.
126 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
in the hidden recesses of the mountains to which
man penetrates in search of gold and precious stones
the poet in a sublime height of rapture exclaims:
"When he fixed a bound to the rain,
And a path for the flash of the thunder,
Then he saw and celebrated her.
He established and searched her out,
And said to man:
Behold the fear of the Lord is Wisdom 1
Removing from evil Understanding. "
Concomitant, therefore, with the minimising of myth
in the development of Hebrew views of Creation,
we have the process which leads to the personifica
tion of the Word of God more specifically pic
tured as Wisdom* as the associate of the Deity
in the work of creation. The further growth of
this personification of the Word or of divine Wis
dom leads to the famous doctrine of the Logos or
Word as set forth in the writings of Philo of Al
exandria and which finds its reflection in the open
ing words of the Gospel of John that so succinctly
and admirably sum up the entire process of thought
involved :
"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God
and the Word was God."
A comparison with the chapter from Proverbs,
from which we have quoted, shows the identity of
the Word and Wisdom, for Wisdom (like the
1 Evidently a paraphrase of Prov. 9 : 10:
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy understanding."
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 127
Word ) was in the beginning; she was "with
God" and, as we have seen, was not to be distin
guished from God. God, Word, and Wisdom are
three in one. We thus have, under the influence of
the higher conception of divine government of the
universe as voiced in the utterances of the Hebrew
Prophets, the transformation of the Word of
power and strength such as the word of the
Babylonian and Assyrian gods is, and as the Word
of Yahweh at an earlier stage of the Hebrew religion
was to the Word of wisdom, the Word that
is Wisdom ; and along with this transformation
the personification of the Word, suggested in the
Genesis account of Creation and receiving its theo
logical formula in John s definition of the Logos.
The minimising of myth practically to the ex
tent of a complete elimination and the enthrone
ment of the divine command, leading by a natural
process to the personification of the Word of
God, are the two features in the account of the five
days of Creation that suffice to show the wide and
complete departure of Hebrew traditions from their
Babylonian counterparts; and it will, I think, be
admitted that the departure is of more significance
than the fact of the common possession of a nature-
myth with which both Hebrews and Babylonians
started out and which is still apparent in the ac
count in Genesis despite its complete transforma
tion.
128 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
VIII
It is in the work of the sixth day, however, that
the biblical narrative rises to its greatest height, in
its account of the creation of man endowed from
the very beginning with the spirit of the divine
Creator. A greater contrast between the statement
in the impressive Hebrew narrative of the creation
of man in the image of God, as against the Baby
lonian view of man s being created for the sake of
the gods, to provide temples and worshippers for
them, can hardly be imagined. The difference be
tween the two points of view represents the wide
gap between the materialistic conception of the gods
as powers of nature, who by virtue of their power
exercise control and who in return demand homage
and tribute just as an earthly ruler does, as the
means of securing favour and grace, and on the
other hand the conception of a Power expressed
in spiritual terms who is the ultimate source of all
life and who gives to man his special place in nature
by imbuing him with an element directly taken
from the divine source of all life.
In the somewhat modified form given by Berosus
of the creation of both man and animals through
the mixture of the earth with the blood of the god
Bel, 1 who had asked one of the gods to cut off his
1 I. e., as will be recalled, originally the god Enlil, of Nippur, whose
traits are transferred to Marduk, who becomes the "Bel," or "lord,"
of the Babylonian pantheon.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 129
head, there is, to be sure as has been pointed out 1
a suggestion of the thought that human life, as
also animal life, contains the same essence as that
attributed to the gods, but the suggestion stops with
the very primitive notions associated with blood as
the source of life. The Babylonians were unable
to conceive of life, as manifested in man and in
animals, without blood, and accordingly this con
ception of blood as the essence of life was trans
ferred to the gods.
In the second biblical version there is still a trace
of the earlier materialism in the manner in which
Yahweh Elohim is represented as taking the dust
of the ground and breathing the breath of life into
the nostrils, in consequence of which man became
"a living soul." It is hardly open to question that
in the narrative of the first chapter of Genesis all
traces of any materialistic aspect have been inten
tionally removed, or, as we ought rather to put it,
the religious thought reflected in this chapter has
advanced to such a point as instinctively to revolt
against the merest suggestion of the divine Power
of the universe working after the manner of man,
just as the entire narrative endeavours to avoid
any suggestion of an anthropomorphic conception
of the Deity. It was not necessary for the com
piler to specify or even to make perfectly clear to
himself what he meant by the phrase "in the
image of God," any more than it was necessary or
perhaps possible definitely to indicate the thought
1 Above, p. 85.
130 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
in mind in describing the spirit of Elohim as "brood
ing over the face of the waters." What he wishes
to bring out is the special position occupied by man
in the world and to account for man s wonderful
power in making nature subservient to him, in suc
cessfully combating the hostile elements of nature,
in rearing great civilisations to account for his
achievements in art and literature, in government
and in thought. The aim of the compiler was to
explain all this through the infusion of the divine
spirit into man at the time of the creation of the
first human pair. The image of God" was chosen
as the most appropriate phrase to express the idea
that there was reflected in man the spirit of the
divine, just as the "Word" of God, or "Wisdom,"
came to be chosen as the term to convey a picture
of divine action.
To sum up, therefore: the biblical narratives of
Creation in both versions that have come down to
us reflect the advanced stage to which Hebrew
thought was brought through the rise of ethical
monotheism, and represent in consequence a wide
departure from Babylonian traditions, which even
in their most developed and latest form remain on
the level of nature-myths and are clogged through
the materialistic view taken of the powers of the
gods. The points of resemblance between the He
brew and the Babylonian traditions of Creation in
dicate that Hebrew thought at one time occupied the
same level as that on which Babylonian civilisation,
even at its climax, continued to stand. Accept-
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 131
ing these points of resemblance as indications that
Hebrew and Babylonian traditions revert to a com
mon source, and that through the direct contact
between the two peoples at an early period even
the shape taken by the tradition in Babylonia in
fluenced in a considerable measure the Hebrew forms
of the narrative, we are, it seems to me, by virtue
of this admission, in a far better position to esti
mate at its real and full value the sublime height
to which particularly the biblical version in the first
chapter of Genesis rises. To treat this version in
cold, prosaic fashion as a quasi-scientific story of
evolution is to close our eyes to its beauty as a
poetic production and to the depths of religious
and ethical thought which it reveals. I have no
sympathy with the efforts to force the order of
Creation in the biblical narrative into accord with
the results and dicta of modern science. Such at
tempts necessarily involve forcing the phraseology
of the Hebrew original and reading views into the
text for which there is no warrant; and even then
the attempt fails. In my opinion, it is an injustice
to the aim and spirit of the narrative to look at it
from the point of view of modern science. It is a
religious document, an ethical parable; and science
is not religion. In its proper setting, the biblical
narrative conveys a picture of a spiritual Power pre
siding over the government of the universe one
that for poetic impressiveness and depth of religious
thought maintains its unique place. We must look
upon the narrative as an expression of the peculiar
132 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
type of monotheism, saturated with ethical ideals,
which resulted from the teachings of the Prophets.
Our thought should be directed to the picture of the
one great Power bringing the universe into being
by His Word and placing in nature, as the crown
ing point of Creation, man imbued with a portion
of the same divine spirit. Viewed in this light, such
questions as are sometimes raised as to the signifi
cance of the six days of Creation appear trivial,
and the attempt to convert the six days into periods
trite. We ought to recognise once for all that the
creation of the world in six days, or even six periods,
rests on views that are not compatible with modern
geology and biology, which start from entirely dif
ferent points of view. The six days have no more
real significance than the seven tablets which com
prise the main Babylonian version of Creation. By
adding to the six days the seventh as the day of
rest, we obtain a complete correspondence in num
bers between the Hebrew and the Babylonian nar
rative, and we have plenty of evidence to show
that Hebrews and Babylonians shared the view
which gave to the number seven a sacred signifi
cance. 1 It is, however, of importance to note that,
in place of a seventh day corresponding to the sev
enth tablet in the main Babylonian version, we have
attached to the biblical narrative, as its symbol of
the sacredness of the number seven, the institution
of a day of rest, to be celebrated every seventh day,
1 See Hehn, Siebenzahl und Sabbat, for many illustrations among both
peoples.
ACCOUNTS OF CREATION 133
and which constitutes one of the chief contributions
of the Hebrews to the religious treasury of mankind.
In the opening verses of the second chapter of Gen
esis this institution is directly carried back to the
example set by the Deity in sanctifying the seventh
day as one set apart from the balance of the week.
The manifest purpose in thus attaching the Sab
bath to the work of creation is to justify the im
portance that it acquired in the religious life of the
Hebrews, more particularly in the postexilic period.
The significance of the Sabbath itself, and the
reason why it rose to such importance, together
with the consideration of a possible relationship to
a corresponding Babylonian institution, will form
the subject of our next chapter.
CHAPTER III
THE HEBREW AND THE BABYLONIAN SABBATH
AMONG the problems directly created through the
discovery of the cuneiform records of Babylon and
Assyria, one of the most important, and at the same
time one of the most intricate, is the question
whether the Babylonians had an institution that
may be compared to the Sabbath of the Hebrews,
which up to within a short time ago was regarded
as an absolutely unique contribution of the He
brews to the religious thought and the religious insti
tutions of mankind. The problem began with the
discovery of an equation in a cuneiform text 1 fur
nishing in parallel columns synonyms or explana
tions of certain terms as follows :
um nukh libbi= shabattum,
which, literally translated, would be
"Day of rest of the heart" = shabattum.
At first sight, this would seem to indicate beyond
any possibility of doubt that the Babylonians rec-
1 II Rawlinson, PI. 32, Nr I, 16 = Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian
Tablets, etc., in the British Museum, Part XVIII, PI. 23, 17 (K. 4397).
134
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 135
ognised a day of rest, and that they called this
day by a term which certainly suggested the He
brew Sabbath. There was, to be sure, an element
of doubt as to the observance of a "day of rest"
in Babylonia or Assyria, owing to the fact that the
term shabattum, or Sabbath, had not been found
in any literary or religious text, but only on a tab
let of a purely lexicographical character, and that
numerous business documents of all periods showed
that at no time was the seventh day singled out
as one on which the ordinary activities of life were
interrupted. Yet the force of this objection was
weakened by the consideration that the lexico
graphical tablet contained other terms, such as um
bubbuli, a designation for the end of the month;
um nubatti, explained as "a day of distress" which
had been found in religious and other texts, so that
it was a fair inference to assume that the term sha
battum belonged to the religious nomenclature of the
language. In addition to this passage in the lexi
cographical tablet, a cuneiform text had also been
published, 1 from which it appeared that the seventh,
fourteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-eighth days of
the month had a peculiar significance. To be sure,
the tablet showed that the nineteenth day had the
same character, and, furthermore, that certain pre
cautions against eating food cooked over a fire,
against riding in a chariot, against putting on fes
tive garments, and the like, were prescribed merely
for the king. Little importance was at first at-
1 IV Rawlinson, 2<d ed., PI. 32-33.
136 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
tached to this limitation by scholars, 1 who were
naturally carried away with astonishment upon
finding even a partial parallel to the Hebrew Sab
bath. It was assumed that, while in the text in
question the special significance of the five days was
limited to a particular month, namely, to one in
tercalated after the sixth month, the restrictions
would hold good for the same days in the other
months of the year, the general designation of such
days being in Babylonian terminology umu limnu,
that is, "evil day" or "unlucky day."
Scientific research is full of illustrations of the
danger of judging from appearances only. The
comparison between the Babylonian shabattum
and the Hebrew Sabbath turned out to be a most
significant instance. As more religious texts from
the great royal library of Nineveh were published,
it was found that the term "day of rest of the
heart" was of frequent occurrence and, curiously
enough, appeared, not in connection with a day of
cessation of labour, but in appeals to an angered
deity to whom a penitent worshipper who had felt
the severity of the divine wrath poured out his
grief and voiced his hope for a return of divine grace.
This hope was commonly expressed by the phrase
"May thy heart be at rest; may thy liver be as
suaged," heart and liver being the two organs in
which, as we know, the Babylonians and Assyrians,
and, indeed, the Hebrews and other ancient peo-
1 See the first thorough discussion of the question by Lotz, Qiusstiones
de Historia Sabbati (Leipzig, 1883).
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 137
pies, at one time placed the seat of the intellect and
the seat of life, respectively. 1 It followed that the
"rest of the heart" meant the pacification of the
mind or spirit and that the "quieting of the liver"
was to all practical purposes a synonym; or, if any
actual differentiation between the two phrases was
intended, the resting of the heart would indicate
the change of a mental disposition from a disturbed
to a quiet, and therefore to a favourable state, and
the pacification of the liver to a calming of the emo
tions. In this way the supposition that the Baby
lonians had a day of rest appeared to be completely
shattered. The day of rest of the heart was sim
ply a technical term for a day of pacification, that
is to say, one on which it was hoped that the an
gered deity would cease from manifesting his dis
pleasure.
There remained, however, the term shabattum,
which certainly suggested a connection with the
Hebrew Sabbath. In fact, the identity of the two
terms could hardly be denied, though there was a
slight variation of a grammatical nature, which need
not detain us here. Suffice it to call attention to
the fact that we have in Hebrew, besides the term
shabbath, another term shabbathon, which corre
sponds more closely to the Babylonian shabattum.
Shabbathon is ordinarily regarded as an intensive
form of the word for Sabbath, indicating a Sabbath
of special significance, but I venture to think that
1 See the writer s article on "The Liver as the Seat of the Soul," in
Studies in the History of Religions Presented to C. H. Toy, pp. 143-168
(New York, 1912).
138 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
it is merely an adjectival formation having the force
of "sabbatical" or " Sabbath-like." We shall have
occasion to come back to this point later on. For a
long time scholars continued to be puzzled by the
Babylonian term, and the camps were divided be
tween those who still clung to the thesis that the
existence of the term pointed to a Sabbath insti
tution among the Babylonians, and those who either
proposed a different reading of the signs, such as
shapattum, 1 or who believed that the resemblance
was merely accidental.
Another lexicographical tablet published about
nine years ago by Mr. T. G. Pinches 2 furnished a
satisfactory solution to the difficulty. In a list
giving the specific names attached to certain days
of the month, such as the first, ninth, tenth, etc.,
it was found that the fifteenth day of the month
was designated by this very term shabattum. The
conclusion was obvious that among the Babylo
nians, the term corresponding to Sabbath simply
meant the period of full moon. From other sources
1 Many of the cuneiform characters have this double value, either
with a hard or a middle sound of the palatals, labials, or dentals, as e. g.,
uk or ug, pal or bal, ta or da, etc.
2 Proc. Soc. Bibl. Archaeology, 1904, pp. 51-56. Various days of the
month were entered in this list with their special names, e. g., the ninth
day as tilti ; the tenth day as esherti ; the nineteenth day as ibbu, "clear" ;
the twenty-fifth as arkhu Til(la), etc. We find also designations, as urn
bubbuli for the day of the disappearance of the moon at the end of the
month; shulum for "unlucky day"; rimku and takiltu for "purification"
days; isinnu, "festival"; akitu, "New Year s Day"; eshsheshu and um
arkhi for the day of the new-moon. The purpose of the list, prepared
as an exercise for the pupils of the temple school, evidently was to group
together the technical terms connected with ritualistic and ceremonial
observances for special days of the month a kind of commentary to a
religious calendar.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 139
we knew that the underlying verb, shabdtu, was a
synonym of gamaru, meaning "to complete." Sha-
battum was, therefore, a designation of the time
when the moon reached its full or complete size,
or, to put it more scientifically, when moon and sun
were in opposition, and the full outlines of the moon
were illuminated by the sun s rays. It was ob
viously the day marking the middle of the month
that was described as an um nukh libbi. Now what
significance had Babylonians and Assyrians at
tached to the period of full moon that made the
middle of the month a day of pacification of divine
anger? The answer to this question is furnished by
the astrological literature of Babylonia and As
syria, which forms a large section of the tablets
of the royal library of Nineveh. The serious study
of these astrological texts did not begin until a few
years ago, and at the present time forms one of
the most active branches of Assyriology. 1
It turns out that the Babylonians and Assyrians
had three chief forms of divination, or, as we may
put it, the priests developed three elaborate meth
ods of determining what the gods, to whom all
events were ascribed, had in mind and were pro
posing to carry out. The first and probably the
oldest of these forms was divination through the
inspection of the liver of a sacrificial animal, based
on the theory that the liver was the seat of the
1 See the survey of this literature in the author s Religion Babyloniens
und Assyriens, II, pp. 415-457, and copious translations of astrological
reports, and from the collections of astrological omens (moon, sun, the
five planets and stars, and constellations), ib., pp. 457-748.
140 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
soul, that is, of the mind and of the emotions com
bined, and that in the case of an animal devoted
to a deity and accepted by the latter, the liver of
the animal in question became, as it were, identical
with the liver or soul of the god, so that the care
ful inspection of the liver furnished a tangible means
of noting the disposition of the god. Strange and
even absurd as such a notion may appear to us,
the system not only continued its strong hold upon
the people of the Euphrates for thousands of years,
but passed on to other nations, to the Etruscans,
to the Greeks, and to the Romans, perhaps also
to Eastern nations, and survives among primitive
peoples to the present time. 1 Even Plato, the great
philosopher, was not prepared to throw this method
of divination aside entirely, and in describing it he
makes use of a metaphor which admirably describes
the fundamental principle of the system. In a pas
sage in one of his dialogues 2 he speaks of the liver
of the sacrificial animal as a mirror in which the
image of the gods is reflected. According to pecul
iar signs observed in the liver, the state and size
of the lobes, the formation of the gall-bladder and
the gall-ducts, the surface traces of which are par
ticularly striking in the case of the liver of a freshly
slaughtered sheep which was the common animal
of sacrifice in Babylon and Assyria, certain conclu
sions were drawn as to coming events, based on the
1 See the author s paper on "The Liver as the Seat of the Soul,"
above referred to, p. 137, and also copious translations of liver-omens in
Jastrow, Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens, II, pp. 227-411, and pp.
214-219 for the spread of hepatoscopy to other nations.
2 Timseus, 71.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 141
two chief principles of divination: (i) association
of ideas, and (2) observation of events that actually
followed shortly after the inspection of a liver for
purposes of divination.
A second form of divination, more scientific in
character and which was likewise developed into an
elaborate system, consisted in observing the move
ments of the heavens; while a third system was
based upon observing peculiarities and signs in the
young of animals and in infants, at the time . of
birth. In regard to this third system, it is sufficient
for our purpose here to indicate that the underlying
theory was a natural importance attached to de
viations from the normal in the case of animals and
infants, any unusual phenomenon portending by a
natural association of ideas some unusual event that
was being planned by the gods. The moment of
birth was selected as significant because of the mys
tery attaching to the appearance so strange and so
striking of a young life issuing from another life. 1
Of these three methods of divination, the second,
through the observation of the movements of the
heavenly bodies, is the most impressive, 2 and there
1 For, a full discussion of this third system, traces of its spread to other
nations, and the part it played in giving rise to the belief in monsters,
sent, as the name indicates, as "signs" to give warning of portending
disaster, see the writer s monograph, Babylonian-Assyrian Birth-Omens
(Religions geschichtliche Fersuche und Forarbeiten, ed. Dietrich und
Wunsch, vol. XIV, No. 5). Copious specimens of Babylonian-Assyrian
birth-omens, both official reports and extracts from the omen collec
tions of the priests, will be found also in Jastrow, Religion Babyloniens
und Assyriens, II, pp. 837-931.
2 See, further, the chapter on "Astrology," in the author s Aspects of
Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 207-264 (New York,
1911).
142 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
are good reasons why astrology should still retain
its hold among so many people, even among the
intelligent classes at the present time. The direct
influence of the sun and moon on human affairs
and on conditions existing on our planet were as ob
vious to ancient peoples as they are to us. An ag
ricultural community is dependent primarily upon
the sun. The phenomenon of vegetation through
the sun s rays, after the storms and rains of the
winter season have passed, is sufficiently mysteri
ous to have led to sun-worship everywhere through
out antiquity. To a people living in an earlier
stage of culture than that represented by tilling the
soil, the movements of the moon were of great im
portance. Its regular phases formed a means of
calculating time. Nomads living in southern climes
are guided in their wanderings, which during the
great portion of the year take place at night rather
than in the daytime, by the moon. As civilisation
advanced and observation became more exact, it
was noted that other bodies in the heavens change
their position in the course of the year. It was
natural, therefore, in addition to personifying the
sun and moon as gods, to regard the planets or
wandering stars likewise as deities; and if the planets
were gods there was no reason why all the other
stars should not also be looked upon as divine beings.
Naturally, a step of this kind was not taken until
the Babylonians had passed far beyond the primi
tive stage of culture; and we find, as a matter of
fact, that in its higher stages animism, by which
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 143
is meant the personification of the powers of na
ture, led the Babylonian and Assyrian priests to
place the entire sphere of divine activity in the
heavens. In other words, there developed in the
course of time in the Euphrates Valley what may
be called an astral theology, which not only recog
nised the heavens as the seat of the activity of the
gods and goddesses, but which coloured the entire
religious thought and impressed itself on the cult.
Deities that were originally personifications of nat
ural powers which had nothing to do with the stars
were identified with heavenly bodies. So, for ex
ample, the leading goddess of Babylonia, appear
ing under various names, chief of which were Nana
and Ishtar, and who was essentially a goddess of
vegetation, symbolising the power of the earth, was
identified with the planet Venus. The god Mar-
duk, the head of the Babylonian pantheon, origi
nally the personification of the sun, was identified
with the planet Jupiter, merely because Jupiter was
the most prominent of the planets and because the
sun itself had become associated with another god,
Shamash a term which became generic for the sun
in general. With the sun, moon, planets, stars, and
constellations thus identified as gods and goddesses,
a rational basis for astrology was obtained. Ninib,
the old solar deity of Nippur who continued to hold
a rank next to Marduk, was associated with Saturn,
only some degrees less prominent in the heavens
than Jupiter. Nebo, as the son of Marduk, was,
in consequence of this association, identified with
144 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
the smallest of the planets, Mercury; and Nergal,
the sun-god of midsummer, bringing pestilence and
death in its wake, was identified with the "un
lucky" planet Mars. It will thus appear that three
of the planets were originally sun deities, and no
doubt this original character of Marduk, Ninib, and
Nergal had something to do with their being pro
jected on the heavens smaller suns as it were by
the side of the sun-god par excellence, Shamash. 1
By a further association of ideas, the movements of
the heavens were explained as the activity of the
gods preparing the events on earth. Hence the
great importance of observing this heavenly activ
ity as an absolutely certain means of finding out a
little beforehand what was going to happen. Baby
lonian-Assyrian astrology thus rested on a sup
posed correspondence between heaven and earth,
and by virtue of this basis was given a quasi-scien
tific character which removed it from the sphere
of pure caprice or of mere idle fancy. Astrology
when it made its appearance reflected the science
of the day and not, like hepatoscopy (i. e., liver
divination), the popular beliefs. This relatively
higher character of divination through the heav
enly bodies must be taken into account in explain
ing the coalition of astrology and astronomy through
the Middle Ages, and its persistence even to the
present day, though it has now become a popular
superstition without even quasi-scientific warrant.
1 Saturn, in fact, is frequently designated in astrological texts as "the
star of Shamash" its satellite, so to speak. See Jastrow, Aspects of
Belief, etc., p. 223.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 145
The night-time being the period when the activ
ity of the gods in heaven could be observed, the
moon became by a natural process the most impor
tant factor in astrology, indicated by the fact that
in the enumeration of the gods, the moon-god, called
Sin, invariably takes precedence over the sun-god,
Shamash.
II
We need not stop here to discuss the details of
the astrological system unfolded by the Babylonian
priests, and which passing to the Greeks formed
the basis for mediaeval astrology, as well as for such
phases of it as still survive to the present time.
Suffice it to say that here also the same funda
mental principles that hold good for other systems of
divination may be observed: the association of ideas
in connection with certain phenomena and the ob
servation of events that actually followed upon cer
tain combinations of heavenly bodies, or upon pe
culiar phenomena noticed in the moon or in one of
the planets. Now, in the observation of the moon
there were three periods to which special signifi
cance was attached: (a) the appearance of the new
moon or conjunction of moon and sun, (b) the op
position of the sun and moon, or full moon, and (c)
the disappearance of the moon for a few days at
the end of the month. These three periods marked
the transition from one stage to another, and it is
an observation to be noted in the case of religions
and religious rites everywhere, that periods of trans-
146 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
ition were imbued with special significance. So the
transition in nature from winter to spring, from
summer to winter, was a period fraught with special
significance. It is not an accident, but a direct re
sult of this importance attached to times of transi
tion, that the chief festivals of all religions are coin
cident with the time of transition of one season to
another. In this way we have as the midwinter
festival, the Saturnalia of the Romans, the Han-
nukah festival of the Jews, the Yule-tide of the
Teutons, and the Christmas week all falling at
the time of the winter solstice. Spring, summer,
and harvest festivals are likewise coincident with
holy days in practically all religions, though by a
more or less arbitrary connection of the nature fes
tivals with real or traditional events in the history
of a people or in the life of the founders of the
great historical religions Judaism, Buddhism, Zo-
roastrianism, Islamism, and Christianity the origi
nal character of these festivals becomes partially
obscured through this superimposed layer. By the
same process the "transition" periods in the life of
the individual birth, puberty, marriage, and death
become the occasion for official or unofficial ob
servances and ceremonies 1 that have their modern
representatives in baptism (or in some other rite of
initiation such as circumcision), confirmation, the
marriage ceremony, and the funeral rites of Judaism,
Christianity, and Islamism.
1 See Van Gennep, Rites de Passage (Paris, 1909), for copious illustra
tions of these customs among all peoples.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 147
Periods of transition are naturally associated also
with a certain element of uncertainty. Such a pe
riod marked the end, as it were, of one era and the
beginning of a new one. The coming of something
new turns men s thought to the future unknown
and mysterious. One could never be certain what
the future had in store, and there is in festivals
celebrated at periods of transition an undercurrent
of anxiety and uncertainty, often disguised under
an artificial jollification, partly with the view of
throwing off more sombre thoughts, and partly in
the hope that the joy might become a symbol of
what the future had in store. 1 In the case of the
moon, it was natural that this element of uncer
tainty would have a special force at the end of the
month, when the moon entirely disappears. Myths
represented this disappearance of the moon as the
capture of the moon by hostile powers. The mo
ment of reappearance could not be calculated by
a people devoid of exact science, and when the re
appearance was delayed, a feeling of terror ensued
lest the moon might not be released. Great was
the rejoicing when at last the thin edge of the new
moon was seen a rejoicing all the deeper if by
some chance the heavens were obscured through
clouds on the night of the expected reappearance,
and the element of uncertainty thus increased. To
this day travellers in the interior of Arabia tell us
1 So the popular custom of masquerading in the fall (All Saints ), or in
the spring (Purim among the Jews), both indulged in at transition
periods, are survivals of the endeavour to deceive the evil spirits that
are supposed to be particularly active and malevolent at these seasons.
148 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
of the joy, the shouting and dancing and clapping
of hands with which the new moon is received by
the nomadic Arabian tribes. 1 In the Jewish church,
likewise, the appearance of the new moon is still
observed as a solemn ceremony, accompanied by a
special benediction on the reappearance of the orb
of night. 2 The young moon increases in power
every night, and the growth was naturally associated
with increase, with prosperity, and with the favour
able disposition of the gods until the full propor
tions are reached, marked by an almost immediate
transition to a period of waning strength and power.
The middle of the month thus became a time only
second in significance to the anxious days at the
end of the month. The astrological texts and the
official reports of the court astrologers are full of
references to the exact time when the moon be
comes full. 3 If this happened at the normal pe
riod, the fourteenth or fifteenth day of the month,
the portent was regarded as favourable. But if,
through the lack of the exact method of calcula
tion, the moon appeared to be full on the thirteenth
or twelfth day, that is, too early, or if, as the ex
pression in the omen texts reads, "the moon was de
layed," and the opposition did not occur until the
sixteenth day, the event was full of ominous signif
icance. The time, therefore, when the moon had
completed its growth was indeed a moment when
1 See, e. g., Doughty, Arabia Desena, I, p. 366; II, p. 305.
2 Dembitz, Jewish Service in Synagogue and Home, p. 152.
3 See the examples in Jastrow, Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens,
II, pp. 466-482.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 149
pacification of the deity was essential to the wel
fare of the people. In this sense the Babylonian
shabattum was "a day of rest of the heart," a day
when the gods were particularly implored to show
themselves merciful and favourable. The descrip
tion or explanation of the term shabattum, with
which we started out, thus characterises the day as
one which had "pacification" as its central theme,
and which expressed the hope that "rest of the
heart" of the gods might be its outcome. We can
well understand that special ceremonies were pre
scribed for the middle of the month, which empha
sised the hope that the opposition would appear
at the right time. If it came too early or too late,
there was all the more reason why the gods, thus
manifesting in an unmistakable manner their dis
pleasure, should be appealed to, that their heart
might be at rest and their liver assuaged the
constant refrain in pacification hymns recited at a
time when from a national catastrophe, or from
some other disastrous occurrence, the conclusion was
drawn that some god had been offended, or that the
gods in general were angry. Attempts would then
naturally be made to pacify them.
Now it must be frankly admitted that up to the
present time we have not found any direct refer
ence to pacification ceremonies at the time of the
full-moon, but the significance attached in astrolog
ical texts to the period of opposition justifies us in
assuming that such ceremonies actually existed, and
it is significant that in the text to which I referred
150 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
at the beginning of this chapter, the fourteenth day
appears among the days marked as evil or unlucky.
The same is the case in another text at our dis
posal, in which the lucky and unlucky days for the
whole year are noted. 1 In all cases the middle of
the month appears as unlucky or uncertain, because
marking a period of transition. This phenomenon
of lucky and unlucky days is common to other
religions of antiquity, such as the Egyptian and
the Roman, 2 where likewise we have elaborate lists
indicating days that are favourable and days that
are unfavourable, and I need only remind you of
the fact that in the Roman calendar the ides (i. e.,
the middle) of every month was an inauspicious
occasion. "Beware the ides of March," says the
soothsayer to Julius Caesar. The historical annals
of Assyrian rulers are likewise full of references to
favourable and unfavourable days. If a corner
stone was to be laid, or an important expedition
planned, or any undertaking to be inaugurated, the
kings tell us that through the &#n2-priests, as the
diviners were called, 3 a favourable day for the en
terprise was selected. Naturally, the middle of
the month, or the shabattum, was not the only
period marked as unfavourable. The second phase
of the moon, or the seventh day, when the moon
1 V. Rawlinson, PI. 48-49.
2 See, for the Egyptians, Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians,
pp. 262 seq.; for the Romans, Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Romer,
PP- 365-376.
3 Bdru means "seer," but in the sense of looking at something, "in
specting" a liver, observing a phenomenon in the heavens, or noting
a birth sign as a means of forecasting the future.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 151
was half full, and the fourth phase, or the twenty-
first day, the time of the last quarter, also marked
transitions though not specially noted in the as
trologers reports. In this way we can account for
the fact that in the calendar for the intercalated
sixth month 1 the first, seventh, fourteenth, and
twenty-eighth days were all marked as ume limnuti,
or "evil days," on which the king as the represent
ative of the gods, and therefore closer to them,
had to observe certain restrictions in order not to
arouse their anger, and through ceremonies at the
end of the day to insure their pacification. This
special position occupied by the kings is well known
to us from customs found throughout antiquity.
Mr. J. G. Frazer, in his admirable work on "The
Early History of Kingship/ furnishes numerous in
stances of this divine or semi-divine character of
the kings that hedges them in, because on the
equable relations between the king and the gods
the welfare of the entire community depended.
Everywhere throughout antiquity the kings are
therefore obliged to exercise special precautions
so as not to arouse the displeasure or anger of the
gods. Taboos of all kinds were prescribed, some
perpetual, to be observed at all times, others tem
porary, limited to specific or to regular occasions.
It was to the king that the gods stood in a pecul
iar relation, as, on the other hand, the welfare of
the individual, according to the ancient view, was
closely bound up in that of the community. The
1 See above, p. 135.
152 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
omens and portents in the divination texts of Baby
lonia and Assyria therefore bear upon public wel
fare, on crops, on famine, on pestilence, on war,
victory, and defeat. A significant event happen
ing to an individual was supposed to be a sign of
importance for the whole community sent by the
gods as a warning to all, and not merely to the
individual to whom it happened. To be sure, there
was also room in the Babylonian religion for the
special needs and hopes of the individual, but in
general it may be said that the gods were supposed
to concern themselves with the people as a whole.
If an exception is made for the king and the mem
bers of the royal family, it was due to the peculiar
position held by the rulers in their official, rather
than in their individual, capacity.
Our investigation up to this point would seem
to show therefore that the Babylonians and As
syrians had a shabattum or Sabbath, which marked
the middle of the month as a period of impending
change from the full power of the moon to the be
ginning of the decrease, and which, as a period of
transition, was fraught with special significance, with
an element of uncertainty and dread, because the
moon was approaching the period of decline and
ultimate disappearance. It may be said that from
this point of view the entire second half of the
month should have been regarded as an anxious
period, during which it was particularly impor
tant to do nothing that might rouse the displeasure
of the gods; and this may well have been the case,
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 153
but the more specific time of transition had a spe
cial import. If the transition passed without any
unfavourable sign, there was a feeling of compara
tive reassurance that all would be well.
Furthermore, we may conclude that the restrict
ive rites ordained for the king at the middle of the
month are to be viewed as precautions. If he is
not to ride in his chariot, it is not because the four
teenth day was a day of rest from labour, but be
cause it was dangerous to show himself in public
on that day; and if he is not to eat meat cooked
by the fire, it is because the fire as a sacred element
should not be handled indiscriminately at a time
when it might become an element of danger to the
entire community. Similarly, if he is not to put
on festive garments or to proceed on an expedition
(as the text tells us), it is again because the day
was not a favourable one for a display of joy or
of power. The Babylonians and Assyrians felt
deeply that unless the gods co-operated no human
undertaking could be successful. With this result
we must rest content until further texts throw addi
tional light upon the Babylonian Sabbath.
Ill
Has this Babylonian shabattum any bearing on the
Sabbath institution of the Hebrews ? To this ques
tion I believe an affirmative answer must be given,
although it will be found that here, also, the special
line of development of religious thought among the
154 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
Hebrews led to entirely original points of view, so
that, despite certain elements of the Hebrew Sab
bath which may be associated with the Babylonian
shabattum, the Hebrew Sabbath is an expression of
religious ideas and of a conception of divine gov
ernment utterly distinct from that which we find
in the religion of Babylonia and Assyria. Even
those who are not disposed to accept any relation
ship whatsoever between the Babylonian shabat
tum and the Hebrew Sabbath must admit that the
occurrence of a term in Babylonia that forms a
practical equivalent to the designation of the He
brew institution calls for an explanation, for the
supposition of an accidental coincidence may be
dismissed without further argument.
We have seen that the Babylonian shabattum
stands in direct relation to the significance attached
to the phases of the moon in astrology. In view of
this, it is not without import that in the biblical
books new-moon and Sabbath are frequently asso
ciated with each other. When the child of the Shu-
nammite woman 1 is taken sick the wife calls upon
the husband to let her have one of the young men
and one of the asses, in order that she may run to
the "man of God." Her husband in astonishment
answers: "Wherefore wilt thou go to him to-day?
It is neither new-moon or sabbath" a distinct
implication of a close association between these two
periods on which it must have been customary to
consult "men of God," that is, diviners through
1 II Kings 4 : 23.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 155
whom an oracle might be secured or an answer to
some question obtained.
In the prophetical books, likewise, we find new-
moon and Sabbath closely associated. Isaiah, 1 in
denouncing the bringing of offerings by those who
regarded worship as giving them the privilege of
doing shameful deeds, declares: "Bring no more
vain oblations, incense is an abomination unto me.
New-moon and sabbath, calling an assembly go,
I cannot bear iniquity with solemn convocation."
The Prophet Amos 2 in describing the greed of the
people for gain represents them as saying: "When
may the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain,
and the sabbath, that we may open wheat?"
In addition we have at least one passage in one
of the Pentateuchal Codes which appears to con
tain as a survival the use of the word Sabbath as a
designation for the middle of the month, precisely
therefore as the Babylonian shabattum. In the
twenty-third chapter of Leviticus, forming part of
what is known as the Holiness Code, among the reg
ulations for the so-called Feast of Weeks (shebu dth),
it is stated that this feast begins on the fiftieth day
after the beginning of the Passover festival. Now
the Passover festival falls on the fifteenth day of
Nisan, that is, the first month. When therefore
it is said (vs. 15): "And you shall count from the
morrow after the sabbath . . . seven complete sab-
1 Isa. i : 13; cf. also 66 : 23.
2 Amos 8:5. See also Hosea 2:13, and Ezek. 46 : 2. In the latter
passage the ordinance reads that the inner eastern gate shall be open on
the Sabbath and on the day of new-moon, but otherwise is to be closed.
156 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
baths shall there be," the simplest explanation for
this passage, which has occasioned considerable diffi
culty to commentators, is that the fifteenth day,
or the middle of the month, is here actually desig
nated by the term "sabbath." I cannot stop to
consider this interesting passage in detail, 1 but it
may be proper to point out that all the Penta-
teuchal Codes show traces of considerable editing,
and that every series of regulations can be analysed
into older and later component parts. In the very
passage in question the expression "the morrow after
the Sabbath" belongs to an older stratum than
the addition "seven sabbaths shalt thou complete,"
where the word Sabbath is clearly used in the very
general sense of "week." In this transition in mean
ing from the use of a term designating the middle
of the month to the designation of a week of seven
days 2 there lies, however, the whole history of the
Hebrew institution. We are fortunately in a po
sition to follow this history, at least along its main
lines, though naturally when we try to reconstruct
it from its beginnings we cannot expect to find more
1 See the details in an article by the writer, "The Morrow After the
Sabbath," in the American Journal of Semitic Languages, vol. XXIX,
No. 3.
2 We thus have no less than four distinct uses of the term sabbath in
Hebrew: (i) the sacred occasion celebrated every seventh day, (2)
"week," (3) middle of the month, (4) a designation of certain festival
days as "Sabbath," namely, the first day of the harvest festival, i.e.,
the fifteenth day of the seventh month a survival of the original appli
cation of Sabbath to the full-moon, and by extension to the eighth day
of the festival because celebrated in like manner as the first day (Lev.
23 : 39). It should be noted that the latter part of verse 39 in which
"sabbath" is applied to the two festival days in question represents an
addition to the verse.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 157
than some traces of the time when ideas were asso
ciated with the Sabbath day of a totally different
character from those which mark the developed
institution.
Up to the present, then, we have encountered
among the Hebrews indications of a close associa
tion between the new-moon and the Sabbath, and
in the second place a survival, though a faint one,
of the application of the term to the middle of the
month, or, if that be not granted, at least an appli
cation different in character from the ordinary con
notation of the term. Proceeding a step further,
it can be shown that among the Hebrews, as among
the Babylonians (and, as we have seen, among prim
itive peoples of antiquity in general), transition pe
riods were fraught with religious significance. It
is surely no accident that the spring festival of the
Pentateuchal Codes, having originally an agricultural
character as marking the ripening of the wheat, 1
and to which an historical import the traditional
Exodus from Egypt was attached, was celebrated,
1 This is the massoth, or festival of "unleavened bread," i. e., eating the
cakes made from the new crop of wheat unleavened in nomadic fashion.
The Pesach, or Paschal festival, marked by the eating of a young lamb,
had nothing to do with the massoth, except for the fact that the spring
time is also the period when the lambs are born. In order to give to the
spring festival a Jewish significance, the "unleavened bread" was ex
plained as due to the haste with which the people were obliged to leave
Egypt without having the time to leaven the dough. Furthermore, by a
play on the word pesach, which means to "leap over," the term was ex
plained as a reminiscence of the special protection vouchsafed the He
brews on the night when the first-born in every Egyptian house was
stricken and the demon of disease "leaped over" (Ex. 12 : 13 and 23)
the houses of the Hebrews, frightened off by the sight of the blood of
the slaughtered lamb that had been sprinkled on the door-posts.
158 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
as we have just seen, at the middle of the month,
on the fifteenth day of the month a shabattum
in the full Babylonian sense. The festival in the
fall, corresponding to the Passover in the spring
and celebrated at the time of the closing of the
harvest of the fruits, was likewise celebrated at
the middle of the month, on the fifteenth day of
Tishri, i. e., the seventh month. 1 To this festival,
likewise, an historical significance was attached. It
was to serve as a reminder of the years of the wan
derings of the Hebrews in the wilderness. But it
is evident that the name of the festival, the Fes
tival of Booths, 2 is rather to be accounted for as
a survival of the perfectly natural custom of the
people actually to dwell in the fields during the
harvest days.
Now, harvest-times cannot be definitely fixed for
any specific day. The spring festival marking the
beginning of the ripening of the early wheat cannot
be narrowed down to a fixed day. A certain leeway
must be allowed according to the more or less fa
vourable weather conditions, and the same is the
case with the harvest festival in the fall. The se
lection of the fifteenth day is evidently directly as
sociated with the significance attached to the middle
of the month rather than based upon observation
that on this day the early and the late harvest ac
tually begins. The period of seven days prescribed
for both the Passover and the Festival of Booths
must, similarly, be directly connected with the third
1 Lev. 23 : 34. 2 In Hebrew, Sukkoth.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 159
phase of the moon, the week of anxiety and uncer
tainty during which the moon is gradually waning
until the last quarter is reached. If this explanation
be adopted, we are further justified in concluding
that this period of the middle of the month had a
significance among the Hebrews, quite independent
of the particular association with the agricultural
conditions prevailing in the first and seventh months
of the year. We may go a step further. One of
the most solemn festivals in the Hebrew calendar,
which has retained this character even up to the pres
ent time among observant Jews, is the celebration
of the New Year on the first day of the seventh
month. It is generally assumed by scholars that
this festival was not actually instituted until after
the period of the exile, but there is every reason to
suppose that the day had a religious import of some
kind before the reconstruction of the Hebrew com
monwealth. The very fact that, as we know, the
Hebrews adopted the Babylonian calendar under
the influence of conditions existing in the exilic pe
riod, and that in this calendar the year begins in
the spring and not in the fall, is a proof of the
antiquity of the celebration of the first day of the
seventh month as one of special import. It may
well be that originally this day was celebrated as
the beginning of the late harvest month so that
there would be a direct association again between
the new-moon and the full-moon periods. We must
not, however, press this point too far, and for the
purpose of our argument it is sufficient to recog-
160 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
nise that the new-moon s day of this particular
month became a most solemn occasion. It may be
well to bear in mind also that the Hebrews, like
the Babylonians, waited anxiously each month for
the appearance of the first edge of the new-moon.
In the Talmudic treatise of Sanhedrin 1 we are told
in detail how each month the court sat in Jerusalem
waiting for messengers to announce that from some
eminence they had actually seen the new-moon with
their own eyes, and it was only upon the assurance
thus given by two eye-witnesses that the beginning
of the month was officially announced. Such a
survival from a period when time was calculated
through direct observation is a most important wit
ness of the significance at one time attached to the
appearance of the new-moon and which, incrusted in
tradition, survived far into the period when among
the Jews, as among other nations, astronomy had
reached a point which made it superfluous to wait
for eye-witnesses in order to ascertain the actual
beginning of the month. Up to the present time
in the orthodox Jewish ritual the new-moon is cel
ebrated as a half-holiday, and there is included in
the prayer-book a special prayer which is to be said
in salutation of the new-moon, and with the face
directed towards the orb of night.
The patient sufferer Job, in declaring his inno
cence and enumerating the things that he did not
do, says that he did not salute the moon "by throw
ing a kiss at it," 2 in allusion, evidently, to a cere-
1 Talmud Babli, Sanhedrin, fol. 102; Rosh ha-Shana, II, 7.
2 Job 31 -,27.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 101
mony of greeting that must have been so common
as to be at once understood despite the rather brief
manner in which it is referred to. There is another
Jewish festival, though of late origin, which is like
wise celebrated in the middle of the month, the one
known as Purim. We cannot stop to consider in
detail this interesting festival, celebrated on the
fourteenth day of Adar (the twelfth month), and
which is described in the late biblical book of Esther. 1
Let me content myself by pointing out that preced
ing the festival of the fifteenth, there is a fast pre
scribed for the day before a distinct indication
again of the anxiety associated with the middle of
the month, followed by a period of rejoicing that
the crisis marked by the beginning of the waning
1 See Professor Paul Haupt s paper on Purim in the Beitrdge zur Assyrio-
logie, vol. VI, No. 2, filled with a wealth of learning and marked by illumi
nating discussions of mooted points, though I cannot agree with all of
Haupt s deductions. Briefly put, Purim, as its foreign name indicates,
is in reality a Persian spring festival, marked by ceremonies symbolical
of the reappearance of the sun of spring-tide, which was adopted by the
Jews, just as they adopted under Roman influences the midwinter festival
of the Romans. To give the foreign festivals a Jewish colouring, events
real or traditional were attached to them; the midwinter festival
was made commemorative of the victory of the Maccabees in the year
160 B. C., while, to account for Purim, an elaborate story was told, in
part based on actual events, how the Jews were saved from a dire de
struction planned by a prime minister of the Persian king through the
intervention of one of their own people, Mordecai. In commemoration
of this escape the festival was instituted, while the fast was explained
as an ordinance prescribed in anticipation of the destruction and in the
hope of securing divine succour, which did not fail to come.- The chief
characters in the book of Esther Mordecai and Esther are purely ficti
tious, the names being adaptations of the Babylonian deities, Marduk
and Ishtar (regarded as the consort of the chief god), and some of the
episodes in which these personages are introduced were suggested by a
Babylonian nature-myth symbolising the triumph of Marduk as the
spring-god in association with Ishtar as the goddess of vegetation, over
the storms of the winter season pictured as an evil counsellor planning
havoc and destruction.
162 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
of the moon had been successfully passed without
any serious consequence.
Enough evidence, I believe, has now been brought
forward to show that transition periods, and more
particularly the first and the middle of the month,
had a special significance for the Hebrews, quite as
much as for the Babylonians. We should therefore
be prepared to find also some traces of the ideas
associated with lucky and with unlucky days. To
begin with the former, we have at least one inter
esting reference to a lucky day. In the first Book
of Samuel, chapter 25, in connection with the story
of David s relations to Nabal, David is represented
as sending his young men to Nabal, who was rich
in flocks, and with insolent assurance asking for a
present, because he and his young men allowed the
shepherds of Nabal to shear the sheep without
pouncing upon them. In sending his message,
David says (vs. 8) : "Let the young men find favour
in thine eyes, for we have come on a good day
(yom tob)." From a mere allusion of this char
acter it might be hazardous to draw large infer
ences, but when we find that this expression, "good
day," is the one still in current use in the Jewish
church for every holiday or festival, it will be ad
mitted that the explanation of the term must be
sought in the significance of the particular day as
a good or lucky one.
As for unlucky days we may point to a custom,
still holding good in orthodox Judaism, according to
which marriages are not to be celebrated during the
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 163
seven weeks intervening between the Passover and
the Festival of Weeks, with the exception of the
thirty-third day. The name given to this thirty-
third day, lag beomer, 1 that is, the thirty-third
day of the "waving" period, shows that it is con
nected with the counting of the seven weeks from
the middle of the first month, when the first sheaf
of wheat is "waved" as an offering to insure the
happy completion of the spring harvest. 2 This
whole period of seven weeks was looked upon as a
time of uncertainty, when it was particularly im
portant to exercise great precaution so as not to of
fend the agricultural gods or spirits who preside over
vegetation. In Frazer s Golden Bough* those who
are interested can find numerous illustrations of the
importance of propitiatory ceremonies to make the
field spirits favourably disposed, more particularly
during the ripening period. The prohibition of
marriage during this period is merely a survival of
other restrictions that must have been enforced
during these weeks. 4
1 See the article under "Omer," in the Jewish Encyclopedia, for a brief
account.
2 See Lev. 23 : n.
3 Third ed., Part V, "Spirit of the Corn and of the Wild," especially
chapters II, III, and V.
4 There is always associated with marriage, both among primitive peo
ples and in the advanced civilisations of antiquity, a feeling of fear lest
the jealousy of evilly disposed demons be aroused to mar the joy of the
occasion. Hence arise all sorts of precautions to avoid this hostility, in
cluding the custom among the Greeks of the bridal pair exchanging clothes
on the wedding-night, the bride masquerading as the husband and the
husband as the bride in order to deceive or to confuse the evil demons.
See Gruppe, Griechische Mythologie und Religions geschichte, p. 903, note 3.
164 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
IV
We are now prepared to take up the question
whether in connection with the Sabbath institution
we can actually find traces among the Hebrews of
a Sabbath day regarded as an inauspicious or, let
us say, as an austere occasion. To answer this
question we must consider briefly the history of the
institution itself. In a former chapter 1 I referred
to the fact that the enactment of the Sabbath is
directly attached, in the Priestly Code, to the work
of creation. That circumstance is, as a matter of
course, significant only as a proof of the sanctity
that the Sabbath had in postexilic days acquired
when the Priestly Code received its present form.
In order to emphasise the sacred character of the
day it is carried back to the beginning of time, and
stamped as an institution to mark the termination
of the divine work of creation. God Himself is repre
sented as setting the example of rest on the seventh
day. Certainly no higher authority could be given
for the observance of the seventh day as a day of
rest and cessation from all labours. Such is evi
dently the thought running in the mind of the
compilers of the Priestly Code. In accord with
this view we find in one version of the Decalogue
(Ex. 20 : n) the Sabbath specifically set down as
an institution to commemorate the completion of
the creation of the world. In this Decalogue, how-
1 Above, pp. 132 seg.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 165
ever, it is generally recognised that the original
form of the ordinance in regard to the Sabbath
read simply, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy/ and that the succeeding verses represent
later additions, specifying the character of the sev
enth day as a day of cessation from all work, indi
cating in detail the inclusion in the ordinance of
all the members of the family, the household, the
cattle, and even the stranger within the gates. As
for the reason assigned for the institution of the
seventh day, it is not without significance that in
the other Decalogue in Deut. 5 there is no refer
ence to creation. The emphasis in this version
is likewise laid upon cessation from labour, with
the same specification of those who are to be in
cluded in the ordinance, with the addition, how
ever, of further details such as "thine ox, thine
ass/ which incidentally furnish the proof that both
in Exodus and Deuteronomy the original law has
been amplified by later layers. 1 In Deuteronomy,
1 Such layers superimposed upon the original form of a law are char
acteristic of all the codes to be distinguished in the Pentateuch. They
represent comments and decisions, explaining and illustrating the appli
cation of the laws. The process which thus led to the steady amplifica
tion of the original ordinances is of the same order as we encounter in
the great compilation of Rabbinical Judaism known as the Talmud,
where a sharp division is made between two sections, (a) the "Mishnah"
furnishing the laws, and (b) the "Gemarah" giving the discussions and
decisions of the Rabbis upon each law. Thus in the case of the Sabbath
law of the Decalogue, the question would naturally be asked, What is
meant by "keeping it holy"? To this the reply is "cessation from all
labour." Further questions would then be put, Does this include all
members of the family? Answer Yes. How about the household out
side of the immediate family of the master of the house ? Yes, the house
hold, too, must rest from all labours. The cattle also? Yes. Should it
include even a stranger, that is, one who does not belong to the tribe or
166 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
moreover, a further emphasis appears to be laid
upon the inclusion of all the servants in the house
hold. "Thy man servant, and thy maid servant/
shall rest, and in connection with this the people
are asked to remember that they were servants in
the land of the Egyptians. The Sabbath thus be
comes an institution in commemoration of the time
of bondage and servitude in the traditional history
of the people. Now the very existence of varying
reasons for the origin of the Sabbath justifies us in
instituting an independent investigation. I do not
deny, as a matter of course, the significance of the
view expressed in the Priestly Code that the idea
of rest is sanctified by the Almighty Himself. That
is a very exalted view, to be looked upon as the
flowering of the Hebrew religion, an impressive ex
pression of the spiritualistic content of the faith
upon which the Prophets had stamped their relig
ious ideals. But while paying our tribute to the
religious value of the doctrine, we must neverthe
less keep ourselves free in an historical investigation
for other and possibly more accurate points of view.
The emphasis laid in both Decalogues upon cessa
tion from labour, and the inclusion in this ordinance
of the members of the household and of the domes
tic animals, forms a more definite point of departure
for determining the real character of the Sabbath
community? Again the priests decided in the affirmative. For an il
lustration of the complicated process resulting from this embodiment of
the "Gemarah" with the "Mishnah" in the biblical laws, see an article
by the writer, "An Analysis of Leviticus, Chaps. 13 and 14" (the so-
called leprosy legislation), in the Jewish Quarterly Review (new series),
vol. IV, No. 3.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 167
from the moment when it became a distinctly
Hebrew institution. Throughout the Pentateuchal
Codes the conditions of life assumed are those pre
vailing in agricultural communities. The laws are
such as apply to agricultural communities prima
rily. The ideal life implied in these codes is that of
the head of a large household, the possessor of lands
cultivated by himself and his servants, and from the
produce of which he sustains himself and his family.
Commerce is recognised but looked upon askance. 1
The simple life of the country is given the prefer
ence over the display and luxury associated with
cities. When labour is spoken of in these codes it
is labour in the fields that is meant. The Sabbath
thus becomes, in the mind of the compilers of the
Pentateuchal Codes, a distinctly agricultural insti
tution. As such it may be traced back to pre-exilic
days, though we have plenty of evidence that the
day was not observed in the earlier periods of He
brew history with that strictness that characterised
it in later times. The fundamental view for the
pre-exilic period is well expressed in a phrase used
in connection with the Sabbath "that one may
1 This is illustrated by the prohibition against taking interest (Ex.
22 : 24) on loans a primary condition of commercial activity, since
commerce cannot be carried on without credit, and credit involves inter
est. The ordinary translation of "usury" (i. <?., excessive interest) for
the Hebrew term used is incorrect. Ordinary interest is meant. To be
sure, the law in its original form is limited to the fellow Hebrew ("to my
people," as Ex. 22 : 24 puts it; and a subsequent comment or decision
adds (Deut. 23 : 21), "You may take interest from the stranger," but this
is a concession to later conditions when commercial activity had sup
plemented the earlier agricultural stage. The anti-commercial spirit of
the original legislation crops out in other passages.
168 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
refresh himself." l Evidently the original purpose
was not to make the day one of hardship by re
fraining from every form of physical exertion, but
a day of recreation, a day when one could interrupt
the labours of the week and gather fresh strength
for the coming week. In other words, the Sabbath
was a humane institution. But the evidences of
laxity in the observance may also be regarded as
a proof that this kind of a Sabbath remained to a
large extent an ideal. We may question, in fact,
whether in an agricultural community a strict ob
servance of a cessation from all labour every sev
enth day was feasible. During a part of the year
work in the fields is of such importance that a
day lost may prove a very serious disadvantage.
We must not, however, press this point too far,
and it may be granted that in a general way it
became customary among the Hebrews to inter
rupt the ordinary vocation during one day in the
week.
Now, by the side of this humane purpose we find
traces in other portions of the Codes of a more aus
tere significance given to the Sabbath. When we
are told, for example, that the people were forbid
den to leave their houses on the Sabbath day, 2 not
to kindle any fires, 3 and therefore not to eat any
thing cooked on a fire, 4 it may, of course, be argued
that such restrictions represent the endeavours of
the postexilic period to project the strict regula
tions back into early days. Such an argument
1 Ex. 23 : 12. 2 Ex. 16 : 29. 8 Ex. 35 : 3. 4 Ex. 16 : 23.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 169
seems to me, however, to be forced, and if one reads
the passages carefully in which these restrictions are
specified, one gains the impression that they repre
sent a genuine tradition and point to a survival of
earlier ideas associated with the Sabbath. I am in
clined to lay particular stress upon the reference to
a prohibition of the use of fire, for the reason that
fire among all nations was looked upon as a sacred
element. There are abundant traces of this view
in the Old Testament; witness the scene in the book
of Exodus in which Yahweh Himself appears in the
fire of the burning bush, 1 and the statement that
the voice of Yahweh was heard out of the smoke
and thunder and lightning of Mount Sinai. 2 Fire
as a sacred element had to be used with precaution.
The sons of Aaron suffer instant death because they
brought a "strange fire" into the sanctuary, 3 a
phrase which we would be at a loss to understand,
unless it meant that the fire as a sacred element
had not been kindled with the proper ceremonial.
If, therefore, the people are cautioned against
using fire on a certain day, is it not a natural in
ference that the day itself was unfavourable for such
purposes? Again, it will certainly be admitted that
the prohibition to leave one s house is hardly con
sistent with an institution which interprets cessa
tion from labour as a means of "refreshing oneself."
Staying in the house all day would hardly be re
garded as an essential condition to recreation. The
precaution not to leave one s house is rather of the
1 Ex. 3:4. 2 Ex. 19 : 16-20. 3 Lev. 10 : 1-2.
170 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
same order as the prohibition in the nineteenth
chapter of Exodus (vss. 12-13) m which the people
are cautioned not to approach the sacred mountain:
Take heed to yourselves that you go not up into
the mount, or touch the border of it." In accordance
with this we are told that the people "removed and
stood afar off. * If one is prohibited from actu
ally leaving one s dwelling, the natural inference is
that there is some danger lurking from which one
can protect one s self only by remaining within doors.
The incident of the wood-gatherer on the Sabbath
day (Num. 15 132-36), whose case is brought be
fore Moses, and who, by the decision of the latter,
is stoned, shows that the point of view is not cessa
tion from labour, in which case the statement that
"it was not clear what should be done to him"
(vs. 34) would be superfluous, but rather the danger
of the act on an inauspicious day. The point which
I wish to emphasise is that in such incidental refer
ences we may recognise the traces of an earlier
point of view associated with particular days, or
with a particular period when special precautions
had to be exercised so as not to arouse the wrath
of the deity by some act however innocent in itself.
Now, the Babylonian shabattum, as a day of paci
fication, was an occasion of this kind, and it is just
here where the connection may be recognised be
tween the Babylonian and the Hebrew Sabbath.
Another point of contact of the same general char
acter is the observance of the Sabbath every sev
enth day. The number seven plays a great role
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 171
among the Semites, 1 and may, no doubt, ultimately
be connected with the moon changing its phases
every seven days. It is because seven marks a pe
riod that the work of creation is described as being
accomplished in seven days, though we have seen
that, outside of this point of view, no special signifi
cance is to be attached to the enumeration of the
order of Creation in six divisions. But, on the
other hand, in the separation of the observance of
the Sabbath from the periods corresponding to the
four phases of the moon, which we have seen play
such a part in Babylonian and Assyrian astrology,
we have again an illustration of the wide departure
of the Hebrew religion from the course followed in
the development of religious thought and of relig
ious institutions among the Babylonians and As
syrians. The Babylonian shabattum never changed
its character. It remained for all times an um nukh
libbi a day marking a transition in the monthly
course of the moon, on which special precautions
had to be observed, marked by rites intended to
appeal to the angered god or goddess in the hope
that it might become a "day of pacification," by
which was primarily meant the hope that the anx
ious transition period might take place at the nor
mal time. This shabattum as an austere and som
bre occasion partakes more of a day of atonement,
such as is prescribed in the Priestly Code, 2 on which
1 See Hehn, Siebenzahl und Sabbat, pp. 1-44, for illustrations among
Babylonians and Assyrians.
2 Lev. 23 : 27-32. This day of atonement, though not introduced till
the postexilic period as a distinctively Jewish festival, is based on an old
172 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
the people were ordered to castigate the flesh by
abstaining from food and to implore the Deity for
forgiveness of their sins, 1 that is, for a removal of
the divine wrath. It is, perhaps not accidental that
this Hebrew day of atonement, which, increasing
in austerity, retains its severe and rather gloomy
character to this day in the orthodox Jewish ritual,
where it is designated as an "awful day" (yom
nora) a veritable dies ir<z should have been des
ignated by a term shabbathon^ which forms a more
complete parallel to the Babylonian shabattum than
institution, as the rite of sending a goat laden with the sins of the people
into the wilderness (Lev. 16 : 10) sufficiently shows.
1 Sin, according to the general Semitic point of view, manifests itself
through some actual misfortune that has set in.
2 Lev. 23 : 32. The word shabbathon contains an old ending, on, which
corresponds to the final urn in shabattum. (The interchange from m
to n is frequent in Semitic languages.) The ordinary translation of
shabbathon by "sabbaths" is a mere guess, for the ending on does not
designate a plural. To be sure, in the passage in question we find shab-
bath added to shabbathon, but I cannot help thinking that this is a sub
sequent addition, or perhaps a gloss of some late editor, who, no longer
understanding the original connotation of shabbathon, suggested an iden
tification with shabbath. The gloss then crept into the text as glosses
in ancient manuscripts generally did and we obtain the meaningless
description of the day of atonement as a shabbath shabbathon, which, as
a makeshift, was interpreted as "sabbath of sabbaths," or as a "sabbath of
rest," which is still more meaningless, since every Sabbath is a Sabbath
of rest. The use of shabbathon by itself in verse 24 of the chapter for
the first day of the seventh month, which, according to Ezekiel (45 : 20,
following the reading of the Greek version), was a day of atonement, is a
proof for the thesis here maintained. To be sure, the first, fifteenth, and
twenty-second days of the seventh month, i. e., the New Year s Day, the
beginning, and end of the harvest festival, are also designated as shabbathon
in this twenty-third chapter, which is composite in character; but these
days are also of the nature of transition periods. The application of the
term shabbathon to them points to the use that the term had acquired to
designate an "austere" day, because of the association of this quality
with the shabattum as the "full-moon" period. Shabbathon would thus
have the force of a "sabbatical" day a day having the character of a
"Sabbath" in the original sense of a "transition " period.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 173
the ordinary Hebrew expression shabbath. This He
brew shabbathon is thus a genuine counterpart to a
Babylonian um nukh libbi, whereas the Hebrew
Sabbath, steadily moving away from its earlier con
notation, assumed a totally different character, and
became one of the most significant contributions of
the Hebrews to the spiritual treasury of mankind.
Its separation from any association with the moon s
phases, to be celebrated every seventh day with
out reference to a lunar calendar, marked the com
plete departure from the character of the Babylo
nian shabattum. In no more effective way could
the new meaning that the day had acquired be em
phasised. With that separation from the moon s
phases the transition motif passed away to leave
only faint traces of the force it had once enjoyed
among the Hebrews in common with the Babylo
nians and Assyrians. The link uniting Hebrew and
Babylonian traditions was snapped, never to be
forged again.
To sum up, then, we have traces among the He
brews of lucky and unlucky days, of a significance
attached to periods of transition, of the importance
of the new-moon and of the full-moon, of the special
import connected with the number seven, of pre
cautions exercised on certain days which have left
their traces in some of the Sabbath regulations of
the Pentateuchal Codes. But, starting from this
common ground, the Hebrews developed an entirely
distinct institution which retained little except the
name in common with the Babylonian counterpart.
174 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
The Sabbath as a distinctively Hebrew rite starts
out as a humane institution with a view to secure for
the people recreation from the labours of the week,
and to offer an opportunity particularly for those in
a dependent position to " refresh themselves." This
Sabbath ordained for every seventh day without
reference to the phases of the moon, becomes an
entirely unique institution. The idea of resting
becomes a significant expression of the ethical view
of human life and of its relationship to the Divine
as implied in the utterances of the Hebrew Prophets.
The material conception of labour was given a spir
itual interpretation through the sanctification of
labour on the one hand, and the recognition, on the
other hand, of the obligations of the one who em
ploys labour. One day was to be set aside on which
all classes should be placed on a level of equality.
Even the animal subject entirely to the will of man
should enjoy a Sabbath. Nor should any distinc
tion be drawn between the citizen and the stranger.
All classes alike should have the benefit of a day
set apart from the other days of the week as sacred.
The question now arises at what period in
Hebrew history shall we place the line of demarca
tion leading by a further process to the distinc
tively Hebrew Sabbath ? If, as I believe, the Deca
logue in its original form dates from the days of
Moses, the connotation of the day as "holy" marks
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 175
the first step. It is not necessary, and perhaps not
justifiable, to assume that in the form given to the
fourth commandment by the traditional organiser
of the Hebrew tribes into a nation the Sabbath
was ordained as a day of rest. To Moses, Yahweh
was still essentially the God of the Hebrews, the
old tribal deity who had become the special pro
tector of the new nation formed by the union of
the separate tribes, and who in return demanded
loyalty and obedience from his special charges; but
it is obviously with intent that the day is desig
nated in the Decalogue as "holy." However much
more the term came to mean with the further de
velopment of the ethical ideals of the Prophets, it
certainly had when applied to a particular day at
all times a higher connotation than is involved in
designating a day as limnu or tabu, as "unlucky" or
"lucky." The Babylonian shabattum was dreaded
as an "unlucky" day which it was hoped by ap
peals to an arbitrary deity to convert into a "lucky"
one. The Yahweh of Moses, as the earlier Yahweh
of tribal days, could be angry, and, indeed, the Pen-
tateuchal narratives of the times of Moses are full
of occasions when the national protector manifested
his displeasure; but he is not a deity whose humour
is dependent upon a particular season. Yahweh
still manifests himself in thunder and lightning, and
in so far shows traces of His origin as a storm-god
dwelling on the top of the mountains whence the
storms come. Even in late Psalms, where original
conceptions of Yahweh leave their traces in poet-
176 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
ical metaphors, Yahweh is represented as treading
on the high mountains whose voice is heard in the
thunder, 1 but Yahweh s anger is never aroused with
out just cause. The advance in Moses conception
of a national deity over national or tribal gods of
the groups closely allied to the Hebrews, like the
Moabites whose national deity was Kemosh, or like
the Ammonites whose special protector was called
Milkom, consisted in representing Yahweh as ruling
His people by laws of justice tinged with mercy.
It is from this point of view that we must view the
tradition which makes Moses the author of He
brew legislation. Moses becomes in tradition a
law-giver, and a portion of the Pentateuchal laws
in their original form can indeed be traced back to
his period 2 because Yahweh rules according to
law and not caprice. But a deity who thus mani
fests himself, obedience to whom is set forth in
1 See, e, g., Psalm 29 above p. 123.
2 In saying this, let me not be misunderstood as assuming that we have
these laws in their ancient form, or that Moses himself wrote down any
laws or any portion of the Decalogue. For centuries laws, which after all
represent merely established usage, must have been transmitted orally,
as poetic utterances were so handed down from generation to genera
tion. The Song of Deborah in Judges, chapter 5, bears all the earmarks
of a contemporary production, and yet it could not have been written
down for three or four centuries after the events that it celebrates. So
in regard to those portions of the Pentateuchal Codes which are to be
carried back to the Mosaic period merely because they fit in with con
ditions that prevailed at the time, we must assume that they formed the
basis of decisions, but that they were transmitted orally, and no doubt
were subject to all kinds of minor modifications before being written
down, and, even after they were committed to writing subject to constant
amplifications, and to combination with later enactments. Moses is
simply the great traditional figure that stands out at the beginning of
Israel s national existence, just as the names of certain Prophets become
typical for a later period.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 177
statutes and ordinances based upon justice, is a holy
god a god marked by attributes that separate him
from mere personifications of natural forces. We
shall have occasion to see 1 that Babylonians as well
as Assyrians attributed ethical motives likewise to
some of their gods and goddesses, and that there
was indeed a striking development of the ethical con
ception of divine power among them, but that did
not hinder even gods like Shamash the sun-god,
who is primarily the god of justice in both Baby
lonia and Assyria, from being arbitrary in dispens
ing favours or in showing displeasure. As we shall
have occasion to point out in further detail in a
subsequent chapter, the consciousness that the dei
ties were personifications of natural forces or of nat
ural phenomena never died out in Babylonia and
Assyria. Despite the infusion of higher ideas into
the conception of Shamash, he remained the sun-
god the personification of the great orb of light.
Yahweh, in becoming a "holy" god, was placed on
the highroad leading to the disassociation from the
personification of the storm as which he started out.
The process, however, must have been of gradual
and, on the whole, of slow growth for, as already
suggested, many passages in the Pentateuchal narra
tives, which bear all indications of having preserved
traditions in an early form (though not necessarily
in their original form), still reveal the conception
of Yahweh as a product of the animistic stage of
religion. Another factor that led in the same di-
1 Chapter V.
178 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
rection was the recognition of Yahweh as the only
god of the people. The evidence is abundant that
this was part of the work accomplished by Moses.
The emphasis laid upon the unique relation of Yah
weh to his people, though paralleled in a measure
by the position of Kemosh among the Moabites,
and of Milkom for the Ammonites, was yet peculiar
in this respect, that Yahweh absolutely brooked no
rival. Not even a consort was given to him, whereas
the famous Moabite stone 1 the most significant
monument of Palestinian religious ideas prevailing
in the ninth century B. C. shows that Kemosh
had a consort and was surrounded by a court of
minor deities; and the same was, no doubt, the
V case among other Palestinian groups of tribes. The
influence of the new teaching is to be seen when the
Hebrews, dispossessing the Canaanitish settlers of
Palestine proper, and adopting, with the transfer
from the nomadic to the agricultural stage of life,
the Baal cult of the Canaanites, convert Yahweh
into a Canaanitish Baal. 2 The old storm-god takes
on the traits of a solar deity presiding over agri
culture, such as the local Baals everywhere were.
It is against the rites connected with the Baal cult
that leaders like Elijah and Elisha and the earlier
Prophets protest as incompatible with Yahweh wor
ship, but it is clear that the people as such were
not only unconscious of any defection, but believed
that they were doing honour to their national god
1 See the article on the subject under "Moab," in Hastings s Diction-
ary of the Bible, or in the Encyclopedia Biblica.
2 See above, p. 29.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 179
by giving him the attributes of Baal. With one
deity gathering to himself the attributes of all other
personifications of natural powers, the tendency in
evitably sets in to disassociate Yahweh from any
particular personification. A storm-god who is also
a sun-god, who is a god presiding over fertility
among men and animals, and who is furthermore
a god of vegetation, who is a god of war, and who
protects the boundaries of fields, who is a god of
wisdom, giving laws to his people, and through
whose oracles the future is divined in short, a god
who possesses all the qualities ordinarily distributed
among the members of an extensive pantheon is
on the way to become the symbol of divine power
in general, and is permanently removed from the
conception of a mere personification of some phe
nomenon of nature.
The transfer of the attributes of the Canaanitish
Baals to Yahweh upon the conquest of Canaan by
the Hebrews and their permanent advance to the
agricultural stage of culture entails another conse
quence that must have acted as a factor of no small
import in leading, by a slow process of evolution, to
a more spiritual conception of Yahweh. The tribal
deity of the Hebrews or of some of the tribes that
eventually formed part of the later confederation
had his seat on the top of Mount Sinai. It mat
ters little for our purposes whether Yahweh was
originally the national deity of the Midianites, 1 and
1 See Gressmann, Mose und seine Zeit, pp. 434 seq. This is also the
view of Eduard Meyer, Die Israeliten und ihre Nachbarstdmme, p. 67, and
of Budde, Religion of Israel to the Exile, pp. 19 seq.
180 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
that some Hebrew tribes adopted him through their
affiliations with Midianites. The supposition has,
I believe, much in its favour; but, whatever our
attitude towards it may be, the important fact
about which there can be no dispute is that Mount
Sinai represents the original seat of Yahweh. Now,
already in the Song of Deborah, 1 the authentic
character of which as a contemporaneous document,
though not committed to writing for several centu
ries, at least, after the event that it celebrates, is
beyond dispute, 2 Yahweh is represented as coming
from Mount Seir in Edom, while at the same time his
seat on Mount Sinai is also referred to. What can
this mean except that Yahweh wanders with his
people from place to place? He comes from Sinai
to Mount Seir as he comes to Kadesh, where the
people settle for some time; and accordingly, when
the Hebrews came to Palestine proper, Yahweh s
central sanctuary is eventually placed on Mount
Zion, an ancient sacred centre with which Yah
weh originally had nothing to do. 3 The ark or box
containing some symbol of Yahweh s presence
perhaps a sacred stone is carried about from place
to place; and later tradition assumes that there
was also a portable sanctuary within which the box
was placed. The important feature in all these
traditions is that Yahweh actually leaves his origi
nal seat and makes his presence felt wherever his
people happen to be. This disassociation of a na
tional deity from any particular spot reaches its
1 Judges 5 : 4-5. 2 See above, p. 176, note 2. 3 Above, p. 26.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 181
climax in the identification of Yahweh with the
large number of local Baals of the Canaanites.
Each large centre as well as all the smaller ones
had a Baal, who was a local deity regarded as the
protector of the fields of the district. With Yahweh
identified with every one of these local deities, the
conception of a deity confined to one locality neces
sarily disappears. The Yahweh sanctuaries scat
tered throughout the country upon the complete
dispossession of the Canaanites through the He
brews, expressed more effectively than any mere for
mula could that Yahweh was not limited to any sin
gle locality, that he was no longer a local god, but
was to be found wherever his people had taken pos
session. His jurisdiction was coextensive with the
geographical boundaries of Israel. It was, indeed,
limited by these boundaries to such an extent that
David could complain that he had been driven out
of Yahweh s presence because forced by Saul to pass
over into the territory of the Philistines; but within
the political domain of Israel, Yahweh could be wor
shipped everywhere. It thus turns out that the
assimilation of the Yahweh cult to the Baal cults
against which tradition makes Elijah and Elisha
voice their protest represents in reality an advance
in the conception of Yahweh, leading in the direc
tion of giving him a character different from both
national and local deities of other groups, inasmuch
as he is not localised in any particular centre. From
this point of view, the later endeavour to centralise
the cult in the temple at Jerusalem, advocated by
182 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
the Deuteronomic Code and assumed by the later
ones, is really a step backward, inasmuch as it again
laid so strong an emphasis upon the presence of
Yahweh in one particular spot. Yet, for all that,
the instinct of Elijah and Elisha in opposing the
Baal rites was correct, for these rites were foreign
and their adoption by the Hebrews was due to the
popular belief that what past experience had shown
the Canaanites to be the proper method of secur
ing the favour of the local Baals and of the spirits
supposed to house in the fields must be continued
by the conquerors in order to insure for them also
the rich blessings of the soil. The rites, moreover,
involved symbols like the Asherah pole, the symbol
ical dedication of children by passing them through
the fire, and perhaps also child sacrifice before un
dertaking the building of a house or some other
enterprise, which were distasteful in the eyes of
purists, as well as foreign in origin; but in large
measure the delocalisation of Yahweh implied by
his leaving Mount Sinai to wander with his people,
and then to become identified with the local agri
cultural deities of the Canaanites, paved the way
for a more spiritual conception of Yahweh as a
deity not limited to any special place. The process
of thought involved does not necessarily lead to
monotheism, but it favours this issue, which was to
be brought about in due time.
A fourth feature of no less significance was the
emphasis laid upon imageless worship of Yahweh,
which we may likewise trace back to the days of
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 183
Moses, even though we find a symbol like that of
the brazen serpent surviving to the days of Heze-
kiah. 1 Appealing to the image of a serpent as a
means of cure from serpent bites falls within the
category of sympathetic magic, 2 of which there are
many other traces among the Hebrews to a relatively
late period; but the brazen serpent was, we may
feel sure, never regarded as an image of Yahweh.
The Books of Kings and the writings of the Prophets
show us that, under the influence of the Canaanites
and other groups in Palestine and surrounding dis
tricts, the Hebrews had adopted theAsherah symbol 3
a pole standing next to the altar that images of
Malik and of other deities were set up in and around
Jerusalem; 4 but here, too, we may question whether
the people, although they heaped upon Yahweh the
attributes of all other gods, assumed that any of
these symbols and images were pictures of Yahweh.
At the most, we must conclude that Moses was not
as successful in bringing about imageless worship as
he was in imbuing the people with the view that
Yahweh was the only god of the people, and that
as such he concentrated within himself the powers
and attributes of all others. "Who is like unto
thee, Yahweh, among the gods?" 5 Though per
haps slower in making itself felt, the influence of
the doctrine, "Thou shalt not make any graven
1 II Kings 18:4.
2 See, for numerous illustrations of the various kinds of sympathetic
magic, Frazer, The Magic Art, chapter 3 (London, 1911).
3 Above, p. 31. * See, e. g., II Kings chapter 23.
6 Ex. 15 : ii.
184 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
image," 1 must nevertheless have worked as a leaven
in raising the popular conception of Yahweh, and
in leading them eventually to disassociate him from
any specific personification of a natural force, in
bringing about a spiritual conception of a divine
protector which was to find its more complete ex
pression in the utterances of the Prophets of the
eighth and seventh centuries.
VI
We are not in a position to trace in detail the
further development of the Sabbath institution from
a shabattum to a day of recreation from the labours
of the week, but for our purposes it is sufficient to
recognise the line of demarcation signalled by the
designation of the day as "holy." We may, per
haps, go a step further and attribute to the period
of Moses the institution of every seventh day as
holy, though the original form of the text in both
Decalogues merely specifies "the day of the Sab
bath." Be that as it may be, the separation of the
day from the phases of the moon would follow as a
natural corollary from the conception of the day as
"holy" set aside by a god whose chief trait was
likewise holiness.
The references that we have to the Sabbath in
the Books of Kings would seem to indicate that up
to the time of the exile the Sabbath had not yet
1 Ex. 20 : 4; Deut. 5 : 8 so the original form of the commandment
to which as usual a "Gemarah" in the form of decisions amplifying the
"Mishnah" is attached.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 185
assumed the character which we are accustomed to
associate with it. From passages above cited, 1 we
must conclude, as pointed out, that there was still
preserved in the mind of the people an association
of the Sabbath with the new-moon. The associa
tion was due, no doubt, primarily to the force of
tradition, and may have become a semiconscious
one a mere conventional usage; but a passage like
II Kings 4 : 23, from the days of Jehoram the son
of Ahab (c. 800 B. C.), indicating the custom of
going to a "man of God," that is, to a diviner, on
the Sabbath day, to secure an oracular answer to
some question, is significant as a testimony that at
the end of the ninth century the Sabbath had not
yet acquired the character of a day of rest. It had,
however, become a "holy" day, albeit the popular
idea of holiness still connected it with a favourable
occasion for consulting the oracle. On the other
hand, assuming that the passage belongs to the au
thentic portion of Amos, which I see no reason to
question, Amos s complaint of the greed of the peo
ple who cannot wait till the end of the Sabbath
day in order to carry on barter and exchange, 2 and
Jeremiah s vain appeal 3 to the people not to carry
burdens into Jerusalem or out of Jerusalem, nor to
do any work on the Sabbath day, shows that the
Sabbath restriction against the ordinary pursuits of
the week was already recognised, though the force
of the argument is lessened somewhat by the juxta
position in Amos of the Sabbath with the new-moon,
1 See pp. 154 seq. 2 Amos 8 : 5. 3 Jer. 17 : 21-24.
186 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
for which a similar restraint must be assumed. The
same applies to Isa. 1:13, where we again find this
association with the new-moon, though the juxta
position in the following verse of "new-moons and
fixed festivals" is an indication that the phrase
"new-moons and sabbaths" had become a purely
conventional one, and can no longer be used to prove
that in the actual cult the Sabbath was dependent
upon the phases of the moon. Both passages the
one in Amos and the one in Isaiah point to sacri
fices as a prominent feature of the official observ
ance of the Sabbath in the temple during the eighth
century. All this leads us to the period of the Exile
as the time when the Sabbath assumed its definite
character as a sacred day of rest. The destruction
of national independence, with its accompanying
temporary extinction of national life, forms the crit
ical juncture in the religious evolution of the He
brews, leading definitely from Hebraism to Judaism.
The period before the Exile may be designated as
the preparation for Judaism, the Exile as Juda
ism in the making, and the postexilic age as Judaism
made and paving the way for Talmudical Judaism,
on the one hand, and for Christianity on the other.
It was during the Exile that the spirit manifested
its fullest force which prompted writers imbued
with the high ethical ideals and religious fervour of
the Prophets to review the past history of the peo
ple 1 from the point of view of relationship to a deity
who was conceived as a spiritual Power of universal
1 See above, pp. 45 stq.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 1ST
scope, ruling by self-imposed laws of righteousness
and demanding obedience to ethical ideals as the
absolute condition of His favour and mercy. The
popular myths and early traditions were interpreted
in the light of the teachings of the Prophets, as il
lustrations of the conception of a universal God en
throned in righteousness and holiness; and the legisla
tion likewise became saturated with the same spirit.
Not that the process was completed by the time of
the partial restoration of the Jewish state under the
benign Persian protectorate, for we must come down
at least a century further before the spirit created
by the Exile had spent its entire force to give way
to a new movement in which legalism gradually as
sumed stronger sway and threatened to check the
ethical idealism of the Prophets. The so-called sec
ond Isaiah voices distinctly and unmistakably the
new spirit as applied to the Sabbath institution.
In a famous chapter 1 which attempts with impres
sive nicety to hold the balance between ceremonial
observance and the true religious spirit manifesting
itself in adherence to high ideals of conduct, he draws
a picture of the ideal Sabbath the Sabbath de
manded by a deity conceived in terms of the purest
ethical monotheism. 3 "If thou turn away thy foot
from the Sabbath (not) doing thy pleasure on my
holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy
of the Lord, honored; and shalt honor it by not
following thy wonted ways, nor finding thy own
pleasure, nor (merely) speaking words, 5 then wilt
1 Chap. 58. J ISA. 58 : U-t4- * / /. mere lip-semce.
188 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
thou delight thyself in Yahweh; and I will cause
thee to ride upon the high places of the earth and
feed thee with the heritage of Jacob, thy father."
Here we have at last a Sabbath at once holy and hu
mane, a day set aside for higher spiritual purposes,
and marked by an interruption of the ordinary pur
suits of the week a day not of restrictions but of
recreation, in which man is to "refresh himself/
which should fill him with delight, bringing peace
to his spirit and rest to his body. It is this Sab
bath that becomes the central institution of Juda
ism, and in this form it can only be accounted for
as the outcome and expression of the teachings of
the Prophets, superimposed on the older layer of
the "holy" day instituted by Moses. We search in
vain among the religions of antiquity for such a
day of rest and spiritual recreation. How far how
infinitely far removed from the Babylonian shabat-
tum or from the "lucky" and "unlucky" days that
play so important a role in all the religions of an
tiquity. It rises superior to the festivals that mark
transition periods in nature and which Judaism also
preserved, and stands far above the level of the
rites and customs set aside for transition epochs in
human life!
VII
The further development of the Hebrew Sabbath
presents two phases on which, in conclusion, we must
briefly touch. On the one hand, while the spiritual
conception of a day of rest was never lost sight of,
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 189
curiously enough the restrictive element connected
with the older Sabbath, and of which we have found
some traces in the Pentateuchal Codes, 1 is accentu
ated as we approach the period when the religion
of the Prophets develops into the elaborate regu
lation of the minute details of life. For want of a
better name we call this period that of Rabbinical
or Talmudical Judaism because of the authority
acquired by the Talmud, which is a vast compila
tion of laws and of discussion on laws, and which
represents the outcome of the activity of the Jew
ish rabbis in the schools in Palestine and Babylonia,
organised for the study of the laws of Judaism. It
is an error to suppose that these rabbis, whose au
thority was derived solely from the respect they en
joyed as versed in the law, imposed the minute cere
monies upon the people which are embodied in the
Talmud. At first, no doubt, the strict observance of
the Sabbath was felt as a hardship by the people,
as is evident from Nehemiah s memoirs, 2 but when
it had once become established, the sense of sacri
fice gave way to a zeal to be as exact as possible.
There seems to be no doubt that during the two
centuries following upon Nehemiah, the tendency
towards hedging themselves around with all kinds of
restrictions developed among the people, and all
that the rabbis did during the following centuries
was to codify and regulate in a more precise form
1 Above, p. 168.
2 Neh. 13 : 15-22, speaks frankly of the difficulties he encountered in
securing an observance of the Sabbath, which appears indeed at that
time to have been one of the busy market days of the week.
190 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
ceremonies that in part represented ancient tradi
tion and in part were regarded as logical conse
quences following upon certain premises. Restrict
ive regulations in regard to the Sabbath, based
upon incidental biblical references to the prohibi
tion to leave one s house or to kindle fire, led to a
strict observance of the letter, which finally had its
outcome in minutiae that approached in their ex
treme the point of absurdity. It was found, as a
matter of fact, impossible to carry out in a literal
sense such a regulation as not to leave one s house,
which would actually prohibit one from walking in
the open air. By a species of casuistry it was as
sumed that two thousand paces might constitute the
limit of an average settlement, and one was there
fore permitted to walk this distance; but in order to
extend this limitation one might on the day before
the Sabbath place something it might be a piece
of bread at the end of two thousand paces, which
would make the limit a fictitious home, by means
of which subterfuge one could walk a distance of
four thousand paces. Another way of beating the
devil around the stump was to connect the separate
dwellings grouped around a common court as was
customary in the Orient by means of ropes unit
ing the spaces between the houses. Through this
device they would fictitiously constitute one dwell
ing. The prohibition of labour on the seventh day
was interpreted in the most literal sense, without
reference to its original import to interrupt the or
dinary pursuits for livelihood or for gain, and ex-
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 191
tended to carrying any burden whatsoever on the
holy Sabbath. Advantage was once more taken of
the phrase, "not to leave one s dwelling," to permit
of the exception that within the house things might
be carried, and in order to extend this concession
again so as to enable you to carry a chair from your
house to your neighbour s or even to carry your
pocket handkerchief (which would come under the
category of a "burden") outside of your house, the
fictitious union of the houses of the court was once
more resorted to. I have purposely introduced
these illustrations to show the extreme to which
the rabbis went in their desire faithfully to observe
the letter of the prohibition against work on the
seventh day, because such extremes bring out the
contrast between what the Sabbath was intended
to be in the minds of the later Prophets a day of
"refreshing oneself" and of spiritual recreation
and what it necessarily became through the unfor
tunate application of legal principles and deductions
to what was intended to be interpreted in a humane
and purely ethical spirit. For all this, although the
Sabbath of Talmudical Judaism (like its natural suc
cessor many centuries afterwards, the Sabbath of
English and American Puritanism) was inevitably to
lead to the worship of the letter, yet we must be
careful not to conclude from the elaborate discus
sions in the Talmud as to the precise manner in
which detailed observances had to be carried out,
that the spiritual influence of the Sabbath was lost
upon its pious observers. While it must be admitted
192 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
that the Sabbath as observed particularly by the
Pharisees in the days of Jesus justified the taunt
involved in the protest that "the Sabbath was made
for man, not man for the Sabbath/ yet such was
the devotion of the people to what is ordinarily
spoken of as "the yoke of the law," l and of which
the strict Sabbath observance is merely one of many
illustrations, that the followers of Rabbinical Juda
ism took the yoke willingly and cheerfully upon
themselves; and during the Middle Ages, which for
the Jews extended up to a much later period than
for the rest of the civilised world, it was the attach
ment to the law, even to the letter of the law, that
proved an element of power and of spiritual strength.
It is sufficient to point to Heine s charming poem 2
on the Sabbath to prove that even he, cynically in
clined as he was, and moving far away from any
attachment to the faith in which he was reared,
felt and realised the religious power of the Sab
bath institution which could, as by the touch of a
magic wand, transform the cowed beggar of the week
to a prince in dignity and majesty. The influence
of the Hebrew Sabbath upon the religious world
outside of the pale of Judaism is too obvious to
require demonstration. While the "day of assem
bly," as the Friday of each week is called in Islam-
ism, does not partake primarily of the character of
a day of rest, yet the institution was unquestion-
1 See C. G. Montefiore s judicious remarks on this theme in his Religion
of the Ancient Hebrews, pp. 503 seq.
2 See Heine s Sammtliche Werke, ed. Elster, I, p. 433, entitled "Prin-
zessin Sabbat."
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 193
ably suggested by the example of Judaism to Mo
hammed, who aimed to make the day one of spiri
tual recreation in the sense in which the Hebrew
Prophets understood it. Christianity, after waver
ing for some time, 1 settled upon "the Lord s Day"
the day of the traditional resurrection as the
day of rest, but the spirit of the day is identical
with that of the Hebrew Sabbath, and in the course
of its development it became subject to a similar
tendency, as already intimated, to exalt the letter
over the law. Even at the present time the same
struggle is going on within the Christian and the
Jewish churches between the observance of the spirit
and the adherence to the letter in connection with
the time-honoured institution.
The net result of our survey of a comparison be
tween the Babylonian shabattum and the Hebrew
Sabbath has been to furnish another illustration of
the main thought that I am endeavouring in this
investigation to bring out, to wit, how it came about
that Babylonians and Hebrews, starting out with
so much in common, should have ended by having
so little in common, and this despite a steady stream
of influence from the great civilisation unfolded in
the Euphrates Valley that affected the Hebrews
during the formative period when they were work
ing out their formulae of religious faith and prac
tice. The Babylonian shabattum, like the Baby
lonian Creation myths, remained attached to the
1 The early Christians observed the seventh day as an occasion of
solemn assembly and prayer.
194 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
forces of nature of which it was a symbol and an
expression. The Hebrew Sabbath, cutting loose
from its original connection with the phases of the
moon, became a symbol of man s superior dignity,
a reminder, by introducing a break in his regular
worldly occupations, of his double nature a com
bination of the finite body with an infusion of a
portion of the spirit of the Infinite Himself. Such
an institution has in its developed form nothing but
the name and the starting-point in common with the
Babylonian counterpart. The Hebrew Sabbath by
sanctifying a day set apart from the rest of the
week sanctifies labour. It gives to labour a dignity
that places it far above the merely material neces
sity or the desire for material gain, and thus directs
man to the path along which he is to proceed to
reach his destined goal.
The historical view of the Hebrew Sabbath which
I have tried to set before you, the spirit of which,
we have seen, was transferred to the day that Chris
tianity set aside as a day of rest, so far from tak
ing away any of its significance enhances its char
acter by enabling us to see the gradual infusion of
the ideals and aspirations of the Prophets into old
traditions and time-honoured observances. To em
phasise this position I cannot do better than quote
from an admirable passage in one of your distin
guished president s volumes: 1
"So customs, forms of observance and worship
1 Henry C. King (president of Oberlin College), Reconstruction in
Theology, p. 159.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN SABBATH 195
which Israel shared with other Semites are not forth
with under revelation set aside; they are retained
but regulated, purified, given new motives and teach
ings and so put on a different religious basis. God
begins where the people are" a happy phrase, in
deed, to describe the process that we can follow in
the unfolding of Hebrew traditions and of which
we shall have another illustration in a consideration
of Hebrew and Babylonian views of life after death.
CHAPTER IV
THE HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN VIEWS OF LIFE
AFTER DEATH
IN approaching the subject of the views held by
the Hebrews and Babylonians regarding life after
death, we must take as our point of departure the
fact that the belief in the continuation of conscious
ness in some form after death comes naturally to
man at an early stage of his mental development.
In fact, the thought of a complete annihilation of
consciousness seems to be beyond the grasp of prim
itive man, just as it is beyond the intellectual reach
of a child who cannot imagine that life should
ever come to an absolute stop. Death is, of course,
recognised by people even in a primitive stage of
culture, but it is viewed as something that was in
troduced at some given time either by an accidental
circumstance, or through the influence of evil powers
hostile to man. Among all savages stories abound 1
1 See Frazer, Belief in Immortality, I, chapters II and III, in which the
savage conception of death is admirably set forth with a wealth of illus
tration of the myths about death, of which Frazer recognises several
distinct types. Frazer calls attention to the curious parallel between
savage conceptions of death and the modern biological view which claims
that death is not a physical but an economic necessity. See below, p.
199, note, for another curious parallel between primitive and modern
points of view.
196
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 197
of the way in which death came into the life of man.
We have seen 1 that in the biblical story of the fall
of man the purpose to account for death is likewise
involved. The point in all these stories is that life
as such is not necessarily terminated by death, which
represents a stage of belief only a few degrees re
moved from the impossibility of conceiving of a total
extinction of life. But even death, as thus explained,
does not in the mind of primitive man mean a loss
of consciousness, which in some form or other is
assumed to survive after life has left the body.
The doubt on this subject does not set in until a
much more advanced stage of thought. We have
only the faintest indications of such a doubt in
Babylonian literature, and as for the Hebrews a
sceptical attitude towards the continuance of life
after death does not set in until a very late period
and possibly reflects the influence of Greek thought.
We find both Babylonians and Hebrews starting
out with a general conception of some subterra
nean cave or hollow in which all the dead without
distinction are gathered. The name given to this
place in Babylonian is Aralu, and it corresponds
in every particular to the early Hebrew conception
of "Sheol." The etymology of Aralu escapes us,
but in all probability it merely connotes a large
compartment or cave. Not without significance is
the fact that the cave is located deep in the earth,
for such a view points distinctly to burial as the
first method of disposing of the dead among Sem-
1 Above, pp. 53 seq.
198 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
ites; and in passing it may be remarked that we
have no reason for believing, though the asser
tion is often made, that the Sumerians, representing
the non-Semitic stratum in Babylonian civilisation,
burnt their dead.
The place where the dead are gathered forms,
therefore, the secondary consideration, being due
to the accident or circumstance of burial. The
primary idea is that of a continuation of conscious
ness somewhere and in some form after the spirit of
life has fled. People in an early stage of thought
are not given to much speculation regarding the na
ture of this continued existence. They accept it,
as already intimated, because they cannot conceive
the contrary. But we find only weak attempts at
picturing life after death in any definite form. Prim
itive logic leads to the supposition that the dead
are weak, unable to do much or indeed anything
for themselves, and in general they are supposed
to lie in Aralu in a state of languishing inactivity.
To be sure, there is also another side to the picture,
for primitive logic is marred as is sometimes ad
vanced logic by a certain degree of vagueness and
inconsistency. Life was naturally conceived as an
active force, and the personification of this vital
force leads to assigning to it a material shape. A
force or power without shape represents again an
idea beyond the intellectual grasp of primitive man,
and accordingly, to give a single example, the strug
gle of man against disease was pictured as a con
test with some malevolent spirit which had entered
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 199
the body to battle with the spirit or power of life.
A cure meant success in driving or exorcising the
evil demon out of the body, 1 while death was the
triumph of the malicious spirit, which had suc
ceeded in taking the place of the spirit of life and
in driving the latter out of the body. In this way
there arose the idea of the disembodied spirit which
was supposed for a time at least to be hovering near
the body, trying in hopeless fashion to return to
its temporary abiding-place and becoming a source
of danger to the living because without control.
We have, therefore, in connection with the dead,
two ideas which it is difficult, from the modern
point of view to reconcile with one another: the
belief, on the one hand, that while consciousness
survives, the dead are weak and inactive, and, on
the other hand, that the spirit of life because dis
associated from the body is moving about some
where and constitutes an element of danger to the
living. No doubt the natural terror aroused by
death is responsible, in part at least, for this fear
of the dead. But however we may account for it,
in trying to make clear to ourselves the views held
by Babylonians and Hebrews at a certain stage of
1 Medicinal remedies were at this stage of belief ill-smelling drugs in
tended by their odour to force the demon to flee, much as we use pungent
liquids to drive away mosquitoes. The medicaments were reinforced
by incantation formulae which likewise were supposed to have the power
of driving off the demon. This earliest phase of medicine, which looked
upon disease as due to invisible spirits, curiously enough suggests the
latest phase of medical research which assumes disease to be due, in so
many instances, to invisible germs that have planted themselves in the
body. Modern medicine is, likewise, largely an endeavour to cure the
disease by driving out the germ. (See above, p. 196, note.)
200 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
their development, we must bear in mind these two
aspects, the one leading to natural sympathy for
the helpless dead and to care for them with that
love which they inspire while living, the other to
devices for the purpose of protecting the living from
the spirits of the dead. Dreams in which the dead
appear to come back helped to maintain the belief
of an association of the spirit of life with the de
ceased. Nor did the fact that the spirit was not
ordinarily visible prevent this belief from retaining
its hold upon people, for it was a characteristic
trait of all spirits, whether malicious demons of
death or good demons that protect the living from
all manner of accidents and impending catastro
phes, to be under ordinary circumstances invisible,
or to have the power of making themselves invisible.
Of ancestor-worship, or, what amounts to the same
thing, of worship of the dead, we find scarcely any
traces in Babylonian or Assyrian literature, but that,
no doubt, is due to the comparatively late date of
the literary productions in which religious ideas are
introduced. The hymns and prayers, and even the
incantations and divination texts of Babylonia and
Assyria, reflect the stage of belief concomitant with
a fully developed pantheon, and, moreover, a pan
theon in which the chief gods who were originally
personifications of natural powers were identified
with heavenly bodies, with the planets and stars,
that led, as we have seen, to an elaborate astral-
theological system. 1 A trace, however, of ancestor-
1 See above, p. 143.
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 201
worship is to be seen in the deification of kings,
which we encounter at various periods in Babylo
nian and Assyrian history, and in the faint dividing-
line separating heroes of the past, like Gilgamesh,
the chief figure of the Babylonian epic, from the
gods. Gilgamesh, described as two-thirds divine
and one-third human, is thus at once a deified an
cestor and a divine power associated more partic
ularly with the sun. At the root of this identifi
cation of the spirit of the departed person with
divine power of a higher or lower order lies the
idea that life has various, aye, innumerable mani
festations, but is in essence everywhere the same.
Life in man, life in nature, the life in the trees, in
the rivers, and even life in the invisible spirits,
whether beneficent or malicious, was not differen
tiated except in its manifestations. Life was power,
and therefore the transition of the power mani
festing itself in an individual to a manifestation of
an invisible character after the individual had lost
his power was looked upon as perfectly natural.
Here, again, we must be warned against seeking
consistency in the application of the fundamental
idea leading to deification of the dead. Analogy
forms the chief element in early logic, but this an
alogy does not go further than drawing distinctions
between various degrees of the various manifesta
tions of the power associated with life. The growth
of a priestly organisation proceeding hand in hand
with attempts at systematising the popular beliefs
leads to a differentiation between higher powers,
202 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
who become the gods of the organised pantheon,
and the lower powers, who constitute the demons
beneficent or malevolent, while the spirits of the
dead occupy a place half-way between the powers
of a higher and a lower order, with the tendency,
however, that as the higher powers become limited to
the chief figures in the pantheon, the spirits of the
departed fall to a lower level and are chiefly asso
ciated with the malevolent demons from which the
living must seek protection. In the case of the
Babylonian and Assyrian religion analogy results
also in providing a special pantheon for the dead,
corresponding to the sharp distinction naturally
drawn between the dead and the living. The gods
who represented the personification of the powers
of nature prior to the stage when these powers were
identified with astral phenomena are of importance
to the living because the living stand in need of
them. Happiness, prosperity, success in this world
cannot be achieved without the assistance of the
gods from whom in a very literal sense all blessings
were supposed to flow. Prayers and sacrifices and
divination rites, as well as incantation formulae, were
all means of making the gods favourably disposed
towards human undertakings, or they served at
least as aids towards ascertaining their disposition
at any particular juncture. The dead in Aralu do
not praise the gods because there is nothing that
the gods can do for them. They are not, indeed,
beyond human needs, for the argument from an
alogy leads to the belief that the dead require food
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 203
and drink, but they were beyond needs that could
be supplied by the gods, whose concern was exclu
sively with the living. On the other hand, in addi
tion to food and drink which had to be supplied
to them by the living, they required protection
against the malicious demons who hovered in the
lower world as they infested the upper world, and
for this purpose the dead were placed under the
supervision and control of a special series of gods
who were associated with the great cavern that
lay in the earth. In this respect the Babylonian
religion did not differ from what we find among
the Greeks, who likewise had two classes of deities -
deities for the living, the gods gathered together
on Mount Olympus, and the gods housed in the
lower world, the so-called chthonic deities. But
while these chthonic deities were originally identi
fied with serpents and other animals that dwelt un
derground, among both Greeks and Babylonians
they became the counterparts of the gods who ruled
the surface of the earth and to whom the living
stood in close relations.
By a natural association of ideas the ruler of
Aralu was pictured as a goddess. The force of
analogy that led to picturing the power of vegeta
tion, the life-giving power of the earth, as a great
mother, gracious and merciful and full of love and
sympathy, brought about as a counterpart a wicked
stepmother, known as Ereshkigal ("Ruler of the
Great Place"), who acted as a prison keeper whose
function it was to keep the dead safely in Aralu and
204 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
to prevent any possible escape to the upper world.
In time a somewhat more lenient aspect was given
to this grim goddess, who also saw to it that the
dead were left undisturbed in their resting-place;
but this modification of an earlier conception did not
go very far, and, on the whole, Ereshkigal retained
her character as gloomy, ill-tempered, easily aroused
to anger in short, a stern guardian of the lower
world.
II
There is a curious story 1 among the Babylonian
myths of the way in which Ereshkigal was forced
to submit to the rule of a male consort, the god Ner-
gal. It is related that on one occasion the gods
assembled together for a feast. Ereshkigal, though
invited, declined to come, and sent her messenger,
Namtar, the demon or god of pestilence, to present
her excuses. Namtar was received with due con
sideration by the gods, with the exception of the
grim warrior among the gods, the god of disease and
death, Nergal, who refused to stand up when Nam
tar entered the assembly. The messenger reports
this insult to his mistress, whose fury is described
as beyond all bounds. Nergal, however, undis
mayed, makes his way to the nether world and de
mands admission to an interview with Ereshkigal.
"Let him enter," says the goddess to the gatekeeper,
1 See the English translation by the writer, in his Religion of Babylonia
and Assyria, pp. 584 seq., and a more recent German translation by
Ungnad, in Gressmann s Altorientalische Texte und Bilder, pp. 69-70.
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 205
Namtar, "so that I may kill him." Nergal and
Ereshkigal meet in a deadly encounter, which is de
scribed in most vivid terms. Ereshkigal shrieks and
fumes, but Nergal clutches her hair and drags her
forcibly from her throne, and is about to chop off
her head when the goddess yields and appeals to
Nergal. "Be my consort," she says to him, "and
I will be your wife. The control of the lower world
I will place in thy hands, and to thee I will give the
tablet of wisdom. Thou shalt be the master and I
the mistress." It is hardly to be expected that the
union begun in such a manner could have been a
particularly cheerful one, certainly not for the dead,
who were now under the control of two masters
vying with each other in grimness and severity.
The purpose of the myth is manifestly to account
for the existence of the double tradition, an older
one which pictured the goddess as the ruler of the
nether world, and a later one which made Nergal,
originally the sun-god, associated more particularly
with the sun of midsummer that brings suffering
and pestilence in its wake, a natural symbol of the
grim power that carried the living to Aralu.
The differentiation between good and evil spirits
led, in the course of time, to an association of the
demons of disease and misfortunes of all kinds with
Nergal and Ereshkigal. These demons, whose very
names suggest the terror that they inspired, were
known by such epithets as "Burning Fire," "The
One Who Lies in Wait," "Wasting Disease," "Dis
tress," and the like. They became the court gath-
206 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
ered around Nergal and his queen, and served more
particularly as keepers of the seven gates which shut
in the gathering-place of the dead, and as messengers
sent upon the earth to do the bidding of the divine
Power. The views thus developed by the Babylo
nians and transmitted to the Assyrians regarding
Aralu and the fate of the dead became gloomier
and more depressing as time went on. Far better,
one might suppose, would it be for the dead to be
deprived of all consciousness rather than endure
the tortures of eternal inactivity and comparative
neglect in a great prison from which there was no
possible escape. The sad condition of the dead is
well portrayed in another Babylonian myth well
known, no doubt, to many of you, and which I
need therefore only sketch in rapid outline. 1
The goddess Ishtar, the great mother-goddess
who brings about vegetation on earth, the loving
mother of mankind, who provides for the perpe
tuity of the human race, is represented as paying a
visit to Aralu. The poem begins by a description
of "The Land of No Return," as it is called, to
which Ishtar, here introduced as the daughter of the
moon-god Sin, directs her steps. The land is de
scribed as "a dwelling of darkness," known as Ir-
kallu, a great palace which one enters but from
which one never comes out. The way leading to it
is a road from which no traveller returns. The in
habitants of the great dark palace sit in dense dark-
1 Frequently translated, e. g., by the writer, in the Religion of Babylonia
and Assyria, pp. 565-573, recently by Ungnad, in Gressmann s Altorien-
talische Texte und Bilder, pp. 65-69.
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 207
ness, never seeing a glimmer of light, "with earth
as their nourishment, and clay as their food." They
are pictured as clothed with wings like birds. Ish-
tar upon entering this region seems to take on some
of the characteristics of Ereshkigal, for in threat
ening language she demands admission of the gate
keeper. "Open the gate, that I may step in. If
thou openest not the gate nor permittest me to step
in, I will smash the door, break the lock, destroy
the threshold, remove the gates and carry the dead
back to eat and to live, till the dead are more numer
ous than the living."
The gatekeeper yields, and Ishtar passes from one
gate to the other. At each gate the goddess is
obliged to give up some ornament or part of her
raiment her tiara, her earrings, her necklace, the
ornaments upon her breast, the girdle around her
loins, the spangles around her feet, and, finally, the
cloth around her body, until, when the seventh gate
is passed, she enters naked into the presence of
Ereshkigal. The latter makes Ishtar a prisoner in
her palace, who is thus forced to share the fate of
the dead.
The story itself is a simple nature-myth such as
we find among many peoples, symbolising the grad
ual decay of nature as the winter season approaches.
The months of storm and rain, when desolation
appears to hold sway, is the time when Ishtar is
kept as a prisoner by her grim sister. Accordingly,
we are told in this poem itself that after Ishtar had
passed down to "The Land of No Return" all fer-
208 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
tility ceased "The bull does not mount the cow,
the ass bends not over the she-ass, man does not
bend over his wife." 1 The gods put on mourning
robes and lament the disappearance of Ishtar.
Shamash weeps and appeals to the moon-god Sin.
Ea, the god of humanity, takes pity on the state
of affairs and creates a being whose name, Asushu-
namir, signifying "His Exit is Brilliant," clearly
reveals his nature. Asushu-namir is sent to "The
Land of No Return" to open the seven gates and
to secure the release of Ishtar. Ereshkigal is rep
resented as full of fury at the demand to give up
her prisoner, but she is forced to yield. She gives
the order to sprinkle Ishtar with the water of life
and to take her away. Ishtar passes through
the seven gates, at each of which the ornament
which has been taken from her is returned, until,
when she steps into the light and the sunshine, she
reappears in all her splendour and glory. The sea
son of desolation is followed by the release of the
earth from the ban laid upon it. With the coming
of spring nature revives and becomes increasingly
beautiful, until, with the approach of summer, she
recovers her full power. The story, however, in its
application to the human prisoners of Aralu, em
phasises the sad conclusion that for them there is
no return. The goddess may be released, but the
dead are condemned to an eternal sojourn in the
land of darkness.
1 A reference, perhaps, to the existence of a pairing season among
mankind as among animals, for which Westermarck, The History of
Human Marriage, chapter II, finds other evidence.
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 209
III
With such views of the great gathering-place of
the dead, variously designated in the religious lit
erature as a great city or a great palace, the thought
of death was naturally bound up with sad reflec
tions and inspired terror, a terror that was com
municated even to the great heroes of the distant
past, whom tradition had closely associated with
the gods themselves. I have several times referred
to a hero, Gilgamesh, whose exploits are woven into
an elaborate tale, covering twelve tablets, that has
been properly designated as the national epic of the
Babylonians. The story is of a composite character,
into which a large number of incidents have been
introduced which originally had nothing to do with
the hero, 1 who, so far as we can ascertain from the
material at our disposal, was a ruler and conqueror
who came from Elam, to the east of the Euphrates
Valley, and who established his rule in Uruk as a
centre. As happens everywhere with the growth of
legend, twining itself around a real or a fictitious
character, the attributes and achievements of minor
heroes are attached to the popular idol. Gilga
mesh is thus brought into direct association with a
figure, Engidu, who embodies probably a tradition
of the first man and of the early condition of man
on earth. 2 He is represented as seeking out the
1 See the analysis in the author s Religion of Babylonia and Assyria,
chapter XXIII, or in Gressmann-Ungnad, Das Gilgameschepos, pp. 82 seq.
2 See an article by the writer, "Adam and Eve in Babylonian Litera
ture," in the American Journal of Semitic Languages, vol. XV, pp. 193-214.
210 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
hero of the great Deluge who alone escaped from
a general destruction of mankind, merely so as to
offer an opportunity to introduce the story of the
great catastrophe which had lingered in the minds
of men. Through this same process of assimila
tion Gilgamesh also becomes the medium for trans
mitting the solutions of the theologians and priests
in regard to the mysteries of the universe. The
Gilgamesh epic in this way comes to reflect the
religious thought of Babylonia and Assyria as well
as the old myths and the faint historical traditions
of the past. Through one of the incidents in the
epic we obtain a further view of the conceptions
associated with Aralu, as well as the more advanced
thought in regard to life and the position of man
in nature.
Engidu, the friend and companion of Gilgamesh,
perishes through the wiles of the goddess Ishtar.
Gilgamesh does not know whither his friend has
gone. The story intimates that death is a mys
tery which mortal man is hopelessly trying to solve.
The hero himself is smitten with disease, and is
afraid that the same fate which overtook Engidu
will seize him. In this episode the nature-myth,
symbolising the change from the summer to the win
ter season, is woven around the character of the hero
god to whom, as affiliated with the sun-god, the
same story of decline of power can be applied as to
the goddess Ishtar.
In a pathetic manner Gilgamesh is represented as
wandering from place to place in search of some
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 211
means of escaping the fate in store for him. His
disease increases and his strength is waning. He
comes to the maiden Sabitu, who dwells at the
seashore, and asks her how he can find immortal
life. The maiden urges him to give up the search.
"Why dost thou wander from place to place? The
life which thou seekest thou wilt not find. When
the gods created man they fixed death for mankind.
Life they kept in their own hands."
Here is the gist of the Babylonian teachings in
regard to the fate of the living. The last word of
the theology of the priests strikes the sad note that
man must give up the search for immortality. Life
is under the control of the gods. At their pleasure
they send the spirit of life to man, and when they
will it the spirit departs, never to enter the body
again. The ethical lesson drawn from this belief is
embodied in the further advice given by Sabitu to
Gilgamesh to enjoy himself as long as life lasts, to
eat, drink, and be merry, to live with the wife of
his bosom, and to keep his head anointed with oil
and his garments pure. We will have occasion to
take up this advice in the next chapter. Here I
wish to point out the import of the teaching that
death cannot be avoided. We are long past the
primitive thought that death was introduced at a
particular juncture in the career of humanity; it
is a necessity, a dire law of nature decreed by the
gods themselves. This episode of Gilgamesh is re
corded in the last and twelfth tablet of the epic, a
position which indicates that it represents a supple-
212 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
ment to the story and belongs therefore to a later
period of literary composition. Herein its impor
tance lies, that we have embodied in the most im
portant literary product of Babylonia and Assyria,
as the final summary of the exploits of a great hero,
the thought that he, too, like every other mortal,
must face death and wend his way to the eternal
prison-house. But Gilgamesh desires at least to
know the condition of the dead. He feels that it
will be a comfort to him and enable him to meet
death with resignation if, at least, he knows what
is in store for him, in what form consciousness after
the spirit of life has fled will survive. He appeals
from one god to another for this information, but
the gods decline to give the answer to his quest.
Finally he comes to Ea, the friend and protector
of mankind, who, taking pity on Gilgamesh, orders
Nergal to permit the spirit of Engidu to rise up
from a hole in the ground. 1 Engidu appears, and
as Gilgamesh recognises his friend he is filled with
hope.
"Tell me, dear friend, tell me the law of the earth
which thou hast experienced, tell me." But the sad
answer comes back: "I cannot tell thee, my friend,
I cannot tell thee. If I were to tell thee the law
of the earth which I have experienced, you would
sit down and weep the whole day."
The moral lies on the surface. Man must not
think too much of death. He must avoid speculat-
1 The scene forms a close parallel to the rising up of the spirit of Sam
uel before Saul at the behest of the sorceress of Endor, described in
I Sam. 28 : 7-19.
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 213
ing on the fate in store for him and turn his thoughts
to this world rather than to the next. Gilgamesh,
however, persists and implores his friend, even at
the risk that certain knowledge of the fate in store
will cause him to weep the whole day, to be told
the truth. Accordingly, Engidu tells him that those
who die on the field of battle and are carefully bur
ied "drink clear water." Such a one is reunited
with his father and mother and wife; but "he whose
corpse is thrown on the field, his spirit finds no rest
in the earth, and he is obliged to subsist on food
thrown into the street." The picture drawn at the
close of the epic of Gilgamesh is incomplete dis
appointingly so. But what may be gathered is
that one s fate in Aralu is alleviated somewhat
in case one has met death in a good cause. The
answer indicates likewise the stress laid upon the
proper disposal of the dead, and which included
providing them with food and drink a duty that
devolved upon the living. The Babylonians them
selves must have realised that this provision for the
dead was soon neglected by the survivors. The
succeeding generation, or at most the second genera
tion, thought of offering food and drink to those
who had gone before, but what did the present gen
eration know or care for those who had lain in the
ground for centuries? And so the great epic ends
in striking a note of intense sadness, if not of de
spair.
214 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
IV
It is not surprising, however, to find that the
Babylonians were not satisfied with the rather hope
less outlook depicted at the close of the Gilgamesh
epic. The problem of what happens to man after
death occupied men s thought, despite the advice
given to the hero not to inquire about it. It is a
question that will not be suppressed. And so we
find in another part of the Gilgamesh epic the hero
in search of a remote ancestor, who appears to
have secured immortal life. This ancestor turns
out to be no other than Utnapishtim, the hero of
the Deluge, who escaped destruction at a time when
all others around him perished. I cannot stop here 1
to enter into a detailed account of the interest
ing Babylonian tale which originally had nothing
to do with the Gilgamesh epic. It represents an
ancient tradition of some particularly severe inunda
tion that had taken place in the district of which
Shuruppak was the centre. The Babylonian Deluge
is merely the ordinary nature-myth suggested by
the stormy and rainy season, which at the present
time as in ancient days inundated a considerable
portion of the Euphrates Valley. It was only
through the perfection of an elaborate system of
canals and the proper care of these canals that an
annual deluge was prevented and the development
of Babylonian civilisation made possible. Nor was
1 See the Appendix for further details.
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 215
there in the original story any indication of the
moral that the virtuous man is saved while sinners
perished, or that Utnapishtim had been singled out
by his exemplary conduct for immortality. He was
saved because he was wise enough to understand a
mysterious warning sent by Ea, the friend and bene
factor of mankind.
Having understood the warning, Ea tells him to
build a ship, into which he takes the members of
his family, his possessions, his household, including
cattle and flocks, and is thus saved from destruc
tion. This story, as a popular one, is taken up by
the compilers of the Gilgamesh epic, and, in order
to bring about the connection with Gilgamesh and
Utnapishtim, the former is described, in his search
for health and his longing to escape death, as hear
ing of the strange fate that befell Utnapishtim.
The conclusion that Utnapishtim is immortal and
still living in the days of Gilgamesh appears to be
a later folk-lore addition to the original story, su
perinduced no doubt, in part, by the belief that
one who had been so singularly favoured by the
gods must have stood in a closer relation to them
than other mortals. Be that as it may, the point
of the story which interests us here is the closing
episode. Gilgamesh, after a perilous journey, comes
to Utnapishtim and asks him to tell him how he
came to be placed among the assembly of the gods
and secured immortal life. He listens in amaze
ment to the story that Utnapishtim relates, which
is designated as a hidden history a kind of mys-
216 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
tery. A trace of an older view, according to which
Utnapishtim had suffered the fate of all humanity,
is to be seen in a description given of Utnapishtim
lying on his back and resting. It is clear from this
that he does not share the life of the gods, but the
fate of an ordinary mortal, retaining consciousness
after death, but condemned to a sad inactivity.
The close of the story is therefore to be regarded
likewise as a subsequent addition made at a time
when Utnapishtim became identified with the gods,
and added with the view of attaching to the story
a doctrine regarding the possibility of securing im
mortal life.
The waters had subsided, and Enlil, the god of
the upper atmosphere and of the storms, who was
more directly responsible for the Deluge, had be
come reconciled to the special grace accorded by
Ea to Utnapishtim. Ea, as the friend of humanity,
pleads with Enlil not to bring on another deluge;
to diminish mankind, if need be, through lions,
through hunger, or through pestilence. This ap
peal evidently represents again a later addition to
the original tale, embodying reflections on the
dreadful catastrophe by some one who voiced in
this way the hope that mankind would be spared
another such catastrophe. The answer of Ea to
the question of Enlil, "Who has escaped? No one
was to have remained alive," is given very briefly
by Ea in these words: "I showed a very wise man
a dream, through which he learned the secret of
the gods." Ea is then represented as stepping on
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 217
a ship, placing Utnapishtim and his wife before him,
touching their foreheads and blessing them. "Here
tofore Utnapishtim was an ordinary man. Now
Utnapishtim shall be a god as we are. Utnapish
tim shall dwell in the distance, at the confluence
of the streams. Then they took me and placed me
to a distance, at the confluence of the streams."
I have no hesitation in suggesting that the refer
ence in this phrase to Utnapishtim s position as an
ordinary man, and that henceforth he and his wife
were to be like gods is a later insertion, indicated
as such by the addition of the wife, who is not men
tioned in the succeeding lines, where the dwelling of
Utnapishtim is described as situated "at the con
fluence of the streams." But the addition of the
closing lines is, nevertheless, significant as pointing
to an endeavour to furnish a more hopeful outlook
to man in contemplating the fate in store for him
after death. The thought of these closing lines is
clearly intended to point the way to the possibility
of man rising after death to a higher state. The
spirit of life in man was regarded as of the same
character as the life about him in nature; but, since
all life was of one kind, man shared this spirit also
with the gods who were pictured as human in their
motives and actions. The dominance and achieve
ments of man separate him sharply from the rest
of creation. What more natural than that the
thought should arise that man, in whom there was
an element which united him to the gods, should
also share the attribute of immortality with the
218 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
gods, since he possessed in common with the latter
a power and wisdom not given to the rest of crea
tion, and which seemed to indicate that he was
specially picked out for divine favour?
It was reflections of this character that led to
the singling out of exceptional individuals, such as
rulers and heroes, to be placed on a par with the
gods. The deification of kings and heroes is unin
telligible except on the assumption that the spirit
of life in man is regarded as the same in substance
with that which the gods enjoy. If, then, certain
individuals were favoured through securing immor
tal life, where could they be placed except with the
gods? There was no escape from the conclusion
that such individuals were admitted to the assem
bly of the gods. The hope was thus at least held
out to mankind that through special favour some
may escape the ordinary fate. The reference to
the dwelling of Utnapishtim "in the distance at
the confluence of the streams" is exceedingly in
teresting. We may properly assume that the
streams meant are the Euphrates and Tigris, and
perhaps other rivers known to the Babylonians.
The confluence is the great ocean, which, for the
Babylonians, began with the Persian Gulf. Is the
distant place, therefore, to which Gilgamesh was
destined, a counterpart of the Greek idea of the
Island of the Blest, the first faint beginnings of a
Paradise reserved for those who had secured divine
favour? It is not impossible that such is the case,
though it may be added that beyond this vague
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 219
indication no other evidence exists. The mere
vagueness, however, of the description is suggest
ive. The story is intended to voice a hope, but
nothing more. The narrator feels that he is in
the presence of a mystery. Utnapishtim explicitly
states that the story which he is about to tell to
Gilgamesh is mysterious, and Ea emphasises that
through a dream "a wise one among men learned
the secret of the gods." The distant place at the
confluence of the streams is also a mystery per
haps the greatest of all in the mind of the com
piler and for this reason he desists from any further
description. We are, however, I think, justified in
concluding from this reference to some special place
reserved for such favoured ones as Utnapishtim
that among the Babylonians, at least, the beginnings
of a revulsion against the primitive materialistic
view of life after death had set in. Whether this
reaction went any further than is implied in the
closing words of the Deluge episode we cannot say.
It is not impossible that further material may be
found pointing to a development, at least for some
distance, along the line of a distinction in the fate
of the dead according to the pleasure of the gods
a differentiation carried somewhat further than
in the Gilgamesh epic, and which may have led
to the assumption of two places where those who
have completed their earthly careers were trans
ferred a kind of Paradise for those who had secured
divine favour, by the side of Aralu for the great
masses. There are allusions in some of the hymns
220 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
and penitential prayers to the power of Marduk
and other gods in restoring the dead to life, and
though this probably means nothing more than
bringing those on the brink of the grave back to
health and to the enjoyment of life, still the epi
thet itself is significant as an indication of the
power assigned to the great gods who hold life and
death in their hands.
It is, however, exceedingly unlikely that the doc
trine of a differentiation in the fate of man devel
oped up to the point of a general belief in immor
tality in any real sense of the term as more than
mere consciousness after death, or even up to a
deeper conception of immortality itself. The ma
terialistic aspect of Babylonian and Assyrian civi
lisation, taken as a whole, prevented the fuller de
velopment of an ethical and spiritual factor in the
growth of religious thought. Without this factor
the religion of a people soon reaches its definite
limitations. The relationship between gods and
men becomes a give-and-take arrangement, limited
moreover to the experiences of this world. To be
sure, as conditions of life become more complex and
more refined, some ethical considerations are also
taken up into the religion. The gods are repre
sented as being favourable to those who are good,
but the definition of good remains largely material
istic, inasmuch as no sharp distinction is drawn be
tween a good act from pure motives and one
dictated by selfish considerations, or between a sin
falling within the category of a moral transgression
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 221
and one which merely means the disregard of some
religious rite demanded by the gods and imposed
upon the people by priestly regulations. This lim
itation in the unfolding of the ethical and spiri
tual factor, which we shall consider more fully in
the next chapter, proved a barrier against the higher
development of views regarding man s fate after
death, as it also checked the rise of a system of
ethics freed from materialistic or purely practical
implications. It is the introduction of this ethical
element in the earlier views held by the Hebrews in
common with the Babylonians regarding life after
death that led to the profound change involved in
passing from the view of Sheol, as indicated in the
older portions of the Old Testament, to the sharp
distinction between the fate of the good and the
fate of the wicked, leading in turn to a contrast be
tween heaven and hell, and culminating on the spiri
tual side in the doctrine of the immortality of the
soul and of an ultimate resurrection.
V
We need not stop to furnish the proof that the
early conception of Sheol among the Hebrews dif
fered in no essential particular from that which we
have indicated among the Babylonians, for it lies
on the surface in almost all the books of the Old
Testament. And let me remind you once more
that the Assyrian and Babylonian view is practi
cally identical with that which we know was com-
222 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
monly held in a certain stage of culture by people
in various parts of the world practically every
where. There is one gathering-place for all gen
erally situated somewhere in the earth and it is
merely in details of a secondary character that the
descriptions of the kind of life awaiting those who
have closed their earthly career differ. 1 There is
no need, therefore, for assuming that the Hebrews
obtained their early views from the Babylonians, or
vice versa. The existence of a term shu alu in Baby
lonian, which certainly suggests the Hebrew Sheol,
and which is one of the designations for the grave,
is the one point of direct contact, but it should be
added, although I believe in the identification of
the two terms, that the reading of the Babylonian
signs is not absolutely certain. The point is not
of any great importance, because, as indicated, there
is nothing particularly distinctive, either in the He
brew or Babylonian early views, that separates the
conception from what is found elsewhere. Sheol is
the general gathering-place of the dead, precisely
as is Aralu. It is sufficient to point to the pa
thetic lament of Jacob that he will "go in sorrow
to Sheol." 2 It is not Sheol that he dreads, but the
frame of mind in which he will encounter death.
The current belief, apparently, was that those who
leave this world in sorrow retain that disposition
in the grave. The familiar biblical phrase of "being
1 See the descriptions gathered with marvellous skill and patience from
all peoples, primitive and advanced, in Frazer s Belief in Immortality,
now the standard work on the subject (2 vols., London, 1913).
Gen. 37 : 35.
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 223
gathered to one s fathers" is a synonym for death,
and refers merely to family burial. It is not, as is
sometimes claimed, inconsistent with the view of a
single gathering-place in a deep hole underneath
the earth. The general conception regarding Sheol
is also illustrated in the various poetical epithets
given to it, such as "the Pit," "Destruction," "the
Land of Forgetfulness," "the Place of Silence," and
so forth. One of these names, "Refaim," marks
the dead as being weak. Sheol represents the con
trast to life and everything connected with life. As
so effectively expressed in the book of Job (10 : 22):
"It is a land of darkness, of dense darkness, where
even light is dark." There the dead lie huddled
together, conscious but inactive. The striking pic
ture in the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah, of the dead
rulers of the earth with their crowns on their heads,
greeting the mighty Babylonian king, "Art thou
also become weak as we are ? Art thou become like
unto us, thy pomp brought down to the grave?" is
familiar to us all. There is an interesting touch in
a passage in Ezekiel 1 which implies that dishonour
in this life clings to those in the nether world. As
among the Babylonians, we find that proper burial
and affectionate care of the dead were essential to
the condition of comparative quiet. No doubt the
Hebrews also, like the Babylonians, were at one
time prompted to this care for the dead by the
consideration that in this way the living would be
protected against mischief at the hands of the de
parted spirits.
J 32: 27.
224 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
It is in the Psalms that we obtain the first defi
nite glimpse of a more hopeful view. To be sure, we
still find in many of the Psalms the view that those
in Sheol cannot praise God, that all relations between
the dead and the Deity are cut off. 1 But in other
productions which must be placed at a later period
we find such remarkable utterances as: "My flesh
also shall dwell in safety, for Thou wilt not leave my
soul to Sheol; neither wilt Thou suffer Thy holy
one to see corruption" (Psalm 16 : 9-10); and,
"God will redeem my soul from the power of
Sheol, for He shall receive me" (Psalm 49 : 15).
Vague as such indications are they may be multi
plied many times they are sufficiently definite to
justify the conclusion that the belief in a differen
tiation of the fate of the dead had taken a strong
hold on popular belief, to speak roughly, within a
century or two before the exilic period.
The significance, however, of the passages in the
Psalms furnishing the hopeful outlook is that they
occur in connection with a distinction between the
good and the wicked. So we note that in the first
passage quoted, the assurance of the psalmist that
God will not leave his soul in Sheol, is based upon
his trust in God. "I will bless the Lord who has
given me counsel." "I have set the Lord always be
fore me. Because He is at my right hand I shall not
be moved." "The righteous shall inherit the land,
and dwell therein forever." "Mark the perfect man,
1 E. g., Psalm 6:5: "In death there is no remembrance of thee; in
the grave, who shall give thee thanks?" or Psalm 88, which strikes this
same note, only more forcibly.
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 225
and behold the upright, for the latter end of that man
is peace." "The latter end of the wicked shall be
cut off, but the salvation of the righteous is of Yah-
weh." It is the righteous who need not stand in fear
of death. Their souls will be redeemed from Sheol.
The key-note therefore for the brighter outlook is
religious, the same note which is struck so forcibly
in the utterances of the Prophets, and which becomes
the dominant note in the reconstruction of the relig
ious life after the Exile. It has been remarked
that there is too strong a tendency among critical
students in the Old Testament to make of the pe
riod of the Exile the sharp dividing-line between
earlier religious conceptions and more advanced ones.
There is a certain truth in this criticism, and it is,
I believe, decidedly erroneous to assume that higher
views held in reference to the relationship between
man and the Deity, entailing superior views of
sin and atonement and of life after death, belong
necessarily to the postexilic period. There must
have been a long antecedent development before we
reach such a position as is taken in many of the
Psalms. The pre-exilic Prophets furnish the proof
of such a proposition, and we have seen that we are
justified in regarding Moses as a precursor in the
movement which culminates in ethical monotheism.
But the critics are right, I believe, in maintaining
that the full realisation of what the Prophets meant
did not come until the great lesson of the Exile had
sunk deep into the minds and hearts of the people.
The significance of that lesson lay in the realisation
226 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
that failure was a condition to ultimate success, that
national humiliation was essential in order to bring
about spiritual triumph, that Yahweh s compara
tive indifference to the fate of His own people was
the means by which there was impressed upon the
people the spiritual conception of divine govern
ment, faintly outlined by Moses and then unmis
takably voiced by the Prophets in their endeavour
to show that Yahweh was not like other gods cir
cumscribed in his interests, and ready to overlook
faulty conduct and low ideals if only external hom
age were rendered to him by those who regarded
themselves as his favourites. The trust of the
psalmist in divine justice and righteousness finds
its highest expression in such utterances as "I walk
through the valley of deep darkness, I will fear no
evil," 1 which could only have been reached by such
a profound national experience as that which marks
the destruction of the southern Hebrew kingdom,
following within about a century and a half upon
that of the northern kingdom.
VI
It was not so much the political changes involved
in the catastrophe, though these were profound, as
the reflex of the downfall of Jerusalem in the spirit
of the people that makes the Exile a sharp point of
division in the religious attitude of the people at
large. Here, through an illustration the force of
1 Psalm 23 : 4.
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 227
which was tremendous, the lesson of the Prophets
was impressed upon the people that Yahweh de
manded loyalty to ethical ideals, and not, like other
gods of the nations, a mere observance of ritualistic
ordinances. It is no wonder that the people de
clined to give, serious heed to the threats of an
Amos, an Isaiah, or a Jeremiah. Why should they
be held up as sinners ? In comparing themselves to
other nations, the Hebrews of pre-exilic days did
not find that they had sunk deeper into the mire
of materialism, or were more indifferent to the pre
cepts of religion than other nations. They certainly
were not as cruel and rapacious as their enemies,
the Assyrian and Babylonian conquerors. They
were not any worse, surely, than the Phoenicians,
or the Moabites, or Ammonites. The argument had
force and could not be gainsaid. Prophet and peo
ple were speaking a different language. Both used
the same term Yahweh as the designation of the
God to be worshipped, but the Yahweh of the
Prophets had moved far away from the conception
of a merely national protector. All the Prophets
were deeply stirred by the inadequacy of the pre
vailing cult, survivals of primitive Semitic customs,
or borrowed largely from the practices of the Ca-
naanites as a means of bringing about a spiritual
communion between the worshipper and his deity.
The thought that Yahweh demanded clean hands,
pure thoughts, righteous conduct, rather than sacri
fices and the observance of new-moons, Sabbaths,
and festivals, was a revolutionary one.
228 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
The impending catastrophe of a complete submis
sion of the people to foreign conquerors was fore
seen by the Prophets, and indeed was so evident
that no one with clear vision could help foreseeing
it. But while the masses thought that through still
more zealous devotion to the conventional cult Yah-
weh might be induced to ward off the coming dis
aster to the state, the Prophets were preparing the
people to understand the lesson of the unavoidable
downfall. It was because of the influence exerted
by these Prophets that the ethical element in the
conception of divine government of the universe re
acted on the entire religious thought, and to a large
extent also on the religious life of the Hebrews dur
ing the so-called Exile, and more particularly in post-
exilic days. The entire past history of the people
was viewed in a different light when the new cri
terion introduced by the Prophets was applied to
the review of this history. The simple conditions
in the patriarchal times loomed up as the ideal in
contrast with later periods marked by the change
to city life and by the concomitant extension of
commerce, of worldly interests, of political expan
sion, and other factors that accompanied what was
undoubtedly an advance in culture. The tradi
tional figures of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob became
the types of the true worshippers of Yahweh, and
though some of the tales told of these ancestors,
particularly those associated with Jacob, retained
many incidents inconsistent with the ideals of the
Prophets, on the whole the popular stories were re-
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 229
cast in such a way as to bring out the main thought
that Yahweh demanded a pure disposition rather
than an external show of devotion through offerings
or through the observance of sacred days. The older
laws are interspersed with ethical reflections added
during this period, and which were intended to bring
out as the main purpose of ceremonial observance
the resolve of the people to regulate their lives ac
cording to the standards of righteousness and jus
tice which Yahweh had imposed upon his chosen
people. The upshot of all this was to extend the
differentiation between good and bad conduct be
yond the confines of this life. Such was the force
of the doctrine of the Prophets that righteousness
alone exalteth a people and that only those who walk
in straight paths can obtain divine favour, that it
came to be looked upon as inconceivable that the
same fate should be measured out to good and bad
alike. On the other hand, the reconciliation of such
a doctrine with existing facts was a difficult task.
If Yahweh was the just ruler whose sway was not
limited to one particular people, why was it that
power counted for so much in this world power of
arms, power of position, power of wealth ?
The only solution for this dilemma was the assump
tion of retribution for the sins of nations at a dis
tant time when righteousness shall prevail through
out the world, and for individuals in the better fate
in store for those who suffer because of their at
tachment to ethical ideals in this world. The He
brews, sobered and humiliated by the loss of national
230 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
independence, began the work of rebuilding the na
tional life on a religious and not on a political basis.
Resigned by force of circumstance to being politi
cally dependent upon a foreign power, the Hebrews
developed a religious commonwealth which aimed
to avoid a conflict with the powers that be. This
endeavour was aided by the wise and generous pol
icy, inaugurated by Cyrus, of allowing the people as
much liberty under Persian rule as was consistent
with a recognition of the political supremacy of the
Persian government over Palestine.
The result was the transformation of the Hebrews
into a religious community, though naturally cen
turies elapsed before the national ambitions which
actuated a considerable portion of the people were
entirely moved into the background. Indeed, from
a certain point of view, these national ambitions
never entirely died out, but. the application of the
new doctrine of retribution had the result of re
moving the time for the fulfilment of national am
bitions to a remote period in the future, which de
prived them of a large part of their political force.
Yahweh would restore his people even to their po
litical strength in due time, but this time would not
come till the kingdom of divine righteousness was
formally established in all parts of the world. Then,
but only then, were Israel s sufferings as a nation
to cease, and retribution to be afforded for the hu
miliation and for the loss of national power endured
by the people.
We are less concerned, however, with this phase
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 231
of religious development than with the effect of the
new doctrine of retribution on the individual. The
older view regarding life after death left little place
for individual claims. According to this view all
the living were to be gathered into one place, and,
even if a distinction was to be made, it was not
done according to the life led by the individual on
earth. But with the application of the divine pre
cepts of justice and righteousness to the individual
as well as to the people as a whole, a new hope was
held out for those who suffered in this world be
cause of their fidelity to higher standards of con
duct. An analogy was drawn between the people
regarded as a unit and the virtues of the individual.
The sufferings of the pious and righteous were merely
a picture of what Israel itself was obliged to endure.
The Messianic hope and the retribution promised
for the individual in the future world were thus
closely bound up with each other, representing two
phases of the same thought. The literature of the
centuries succeeding the exilic period down to the
beginning of Christianity, and even for some dis
tance beyond the appearance of this new force, is
taken up with these two ideas of Messianic hope
and of the retribution of the individual. Israel
would receive the reward for its sufferings in the
distant future when the rule of righteousness would
be established throughout the world, and the pious
and God-fearing individual who suffered poverty,
humiliation, and apparent failure in his earthly ca
reer would find his compensation, after his earthly
232 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
career had closed, for clinging to the law of God.
That later, beyond the grave, the pious would find
the reward for observing the law was eloquently
described in the beautiful nineteenth Psalm, which
voices the postexilic point of view:
"The law of Yahweh is perfect, refreshing the soul;
The ordinances of Yahweh are sure, making wise the simple;
The precepts of Yahweh are right, rejoicing the heart;
The command of Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes."
Here you have a perfect expression of the concep
tion of divine precepts that illustrates the wide gap
between the popular view in former days, which
identified the laws of Yahweh with ceremonial reg
ulations, and the postexilic ideals, which made the
law the expression of a purely spiritual and ethi
cal intent, with ceremonial regulations merely as a
medium for leading to the end in view, which was
to refresh the soul, to make the simple wise, to re
joice the heart, and to enlighten the eyes.
VII
The doctrine of personal retribution does not find
its complete expression until within a century of the
appearance of Jesus. The book of Job, receiving
its definite shape about 400 B. C., 1 may be instanced
as a proof that we are still some distance removed
from the period when the doctrine of retribution
1 This is Budde s view in his commentary on Job (Das Buck Hiob, 2d
ed., p. Iv), which seems to me to best satisfy all conditions involved.
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 233
had acquired much force. Throughout the book
the assumption is that the favour and displeasure
of God are limited to this world, and that after life
is over all lie down to the quiet of the grave with
none to disturb them, but also with none to care for
them. Forgotten they lie there, the good and the
bad, food for worms. Even the three "friends" of
Job, who in the philosophical discussions that form
the purpose of the book 1 represent the conventional
point of view in postexilic days that God rewards
the pious and punishes the evil-doers, do not ex
tend their horizon beyond this world; and though
it is suggested that sometimes the punishment falls
on the descendants of the wicked man in case the
real culprit escapes it, even the corollary that the
virtuous man who suffers in this world should be
content in the consciousness that his offspring will
reap the reward denied to him is not brought for
ward, much less the thought that the good will be
rewarded after death, if not in this world. The
scepticism of the author of the philosophical poem
for the discussions are in poetic form corre
spondingly goes no further than to question the view
that had become the current one by the fifth cen-
1 The story of Job, the pious and patient sufferer to whom eventually
all things are restored, is merely the medium for the introduction of Job
and his three friends as the participants in a discussion of the problem
of suffering and of evil. The story is used as a modern preacher might
use a biblical story as the text for a sermon suggested by the tale. The
book of Job ended originally with chapter 31, where the closing words,
"Ended are the words of Job," are still found intact. Chapters 32-42 : 6
represent further endeavours on the part of later writers to discuss the
same theme, which is one of permanent human interest, and aroused as
much attention then as it commands at the present time.
234 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
tury, whether the laws of justice and righteousness
ascribed by the Prophets to God as His weapons to
carry out His government of the world were actually
in force. The author, who is in sympathy with Job,
represents the latter as questioning the correctness
of the assumption that God punishes the wicked
only. Job s case is the unanswerable argument to
this, for the point of Job s sufferings is that he en
dures all kinds of misfortunes despite the fact that
he is, as the prose tale describes him, "perfect and
upright" (Job I : i) strong terms that are applied
to Noah (Gen. 6 : 9), and no doubt with a direct
allusion to the passage in the book of Genesis so as
to suggest the comparison between Noah and Job.
The Noah story is told to show that God saves the
righteous man even when all mankind, represented
as corrupt, is doomed to destruction. The point of
Job s speeches is to suggest that the righteous man
is not always saved, but, on the contrary, is tortured
and punished as though he had committed all the
sins and transgressions in the catalogue, whereas the
wicked often flourish and are saved while the just
perish. The book of Job is therefore of special in
terest in showing the opposition that the doctrine
of the Prophets encountered from those who main
tained a distinctly sceptical attitude, prompted, to
be sure, by a profound study of life as it is and
not by mere cynicism. But for the subsequent ad
dition of the speeches of Elihu (chapters 32-37) and
of God Himself, introduced in chapters 38-41, and
for the toning down of some of Job s speeches by
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 235
glosses and intentional changes, the book would
never have been admitted into the Jewish canon.
The problem of unjust suffering and of the exist
ence of evil in a world created by a beneficent
Pow T er enthroned in justice and righteousness is, in
deed, a difficult one. Perhaps to seek an altogether
satisfactory solution is a hopeless quest, 1 but it is
significant that while Job in his speeches often ap
proaches a denial of divine justice, not even a hint
is thrown out in the book of Job in regard to a pos
sible retribution beyond the grave. 2 Nor is there a
suggestion that a distinction is to be made between
the fate of the good and that of the wicked in Sheol,
which, it will be recalled, is described in a manner
closely parallel to the account of Aralu as a land of
no return, a place of deep darkness (Job 10 : 21-22).
"He that goeth down to Sheol shall not come up.
He shall return no more to his house, neither shall
his place know him any more." 3 On the other
hand, in the book of Ecclesiastes, the scepticism
of which is distinguished from that in the book of
Job not only in being more pronounced but by its
cynical flavour, we encounter by implication the ex
istence of a belief that the fate in store for man is
different from that of the rest of the animal world.
Forwhenthe preacher (Eccles. 3 120-21), after stating
1 The solution proposed by Mazdaism or Zoroastrianism, to use the
more common term, that the power, of evil is independent of Ahura-
Mazda, the creator who has all attributes except that of unlimited power,
is virtually an abandonment of the problem.
2 The famous passage, 19 : 25-27 hopelessly corrupt through later
contamination cannot be used for this view.
3 Job 7 : 9-10.
236 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
that "all go unto one place; all are of the dust and
unto dust all return," 1 adds, "Who knows that the
spirit of men goes upward and the spirit of beasts
downward," there is clearly implied a view which
assumes a heavenly home for man as against Sheol
here reserved for the brute creation. In view of
this we are also justified in assuming that when the
cynic says that "there is one end to the righteous
and the wicked, to the clean and to the unclean . . .
as is the good, so is the sinner, he who swears is
as he who fears an oath. This is an evil among
the things under the sun, that there is one fate to
all," he is polemicising against a view that differ
entiated in some way between the fate of the just
and that of the wicked.
Because of these implied teachings, the view of
scholars who place Ecclesiastes after the composi
tion of the book of Job seems to be correct, and,
while we may not be justified in going far down
into the second century before our era for the final
shape of this remarkable philosophical work, as Pro
fessor Haupt 2 and others propose, it can hardly
be older than the third century, 3 and I am inclined
to agree with those who see in the peculiar form of
the preacher s scepticism in its specific form as
well as in its mundane tone the influence of Greek
philosophy which would oblige us to come well down
into the third century as the probable date of com-
1 In evident allusion to Gen. 3 : 19.
2 The Book of Ecclesiastes (Baltimore, 1905), p. I.
8 See Barton in his Commentary on Ecclesiastes, p. 62; though Barton
denies Greek influence, ib., pp. 32 seq.
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 237
position. 1 If we had more literary remains of the
fourth and third centuries preceding Christianity, we
would be in a position to follow the development
of beliefs regarding life after death in detail. As it
is, we must be content with noting that the general
tendency of religious thought which such produc
tions as the books of Job and Ecclesiastes clearly
antagonise did not proceed without counter-cur
rents on the one hand in the direction of a scepti
cism about the practical workings of the theory
of life as enunciated by the Prophets, on the other
hand a questioning of the new doctrine that a dis
tinction can really be assumed between the fate of
the good and that of the bad after the reaper,
Death, has gathered men in his embrace. Even in
a book so late as the sayings of Ben Sira, Sheol is
still the place of all the shades. As in the earlier
Psalms, it is described as a place without delight,
where there is no praise of God, and where man is
plunged into eternal sleep; and, while the author,
who wrote about the year 180 B. C, voices the
coming of the Messianic kingdom when Israel will
receive her retribution, he does not appear to hold
out any such hope for the individual, and looks for
the punishment of the evil-doer in the sins and mis
fortunes that will be heaped upon his descendants.
1 Many passages in Ecclesiastes have been retouched in the interest
of orthodoxy to tone down their extreme sceptical tone, and many addi
tions were made furnishing the counter-arguments of pious writers. As
in the case of Job, it is because of these additions which covered the
blunt scepticism and cynicism with a veneer of orthodoxy and conven
tionality that the book though not without a struggle was admitted
into the canon. See for further details Barton s Commentary, pp. 5 seq.
238 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
VIII
Such doctrinal expressions and literary contri
butions had by this time become much more the
expression of individual views than a few centuries
earlier. Yet, for the very reason that they show
this individualistic character, we should be warned
against laying too much stress on them, as though
they represented the main currents. The late
Psalms, in which it is often difficult to decide whether
the speaker is the individual or the community, 1 il
lustrate the close connection in the minds of the
writers between Israel as a community and the in
dividual members of the community, and it may well
be that it was the intention to apply the descrip
tions in such Psalms to both the community and
the individual. If therefore the belief arose in a
retribution in the distant future for the sufferings
which Israel as a nation and as a religious commu
nity had to endure, we may feel certain that the
corollary was drawn applying the doctrine to the
individual. It required only the further growth of
individualisation to bring about a complete corre
spondence between the hoped-for national retri
bution in a better age and the individual retribu
tion in a better state to be looked for after death.
About the same time as the composition of the
sayings of Ben Sira we find the oldest portion of
1 See Coblenz, Ueber das betende Ich in den Psalmen (1907), which is
only one of many monographs discussing this question in regard to which
general agreement has not been reached.
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 239
the book of Enoch laying great emphasis on the
doctrine of individual retribution; and equally defi
nite is the book of Daniel, ascribed by the unani
mous verdict of critics to about the same period as
Ben Sira, in basing the hope that the pious who
sleep in the land of dust shall wake to share in the
eternal life, while the wicked will inherit shame. 1
The conceptions in regard to this time of retribu
tion remain vague for a considerable period, but
despite this fact the feeling of confidence and of
trust in the goodness and righteousness of divine
government and in the ultimate compensation for
unmerited sufferings in this world grows apace.
Nowhere is this trust more emphatically and more
beautifully expressed than in many of the Psalms,
and it is because there does not seem to be any
other place for such strong sentiments of supreme
confidence in the power making for righteousness
that scholars have been led to place Psalms voic
ing this trust in the two centuries before this era.
Within this category fall such Psalms as the fa
mous twenty-third:
" Yahweh is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters. He refreshes my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of deep darkness, I will
fear no evil: for Thou art with me;"
and the thirty-seventh, built up about pithy sayings
that indicate the popularity acquired by the new
doctrine :
1 Chapter 12 : 2.
240 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
"Fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious
of them that work iniquity, 1
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as
the green herb.
Trust in Yahweh and do good: dwell in the land and act
with fidelity.
Delight thyself also in Yahweh,
And He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Commit thy way to Yahweh, trust in Him; He shall bring it
to pass.
He shall make thy righteousness to shine forth as the light,
and thy judgment as the noon-day. *
Such Psalms, whether couched in the first person or
in the form of an address, are equally applicable to
the community or the individual. Again we have
late Psalms, like the one hundred and forty-fourth,
in which there is a transition from the individual s
concern to that of the community, 2 evidently again
from the point of view that trust in Yahweh is
equally applicable to both; and though I am in
clined to believe that in the latest Psalms, empha
sising absolute trust in divine righteousness, the
tendency is more distinctly individualistic, yet in
others, such as the second, also of late origin:
"Why do the nations rage,
And the people devise what is vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together
Against Yahweh, and against His anointed,"
1 Parallel to Prov. 24 : 19; cf. also vs. 16 with Prov. 16 : 8, and vss.
23-24 with Prov. 20 : 24.
2 Vss. 1-8, even if we accept Duhm s view (Die Psalmen, p. 295) that
these versions are an adaptation of Psalm 18 a national hymn clearly
refer to an individual s distress, though the metaphors, such as in vss. 5-6,
"Touch the mountains that they smoke, hurl lightnings and scatter
them," etc. an allusion to the revelation on Mount Sinai are chosen
from the nation s experiences. On the other hand, vss. 9-15 are as dis
tinctly national in their import.
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 241
clearly the nation, not the individual, is meant.
The combination of the two classes of Psalms, the
expression of the individual s hopes and aspirations,
and those of the nation, is characteristic of the
religious thought during the two or three centuries
before the advent of Christianity. The individual
is moved into the foreground, his claims are dis
tinctly recognised, in contrast to the earlier view of
the solidarity of the family, tribe, or nation. On
the other hand, the analogy between the life of the
individual, with its hardships, its misfortunes, its
varying conditions, and that of Israel during the
centuries following upon the Exile, were so close as
to suggest an almost complete assimilation of the
hope in the Messianic kingdom with the time when
the individual would also receive his reward. Israel
as a people, and the people of Israel as individuals,
represent, as it were, an equation. Israel as the
servant of Yahweh, oppressed and despised of men
as so powerfully portrayed by a later Isaiah, is the
counterpart of "the poor and needy" who form the
burden of so many Psalms 1 and by which des
ignation the pious members of the postexilic com
munity are meant, whose fidelity to the law entailed
severe hardships and many deprivations. The fate
of the individual was thus bound up with that
of the nation. Both were encouraged to look for
retribution at one and the same period of distant
time, when the law of righteousness would be es
tablished in the world, Israel restored to her posi-
1 Notably Psalms 34, 70, 74, 86, and 109.
242 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
tion, and the individual rewarded for clinging to the
law that is perfect and that refreshes the soul.
This identification of the individual with the peo
ple represents, naturally, a limitation in the unfold
ing of the ideals held up by the Prophets. The
emphasis upon the virtues of the people was hardly
consistent with the conception of a God of universal
sway, not bound by any geographical jurisdiction
or recognising any distinctions of blood. The con
ception of Israel as a people was idealised, to be
sure, in some of the more advanced exilic writings.
Israel became a symbol of the ideal of righteous
ness, and yet in the background, even in the minds
of the best writers, the purely national aspirations
and political hopes were ever present.
In judging of this combination of the individual
with the people, we must make allowances for the
temporary recrudescence of political activity as the
result of the uprising of the so-called Maccabees,
which occurred about the middle of the second cen
tury before this era. For a time it seemed as though
the nation would once more mount to a position of
independence. The attempt to force upon the people
Greek customs and to deal a fatal blow at the same
time to the religion aroused the people to desper
ate resistance; and, while the success was only tem
porary, it led to a strengthening of the national con
sciousness that had much to do with the opposition
aroused when about a century, or a century and a
half, later the attempt was made to bring about a
complete break between national and religious ideals.
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 243
It is not accidental that in the book of Daniel, which
reflects both the attempts to wean the people from
adherence to the rites of their religion and the hopes
awakened in the Maccabean age, we find the doctrine
of individual retribution after death closely united
to the portrayal of the ultimate salvation of the
people. "At that time thy people shall be saved,
every one that shall be found written in the book.
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the
earth shall awake, these to everlasting life and these
to everlasting shame." 1 And yet there is evidence
to show that even at this time the individualistic
current was running ahead of the stream of national
hopes. In Psalms 73 and 49, both dealing with the
folly of relying upon riches which, it is assumed, are
usually gained through iniquity and oppression, the
hope is voiced that Yahweh will provide a better
fate for the pure of heart and the clean of hands
than for the wicked who prosper in this world and
heap up ill-gotten gains. In the former Psalm this
hope is represented as a mystery. The singer is in
despair when contemplating the actual conditions in
this world in which the innocent suffer at the hands
of the wicked "until I penetrated into the holy
secrets of God and noted their latter end thou
didst set them in slippery places, thou didst hurl
them down to ruin (vss. 17-18) . . . But I am ever
1 Dan. 12 : 1-2. The book of Daniel is a composite production, though
the theme is the same throughout God s providence for His people and
the ultimate deliverance of the people from their enemies. In chapters 7-
12, the visions of Daniel are made the medium of expressing the Mes
sianic hope the restoration of Israel to its place of superiority among
the nations.
244 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
with thee. Thou hast taken hold of my right hand,
with thy counsel thou guidest me and afterwards
wilt receive me in glory" (vss. 23-24). More def
inite is the hope expressed in Psalm 49 (vss. 15-16),
that, whereas the ungodly "will sink like sheep to
Sheol, with death as their shepherd. . . . God will
redeem my soul from Sheol, for He will take me to
Himself." 1 There is clearly an advance in the di
rection of greater certainty over such a Psalm as
the thirty-ninth in which the trust in God 2 goes no
further than the prayer: "0! spare me that I may
be gladdened before I go hence and be no more"-
that is, to pass on to Sheol at the end of a happy
life, and not to go down in sorrow as Jacob feared. 3
The significant feature in Psalms 73 and 49 is that
hope of retribution beyond the grave is held out
without any association with the Messianic age which
is to bring about the restoration of the people the
new life of Israel through the resurrection of the
national hopes.
IX
Many new aspects of the problem of life after
death are brought forward in the course of the cen
tury or century and a half preceding Christianity.
The Messianic kingdom, instead of being looked upon
as a permanent condition as in earlier writings, is
portrayed as of temporary duration, to be sup-
1 An allusion to Gen. 5 : 24, where it is said of Enoch "that God had
taken him."
2 Vs. 7. "And now what do I hope for, O Lord? My trust is in thee."
3 Above, p. 222.
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 245
plemented by a final day of judgment. This is
the view set forth with more or less preciseness in
such works as Jubilees, Wisdom, the Assumption of
Moses, and by Philo of Alexandria all dating from
about the beginning of our era. The advance of
individualism brings in its wake a sharper distinc
tion between the soul and the body; and, since phil
osophical speculations in regard to matter led to
the pessimistic view based on the theological in
terpretation of the fall of man that matter was
ineradicably evil and corrupt, the doctrine of im
mortality limited to the soul arose, and received
support through the influence of the book of Wis
dom and the works of Philo; while, concomitant with
this doctrine, the belief in a final day of judgment is
combined in such a work as the Apocalypse of Ba-
ruch within the first century of our era with ear
lier notions, which could not conceive of life with
out a material substance in which it was clothed.
As in the primitive phase of belief, which imagined
the dead in Sheol to continue a conscious existence
in the frame of mind in which they entered into the
nether world, so on the day of resurrection the dead
were supposed to rise with every defect and deform
ity they possessed at the moment of death. 1 The
bodies of the righteous, according to this writer, will
be transformed to conform to the reward assigned
1 The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin, 9<D b ) even goes so far as to de
clare that the dead will arise in the very clothes in which they were
buried; and Jerome echoes an even more literal view, based on an er
roneous translation of the famous passage in Job 19 : 26. (See Charles,
Eschatology, Hebrew, Jewish and Christian, p. 281.)
246 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
to them of a spiritual existence of unending glory
and happiness. This view represents in its final
outcome a great advance over what we find in the
second Book of Maccabees (chapter 7), where retri
bution is not only limited to the righteous among the
people of Israel, but where Sheol is still an inter
mediate state, whereas the nations enter at once on
their eternal doom. The emphasis on the individ
ual s fate, in combination with the modification of
the Messianic hope, which led to the assumption of
a Messianic kingdom of temporary duration, had as
another significant outcome the rise of the belief in
a personal Messiah, who is to usher in the new era.
The book of Enoch may be instanced as a proof of
the prominence that this doctrine had acquired at
the beginning of the first century before this era,
for he describes the Messiah in such terms as "the
anointed one" (or the Christ), "the chosen one,"
and even "the son of man" 1 familiar to us from the
New Testament. We have in the apocalyptic writ
ings of this time the growing definiteness of the
universalistic view which included all nations the
Gentiles therefore alongside of Israel, the elect
in the visions of the Messiah and of the Messianic
kingdom, in the pictures of the lot of the pious in
heaven, and of the wicked in a special place of pun
ishment, and of the day of resurrection and final
1 Whatever this designation may originally have connoted on which
see Professor Nathaniel Schmidt s full discussion in The Prophet of Naz
areth, chapter V there can be no question that it is used in a symbolic
and not in a literal sense, and therefore belongs properly to "Messianic"
terminology.
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 247
judgment. It was not easy for the Jewish nation
alistic spirit to overleap the barrier marked by na
tional hopes, for that is what the acceptance of the
universalistic spirit expressed in the utterances of
postexilic Prophets like Malachi 1 and in chapters
inserted in Isaiah 2 and in some Psalms 3 involved.
If Yahweh s temple is to be "a house of prayer for
all nations," 4 and Jerusalem the holy city to which
all peoples will flock, then the only special province
left to Israel, the elect, is to be the leader of the
new movement, but only at the sacrifice of all par
ticularism and nationalistic aspirations. The Mac-
cabean uprising brought with it a rekindling of na
tional hopes and with this a reassertion of Israel s
special prerogatives even in the days of the Messi
anic kingdom which is pictured in such writings as
Daniel, Enoch, the Psalms of Solomon (c. 70 B. C.),
and Baruch as the time when the righteous among
the nations will serve Israel, while the wicked, by
whom are meant primarily the enemies of the
chosen people, will not partake in the resurrection,
but will remain in Sheol and there be subjected to
tortures for their sins. Still, even in the writings be
longing to the end of the second and to the first
century before this era, notably in portions of the
1 I : II : "From the rising of the sun unto its going down, my name is
great among the nations; and in every place incense is offered unto my
name and a pure offering."
2 Isa. 19 : 24-25 : "On that day Israel shall be a third with Egypt
and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, which Yahweh of
hosts has blessed saying, blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria, the
work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance." Cf. also Isa. 2 : 2-4
= Micah 4 : 1-3.
3 E. g., Psalms 22, 65, 86, and 87. * Isa. 56 : 7.
248 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
book of Enoch more composite in character than
most of the writings of the period 1 there runs the
theme that all the righteous among the nations are
to have a share in the blessings of the future, includ
ing the assignment to heaven and participation in
the resurrection; and it is significant that this point
of view finds an expression even in the Talmud, 2
despite the particularistic position which forms the
very foundation-stone on which the structure of
Rabbinical Judaism is erected. The upshot is a
somewhat inconsistent and vague compromise, in
volving the theoretical acceptance of the universal-
istic spirit as a corollary of Prophetical Judaism,
with an endeavour to retain the special position to
be accorded to the Jewish people even in the Mes
sianic age and on the day of final judgment. It
is this conflict between nationalism and universal-
ism that results finally in the divorce between Ju
daism and Christianity.
The complete break with the old conception of
Sheol as a general gathering-place, and even as an
intermediate sojourn for the righteous, which finds
its literary expression in the book of Jubilees, in
Philo, in the Apocalypse of Baruch, in Josephus,
and more particularly, of course, in the Gospels and
other writings of the New Testament, leads to the
view of Sheol as the abiding-place of the wicked
in contrast to the blessed immortality in heaven ac-
1 See the introduction in Charles s The Book of Enoch, pp. xlvi-lvi
(Oxford, 1912).
2 " The righteous of all nations will have a share in the world to come"
(Tosefta, Sanhedrin, xiii).
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 249
corded to the righteous immediately after death. A
direct consequence of this distinction between heaven
and hell, when once it assumed definite form, was to
lead to pictures of torments for the wicked in Sheol,
which form the basis for the lurid pictures in the
theological treatises of mediaeval Christianity.
X
The further development of views regarding life
after death which lies beyond the scope of these chap
ters, proceeded in part under Jewish and in part
under Christian influences. Thus the differentia
tion between the resurrection of the body and the
immortality of the soul may be looked upon as a
result in which both Jewish and Christian concep
tions had about an equal share; but practically we
have in the movements of thought regarding life
after death during the two centuries preceding this
era all the elements for the Pauline theology, which
became the working hypothesis of Christianity down
to the days of the Reformation all the elements
with the exception of the coping-stone of the struc
ture, to wit, the wiping out of the original sin of
mankind through the blood of the "anointed," the
Christ. This carries with it as a logical corollary
the doctrine of salvation for mankind through the
acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah, and the sym
bolical union with the son of God whose death
becomes the vicarious sacrifice par excellence. The
personality of Jesus in this system which represents
250 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
the culmination of a long process of thought and
speculation extending from the days of the pre-
exilic Prophets impresses us sometimes as almost
secondary, in comparison with the stress laid by
Paul on the theories entwined around the name of
the Christ. To be sure, the personality in all great
religious as well as in political movements is essen
tial, but it is not surprising that in our own days
of rigid questioning of all traditions the question
as to the historicity of Jesus should have arisen.
The question lies outside of my field, but I trust
that I may be permitted to express my own convic
tion that in the picture of the great teacher of Gali
lee drawn for us in the Gospels we have not only a
real personality, but one who impressed himself so
deeply on his surroundings so much more so than
his precursor, John the Baptist, with whom Jesus
has much in common that when the time came for
summing up the religious movements that had so
profoundly stirred the minds of men in Palestine
and beyond the boundaries of this little land, Jesus
became for Paul at one and the same time the ex
ponent, the embodiment, the medium, and the illus
tration of the system so logically and impressively
worked out by him. The teachings of Jesus as re
vealed in the Gospels are conceived in the spirit of
the Hebrew Prophets. The bent of his mind, so
far as we can detect it, is ethical rather than theo
logical, though to be sure theological concepts are
involved in his ethics. The Jesus of the Pauline
system is primarily a theological concept attached
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 251
to the personality under the mysterious law of his
tory that brings about the inseparable bond between
great events and great leaders concerned in the
events. But while paying our homage to the Paul
ine system, we must not close our eyes to the fact
that corresponding to the national limitations of
Rabbinical Judaism remaining theoretically a uni
versal religion, yet practically confined to a single
group, we have in the case of organised Christianity
a growing differentiation between those who may
obtain salvation by the acceptance of Jesus as the
Messiah and Redeemer of mankind, and those who
persisted in remaining outside of the circle; and it
is just here that we touch once more upon the more
immediate problem of life after death with which we
are concerned. Despite the spiritual conception of
divine government in both Judaism and Christian
ity; despite the emphasis laid in both upon the jus
tice, mercy, and love of the Creator and Guide of
humanity, Judaism draws a sharp line of demarca
tion between Jew and non-Jew, while in Christianity
the doctrine of salvation, limited to those who ac
cept the Pauline system, led to an emphasis upon
the distinction between heaven and hell, the former
being reserved to the believers while unspeakable
tortures of eternal damnation were in store for the
unbelievers. This emphasis grew until in modern
days a reaction set in against this deduction from
the Pauline system.
We have thus followed in outline the remarkable
course of development to which the early Hebrew
252 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
traditions of views of life after death were subjected
from the days of Moses to the times of Jesus. The
point of importance for us is the evidence for a
long process of spiritual growth as an outcome of
the new spirit infused into old Semitic beliefs which
may, indeed, be traced back to the period of Moses,
but which found a more complete expression in the
teachings of the pre-exilic and postexilic Prophets.
Of such a development we find no trace whatsoever
in the case of Babylonian and Assyrian traditions.
So far as the views of life after death are concerned,
these remained practically and essentially the same
throughout all periods marked by materialistic con
ceptions that were in keeping with the limitations
in the unfolding of the beliefs in the government
of the universe through beings that remained on
the level of personifications of the forces of nature.
Among the Hebrews the introduction of the ethical
element leads to the doctrine of individual retribu
tion which steadily gathers strength through the ex
periences of the Hebrew nation and is further rein
forced through the speculations of leaders imbued
with the ethical monotheism of the Prophets. It
reaches its culmination in Jewish and Christian teach
ings of rewards and punishments in a future existence,
accompanied by such concomitant beliefs as the dis
tinction between Paradise and hell, the resurrection
of the body, the final day of judgment, and, as the
flower of spiritual faith, the impressive doctrine of
the immortality of the soul as the imperishable di
vine element in man.
VIEWS OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 253
The gradual separation between Hebrew and
Babylonian traditions is no less marked in the do
main of ethics to which, in the concluding chapter,
we now turn.
CHAPTER V
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS
I
IT is not easy to fix upon a test by which to
measure the ethics prevailing among a people, even
when we are able to study and observe the life and
customs of the people at first hand. To judge by
the lowest level is manifestly unfair; to judge by
the highest endangers the correctness of our conclu
sions, and in striking an average, accidental factors,
not to speak of the subjective element, may exer
cise an undue influence in determining what this
average is. The difficulties are increased when we
come to measure the value of an ancient civilisation,
known to us only from written sources, and which
we must endeavour to reconstruct from material
only partially preserved and in regard to which we
can never be absolutely certain that the conclusions
drawn may not be upset, or at all events interfered
with, by future discoveries.
In the case of Babylonia and Assyria we are con
fronted with the additional difficulty that for cer
tain large periods our material is as yet very defi
cient, and that we are in doubt in regard to the
date of most of the religious literature, which nat-
254
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 255
urally is of vital import in a study of Babylonian
and Assyrian ethics. We are still far removed from
the time when it will be possible to trace the devel
opment of religious thought and of the relationship
of the religion to the life of the people in detail.
For the present we must content ourselves with gen
eral outlines, which, however, for our purpose is
quite sufficient.
My aim has been, as will have become evident
by this time, to indicate not merely the points of
divergence between the two civilisations that started
out with much in common, but more particularly to
indicate why, with important traditions and beliefs
so close to one another as to be practically identical,
we find the Hebrews proceeding along a line of de
velopment which gradually transformed these tradi
tions and beliefs into a medium for expressing the
highest spiritual aspirations of the human race and
led to one of the most impressive endeavours to
find a solution for the mysteries by which we are
surrounded above all for that profoundest of mys
teries, the relation of the individual to a universe
assumed to be under divine government. I say, one
of the most impressive attempts because we must
never forget that in a district lying far beyond the
possible scope of influences emanating from either
Babylonia, Egypt, or Palestine, we find in the re
ligious history of India another and totally different
endeavour to penetrate into the secrets of the uni
verse with an earnestness that challenges our ad
miration, all the more because its outlook on life
256 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
is dark and not hopeful, and because it appears to
enthrone at the head of the universe blind chance.
The question underlying the investigation which I
have attempted in these chapters is why it hap
pened, and how it happened, that the form taken
on among the Hebrews of the account of the Crea
tion of the world, of days set apart from others, of
views of life after death, and of various other forms
of traditions or expressions of beliefs have exercised
so profound and wide an influence on the religious
history of mankind, whereas the corresponding be
liefs and traditions among Babylonians only pro
ceeded up to a certain point and then disappeared
in the political downfall of Babylonia and Assyria.
II
A study of the general character of Babylonian
and Assyrian ethics will help us further to an under
standing of the general purport of our investigation.
A test which, it will be admitted, is a fair one in
judging of the general ethical status of a people,
albeit not the only test, is the relationship in which
a people regards itself as standing to the powers
upon which it feels itself dependent. Now, whether
we turn to the first period of Babylonian history
or to the last period of the Assyrian and neo-Baby-
lonian epochs, we find this relationship to the gods
never rising above a materialistic level. It is true
that with advancing civilisation the ethical stand
ards conditioning social life lead to a modification
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 257
of the element of power which is the main char
acteristic of the gods, whether they be personifica
tions of the powers of nature or whether the activ
ity of the gods, disassociated from merely terrestrial
phenomena, is transferred to the heavens.
As laws developed for the regulation of the rela
tions between man and his fellows, with the funda
mental aim of dealing out justice within the limita
tions imposed by class distinctions which were never
set aside, the gods also are conceived as actuated
by a desire to wield their power in a just manner.
Perhaps the highest expression assumed by this tend
ency to temper mere strength with ethical consid
erations is the view taken as early at least as 2000
B. C., and probably considerably before this time,
of Shamash, the sun-god of Sippar, who, absorbing
the cult of numerous local deities, conceived as per
sonifications of the light and heat of the sun, be
comes the sun-god par excellence. The beneficial
power of the sun as the indispensable source of vege
tation and fertility forms the natural starting-point
for attaching to Shamash attributes of love and of
gracious consideration for the needs of mankind.
The sun is the power which dissipates darkness
and sends its rays into the remotest corners; the
sun rising above the horizon and spreading light and
warmth becomes the picture for bringing joy into
the hearts of men and for removing sorrow and
grief, associated by a perfectly obvious logic, with
crime and darkness. Shamash thus becomes the
guide of mankind, illuminating, as it were, the path
258 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
of life along which man is to proceed. Let us take
as an example a passage from one of the hymns 1
addressed to Shamash in which this thought is beau
tifully and poetically expressed:
"Oh, Lord illuminator of the darkness, who opens the face of
heaven,
Merciful God, who lifts up the lowly, and protects the weak,
For thy light even the great gods wait,
All the Anunnaki watch for thy face.
Thou guidest all men as one group,
Full of hope, they look with raised heads for the light of the
sun.
When thou appearest they rejoice and leap for joy.
Thou art the lamp for the remotest ends of the heaven,
Thou art the light for the wide earth.
All nations look up to thee with joy/
It is an interesting touch, indicative of the pro
found emotions aroused by the appearance of the
glorious orb, that the gods join mankind in waiting
for the moment when the first rays of the morning
sun appear to dissipate the darkness that had reigned
only a short time before. The hymn was evidently
composed as a greeting to the rising sun. But there
is a fervour in this greeting which raises it above
the plane of a mere adoration of the power of nature.
The poet s song becomes a symbol of the joy and
hope in a guide directing man along the right path.
The light of the sun is associated with purity, with
justice, and with life. The great orb is invoked to
remove impending catastrophe, to scatter wrong
1 See Jastrow, Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens, I, pp. 426-436, for
many specimens of hymns and prayers to Shamash.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 259
and iniquity, to protect the weak against the strong,
the just against the evil-doer. The power of the
sun leads to a reign of justice and happiness.
"Thou guidest the lot of mankind,
Eternally just in heaven art thou.
The just ruler of the lands art thou.
Thou knowest what is right, thou knowest what is wrong.
Shamash anoints the head of the just.
Shamash binds the bad as with a leather strap.
Oh, Shamash, the power of Anu and of Enlil is thine,
Oh, Shamash, supreme judge of heaven and earth art thou."
It is this phase of the sun-god that is emphasised
over and over again in the hymns and incantations,
and that is revealed in incidental references in the
historical inscriptions. The thought rises to an
even higher expression in one of the finest of the
hymns preserved to us, 1 and from which I should
like to quote at least one passage.
"Him whose thought is directed to iniquity thou destroyest;
Him also who unjustly endeavors to alter boundaries.
The unjust judge thou restrainest through imprisonment.
The one who accepts bribes, who does not guide justly, on him
thou imposest sin.
But he who does not accept bribes, whose concern is for the
oppressed,
Is pleasing to Shamash, his life will be prolonged.
The judge who renders just decisions,
Will end in a palace, the habitation of princes will be his dwell
ing place." 2
1 The complete text, so far as preserved, in Jastrow, Religion Babyloniens
und Assyriens, I, pp. 433-6, and Zimmern in Der Alte Orient, XIII, pp.
23-27.
2 Cf. the similar thought in Prov. 22 : 29, "Seest thou a man diligent
in his work, he will stand before kings."
260 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
We have the direct proof that this view of Sha-
mash did not remain a merely ethical ideal, but that
it entered into the practical life of the people. The
great king Hammurapi (c. 2000 B. C.), who codified
the laws of the land, places at the head of the large
diorite stele on which he inscribes the laws, a de
sign representing himself in an attitude of adoration
before Shamash, 1 whom he invokes as the one who
inspired him with the spirit of righteousness to rule
his people according to the will of Shamash himself.
In the introduction to the laws, 2 Hammurapi de
clares that he was named by the gods as king of
Babylonia, "To spread justice in the land, to destroy
the wicked and the bad, so that the powerful may
not oppress the weak, in order that I, like Shamash,
may appear to mankind to illuminate the land,
Anu and Enlil have named me for the guidance of
mankind."
The common titles given to Shamash in all di
visions of Babylonian and Assyrian literature are:
"The Judge," "The Guardian of Justice," "The
One Who Pronounces Just Decrees." In his name
the laws of the land are executed. Now, fine and
impressive as the sun-god is and this represents
the high-water mark of religious aspiration in Baby
lonia and Assyria there is nevertheless a definite
1 See the illustration in Jastrow, Aspects of Belief and Practice in Baby
lonia and Assyria, facing p. 392.
2 See the English translation of the introduction and laws in R. F.
Harper s edition, The Code of Hammurabi (Chicago, 1903), or C. H.
W. Johns, Oldest Code of Laws in the World (Edinburgh, 1903), or a
more recent German translation in Ungnad-Kohler s Ilammurabis Ge-
setz (Leipzig, 1912). The spelling of the name with p is the more cor
rect one.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 261
limit set to the development of this view of divine
government which associates justice and righteousness
with the personification of a power of nature. Let
me endeavour to make clear what I have in mind.
Neither Babylonians nor Assyrians, in attaching
justice and righteousness to Shamash, could lose
sight of the fact that the sun-god does not always
show his beneficent nature to man. The heat of
the sun brings forth the produce of the earth, but
as his rays increase in intensity, the severe heat be
comes also a destructive force. The sun of a spring
day, hailed with joy as putting an end to the cold
and the rain and the storms of winter, develops into
the sun of midsummer s torrid heat, bringing suffer
ing and disease and death. It was all very well to
associate this aspect of the sun with a god known
as Nergal, 1 but that could not prevent the people
nor, for that matter also, the priests from overlook
ing the fact that Nergal represented precisely the
same power of nature as Shamash. In hymns 2 in
which Nergal, precisely like Shamash, is praised as
the power without whom the earth does not bear
fruit, he is found occasionally referred to as merci
ful, but the general picture drawn of him is that of
"a destructive warrior," "clothed in terror," "of
mighty powers," "without a rival among the gods,"
"overthrowing the rebellious, and overwhelming the
powerful." He is described as a mighty dragon
pouring venom over everything, as a mighty giant
1 See above, p. 144.
2 See specimens in Jastrow, Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens, I, pp.
467-480.
262 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
with a drawn sword, or, again, as prowling about at
night and inflicting havoc on all sides. It will be
recalled 1 that Nergal is transferred to the head
ship of the pantheon of the lower world, as the power
which forces the living to exchange this world for
the eternal prison, gloomy and dark. If then the
power bringing life and joy and cheer can be
transformed through the natural course of nature
into a destructive, cruel, and death-dealing force,
it is evident that a definite limit is thus set to the
development of ethical ideas in the relationship be
tween man and the gods. The only outcome of the
dilemma would be the assumption that the benefi
cent power punishes evil and the wrong-doer. But
this solution would not apply to the case in point,
since the sun of midsummer strikes the just and
the unjust alike, nor is there the slightest suggestion
in the religious literature of Babylonia and Assyria
that Nergal s wrath is due to the sins of mankind.
He is a god without mercy, cruel by nature, who
strikes whenever and whomsoever he can.
The problem of the existence of evil in a world
supposed to be created by a power of goodness is
difficult enough, as we have seen, 2 but when this
power is conceived as a purely spiritual force, and
not as a personification of some material phenomena,
there is at least a possibility of reaching a solution
which explains the sufferings and misfortunes as due
either to man s sinful nature, or that such trials are
sent to test the calibre of man s moral strength and
1 Above, pp. 204 seq. 2 Above, p. 235.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 263
religious faith. 1 We have, then, in the material as
pects of the relationship between man and the gods
definite limits set to the infusion of the ethical spirit,
nor are these limitations set aside by the tendency,
to be noted at a comparatively early stage in the
unfolding of the Babylonian and Assyrian religion,
to heap on some single deity the powers and attri
butes of all the others. This tendency, despite the
assumptions of some scholars, never led to any real
monotheistic system of religious thought. We find
at different times and in different centres deities
like Enlil, Ea, and Shamash, addressed in terms
which clearly indicate that quite apart from the
power of nature, which they orginally personified,
these gods became the embodiment of divine gov
ernment of the universe viewed as a unit. This
tendency finds its most complete expression in the
case of Marduk, originally a sun-god, and who, from
being the patron of the city of Babylon, becomes, as
we have seen, 2 the head of the Babylonian pantheon,
upon the definite constitution of the empire that
had its seat in the city of Babylon. Marduk not
only absorbs the powers of Enlil, Shamash, Ea,
Adad, and others, but he is even designated by the
names of these various deities. A fragmentary
tablet 3 that has been the subject of considerable
discussion tells us that:
1 Such are the conventional points of view urged by the friends of
Job in their speeches.
2 Above, p. 67.
3 Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, etc., in the British Museum,
XXIV, PL 50. The tablet was first published by T. G. Pinches in the
Journal of the Victoria Institute, 1896, pp. 8 seq.
264 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
"Ea is the Marduk of canals.
Ninib is the Marduk of strength.
Nergal is the Marduk of war.
Zamama is the Marduk of battle.
Enlil is the Marduk of sovereignty and control.
Nebo is the Marduk of possession.
Sin is the Marduk of illumination of the night.
Shamash is the Marduk of justice
Adad is the Marduk of rain," etc.
But this is far removed from any genuine mono
theism. It may be designated as henotheism, to
use the well-known term introduced by the late
Max Miiller. But the mere fact that the cult of
the other gods with whom Marduk is identified
proceeded undisturbed by this absorption of other
roles is a sufficient indication that even henotheism
was not consistently carried out. Even if it had
been, Babylonia and Assyria would never have
reached the point of conceiving divine government
in terms of ethics pure and simple, as long as a
chief deity was identified with a power of nature or
projected on the heavens and identified with a star
the planet Jupiter in the case of Marduk. A theo
logical system that cannot rid itself of a material
istic conception of divine Power has definite barriers
set to its growth. It must be remembered also that
monotheism, viewed merely as a doctrine, does not
necessarily lead to a higher form of religious aspira
tion. The belief may be, and frequently is, the out
come of purely philosophical speculation. Mono
theism becomes religious only in proportion as there
is infused into the one Power of the universe an eth-
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 265
ical spirit free from all materialistic implications.
The monotheism of the Hebrew Prophets is a relig
ious doctrine, not because the Prophets made Yah-
weh the single source of all phenomena and occur
rences, but because they conceived of Yahweh as a
spiritual force ruling the universe by self-imposed
laws of justice and righteousness. It is because of
this element that the national Yahweh becomes the
universal Jehovah.
Ill
The limitations of Babylonian and Assyrian eth
ics show themselves also in what the Babylonians and
Assyrians regarded as the real aim of life. Material
blessings, prosperity, success in war and in private
undertakings are emphasised in both the secular
and religious literature. Perhaps we may add to
these benefits also tranquillity of the soul, but even
with this addition the aim of existence is far from
impressing us as inspiring, or as bringing out the
best elements in human nature. The scope taken
by divination methods in everything pertaining to
public and private life throughout all periods of
Babylonian and Assyrian history is a sufficient proof
for the thesis here maintained, that the aim of life
was too closely associated with materialistic bene
fits to furnish a stimulus towards higher things, or
to become a force leading to nobility and to the
exercise of the highest virtues. The main concern
of the Babylonian and Assyrian religion, viewed
from the practical side, appears to have been to
266 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
serve as a means of ascertaining the fate in store
for the country, for the king as the representative
of the gods, and for the individual so far as individ
ualism entered at all into the religion. Whether
through the inspection of the liver of the sacrificial
animal, or through the observation of the signs in
the heavens, or through unusual phenomena in the
case of new-born animals and infants, the priests
attached to the temples endeavoured to meet these
prime religious needs by making elaborate collections
of handbooks which, furnishing an interpretation
of all possible signs and symptoms in the case of the
three chief divisions of divination lore, might en
able them to give an answer to anxious inquiries.
The significant feature of these divination methods
is that the interpretations attached to the collec
tions of omens all bear on purely material benefits
or material ills. According to signs observed in the
liver, according to the phenomena and movements
of the heavenly bodies, or according to anomalies
noted in the case of the young of animals and of
infants, 1 a conclusion was drawn whether crops
would be favourable, whether rain would be abun
dant, whether a proposed military campaign would
be successful, whether disease would strike down or
life be prolonged, whether riches would be acquired
all answers very much of the same nature that
those receive who consult the astrologers, the clair-
1 For a full exposition of Babylonian-Assyrian divination, see the
second volume of the author s Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens, pp.
203-969. A brief survey will also be found in the author s Aspects of
Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, chapters III and IV.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 267
voyants, and the fortune-tellers of our own days.
It will be admitted that a religion which concerns
itself so largely with a purely material aspect of life
is not likely to furnish us with a very lofty aim of
existence. Many people still consult astrologers and
fortune-tellers, but it is safe to say that very few
delude themselves into the belief that in doing so
they are performing a religious function. We go to
houses of worship and invoke the divine mercy, but
we would not think much of the religious spirit of a
preacher who would translate this appeal into purely
materialistic terms. We all desire success. Many
of us long for wealth. All people are grateful for
health, and long for tranquillity of soul, but we look
on religion not for the purpose of obtaining these
needs but rather as a means of using them in the
proper way when we secure them. That idealistic
element is entirely lacking, in so far as our material
enables us to judge, in the religion of Babylonia and
Assyria, and it is only through the addition of such
an element that we attain an aim in life worthy of
the dignity of man.
The lack of any inspiring goal of life is illustrated
in the case of the Babylonians and Assyrians in their
attitude towards surrounding and distant nations.
It is frequently maintained that the Babylonians
were, on the whole, a peace-loving people, in contrast
to the Assyrians to whom war seemed to be a nat
ural exercise of power, as essential to them as breath
itself. There is an element of truth in this general
isation, but if pressed too hard the generalisation
268 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
becomes false. In the earliest period of Babylonian
history we find the Euphrates Valley divided into a
number of states constantly at war with one another.
The aim of each principality was to secure a control
over the others, and as the rulers of one centre
obtained a position of supremacy, their eyes were
directed to conquest beyond the natural confines.
To the east of Babylon lay Elam. Some of the
earliest records that we have deal with the constant
hostilities between Babylon and Elam, and some of
the finest monuments furnish an illustration of this
severe and bitter contest which continued for cen
turies until Babylonia finally worsted her rival.
The Babylonians themselves were obliged to submit
for a period of over five hundred years 1 to a foreign
people who came from the mountainous districts to
the east and northeast of the Euphrates Valley.
These Cassites, as they were called, endeavoured
to extend their rule into the north, into Assyria
proper. Babylonia and Assyria became from about
the eleventh century on, rival powers, and if the
idea of world conquest originated with the north
ern empire, it is largely due to the growing strength
of the North, which placed Babylonia for many
centuries on a defensive position against Assyria,
until finally she was obliged to submit to the yoke
imposed upon her by Assyrian rulers. Assyria car
ried the disposition to exercise control over a large
territory much further than Babylonia, but there is
little reason to question that Babylonia would have
1 From c. 1750 to c. 1200 B. C.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 269
imitated the example of Assyria had she been able
to do so. In fact, as we have seen, 1 Sargon, of
Agade, founded an empire which was designated as
embracing the "four quarters of the world." The
higher culture of the south, and which gradually
spread to the north, exercised, to be sure, a certain
restraint, chiefly because with the growth of com
merce wars became a much more serious menace to
the prosperity of the country. But this restraint
would never have been strong enough to overcome
the ambition of Babylonia to rank as the mistress
of the world had she been in a position to do so.
Assyrian rulers, like Tiglath-Pileser I in the eleventh
century, like Sargon and his successors in the eighth
and seventh centuries, who were fired with the am
bition to spread the power of Assyria on all sides,
were merely carrying out the policy introduced by
the older Sargon of the south, as early as the middle
or the beginning of the third millennium before this
era.
It cannot be my purpose to enter into a discus
sion of the ethical justification of war. It may be
that war represents a natural state of affairs among
mankind, and that it corresponds, as some philos
ophers tell us, to the struggle going on in all nature.
Let us admit that up to a certain period in the de
velopment of human civilisation war is the expres
sion of the struggle for existence, and that for main
taining one s possessions and defending them from
attacks war is inevitable even in advanced stages
1 Above, pp. 12 seq.
270 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
of culture. But if human history impresses any les
son upon us, it certainly teaches that war is not a
factor in the progress of human culture, or in lead
ing to a higher development of the race. Culture,
the advance of the arts, the rise of literature, a
growing sense of humanitarianism, all these achieve
ments have come not because of war but in spite of
it, and it is perfectly reasonable to assume that we
would be much further advanced on the highroad of
civilisation were it not for the ravages, the cruel
ties, and the misery inflicted on mankind through
endless bloody struggles. The evils existing in the
world at the present time the evils of poverty, the
oppression of the weak by the strong, the mischief
wrought through bitter hatred, through social and
religious prejudices are to a large extent the direct
outcome of the desire for conquest, which at all
times has proved a serious check to the unfolding of
the highest ethics.
The cruelty of war increases as we go backward
in the track of time. On old Babylonian monu
ments, as well as on more recent illustrations of
warfare with which Assyrian kings decorated their
palace walls, the element of cruelty is a strikingly
prominent feature. Naram-Sin depicts himself in
the act of driving an arrow into the neck of a cap
tive pleading for mercy. 1 As one of the wall dec
orations of an Assyrian palace we find the heads of
the slain enemy 2 heaped up before royal officers in
1 See the illustration in Jastrow, Aspects of Belief and Practice in Baby
lonia and Assyria, facing p. 22.
2 See Paterson, Assyrian Sculptures, Palace of Sinacherib, PI. 52.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 271
the act of counting them. With such examples, it
was inevitable that the people in their relations to
one another should have been actuated to a certain
extent at least by the same spirit. The gods are
invoked before battle is given. They are repre
sented as being in the midst of the fray, and in their
name and with their help not only is the enemy
conquered but conquered towns are burned and
pillaged, the men slaughtered, and the women and
children captured.
IV
On the other hand, it comes as a surprise to us to
find in another department of activity, which is
sometimes looked upon as akin to war, namely
commercial undertakings, a spirit of fairness prevail
ing in Babylonia and Assyria which shows itself not
merely in the numerous records of commercial trans
actions but in the regulations embodied in the code
of Hammurapi and on clay tablets furnishing legal
decisions for the regulation of questions arising from
the growth of business activity. 1 The rulers them
selves furnish an example of respect for law which
is all the more surprising when we consider how by
their own confession they had so little respect for
the life and property of those against whom they
took up arms. Assyrian conquerors like Sargon
mention with pride among their exploits the regu
lation of the rights of citizens. Assyrian kings imi-
1 Specimens from various periods will be found in Johns, Babylonian
and Assyrian Laws, Contracts, and Letters (New York, 1904), pp. 80-115
and 227-303.
272 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
tate the example of Hammurapi in emphasising their
desire that their reigns should be marked by justice
to all, and in setting forth their aim to protect the
weak against the strong. The example set by the
rulers had its influence upon the people, so that we
find as a marked characteristic both of Babylonians
and Assyrians a respect for law, which carries with
it also the desire for fair dealings in business life.
A considerable portion of the statutes in Hammu-
rapi s code is taken up with the regulation of com
mercial transactions. In their general spirit these
laws are humane and aim to secure an equal advan
tage so far as possible to two contending parties.
It is provided, 1 for example, that a person who takes
a field under contract to cultivate is responsible for
a produce equal in amount to that grown in a
neighbouring field. If he fails to carry out the
contract he must not only pay the amount of the
produce, but he must also undertake the cultivation
for the future produce. If a man lets a field for a
fixed sum he takes the risk of the failure of the
crop. If the proprietor of a tilled field has pledged
it to some one and then takes the produce (to which
he is not entitled), he must restore to the man to
whom the field has been pledged the capital, inter
est, and, as a fine, the cost of the maintenance of the
field. Any one who uses for his own purpose money
or anything given to him in trust must restore the
full amount, plus one-fifth of the value as a fine. 2
A creditor who helps himself without legal author-
42-47. 2 II2.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 273
ity to a possession of the debtor is obliged to re
store what he has taken and forfeits his claim. 1
The code of Hammurapi also throws a favourable
light on the ethical spirit in which relations between
husband and wife, and father and children were
regulated. 2 Infidelity on the part of the wife was
severely punished. True, the ordeal by means of
water to ascertain the guilt or innocence of the wife
is included in the regulations of the code, but a
paragraph is added which virtually abrogates this
primitive method of testing the guilt of the woman,
for it is stipulated that if she swears an oath attest
ing her innocence, she may return to her family. If
a woman, availing herself of her husband s impris
onment as a prisoner of war, marries without being
forced by stress of necessity she is put to death by
drowning, but if she does so under stress of neces
sity she is not punished. On the return of her
husband the first marriage regains its legality, and
the children of the second marriage belong to the
second husband.
Polygamy was recognised among the Babylonians
as it was among the ancient Hebrews, but it is in
teresting to note endeavours to regulate conditions
under which a concubine is to be admitted to the
household. In case the first marriage is without
issue a man can take a second wife, but she is not
given the privileges belonging to the first. If a wife
becomes an invalid the man may take a second wife,
but he is obliged to support the first one as long as
I $*i3. 2 n8, 195-
274 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
she lives, and if the invalid wife so desires she may
leave her husband s house and still claim support.
The old law according to which wife and children
are the property of the husband and father is the
oretically recognised but practically abrogated, so
that gifts made by the husband to his wife consti
tute her property; nor can this property be claimed
by the children as long as the mother lives.
Incest of all kinds 1 is severely punished the
intercourse of a father with his own daughter by
the banishment of the father; of a man with his
daughter-in-law by death; incest of a man with
the betrothed of his son by a heavy fine and by
the dissolution of the betrothal. A man may legit-
imatise the children born to him of a maid, and
such children have an equal share in the paternal
estate. Even slaves were recognised as having the
right to property of their own, a remarkable fact
that practically changed slavery to an indenture,
much as in the oldest of the Pentateuchal Codes
slavery is recognised, but in being limited to six years
of service is thereby similarly converted to mere
indenture. 2 This method of changing the character
of ancient laws without directly abrogating them is
characteristic of legal procedure in antiquity. The
theory underlying law among the Hebrews, the Baby
lonians, and elsewhere was that a legal decision
was a decree issued in the name of the deity. In
other words, the law was an oracle, and it is signif
icant that the Hebrew word for a legal decision,
1 154-158. 2 Ex. 21 : 2.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 275
tordy finds its equivalent in the Babylonian tertu 9
which is the common term for an omen or an oracle.
The judge was a representative of the deity, and
therefore it was held that a law as such could never
be abrogated, but new decisions could be rendered
which had the practical effect of replacing primitive
law with one revealing a more advanced stage of
understanding. I have just called attention to the
fact that the Babylonian law still recognised the
right of the man to sell his wife and children. The
Hebrews, too, must have had a law of this kind, but
in the so-called Book of the Covenant (Ex. 21 : 7
seq.) it is modified in a manner which converts the
sale of a man s daughter into a hire of her services,
with a view to her marriage with her new master.
The Hammurapi code is similarly full of exam
ples of later modifications of legal decisions which,
while maintaining the original principle, modify the
method of applying the principle. Thus the primi
tive lex talioniSy or the law of retaliation, is found
in the code, 1 couched in precisely the same terms
as in the biblical codes, "eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
bone for bone," but just as in the biblical codes 2
this principle is made the basis for a compensation
equal to the value of the injured limb or organ,
with a distinction, to be sure, between the two classes
of citizens, the freeman and the dependent. In the
case of injury to a dependent the valuation of the
injury is imposed as a fine, but in the case of a free-
1 196-201.
2 See, e. g., Ex. 21 : 26-27, which stipulates that the slave whose eye or
tooth has been injured by his master is to be given his freedom.
276 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
man the old law is still literally applied, and eye
for eye, tooth for tooth, bone for bone, is meted out
as a punishment.
While fully recognising the limitations in the de
velopment of Babylonian ethics, due in no inconsid
erable measure to this distinction between classes,
we must not fall into the error of underestimating
the extent to which ethical principles were recog
nised by the people as an ideal. We have, fortu
nately, preserved among the tablets of Ashurbana-
pal s library quite a number of texts furnishing
ethical precepts not unlike the collections in the
biblical book of Proverbs. On these tablets we find
utterances like the following: 1
"Thou shalt not slander; speak what is pure.
Thou shalt not speak evil; speak kindly.
He who slanders and speaks evil,
Shamash will visit recompense on his head.
Let not thy mouth boast, guard thy lip.
When thou art angered, do not speak at once,
For if thou speakest in anger thou wilt repent after
wards,
And in silence sadden thy mind. . . .
To thy God come with a pure heart,
For that is proper toward the Deity.
Prayer, penitence, and prostration early in the morn
ing render him,
And with the god s help thou wilt prosper.
In thy wisdom learn from the tablet.
The fear of God begets favor, offerings enrich.
Love and prayer bring forgiveness of sin. . . .
Give food to eat, wine to drink,
1 Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, etc., in the British Museum,
Part XIII, PI. 29-30. Another text of this character is translated by
Zimmern in Der Alte Orient, XIII, i, pp. 27-29.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 277
Seek what is right, avoid what is wrong,
For this is pleasing to God.
It is pleasing to Shamash;
He will requite him."
Now we must, as a matter of course, make due
allowance for a possibly wide gap between ideal and
practice, but the existence of the ideal forms a
means of estimating the height of the ethical aim. It
would appear, indeed, that cruelty among Babylo
nians and Assyrians was largely exercised on the
enemy, on those with whom one was engaged in a
deadly contest. The limitations of Babylonian and
Assyrian ethics are thus a reflection on the cruelty
of war rather than on the character of the people.
This defect in the ethical system of Babylonia and
Assyria resolves itself therefore into a criticism of
one of the distinctive features of the Babylonian and
Assyrian civilisation, the insatiate thirst for con
quest and for bringing neighbouring nations into a
condition of subjection.
A more serious indictment may be made from the
point of view emphasised at the outset of our in
vestigations regarding the relationship between man
and the gods. It is, perhaps, idle to speculate what
course would have been taken by the Euphratean
civilisation had the Babylonians and Assyrians aban
doned the policy of conquest, but it is, I think, safe
to assume that the general character of the ethics
would not have been materially altered, unless the
priests had imbued the people with a spirit which
would have remodelled the materialistic conception
278 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
of the government of the universe through powers
not only beyond human control but outside the
province of any law. So long as divine government
was interpreted in terms of power, and power of an
essentially materialistic character, we might have a
strong emphasis on fair dealings in business trans
actions, we might have an endeavour to regulate
family relationships in an equable spirit, rulers
might set an example of profound respect for law,
ethical precepts might be taught by the priests, and
yet so long as power was conceived of not merely
as an element in divine government but as its
supreme manifestation, the aim of life could never
have risen beyond a desire to secure material bless
ings. This is well brought out in one of the episodes
of the Gilgamesh epic, in which the advice is given
to the hero to desist from the attempt to seek im
mortality and to content himself with the joys and
pleasures of this world. 1
"Thou, Oh, Gilgamesh, let thy belly be full.
Day and night be merry,
Daily celebrate a feast,
Day and night dance and make merry.
Clean be thy clothes, anointed be thy head;
Be washed daily in pure water.
Look joyfully on the child that grasps thy hand;
Be happy with the wife in thy arms."
The passage reminds us of the spirit of the book
of Ecclesiastes which, in fact, gives the same advice
in almost the same words: 2
1 See above, p. 211. 2 Chapter 9 : 7-9.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 279
"Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with
a merry heart.
Let thy garments be always white, and let thy head not lack
ointment.
Live joyfully with thy wife whom thou lovest,
All the days of thy life of vanity which He hath given thee under
the sun,
For that is thy portion."
We will presently see that Hebrew ethics found a
corrective, or rather the answer to the implications
of such teachings. The fact that the advice is em
bodied in the epic of Gilgamesh the most impor
tant literary achievement of Babylonia may be
taken as an indication that for the Babylonians,
even for those who had attained the highest level,
the advice to the hero reflects the aim of life, which,
to be sure, includes acting fairly, dealing out justice,
fulfilling one s obligations towards men and towards
the gods, but all this in order that it might bring as
a reward the enjoyment of the material pleasures of
this world.
There is no warrant for assuming that the He
brews started out with a better equipment for the
development of ethics than the Babylonians, or than
any of the nations by whom they were surrounded
in their own country. The early traditions and
narratives show us the Hebrews living very much the
same kind of life as the other groups in Palestine.
The stories of the Patriarchs give us fascinating
280 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
pictures of conditions existing at the time when the
Hebrews, or, at all events, when some of the Hebrew
settlers led a nomadic life. The story of Laban s
dealings with Jacob, and Jacob s success in getting
the better of the tricky Laban, may be taken as
characteristic of the ethics of the time. Laban makes
various promises, to give Jacob his daughter Rachel,
to compensate him for his labours, all of which
promises he breaks. Jacob apparently submits, but
at a critical moment when Laban agrees to a cer
tain proposition that all speckled and spotted sheep
born in the fold should belong to Jacob, the latter,
by an ingenious device, brings it about that all the
young lambs are speckled and spotted. 1 This strat
egy is not only approved, but it is intimated that
this success was due to the fact that Jacob was aided
by Yahweh. Both Jacob and his mother deceived
the enfeebled father, Isaac. Such stories were evi
dently popular, and reflected at one time the general
spirit of the people. To be sure, there were other
narrators who felt that such stories were not alto
gether edifying, and so we find one of the writers
represented in the book of Genesis omitting the de
tail of Rebecca s and Jacob s deception, and indicat
ing as the reason why Rebecca urges Jacob to leave
his home and why Isaac consents to this plan, be
cause Esau had taken wives from the surrounding
peoples and for fear that Jacob might do the same. 2
This motive reveals the opposition at a very late
1 Gen. 30 : 31-39. Two versions of the story have been combined in
the narrative.
2 The little section, Gen. 27 : 46-28 : 9, is from the Elohist document.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 281
period to mixed marriages, but the significant point
of interest for us is that it is introduced to remove
the bad taste left by the story of the deception
practised on the husband and father.
The books of Joshua and Judges furnish various
traditions of the conquest of Palestine by the He
brews, 1 and are full of instances which show us that
the Hebrews acted precisely as other groups did
when engaged in bloody contests with enemies. The
pages of the Books of Kings are stained with blood
shed, with deeds of cruelty, tyranny, and dishonesty.
The court of David is a hotbed of intrigue. Solo
mon in introducing splendour and a degree of lux
ury which contrasted so glaringly with the former
simplicity of life, paved the way for corruption and
for those internal dissensions that played havoc
with the political fortunes of both the north and
the south. What is it, then, that enabled the He
brews eventually to rise superior to their surround
ings and to come out of the ordeal of growing
political weakness and of a national catastrophe
that seemed to foreshadow the extinction of the
people, with a spiritual power that found an expres
sion in masterpieces of religious literature which,
for a certain flavour of thought, have never been
excelled in the history of mankind and remain up
to the present time the basis for the ethical inter
pretation of human life? I refer, of course, to the
Prophets and to the Psalms.
1 See the admirable analysis of the versions of the conquest by L. B.
Paton in the Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. XXXII, pp. 1-47.
282 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
In saying this I do not wish to underestimate the
force of movements in this direction prior to the
appearance of the great Prophets of the eighth and
seventh centuries. In a former chapter 1 I endeav
oured to set forth the profound stimulus that must
have been exerted by Moses, and we have seen that
we are justified in attributing to him a more spiritual
conception of the national deity, Yahweh, than was
attached to the divine protectors of other Palestinian
groups. True, Yahweh remains for Moses the God
of Israel, but a deity who is no longer identified
with any special personification of a natural power,
though retaining traces of having been originally
conceived as a god of the storm whose voice is heard
in the crash of thunder and who manifests himself
in the lightning flash, in fire and in smoke. The
Yahweh of Moses is a deity whose seat is no longer
confined to any particular place, who moves away
from Mount Sinai with the wanderings of his people,
and who follows them in their settlements in the
agricultural districts and then adopts the old sacred
site at Jerusalem as his main sanctuary. 2 A deity,
moreover, who is not to be worshipped by any image
is a national deity largely in name only. The limi
tations to his scope and jurisdiction become circum
stantial rather than essential, so that the Prophets
obeyed a correct instinct in attaching their concep
tion of a universal power to the God of Moses. They
were not conscious of having produced a new point
of view; they merely drew corollaries from a view
1 Above, pp. 175 seq. 2 Above, p. 180.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 283
of divine government outlined by Moses himself,
and suggested by the national experience during
the centuries intervening since the organisation of
the tribes into a homogeneous group.
We have also seen that the conception of Yahweh
as an ethical power may be traced to the Mosaic
age, and this despite the unhistorical attempt of
postexilic compilers of laws, narratives, and tradi
tions to carry back the later aspirations to an ear
lier and, indeed, to a remote age. The Decalogue,
which in its original form bears the stamp of Moses
personality, contains the germ of the teachings of
the Prophets that Yahweh is a God of justice and
mercy who demands, as an absolute condition of his
favour, obedience to laws that have a distinct ethical
flavour. After Moses we have historical personages
like Joshua, Gideon, Samuel, Elijah, and Elisha who,
after making full allowance for the legendary accre
tions to the accounts of their careers, stand out
sharply against the horizon as leaders who were im
bued with a higher spirit; they are not heroes who
gain their leadership by force of arms, though heroic
exploits are told of some of them, but by the ex
ample they furnished of obedience and devotion to
ideals which, however short they may fall of later
standards, were for their time essentially ethical and
calculated to bring about in due course aspirations
of a higher character. We must thus assume a
steady stream of influences in the direction of the
more spiritual conception of divine control of the
nation s life till we reach the time of an Amos, a
284 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
Hosea, and an Isaiah, with whom the movement
takes on definite shape.
It matters little for our purpose here whether we
take up utterances of the Prophets, which by com
mon consent are placed in the postexilic period
in many cases embodied in the orations of pre-exilic
Prophets or such as may be regarded as pre-exilic,
the spirit throughout that portion of the Old Testa
ment collection which is grouped under the names
of fifteen Prophets is the same, with the single ex
ception perhaps of Jonah, which stands by itself. 1
A number of the figures among the Prophets stand
out as individuals. We can picture to ourselves
Amos, a rustic, probably not very attractive in his
exterior, but whose words gush forth with all the
power of a mountain stream. We can picture the
earlier Isaiah reared in a great capital, equipped
with worldly knowledge to reinforce his spiritual
faith. We can conjure up the picture of Jeremiah,
severe and impetuous, but for the most part the
individualism of the Prophets sinks into the back
ground, and it is their message which like a single
melody with many variations rings in our ears. Of
1 The book of Jonah, if we exclude the Psalm inserted in the second
chapter which is clearly of later origin, is a narrative aimed against the
tendency of the Prophets to foretell disasters. The writer is a satirist
who wishes to hold up these Prophets to ridicule by showing that they
are more bent upon having their forecasts justified, than upon having
their warnings heeded. Jonah is introduced as a type of the Prophet
who regrets that Nineveh a disguise for Jerusalem repents of its deeds
and is to be saved from the threatened destruction. The episode of the
whale is in keeping with the satirical vein running throughout the nar
rative. Jonah is thrown overboard as the cause of the storm a sign
of God s anger but even the whale cannot endure the Prophet and
accordingly spews him out after three days.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 285
such little consequence was the personality of the
preachers speaking in the name of Yahweh, even in
ancient times, that later compilers did not hesitate
to add to the utterances of a Prophet exhortations
which seemed to breathe the same spirit, quite un
concerned for the accidental circumstance of author
ship.
Authorship, in fact, counted for little in the an
cient Orient. It was the utterance or the statement
or the compilation that was regarded as the essence,
and it is not until we come to an advanced literary
period that the question of authorship was a matter
of any concern. Greek culture with its emphasis on
individualism may be said to have invented the idea
of authorship, so far as it involves the individual s
claim to his mental product. We have no specific
word for author in ancient Hebrew, but merely a
term ordinarily rendered as "scribe" which may be
used indifferently for a secretary who writes at dic
tation, for one who copies or compiles what another
has composed, as well as for the one who indites an
original composition. A writer in ancient times
was merely one who wrote, whether he composed
what he wrote or wrote what others had composed.
Hence, on the one hand, the circumstance of ano
nymity in ancient literary productions applying to
Egypt, Babylonia, and ancient India where authors
are rarely if ever named, and, on the other hand, the
promiscuous and unhistorical assignment of pro
ductions to some name that had become prominent,
whether a real or a traditional personage, at a time
286 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
when the individualistic character of literary com
position had become more pronounced. Because
Moses comes down in tradition as a law-giver, all
laws are ascribed to him; because David may have
written some martial poetry, all Psalms are attrib
uted to him; 1 because Solomon became the tradi
tional grand monarque under whom luxury spread
and who was noted for his wisdom, he becomes
the author of Ecclesiastes and of the book of
Proverbs. 2
Another result of this method of literary produc
tion in the ancient Orient was that no book was pro
duced at one sitting, as it were. A book was always
a compilation; it grew from age to age, much as a
story grows with each repetition. It received its
final shape only when it had outlived its popularity,
or when the tendency of thought which had given
rise to it had exhausted its vitality and some new
movement had set in. A modern book begins its
life after the author has finished it in its entirety
and it has left the press; an ancient book lives and
grows as long as it is unfinished, and when it is fin
ished it may be said to be dead. Composition,
therefore, became essentially compilation. It may
safely be said that there is not a single book of the
1 The headings to the Psalms are of course later than the compositions
themselves, and a comparison between the headings in the Hebrew text
and in the Greek version shows the existence of varying traditions. It
should also be noted that the Hebrew preposition translated "to" may
mean a variety of things. A psalm "to" David may indicate, indiffer
ently, a psalm ascribed to David, or about David, or in the manner of
David, or of the time of David as well as by David.
2 Despite the fact that other authors or collectors of proverbial say
ings are mentioned in the book.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 287
Old Testament which does not contain portions be
longing to different periods, sometimes separated
from one another by centuries. In the case of the
laws, in fact, almost every chapter represents a com
pilation of various sources or contains additions from
various hands, quite apart from glosses and com
ments and counter-utterances that any "scribe"
might add in copying or reading a chapter or sec
tion. A modern almanac, such as is published an
nually by many newspapers, would form an analogy
to an ancient book, in so far as it is generally anon
ymous and its contents are a compilation from vari
ous sources, made by many hands.
In accordance with this method of book-making
we find attached to the book of the earlier Isaiah a
whole group of chapters that are generally regarded
nowadays as the work of a second Isaiah. Within
both groups there are chapters or sections within
chapters that clearly betray the hand of later edi
tors, 1 who came across other published orations
which they added to the earlier collection, merely
because what they found seemed to fit in, not from
the point of view of historical sequence, but from
a similarity in spirit or style or the specific treat
ment of a theme. The inserted chapters or sections
might also be intentional imitations of the earlier
Prophet written with a view of having them at
tached to some great name. Pseudepigraphy, which
involved attaching to a composition some name, as
1 See the introduction to Gray s Commentary on Isaiah, as an illus
tration of the complicated process which produced the book in its present
shape.
288 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
in the case of the book of Daniel, that had become
prominent or a name that had become a type for
a certain kind of writing, was merely another nat
ural consequence of the indifference to the question
of personal proprietorship in literary production.
In every one of the prophetical books, with the pos
sible exception of Ezekiel, who seems to have himself
compiled some of his utterances, there are certain
sections or whole chapters that are pseudepigraph-
ical. But as a result of this sinking of the individ
uality of the Prophet in the composition of the pro
phetical books a unity is given to this portion of the
Old Testament that is quite remarkable. Whether
we turn to Amos 1 and read his burning words:
" Seek good, and not evil, that you may live. . . . Hate the
evil, and love good, and establish judgment in the gate. Per
haps Yahweh, the Lord of Hosts, will be gracious unto the rem
nant of Joseph. . . . Woe unto you that despise the day of Yah
weh! What is the day of Yahweh for you? it is darkness and
not light. ... I hate and I despise your feasts, and I will take
no delight in your solemn assemblies. . . . Take thou away from
me the noise of thy songs, for I will not listen to the melody of
thy viols. But let judgment roll down as waters, and justice
as a mighty stream;"
or again: 2
"Behold the days are coming, says the Lord Yahweh, that I
will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread nor a thirst
for water, but of hearing the words of Yahweh. And they shall
wander from sea to sea, and from the north to the east, and shall
run to and fro to seek the word of Yahweh, without finding it.
In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for
thirst."
1 Amos 5 : 14-24. 8 Amos 8 : 11-13.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 289
Or we turn to Isaiah and read: 1
"When you come to appear before me, who hath required
this at your hand, to trample my courts? Bring no more sinful
oblations, incense is an abomination unto me; new-moon and
sabbath and the calling of an assembly I cannot endure iniq
uity with a solemn meeting. . . . And when you spread forth
your hands I will hide mine eyes from you. When you make
many prayers I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings
from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil; learn to do well, seek
judgment, relieve the oppressed; judge the fatherless, plead for
the widow."
Or Jeremiah: 2
"As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of
Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes and their priests
and their prophets, saying to the wood, Thou art my father*;
and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth/ . . . Wherefore
will you contend with me? You all have transgressed against
me, says Yahweh. In vain have I smitten your children; they
received no correction. Your own sword hath devoured your
prophets like a destroying lion. . . . Also on your skirts is found
the blood of the souls of the innocent poor. I have not found it
at a place of breaking in, but on all these, and yet thou sayest,
I am innocent, surely his anger is turned away from me/ Be
hold, I will enter into judgment with thee, because thou sayest,
I have not sinned, "
or again: 3
"Stand in the gate of the house of Yahweh, and proclaim
there this word, and say, Hear ye the word of Yahweh, all ye of
Judah that enter in at these gates to worship Yahweh. Thus
says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and
your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Trust
not in lying words, saying, The temple of Yahweh, the temple
1 Isaiah I : 12-16. 2 2 : 26-35. 3 7 : 2 ~7-
290 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh. For if you thoroughly
amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute
judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you oppress not
the stranger, the orphan and the widow, and shed not innocent
blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt,
then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I
gave to your fathers from of old, forever."
The message is everywhere the same. Justice
and righteousness alone can save the people. The
Prophets direct their denunciations against the con
ventional view held in reference to sacrifice, to prayer
and all forms of worship, not that they opposed such
forms, but because they realised that the cult was
a hinderance to spiritual growth, unless carried on in
a spirit of purity and unless the effect of the cult
was seen in the conduct of the worshippers. To us
all this, because familiar, may seem trite, but it is
difficult to overestimate the revolution in religious
thought brought about through the substitution of
such ideals of justice, righteousness, kindness, mercy,
purity of mind, for the incrustated view that God
demanded worship, and that through offerings and
the observance of festivals the Deity could be reached
and brought into favourable accord with human de
sires and wishes. Small wonder that the Prophets
aroused the most violent opposition, that their ut
terances frequently involved a risk of their life, for
they appeared to their hearers to be violent revolu
tionists compared with which the anarchists of our
days seem gentle and kind. They seemed to sweep
away the entire fabric of the religious experience of
the past. They boldly declared that the most glo-
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 291
rious period of Hebrew history, marked by an elab
orate temple organisation with daily offerings and
constant prayer, was to be brushed aside as contrary
to the will of Yahweh. And what had these icono
clastic denunciators of the fashions of the day to
offer in place of the popular religion? A vague or
intangible conception of a spiritual Power enthroned
in righteousness, and demanding nothing of His wor
shippers but "to do justly, to love mercy, and to
walk humbly with thy God" (Micah 6:8).
VI
Yet this principle was to become the basis for a
faith destined to make its way throughout the world;
and with the new faith came the new ethical ideal,
marked by a complete harmony between the spirit
and the outward expression of the spirit in conduct,
in the attitude of mind, and in the view to be taken
of the cult. As a single illustration and there is
no time for more of the total change brought about
in ethical ideals through the influence of the Proph
ets, it is sufficient to refer to the Prophets concep
tion of sin and atonement as expressed in its most
perfect form in many of the Psalms, and to contrast
this point of view with that which we find in Baby
lonian penitential compositions. 1
These Babylonian hymns are full of reverence,
and are couched in beautiful language, picturing the
1 See numerous specimens of such penitential hymns in Jastrow, Re
ligion Babyloniens und Assyriens, II, pp. 65-132.
292 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
contrite heart bowed down through contemplation
of its shortcomings.
Mine eye is filled with tears,
On my couch I lie full of signs,
Weeping and sighing have bowed me low. . . .
Many are my sins that I have sinned.
May I escape this misfortune, may I be freed from disease!
Forgive me my misdeeds, let my appeal reach thee. . . .
O my God, creator of my being,
Protector of my life, producer of my posterity,
My angered God, may thy heart be appeased.
My angered Goddess, grant me grace!"
But what are the sins that this penitent has in
mind? The answer is clearly indicated in almost
every one of such compositions. The anger of a
deity has manifested itself in some misfortune that
has come, through sickness, through the death of a
beloved member of the household, through failure
of crops, through destructive storms, or through a
national catastrophe. The sin implied throughout
is the neglect of something demanded by a deity,
and we are rarely left in doubt as to the nature of
these demands. Some rite has not been performed,
some gifts have not been presented at the temple,
a festival has been neglected, a preference shown for
some deity that has aroused the jealousy of another.
The Babylonian conception of sin is well brought
out in the frequent allusion to the unknown char
acter of the transgression. "My sins I know not,"
is the refrain in several of these compositions, and
what is more, the penitent is at times in doubt as
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 293
to the god or goddess whom he has offended, and
therefore frequently adds:
"O God, whether known to me or unknown;
O Goddess, whether known or unknown, forgive me my trans
gressions."
Now we find many traces of this same conception
in portions of the Old Testament, and it is rather
significant that in the Pentateuchal Codes, despite
the fact that they show the influence of the new
ethical ideal, the general conception of sin still as
sumes that it can be wiped out through some offer
ing, or, at all events that the offering is essential
to forgiveness. This limitation, for such it must be
accounted, is perhaps inherent in a ritualistic code,
which, after all, is concerned with externalities; but
all traces of such a conception disappear in the
Psalms.
"The wicked shall not stand in the judgment,
No sinners in the congregation of the righteous,
For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked shall perish." l
"Yahweh, who shall abide in thy tent,
Who shall dwell on thy holy hill?
He who walks uprightly, and does righteousness,
And speaks truth in his heart." 2
The psalmist pleads,
"Give ear to my words, O Yahweh,
Consider my meditation. . . .
For Thou art not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness,
1 Psalm 1:5. 2 Psalm 15 : 1-2.
294 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
Evil shall not sojourn with thee,
The arrogant shall not stand in thy sight. Thou hatest
all workers of iniquity.
Thou shalt destroy them that speak lies." 1
Or again,
"O Yahweh, rebuke me not in thine anger,
Neither chastise me in thy hot displeasure.
Have mercy upon me, O Yahweh, for I am wasted away.
Yahweh, heal me, for my bones are vexed. . . .
1 am weary with my groaning;
Every night make I my bed to swim;
I water my couch with my tears.
Mine eye is consumed because of grief. . . .
Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity;
For Yahweh has heard the voice of my weeping." 2
"Judge me, O Yahweh, according to my righteousness, and ac
cording to my integrity that is in me. . . .
My shield is with God, saving the upright in heart. God is a
righteous judge." 3
"Guard me as the apple of thine eye
Hide me under the shadow of thy wings
From the wicked that oppress me,
From my deadly enemies that compass me about." 4
"With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful,
With the perfect thou wilt shew thyself perfect,
With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure,
And with the perverse thou wilt shew thyself froward,
For thou wilt save the needy 5 ones, but the haughty eyes
thou wilt bring down,
For thou wilt light my lamp; Yahweh my God will lighten
my darkness." 6
1 Psalm 5 : 1-7. 2 Psalm 6 : 1-4. 3 Psalm 7 : 9-12.
4 Psalm 17 : 8-9.
6 On the application of the term "needy," see above, p. 241.
6 Psalm 18 : 25-28. The composition though, according to the heading
assigned to David in thanksgiving for his escape from his enemies and
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 295
"Make thy ways known to me, O Yahweh,
Teach me thy paths,
Lead me in thy truth, and teach me;
For thou art the God of my salvation,
On thee do I wait all day.
Remember, O Yahweh, thy tender mercies,
For they have been ever of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth, nor recall my transgres
sions.
According to thy loving kindness, remember thou me." l
Rarely do we find any reference in the Psalms
to offerings or to external means of appeasing the
angered Deity. The thought throughout is that
sin can only be forgiven if the disposition is there
to lead a life pleasing to a righteous Power. The
very emphasis on the justice of God furnishes the
proof of the silent assumption, as a fundamental
principle, that only the pure in heart, those who
have cleansed their souls from evil and sinful
thoughts, can venture to approach the throne of
mercy. The essence of the cult thus becomes, un
der the influence of the later Hebrew ethical ideal,
the stimulus towards the higher life.
I have referred to the Pentateuchal Codes and
pointed out that the ritual still shows traces of the
earlier and materialistic conception of sin. An im
partial consideration of these Codes forces on us the
conclusion that while they are full of a humane
spirit, particularly noticeable in the book of Deu-
from Saul, in reality reflects the political and religious conditions in the
Maccabean days, as is generally agreed by scholars. See Duhm s Com
mentary, p. 59. The language, tinged with Aramaisms, is sufficient to
prove the late age of the composition.
1 Psalm 25 : 5-7.
296 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
teronomy, and the conception of the Deity is quite
as sublime as that found in the utterances of the
Prophets, yet the institution of an elaborate sacri
ficial regulation is a step backward from the relig
ious ideals of the Prophets. The problem involved
is an intricate one and can only be touched upon
here. We must, to be sure, bear in mind that the
Prophets were not really opposed to sacrifices and
ceremonial observances, but only to their abuse and
to the assumption that the carrying out of the
cult is what Yahweh above all desired. Some of the
Prophets, like Jeremiah, show, indeed, a rather fa
vourable attitude towards ceremonialism if combined
with a pure heart and in conjunction with upright
conduct. A large section in Ezekiel (chapters 40-47)
is devoted to a plan for the rebuilding of the temple
and the reorganisation of the cult with elaborate
ceremonialism. For all that, the general trend of
Prophetism is towards worship in spirit and not
through external forms. The emphasis of their relig
ious philosophy is on conduct and not on the cult
certainly not on ceremonialism as a means of
approaching Yahweh and of securing his favour.
We must remember also that these sacrificial regu
lations which assume such huge proportions in the
latest of the compiled codes, known as the Priestly
Code, were intended to serve a practical end; namely,
to constitute a source of income for the large priestly
organisation needed in a large centre like Jerusalem.
A revolution was effected through the Deuteronomic
Code that was quite in keeping with the spirit
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 297
of the Prophets, and which aimed at nothing less
than to abolish the numerous sanctuaries scattered
throughout the country in favour of a single sanc
tuary for the legitimate cult in Jerusalem. 1 That was
a bold step indeed, which was not actually carried
out until the postexilic period. It was a great gain
thus to demolish at one blow the rites observed in
the sanctuaries outside of Jerusalem, and in which,
we may be sure, many Canaanitish practices were
maintained by the sheer force of tradition. We have
seen, however, that this worship of Yahweh which
extended throughout the country, though carried
on at sites of original Baal worship, was an impor
tant factor in leading to the belief that Yahweh was
not, like other gods, confined to one centre. It was
therefore from this point of view a step back to ear
lier conditions to concentrate the cult in a single
sacred site. Practical necessity, on the other hand,
demanded that there should be a cult carried on
by a priestly organisation and that such a central
organisation, recognised as legitimate, should be
supported by the populace. The compilers of the
Priestly Code, attaching themselves, so far as pos
sible, to existing practices and to deeply ingrained
forms of worship, introduced merely such modifica
tions in the older sacrificial regulations as were nec-
1 This is emphasised over and over again in Deuteronomy and included
the order to destroy all other sanctuaries, e. g., Deut. 12 : 1-5, 13-14;
14 : 25; 15 : 20; 16 : 2, and so in almost every chapter of the Code.
Gressmann, in his recent work, Mose und seine Zeit, p. 466, shows that
Deuteronomy in carrying the centralisation idea back to Moses followed
a correct instinct, for in the wilderness, and during the nomadic period
of the national life, there was only one sanctuary, though naturally only
because there was no need for any other. See further on this point,
above, pp. 181 seq.
298 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
essary to adapt them to the new conditions, in the
belief perhaps that the ethical transformation of the
idea of God, which meanwhile had been accom
plished, was a sufficient guarantee against a return
to the former materialistic view of the divine wor
ship as a means to a more or less selfish end. The
emphasis placed throughout all the Pentateuchal
Codes upon the conception of Yahweh as a God
who rejoices the heart, who is kind and merciful to
those who act justly, but who is unrelenting to
evil-doers, "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children to the third and fourth generation"-
the emphasis placed upon this conception of Yahweh
should indeed have been considered a sufficient pro
tection against mistaking the form for the substance,
against attaching an undue importance to sacrificial
and other rites as a means of approaching the throne
of grace. The danger, however, was not averted,
and we have abundant evidence that during the
two or three centuries preceding the final destruc
tion of the little that was left of the national inde
pendence of the Jews, the abuse of worship, against
which the Prophets voiced their strong protest, had
again crept in. There was, to be sure, no return
to such conditions as prevailed in the pre-exilic
period. For one thing, the Jews as we should de
nominate the people from this time on rather than
as Hebrews, which designation should be limited to
the pre-exilic period were scattered not only over
Palestine but also outside of the national home.
Only a small proportion of the descendants of those
who after the destruction of Jerusalem had settled
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 299
in Babylonia ever returned to their native country.
Extensive Jewish colonies and communities had
sprung up in various parts of Egypt, around Ele
phantine in the south 1 and around Alexandria in
the north. To these, as to all Jews not settled in
Jerusalem, the central sanctuary became a symbol
rather than a reality, a symbol of the spiritual bond
uniting Jews everywhere, but hardly an effective
force in moulding the religious life of the people.
The sacrificial observances at the temple in Jeru
salem did not assume the importance and promi
nence that was hoped for by the compilers of the
Priestly Code; and the obligation imposed on every
Jew to come with his family to Jerusalem three
times a year must necessarily have remained a dead
letter to the vast majority. At the old harvest fes
tival in the fall, the pilgrimage or Hag? as it was
called, there appears to have been a considerable
gathering of pious worshippers in Jerusalem from
various parts of Palestine, but the number that came
from beyond the borders must at all times have been
small. Such annual gatherings served to keep alive
the sense of unity and no doubt fostered the national
aspirations, but their influence hardly extended be
yond this point. The Samaritan schism, 3 which had
1 See Eduard Meyer, Der Papyrusfund von Elephantine (Leipzig, 1912),
an admirable summary and discussion of the recent remarkable discov
eries of papyri dealing with the affairs of the Jewish colony at Elephan
tine.
2 Identical with the Arabic Hadj, the term for the pilgrimage to Mecca.
3 See James A. Montgomery s work on The Samaritans, chapters III-V,
for an account of the growth of the separation between Jews and Samari
tans in the postexilic period.
300 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
brought about a sharp separation between the cults
of Jerusalem and Samaria, was a further feature in
checking the influence of the Jerusalem priesthood.
The attachment of the Jews of Egypt to the cen
tral sanctuary was also lessened by the existence of
an independent "Yahweh" temple in Elephantine;
and there may have been such shrines at other
places. It was not therefore the sacrificial minu
tiae observed at the temple in Jerusalem that con
stituted any serious menace to the growth of the
genuine ethical spirit independent of ceremonialism.
The movement towards the regulation of the details
of life by ceremonial observances began, curiously
enough, in lay circles quite outside of priestly influ
ences. The most characteristic feature of post-
exilic Judaism is the rise of combinations of laymen
for the study of the law. The synagogue appears
by the side of the temple 1 and becomes a much more
potent force than the official sanctuary in the devel
opment of the religious life of the people. Worship
in the synagogues makes its start as an appendix
to the study of the law and as a further means of
spreading religious teachings. It is in connection
with the synagogue that we find the tendency mak
ing itself felt of unduly emphasising the details of
ceremonial regulations. Pharisaism is the outcome
of this tendency, but we would be doing Pharisa
ism an injustice to assume that it ever went so far
as to utterly neglect the spirit in favour of the let-
1 See Schurer s History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ,
II, 2, p. 527.
o /,v. //;/, ;..
ter. The
checked the complete sway of die new edikal ideals,
- .-. -.-. ~- - -~ -.- - .". . ---.-. .,: - -. : . .- -
change wrought Afom^ft die yjihul spread of Pro-
jktkal Jo**** that even the worship of the letter
-.-..I--.--: --.-...---: -- ">-. --..
" , " x , . . : , : . . : -.
k soared with the other Jewish sects
of the rime, the diong^ of Jehovah as the oniversal
power predominated over die coaviction-a legacy
of dhr former marioaal conception that Jehovah
lad a jfrri.il concern for the people chosen by him
to proclaim his in ml reign. No doubt the av-
ii^p Jew, during dbe few ccMica preceding the
was stifl under the infinence of the rime when Yah-
weh was conceived as Bnnted in his junsotcnon to
a smde 0000 Bat dUiy influence <fef not catend
--. -.:- :cce :f -.:- ----- 1-
. .\ .- \~- ~ - - : J : - :
dbe BVCB0I tfher of
and the God of the Hebrew people
T-,
i reli^ous spirit, which.
as murh as the nepce~
in Judaism away
any danger of any
TV: .---. - - - - - --
to tfie idea, of a om-
tt Jenovah was sritt
vhc had chosen, ffim
302 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
and who, therefore, by virtue of a mutual relation
ship, regarded themselves also as specially chosen.
This need was supplied by the consciousness of an
identity of the universal Jehovah with the old na
tional Yahweh. But even what traces still remained
of the national conception of the Deity had become
so entirely synonymous with the Power making for
justice and righteousness as to counteract the tend
ency towards any artificiality of the religious life
through the growing complications of minute cere
monialism. Besides, the spirit of this ceremonial
ism, even though as a system it makes no appeal
to our sympathies, was thoroughly ethical. I hold
no brief for legalism in religion, but an impartial
survey of Rabbinical Judaism demands the recogni
tion that the ritual, particularly in the course of its
transference from the temple to the lay place of
assembly, the synagogue, became more and more
an expression of the attitude of the individual to
wards a Power conceived in spiritual terms, and one
whose chief concern is for the establishment of a
reign of love, justice, and righteousness in the world.
The Jewish prayer-book, which begins to make its
appearance at this time a direct outcome of the
synagogue and not of the temple voices this con
ception on every page. The universality of the
divine sway is emphasised, and the unity of the
human race held out as the ultimate goal of man
kind. A future is foreshadowed in which, to be
sure, national aspirations still play a part, but in
which they are completely overshadowed by the pic-
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 303
ture of all nations moving towards Jerusalem as the
spiritual centre to usher in the Messianic age, por
trayed as the triumph of love and justice in the
world.
VII
Neither therefore on the side of ethics, nor in
the conception of divine government as set up by
the Prophets, did the later legalistic aspects of post-
exilic Judaism seriously interfere with the further
development of religious idealism or of ethical prac
tices. Of more serious moment was the spirit of
scepticism that had crept in and made considerable
headway after the Exile, and which finds an expres
sion in such productions as the books of Job and
Ecclesiastes. The scepticism, particularly as set
forth in Ecclesiastes, was a matter of deep concern,
because the doubt as to the existence of a divine
rule of justice in the world involved as a corollary
a return to the materialistic conception of life. The
book of Job, as we have seen, 1 is concerned prima
rily with a purely philosophical discussion of the
problem involved in assuming at the head of the
universe a Power ruling in justice, contrasted with
the actual state of affairs in this world, in which
injustice and wickedness flourish, while the good
and pious languish and receive punishment that be
longs to the wicked. The conclusion that the ideal
life is not worth living is suggested but not dis
tinctly drawn, Job contents himself with giving
1 Above, pp. 233 seq.
304 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
expression to his doubts as to a just Providence, and
to pouring forth his pathetic complaints of the un
fortunate condition in which he had been placed, ap
parently without reason. The book of Ecclesiastes,
on the other hand, boldly takes the step of suggest
ing that the one thing to do in a world constituted
as this one is, is to eat, drink, and be merry, and
to endeavour to drive away the thought of "for
to-morrow we die." The sceptical basis, however, in
Ecclesiastes is of the same order as in Job, involv
ing a doubt as to the real working of justice and
righteousness in the world. Both productions must
be placed in the postexilic period, and it is safe
to take as the time limit of their composition in
their present definite form the year 400 B. C., though
it is likely, as pointed out, 1 that Ecclesiastes is to
be placed almost two centuries later. This scepti
cism was perfectly natural, and it is not necessary
to assume outside influences as bringing it about,
though contact with Greek philosophic thought, so
predominatingly sceptical, must have been a feature
in accentuating it. The difficulties that the He
brews encountered in their political and social life
after the partial reconstruction of the Jewish
commonwealth necessarily had a depressing effect.
There were no indications that a time was approach
ing when power and strength would be checked in
carrying out their purpose. There was suffering on
all sides, there was injustice everywhere. The weak
were being crushed by the strong, the poor were be-
1 Above, p. 236.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 305
ing trampled upon. Priests appeared to be worldly
and rulers tyrannical. The books of Job and Ec-
clesiastes must therefore be taken as an expression
of the spirit of pessimism that had entered into the
minds of many of the thoughtful ones among the
people. These productions represent unquestion
ably a counter-current against the religious ideals,
and in so far as they involve a reaction against
the sovereignty of ethics in the life of the individ
ual and favour a materialistic aspect of human
endeavour, they are symptomatic of a check en
countered by postexilic Judaism in its endeavour
to realise the hopes of the leaders for the establish
ment of a religion based on the Prophets concep
tion of a divine government of justice and mercy.
The corrective to a sceptical or materialistic tend
ency was, however, found in the growing strength
of the conviction that man, limited in his intellec
tual powers and circumscribed even in his will, had
to resign himself to a realisation that it was not
given to him to penetrate into the ways of God.
The deficiencies of the human intellect were frankly
recognised, and the conclusion drawn that the finite
mind could not be expected to understand the way
in which the Infinite infinite in spirit as well as in
power carries out His divine purpose in the world.
Many of the Psalms reflect this answer given to those
who voiced their scepticism as to the reality of the
just government of the universe. The psalmist
complains of his bitter fate in terms frequently as
pathetic as those found in the book of Job, but, un-
306 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
like Job, he almost invariably adds to his complaint
his trust that in the long run, and on the whole,
justice will triumph, and the Lord will save the
pious.
"Yahweh is my rock, my fortress and my defender;
My God, my strong rock, in him will I trust." l
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Why so far from helping me, from the words of my complain
ing?
My God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not;
And in the night season I am not silent.
But thou dwellest in holiness,
The praises of Israel are (for thee). 2
Our fathers trusted in thee.
They trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
They trusted in thee and were not ashamed." 3
and, finest of all, in the Twenty-third Psalm:
"Yahweh is my shepherd. . . . He leadeth me in the paths
of righteousness for his name s sake. ... I will fear no evil for
thou art with me . . . Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me "
There is a sense in which this sublime and solemn
trust may be looked upon as the last word of the
religious and ethical ideals of the Hebrews.
It is not necessary for our purposes to enter fur
ther into the details of Hebrew ethics resulting from
the teachings of the Prophets. These teachings
1 Psalm 1 8 : 2-3.
2 1 follow Duhm s reading, favoured by the Greek version.
3 Psalm 22 : 2-6. The Psalm has the earmarks of the Maccabean
period.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 307
let me emphasise the point once more were not
seriously affected by the unfolding of a legalistic
aspect of the religious life in the centuries preceding
the rise of Christianity, even though we must regard
this movement, which culminates in Talmudic Juda
ism, as a reaction from Prophetical Judaism. It is
sufficient in a general survey of Hebrew and Baby
lonian ethics to indicate the divergent lines of devel
opment taken by the course of ethics in the two
civilisations and which may be briefly summed up
in the statement that Babylonian and Assyrian
ethics, despite its many notable aspects, failed to
find the corrective to the materialistic conception
of life which is an unavoidable outcome of what
we ordinarily regard as the progress of civilisation.
Such progress manifests itself in an advance in the
arts, in the growth of commerce, in a more compli
cated political organisation, and in the elaboration
of the religious life, and it is accompanied by in
creasing wealth and by more luxurious modes of life.
The danger inherent, therefore, in any high form of
culture is an undue emphasis on material advantages
which, if unchecked, leads to effeminacy and ulti
mate degeneration. Babylonian and Assyrian ethics
failed to check this tendency. The advice given to
the favourite hero, Gilgamesh, "to eat, drink, and
be merry" 1 strikes a characteristic note, and there
are no indications of a counter-movement such as
we meet with in Hebrew literature, which by means
of interpolations and counter-comments actually
1 Above, p. 278.
308 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
succeeded in converting the parallel teachings of
Ecclesiastes into an argument for the vanity of
the materialistic conception of life. 1 Prophetical
Judaism discovered the formula that acted as the
antitoxin to both the materialistic and sceptical in
fection of advancing civilisation. That formula in
volved the setting up of holiness and purity as the
aim of life in keeping with the ethical conception
of a Deity of universal scope, Himself enthroned in
holiness and purity, but whose mysterious workings
were beyond the reach of the finite human under
standing. The solution, to be sure, involved diffi
culties difficulties which are keenly felt still in our
own days but the removal of all materialistic as
pects from the conception of divine government of
the universe, and the persistent maintenance of high
ethical aims led to the strengthening of the element
of faith faith in the unseen, faith in the unknow
able, faith in the midst of the mysteries of life.
VIII
There is, however, another side of the picture on
which, before proceeding to the conclusion, we must
briefly touch. As a result of the inevitable conflict
between the materialistic currents of advancing civ-
1 The book of Ecclesiastes, so frankly sceptical and cynical as we have
seen (above, p. 235), is full of interpolations intended to soften down the
extreme utterances of the preacher or to furnish the answer to his argu
ments. Without these interpolations, on which Barton s Commentary
on Ecclesiastes, pp. 43-46, may be consulted, the compilation would never
have been admitted into the canon; even with them the admission
was effected only after a prolonged struggle. See Barton, /. c., pp. 2-7.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 309
ilisation and the maintenance of ethical and religious
ideals, we find throughout the pages of the Old
Testament saturated as they are with the spirit
of the Prophets that led, as we have seen, to the
more or less complete transformation of ancient
traditions and to a recasting of the legendary lore,
of the history and the laws of the people to conform
to this spirit an unfavourable attitude towards what
we, from our point of view, would regard as prog
ress. The disposition is to give the preference to the
simple over the more complicated ways of existence,
leading logically to an opposition to more advanced
forms of political, social, and religious organisation.
This tendency crops out in the tales of Genesis,
embodying, as we have seen, traces of early myths
and of popular traditions. In the story of Cain and
Abel the preference is given to Abel, the shepherd,
as against Cain, the tiller of the soil, who becomes
in the course of tradition also the builder of cities. 1
The lower form of culture is thus given the prefer
ence over the higher one. In keeping with this
the Patriarchs are represented as shepherds. A
necessary concession to later conditions is made in
the Pentateuchal Codes which assume as the ordi
nary mode of life that of the agriculturist, but agri
culture in these codes is contrasted with commerce,
the higher stage, and, as we have seen, commerce is
looked upon askance. 2 Again, therefore, the lower
form is preferred to the higher. The political ideal
of the Pentateuchal Codes is a loose and simple
1 Gen. 4:17. 2 Above, p. 167.
310 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
organisation of the tribes; it frowns upon a king
dom as a departure from ancient ideals, and we
need only read the description, in a late addition to
Deuteronomy, of what kings may be expected to do
to their subjects 1 to realise the ingrained opposition
against taking the necessary step of a higher form of
tribal organisation. The bitter speech placed in the
mouth of Samuel, 2 denouncing the desire of the peo
ple for a king as disloyalty to Yahweh, shows how
pronounced the tendency was against the higher
form of political life. The ideal sanctuary for the
worship of Yahweh in the codes is the tabernacle,
and a protest is entered against a structure in which
iron is used, or an altar of hewn steps 3 as against the
primitive rough stone, 4 such as Jacob set up at Bethel.
The Prophets voice this same tendency in their
denunciation of wealth, extension of dominion, and
luxury. The ideal is essentially that of the simple
life converting swords into ploughshares, and spears
into pruning-hooks, each one dwelling peacefully
under the shade of his vine and his fig-tree. 5 There
is, to be sure, also the counter-tendency which led
to glorifying David and Solomon as the ideal kings
and to making them the authors of some of the finest
portions of the Old Testament writings, but this is
the work of a later age, in which other factors are
involved, and one need only read the narratives
in which the exploits of these national heroes are
recounted to see the traces of the earlier opposi-
1 Deut. 17: 14-20. 2 1 Sam. 8 : 7-18. 3 Ex. 20 : 25.
4 Gen. 28 : 18. 6 Micah 4 : 3-4.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 311
tion to them. Such stones as David s relations to
Bathsheba 1 and Solomon s defection from Yahweh 2
would never have been recounted had there not
existed an element in the populace which looked
with disfavour upon the kingdom, and whose senti
ments are voiced in tales that were intended to show
the disastrous consequences of exchanging the simple
life of the loose tribal organisation for the grandeur
of a royal court and the other changes that came
in the wake of the higher culture, marked by the
development of the country into a military power.
The Prophet Jeremiah 3 furnishes the direct proof
of the existence even in his days of a group within
the people, known as the Rechabites, who, in their
protest against advancing culture, continued to live
in tents, and not in houses, who even looked askance
upon the agricultural stage, and remained faithful
to the nomadic ideal. This rather austere attitude
towards life had its natural outcome in a form of
conservatism that is a characteristic feature of the
Prophets both those of the pre-exilic and those of
the postexilic period which shows itself not only
in their disapproval of the ambition of the Hebrews
to emulate the example of the flourishing civilisations
about them Assyria, Babylonia, and Egypt, and
subsequently Greek culture but in the emphatic
manner in which they hold up the time of the tradi
tional sojourn in the wilderness, at the very begin
ning of the national life, as the ideal period when
Yahweh s relations to his people were closest.
1 II Sam. ii. 2 1 Kings II. 3 Chapter 35.
312 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
That period is pictured as the happy wooing-time,
when Yahweh found Israel and made her his be
loved bride, the golden age to a return of which
the Prophets longingly looked forward as the only
salvation of the nation. Hence the projection of
the entire religious organisation, including the secu
lar laws and the religious rites into the remote past,
back to the period when Moses through direct con
verse with Yahweh gave his people the instructions
which were to be their guidance for all times. The
traditional assignment of the entire Pentateuch to
Moses, which modern scholarship has shown to be
untenable, is thus of value as representing the logical
outcome of Prophetism. It would never have arisen
had not the Prophets held up the Mosaic period as
the golden age of the simplicity of life, free from
worldly ambitions, the age of nai ve, unquestioning
faith in Yahweh, and of a just valuation of the aims
of existence.
This feature of Hebrew ethics, thus impressed
upon it through the direct influence of the Proph
ets, leads, as I have suggested, to a serious outlook
on life that is not without its forbidding aspect.
The attitude became a resisting force, a force sus
picious of progress for fear of the evils that may be
engendered, a force that prefers the old to the new,
that is disposed to place life at its best in the past,
to idealise that past, and seek in it the guidance
for the present. This austerity clung to Judaism
throughout the succeeding ages. It coloured its
ideals and hopes and gave to Rabbinical Judaism
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 313
that ultraconservative character which necessarily
led to an overthrow of Talmudical authority when
the Jews, upon being politically rehabilitated, began
to commingle with their fellows and to enter actively
into a world organised on a totally different basis,
and whose watchword was "progress." The aus
tere side of the ethics of the Prophets gave to life
in general among the Jews down to the threshold
of modern days a somewhat sombre aspect that tem
pered even the festive occasions an aspect that was
accentuated by the distressing experiences, the hard
ship, and persecutions through which the adherents
of Judaism were destined to pass; but it also gave
the people the strength to face these experiences;
it hardened their moral fibre, it made them capable
of withstanding the allurements of ease and luxury,
and was the chief factor in developing among the
Jews those virtues of home life for which they be
came noted, and which flourish best under a stern
conviction of duty. In short, the austere aspects
of Hebrew ethics, while they diminished the sense
of the pure joie de vivre, without by any means sup
pressing it entirely, developed among the people
the sense of the seriousness of life which is the basic
condition of firm attachment to ideals.
IX
The final point to which we are led in tracing the
unfolding of religious thought and of the aim of life
among the Hebrews, and which carried them so far
314 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
away from Babylonian views and traditions, deals
with the rise of a new religion issuing out of the old
one. With the appearance of Christianity a new
factor makes itself felt in the ancient world. Jesus
represents the complete break between nationalism
and religious aspiration. The break, to be sure, was
an inevitable and logical consequence of the posi
tion taken by the Hebrew Prophets, but it never
practically came about until the days of Jesus, when
the conflicting currents of thought in Palestine
reached their crisis. The ethics of Jesus as embod
ied in the sayings and parables scattered through
out the Gospels attach themselves directly to the
spirit of the Prophets and the Psalms. He opposes
the tendency to make legalistic requirements the
test of the religious life. He finds the corrective to
the sufferings, misfortunes, and evil in the world in
a sublime feeling of trust, of the same order as that
which we encountered in the Psalms, and it is not
accidental that the last words attributed to him
should have been a quotation from a Psalm that
describes the man of sorrows and of suffering. In
all this Jesus is simply the successor of the Proph
ets and the psalmists. The point of departure in
his ethics from older ideals is the complete divorce
from a nationalistic conception of divine govern
ment in practice as well as in theory. That, to my
mind, is the real significance of the period ushered
in through him and his followers. The sayings
of Jesus, forming the basis of the gospel narra
tives the core around which the story of Jesus is
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 315
constructed also reveal to us his real personality,
the true bent of his mind and the direction of
his thought; and even if all the sayings and para
bles attributed to him should not be genuine, they
are conceived in his manner and are true to his
spirit. I have only time to call your attention to
the beatitudes 1 as an illustration of the closeness
with which Jesus attaches himself to the ethics of
the Prophets and the Psalms. When Jesus says,
"Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven,"
the poor meant are the poor and needy" so fre
quently mentioned in certain groups of Psalms; 2
they are the pious ones of the postexilic congrega
tion, who, without worldly ambition, seek to live a
life patterned after religious and ethical ideals.
"Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted,"
is paralleled by the thought so often expressed in the
Psalms that they who sow in sorrow shall reap in
gladness. Similarly, the third and sixth beatitudes,
"Blessed are the meek, 3 for they shall inherit the earth,"
" Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,"
are reflections of the description of the pious and
the pure in the Psalms, while the fourth beatitude,
1 Matt. 5:3-11 = Luke 6 : 20-22 (in extract). 2 Above, p. 241.
3 The term translated "meek" is the exact equivalent of the Hebrew
ani, which is used in the Psalms to describe the pious members of the
congregation.
316 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
" Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be filled,"
follows the thought of Amos 1 of the time when
Yahweh will send "a famine in the land, not a fam
ine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the
words of Yahweh." In the last two beatitudes,
where Jesus calls those happy and blessed who are
persecuted and defamed because of their righteous
ness, he expressly refers to the Prophets, 2 "for so
persecuted they the Prophets who were before you."
In the three remarkable chapters of Matthew
(chapters 5, 6, and 7), which may be regarded as a
summary of the ethics of Jesus, there is scarcely a
suggestion of ceremonialism, except by way of a pro
test against the undue emphasis on the externalities
of religion, precisely in the manner and the spirit
of both pre-exilic and postexilic Prophets. The
ethics of Jesus thus represent the culmination of
the movement which, stretching from Moses across
more than a millennium, led to a view of life based
on a conception of divine government in which
righteousness and mercy have usurped the place
taken by power and arbitrariness, and formulating,
as the end of existence, the perfection of character
in place of the satisfaction of worldly ambitions.
Overthrowing the barriers marked by an undue em
phasis on ceremonialism towards a further develop
ment of religious idealism, and drawing from the
teachings of the Prophets the conclusion that relig
ion must be a bond uniting all mankind, unfettered
1 Amos 8 : 11. Above, p. 288. 2 Matt. 5 : 12.
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 317
by national limitations, the new religion, which con
tained so much of the old, starts out weighted with
the rich legacy of the past. Transcending the geo
graphical boundaries within which it arose, it passes
on to carry the message of the Prophets and psalm
ists throughout the world.
I have thus endeavoured, by choosing a number
of characteristic features of traditions covering the
religious views and the religious thought of He
brews and Babylonians, to illustrate the different
directions taken in the development of these views
and traditions. It has been my aim to show that
the direction in each case is an expression of the pe
culiar spirit of each people. Outwardly, on a mere
superficial view, civilisations arise in different parts
of the world that have much in common. The out
ward form, following certain lines of development,
is frequently similar in countries separated by long
distances from one another, and in civilisations that
arose independently of one another. The attention
of the student of history should be directed to the
attempt to find in each civilisation, and beneath
the outward resemblance, the expression of the
genius or spirit peculiar to the people. To repeat
the thought that I have endeavoured to illustrate
throughout this work, the ultimate differences be
tween Hebrew and Babylonian traditions are of
far greater significance than the points of re
semblance which are due in part to a direct in-
318 HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN TRADITIONS
fluence exercised by the one upon the other, and in
part are to be accounted for through common ori
gins. The Babylonian civilisation as expressed in
the course taken by its traditions, in the develop
ment of religious thought and of the aim of life,
betrays, despite its achievements, the limitations in
herent in a materialistic conception of divine govern
ment, which shows itself both on the religious and
on the ethical side in the views taken of the gods
as in the attitude towards life. It shows itself in
the political course of Babylonia and Assyria and
in their literature and art, while the Hebrew civilisa
tion, inferior in achievement, insignificant from the
point of view of political influence, is saturated with
an idealism, religious and ethical, that represents
its contribution to mankind, a contribution of last
ing value and one that was destined to survive the
magnificence of ancient empires. It is this idealism
issuing from the direction taken by the religious
thought and by the religious institutions of the He
brews that eventually brings about the wide de
parture from Babylonian and Assyrian counter
parts, which it has been my aim to explain in the
case of the specific traditions chosen as illustrations.
At the close of my task I am even more painfully
aware than at the beginning of the futility of the
attempt to give an exhaustive treatment of this im
portant and fascinating theme in a brief series of
lectures; but since in the course of a somewhat ex
tended experience I have found the exhaustive treat
ment also exhausting at least to the hearer and
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ETHICS 319
reader if not to the author I have no apology to
offer, if I have succeeded in indicating correctly the
point of separation between Hebrew and Babylo
nian traditions, and have made clear the reason why
the two civilisations that have occupied us have
so much in common and why they have so much
more not in common. I am well aware also, that in
a course of this nature,! may have given expression
to opinions and conclusions with which you, or some
of you, may not be altogether in sympathy. I trust,
however, that I have at least succeeded in placing
the results of my studies before you with a due
consideration for your feelings and a full sympathy
with your convictions so far as they differ from
mine. The last word of true science should always
be the emphasis on the open mind and the ex
pectant disposition. The test of a genuine desire
for truth is the willingness to reinvestigate our con
clusions, the maintenance of a sympathetic attitude
towards new light, in the firm assurance that the
truth which is the goal of mankind, and which it
should be the aim of each one of us to realise so far
as possible in our own life, will also be the means of
our salvation.
APPENDIX 1
HEBREW AND BABYLONIAN ACCOUNTS OF THE
DELUGE
I
THE Babylonian tale of a destructive and prolonged
rain-storm which swept away the habitations of men ex
ists in several versions, as is the case with the Babylo
nian Creation myth. 2 There is, however, this difference
between the versions of the Deluge story and those of
the Creation myth, that, while local forms of Creation
tales are due to the desire of the priests or worshippers
of a deity in a particular centre to accord to their patron
god the distinction of being the creator, this motive does
not appear to enter as a factor in giving rise to various
versions of a catastrophe brought about by some god con
trolling the destructive forces of nature. Nor do we find
in the Deluge versions of Babylonia, so far as recovered,
indications of a rivalry among the gods for the glory
of having saved a favourite individual and his family
from the general destruction. In all versions this deed
is ascribed to Ea, who is the god of humanity par excel
lence throughout all periods of the Babylonian-Assyrian
religion. It may be, therefore, that all the versions are
to be traced back to Eridu, the seat of Ea s cult, at or
close by the Persian Gulf, 3 which was the element sacred
1 See Preface, p. xii. 2 See chapter II.
3 At present, however, owing to the steady accumulation of soil
through the deposits of the Euphrates River, proceeding at the rate of
about ninety feet a year, Abu Shahrain, the site of ancient Eridu, is
about ninety miles inland.
321
322 APPENDIX
to Ea as a water deity. Perhaps in the variant names of
the favourite who survives the Deluge we may see indi
cations of local rivalry, each centre ascribing the distinc
tion of being thus singled out to its special heros eponymos
whether a purely legendary character, or one with a
substratum of historical reality.
The versions of the Creation and of the Deluge agree,
however, in this respect, that all are nature-myths, that
is to say, narratives in which gods conceived as forces
of nature are portrayed as bringing about a change of
seasons. Creation and Deluge stories supplement each
other, the former symbolising the change from the rainy
and stormy season to the dry one when the spring-god
triumphs over the cruel god of winter, while the latter
marks the triumph of the storm-god, who destroys ver
dure and vegetation and puts an end to all growth. The
Deluge represents, therefore, the change from the dry
season to the rainy one. Since Babylonia has merely
two seasons, Creation and Deluge stories thus picture the
two chief scenes in the annual drama of nature. It was,
as we have seen, 1 a natural thought that led the Baby
lonian priests to regard the rebirth of nature in the spring
as repeating annually in miniature form the act of Crea
tion at the beginning of time, to take the annual occur
rence as the basis for their theory of the beginnings of
things. Correspondingly, the Deluge myth rests on the
annual decay and death of nature, and portrays such
an occurrence, only magnified to a universal destruction
which was suggested, perhaps, by the recollection of a
particularly violent rainy and stormy season, accompa
nied by destruction of cities and great loss of life. Before
the perfection of a system of canals, which by controlling
the overflow of the Tigris and Euphrates and by directing
the waters through the canals into the fields, changed the
annual curse into a blessing that brought about the ex-
1 Above, p. 96.
APPENDIX 323
traordinary fertility for which the Euphrates Valley became
famed, 1 each year brought with it a deluge at least on a
miniature scale. The Deluge story is, therefore, a myth
of the annual change of seasons writ in large letters;
and the fact that we find deluge stories in all parts of the
world 2 wherever similar climatic conditions with the divi
sion into two seasons as in Babylonia exist is confirma
tory of the view here proposed.
The main version of the Babylonian Deluge myth
comes to us, like the corresponding Creation myth, from the
great library gathered by Ashurbanapal. Its Babylonian
origin is indicated by internal evidence, and its great an
tiquity attested by being incorporated in the Babylonian
Epic of Gilgamesh. The latter, as a favourite hero, be
comes a peg to which a variety of myths and old tales
and traditions are attached, 3 with which he originally
had nothing to do, and which originated quite indepen
dently of their present position in the Epic. The three
episodes which alone appear to form part of the original
traditions associated with the hero, and which rest upon
some historical basis, though the recollections are obscured
by legendary accretions, are: (i) Gilgamesh s control of
the ancient city of Uruk, which, as an invader from Elam,
he conquered and ruled with an iron hand; (2) his con
flicts with Engidu (who afterwards becomes his friend and
associate) and with the tyrant Khumbaba, which ap
pear to rest on some genuine exploits. Engidu and
Khumbaba, however, are not historical characters. The
former is the type of primeval man, the latter a myth
ical personage who plays a part in a nature-myth which
is woven into the exploits of Gilgamesh. The other epi-
*See Herodotus, I, 193.
2 See Andree, Die Flutsagen (Braunschweig, 1891), for a convenient
summary; and, also, Usener, Die Sintflutsagen, zd ed. (Bonn, 1911).
3 On the Gilgamesh Epic as a composite production, see Jastrow, Reli
gion of Babylonia and Assyria, chapter XXIII, and Ungnad-Gressmann,
Das Gilgamesch-Epos (Gottingen, 1911), pp. 84 seq.
324 APPENDIX
sodes of the Epic, so far as recovered, 1 such as (i) Ish-
tar s wooing of Gilgamesh and her rejection by the hero,
(2) the conflict between Gilgamesh and Ishtar, (3) the
killing of the divine bull, and (4) Ishtar s revenge in smit
ing Engidu with disease, to which he succumbs, are in part
nature-myths, in part astral myths 2 which have been at
tached to Gilgamesh and Engidu. After the death of
Engidu, Gilgamesh is represented as deeply depressed,
seized by the fear that death, too, will soon overtake him.
The last four tablets of the Epic are taken up with this
theme of the sad end in store for man death from which
there seems to be no escape. Gilgamesh undertakes a
series of wanderings in search of a remote ancestor, Ut-
napishtim, the son of Ubara-Tutu, who has escaped the
common fate and enjoys immortal life with the gods.
From him Gilgamesh hopes to wrest the secret of immor
tality. After many adventures into which again astral
myths have been woven he at last is face to face with
Utnapishtim, whose name conveys the idea of continu
ous life. Gilgamesh tells the purport of his quest, but
receives the sad answer in reply that death is the inexo
rable law imposed by the gods. It is the same answer
that the maiden, Sabitu, dwelling at the seashore, gives
to the hero. 3 Life and death are meted out to man by
the gods, but "the days of death are not fixed," i. e.,
death has no end; it is eternal.
Gilgamesh then asks Utnapishtim to explain how a mor
tal came to escape the universal destiny, for Utnapishtim
appears to be human, a man such as Gilgamesh is. In
1 Large portions of the Epic, which is recounted in twelve tablets, are
still missing.
2 By this is meant occurrences in the heavens that are given the form of
a narrative, with personifications of heavenly bodies and constellations.
See Kugler, Die Sternenfahrt des Gilgamesch (1904). This does not mean,
however, that we are to interpret the whole of the Epic as a series of
astral myths.
3 See above, p. 211.
APPENDIX 325
reply, Utnapishtim tells the story of the great Deluge
planned by the gods in council, and from which he was
saved by the intervention of the god Ea, who reveals
to Utnapishtim in a mysterious manner that the destruc
tion of the universe has been decreed, and that by build
ing a boat for himself and his belongings he can escape.
The plan is carried out, and after the Deluge is over
the gods become reconciled to Utnapishtim s escape and
agree to give him a place among them, to the extent, at
least, of granting him the privilege of the gods immortal
life.
The story is related in the eleventh tablet of the Epic 1
and begins as follows: 2
"Gilgamesh speaks to him, to Utnapishtim, the far-re
moved :
I gaze at thee, Utnapishtim.
Thy appearance is not different. As I am, so art thou.
And thou are not different. As I am, so art thou.
Thou art completely ready for the fray.
. . . thou hast placed upon thee.
(Tell me) how thou didst enter into the assembly of the
gods and secure life. "
1 That the twelve tablets correspond to the twelve months of the year,
suggested many years ago by the late Sir Henry C. Rawlinson, is indi
cated by the narrative of Gilgamesh s rejection of Ishtar s offer of mar
riage in the sixth tablet, corresponding to the sixth month (counting
from the spring in which the Babylonian year begins) as the time of
nature s decay. Ishtar, the goddess of fertility and vegetation, loses
her beauty and charm as the winter season approaches. Gilgamesh,
assimilated to the sun-god, separates himself from nature. By a simi
lar association, the Deluge story is related in the eleventh month, when
the winter storms reach their climax. At the same time we may ques
tion whether this plan of the Epic in its final form was consistently car
ried out. Certainly in the case of some of the episodes the connection
with the month corresponding to the number of the tablet in the series
in which the episode is recounted is not obvious.
2 A translation of the larger portion of the tablet, that deals with
the Deluge, was made by me about a year ago for Professor Fowler s
work, A History of the Literature of Ancient Israel (New York, 1912),
pp. 80-84. Portions of it are here reproduced by permission of the
326 APPENDIX
After this introduction, which reveals the seam intended
to attach an originally independent tale to the adventures
of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim proceeds to tell his story.
"I will reveal to thee, Gilgamesh, a secret story,
And the decision of the gods I will tell thee.
The city Shuruppak, 1 a city which thou knowest,
(The one that) lies on the Euphrates,
That city was old, and the gods thereof
Induced the great gods to bring a cyclone over it;
It was planned(r) by their father Anu,
(By) their counsellor, the warrior Enlil,
(By) their herald Ninib,
(By) their leader En-nugi.
The lord of brilliant vision, Ea, was with them.
He repeated their decision to the reed-hut.
* Reed-hut, reed-hut, wall, wall,
Reed-hut, hear! Wall, give ear!
O man of Shuruppak, son of Ubara-Tutu,
Break up the house, build a ship,
Abandon your property, seek life.
Throw aside your possessions, and preserve life,
Bring into the ship seed of all living things.
The ship that thou shalt build,
Let its dimensions be measured, (so that)
Its breadth and length be made to correspond.
On a level with the deep, provide it with a covering. " 2
Towards the close of the story the name of Atrakha-
sis, meaning "the very wise one," is introduced as the
name of the one who escaped the Deluge, and we have
a fragment of a second version of the story 3 among the
tablets of Ashurbanapal s library in which this name oc-
Macmillan Company. The latest editions of the text are Rawlinson,
IV (2d ed.), PI. 43-44, and Haupt, Das Babylonische Nimrodepos (Leip
zig, 1891), pp. 134-149.
1 Now identified as the site of the mound Fara. The name also ap
pears as Shurippak, but the spelling with u is more correct.
2 The first part of the line is obscure. I believe that the covering
here meant is the deck to the framework.
3 See below, p. 343 s*q.
APPENDIX 327
curs, and which is, moreover, identical with the name
given to the hero of the Deluge in the account that has
come down to us through Berosus. 1 In an old Baby
lonian version of the same Deluge story 2 the hero s name
is likewise Atrakhasis, and we are fortunate in having
fragments of a tale of Ea and Atrakhasis, 3 from which
it appears, indeed, that in a certain centre the latter was
regarded as the favourite of the god of humanity, who
succeeds with the help of Ea in warding off several times
the threatened destruction of mankind through Enlil, the
god of storms. Apparently, the Deluge finally comes de
spite the efforts of Ea and Atrakhasis.
Now, at the close of the story where we encounter the
name of Atrakhasis, Ea, who is endeavouring to reconcile
Enlil to the escape of a single human being, says:
"I did not reveal the oracle of the great gods
I sent Atrakhasis a dream, and so he understood the oracle
of the gods."
We may therefore divide the speech of Ea in which he
warns his favourite into two parts, assigning the mys
terious words, which are just the kind that would be re
vealed in a dream,
"Reed-hut, reed-hut, wall, wall!
Reed-hut, hear! Wall, give ear!"
to the Atrakhasis version, and the remainder of the speech,
in which the oracle of the gods is manifestly and unmis
takably revealed, and which contains no suggestion of a
dream, to the Utnapishtim version. This single example
1 Embodied by Eusebius in his chronicle (ed. Schoene), I, pp. 19-24.
See Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 60. The name here appears as Xisu-
thros, which is merely the inverted form of Atrakhasis = Khasis-atra.
2 See below, p. 340 seq.
3 See the latest translation by Ungnad, in Gressmann s Altorienta-
lische Texte und Bilder, pp. 61-65.
328 APPENDIX
will suffice for our purposes to show that in this main
version of the Babylonian Deluge stories two forms of
the story have been combined, just as in the biblical
tale we shall find 1 two versions dovetailed into each other.
Utnapishtim continues:
"I understood 2 and spoke to Ea, my lord.
(The command) of my lord which thou hast commanded,
As I have understood (it), I will carry out.
(But what) shall I answer the city, the people, and the elders ?
Ea opened his mouth and spoke:
Spoke to me, his servant.
(As answer) thus speak to them:
(Know that) Enlil has conceived hatred towards me,
So that I can no longer dwell (in your city).
(On) Enlil s territory I dare no longer set my face.
Therefore, I go to the deep* to dwell with Ea, my lord.
Over you he will cause blessing to rain down.
(Catch of) bird, catch of fish,
And rich crops."
The following lines are badly preserved, as are also
those which begin the description of the building of the
ship, in which Utnapishtim is assisted by a body of work
men. It would appear that the construction is carried
out according to a plan drawn by Utnapishtim an inter
esting allusion to the architectural methods of Babylonia.
"On the fifth day, I designed its outline.
According to the plan (?), the walls were to be ten gar high.
Correspondingly, ten gar the measure of its width.
I determined upon its shape (and) drew it.
I weighted it six-fold. 3
I divided (the superstructure?) into seven parts.
Its interior I divided into nine parts.
1 See below, p. 348 seq.
2 Referring, evidently, to the mysterious warning, and not to the ex
plicit command, which is so clear that it could not be misunderstood.
3 A difficult line, which was perhaps intended to convey the thought
that the substructure, or hull, was to be made very strong, so as to hold
the house of seven stories, with nine inner divisions, to be built upon it.
APPENDIX 329
Water-plugs I constructed in the interior.
I selected a pole and added accessories. 1
Six 2 sar of asphalt I poured on the outer wall.
Three sar of pitch (I poured) on the inner wall.
Three sar the workmen carried away in their baskets. 3 Of
oil,
Besides one sar oil which was used for the sacrifice,
The boatman secreted two sar of oil."
Obscure as some of the building terms occurring in
this description are, the general character of the struc
ture is clear. It is a house-boat with a hull or substruc
ture the walls of which were ten gar high. It was pro
vided with a strong deck, and we may assume that the
interior of the hull was to be hollow, to be used as a " hold "
for stores. The upper structure consists of a seven-sto
ried building, divided into nine compartments. If this
means that each story had nine divisions, we would have
sixty-three rooms a fair-sized apartment-house. Great
care is taken to make it water-tight. It is plugged up
and coated on the inside and outside with asphalt and
pitch, and, if the interpretation suggested be correct, the
workmen "grafted" a large quantity of oil intended, per
haps, for the hold. After the structure is completed, Ut-
napishtim celebrates the event by offerings of must, oil,
and wine, "like on the New Year s festival," and then
proceeds to load the boat.
"All that I had I loaded on her.
All that I had of silver I loaded on her.
1 Another obscure line, setting forth, as I believe, the tools used for
coating the exterior and interior of the house-boat with asphalt and
pitch to make it absolutely water-tight.
2 According to a duplicate fragment, "three."
3 Strange as it may seem, the narrator seems to imply that the work
men appropriated three sar of asphalt and pitch, just as in the second
following line it is intimated that the boatman secreted two sar of oil
his share of the "graft," which is thus shown to have a venerable origin.
References to graft and bribes are not unusual in the reports of Baby
lonian officials as far back as the days of Hammurapi.
330 APPENDIX
All that I had of gold I loaded on her.
All that I had of living beings of all kinds I loaded on her.
I brought to the ship all my family and household;
Cattle of the field, beasts of the field, all the workmen I
brought on board."
The ship draws water to two-thirds of its bulk, and all
is ready for the approaching storm.
"Shamash had fixed the time,
When the rulers of darkness(?) at evening time shall
cause a terrific rain-storm,
Step into the ship and close the door.
The fixed time approached,
When the rulers of darkness(P) at evening time were to
cause a terrific rain-storm.
I recognized the symptoms of (such) a day
A day, for the appearance of which I was in terror.
I entered the ship and closed the door.
To steer the ship, to Puzur-Kurgal, the boatman,
I entrusted the palace 1 together with its cargo."
Then follows the description of the storm, which con
stitutes one of the finest passages in the narrative.
"As morning dawned,
There arose on the firmament of heaven black clouds,
Adad thundered therein;
Nebo and Lugal marched in advance,
Ira 2 tears out the ship s pole.
Ninib marches, commanding the attack,
The Anunnaki lift torches,
Illuminating the land with their sheen,
Adad s roar reaches to heaven,
All light is changed to darkness.
One day the hurricane raged . . .
Storming furiously . . .
1 Note this designation given to the structure an indication of its
large size, with its many stones and compartments.
2 "God of pestilence."
APPENDIX 331
Coming like a combat over men.
Brother sees not brother:
Those in heaven 1 do not know one another.
The gods are terrified at the cyclone,
They flee and mount to the heaven of Anu; 2
The gods crouch like dogs in an enclosure.
Ishtar cries aloud like one in birth throes,
The mistress of the gods howls aloud:
That day be turned to clay, 3
When I in the assembly of the gods decreed evil;
That I should have decreed evil in the assembly of the
gods!
For the destruction of my people should have ordered a
combat!
Did I bring forth my people,
That like fish they should fill the sea?
All of the Anunnaki weep with her.
The gods sit down, depressed and weeping.
Their lips are closed . . .
Six days and nights
The storm, cyclone (and) hurricane continued to sweep
over the land."
The storm thus exhausts its force in six days, and with
the approach of the seventh the worst is over. The deso
lation wrought, the description of which is most effective
and pathetic, was complete.
"When the seventh day approached, the hurricane and
cyclone ceased the combat,
After having fought like warriors(?).
The sea grew quiet, the evil storm abated, the cyclone was
restrained.
I looked at the day and the roar had quieted down.
And all mankind had turned to clay.
Like an enclosure . . . had become.
I opened a window and light fell on my face,
I bowed down and sat down (and) wept,
Tears flowed over my face.
I looked in all directions of the sea.
1 I. (., the gods. 2 The highest part of heaven.
1 /. e., be cursed with destruction.
332 APPENDIX
At a distance of twelve (miles) 1 an island appeared.
At Mount Nizir the ship stood still.
Mount Nizir took hold of the ship so that it could not
The name of the mountain on which the ship rests sig
nifies "salvation," or "protection," and is evidently chosen
with symbolical intent. At Mount Nizir the house-boat
remains for seven days, after which Utnapishtim sends
out in succession a dove, a swallow, and a raven to ascer
tain whether the waters have abated.
"One day, two days, Mount Nizir, etc. 2
Three days and four days, Mount Nizir, etc.
Five days, six days, Mount Nizir, etc.
When the seventh day arrived,
I sent forth a dove, letting it free.
The dove went hither and thither;
Not finding a resting-place, it came back.
I sent forth a swallow, letting it free.
The swallow went hither and thither.
Not finding a resting-place, it came back.
I sent forth a raven, letting it free.
The raven went and saw the decrease of the waters.
It ate, croaked, (?) but did not turn back.
Then I let (all) out to the four regions (and) brought an
offering.
I brought a sacrifice on the mountain top.
Seven and seven adagur jars I arranged.
Beneath them I strewed reeds, cedarwood and myrtle.
The gods smelled the odor,
The gods smelled the sweet odor.
The gods like flies gathered around the sacrificer."
The reaction among the gods is inaugurated by Ish-
tar, the goddess of vegetation, who, when she saw the dis
astrous consequences it entailed, had already regretted
1 Or after a space of twelve double hours.
2 Sign of reduplication, i. e., "Mount Nizir took hold of the ship so
that it could not move."
APPENDIX 333
the decision in which she had acquiesced, and who
now boldly denounces Enlil, the god of storms, as the
instigator.
"As soon as the mistress of the gods 1 arrived,
She raised on high the large necklace( ?) which Anu had
made according to his art.
* Ye gods, as surely as I will not forget these precious stones
at my neck,
So I will remember these days never to forget them.
Let the gods come to the sacrifice,
But let Enlil not come to the sacrifice.
Because without reflection he brought on the cyclone,
And decreed destruction for my people.
As soon as Enlil arrived,
He saw the ship, and Enlil was enraged.
Filled with anger at the Igigi. 2
Who now has escaped with his life?
No man was to survive the destruction!
Ninib opened his mouth and spoke,
Spoke to the warrior Enlil,
Who except Ea can plan any affair?
Ea indeed knows every order.
Ea opened his mouth and spoke,
Spoke to the warrior Enlil:
Thou art the leader (and) warrior of the gods.
But why didst thou, without reflection, bring on the
cyclone ?
On the sinner impose his sin,
On the evil-doer impose his evil,
But be merciful not to root out completely! be consider
ate not (to destroy altogether).
Instead of bringing on a cyclone,
Lions might have come and diminished mankind.
Instead of bringing on a cyclone,
Jackals might have come and diminished mankind.
Instead of bringing on a cyclone,
Famine might have come and overwhelmed the land
Instead of bringing on a cyclone,
1 Ishtar.
2 Here a collective name for the gods, though generally designating,
like Anunnaki, a lower group of divine beings; see above, pp. 331 seq.
334 APPENDIX
Ira 1 might have come and destroyed the land.
I did not reveal the oracle of the great gods,
I sent Atrakhasis a dream and he understood the oracle
of the gods.
Now take counsel for him/"
Enlil is swayed by this appeal and blesses Utnapish
tim and his wife.
"Enlil mounted the ship,
Took hold of my hand and led me up, 2
Led me up and caused my wife to kneel at my side,
Touched our foreheads, stepped between us (and) blessed us.
Hitherto Utnapishtim was a man;
Now Utnapishtim and his wife shall be on a level with the
gods.
Utnapishtim shall dwell in the distance, at the confluence
of the streams.
Then they took me and settled me at the confluence of
the streams."
The rest of the tablet 3 does not concern us here. It
is taken up with Gilgamesh s sojourn with Utnapishtim
and his wife. This lasts for a week, after which he begins
the journey to his home. Gilgamesh has learned the se
cret of Utnapishtim s preservation, but his quest for life
has not met with success. Utnapishtim can hold out no
hope. He and his wife care for Gilgamesh kindly, who,
worn out with fatigue, falls into a deep sleep. After he
has awakened they provide for his safe return across the
waters of death, which he had to cross to reach the dwell
ing of Utnapishtim. Just as the boat is leaving the shore,
Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh of a plant which has the power
of restoring the aged to youth. He secures it, but a ser
pent robs him of it, and naught is left but to return to
Uruk with his purpose unfulfilled.
The last tablet takes up another phase of the same
1 God of pestilence. 2 7. <?., brought me on land.
3 Lines 206-326, or one-third of the whole tablet.
APPENDIX 335
problem the mystery of death and the search for im
mortality, but without reaching any encouraging solu
tion. 1
Before passing on to a consideration of the biblical
counterpart, let me briefly summarise the other Baby
lonian versions known to us.
II
The oldest and most important of these versions is
the one found by Arno Poebel among the tablets from
Nippur in the Museum of the University of Pennsyl
vania. 2 The significant features of this version are, first,
that it is written in Sumerian, which in itself points to
its high antiquity, 3 as against the one in the Gilgamesh
Epic which is in Semitic (or Akkadian), and, secondly,
that it occurs as part of a continuous narrative which,
like the group of narratives and traditions forming the
first eleven chapters of Genesis, begins with the Crea
tion story, passes on to the Deluge story and embodies
chronological lists furnishing the names and length of
reigns of early rulers and dynasties that appear to rep
resent the source whence Berosus obtained his remarkable
array of early Babylonian rulers with their amazingly long
reigns. 4 We are not concerned here with these lists which
involve problems of a most puzzling character, and we
have already referred to the essential features of the order
of Creation in this early version so far as preserved. 5
1 See above, pp. 211 seq.
2 See the Preface and above, p. 95, where the title of Poebel s forth
coming publication is given.
3 Poebel dates the tablet on which the story is recounted at about 1850
or 1900 B. C.
4 See Cory, Ancient Fragments, pp. 51-54 and 85-86; Zimmern, Keil-
inschriften und das Alte Testament, pp. 531 seq.; or Rogers, Cuneiform
Parallels to the Old Testament, pp. 78-79.
6 Above, pp. 95 seq.
336 APPENDIX
Unfortunately only the lower portion of the tablet,
which consisted of three columns each on obverse and
reverse, is preserved. Poebel s estimate is that about
three-fourths of the text is missing, and he is in hopes
that missing portions may yet be found either in the
University Museum or in the Imperial Ottoman Museum
of Constantinople, where many of the tablets from Nip
pur have been retained. Corresponding to the role played
by the goddess Ishtar in the Gilgamesh version, we find
the goddess Nintu or Ninkharsag lamenting the destruc
tion of mankind her offspring. The centre of worship
of Ninkharsag appears to have been the ancient city of
Adab, 1 but as a chief goddess she becomes identical, as
do all the goddesses of important centres, with the great
mother-goddess, the source of all fertility and vegetation
the progenitor of mankind. As such she appears in
the new Sumerian text and is directly identified with
Innanna, which is one of the designations of Ishtar. Nin
kharsag, however, is present when the gods decide to bring
on the destructive Deluge. Her regret, accordingly, comes
too late.
"At that time Nintu . . . like 2 . . .
The holy Innanna (t. e., Ishtar) wailed on account of her
people.
Enki (i. e., Ea) in his own heart held counsel."
This line furnishes the key-note to the situation. It is
evident that Ea as the god of humanity plays the same part
as in the main version of the Deluge, and as he does in
other Babylonian myths. It is he who reveals to Ziu-
1 Represented by Bismya, where Dr. E. J. Banks, acting for the Uni
versity of Chicago, conducted remarkably successful excavations which,
it is to be hoped, will some day be continued. See Banks, Bismya, or
the Lost City of Adab (New York, 1912).
a Poebel ingeniously completes the line: "screamed like a woman in
travail," as a parallel to the passage in the Gilgamesh Epic, above,
P- 331.
APPENDIX 337
giddu, described as "king and priest," the intention of
the gods, whose gathering is expressely referred to:
"The gods of heaven and earth invoked the name of Anti
(and) Eniil."
Alas! that the name of the place over which Ziugiddu
rules is broken off, but it is a reasonable conjecture of
PoebePs that since Shuruppak is the last of the cities to
be named in the concluding portion of the Creation ac
count 1 in our text, this city represents the capital of
Ziugiddu s district. Now Shuruppak (or Shurippak), it
will be recalled, is also the home of Utnapishtim, and it
is against that place that the Deluge is primarily sent;
though this would mean no more than that a particular
version of the Deluge was associated with Shuruppak,
just as Berosus s account is linked with the city of Sip-
par. 2 Ziugiddu 3 would appear then to be identical with
Utnapishtim, to which the element Zi in the name which
has the value of napishtu "life" directly points. 4
Ziugiddu is described as piously devoted to the wor
ship of the gods:
" In humility prostrating himself reverently.
Daily and perseveringly standing in attendance."
The dependence of the version in the Gilgamesh Epic
upon the new version is unmistakably indicated in the
1 See above, p. 96. 2 See below, p. 346.
3 Written with four signs Zi-u-gid-du, of which the last, however, is
merely a phonetic complement.
4 The two signs, U-Gid, convey the idea of "long," or "continuous,"
so that Utnapishtim would be a Semitic rendering of the idea conveyed
by Ziugiddu, though not perhaps a literal translation. The equation
between the two names is confirmed, as Poebel in his comments points
out, by the important passage, Cun. Texts, Part XVIII, PI. 30, 9, Zi-gid-
da = Ut-na-pa-(?)ask(?)-ti, followed in the next line by Engidu, the com
panion of Gilgamesh whose name occurs in line 6. Poebel renders
Ziugiddu as "who made life long of days." I should be inclined to
say "whose life is long of days," i. <?., one who has continuous life.
338 APPENDIX
manner in which the decision of the god is communicated
to Ziugiddu. A deity, whose name is not preserved but
who can be no other than Ea, addresses Ziugiddu as
follows :
"At the wall at my left side stand and . . .
At the wall I will speak a word to thee.
O my holy one, listen to me;
By our ... a cyclone . . . will be sent.
To destroy the seed of mankind, to ...
Is the decision, the oracle of the assembly of the gods.
The command of Anu (and) Enlil . . .
His kingdom, his rule . . .
To him . . ."
Clearly, this address is the prototype to the address of
Ea to Utnapishtim. 1
"Reed-hut, reed-hut, wall, wall!
Reed-hut hear! Wall, give ear! "
The new version gives the situation in a more precise
form. Ea reveals himself at the wall of some structure
presumably a sanctuary indicated by a term 2 which
has hitherto been translated reed-hut. The decision of
the gods is thus announced in a somewhat mysterious
manner which, however, must have contained the in
structions to Ziugiddu to save himself and probably his
family and belongings by taking refuge on a boat to be
constructed by him. This portion of the fourth column
of the text is lost. At the beginning of the fifth column
we have the description of the storm and of the sacrifice
offered by Ziugiddu at the reappearance of the sun, which
reads as follows:
1 Above, p. 326.
2 Kikkishu, which is a synonym of tarbasu "enclosure" (Cuneiform
Texts, Part XIV, PI. 48 [No. 36331], rev. lines, 8-9). The word may
revert to primitive days when the shrines of the gods were built of reeds,
as were the human habitations.
APPENDIX 339
"All the windstorms with tremendous force together came.
The cyclone 1 . . . raged with them.
When for seven days, for seven nights,
The cyclone in the land had raged,
The large boat 2 on the great waters by the wind storm
had been carried along.
Shamash came forth, shedding light over Heaven and Earth.
Ziugiddu (opened) ... of the large boat.
The light of the hero Shamash shone on the (interior) of
the large boat.
Ziugiddu, the king,
Before Shamash prostrates himself.
The king sacrifices an ox, (offers up) a sheep."
The descriptions appear to be much briefer in this
version than in the Gilgamesh narrative. Such episodes as
the sending out of the birds may, therefore, be due to
that steady growth and elaboration which is the char
acteristic trait of popular tales everywhere. In its gen
eral outlines, however, the older version tallies with the
later one, including the very important removal of Ziu
giddu to a distant place there to enjoy eternal life like
that of the gods. Anu and Enlil, who are the chief in
stigators of the Deluge, are apparently reconciled.
"Ziugiddu, the king,
Before Anu (and) Enlil he prostrates himself.
Life like that of a god he (i. e., probably, Enlil) gives him
(i. e., to Ziugiddu).
An eternal existence like that of a god he grants to him.
At that time Ziugiddu, the king,
The name of ... * Preserver of the seed of mankind/ . . .
In a (distant?) . . . land, 3 the land of ... they caused
him to dwell.
(After) . . . they had caused him to dwell," 4
1 The Sumerian term A-Ma-Ru is the equivalent of abubu (Meissner,
Seltene Assyrische Ideogramme No. 8909), used in the Gilgamesh Epic.
2 Ma-Gur-Gur the same term as in another version referred to below,
P- 342-
3 Poebel reads "mountain," but I am inclined to believe that an island
is meant like in the Gilgamesh version.
4 The text now passes on to some other episode.
340 APPENDIX
There can be no question that we have in this "Nip
pur" version 1 the prototype of the Utnapishtim episode
in the Gilgamesh Epic. The setting is the same, the
chief actors are identical, and the narrative follows the
same general course in both versions. Such variations
as a seven days duration of the Deluge, as against six
days in the Gilgamesh Epic, are too slight to merit atten
tion. The number seven, no doubt, represents the older
tradition. Incidentally, this Sumerian version confirms
the thesis that the Deluge myth arose independently of
the Gilgamesh Epic, as also that in its later form it con
tains accretions due to the steady growth of the story,
as indicated by other versions that were once current and
that are in part known to us. The story is told in the
third person, whereas in the Gilgamesh Epic Utnapish
tim himself is the narrator. Moreover, Anu and Enlil
are introduced as the heads of the pantheon, while in
the Gilgamesh version Enlil receives the first mention,
though other gods are also associated with him. There
are indications, however, in this oldest Sumerian version
of a transfer of the role of chief instigator to Enlil, as the
storm-god par excellence.
Another version also reverting to a very early period,
but written in Semitic (or Akkadian), is represented by
a tablet which is fortunately dated in the nth year of
King Ammisaduka on the 28th day of the nth month,
corresponding to about 1800 B. C. 2 The name of the
hero is here given as Atrakhasis. The fragment was pub
lished by Professor Vincent Scheil 3 and is now in the Pier-
1 Since Ziugiddu does not belong to Nippur, but in all probabilities
like Utnapishtim, to Shuruppak, the tale must have been brought to
Nippur and did not originate there. The point of view, however, in
both the oldest and latest versions is limited to the Euphrates Valley
to the "black-headed" people, as the Babylonians called themselves
and for whom Babylonia constituted tout le monde.
2 According to Ungnad, who accepts a higher chronology for Ham-
murapi, c. 1973 B. C.
3 Recueil de Travaux, relatifs a la Philologie et VArcheologie egyptienne
et assyrienne, vol. XX, pp. 55-61.
APPENDIX 341
pont Morgan collection. It forms the second tablet of
a series known, from the opening words, as "When the
man had laid himself down to sleep." We fortunately
know the opening lines of the Gilgamesh Epic, so that
we can say definitely that this Babylonian version was
embodied in a different tale. It probably belonged to
a group of stories dealing with Atrakhasis and the god
Ea, 1 who is the protector of Atrakhasis, as in the Gilga
mesh Epic he is the protector of Utnapishtim. Unfor
tunately the fragment consisting originally of eight col
umns is very badly preserved, and since no portion of the
first tablet nor of any of the succeeding ones has been
found, it is idle to speculate on the character of the pro
duction in which Atrakhasis was introduced as the hero
of the Deluge. From the small portion preserved we
obtain a description of the storm and the cry of despair
of the people threatened with destruction. A dialogue
ensues, in all probability between Ea and Adad, the
storm deity, in which the former reproaches the god of
storms, thunder, and lightning for having superinduced
the Deluge, which is here designated by the same term 2
that appears in the Gilgamesh Epic. Ea declares man
kind to be his creation and protests against the destruc
tion of his creatures. A portion of a ship is referred to,
and the fragment breaks ofF at the beginning of an ad
dress of Atrakhasis to "his lord," by which designation,
no doubt, Ea is meant.
We may, therefore, conclude that we have here the
Atrakhasis version of the Deluge and that the general
setting is about the same as in the main version, with
perhaps this difference, that Adad as the god of storms
is the instigator of the catastrophe overwhelming man
kind instead of Enlil, though it is, of course, possible
that Adad is merely acting on the command of the head
of the old Babylonian pantheon.
1 See above, p. 327. 2 Abubu; see above, p. 339, note I.
342 APPENDIX
The popularity of the story is further illustrated by a
fourth version which we owe to Professor Hilprecht, 1 al
though his interpretation of it is open to question. It ap
pears to be much later than the one just discussed proba
bly by five centuries. Only portions of fourteen lines are
preserved, 2 but these suffice to show that some deity no
doubt either Enlil or Adad is about to instigate a catas
trophe involving all mankind. The portion preserved con
tains an address by some deity announcing the coming de
struction 3 and advising or ordering some one to build a ship.
The speaker is without question Ea, 4 and the person ad
dressed is the favourite who is permitted to escape Ut-
napishtim or Atrakhasis more likely the latter than the
former. The command is fortunately clearly put, "Build a
great ship," and the detail of providing it with a "strong
covering" is also explicit and forms a parallel to the corre
sponding passage in the main version, from which it ap
pears that a deck for the hull and not a covering for the
superstructure is meant. The large size of the construc
tion is indicated by a term 5 which also occurs in the old
1 Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania, series
D, vol. V, i (Philadelphia, 1910); also in German, Der Neue Fund
zur Sintflutgeschichte (Leipzig, 1910). The fragment, according to
Hilprecht, comes from Nippur. There is no internal evidence in the few
lines preserved to this effect. The real Nippur version is represented
by Doctor Poebel s text, and even this one, as pointed out, did not
originate in Nippur. If Hilprecht s fragment was really found in Nip
pur, it is a very late version and considerably modified from its original
form.
2 The restorations of these lines by Hilprecht have not been accepted
by scholars; they appear to be somewhat arbitrary.
3 The same word for Deluge, abubu, as in the other versions.
4 According to Hilprecht s restoration of lines 2-3, the speaker de
clares that he is about to bring on the Deluge, which would make Enlil
the speaker, but this is most unlikely. The word apashshar in the second
line means "I will unfold." As in the Gilgamesh version, Ea reveals
the pirishti Hani, "oracle of the gods." The end of the third line reads
" all men he will seize." Ea is describing what some other god proposes
to do.
6 Ma-Gur-Gur, correctly explained by Poebel as "large boat."
APPENDIX 343
"Nippur" version. As in the main version, cattle 1 and
beasts of the field are to be brought into the ship as
well as workmen, 2 but a new detail is furnished in the
specific reference also to "birds of heaven," assumed, of
course, in the main version as occupants of the ship, since
birds are sent out, but not specifically mentioned in the
passage describing the loading of the ship.
The few lines of this fragment read as follows:
"... I (i. g. 9 Ea) will reveal. 3
... all men together he (i. e., Enlil) will seize.
. . . before the deluge comes.
. . . whatever there be, I will bring about
overthrow, destruction, annihilation.
. . . build a large ship, and
. . . total be its construction.
... a large boat carrying what is to be saved of life.
. . . with a strong covering cover it!
thou shalt make.
(cattle of the field), beasts of the field, birds of heaven,
workman,
and family (?) . . ."
This fourth version, therefore, adds little to the main
one, and is of interest chiefly as showing the various
forms under which the tale, recounted independently or
woven in with composite productions, was circulated.
Lastly, we have in Ashurbanapal s library indications
of still another version, 4 which, so far as preserved, differs
1 1 venture to restore the beginning of line 1 1 in accordance with
the Gilgamesh Epic, XI, 86 the parallel passage.
2 Um-mi-ni in line 12 corresponds to um-ma-a-ni in the Gilgamesh
Epic, XI, 8 1 . Hilprecht s restoration of the line in order to force a paral
lel to the biblical statement in Gen. 6 : 20 is quite out of the question.
3 The line is perhaps to be completed, "The decision of the great gods,
I will reveal" (pirishti Hani rabuti apashshar).
4 See Haupt, Das Babylonische Nimrodepos, p. 131, for the text; Ung-
nad, Das Gilgamesch-Epos, p. 19, for a recent German translation; for
an English one, Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament, pp.
103-4.
344 APPENDIX
from the main one in again naming Atrakhasis as the
hero of the Deluge. It belongs, therefore, to the same
category as the third version and, indeed, it is not im
possible that it represents in fact a part of the fourth
version, just discussed. 1 It contains the close of Ea s
command to Atrakhasis in regard to the building of the
ship and the beginning of Atrakhasis s reply. It thus
joins on to the fragment published by Hilprecht. So far
as decipherable, 2 it reads as follows:
"When the time that I shall indicate to you (arrives),
Enter (the ship) and close the door of the ship.
(Bring) into it thy grain, thy possessions, and thy goods,
(Thy wife (?)), thy family, thy household and workmen.
(Cattle) of the field, beasts of the field, all kinds of
herbs . . .
I will indicate (?) to thee to preserve (thy) door." 3
The address amplifies in some respects the parallel
passage in the main version, 4 but omits the specifications
in regard to the ship. Atrakhasis asks for these in his
answer to Ea, pleading his inexperience in ship-building.
"Atrakhasis opened his mouth and spoke,
Spoke to Ea, his lord.
I have never built a ship . . .
Draw (its design) on the ground.
Let me see the design, and (I will build) the ship.
(Ea) drew (its design) on the ground.
. . . which thou commandest (I will build)."
The passage helps us to understand the description of the
construction in the main version 5 where Utnapishtim is
portrayed as himself making the design and building ac-
1 The Assyrian copy is, of course, the copy of an older Babylonian
original.
2 Only seventeen lines are preserved and some of them in part only.
8 The line is obscure. The sense seems to be that Ea will indicate to
Atrakhasis how he will be able to keep food during the time of the
Deluge.
* Lines 25-27; above, p. 326. 6 Lines 58-60; above, p. 328.
APPENDIX 345
cording to it. The touch of having the god Ea, show Atra-
khasis the plan of the house-boat, which was certainly an
unusual construction, may strike one at first as na ive,
but is in reality rationalistic to explain how any one could
have thought of building a house-boat of such strange
design and such huge proportions. The sceptic has ap
peared on the scene and has begun to ask questions. It
is in this way, as well as through the inherent interest
of people for spinning out favourite tales by further de
tails, that popular stories grow from generation to gen
eration. This second version in AshurbanapaPs library
is clearly more prolix even than the main one, and there
fore in all probabilities of later origin. 1
We have still to consider briefly an account of the
Babylonian Deluge as given by Berosus in his lost his
tory of Babylonia, but which has been preserved to us in
the form handed down by Alexander Polyhistor and em
bodied in the chronicle of Eusebius. 2 The name of the
hero is Xisuthros (more accurately Xisouthros), 3 which,
as already stated, 4 is an inverted form of Atrakhasis.
The identification is confirmed by the name of Xisu-
thros s father which appears in Alexander Polyhistor as
Otiartes and is clearly identical with Ubaru-Tutu, the
father of Utnapishtim. In the Gilgamesh version, there
fore, Atrakhasis has been amalgamated with Utnapish
tim and the former name was probably regarded by the
compiler as merely an epithet ("the very wise one"),
1 It may be well to remind the reader once more that although the
texts in Ashurbanapal s library are all copies made in the seventh cen
tury, the age of the originals naturally varies. Old and new are com
mingled in this collection, and to complicate the situation the old is modi
fied in being handed down from age to age before it is given its final form.
2 Schoene s edition, Eusebii Chronicon Libri duo, I, pp. 20-24 (Ber
lin, 1875). See Rogers s Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament, pp.
109-112, and Cory, Ancient Fragments, pp. 60-63; a l so P- 54 f r an
extract from Berosus preserved by Abydenus. Berosus flourished in
the days of Antiochus Soter (281-262 B. C).
3 Variant forms are Sisouthros and Sisithros. * Above, p. 327, note I.
346 APPENDIX
given to Utnapishtim. Xisuthros appears as a king in
Berosus s version, precisely as Ziugiddu is a king, and in
the same author s list of ten antediluvian rulers, 1 he is
named as the last one before the Deluge. Kronos, who
for Berosus represents the equivalent of the god Ea,
reveals the decision of the gods to bring on a deluge to
Xisuthros by means of a dream. A reference to Ziugiddu s
ability to interpret dreams occurs in the Sumerian ver
sion, though it is not clear that the mysterious revela
tion of Ea to Ziugiddu is made in a dream. A new
touch in Berosus s account is the mention of Sippar as
the home of Xisuthros, pointing to that place as the source
of the Atrakhasis version. The hero is instructed to
write down "the beginning, middle and end of all things"
an allusion, perhaps, to the long chronological lists of
early rulers which had been handed down in Babylonia
from older days. After writing his history, Xisuthros is
to build a ship and to bring his relatives and friends into
it, as well as winged creatures and four-legged animals
and plenty of provisions. As in the Gilgamesh version,
the hero is instructed to give an answer if he is plied
with questions. He should say that he is sailing "to the
gods to see that things may be well with men. 5 * The
boat is specified as five stadia long and two stadia wide.
"Wife, children and close friends" are placed on board
and the storm breaks loose. Its duration is not indi
cated, but when all is over birds are sent out which at
first return, "finding neither food nor a place to rest,"
but upon their being sent out a second time come back
with clay on their feet, and when let forth a third time
do not return to the boat. The ship had grounded on
a mountain, and Xisuthros, having satisfied himself that
the waters had abated, "removed a part of the side of
the ship," went out with his "wife and daughter and the
pilot," erected an altar, and brought a sacrifice. After
1 See the references above, p. 335, note 4.
APPENDIX 347
that he vanished with those who had come out of the
ship. Those who had remained in the ship landed and
sought in vain for Xisuthros, "calling him by name."
Xisuthros did not return, but a voice came from heaven
announcing that Xisuthros had gone to dwell with the
gods, and calling upon people to pay reverence to the
gods. Wife, daughter, and pilot are to share the hon
ours accorded to Xisuthros. The voice also called upon
those seeking for Xisuthros to return to Babylon from
Armenia, where the ship had landed, to recover the
writings left by Xisuthros at Sippar and to share them
with men. They did so, and "founded many cities and
thrones and again repopulated Babylonia."
The variations in this account from all of the versions
considered are for the most part slight but significant
as showing that new touches were constantly being added.
The story became increasingly composite in character,
the general tendency being to combine the existing ver
sions into one. In the process, however, details were also
lost. So Berosus omits to tell us how long the storm
lasted. No figures are mentioned by him at all except
in the case of the dimensions of the ark. No birds are
specified; the scene between Enlil and Ea is omitted, and
the close, introducing the voice from heaven, is tinged
with rationalism, though of a naive type. A moral is
attached to worship the gods, and an obscure tradition
of the recovery of lost writings 1 also incorporated with
1 In the Jewish Midrash there are interesting allusions to lost writings
which Noah recovers, and from which he learns how to build the ark
and how to gather the animals. In fact, he obtains from the book which
was given to Adam by the angel Raziel a knowledge of all secrets and
mysteries so that he becomes a veritable Atrakhasis, "the very wise one."
See Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, vol. I, pp. 154-7. The Midrashic
division of Rabbinical literature represents this same popular process of
spinning out popular tales. Despite its late origin, therefore, the Jew
ish Midrash retains many old touches. There is, no doubt, some direct
connection between the account of a recovered book from which Noah
derives his knowledge and the references in Berosus to hidden writings.
348 APPENDIX
the tale. The specification that the ship landed in Ar
menia impresses one as a later addition, reflecting, per
haps, the identification of the biblical Ararat (Gen. 8 : 4)
with a mountainous district of Armenia.
The account of Berosus, on the other hand, shows that
the substantial character of the Deluge as a nature-myth
remained unchanged. The myth, to be sure, is somewhat
obscured and the attempt is made to give it the aspect
of a story with a moral. Although it is a weak attempt,
yet it points to the beginning of the process which, com
pletely carried out among the Hebrews, transformed the
nature-myth as it did the Creation myth into an ethical
parable. Let us now turn to the biblical account of the
great Deluge.
Ill
Corresponding to the two versions of the biblical
Creation story we have two accounts of the Deluge, 1
but while the versions of the Creation follow each other
the two records of the catastrophe that wiped out all
mankind are combined and so skilfully dovetailed into
each other that until a few generations ago biblical schol
ars had failed to notice the composite character of the
four chapters of Genesis in question.
Both accounts strike the characteristic ethical note of
the transformed traditions of the remote past by empha
sising the corruptness of man as the cause of the Deluge
as against the Babylonian versions, none of which assigns
any cause whatsoever for the catastrophe. Of the two
versions the one forms part of a series of narratives run-
x Gen. 6 to 9, vs. 17; vss. 18-19 and 28-29 of chapter 9 form an
introduction leading to chapter 10, while the little section, verses 20-27,
is recognised by critics as an independent tale, and is introduced at this
point as a protest against viniculture. See the author s paper, "Wine
in the Pentateuchal Codes," in the Journal of American Oriental Society,
vol. XXXIII, pp. 180-192.
APPENDIX 349
ning through the book of Genesis ascribed to the Yah-
wist, the other is embodied in the Priestly Code. We have,
therefore, the same conditions that we encountered in the
case of the Creation narrative. 1 The Yahwist is the older
of the two, and, though pre-exilic, his account shows
traces of having been subsequently worked over. The
Priestly Code is a considerably later compilation, and
belongs to the postexilic period, while the combination
of the Priestly Code with the Yahwist document carries
us down to a still later date. In the combination of the two
the dividing-lines have in some instances become so faint
as to be barely distinguishable, though, for the most part,
the separation can be made with tolerable certainty.
The proof for the existence of the two versions in the
present form of the biblical narrative is to be found in
the many repetitions, the double records of such inci
dents as (i) the declaration of God of the wickedness of
man and the corruption of the earth as the reason for
the catastrophe, 2 (2) the double address of God to Noah
to enter the ark, 3 in the one case to take in seven pairs of
each clean animal species and a pair of the unclean, in the
other case a pair of each animal species, (3) the double
record of the entry of Noah and his family and of the
animals into the ark, 4 (4) the double statement of the ris
ing of the waters, of their covering the mountains, and of
the floating of the ark on the waters, 5 (5) the double decla-
1 See above, pp. 98 se q.
2 Gen. 6 : 5-8 (Yahwist); 6 : 11-13 (Priestly Code).
3 Gen. 7 : 1-6 (Yahwist); Gen. 6 : 18-22 (Priestly Code).
4 Gen. 7 : 7 (Yahwist); 7 : 13-16 (Priestly Code). Note also such
variations as the mention of the three sons of Noah in the Priestly
Code while the Yahwist (or P and J, as we may briefly designate the
two documents) simply says "his sons." The abbreviation J stands
for Jahwist, which is the German spelling for Yahwist.
6 Gen. 7 : 18 and 23 (Yahwist); 7 : 17; 19 : 20-22 (Priestly Code).
The distribution between J and P in such instances of a complete dove
tailing can no longer be determined with absolute certainty, but an
approximate division is quite sufficient.
350
APPENDIX
ration at the close of the narrative of God s resolve not
to bring on such a catastrophe again. 1
As an illustration let me place side by side the state
ment of J and P regarding the reason for the Deluge and
the announcement of its coming.
J
Gen 6 : 5-8:
"And Yahweh saw that the
wickedness of man was great
in the earth and all the inclina
tion of the thoughts of his
heart 1 continuously evil. And
Yahweh repented that he had
made man on the earth, and it
grieved him at his heart; and
Yahweh said, I will blot out
man whom I have created from
the face of the earth, 2 for I re
pent that I have made him/ 3
But Noah found grace in the
eyes of Yahweh/*
1 "Heart" used, as consistently
in Hebrew, for "mind."
2 Subsequent addition "from
man to beast, even to creeping
things, even to the birds of heav
en" to explain the universality of
the destruction which was intended
to strike at man first of all.
3 So the original reading of the
text which is changed to "I have
made them" to conform to the in
clusion of all animals, through the
subsequent addition referred to in
the preceding note.
Gen. 6 : n-13: 1
"Now, the earth was cor
rupt before Elohim, and the
earth was filled with violence.
And Elohim saw that the earth
was corrupt, for all flesh had
corrupted his way upon the
earth. And Elohim said to
Noah, The end of all flesh is
come before me, for the earth
is filled with violence through
them. Therefore, I will de
stroy the earth/" 2
1 Vss. 9 and 10, forming an intro
duction to the P document, are
given below, p. 352.
2 This appears to have been the
original reading, which is also the
logical one. The addition of the
suffix "them" to the participial
form of the verb "destroy" was
probably superinduced through the
combination of the P document
with J, and which, therefore, at this
point assumes, as indicated in the
addition in Gen. 6 : 7, that all liv
ing creatures and not merely man
are to be destroyed. The Hebrew
construction in the present form of
the text at the close of vs. 13 is
awkward and necessitates the addi
tion of the conjunction and (as is
done in the Greek translation) in
order to give any meaning.
Gen. 8 : 21-22 (Yahwist); 9 : 8-11 (Priestly Code).
APPENDIX 351
Such "doublets" can only be satisfactorily accounted
for on the assumption that some redactor, following what
we now know to have been the regular method of com
position in the ancient Orient, combined at least two ac
counts of the same event into one continuous narrative.
I say at least two, for there are indications that one of
the documents so combined is itself the result of a com
posite process, namely, the P document, which embodies
the narrative of the Elohist with additions that point to
a third version. 1 As an illustration of complete dove
tailing we may instance the account of the building of
the ark, 2 in which statements from both documents have
been so combined as to make it impossible to say which
is J and which is P.
Gen. 7 : 14-16:
"Make for thyself an ark of gopher wood; 3 and thou shalt
coat it on the inside and outside with pitch. Thus shalt thou
make it: Three hundred cubits shall be the length of the ark,
fifty cubits the width thereof, and thirty cubits the height
thereof. A deck 4 of a full cubit thou shalt make for the ark,
1 The detailed proof for this thesis must be reserved for a special ar
ticle on the subject.
2 Gen. 6 : 14-16. There is only one account of the building of the ark,
which is, therefore, an indication that the three verses in which the ark
is described represent the combination of both documents. It is, there
fore, immaterial whether we put it on the J or on the P side, if we only
bear in mind that both documents are represented in the account.
3 "Make the ark in compartments" is apparently an addition by
some redactor but which appears to be out of place. It fits in as an
explanatory note at the end of vs. 16.
4 The word that occurs here, sohar, cannot be a "window," as it was
translated in the authorised version, for a different term is used to in
dicate a window in chapter 8 :6. Nor can it very well be a "light," as
the revised version renders it, since the ark consisted of three stories,
one above the other, and there would be little use for a skylight. The
addition of "above" points to a covering, and, since in two Babylonian
versions a covering is particularly referred to and its strength empha
sised, it seems more plausible to assume that, however sohar is to be
explained etymologically, it designates a deck in this passage. In the
Tell el Amarna Letters (ed. Knudtzon, No. 233, n), juhru or zuhru
352 APPENDIX
and a door to the ark on the side thou shalt make; 1 a lower
story, a second story and a third story thou shalt make it."
If we make the attempt to take the narrative as a
unit, it is quite impossible to thread our way through the
jungle in Gen. 7 : 12 to 8 : 19, which comprises the chief
details in the story, whereas if we distribute among the
two documents the figures giving the duration of the
Deluge and of Noah s stay in the ark, all becomes per
fectly clear. The Priestly Code, always distinguished by
its interest in genealogies and by its detailed figures, gives
us the genealogy of Noah (Gen. 6 : 9-10) as follows:
"These are the generations 2 of Noah. Noah was a righteous
man, perfect in his generation. Noah walked with Elohim. 3
And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth."
Wherever, therefore, these sons are named (e. g., Gen.
7 : 13; 9 : 18) we may be sure of having the P document
which comes close to our word, is introduced as a Canaanitish gloss to
Assyrian jiru, the ordinary word for "back," which would be an ap
propriate term to designate a deck or "covering" for the hull on which
the superstructure was to be erected. It would hardly be in place to
speak of the roof before mentioning the three stories. The words
"to a cubit thou shalt make it" would be intended to indicate the
thickness or solidity of the deck so as to hold the superstructure,
corresponding to the "six layers" of which the deck was to consist ac
cording to the main Babylonian version (above, p. 328). I take the
word "above" as an explanatory gloss to the rare term sohar which
occurs in the Old Testament in this single passage only.
1 /. e., an entrance into the hull or hold. One is reminded of Bero-
sus s account (above, p. 346), who refers to Atrakhasis "removing a part
of the side of the ship " as a means of exit.
2 Of such genealogical lists we have ten in Genesis, all introduced by
the phrase "These are the generations," etc. (Gen. 5:1; 6:9; 10 : i;
II : 10, 27; 2$ : 12, 19; 36 : I, 9; 37 : 2), exclusive of Gen. 2 : 4: "These
are the generations of heaven and earth."
3 The redundancy in the description of Noah as (i) righteous, (2) as
perfect in his generation, (3) that he walked with Elohim points to a
combination of several documents in P, to which reference was made
above, p. 351. There are many more instances of this in P s account
of the Deluge.
APPENDIX 353
before us. Similarly, figures giving the age of Noah (Gen.
7 : 6) at the time of his entering the ark, together with
the mention of the month and day the I7th day of the
2d month when the Deluge began (Gen. 7 : n), the
period during which the waters increased (Gen. 7 : 24; 8 :
3), 150 days the date when the ark rested on the moun
tains of Ararat (Gen. 8 : 4) the I7th day of the 7th
month the decrease of the waters till on the nth day of
the loth month the tops of the mountains were seen
(Gen. 8 : 5), and finally the period when the waters had
dried up, the 27th day of the 2d month (Gen. 8 : 14)
all these numerical details are the earmarks of the Priestly
Code. According to this document, 12 months and 10
days elapse from the time that Noah enters the ark till
he leaves it, or, since the basis of calendrical calculation
is the lunar month of alternately 29 and 30 days, this
gives us a lunar year of 354 days plus 10 days to round
out a solar year of about 365 days. 1
By way of contrast we have in the Yahwist version
general and round figures, like seven and forty, repeated
several times, but which taken altogether give us a con
siderably smaller total for the stay in the ark. Seven
days after Noah enters the ark (Gen. 7 : 4) the rain
begins. It lasts forty days and forty nights (Gen. 7 : 4
and 12). 2 After forty days (Gen. 8 : 6) Noah opens a
window and sends forth a dove (Gen. 7:7). This dove
is sent forth twice again (Gen. 7 : 10, 12), at intervals
of seven days, so that when Noah prepares to leave the
ark only 108 days have passed since the time that he
entered it 3 as against a full solar year according to the
1 This exact calculation, assuming a scientifically ordered calendar in
which the lunar months are taken as a basis but accommodated to make
the lunar year accord with the apparent annual revolution of the sun
along the ecliptic, points to the very late date of the final redaction of
the P version.
2 In vs. 4 the duration is announced and in vs. 12 stated as a fact.
8 Eighty days plus 4 times 7 days equal 108 days.
354
APPENDIX
Priestly document. To bring out the main contrasts be
tween the two accounts, let me put side by side the state
ments of J and P in regard to the animals entering the
ark and the duration of Noah s stay,
(i) The command to enter the ark.
Gen. 7 : 1-6:
"And Yahweh said to Noah,
Enter thou and all thy house
into the ark, for I have seen
thee righteous before me in this
generation.
" Of all clean beasts take
thou seven each, male and fe
male, 1 and of beasts which are
not clean two each, male and
female, 2 also of the birds of
heaven seven each, male and
female, 3 to keep seed alive on
the face of the earth. For
after seven days I will cause
it to rain on the earth forty
days and forty nights, and
blot out all creatures which I
made, from the face of the
earth/ And Noah did accord
ing to all that Yahweh com
manded him."
literally, "man and his wife"
which is the phrase characteristic
of J, whereas P uses the ordinary
Hebrew words for "male and fe
male." (Gen. 6 : 19; 7 : 16.)
2 See preceding note.
3 In this instance the terms
"male and female" are the same
as in P, but the entire verse 3 is
under suspicion of being a later in
sertion in J to make the narrative
conform to Gen. 6 : 20.
Gen. 6 : 18-22:
" But I have established my
covenant with thee. 1 There
fore, enter thou into the ark,
thou and thy sons and thy wife
and the wives of thy sons with
thee, and of all living things, 2
two of each shalt thou bring
into the ark to keep alive with
thee, male and female shall they
be. 3 Of birds after their kind,
of beasts after their kind, of all
things creeping on the ground
after their kind, two of each
shall come to thee to keep them
alive. 4 But thou take for thee
of all food that may be eaten
and store it, that it may be for
thee and for them as food. And
Noah did according to all that
Elohim had commanded him.
So he did/ 5
1 The reference to the covenant
is characteristic of the Priestly
Code.
2 Gloss "of all flesh."
3 Note again the redundancy of
phrases at the beginning of this
verse, "all living things," "all
flesh," "of all," again pointing
to a combination of a number of
sources.
4 The Greek translation omits
the words "of cattle according to
its kind," but adds at, the close of
APPENDIX
355
the phrase once more "male and
female shall they be." Such vari
ations point to considerable manip
ulation of the text.
6 Again a redundant phrase.
(2) The entry into the ark and the duration of the
Deluge.
j p
Gen. 7 : 7, 10, 12, i6b, 18, 23 :
"And Noah and his sons and
his wife and the wives of his
sons with him entered the ark
because of the waters of the
flood. 1 (And Yahweh shut him
in. 2 ) And after seven days (the
waters of the flood were on
the earth and) the rain 3 was on
the earth for forty days and
forty nights. And the waters
prevailed and increased ex
ceedingly upon the earth, but
the ark moved upon the face
of the waters and (Yahweh)
blotted out all creatures which
were on the face of the earth. 4
And Noah alone was left alive
and those with him in the ark."
1 Vss. 8 and 9 are again later ad
ditions to J to bring about a con
formity between the two docu
ments. They read as follows:
"Of clean cattle and of cattle not
clean and of birds and all that
creepeth on the ground, in pairs
they came to Noah into the ark,
male and female, as Elohim had
commanded Noah." The state
ment that they came in pairs
agrees with P, but is against J,
which says distinctly in the case
of clean beasts that there were
seven pairs and of unclean two.
Gen. 7:6, 11, 13-16^, 17,
19-22, 24:
"And Noah was six hundred
years old when the flood of
waters came over the earth.
In the six-hundredth year of
the life of Noah, in the second
month on the seventeenth day
of the month, on that day all
the fountains of the great deep
were broken up and the win
dows of heaven opened. On
that very day Noah and (Shem
and Ham and Japheth), 1 the
sons of Noah and the wife of
Noah and the three wives of his
sons with them entered the
ark. They and every beast
after its kind, and all cattle
after their kind and every
creeping thing that creeps upon
the earth after its kind, and
every bird after its kind. 2 And
they came in unto Noah into
the ark in pairs, of all flesh that
had in it the breath of life;
and those entering were male
and female of all flesh that
went in, as Elohim commanded
him." 3
("And the flood was forty
days on the earth). 4 And
the waters increased and lifted
356
APPENDIX
The use, moreover, of the words
male and female, as in P, against
man and his wife, which is charac
teristic of J, shows that vss. 8 and 9
did not belong originally to the J
document. On the other hand,
since we have, in vss. 14 and 15,
P s description of the entrance of
the animals into the ark, we must
assume that vss. 8 and 9 represent
a third version perhaps one allied
to the Elohist document, but which
was inserted by some redactor into
J or added to P, though this is less
likely.
2 This statement, corresponding
to the statement in the Babylonian
versions of Utnapishtim s "closing
the door" after entering the boat,
now stands at the end of vs. 16,
at the close of P s description of
the entrance into the ark. Its
original place in J is, however, after
vs. 7, the transfer being due to the
combination of P with J.
3 The word for rain (geshem) is
the term characteristic of the Yah-
wist version. The P document
speaks of a flood (mabbul) which
continues for 150 days and causes
a rise of the waters to 15 cubits and
upward. According to J, the Del
uge is a violent storm of 40 days
duration, but the compiler of P and
J has thrown the two terms " flood "
and "rain" together as synonyms.
Hence he introduces the term
"flood" (mabbul) also into J, vss.
7 and 10. The redundancy of the
style points to a combination of
various sources.
4 Amplifying addition, "From
man to cattle, to creeping things
and the birds of heaven, and they
were blotted out from the earth,"
to conform to the addition in Gen.
6 : 7. See above, p. 350, note 2.
the ark which (thus) rose above
the earth. And the waters
continued to prevail exceed
ingly upon the earth until all
the high mountains under the
heavens 5 were covered. Up
wards of fifteen cubits did the
waters prevail, 6 and all flesh
perished. 7 All that had the
breath of life in its nostrils, all
that were on the dry land died. 8
And the waters prevailed upon
the earth for one hundred and
fifty days."
1 The names in this passage may
be a subsequent addition taken
over from Gen. 6 : 10.
2 Two explanatory glosses are
added, (i) every bird, (2) every
winged thing. The Greek trans
lation omits the second gloss.
3 The construction in vs. 16 is
exceedingly awkward, and since it
is a repetition of what has already
been said in vs. 15, it furnishes
another piece of evidence that P is
a combination of several sources.
4 The first part of the verse is a
repetition (taken from J) to con
nect the second account of the en
trance into the ark with the begin
ning of the Deluge. The omission
of "forty nights" (which the Greek
translation, however, adds) shows
that the words are merely added as
a necessary link to what follows.
6 The tops of the mountains ac
cording to the view prevailing in
antiquity reached to the heavens;
these tops are, therefore, directly
"under" the heavens.
6 Repetition, "and the mountains
were covered."
7 Addition, "that creepeth on the
ground, of bird, of cattle, and of
APPENDIX
357
beast and of all that swarms on
the earth and all mankind."
8 Note again the redundancy,
pointing to the composite charac
ter of the P account.
(3) The receding of the waters and the departure from
the ark.
j
Gen. 8 : 2b, 30, 6, 8-12, 136,
18:
"And the rain was restrained
from heaven and the waters re
ceded gradually from the earth.
And after forty days Noah
opened a window 1 of the ark
which he had made. 2 And he
sent forth a dove to see if the
waters were abated from off
the face of the ground, but the
dove found no rest for the sole
of her foot and she returned
unto him to the ark, for the
waters were on the face of the
whole earth; and Noah put
forth his hand and took her
and brought her back unto him
into the ark. Then he stayed
yet other seven days and again
sent forth the dove out of the
ark, and the dove returned unto
him at eventide with a freshly
plucked olive leaf in her mouth.
So Noah knew that the waters
were abated from off the earth.
Then he stayed yet other seven
days and sent forth the dove,
which did not again return unto
him. Then Noah removed the
covering of the ark and saw
that the face of the ground was
dried. And Noah and his sons
Gen. 8 : i-2a, 36, 4-5, 130,
14-17, 19:
"And Elohim remembered
Noah and all the beasts and
all the cattle that were with
him in the ark, and Elohim
made a wind to pass over the
earth to dry the waters. And
the fountains of the deep and
the windows of heaven were
stopped. And the waters de
creased after one hundred and
fifty days. Then on the seven
teenth day of the seventh
month the ark rested, on the
mountains of Ararat. And the
waters continued to decrease
until on the first day of the
tenth month the tops of the
mountains were seen.
"And it was in the six hun
dred and first year, on the first
of the first month, that the wa
ters were dried up from off the
earth. And on the twenty-sev
enth day of the second month
the earth was dry. And Elo
him said to Noah as follows:
Go forth out of the ark, thou
and thy wife and thy sons and
the wives of thy sons with thee,
every living creature that is with
thee, 1 of birds, of cattle, of every-
358
APPENDIX
and his wife and the wives of
his sons went forth/*
1 The "window" in J corresponds
to the "door" (Gen. 6 : 16) in the
combined narrative, which shows
that the latter term belongs to the
other document.
2 A later insertion in J (vs. 7)
reads as follows: "And he sent
away the raven which went forth
hither and thither until the waters
were dried up from off the earth."
See the explanation for this addi
tion on p. 361.
thing that creeps on the earth
bring forth with thee that they
may swarm in the earth and be
fruitful and multiply upon the
earth/ 2 Every beast, every
creeping thing and every bird,
everything that creeps upon the
earth after their species, 3 went
forth out of the ark." 4
1 Gloss of all flesh/
2 This verse again forms a good
illustration of the composite char
acter of the P document, which
becomes redundant because of the
combination in it of at least two
sources.
3 Literally, "their families."
4 This entire verse, with its awk
ward construction and its repeti
tion of "creeping things," may be a
later insertion. It is certainly su
perfluous.
(4) The declaration that there will not be another
Deluge.
j
Gen. 8 : 20-22:
"And Noah built an altar
unto Yahweh, and took of every
clean beast and of every clean
bird and offered burnt offerings
on the altar. When Yahweh
smelt the sweet savour, Yah
weh said in his heart: I will not
again curse the ground for the
sake of man, for the inclination
of the heart of man is evil from
his youth, and I will not again
smite all living creatures as I
have done. While the earth
remaineth, seed-time and har
vest, cold and heat, summer and
Gen. 9 : 8-u: 1
"And Elohim spoke to Noah
and his sons with him saying:
I have established my cove
nant with thee and with your
seed after you and with every
living creature that is with you,
of birds, of cattle, and of every
beast of the earth with you, all
that have gone out of the ark. 2
And I will establish my cove
nant with you that all flesh
shall not again be cut off 3 (by
the waters of the flood and
there shall not again be a flood
to destroy the earth). 4 " :
APPENDIX 359
winter, day and night shall l The P document does not con
tain any account of Noah s sacri
fice, presumably because it was
identical with that in the other
document. It is, of course, pos
sible also that some of the phrases
in J s account belong to P.
The first seven verses of chapter
9 have nothing to do with the
Deluge. They embody a blessing
of Elohim upon Noah and his sons
and certain precautions regarding
the enlargement of man s diet by
permitting him to eat the flesh of
animals and not merely herbs and
vegetables as in the case of Adam
(Gen. I : 29); and adds certain
precautions regarding the eating of
blood, which was to be prohibited.
2 The text adds redundantly
"every living creature of the
earth," which the Greek transla
tion properly omits.
3 The declaration ended here.
The remainder of the verse (lib) is
a subsequent addition, marked
again by a redundancy of expres
sion.
4 Vss. 12-17, forming the closing
episode of the Deluge, represent a
second address of Elohim, convey
ing the impressive explanation of
the rainbow after a storm as a sign
of God s covenant.
IV
If we now compare the two biblical accounts with the
main Babylonian version, which alone is sufficiently well
preserved to admit of a comparison, it will be seen that
the Yahwist document bears more resemblance to the
tale in the Gilgamesh Epic than does the other document.
Indeed, if we only had the version of the Priestly Code
before us, with its bare statement of a complete destruc-
360 APPENDIX
tion of all life on earth, a stay of one year in the ark,
and the escape of a favourite individual and his family
in a ship, it might not be regarded as sufficient to assume
a direct relationship to the Babylonian narrative. The
numerous traditions of a Deluge known to us are by no
means related, even when we can detect points of resem
blance. Professor Usener, e. g., 1 questions whether the
Greek tale of Deukalion is dependent upon Babylonian
traditions, despite the fact that the hero escapes a gen
eral destruction of mankind by taking refuge with his
wife, Pyrrha, in an ark constructed by him on the advice
of his father Prometheus, who as the benefactor of hu
manity reminds us forcibly of the role played by the
god Ea in Babylonian mythology. If, however, we turn
to the Yahwist version with its moderate figures, with
its emphasis on the number seven, the sending out of a
dove three times, and the making of an offering upon
leaving the ark, the parallels to the Babylonian counter
part are too numerous and too close to be accidental;
and this, notwithstanding that in the Babylonian tradi
tion the storm lasts only six or seven days as against
forty in the Yahwist document, and that instead of a
dove sent out three times, we have in the Gilgamesh Epic
three different birds, and also that in Genesis we have
an ark 2 instead of a ship. Such variations are just of the
kind that will arise in the case of traditions which start
from a common source, but then develop independently
of each other. That is the assumption upon which we
have proceeded throughout this investigation of the He-
1 Sintflutsagen, pp. 3 1 seq. The case is different with the form given
to the tale in Lucian, De Dea Syria, 12 seq., which Usener shows is a
combination of the Greek and Babylonian tales, localised at a sanctuary
in Syria.
2 Tebah literally "box" used only in the Deluge story and in the
narrative of Moses (Ex. 2 : 3-5). The Hebrew tradition recalled the
peculiar character of the construction on which Noah takes refuge and,
therefore, with intent avoided the term ship. It will be recalled that in
the Babylonian versions the boat is also called a "palace."
APPENDIX 361
brew and Babylonian traditions. The mere existence of
two or more versions among the Hebrews is sufficient
to attest the antiquity of the tradition itself as well as
its popularity among the Hebrews. So, e. g., the dis
tinction between clean and unclean animals is a touch
inserted into the Yahwist version at a time when the
taboo on certain animals regarded as unclean as set forth
in Deuteronomy, chapter 14, and Leviticus, chapter n,
was in force. 1 The little insertion about the raven who
is immediately dismissed 2 not sent forth as a messenger
is also added with intent, for the raven is specifically enu
merated among the unclean animals (Lev. n : 14). Some
pious redactor, aware presumably of the part played by
the raven in the Babylonian tale, 3 where it is given the
distinction of furnishing the sign that the waters had
dried, inserted this gloss as a tribute to Noah s piety,
who, becoming a type of an observant Jew, is thus pic
tured as getting rid of the unclean, and therefore obnox
ious, bird at the first opportunity. 4
Significant in the biblical version is also the delocalisa-
tion of the story. In the main Babylonian version the
1 It is not, of course, necessary to assume that the laws were as ex
plicit and as detailed as set forth in the Pentateuch. The chapters in
Deuteronomy and Leviticus betray evidence of a gradual expansion
from some very simple distinctions between clean and unclean animals.
See above, p. 165, note i, for the author s view of the regulations in the
Priestly Code, many of which have all the earmarks of a high antiquity.
2 Gen. 8 : 7. See above, p. 358, note 2.
3 We must beware of the error of assuming that the Hebrews at all
events in exilic and postexilic days were ignorant of Babylonian-Assyr
ian literature. The fourteenth chapter of Genesis is not improbably
based in part on some cuneiform sources that the Hebrew compiler had
before him. See above, p. 13, though we must not go as far as to
assume the chapter to be a translation of a cuneiform historical docu
ment. The late Professor D. H. Miiller in his Ezechiel-Studien, pp. 56
seq., has also made it probable that Ezekiel made use of cuneiform
literature to a certain extent.
4 Midrashic tales about the raven emphasise this point of the raven
which, as an unclean animal, is represented as being hated by God
as well as by Noah. See Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, I, pp. 163-4.
362 APPENDIX
Deluge centres around Shuruppak and thus betrays its
local origin. In Berosus, who hands down the Atrakhasis
version, it starts at Sippar. Other versions may be found
which will name other centres. The annual overflow
takes place throughout the Euphrates Valley, and so every
large centre could have its Deluge story, as it had its
Creation myth. The biblical outlook is far wider upon
mankind in general in the Yahwist document and upon
the entire earth in the Priestly Code. The occurrence in
nature is entirely kept out of view in both. The biblical
Deluge is no longer a magnified natural event, but a special
act of the Almighty, comparable in grandeur to the process
of Creation. God himself is about to destroy what He
has brought into being. The Hebrew point of view does
not even hesitate to represent God as regretting the crea
tion of man, so supreme is the ethical motive that has
been infused into the old nature-myth, and which accounts
for the features that separate it so completely from the
Babylonian counterpart from which at one time it could
hardly have been distinguished.
The absolute sway of ethical ideals is to be illustrated
by an awful example. The world, made by God for the
sake of man, has failed to be guided by the dictates of
righteousness. The principle of justice is carried still
further in the Priestly Code which assumes that the
whole earth and not merely man is corrupt. 1 To be sure,
a discordant pessimistic note is sounded at the close 2 that
it is not worth while to destroy the world for man s sake
because man s inclination is towards evil. Wickedness is
inherent in man, but this sad admission is merely an
evidence of the desperate dilemma with which the pious
Jew of later days found himself confronted, when brought
face to face with the question why a God of justice allows
1 The Midrash, taking up this thought, says (Ginzberg, ib., I, p. 160)
that the animals were as wicked as men.
2 By the Yahwist. See above, pp. 102 seq.
APPENDIX 363
wickedness to reign in the world. The example, however,
was furnished at one time that if wickedness passes be
yond a certain level, God does not hesitate to undo His
own handiwork.
Fiat justitia, et per eat mundus! It is as an illustration
of this doctrine that the old nature-myth is retained
delocalised, stripped of all suggestions of its association
with the annual change of seasons, with touches added to
it that make it conform to specific Hebrew regulations such
as the distinction between clean and unclean animals.
The myth becomes a parable, the force of which is height
ened by the poetic subscript to the tale 1 the interpre
tation of the rainbow as the symbol of God s covenant
with the righteous. Noah however we explain the ori
gin of the name 2 is a type. As such he is regarded by
the Prophet Ezekiel by the side of Daniel and Job 3 who
are likewise merely types and not real personages.
In the Babylonian tale Utnapishtim, Atrakhasis, and
Ziugiddu are saved because they are favourites. Of
Ziugiddu, to be sure, it is said that he was a reverent wor
shipper of the gods, but the implication is not of an es
sentially ethical character. The pious here is he who
brings sacrifices to the gods and carries out prescribed
rites. The biblical story furnishes the crumb of comfort
for the pious members of the postexilic Jewish commu
nity, the "poor" and humble ones of the Psalms, 4 that
even in a universal destruction the righteous need not
fear. He will find favour in the eyes of God, as did
Noah. The waters that engulf the world will not touch him.
The ark in which he finds refuge will rise on the waters,
even though the waters mount above the highest peaks.
1 Gen. 9 : 12-17.
2 The explanation of the name, Gen. 5 : 29, as the one who "will com
fort us," rests on assonance and is not a genuine etymology of the name.
The explanation is in the style of the Jewish Midrash.
3 Ezek. 14 : 14, 20. 4 See above, p. 241.
364 APPENDIX
Not only is the righteous saved, but he also saves the
world. Because of Noah, Yahweh makes a covenant not
to destroy the world again. He sets the rainbow in the
sky, which will appear even while the rain pours and the
storm rages as an assurance that Yahweh will remem
ber Noah, the righteous man, and for Noah s sake re
strain his anger at the ineradicable wickedness of man.
The pessimistic note is thus changed into one which, though
still in the minor key, yet is relieved somewhat of its
hopeless outlook. If only ten righteous be found, Abra
ham is assured, 1 Sodom and Gomorrah will be saved be
cause of the righteous. The biblical Deluge story thus
becomes another powerful sermon like the story of the
Fall, 2 emphasising the central lesson of the Hebrew Proph
ets obedience to divine behests, even as Noah obeyed,
and setting up righteousness as the supreme goal of life,
even as Noah was righteous. It is a sermon that illus
trates also the two aspects of the Hebrew faith in the
postexilic period when the early narratives in Genesis
received their definite shape, on the one hand, the attach
ment to the aims of the Prophets on the part of the
minority of the community, who, resigned to their hum
ble position by virtue of their unworldly ambitions, sadly
realised the lesson of Job that the good often suffer while
the ungodly flourish. But, on the other hand, while not
closing their eyes to the fact that man s inclination is
towards wickedness, and that as it had been before the
Deluge so it was after the Deluge, and perhaps will long
continue to be, they comforted themselves with the re
flection that it is the righteous who will eventually save
the world.
Recognising unreservedly the common origin of the
Babylonian and biblical traditions of the Deluge as a
nature-myth picturing the annual change, and based per
haps on a recollection of some particularly disastrous
1 Gen. 18 : 32. a Above, p. 61.
APPENDIX 365
season, 1 the tradition gives rise among both Babylonians
and Hebrews to various versions, differing from one an
other in details. The development proceeds along inde
pendent lines among the Hebrews from a certain time on,
and under the influence of the teachings of the Prophets
the emphasis comes to be laid on the wickedness of man
and the corruption of the earth as the cause of the catas
trophe, and on the righteousness of Noah as the reason for
his escape. The story is retained like the Creation tale,
because of its popularity, but is completely transformed
in the long process which changed a nature-myth into
an ethical parable. It received its final shape well along
in the postexilic period, and was made the medium of im
pressing upon the people the underlying principles of
Prophetical Judaism.
1 1 do not believe, however, that the Babylonian or biblical Deluge
recalls a violent geologic subversion in the region of the Persian Gulf
in prehistoric days, as Eduard Suess, Die Sinfiut (1884), would have us
suppose. It is most unlikely that people living many, many thousands
of years after such an event should have any recollection of it, however
dimmed. The localisation of the Deluge in the Babylonian versions to
which the biblical accounts, as we have seen, revert, is a sufficient ar
gument against such a proposition.
INDEX
Aaron, sons of, 169.
Abaddon, a name for the lower
world, 107.
Abel, 309.
Abraham, 7, 13, 14, 42, 228, 366.
Abu Shahrain, site of ancient city
of Eridu, 321.
dbubu = cyclone, 339, 343.
Abydenus, 346.
Adab, an ancient city in the
Euphrates Valley, 337.
Adad, a storm-god, 263 seq., 330,
342 seq.
Adam, 52, 348, 361.
Adapa legend, 47 seq.
Agade, capital of Sargon s King
dom, 12.
Agriculture, 167, 309, 311; gods
of, 28, 163, 178. (See also
Festivals.)
Ahab, 71.
Akitu (New Year s festival), 138.
Akkad, 20.
Akkadians (the Semites of Baby
lonia), 8.
Alala (deity), 71.
Alexander Polyhistor, 85, 346.
Alexandria, 299.
All Saints , 147.
Amarna Letters, 47, 353.
A-Ma-Ru = abubu (cyclone), 339.
Ammisaduka, King of Babylonia,
34 1 -
Ammonites, a people of Palestine,
34, 176, 178, 227.
Amorites, 16.
Amos, 227, 283 seq., 288.
Amraphel = Hammurapi, 13 seq.
Amurru (land of the West), 7, 9.
An (Heaven), 70, 74.
Ancestor-worship, 200 seq.
Andree, W., 323.
Anger of deities, 292.
ani (meek), 315.
Animals, creation of, 92 seq., 120.
Animism, 26 seq., 32, 142, 177,
200, 282.
Anonymity, 285.
An-shar (deity), 69, 71, 74.
An-shar-gal (deity), 70.
Antiochus Soter, 346.
Antum, consort of the god Anu,
70 seq.
Anu, god of Uruk, who becomes
the god of heaven, 67, 69, 70,
74, 95 seq., 259, 260, 326, 331,
333, 337, 339 seq.
Anum = Anu, 70 seq.
Anunnaki, spirits of earth, 91,
258, 330 seq.
Apocalypse of Baruch, 245, 247
seq.
Apocalyptic writings, 246.
Apsu, personification of the watery
deep, 69, 72 seq., 74, III.
Arabia, 9, 15, 147.
Aralu, Babylonian name of lower
world, 197 seq., 203 seq., 205
seq., 210, 219, 222, 235; Pan
theon of, 202. (See also Lower
World; Sheol; Hell.)
Ararat (mount), 349, 355.
Ark of Covenant, 180.
Ark, of Noah, 348, 351, 353 seq.,
362 seq. , of Xisuthros, 327, 347
seq. (See also Ship.)
arkhu Til (la) (25th day of month),
138-
Armenia, 348 seq.
Aruru, goddess who creates man
kind, 91 seq.
Asari, as title of Marduk, 87.
Asari-alim, as title of Marduk,
87.
Asari-alim-nunna, as title of Mar
duk, 87.
367
368
INDEX
Asherah, symbol in Canaanitish
cult, 31, 182, 183.
Ashurbanapal, King of Assyria,
68, 276, 323, 326, 344, 346.
Assumption of Moses, 245.
Assyria as warlike nation, 267 seq.,
277.
Astral theology, 71, 119 seq., 143,
200, 264.
Astral worship, 32.
Astrology, 32, 8 1 seq., 139, 141
seq., 154, 171, 266 seq.
Astronomy, 144, 160.
Asushu-namir (created by the
god Ea), 208.
Atonement, 291 seq.; day of, 171 seq.
Atrakhasis, hero of the Babylonian
Deluge, 326 seq., 334, 341, 344
seq., 346 seq., 354, 364, 365.
Atrakhasis version of Deluge, 341
seq. ^
Auspicious days, see Days.
Authorship, 285 seq.
Baal, 28, 179, 182.
Babylonia, influence on Palestine,
19, 32, 193; as early home of
Hebrews, 5 seq., 21 seq. , po
lygamy in, 273 seq.; warlike pro
clivities, 267 seq., 277.
Babylonian-Assyrian civilisation,
see Euphratean Culture.
Bad-nagar-dish (city), 96.
bamoth (high places), 29.
Banks, E. J., 337.
Baptism, 146.
Barton, George A., 236, 237, 308.
bdru (diviner), 150.
Barzilai, 55.
Bathsheba, 311.
Beatitudes, 315.
Beer-Sheba, 27.
Behemoth (monstrous creature),
US-
Belili (goddess), 71.
Ben Sira, 237 seq.
Berosus, 68, 73 seq., 85 seq., IOO,
129, 327, 336, 338; version of
Deluge, 346 seq., 354, 364.
Bethel, 24, 310.
Birth, 146.
Birth-omens, 141, 266.
Bismya, site of ancient city of
Adab, 337.
Black-headed people, 341.
Blood, as source of life, 129; eat
ing of, prohibited, 361; in crea
tion of man, 84 seq., 128 seq.
Boat, see Ship; Ark.
Booths, festival of, 158 seq.
Bosheth, disguised form for Baal,
29.
bubbulu (disappearance of moon),
I3S-
Budde, Karl, 179, 232.
Bull, divine, 324.
Burial, 197 seq., 213, 223.
Burning bush, 169.
Cain, 309.
Calendar, 82, 119, 159, 355.
Canaanites, influence on Hebrews,
28, 31 seq., 182.
Canals, 214, 264, 322.
Cassites, 268.
Chaos, 72, 83.
Charles, R. H., 245, 248.
Child sacrifice, 182.
Christ, 249 seq.
Christianity, 43, 193, 248 seq., 314
seq.
Christmas, 146.
Circumcision, 146.
Cities, founding of, 89 seq.
Clay, A. T., 10, 16.
Clean and unclean, 44.
Clean and unclean animals, 363,
365-
Coblenz, 238.
Code of Hammurapi, 271 seq.
Commerce, 167, 228, 269, 271 seq. t
307, 39-
Concubines, 273.
Confirmation, 146.
Confusion of languages, 6.
Consciousness after death, 196 seq. t
212.
Cory, I. P., 73, 85, 327, 336, 346.
Creation, Babylonian-Assyrian ac
counts, 7, 21 seq., 37 seq., 68 seq.,
89 seq., 95 seq. , biblical ac
counts, 24, 37 seq., 60, 80, 98
seq., 116 seq.; Hesiod s theogony,
70 seq.
Creation of man, 83 seq., 91, IOO,
104, 128 seq.
Cremation, 198.
Culture, attitude towards, 309 seq.
INDEX
369
Cuneiform writing, 9.
Curtiss, S. I., 27.
Cyclone, see Deluge and abubu.
Cyclops, 73.
Cynicism, 234 seq.
Cyrus, 230.
Daniel, 243, 247, 365.
Da-ur (deity), 71.
David, 162, 181, 281, 286, 310 seq.
Day of assembly, 192.
Day of atonement, see Atone
ment.
Days, lucky and unlucky, 150
seq., 162 seq., 168 seq., 173, 175,
1 88.
Dead, care of, 213.
Death, 146, 324; primitive con
ceptions of, 196 seq.; water of,
49 seq.; waters of, 334; mystery
of, 210 seq.
Deborah, Song of, 176, 180.
Decalogue, original form of, 35,
162 seq., 184, 283; date, 174.
Deification, 201, 218.
Deluge, 24, 37 seq., 57, 96 seq.,
103, 210, 214 seq., 219, 321 seq. t
Atrakhasis version, 341 seq.;
Berosus s account, 346 seq.;
comparison of versions, 362
seq.; biblical accounts, 350 seq.;
Nippur version, 336 seq., 340 seq.
Deluge myth, Babylonian origin,
323-
Dembitz, Lewis N., 148.
Demons, 61, 2OO, 2O2 seq., 205,
207.
Deukalion, Greek hero of the Del
uge, 360.
Deutero-Isaiah, 287.
Deuteronomic Code, 296 seq., 3 10.
Dispersion of mankind, 6, 56.
Divination, 32, 139 seq., 145 seq.,
202, 265 seq. (See also As
trology; Hepatoscopy.)
Diviners, 150, 154, 185.
Doughty, Charles, 148.
Dove, 332, 355, 359, 362.
Dragon, 95 seq., 107, 109, IIO,
121, 261.
Dreams, 200, 216, 219, 347.
Driver, S. R., 106.
Duhm, B., in, 240, 287, 295, 306.
Du-ur (deity), 71.
Ea, god of water, 67, 117, 208,
212, 215, 263 seq., 321 seq., 325
*? 333, 338 seq., 342 seq., 347
seq., 362.
Ecclesiastes, 235 seq., 278 seq.,
304 seq.
Eden, 5, 100.
Edom, 1 80.
Egypt, 150, 299 seq., 311.
Elam, 209, 268, 323.
Elephantine, 299 seq.
Elihu, 234.
Elijah, 123, 178, 181 seq., 283.
Elisha, 178, 181 seq., 283.
Ellil, see Enlil.
Elohist, 353.
Engidu, friend of Gilgamesh, 209
seq, 323 seq.
Enki = Ea (water deity), 95 seq.,
Enkidu = Engidu.
Enlil (Ellil), 10, 67, 95 seq., 117,
216, 259, seq., 263 seq., 326 seq.,
333 seq., 339 seq.
Enmasht = Ninib, 10.
En-nugi (deity), 326.
Enoch, book of, 247 seq.
En-ur-ul-la (deity), 71.
Erebos (night), 72.
Ereshkigal, goddess of lower world,
203 seq.
Eridu, an ancient city of Baby
lonia, 48, 67, 321.
Eros (love), 72.
E-Sagila (temple), 90.
Esau, 280.
esherti (tenth day of month), 138.
eshsheshu (day of the new-moon),
138.
Esther =Ishtar, 161.
Ether (atmosphere), 72.
Ethical monotheism, 45 seq., 130
seq., 187, 225, 252.
Ethical motives of Assyrian-Baby
lonian gods, 177.
Ethical spirit, in traditions, 18, 39,
45 seq., 61, 349 seq., 364 seq.; in
laws, 42 seq., 229.
Ethics, test of, 254 seq.
Etruscans, divination, 140.
Euphratean culture, compared
with Hebrew culture, I seq., 62;
source of, 8 seq.
Euphrates, 5, 218, 322.
370
INDEX
Euphrates Valley as home of He
brews, 5 seq., 21 seq.
Eusebius, 327, 346.
Evolution in traditions, 3 seq.
(See also Transformation.)
Ezekiel, 223, 288, 365.
Exile, 1 86 seq., 225 seq., 241, 303.
Exodus from Egypt, 33.
Exorcism, 199.
Expanse of heaven, 117.
Faith, 308.
Fall of man, 40, 52 seq., 102.
Family, 273.
Fara, site of ancient city of Shu-
ruppak, 326.
Feast of Weeks, 155, 163.
Festivals, agricultural, 28, 156
seq., 163, 299; "fixed," 186;
nomadic, 33; of spring, 157, 161;
in transition periods, 146 seq.;
of winter solstice, 146.
Fire, worship of, 32; as sacred ele
ment, 153, 169.
Flesh, eating of, 361.
Flood, 357 seq.
Food laws, 44.
Fowler, H. T., 325.
Frazer, J. G., 30, 51, 151, 183, 196,
222.
Full-moon, 138, 149 seq., 152, 173.
Funeral rites, 146.
Gaia (Earth), 70, 73.
Galilee, 250.
Garden of Eden, see Eden.
Genealogy of gods, 69 seq.
Gentiles, 246.
geshem (rain), 358.
Gideon, 283.
Gilgamesh, Babylonian hero, 85,
101, 201, 209 seq., 278 seq., 307,
.323 seq.
Ginzberg, Louis, 14, 348, 364, 365.
Gishzida, agricultural deity, 49, 51.
Gods, of agriculture, 163 ; chthonic,
203.
Gomorrah, 366.
Great mother, see Mother-god
dess.
Greeks, chthonic deities, 203;
divination, 140, 145; marriage
custom, 163; philosophy, 236,
304.
Gressmann, Hugo, 25, 34, 47, 101,
179, 204, 206, 209, 297, 323, 327.
Gruppe, Wilhelm, 163.
Gudea, ruler of Lagash, 17.
Gunkel, Hermann, 20, 98, 107,
108, no, 113, 114.
Hag (pilgrimage), 299.
Ham, 354, 357.
Hammurapi, 13 seq., 260, 329,
341; law code, 271 seq. (See
also Amraphel.)
Hannukah, 146.
Haram esh-Sherif, mosque in
Jerusalem, 26.
Haran, 7, 13, 14, 19 seq.
Harper, R. F., 260.
Harper, W. R., 29.
Harvest, see Festivals.
Hastings, J. S., 31, 178.
Haupt, Paul, 161, 236, 326, 344.
Heart, 136 seq., 149; as seat of
intellect, 57, 352.
Heaven, 248 seq., 251.
Hebrew culture, compared with
Euphratean civilisation, I seq.,
62.
Hebrews, animism among, 26 seq.;
early contact with Babylonia,
14 seq., 18, 21 seq.; influenced by
Canaanites, 28 seq., 31, 33;
mixed race, 62; nomadic period,
33; polygamy among, 273 seq.;
traditions as to origin, 5 seq.
Hehn, Johannes, 132, 171.
Heine, Heinrich, 192.
Hekatocheiron (hundred-handed
monster), 73.
Hell, 249, 251 seq. (See also
Aralu; Lower World; Sheol.)
Hemera (day), 72.
Henotheism, 264.
Hepatoscopy, 139 seq., 144, 266.
(See also Divination; Astrol
ogy.)
Hera, 70.
Herodotus, 323.
Hesiod, 70, 72, 73.
Hezekiah, 31.
Hilprecht, H. V., 343 seq.
Hippopotamus, 115.
Hittites, II, 15.
Homorka = Ummu-khubu r, 74.
Hosea, 284.
INDEX
371
House, staying in, 169 seq., 191 stq.
Humanitarian regulations, 44.
Humble, see Poor.
Hymns, penitential, 291 seq.
Hymns to Shamash, 258 seq.
Ib (deity), 70.
ibbu (clear), 138.
Ides, 150.
Igigi, spirits of heaven, 87, 91,
Ilabrat (attendant of Anu), 48.
Imageless worship, 182 seq., 282.
Immortality, 21 1, 217, 220, 245,
249, 252, 324 seq., 335, 340.
Incantation, 202.
Incest, 274.
Indenture, 274.
Individualism, 238 seq., 266.
Innanna (goddess), 336.
Interest (on money), 167.
Interment, see Burial.
Ira, god of pestilence, 330, 334.
Irkallu, name of lower world, 206.
Isaac, 228, 280.
Isaiah, in, 113, 187, 223, 227,
247, 284, 287, 289 seq.
Ish-Bosheth = Ish-Baal, 29.
Ishtar, 324, 331; goddess of vege
tation, 143, 203, 206, 325, 332,
337; descent to Aralu, 206 seq.,
210.
isinnu (festival), 138.
Islamism, 192.
Island of the Blest, 218.
Jacob, 26, 228, 244, 280, 310.
Japheth, 354, 357.
Jastrow, Morris, Jr., 6, 51 seq., 61,
102, 112, 119, 123, 137, 139
seq., 144, 148, 156, 1 66, 204,
206, 209, 258 seq., 266, 270,
291, 323, 350.
Jehovah, 265, 301 seq. (See
Yahweh.)
Jeremiah, 227, 284, 289, 296, 311.
Jeremias, Alfred, 20.
Jerome, 245.
Jerusalem, 24, 26, 282, 284, 296
seq., 299 seq.
Jesus, 192, 232, 249 seq., 252, 314
seq.
Job, 107 seq., 114 seq., 126, 160,
223, 2325*0., 303 seq., 365, 367.
ohn the Baptist, 250.
ohns, C. H. W., 20, 260, 271.
onah, 284.
osephus, 248.
oshua, 283.
ubilees, book of, 245.
udgment, 245 seq., 252.
upiter, 143, 264.
Kadesh, 27, 180.
Kemosh (Moabltish deity), 34,
176, 178.
Khasisatra = Atrakhasis, 39, 327.
Khumbaba (mythical ruler), 323.
Ki (Earth), 70 seq., 74.
kikkishu (reed-hut), 339.
King, Henry C, 194.
King, L. W., 12, 17, 68, 86, 89,
93-
Kingdom, opposition to, 310 seq.
Kings, Books of, 281.
Kings, deification of, 151, 201, 218.
Kingu (leader of Tiamat s army),
76 seq., in.
Ki-shar (deity), 69, 71.
Ki-shar-gal (deity), 70 seq.
Knowledge of good and evil, 55.
Knudtzon, J. A., 353.
Kohler, Joseph, 260.
Kronos, 70, 75, 347.
Kugler, F. X., 324.
Laban, 280.
Labour, 167 seq.
lag beomer (thirty-third day in the
counting of the "Omer" period
of seven weeks), 163.
Lakhamu (consort of Lakhmu),
69, 71.
Lakhmu (deity), 69, 71, 74.
Lamentation hymns, 122 seq.
Languages of mankind, 56.
Larak (city), 96.
Law, ethical spirit in, 42 seq., 229;
study of, 300; theory underly
ing, 274 seq.; yoke of, 191 seq.
Laws of Hammurapi, see Code.
Legalism, 191 seq., 303 seq.
Leviathan (primeval monster),
107, ill seq., 121.
lex talionis, 275.
Life after death, 2, 8, 46, 196 seq.
Life, blood as source of, 129.
Light, creation of, 117.
372
INDEX
Liver, 136 seq., 139 seq., 149.
(See also Hepatoscopy.)
Loans, see Commerce.
Logos, 126 seq.
Lord s Day, 193.
Lotz, Wilhelm, 136.
Lower world, 197 seq., 221 seq.,
245; Pantheon of, 202 seq., 262.
(See also Aralu; Hell; Sheol.)
Lucian, 362.
Lucky days, see Days.
Lugal (deity), 330.
Luke, 315.
mabbul (flood), 356.
Maccabees, 242 seq., 247, 295.
Maccabees, Books of, 246.
Magic, sympathetic, 183.
Ma-Gur-Gur (huge boat), 339, 342.
(See also Ship; Ark.)
makom (holy spot), 26.
Malachi, 247.
Malik (Canaanitish deity), 29 seq.,
183.
Mamre (place-name), 27.
Man, creation of, 83 seq., 97, 101,
128 seq.
Man of God = diviner, 154, 185.
Manasseh, 32.
Marduk, 67 seq., 77 seq., 117, 220,
263 seq.; identified with Jupiter,
143, 264; names and attributes
of, 86 seq.; =Mordecai, 161.
Marriage, 102, 146, 162 seq., 273.
Mars, 144.
massah (festival of unleavened
bread), 157.
masseba, stone pillar, 26.
Material blessings, 265 seq., 278
seq.
Matthew, 315 seq.
Meat-eating, 361.
Medicine, early, 199.
Mediterranean, 17.
Meek, see Poor and ani.
Mercury, 144.
Messiah and Messianic kingdom,
231, 237, 241, 244, 246 seq.,
249, 251, 303.
Meyer, Eduard, 8, 179, 299.
Micah, 291.
Midianites, 179 seq.
Milkom (Ammonitish deity), 34,
176, 178.
Moab, 34.
Moabite stone, 178.
Moabites, 176, 178, 227.
Mohammed, 193.
Mohammedan formula, 43.
Mohammedan Sabbath, 192 seq.
Molech (distorted form for Malik),
29.
Monotheism, 18, 45, 178, 182, 187,
263 seq.; ethical, 45 seq., 130 seq.,
178 seq.
Montefiore, C. G., 192.
Montgomery, James A., 299.
Moon, in astrology, 82, 1 19, 142
seq., 145 seq., 154; phases of, 150
seq., 159, 171, 173 seq., 184, 194;
salutation of, 160. (See also
Full-moon; New-moon.)
Moore, G. F., 29.
Mordecai = Marduk, 161.
Morgan, J. Pierpont, 342.
Moriah, 26.
Moses, 34 seq., 174 seq., 184, 225
seq., 252, 282 seq., 286, 312, 316,
363-
Mosque of Omar (in Jerusalem),
26.
Mother-goddess, 206, 337.
Mountains, sacred, 26 seq., 170.
Muller, D. H., 364.
Miiller, Max, 264.
Mummu (personification of watery
element), 69, 72, 73, in.
Mythical element in traditions,
18, 108, 112 seq., 121.
Myths, of nature, see Nature-
myths; astral, 324; spiritualised,
38 seq., 59 seq., 122 seq.
Nabal, 162.
Name as essence, 101.
Namtar, god of pestilence, 204 seq.
Nana, goddess of vegetation, 143.
napishtu (Zi), (life), 338.
Naram-Sin, early Babylonian ruler,
270.
Nationalism, 176 seq., 247, 282
seq., 301 seq.
Nature-myths, 37 seq., 50 seq., 66,
74, 80, 94 seq., 97, 107 seq., 122,
207, 210, 322 seq., 349, 364
seq.
Nebo, god of wisdom, 264, 330;
identified with Mercury, 143.
INDEX
373
Nehemiah, 189.
Nergal, god of pestilence and
death, 144, 204 seq., 212, 261
seq., 264.
Nether world, see Lower World.
New-moon, 138, 154 seq., 160,
173, 185 seq., 227, 289; prayer
to, 1 60.
New Testament, 246, 248, 314 seq.
New Year, 159.
Nicholas of Damascus, 85.
Nin (female divinity), 71.
Nineveh, 136, 139, 284.
Ninib = Enmasht (deity), 10, 70,
264, 326, 330; associated with
Saturn, 143.
Ninkharsag (goddess), 95 seq., 337.
Nintu (goddess), 336.
Nin-ur-ul-la (deity), 71.
Nippur, 10, 67, 143.
Nizir, Mount, 332.
Noah, 234, 348, 351 seq.] etymol
ogy, 365-
Nob, 24.
Nomads in Babylonia, 15.
nubattu (day of distress), 135.
Nudimmud (deity), 69, 74 seq.,
81, 96.
Obedience and disobedience, 40
seq., 60 seq., 176 seq., 283.
Offering, see Sacrifice.
Olympus, Mount, 203.
Omens, 119, 148, 266. (See also
Days, lucky and unlucky.)
Omer, see Lag beomer.
Oracle, 155, 185, 274 seq., 334,
339, 343-
Origins, 65.
Otiartes = Ubara-Tutu, 346.
Pabil-kharsag (deity), 96.
Pacification, day of, 149 seq., 170
seq.
Palestine, settlements in, 15, 281;
contact with Babylonia, 19.
Pantheon, 200, 202 seq., 262 seq.,
341 seq.
Paradise, 218 seq., 252.
Passover, 33, 155, 157 seq., 163.
Paterson, Archibald, 270.
Paton, L. B., 281.
Patriarchs, 309.
Paul, 249 seq.
Pentateuchal Codes, 173, 176, 189,
295 seq., 309 seq.
Persian Gulf, 218, 321.
Pesach, 157. (See also Massah.)
Pessimism, 41, 56 seq., 60 seq., 101
seq., 245, 305, 365 seq.
Pharisaism, 300 seq.
Pharisees, 192, 301.
Philistines, 181.
Philo of Alexandria, 245, 248.
Philosophy, Greek, 236, 304.
Phoenicians, 227.
Pilgrimage, 299.
Pinches, T. G., 138, 263.
pirishti Hani (oracle of the gods),
342-
Plato, 140.
Poebel, Arno, 95 seq., 336 seq.,
340, 343-
Polygamy, 273 seq.
Poor, 241, 315, 366.
Prayer, 202, 276, 290 seq.
Priestly Code, 104 seq., 108, 164,
299 seq., 350 seq.
Primitive man, 101 seq.
Prometheus, 362.
Prophets, 223 seq., 281 seq., 296,
loBseq., 315 seq.
Proverbs, 124.
Psalms, 1 10 seq., 123, 224, 237,
239 seq., 247, 281 seq., 286, 293
seq., 305 seq., 315; of Solomon,
247.
Pseudepigraphy, 287 seq.
Puberty, 146.
Purim, 147, 161.
Puritanism, 191.
Puzur-Kurgal (boatman of the
Deluge ship), 330.
Pyrrha, 362.
Rabbinical Judaism, 189, 248, 302
seq., 307, 312 seq.
Rabbis and the Sabbath, 189 seq.
Rachel, 280.
Rahab (primeval monster), 107
seq., 121.
Rainbow, 361, 365 seq.
Ramah (place-name), 24.
Raven, 332, 360, 363 seq.
Rawlinson, Sir Henry C., 134, 135,
150, 325, 326.
Raziel (angel), 348.
Rebecca, 280.
374
INDEX
Rechabites, 311.
Redeemer, see Messiah.
Resurrection, 246 seq., 249, 252.
Retribution, 229 seq., 232 seq.
Rhea, 70.
Righteous, 231 seq., 239 seq., 365
seq. (See also under Prophets,
^ Psalms, and Ethical.)
rimku (purification), 138.
Rogers, R. W., 336, 344, 346.
Romans, divination, 140; favour
able and unfavourable days, 150.
Sabbath, 105, 135, 227; as austere
day, 164, 1 68 seq.; as day of rest,
164 seq., 188; associated with
new-moon, 154 seq., 289; his
tory of, 164 seq.; morrow after
the, 156; restrictive element,
153, 189 seq.
Sabitu (maiden of the sea), 211,
32.4-
Sacrifice, 155, 186, 202, 227, 290,
295 seq., 332, 339^<?-> 347, 360,
362, 366; of children, 182.
Saint John, festival, 30.
Salvation, 251, 366.
Samaria, 24, 300.
Samaritans, 299 seq.
Samuel, 283, 310.
Sargon I, early Babylonian ruler,
7, 12 seq., 17, 269.
Sargon II, King of Assyria, 269,
271.
Saturn, 143.
Saturnalia, 146.
Sayce, A. H., 52.
Scepticism, 197, 233 seq., 303 seq.
Scheil, Vincent, 340.
Schiaparelli, G., 12^.
Schmidt, Nathaniel, 246.
Schoene, Alfred, 346.
Schiirer, Emil, 300.
Seir, Mount, 180.
Semites in Babylonia, origin, 8
seq., 15 seq.
Serpent, 40, 54 seq., 60, 108 seq.,
203, 334; brazen, 183.
Seven, 27, 48, 132, 170 seq., 355,
362.
shabattum, 134 seq., 149 seq., 152
seq., 155, 158, 170, 184.
shabdtu = gamaru, 139.
Shabbath = Sabbath, 137.
shabbathon (sabbatical), 137, 172
seq.
Shamash (solar deity), 67,96, 143,
145, 177, 208, 257 seq., 263 seq.,
Vfistq., 330, 340. (See Sun-god.)
shebu oth, feast of weeks, 155.
Shem, 354, 357.
Sheol, 197, 221 seq., 235,^237, 244
seq. (See also Aralu; Hell;
Lower World.)
Shiloh, 24.
Shinar= Euphrates Valley, 6, 8,
13; " Cloak of Shinar," 7.
Ship, of Atrakhasis, 342, 345 seq.;
of Utnapishtim, 215, 217, 325,
328 seq., 334; of Utnapishtim,
called "palace," 330, 363; of
Ziugiddu, 39, 339 seq. (See
also Ark.)
shu alu = Sheol, 222.
Shulum (demon), 138.
Shunammite woman, 154.
Shuruppak (Shurippak), 96, 214,
o . 326, 338, 341, 364.
Sin, 291 seq.
Sin, the moon-god, 20, 145, 206,
208, 264.
Sinai, Mount, 169, 179 seq., 282.
Sippar (city), 67, 96, 257, 338, 347
t seq., 364.
Sisithros = Xisuthros, 345.
Sisouthros = Xisuthros, 346.
Siugidda = Ziugiddu.
Skinner, John, 13, 37, 98, 106.
Slavery, 274.
Sodom, 366.
sohar (deck), 351.
Solomon, 281, 286, 310 seq.
Soul, 245, 252.
Spirits, disembodied, 199, 202, 223;
malevolent, 198 seq.; of vegeta
tion, 163.
Stage towers, 6.
Stones, sacred, 26, 180.
Storm-god, 175, 178, 216, 282, 322,
Suess, Eduard, 365.
suhru or zuhru (bock), 351.
sukkoth, festival of Booths, 158.
Sumer, 20.
Sumerians, 8 seq.; cremation
among, 198.
Sun, in astrology, 82, 119,
145 seq.
INDEX
375
Sunday, see Lord s Day.
Sun-god, 30, 67, 143, 145, 177 seq.,
205, 210, 257 seq., 261, 325.
(See Shamash.)
Suti (nomadic groups), 16.
Swallow, 332.
Synagogue, 300, 302.
Tabernacle, 310.
Taboo, 44, 151, 363.
takiltu (purification), 138.
Talmudical Judaism, see Rab
binical Judaism.
Tammuz (god of vegetation), 49,
51-
tanin (dragon), 121.
Tartaros (depth), 72.
tebah (ark), 363.
Tehom, personification of the
deep, 106 seq., 124.
Tell el-Amarna Letters, see
Amarna.
Temple in Jerusalem, 31.
Terah, 14.
Terahites, 7, 13 seq., 19, 21, 24.
tertu (omen, oracle,) 275.
Theogony of Hesiod, 70 seq.
Tiamat, primeval monster, 69,
73 seq., 106, 109 seq., 121.
Tiglath-Pileser I (King of As
syria), 269.
Tigris, 5, 218, 322.
tilti (ninth day of month), 138.
Titans, 70, 73.
Tohu and Bohu (primeval chaos),
106.
Tora, 275.
Tower of Babel, 6.
Toy, C. H., 137.
Transformation of primitive tales
and rites, 41, 60 seq., 105 seq.,
194 seq. (See also Evolution.)
Transition periods, 146 seq., 152
seq., 157, 162, 172 seq., 188.
Tree, of knowledge, 52 seq. , of
life, 52 seq.
Trees, sacred, 26 seq.
Triad, Apsu, Mummu, Tiamat, 72;
Anu, Enlil, Ea, 81; Gaia, Tar
taros, Eros, 72.
Tutu, as title of Marduk, 87.
Ubara-Tutu (father of hero of the
Deluge), 324, 326, 346.
um arkhi (day of the new-moon),
138.
um bubbuli (end of month), 135,
. 138.
um nubattim (day of distress),
_ X 3S :
utn-mi-m um-ma-a-ni ( w o r k -
^ men), 344.
um nukh libbi (day of pacification),
134 seq., 171, 173.
Ummu-khubur, primeval monster,
74 I . II<
umu limnu (unlucky day), 136,
I5.I, 175-
U-Gid
(element in name of Zi-u-
gid-du), 337.
Unclean, see Clean; Taboo.
Ungnad, Arthur, 47, 101, 204, 206,
209, 260, 323, 327, 341, 344.
Unleavened bread, festival of,
157-
Unlucky days, see Days.
Upshukkinaku (chamber of fates),
77, 86.
Ur (ancient city), 7, 13 seq., 19
seq.
Uranos (Heaven), 70, 73.
Uruk (ancient city), 67, 209, 323,
334-
Usener, Hermann Karl, 323, 362.
Usury, 167.
Utnapishtim, hero of Babylonian
Deluge, 39, 214 seq., 324 seq.,
338 seq., 342 seq., 345 seq., 358,
365. (See also Ship; Zmgiddu.)
Van Gennep, Arnold, 146.
Vegetation, goddess of, 143, 203,
206, 337; god of, 257. (See Ish-
tar and Nana.)
Venus, 143.
War, ethics of, 270.
Ward, W. H, 61.
Water as primeval element, 66
seq., 80, 1 1 8.
Wells, sacred, 26 seq.
Westermarck, Edward A., 208.
Wicked, punishment of, 224 seq.,
293 seq.
Wiedemann, Alfred, 150.
Winckler, Hugo, 20.
Wisdom, 107, 124 seq., 130.
Wisdom, book of, 245.
376
INDEX
Wissowa, Georg, 150.
Woman, as tempter, 58 seq.;
position of, 101 seq.
Word of God, 60, 116, 122 seq.,
130 seq.
Work as a curse, 57, 102.
Xisuthros, hero of
Deluge, 327, 346.
Babylonian
Yahweh, as Baal, 28 seq., 178 seq.,
181; as "holy" god, 175 seq. ,
as national deity, 36, 175, 181,
265, 282, 302; as sole deity, 178
seq., 282; as storm-god, 175 seq.,
178, 282; as tribal deity, 33;
imageless worship of, 182; anger,
175 seq.; ethical traits, 226 seq.,
282.
Yahwist, 349 seq.
yom nor a (day of terror), 172.
yom tob (auspicious day), 162.
Yule-tide, 146.
Zamama (deity), 264.
Zeus, 70, 75.
Z \ = napishtu (life), 338.
Zimmern, Heinrich, 51, 73, 85,
259, 276, 336.
Zion, Mouat, 26, 1 80.
Ziugiddu, hero of the Babylonian
Deluge, 96, 337 seq., 347, 366.
S4/
^ u"V. $
; * * i .C
BINDING DE.PT. JUN 14
I
University of Toronto
-r~~Librai
DO NOT
REMOVE
THE
CARD
FROM
THIS
POCKET
Acme Library Card Pocket
LOWE-MARTIN CO. LIMITED
