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FROM THE BALAWAT GATE. (BRITISH MUSEUM.)
ASSYRIAN ECHOES

OF

THE WORD.

BY REV. THOMAS LAURIE, D. D.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY,
IO EAST 23D STREET, NEW YORK.

COPYRIGHT, 1894,
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY.
At* 6& + 1

PREFACE.

Never was antiquity so remote as now, and never were we
better acquainted with it. It seems as though God had held
back the knowledge of facts that men might give free scope to
their unbelief, and then let the full flood of information sweep
away the objections raised against his Word as the tide sweeps
away the structures children had erected on the sand.
Never did so many books issue from the press, and if many
assail the authority of Holy Scripture a larger number rally
around it in loving loyalty. One who spent nearly 40 years
in Bible lands has shown how those lands light up the pages of
the Book. Nor the lands only ; the languages that have been
spoken there do the same : their ordinary style and their peculiar
idioms we joyfully hail as old friends whose acquaintance we
had formed in the sacred page.
This volume does not claim to march in the front ranks
of Assyrian scholars. The writer has not excavated mounds
hitherto unknown, and interpreted the tablets he found there,
as our own " Wolfe expedition " has done so well. His has
been the humbler aim of making a larger number acquainted
with the work that has been done, and with some at least of the
results obtained. He has sought to gather up the fragments,
that nothing be lost ; so that humble believers who have been
startled by the noise of the battle now raging round the Word
may have their hearts reassured by the corroborations of the
truth that lie stored up in every ancient mound and are brought
to light by the pick of the explorer.
Not that Scripture is dependent on any endorsement from
without, for, as the sweet singer of Olney says,
" It gives a light to every age ;
It gives, but borrows none."

4 PREFACE.
In a glorious sense it can say with its Author, " The witness
which I receive is not from man," for testimony from without
only answers objections raised from outside. The true evidence
that Scripture is from God is in itself, and in the work which it
begins and carries on in the hearts of men.
Yet it is very pleasant to find God using the common lan
guage of ordinary men to convey his revelation of the truth ;
and as the old familiar phrases of Scripture have met our eye in
the Assyrian monuments we confess to having hailed them, with
peculiar joy. And this may account for the presence of some
things in this volume which establish no truth, only look out on
us as old acquaintances, all the more welcome that we were not
looking for them in so strange a place.
Then obscure phrases are made clear, as, e. g., " The mount
of the congregation." Isa. 14 : 13. Old words are filled .with
new meaning, as, e. g., the Hebrew word for Temple. Historical
difficulties are removed; e. g., we can point those who charged
Isaiah with inventing a Sargon who never existed to the palace
which he built and to his name repeated so often on its walls.
The Belshazzar whom Daniel is accused of creating out of his
own fancy is found, in an inscription of his father, Nabonidus,
acknowledged as his eldest son.
Many facts of history in the royal inscriptions, many inci
dents of daily life recorded on the tablets, illustrate and confirm
the Scripture record. It may be that many, would be of little
value if they stood alone, but taken together they form a delight
ful corroboration of the truth. v ,
One object of these pages has been to give a general idea
of trie progress that has been made in this interesting depart
ment of archaeology; and if sometimes an Egyptian voice is
heard among the Assyrian echoes, that may be more readily
forgiven since the two are blended together in the ;. original
sources of information. - .
The reader will naturally ask, How have these inscriptions .
been deciphered, and what progress has been made in their in
terpretation ? v ••-¦;:..-..-..
Until near the close of the last century they were regarded
more as curiosities than as ..veritable records. On the rock of

PREFACE. 5
Behisttm Sir Robert K. Porter thought he saw Tiglath Pileser
and the ten tribes, and Keppel found in them Queen Esther and
her maidens, so wide were their guesses from the truth. The
writer remembers how Mons. Botta, as late as 1843, used to puz
zle over the records of Sargon at Khorsabad, wondering what
language they represented, whether they were alphabetical or
syllabic, and whether they were to be read from left to right or
the opposite. But to go back to 1801. In that year Grotefend, then a
student at Bonn, noticed that the Persepolitan inscriptions
began with three or four words, one variable, the others
unchanged, and thought the variable one must be a proper
name, and others royal titles. One of the names, too long for
Cyrus and too short for Artaxerxes, might be Darius. This
gave him conjecturally six letters. Another name of the same
length might be Xerxes, and the letter r occurred according to
his guess. The third name was much longer, and that he put
down as Artaxerxes, and here also the second letter was r and
the end of the name Xerxes. He now had quite an alphabet,
and he enlarged it by putting the Zend word for king, Khshaya
Thiya, after the proper name, and that also turned out to be,
correct; so a beginning was made, and an alphabet of forty
letters. This was the foundation of the decipherment of the
Persian cuneiform. Later Prof. Lassen, of Bonn, translated all
the Persian inscriptions that were accessible, and at the same
time Colonel, now Sir Henry, Rawlinson, who was British- Resi
dent at Bagdad while the writer was in Mosul, copied the
inscriptions at Hamadan and xBehistun, and though entirely
ignorant of the work of Prof. Lassen made out an alphabet that
differed^ from his in Only one letter.
More than -one language, however, was spoken in Persia,
and as in the days of Esther the' king's scribes wrote to every
people in their own language, Esther 8:9, so in those records
on thfe -rocks other languages were used, and engraved alongside
of the Persian. These were Much more complex and involved,
as the characters were not alphabetic but syllabic, and the lan
guages quite diverse in words and grammatical forms. Here,
too, however, the proper names were of great service, and the

6 PREFACE.
discoveries of Botta and Layard not only greatly increased the
material to be studied, but the library of Asshurbanipal in
Nineveh furnished grammars and syllabaries that aided very
much in the decipherment of the old agglutinative language of
the Accadians. The Assyrian resembles the Hebrew, and so
these two languages throw light on each other.
The work is slow, but -continually becomes more accurate
and reliable, for the use of a term in new connections gives
fixity to what was known before, and enlarges the number and
variety of renderings. Even in Hebrew the meaning of some
words is not yet settled. A Jewish Rabbi visited the writer one
day in Mosul to inquire how we understood some words in the
Old Testament of whose meaning he was not sure ; but our
knowledge of the Assyrian promises to be as much more thor
ough as the mass of original material is now more varied and
extensive. The oil furnished by the rocks lights up the recesses
of the mine, and it is very abundant.
While these words are being written comes a notice of one
hundred and twenty-four out of six hundred epistles published
by Prof. R. T. Harper of the University of Chicago, whose
aim is to publish all of the eight thousand now in the British
Museum. And how much more is to come after that ?
The alphabetic arrangement has been adopted in this vol
ume, partly because of the miscellaneous character of the facts
and partly for convenience of reference by the reader.
Assyrian prices have been given in sterling money because
at the present writing the prospect for the stability of our own
money values is not so promising as it might be.
The great thesaurus of Assyrian literature is " The Cunei
form Inscriptions of Western Asia," edited by Sir Henry Raw
linson and others, five volumes, folio ; but as these are within
the reach of few, other works are also quoted when the pas
sage occurs in them.
In the frequent references to these works the following
abbreviations are used to save space :
A. D. denotes Assyrian Discoveries. By George Smith. New
"York.

PREFACE. 7
A. L. and S. Lectures on Assyrian Languages and Syllabary.
By Prof. A. H. Sayce, LL. D. London.
A. M. Assyrian Manual. By Prof. G. D. Lyon of Harvard,
University. Chicago.
Ass'l. Asshurbanipal. By George Smith.
B. L. Lectures on Babylonian Literature. By Prof. Sayce.
London.
B. and N. Babylon and Nineveh. By A. H. Layard, M. P.
London.
Bib. Sac. Biblia Sacra. By Prof. D. G. Lyon.
C. G. Chaldean Genesis. . By George Smith. Revised edition.
New York.
C. and S. Travels in Chaldea and Susiana. By W. K. Loftus,
F. G. S.
D. L. Assyrische Lesestucke. By Prof. Friedrich Delitzsch,
LL. D. Leipzig.
H. L. Hibbert Lectures for 1887. By Prof. Sayce, LL. D.
London.
K. A. T. Keilenschriften und das Alte Testament. Von E.
Schrader. Geissen.
L. N. Nineveh and its Remains. By A. H. Layard, M. P.
Two vols. New York.
P. and C. History of Art in Chaldea and Assyria. By Perrot
and Chipiez. Two vols. London.
R. Inscriptions of Western Asia. Five vols. London.
R. of P. Records of the Past. Old and new series. Twelve
and six vols. London.
S. Sargon. By Prof. D. G. Lyon. Leipzig.
Senn. Sennacherib, History of. By George Smith. London.
Note.— If the reader finds occasional repetition in this volume, it is to spare
him from cross references, which often cause more search than satisfaction.

ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.

ABEDNEGO.
It seems to be the general opinion that this is an error, and
that it should read Abed Nebo, servant or worshipper of Nebo,
Dan. i : 7, but it is not so easy to determine how the mistake
occurred, if indeed it is a mistake ; some future discovery may
bring to light an Abednego among the Assyrian records. The
Assyrian character bu would seem much more likely to be mis
taken for gu than the Hebrew 3 for a, but we cannot suppose
that Daniel would make such a blunder. It may be that some
zealous Hebrew copyist purposely misread the name, as a token
of his displeasure because Azariah consented to be known as the
worshipper of an idol. The name Zikar, or Arad, Nabu, the man
or servant of Nebo, occurs in R., vol. III., p. 46, col. 1, 1. 82.
Another instance of a change of names such as was made in
the case of Azariah and his companions is Psammeticus II., son
of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt. He was made ruler of
Bukkunnanni'pi (Athribis) under the name of Nabu Shezibani,
and afterwards became king of Egypt under his original name.
(Trans. Soc. Biblical Archaeology, II. x. 364.)
ABRAHAM.
It was very pleasant to read the familiar name of Abram
in characters whose earlier forms were familiar to his own eye.
The Assyrian form is Abramu, and means exalted, or honored,
father. It occurs in R. II. 69. No. 3 reverse. 4. 20.
Some may think of him as an illiterate country boor ; but
he lived in the capital of a nation which, though it had a cum
brous way of writing by syllables instead of letters, and had clay
tablets instead of books, yet had made wondrous advancement
in literature. Works abounded on grammar, astronomy, math
ematics, jurisprudence, poetry, history, and belles letires. Many

IO ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD,
towns had libraries well patronized by the citizens. The men of
this region were the source of civilization in Western Asia. Art,
science, and philosophy came from them. The Assyrians were
like the Romans, a nation of soldiers, but their literature was
from Chaldea, translated from its ancient language. We know
not when or where their first library was founded. The Chal
dean Noah is said to have buried his inscribed tablets at Sip-
para (Sepharvaim) before the flood, and dug them up again after
leaving the ark ; and the epic of Izdubar containing the story
of the flood came from Erech, now Warka. The great work on
astronomy in 72 books was prepared for the library of Agane,
or Accad, near Sippara. The catalogue of this library requests
the reader to write the number of the tablet he wishes and it
will be furnished, for every tablet had its number and its place.
The library of Assurbanipal at Nineveh was composed mainly
of translations from these Accadian tablets. See B. L. pp. 6-13.
As Abraham occupied a respectable position at least in such
a community he must have been a man of much intelligence,
and it is interesting to note how in all ages God honors intelli
gence. When he selected an apostle to carry the gospel into
Europe as far as Rome, and perhaps even into Spain, he chose
one educated in the schools of both Tarsus and Jerusalem.
When he wanted one to lead his people out of Egypt he chose
one learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians ; and it was not
otherwise when he selected the founder of his ancient church.
Not only was Abraham strong in faith himself, not only did he
so train his children that they kept the way of the Lord, but,
occupying the position he did in society, he must have been an
educated man in that intelligent city of Ur.
ADRAMMELECH.
2 Kings 17:31. "The Sepharvites burnt their children in
fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sephar
vaim." Adrammelech is the same as Adarmalku (Adar is king) ;
Anammelech is Auamalku (Anu is king). Sepharvaim is Sippara.
The word is dual in the Hebrew because there were two cities,
one on each side of the river. One of these worshipped Anunit,

AHAB. 1 1
the wife of Ann, the god of the sky, and they exalted Anu as
the king of the gods. The other was devoted to the service of
the sun god, and contained the ancient temple of E Babara (the
house of lustre) round which sun-worship chiefly centred. In
deed the fragment of a geographical tablet seems to speak of
four Sipparas — Sippara proper, Sippara of the desert, Sippara the
ancient, and Sippara of Shamshu. One of them has been discov
ered by Mr. Hormuzd Rassam in Abu Habba, and another by
our own Dr. W. Hayes Ward in Anbar, an hour's distance from
Sufeirah and the Euphrates (H. L. 169). Why the votaries of
the sun god named their object of worship Adrammelech is
hard to see, but it is in keeping with the mystery of the name
of Adar, who is now called Ninip and again Uras, so that scholars
are at a loss to know what his true name is. It is possible that
the two names in the text may be the war-cries of a local rivalry
that survived even transportation to Palestine (H. L. 7. 47. 15 1-3),
each city insisting on the supremacy of its own God.
AHAB.
This well known king of Israel, husband of the noted Jeze
bel, is mentioned by Shalmanezer II., B. C. 860-825, as Akha
abbu mat Sirlaa, Ahab of the land of Israel, R. III. 8. 91 and 92 ;
and the same text speaks of Benhadad of Damascus as Rimmon
adar or idri.
The fact mentioned by Shalmanezer, that in his campaign
against them both he captured 1,200 chariots, 1,200 horsemen,
and 20,000 footmen from Rimmon idri, and 2,000 chariots and
¦10,000 men from Akha abbu, R. III. 8. 90 and 91, R. of P. III.
99, and new IV. 70, lets us into the secret of the covenant which
Ahab and Benhadad made together, as recorded in 1 Kings
20 : 31-34. Ahab might not have felt so brotherly towards Ben
hadad, with whom he had some old scores to settle, had they
not suffered so much from their common enemy the king of
Assyria ; and it was the hope of securing his help to avenge the
injuries inflicted by Shalmanezer that made him so complaisant
to Benhadad now.
According to our received chronology Ahab would have
been dead before the great battle of Karkar, when Shalmanezer

12 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
gained such a victory, B. C. 853, but the Assyrian dates are
uniformly 40 years behind ours.
ALPHABET.
There have been many theories of the origin of alphabetical
writing. It has been held that the Hebrew was the original
alphabet, but certainly the Hebrew letters now in use are of a
comparatively modern origin. Then the Phoenician has been
credited with being the original from which all others were de
rived. Other theories have obtained more or less currency.
The present drift of opinion, in the light of the monuments, is
that the Hebrews and other nations derived their letters from
the Phoenicians, and that the alphabet of the latter is of Egyp
tian origin. In the earliest period of Egyptian history we find
both syllabic hieroglyphics and 2 1 letters of an alphabet. There
were so many Phoenician settlers in the delta of the Nile that
it was known as Keft-ur (greater Phoenicia). They were a thrifty
race of traders, and with their practical business instincts chose
the simpler letters and passed by the hieroglyphics, and thus
alphabetical writing found its way to their native cities on the
coast of Syria. The reader will recognize in Keft-ur the Caph-
tor from whence came the Philistines (Amos 9 : 7). See " Fresh
Light from the Monuments," pp. 71 and 72.
ALTAR.
This was known in Hebrew as mizbeakh, in Chaldee, mad-
bukh, in Arabic, madbakh, and in Syriac, madbakho. Along
with this similarity of sound was an identity of meaning, for in
them all the altar was the place of sacrifice or, more precisely,
of slaughter. That there were altars in Babylonia and Assyria is beyond
all question. Specimens of both are given in the American edi
tion of Smith's Large Bible Dictionary, p. jy. The writer has
also in his possession a photograph of the small temple of Mak-
hir, the god of dreams, explored by Mr. Hormuzd Rassam at
Balawat near Mosul, and in that appears a marble altar ascended
by steps. He saw also the stone altar, triangular in form, with
a round flat top, when it was first brought to light by Mons.
Botta at Khorsabad. See P. and C. I. 255 and 256, as well as p.

ALTAR. I J-
77 of Smith's Bible Dictionary already quoted. Also Layard's
" Nineveh and its Remains," II. 355. A similar one is depicted
in Layard's " Babylon and Nineveh," opposite p. 351.
So we know they had the thing, but unfortunately we do not
know the name they gave it ; for where we speak of the altar
they spoke of the sacrifice offered upon it, and made that the
object of their thought.
In his " Elementary Grammar," see Syllabary, 144, Prof.
Sayce renders the word kisallu altar, and other writers have
done the same; but in his " Hibbert Lectures" (p. 410, note)
he says that the term is borrowed from the Accadian kizal,
place of oil, or anointing, and represents the upright object
with a top like an extinguisher so frequent in the bas reliefs. I
suppose he speaks of the two objects standing before the bas
relief in the niche of the wall in figure 70 of P. and C. Art of
Chaldea, etc., I. 196 ; and Prof. Lyon in his " Manual," p. 75, says
that the ideogram read kisallu is variously translated as floor,
platform, and altar, but should probably be read samuu, oil,
whenever it occurs in connection with the verb pashashu, to
anoint. In my perplexity I wrote to Prof. Lyon to ascertain the
Assyrian term corresponding to the Hebrew mizbeakh, and
when he replied, " I ought to know it, but I do not," the writer
is not ashamed to confess his own ignorance in the matter,
though it is a point that cannot long remain unsolved.
Nothing has been found so far in Babylonia or Assyria
corresponding either in form or size to the great altar of burnt-
offering before the Tabernacle or the still larger one before
the Temple. This seems as though in these lands an ox was
never burned whole on their altars ; even the Jews burned the
flesh of the bullock for the sin-offering in a place without the
camp. And, though oxen in Eastern lands are not at all so
large as with us, yet they must always have been cut in pieces
before being consumed even on the largest altar. See Lev. 9:13,
also verses 19-21. At any rate, in Assyria emphasis was laid
on the slaying of the victim, not on its burning.
Prof. Sayce gives the term arel for altar (H. L. 57) but that
word is not Assyrian but Moabitish, being taken from the Mo-
abite stone of King Mesha.

14 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
In the " tent of meeting '' before the veil, Exod. 40 : 26,
was the golden altar (of incense), and (verse 29) the altar of
burnt-offering was at the door of the tabernacle of assembly.
So Herodotus in describing the great temple of Belos in Baby
lon (H. L. 93) says, " Outside the shrine " containing the great
golden statue of the god, seated in a golden chair by a golden
table, " is a golden altar. There is also another great altar on
which full-grown sheep were sacrificed, for on the golden altar
only sucklings were allowed to be offered. Upon the larger
altar also," unlike the Jewish custom, "the Chaldeans burn every
year 1 ,006 talents of frankincense when they keep the festival of
the god." ANGEL, DESTROYING.
2 Sam. 24: 15, 16. "So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel
from the morning even to the time appointed : and there died
of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand
men. And when the angel stretched out his hand toward
Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil, and
said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough ; stay
now thine hand."
That was a terrible infliction, for a fraction over one in
every eighteen of the people perished. But there was this con
solation : the people knew that there was a reason for it in the
deliberate and persistent transgression of a divine command ;
and, far better than that, it was not the work of an enemy but
of their Father in heaven : " Jehovah ; a God of compassion,
and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy and truth "
(Exod. 34 : 6), who out of the fulness of his own grace kept
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and
sin (v. 8).
Far different was it in Babylonia, for there not only calam
ities of even greater extent occurred, but these calamities they
supposed were the work of malevolent deities, from whom the
gods whom they served had no power to protect them.
Thus Nergal (the great Ner) who among the Assyrians was
the god that had the power of death and was called the great
warrior, always making war on and overcoming the human race,
is charged to " strike the people of the black heads (i. e. the

ANOINTING. 15
non-Shemitic population of Babylonia) with the destruction of
the god Ner. Let thy weapons be their sword of destruction,
and make thy hands move." C. G. 127.
Then Bil, or Mullil, the god of Sheol, looks on and says in
his heart, " Ner is crouching at his city gate (the city of the
dead) among the corpses of the noble and the slave." C. G., 128.
" In the city to which I send thee, thou shalt fear no man, small
and great slay together, and save not the smallest of that evil
race ;" — " like the pouring down of the rain shalt thou throw
down their dead bodies in the squares of the city " (p. 129. 16-18
and 24). The reader must bear in mind that Mullil, as the
lord of Hades, is the master whom Nergal is bound to obey.
It must have been terrible to feel that they were helpless vic
tims in the hands of such merciless and malevolent powers, with
out a friend that had power to help them. How different from
the condition of Israel in the hands of their covenant God, who
saith (Isa. 54 : 7), " For a small moment have I forsaken thee,
but with great mercies will I gather thee." " For the mountains
shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not
depart from thee, neither shall my covenant of peace be re
moved, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee " (v. 10).
ANOINTING.
In our estimate of the religion of the Old Testament the
idea of sacrifice seems to have attained a degree of prominence
that overshadows other truths, or puts them in the background.
And it may be questioned whether anointing with oil has that
measure of prominence in our thoughts which it possesses in
the record. It was an act of very frequent occurrence in the
Hebrew ritual.
Jacob poured oil upon the stone which he set up in Bethel,
Gen. 28: 18. It was also poured upon the meal-offering, Lev.
2:1. Anointing and consecration were inseparable, in the
case of the priests, Exod. 28:41 ; 30 = 30; 40: 15, and of the ark,
Exod. 30 : 26, the altars, the candlestick, and the table for the
showbread, vs. 27-29, and of the laver and its base, 40 : 1 1. The
king also was set apart to his office by anointing, 1 Sam. 10: 1 ;
16 : 1 ; 1 Kings 1 : 39 ; 2 Kings 9:1. The official name of our

l6 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Saviour is not the sacrifice, but Messiah, the anointed one.
Dan. 9 : 25, 26 ; John 1 : 41 and 4 : 25.
In like manner anointing is mentioned with great frequency
in the inscriptions. It is always a part of the programme in re
building a palace and renewing its inscriptions, if with Prof. D.
G. Lyon (Manual, p. 75) instead of kisallu we read samun
lipshuush, let him anoint with oil. See R. V. 62, 25 and Manual
24, 16; R. V. 64, 45 and Manual 37, 21; R. V. 64 3, 9 and
Manual 38, 15, and R. V. 64 3. 46 and Manual 39, 17.
Another passage (R. V. 61. No. 1. 25) is rendered by Prof.
Sayce (Hib. Lect. 527, 25 1), " May he pour out the oil of thy wants
like water, the oil may he rain on thy threshold abundantly."
Prof. Lyon renders it " May he pour oil over thy bolts (sigarika)
like water, in fulness of oil may he cause thy threshold to
abound." Either way it shows how freely oil was used, and
what an important place it held in their religious ceremonies.
APPAREL, ROYAL.
As far back as the entrance of Israel into Canaan we read
of " a goodly Babylonish mantle," Josh. 7 : 21. " Esther put on
her royal apparel," and royal apparel was "brought to Mordecai,
and worn by him. Esther 5 : 1, 6 : 8, 8 : 1 5.
All these passages lead us to expect something very splen
did in the royal apparel, and the splendor set forth in the bas-
reliefs amply justifies the language of Scripture. The dress of
King Sennacherib (B. and N. 150) is exceedingly elaborate.
Some of the representations of Sargon discovered by Mons. Botta
in Khorsabad are no less magnificent (P. and C. 97). The same
is true of the statue of Asshurnatsirpal, found by Mr. Layard in
the N. W. Palace at Nimrood (L. N. II. 12).
But the clearest conception of the elaborate splendor of
the royal apparel may be obtained from the figures 253 and 254
in vol. II. of P. and C, pp. 365 and 367. These represent the
embroidery on the upper part of the king's mantle ; and while
it may be rash to say that it has never been equalled, it seems
safe to assert that it has never been excelled. The rosettes,
guilloches, trees of life, hunting scenes, scenes of worship,
winged men and winged monsters, must be seen to be appreci-

EMBROIDERY ON UPPER PART OF THE KING'S MANTLE. (From Layard.) ifiA

APPLE OF THE EYE. 17
ated ; no mere description could do them justice. So a portion
of one is here inserted, that the reader may note the excellent
handiwork of that early day. i
APPIRYON.
Sometimes even the Cappadocian species of the cuneiform
throws light on an obscure word in Scripture. In Cant. 3 : 9 we
read that " King Solomon made for himself a palanquin of the
wood of Lebanon." The old version read " chariot." The He
brew is pnsx, appirion, and it occurs nowhere else in the whole
range of Semitic literature. Some scholars had derived it from
the Greek, which has Sopewv in the same sense ; but in looking
over some tablets found in Cappadocia, near Kaisariyeh, belong
ing to a Russian gentleman, Mr. Golennischeff , Prof. Sayce found
the word aparne in the same sense, showing that the word had
come from that elevated mountainous region where, if anywhere,
such means of conveyance would be needed, and whence the
word had been adopted, with various modifications, into other
languages, just as the word palanquin itself has come to us from
the East Indies. R. of P. new VI. 118.
APPLE OF THE EYE.
In Deut. 32 : 10 we read that the Lord kept his people "as
the apple of his eye," wy pansa. Ish is a noun meaning a man, and
pa»x, ishon, perhaps. peculiar form of that noun, perhaps a dimin
utive — meaning " the little man," as in looking into the eye of
another one sees a diminutive image of himself. The same
expression occurs in Psa. 17:8, where the Psalmist prays to be
kept (literally) as the little man, the daughter of the eye ; and
also in Prov. 7:2," keep my law as the little man of the eye."
Gesenius observes that in the pupil of the eye, as in a mirror,
one sees his own image reflected in miniature, and that this
pleasing idea is found in the Arabic, Greek, Latin and Persian.
The idea is something very precious, for the writer speaks of
an object to be kept with special care. It will be observed, how
ever, that the idea of something to be kept with especial care
is true, however we define the word ishon ; in other words, this
idea is quite independent of the meaning we attach to that word.
Assyrian Echoes. 2

1 8 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Now in the Assyrian inscriptions is a corresponding term,
written sometimes nisb.it, and sometimes more fully nishit ena.
Nis or nish, like ish in Hebrew, means a man, or, as Friedrich
Delitzsch says, folk. Either way will do. The little folk of the
eye is as expressive as the little man of that organ, for of course
as one man sees himself in it so does another, and the same
mirror answers for all.
Asshurnatsirpal, King of Assyria B. C. 885-860 (Layard's
Standard Inscription, I. 1., and D. G. Lyon's Assyrian Manual, 5.
1 and 2), calls himself the favorite, nishit, of Bil and Adar, and
the beloved, naram, of Anu and Dagan (Dagon).
Sargon, King of Assyria B. C. 722-705 (Layard 33 and
Lyon's Manual 9. 1), calls himself the favorite, nishit ini, of Anu
and Bil, and so in other instances.
Prof. G. D. Lyon, following the lead of Prof. Friedrich
Delitzsch, gives a different shade of meaning to the expression
nishit ena, making it mean the lifting up of the eye, that
peculiar elevation and brightening up that takes place when
the object of affection comes within the field of vision. So un
derstood, it corresponds to the Levitical benediction, Num. 6 : 26,.
"The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee," and to the
prayer of the Psalmist (4:6)," Lord, lift thou up the light of
thy countenance upon us." The Hebrew extended the sphere
of affectionate recognition over the whole face, the Babylonian
concentrated it in the eye, as its most expressive feature, and
this beaming of the eye in love lifting it to a higher plane of
expression is certainly a worthier idea, and one more fitting
for a being created in the image of God, than an apple or an
image of a man on the retina of the eye. Prof. Lyon quotes a
line from the Izdubar Legend, R. IV. 48. 1.6: Ana duunki sa
ilu Iztubar, ina attasi rubuut Istar ("for the favor of the
divine Izdubar the Lady Ish tar lifted up her eyes ") ; and though
in this case the character of the agent is not fitted to give
elevation to the thought, yet the meaning — and that is all we
care for— is even more expressive, for it denotes not only affec
tion going out towards another, but also the desire of a response
of love from the object of regard, and thus becomes a most
admirable description of prayer to God, as in the expression.

ARIOCH. 19
" Unto thee do I lift up mine eyes, O thou that sittest in the
heavens!" Ps. 123 : 1. ARIOCH.
Arioch, King of Ellasar, is introduced to us in Gen. 14 : 1 as
one of the four kings from the region of Babylonia that invaded
Canaan in the days of Abraham.
Ellasar is identified with Larsa, a city on the east of the
Euphrates, a little further north than Ur 011 the west of that
river, and represented by the modern Senkereh. It was noted
for its library, which was especially rich in works on mathe
matics. Here Lig Bagas, cir. B. C. 3000, built the Temple of
the Sun, called Bit (or E) Parra. R. of P. V. 64-68 and R. I.
5-16. For an interesting account of the present condition of
Senkereh, see W. K. Loftus' Chaldea and Susiana, chap. 20., pp.
240-263. So much for the place ; as for Arioch, he is probably to be
identified with Rim Agu or Eri Aku — the name appears in both
forms, the same as nabu or nabium, tamti or tanitim — the son
of Kudur Mabuk, the king of Elam. He was made king of
Larsa while his father was yet living, and claimed to be also
king of Shumir (Shinar) and Accad. He embellished the city
of Ur, encircling it with the wall called Harris galla, and erect
ing in it a strong tower. He is called also the mizkin of Eridu,
whatever that means, and ruler of Nipur (Niffer).
He was evidently a mighty man in his generation, and
famous through all the region. His taking of the city of Kar-
rak was an event of such note that it formed an era from
which other events were dated, as occurring in such and such a
year after the capture of Karrak. After that he ruled the whole
region from Nipur to the Persian Gulf. He dug the channel
Udkasnun (?) from the Tigris to the sea, and built the great
wall of Bellu. He was attacked in turn by Khammuragas
(Khammurabi, some read it), who reigned from B. C. 2290-2235,
and founded Babylon ; and though at first he seems to have
repulsed him, in the end Eri Aku was conquered, and Babylon
rose to supremacy. R. of P. V. 64-68.
The fact most interesting to us, however, is that his father,

20 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Kudur Mabuk, styles himself " Father of Phoenicia, or Palestine "
(Prof. Sayce's "Ancient Empires of the East," p. m), and Gen.
14 only shows how he followed in his father's footsteps. If it
was the attack of Khammuragas that hindered his taking ven
geance for that midnight surprise near Damascus, it only shows
us how God protected his servant Abraham from the wrath of
those who were stronger than he.
ARK.
In ancient Egypt the images of the gods were carried in
arks shaped like Nile boats (Smith's Large Bible Dictionary,
Amer. Ed., p. 156), and though the platforms on which the
Assyrian gods were carried in procession had not that form
in later times (see P. and C, Art in Chaldea, etc., I. 75 and 76)
yet the name continued ship (elip, Accadian ma) to the end.
A poetical description of one is given in R. IV. 25. 9-32,
reminding one somewhat of the beautiful picture of the ships
of Tyre in the 27th chapter of Ezekiel. For the translation see
Hib. Lect., 67 and 527. The first-mentioned page says R. II. by
mistake ; it should be R. IV.
Its helm is of cedar wood . . .
Its serpent-like oar has a handle of gold,
Its mast is pointed with turquoise.
Seven times seven lions of Eden occupy the deck.
The god Adar (Kudur) fills the cabin constructed within.
Its side is of cedar from the forest ;
Its awning is the palm wood (leaf ?) of Dilmun ;
The canal bears away its heart ;
The sunrise rejoiceth its spirit.
Its house, its elevation is a mountain giving rest to the heart. '
The ship of the god of Eridu (Ea) is fate.
»
Ningal the princess (Davkina) is the goddess whose word is life.
Merodach is the god who pronounces the good name.
The god who blesses the house, makes it move in Eridu.
Nin Nangur, the bright one, the mighty worker of heaven,
With pure and blissful hand, has pronounced the word of life.
May the ship cross the canal before thee,
May the ship cross its mouth behind thee,
May the glad heart make holiday within thee.

ARROWS. 21
ARPAD.
Two errors concerning this city call for correction. One
is found in Young's Concordance, which says that "perhaps
it is the same as Arvad, now Ruad ;" but that is an island on
the coast and this is a city in the interior, for it is mentioned
along with Hamath and Damascus. Jer. 49 : 23 ; 2 Kings 18 : 34
and 19: 23 ; Isa. 10:9, 36: 19 and 37: 13.
While the American revision of Smith's Bible Dictionary,
like Gesenius, distinguishes Arpad from Arvad, it says, " No
trace of its existence has yet been discovered, nor any mention
of the place outside of the Bible ;" but in the list of the eponyms
during the reign of Sennacherib the eponym for B. C. 692 is
"Zazaa, prefect of Arpadda" (Senn. 16). Also in the great in
scription of Sargon on the wall of his palace at Khorsabad the
names of Arpad, Simyra, Samaria and Damascus occur in line
12 ; also in the third tablet of room II. in the plan of Mons.
Botta. G. Smith, in A. D. p. 274, finds it in line 17 of a fragment
of the annals of Tiglath Pileser II., and in his History of Assy
ria, p. 81, says that this king captured the city only after a
siege of two years, B. C. 740. Prof. Sayce describing this cam
paign says, " Arpad, now Tel Erpad, near Aleppo, was the first
object of attack. It held out for three years, and did not fall
till B. C. 740." (Fresh Light from the Inscriptions, 102.)
ARROWS.
David says, Psa. 45 : 5, " Thine arrows are sharp in the
heart of the enemies of the king." Thus expressing his confi
dence in the active protection of God at the moment when he
wrote. And as in water face answereth to face, so also the
feelings of an idolater towards his idol sometimes resemble the
feelings of the good man towards God. Asshurbanipal writes
of the god Adar, the great son of Bil (R. V. 9. 85 and A. M.
33.1): Ina utstsishu zaqti uparii napishtim amilu nakrutiya : with
his sharp arrows he destroyed the lives of my enemies. This,
however, is only one of many gods whom he describes as en
gaged to help him. He says (R. V. 9. 75 seq. and A. M. 32,
37 seq.) : " Beltis, the beloved (consort) of Bil the conqueror, the
mighty one among the goddesses, who sits enthroned with Anu

22 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
and Bil, pierced my enemies with her powerful horns. Ishtar,
who dwells in Arbela clothed in fire and raised aloft in bril
liance, upon the Arabians rained destructions. Dibbara (the
god of pestilence), the warrior, overcame all opposition and
transfixed my foes. Adar with his great strong spear, the son
of Bil with his sharp arrows, destroyed the life of my enemies."
ASHERAH.
The word ma's has been unfortunately mistranslated in our
English Bibles. It has been rendered "groves," and yet, even
though nothing were known about Assyrian, one would think
that the statement that King Josiah "brought out the grove
from the house of the Lord " would have led the translators to
suspect that something was out of the way. 2 Kings 23 : 6.
So also, in verse 7, the account of the women weaving hangings
for the groves ought to have awakened suspicion that all was
not~right. It would be a formidable undertaking to weave
draperies for one grove, much more for groves in general.
Assyrian discoveries teach us that Asherah is a goddess. That
is her proper name, just as Aristu, Beltis, and Ishtar are the
names of other goddesses. She has been designated as the god
dess of fertility. The name also is applied to certain cones
or phallus-like images made of wood, that were used as symbols
of this goddess, or in some way connected with her worship.
In such passages as 2 Kings 23:4, which tells of vessels made for
Baal and for Asherah, the goddess herself is obviously referred
to ; vessels would not be made for a god and for groves, but for
a god and a goddess they would be appropriate, at least in the
estimation of their worshippers. So in 2 Chron. 24 : 18. Serving
groves and idols sounds like a strange mingling of things un
suitable, but to worship images of Asherah and other idols is
precisely such an association of things as we should naturally
expect. So also erecting altars for Baal and making either
images or symbols of the goddess (2 Chron. 33 : 3) fit very well
together. Such passages as Exod. 34 : 13 ; Deut. 7 : 5 and 12:3;
Judg. 6 125-30 'obviously refer to the wooden symbols, which
could be set up or cut down or burned in the fire. See R. of P.
new III. 71, note 2, also V. 97, note 3.

ASSES. 23
ASSES.
With us the horse is prominent among domestic animals
employed for work, but in the Old Testament the horse was
chiefly used for war. That grand description of this animal in
Job 39 : 19-25 is the description of a war horse.
In the inventory of the possessions of Abraham is no men
tion of horses, while asses are very prominent. The same is
true of the possessions of Job, 42 : 12, and of Jacob, Gen. 30 : 43.
It was on one of those animals that Abraham rode when he
went to sacrifice Isaac, Gen. 22 : 3 and 5. Balaam also rode on
an ass when on a visit to a king, Num. 22 : 21-33. Men of rank
rode on white asses, Judg. 5 : 10. It was the asses of his father
that Saul went to seek, 1 Sam. 9 : 3. And while the Mosaic law
has not a word to say about horses it provides for the redemp
tion of the firstling of an ass, Exod. 13: 33. It was the stray
ass of his enemy that the Israelite was to bring back, Exod.
23:4; and the next verse required him, if he saw the ass of him
that hated him lying under his burden, to be sure and help him
Tip. So also ver. 12. The people of God were to rest on the
seventh day, that their ox and ass might rest, and they were
forbidden to yoke these two different animals into the same
plough, Deut. 22 : 10. Nor can we forget how the Lord of all
rode as it was foretold of him, Zech. 9 : 9, on an ass, and on a
colt the foal of an ass, Matt. 21:5. All these things shut us up
to the conclusion that the ass was the domestic beast of burden
among the Jews.
In beautiful conformity with this, the cuneiform inscriptions
make the ass the representative animal of this class. It stands
forth in them as the animal par excellence, and the horse, the
mule, and the camel are distinguished from it by marks peculiar
to themselves. To make this understood it must be borne in mind that
there are two classes of signs in Assyrian — one to express the
sound of a syllable, and another standing for an idea, and hence
called an ideograph. Now the ideograph Turn represents the
ass. This forms as it were the foundation. The horse is repre
sented by Turn with the addition mat-ra, east country or east
mountain. The horse, then, in Assyria was " the ass of the east

24 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
country," showing that the horse originally came from the
mountainous regions of the East, which were Persia and Media.
The mule (?) was distinguished by signs which are read paru,
i. e., it was the paru ass, and our interrogation point denotes that
the meaning is disputed, some reading bullock instead of mule.
The camel was marked by Turn with other signs, which are
read Gammalu, and sometimes that term was written phonet
ically, hence our word camel. Taken all together it is a most
interesting confirmation of the accuracy of Holy Scripture in
little things — the same domestic situation of things extending
through Palestine which existed in Babylonia and Assyria."
ASSES, WHITE.
Judg. 5 : 10. " Speak, ye that ride on white asses."
In early times a white breed of asses was raised at Zobeir,
now known as Bassora, near the mouth of the Euphrates, but
at present they are known under the name of Baghdad donkeys.
They are larger than the common breed and more costly. In
size they might be located about half-way between an ass and a
horse. They are used by the rich and by civil dignitaries. In
the early occupation of Mosul by our mission one of them was
used by Mrs. Hinsdale, as better suited for her needs than any
other animal for riding. They are much better looking than the
ordinary ass, and their motion is very easy.
ASSYRIAN, THE.
We read in Isa. 52 -.4: " My people went down at the first
into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them
without cause."
We have here, according to some, a statement of the earliest
oppression of Israel, and an allusion to a much later oppression
by the Assyrians, and Commentators up to this day have inter
preted this passage in that way, and found no difficulty. See
Alexander, Cowles, and The Speaker's Commentary. Lately it
has been said that the first clause merely states the going down
of Israel into Egypt, and the last one tells us that at that time
the Assyrian, in the person of Pharaoh, oppressed them with
out cause. A full presentation of this last view may be found in

ASSYRIAN LANGUAGE. 25
a very interesting article in the Century Magazine for May,
1 887, by the learned Orientalist, John A. Paine. This, however,
bases the explanation given of the word Assyrian (1) on the
idea that Teie, the mother of Amenophis III., was the daughter
of Duisratta, king of Mitauni, which is Naharaina or Mesopota
mia, and (2) on the features of Ramses II. as transmitted on
the monuments, together with photographs of his embalmed
body, which is still extant in the Museum at Boolak in Egypt.
These facial resemblances are in the nature of the case uncer
tain ; where one sees them very clearly another does not detect
them at all, perhaps because his eye is not trained to the work.
And the first basis turns out to be a mistake. Teie was not
the name of the Mesopotamian queen, but Tadukhepa.
Still it might be equally premature to decide against this
explanation of the word Assyrian, for as queen Neferari, wife
of Ramses II., had two names, so Tadukhepa may have also
had one to spare. It is a very interesting fact, if it can be
established, that the Pharaoh of the Exodus was by descent on
his mother's side an Assyrian, but we must wait till the gene
alogy is fully made out before giving our adhesion to it ; and
the progress of discovery is now so rapid that we may not have
to wait long. This is only a hint of other discoveries equally
interesting that may await us in the near future, when Tel el
hesy (Lachish), Kirjath-Sepher, and other ancient depositories,
shall have yielded up their priceless treasures.
ASSYRIAN LANGUAGE.
The Assyrian language is writen in cuneiform characters
which do not represent an alphabet but syllables, and names,
or words. The Babylonian cuneiform is more elaborate and
complicated than the Assyrian. It is also more ancient. One
may read Assyrian with ease and yet be unable to decipher
the Babylonian. The Akkadians are supposed to have invented
this mode of writing, and used it first for their own language.
Its earliest specimens date from the era of Sargon of Agade,
circa 3800 B. C, and it was used till about the beginning of the
Christian era. The Persians used similar forms, which in their
hands became an alphabet.

26 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
The cuneiform was originally picture-writing, but assumed
its present wedge form from using a square iron rod to mark the
characters in the soft clay. In inscriptions on stone they were
formed with a chisel. The Assyrian belongs to the northern
group of the Semitic, along with the Hebrew, and Aramaic. It has
a much more intimate relation to the Hebrew than to the Ara
bic. It is written from left to right with nothing to distinguish
the ends of either words or sentences. Only very rarely does a
word pass from one line into another.
The same character may represent several syllabic values,
besides more than one ideogram, and the reader must determine
from the context which is the one intended.
BALAK AND BALAAM.
These names are suggestive. Balak means the spoiler, and
"son of Zippor" (the little bird or sparrow) reminds us of Oreb
(the raven) and Zeeb (the wolf), names of Midianites who were
neighbors of Moab. Balaam (a stranger) was the son of Beor
(a torch or lamp).
They lived about 1452 B. C, or not far from 3,000 years ago.
For the home of Balaam, see under " Pethor."
The inspired writer shows us what good reason Balak had
to fear the approach of Israel. The report of the miracles
wrought in Egypt, the destruction of Pharaoh and his army in
the Red Sea, and the continuous miracle of the manna in the
wilderness were all well fitted to fill him with evil forebo
dings ; but why should he send for Balaam to curse them ? Or
why should he expect that his curse should avail for the deliv
erance of Moab ? The Assyrian monuments furnish a satisfac
tory answer to these enquiries. According to them the sor
cerer (ashipu) had power to utter a spell or curse which even the
gods were powerless to resist. If the ceremonies were rightly
performed, if the knots were tied in the right manner and
order, and if the utterance of the invocation was in all respects
according to rule, no power on earth or heaven could stand
before it. This spell was called Mamit. In the Accadian, Mami
was a goddess, also written Mammetu, who was called "the
maker of fate," and who " has fixed the destinies " of men. She

BATTLEMENTS. 27
corresponded to the Fate of the Romans, and the Ate of the
Greeks. Now Balaam was a noted ashipu and at the same time
an acknowledged prophet of the same God whom Israel served.
Indeed he uses the name of Jehovah frequently, see Num. 22 : 8,
13, 18, 19; 23 : 3, 8, 12, 21, 26; 24:6, 13. And Balak fully recog
nizes Balaam as his prophet, 23 : 17 ; 24 : 2.
This fact and the Babylonian belief in the mam it make the
reason very plain why Balak was so eager to have Balaam pro
nounce it against Israel, for he thought that, once pronounced,
no power in heaven, earth, or hell could hinder its fulfilment.
BANKS.
Luke 19:23. Then wherefore gavest thou not my money
into the bank ? The question naturally arises, When did banks
begin to exist ? If by that we mean when did such institutions
as are now known by that name originate, the origin of mod
ern banking may be traced to the money-lenders of Florence
in the 14th century ; but they were not introduced into England
till the 17th century. Still the simple table of the money
changer and money-lender dates very far back, and the word is
Tpamfrv (table), in the text quoted above.
The Sons of Egibi, a banking firm in Babylonia, carried on
business, from an unknown period previously, down to the 4th
century B. C. There are a number of tablets relating to them
and their affairs dated in the reigns of different kings, and
showing that they transacted an extensive business of exchange
abroad as well as money-lending at home. R. of P. XL pp.
85-99. BATTLEMENTS.
Deut. 22 : 8. When thou buildest a new house, then thou
shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood
upon thine house, if any man fall from thence.
In Syria the battlement around the flat roof is often want
ing, and again it is so low as to be practically worthless for pro
tection. In the house occupied for a time by the writer, in
a Moslem suburb of Beirut, the wall was carried up less than
a foot above the roof.
In Assyria we can only infer the kind of roof that covered

28 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
the palace from the debris that fills the chambers, and the roofs
of the houses of the common people can be seen only in the
imperfect pictures of them in the bas reliefs, for the originals
long centuries ago disappeared ; but the modern houses in
Mosul may retain some tradition of former days, and their bat
tlements are higher than in Syria. In the first house occupied
by our mission they rose as high as the neck of one standing on
the roof, and in the last house we had, over some of the rooms
they were much higher even than that. Indeed one of them
looked like a room with the roof gone, the walls were so high.
The view of Sidon in Alexander's Kitto, p. 1160, repeated in
the American Edition of Smith's " Dictionary of the Bible,"
p. 3626, gives a general idea of the roofs of Syria.
BEASTS, WILD.
Both Holy Scripture and the cuneiform inscriptions, when
they would describe the utter desolation of a city, picture it
as the home of wild beasts.
Zephaniah thus describes the desolation of Nineveh (2 : 14) :
" Herds shall lie down in the midst of her ; all the beasts of the
nations, both the pelican and the porcupine, shall lodge in the
capitals (of the columns) thereof, their voice shall sing in the
windows, desolation shall be in the thresholds, for he hath
laid bare the cedar work."
Compare Isa. 34: 13-15 ; and also 13 : 21, 22.
Asshurbanipal, king of Assyria B. C. 668-626, says of Elam,
R. V. 6. 100-106, and Smith's Asshurbanipal, 234. 5-9: "rikim
amiluti, kibiis alpi u tsiini shisiit alala, tabu utsaam maa agarishu
imiri tsirna (purimi) tsabati umaam tsir mala baslmu parganis
usharbitsa kirib shuun." The voice of men, the treading of
oxen and sheep, the sound of pleasant music I caused to cease
(dried up) in its fields ; wild asses, gazelles, every kind of wild
beast of the desert I caused to dwell in them safely. The ren
dering of parganis is doubtful, and some copies add ugalkhu to
purimi, which seems to be the name of some great bird.
The Scripture speaks of wild beasts also as beasts of the
field, Psa. 80:13; Deut. 7:22, "lest the beasts of the field
increase upon thee." Now the increase of domestic cattle

BEL BOWETH DOWN. 29
is not something to be feared. 1 Sam. 17 = 44, "I will give thy
flesh to the beasts of the field," but cattle do not eat human
flesh. The inscriptions also speak of the beasts of the field
or plain (bool tsir), but it is in sharp distinction from wild
beasts, as where Khasisadra speaks of taking bool tsir oo umaam
tsir, "beasts of the field and wild beasts of the desert," into the
ark (ship). R. IV. 50. col. 2. 29. Assyrian Manual 57. 20, and
Prof. Delitzsch 's Lesestiicke, 103. 81.
BEFORE, STAND.
God said to Abram, Gen. 17:1: " Walk before me, and be
thou perfect." Elijah said to Ahab, 1 Kings 17: 1 : "As Jeho
vah, God of Israel, liveth, -before whom I stand," etc. See also
18:15; 2 Kings 3 : 14, and 5 : 16. The psalmist also speaks, 123 : 2,
of the eyes of a servant being on the hand of his master.
And Asshurbanipal speaks of servants dagil paniya, " look
ing on my face." R. V. 1. 70 and 76. Now a servant who stands
before his master as in the East, with his eyes watching for the
slightest indication of his will, that he may run and do it, is
exactly in the attitude described by the expression, "looking
upon his face." So also ushadgilu pani is to cause one to be
looked on as a master, or to entrust one with authority. Senna
cherib says, R. I. 41. 17 and 18, and A. M. 14, 16 and 17, " The
people of Babylon for his unfitness seated him on the throne,
and entrusted to him the lordship of Shumir and Akkad."
BEL BOWETH DOWN.
Isa. 46: i. Bel (Bil) boweth down. Nebo (Nabu) stoopeth.
Their idols are upon the beasts and upon the cattle. The things
that ye carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary
beast. Verse 7, They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry
him, and set him in his place. If the reader will turn to Lay
ard's Nineveh and its Remains, II. 342, or his Monuments of
Nineveh, first series, plate 65, or Perrot and Chipiez' History
of Art in Chaldea, I. 75 and 76, he will find a beautiful illus
tration of verse 7, where a sort of dress parade of the gods is
represented, with their images upright and in a majestic attitude.
And if he will imagine the same images securely strapped to

30

ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.

BELSHAZZAR. 3 1
the pack-saddles of mules and so carried over rough roads on
a long journey, and in attitudes corresponding to the tired aspect
of the brute bearers, he will have a very vivid illustration of
the language of the prophet.
THE BEAUTIFUL GATE OF THE TEMPLE.
The lame man was " laid daily at the gate of the temple
which is called Beautiful." Acts 3:2. One would hardly expect
to find the name given by universal consent to that splendid
entrance of the temple of Herod duplicated in a Babylonian
temple ; yet Nebuchadrezzar, in the large India House inscrip7
tion, so called, col. 2. 51-53. R. of P. new III. 108. 51-53, says :
The gate Khilisu, even the beautiful gate,
And the gate of E Zida (and) E Sagilla
I had them made brilliant as the sun.
E or Bit Zida was the chief temple of Borsippa, dedicated to
Nebo ; and E or Bit Sagilla, the temple of Bil Marduk in Baby
lon, built by a previous king, was repaired and embellished by
Nebuchadrezzar, so that it owed more to him than to the orig
inal builder. BELSHAZZAR.
Dan. 5 : 1 and 30 declares that Belshazzar the king was slain
on the night of the capture of Babylon by the Medes and Per
sians, but it has been objected that other historians affirm that
Nabonidus (Nabunahid) was at that time king of Babylon and
therefore Daniel was mistaken. In seeking to vindicate the
prophet some have tried to identify Belshazzar with Evil Mero-
dach, and others with Nabonidus, but without success. Sir Hen
ry Rawlinson, however, has solved the difficulty by means of an
inscribed cylinder found in the great temple of the moon god
at Ur (Mugheir.) This temple was built by Uruch, the ear
liest known king of a united Babylonia, and then repaired by
Nabonidus who deposited a copy of this cylinder in each of the
four corner-stones, and in it he speaks of Bil (or Marduk) Shar
Utsur (Bil Shar Utsur is manifestly Belshazzar, and the Bil
of Babylon was Merodach, often called for that reason Bil Mar
duk) as his oldest son, whom he had admitted to a share in the
government. The cylinder inscription is given in R. I. 68. col. I.

32 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
and the fact is mentioned by Loftus in his Chaldea and Susiana,"
p. 131 ; and so, while Belshazzar died, as described by Daniel,
Nabonidus escaped to Borsippa and at length died in Carama-
nia. Thus also we see how Belshazzar promised to make Daniel
the third ruler in the kingdom if he could read and interpret
the handwriting on the wall, 5: 16— he could not make him
the second, for he himself held that position. So beautifully do
the monuments corroborate the written word.
BETHEL, PILLAR.
Gen. 28 : 18 and 19. And Jacob rose up early in the morning,
and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it
up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it, and he called
the name of that place Bethel, i. e., the house of God.
In like manner when Izdubar left Khasisadra, and his sick
ness had been removed by the waters of the sea, " he bound
together heavy stones and, offering an animal in sacrifice, poured
over it the libation of an homer," and having thus secured the
favor of the gods set out for home.
There was this difference, however, between the Babylonian
and the Hebrew : the former found a spirit already dwelling
in the stone, and so recognized its inherent sanctity : the latter
sanctified what was before a common thing by pouring on it
oil that dedicated it to God. So among the Arabs were sacred
stones, like the black stone of the Kaaba, and three similar stones
at the gates of Mecca, known by the names of Hobbul, Lata and
Uzza. At Medain Saleh, the burying-place of the ancient Naba-
theans, are niches in the rock containing sacred stones. Above
one is the inscription, " This is the place of prayer which Seruh,
son of Tuka, erected to Auda of Bostra, the great god, in the
month Nisan, of the first year of King Malkhos ;" but Auda
had previously dwelt there. Compare also the meteoric stone
that represented Artemis at Ephesus, and the conical stone in
the Adytum of Aphrodite at Paphos. H. L. 408-10.
BINDING AND LOOSING.
These words of Christ to his disciples (Matt. 18:18), " What
soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and

BODY FASTENED TO CITY WALL. . 33
whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven,"
are somewhat peculiar. They refer to the government of the
church and the binding comes first, as the principal thing ; the
loosing seems to follow as a sort of corollary, for he who has
power to do one can also do the other.
In this connection it is interesting to note that a very com
mon name for ruler in Assyria is Pikhatu, literally " binding,"
from the verb pikhu, to bind, or shut — though we would expect
the word binder rather than binding. The idea seems to have
been, " he who has power to bind in fetters and shut up in pris
on," or to bind duties and obligations upon his subjects. It may be
said that the same term is used to denote the province that is
governed, and so the original idea may have been the families
or communities bound together as a satrapy ; but, even so, the
idea of binding is very prominent. The other, however, is
more likely to have been the original idea, for in ancient times
the ruler was more thought of than the people whom he ruled,
and binding in chains or " binding heavy burdens " on men
were much more prominent acts of rulers than more amiable
exercises of authority. Any way, this Assyrian title of the ruler
gives new significance to the words of Christ.
BODY FASTENED TO CITY WALL.
1 Sam. 31 : 10 tells us that the Philistines fastened the body
of Saul to the wall of Bethshan. The Hebrew verb rendered
"fastened" means to fasten by driving (a nail), and this passage
is quoted by Gesenius as an instance of that meaning. But we
can hardly form a conception of a whole body being thus fas
tened to a wall. It would have required very large spikes to do
this, and then verse 9 informs us that the head had already
been severed from the trunk, so that the whole body could
hardly have been treated in this way. Still we are told that
after the men of Jabesh Gilead had taken down the body (ver.
12) they burned his bones (ver. 13).
May it not be that only the prominent members of the
body were dealt with in this way ? We are all familiar with
the ancient custom of fastening the heads of great offenders
over the city gate. The first time that the writer passed through
Assyrian Echoes "X

34 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
the gate of Mardin, in Turkey, several heads of Kurdish rebels,
cut off the day before, looked down on him from spikes over
head. Some things in the Assyrian monuments may throw light
on the subject. Men were impaled and their bodies left on the
stakes whereon they were put to death. A bas-relief in Layard's
Nineveh (II. 283) shows three bodies hanging limply on stakes
that entered the breast just below the ribs ; the arms hang
down in front, and the position of the head indicates 'that life
has departed. These stakes seem to have been set up outside
the wall of a city.
Again, some of the kings of Assyria, after flaying men
alive, fastened the skin on the city wall. It is quite possible
that the head, hands and feet were also fastened along with the
skin, each in its proper position, so that the whole body thus
represented may have been spoken of as fastened to the wall.
The verb used is khalib, to cover, or be covered. See R. V.
2. 4, and A. M. 48. 5 ; also R. I. 19. 90-93, no. The translation
may be found in R. of P. hew II. 143, 144 and 145.
BOUND HAND AND FOOT.
Matt. 22 : 23. Bind him hand and foot.
John 1 1 : 44. Lazarus came forth from the grave bound
hand and foot.
In R. V. 9. 22, also A. M. 31. 17 and Ass'l. 273. 123, Asshur
banipal says of Abiyati and Amu, Arab chiefs, Qati u shipi biritu
parzilli addishunuti. (Their) hands and feet I placed in fetters
of iron. In R. V. 1. 131, A. M. 47. 30, and Ass'l. 26. 21, he says of
the rebellious kings of Egypt, Ina biriti parzilli, ishqati parzilli
utammikhu qati u shipi. In bonds of iron, fetters of iron, they
bound (them) hands and feet. BOW DOWN.
Isa. 51 : 23. Bow down that we may go over.
Isa. 55 : 12. Ye shall all bow down to the slaughter.
Rom. 11:10. Bow down their back alway.
Tiglath Pileser, R. I. 16. 82 and 83, and Prof. Sayce's Gram-

BRASS, DOORS OF. 35
mar 113. 82 and 83, prays_ that Anu and Ramanu may cause
those who destroy his monumental records to dwell bowing
down (kamis) in the presence of their enemies.
Nebuchadrezzar describes the other gods in the temple of
Bil Marduk (Merodach) in Babylon as standing around him
listening reverently and bowing down before him. India House
Inscription, col. II. 62, and R. of P. III. 108. 60-62.
There is a marked difference, however, between Scripture
and the inscriptions, in that while the former often speak of
others being delivered from their enemies, as Gen. 22 : 17, 2 Sam.
7:1,1 Chron. 22:9, Prov. 16:7 and Heb. 10:13, the latter
almost uniformly confine such blessings to the royal writers
themselves, and ask for the destruction of their enemies.
BOWELS, COMETH FORTH OUT OF.
Gen. 15:4. He that shall come forth out of thine own
bowels shall be thine heir.
Compare 2 Sam. 7 : 12 and 16: n, 2 Chron. 32 : 21.
This form of expression is as frequent in the Assyrian as
in the Hebrew. Asshurbanipal, R. V. 2. 56 and Ass'l. 59.91,
speaks of the daughter of Baal, king of Tyre, as tsiit libbi shu,
proceeding from his body. R. V. 2. 62 uses the same expression
concerning his son. The passage reads aplu (Ass'l.) tsiit libbi shu
utir ma adin shu, the son proceeding from his body I restored
and gave him. The phrase occurs again, R. V. 3. 22 and Ass'l
61. 105. Libbi is the Assyrian for the Hebrew Leb or Lebab, and
Arabic Lib, meaning heart. Though in R. V. 1. 5 and Ass'l 4. 5
lib ummi shu means the womb of his mother, it seems to be a
general term for all the internal organs of the body.
BRASS, DOORS OF.
In Isa. 45 : 2 God saith to Cyrus, " I will go before thee and
make the rugged places plain, I will break in pieces the doors
of brass." (nwim). Gesenius defines the kindred word nwro as
" copper, mostly as hardened and tempered, and so used for arms
and other instruments."
In 1878 Mr. Hormuzd Rassam discovered at Balawat, a

36 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
mound five hours east of Mosul, bronze bands about ten inches
wide, with a row of rosettes at top and bottom, and another in
the middle separating two rows of repousse relief work each three
and a half inches wide. Archasologists determined that they
had covered a wooden door about twenty-seven feet in height
and three inches thick. See Transactions of the Society of Bib
lical Arch.seology Vol. VII. Part i. pp. 83-118, and P. and C.
Art in Chaldea and Assyria I. 194, 242 and II. 210-217, where
two engravings of these bands are given, one colored to repre
sent the metal as it now appears.
A beautiful and pernianent historical representation of the
victories of Shalmanezer II. (B. C. 862-825) seems to have been
the object in encasing the wood with bronze rather than merely
to impart additional strength to the door.
The upper bas-relief in the colored plate of P. and C.,.
represents a sacrifice made by the king on the shore of Lake
Van, and the lower one a tete du pont and the progress of cha
riots along a difficult road, calling not only for a tight rein
on the part of the charioteer but for another man to hold
the horse's head.
In the other plate the upper portion shows chariots picking
their way carefully up the bed of a mountain torrent and the
lower one contains a row of captives approaching the king and
bowing down even to the dust at his feet, presumably the act
described so often in the inscriptions as " kissing his feet." It
also illustrates the phrase, " Ummanigus surely (?) kissed the
ground." Ass'l. 160. 79. BRAZEN SEA.
In the Temple court stood a Brazen Sea, 2 Kings 25 : 13. Cir
cular in form, it was about fifteen feet across and seven and a
half feet in height. It rested on the hind-quarters of twelve
oxen, three of them looking towards each point of the compass.
One scarcely expects to find the counterpart of this in Assy
ria, but in the seventh Izdubar tablet, col. 4, lines 10-18, Heabani
says, " In the house, O my friend, which I must enter, i. e.,
Hades, for me is laid up a crown (compare 2 Tim. 4 : 8) among
those who wear crowns, who have ruled the earth from days

BRIDLE. 37
of old, to whom Anu and Bil have given names of renown.
Glory have they given to the shades of the dead. They drink
the bright waters. In the house, O my friend, which I must
enter, dwell the lord and the lagaru, dwell the soothsayer and
the great one, dwell the anointing priest (pashishu) of the abys
ses (or deeps) of the great gods." H. L. 63.
The deeps of the great gods were large tanks of water in
the Babylonian temples used for purposes of purification. In
the main building of the Yezidee temple of sheikh Adi the
writer saw one large enough for a swimming bath, filled with
translucent water. It was no doubt used for the same purpose
as the brazen sea of Solomon. BREACHES.
Isa. 58 : 12. Thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach.
Compare 1 Kings 1 1 : 27 and 2 Kings 12 : 5, 6, 12.
This is a very unusual expression, and one that we would
hardly expect to find repeated in any language, and yet this
identical phrase occurs in the inscriptions of Sargon, builder of
the first Assyrian palace discovered at Khorsabad by Mons.
Botta, the pioneer in Assyrian discoveries.
Sargon claims to be sliakin shubare Sippar Nipur Babilu, the
repairer of the breaches of Sippar (Sepharvaim) Nipur (Niffer)
and Babylon. Prof.- Lyon's Sargon Cylinder Inscription, line 4.
The idea is, he who had restored whatever had become broken
down or decayed in those cities, whether buildings and monu
ments or institutions and laws ; and it is pleasant among so many
records of destruction to find some that commemorate restora
tion, though both the original builders of noted structures and
subsequent repairers took good care to immortalize their works.
BRIDLE.
The Lord said to Sennacherib (B. C. 705-681) by the mouth
of Isaiah (19 : 28) : " Because of thy raging against me, and for
that thine arrogancy is come up into mine ears, therefore will I
put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle into thy lips, and I will
turn thee back by the way by which thou earnest."
It may, seem absurd to speak of putting a bridle into the

38 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
lips of any one, but in these words the Lord may be using
figures of speech that were perfectly intelligible to all who
heard them, and if there was such a thing as a literal insertion
of a bridle or cord into human lips practised by the Assyrians
that fact would give to these words peculiar force. Now the
father of this same Sennacherib built a splendid palace at Dur
Sargina. It was the first of the Assyrian palaces brought to
light in modern times. Mons. Botta sent his workmen there
March 20, 1843, and immediately both sculptures and inscriptions
rewarded their search. Among the sculptures of this palace at
Khorsabad was one representing the king putting out the eyes
of a prisoner with the spear in his right hand, while his left
hand holds one end of a cord inserted at the other end into
the flesh of the lower lip of his victim. His hand grasps two
similar cords inserted in like manner into the lower lips of two
others who are thus held waiting their turn to undergo the
same fate. Would not the son of Sargon recall that bas-relief
on the walls of the palace in which he was born, when God said
to him, " I will put my bridle into thy lips, and turn thee back
by the way by which thou earnest " ? See Smith's Assyria, p.
169, and Rawlinson's Anc. Mon., I. 243 and III. 7.
BRIGHTNESS.
One is hardly aware how often this term is applied to per
sons in Scripture till he traces out the use of the word. In Dan.
2:31 we read that the brightness of an image was excellent.
4 : 36, Nebuchadrezzar says, " My majesty and brightness re
turned unto me." 5 : 6 and 9, the Hebrew reads, " The king's
brightness was changed," and Isa. 46 : 1 1 speaks of being de
lighted with the abundance of the brightness of Israel.
It may be that such expressions were originally borrowed
from the Babylonians ; at any rate they occur with great fre
quency in the inscriptions. A very common phrase in those
of Sennacherib is pulklii milammi bilutiya iskkupu shu : The
fear of the brightness of my lordship overwhelmed him. He
says this of Hezekiah. R. I., 39. 30 and Senn. 63. 30. Also of Elu-
loeus, king of Tyre. R. I., 38. 35 and 36 and Senn. 53. 35, 36.
Another phrase of like import is milammi sharutiya iktumshu.

BRINGING BACK. 39
Asshurbanipal says this of Tarquu (Tirhakah) king of Kuusi
(Cush) R. V. I, 85. Ass'l. 19, 87 and 88. and A. M. 44. 8 and 9.
The same term is also used concerning God, Ezek. 1 : 4 and
27, Hab. 3 : 4, and in Heb. 1 : 3 it is spoken of Christ. Psa. 18:12
speaks of the brightness that is before God, and so does Ezek. 10:4.
This idea of brightness in connection with God is illus
trated in an inscription of Asshurbanipal, who describes his fa
vorite goddess " Ishtar, who dwells in Arbela," as ishati litbu-
shat, clothed in fire, and milammi nishaata, exalted in bright
ness, and adds that she rained destruction upon the land of
Arabia. R. V. IX. 80, -and Ass'l. 278. 62 and 63.
The Psalmist says, 104 : 2, " Thou coverest thyself with light
as with a garment," and Sargon (Lyon's Sargon 40. 11) speaks
of himself as khalib namurrati, clothed in brightness.
A hymn to the god Adar or Uras says, " On the throne of
the shrine supreme, even on his seat, is a brilliant light when
he kindles it." Hib. Lect. 479.
BRINGING BACK.
That was a glad day in Jerusalem when David and all the
house of Israel brought in the ark of the Lord with shouting,
and with the sound of the trumpet, 2 Sam. 6: 16. The white-
robed Levites, the singers and musicians, the glittering mail
of the captains, the bronzed faces of the common soldiers, and
the jubilant monarch, with the many-colored oriental garments
of the rejoicing multitude, must have made a picture never
to pass from the memory of those who witnessed it.
Babylonia however could match it with a similar gladness,
for this is one of those things in which heathen may stand
along with the chosen people. The joy may not be so spiritual,
but that is not strange, for it does not belong to the things of
the Spirit. The image of the goddess Nana, who by many is identified
with Ishtar, had been held captive in Elam for 1,635 years, having
been carried there by Kudur Nankhundi about 2280 B. C, and
during all those centuries her people in Erech (Warka) had re
mained loyal in their devotion. Generation followed generation
to the grave. Events of history might fade from memory, but

40 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
still they stood steadfast in their allegiance ; they did not change -
their god, though she was no god. Jer. 2:11. Asshurbanipal
says, "At that time she and the gods, her fathers, mentioned
my name as the coming ruler over the nations, and entrusted
to me the return of her deity to her own land, saying, ' Asshur
banipal, take me away from wicked Elam and bring me into
Bitanna,' (name of her temple). This command, which their
deities had uttered from remote times, again they made known
to a later age, and the hand of her great deity I laid hold of,
and the straight road to Bitanna she took with joyful heart.
On the first day of the month Chisleu I brought her into Erech
into the Bitkhiliana (another name of her temple) which she
loved. I caused her to dwell in an enduring sanctuary." Ass'l.
23S- 236.
We may doubt whether Nana really foretold the royal
name, but his people did not doubt it, and from the prominence _
given to the event in the records of the monarch there is no
question but there was a joyous celebration on the day when
the goddess who had been absent more than sixteen centuries
was brought home again. See " Change Gods," and as an illus
tration the musical procession, under " Music."
BROTHER.
Amid the mass of evil in the inscriptions — and there is
no lack of it — it is pleasant to light now and then ,on something
kind and genial.
The Bible makes much of human relations. God is called
our Father who is in heaven, and speaking of men Isaiah says
(41:6) " every one said to his brother, Be of good courage,"
thus recognizing the brotherhood of men. See Zech. 11:14;
Judg. 21:6; Prov. 18 : 24, and especially in the New Testament :
see Acts 21 : 20; Rom. 16 : 23 ; 1 Cor. 5:2; 6:6; 7 : 12, 15.
In the Izdubar legend of the deluge, R. IV. 50. 3. 4, and
A. M. 58. 24, also D. L. 104, 106, it is said that so dark was the
storm that brother did not see his brother, ul immar akhu akha-
shu. And Asshurbanipal, R. V. III. 108 and Ass'l. 155. 39, says
that the people of Babylon, Borsippa and Kutha iprusa akhuut,
broke off the brotherhood. Iprusa corresponds to Hebrew sie.

BUILDING ON THE SAND. 41
So even amid the darkness of Babylonia now and then
shine out glimpses of the glory to come, when the gospel shall
have filled the earth as the waters cover the sea.
BUILDING ON THE SAND.
Our Saviour says, Matt. 7 : 24-27, " Every one therefore who
heareth these words of mine and doeth them shall be likened
unto a wise man who built his house upon a rock : and the
rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and
beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon
the rock. And every one that heareth these words of mine
and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man who
built his house upon the sand : and the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the winds blew and smote upon that house,
and it fell, and great was the fall thereof."
We find no repetition of these words, or anything resem
bling them, in Assyria, but her palaces furnish a striking object-
lesson illustrating these words of the Lord. No doubt they
were often destroyed by the hand of violence, and the mark
of fire is on many of their ruins, but their material and man
ner of constructing furnish a very striking confirmation of this
teaching of Christ.
Strictly speaking, they were without a foundation ; nor
that only, they were erected on mounds of earth or unburned
bricks high above the level of the surrounding surface. P. and
C, I. 127, say that they stood so high above the soil that the
ground line of the palace " leaves the roofs of ordinary houses,
and even the summit of the tallest palms, far below." Then
" the whole interior was composed of crude brick, and if they
were not thoroughly dry the shrinkage in dessication must have
injured the structure, especially as the different positions and
exposures of the bricks must have caused an inequality in
the process, and settlements would occur compromising the
equilibrium of the higher portions, and preparing for the de
struction of the whole building" (p. 133), for though the walls
were faced with burned bricks carefully set, yet in a storm
the water would pour over the whole surface and strike vio
lently against every angle, till some bricks would be detached

42 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
and the water would reach the soft core within. So the process
of disintegration would advance from year to year till the
mounds assumed their present appearance.
Nabopolassar had to rebuild nearly all the palaces and
temples from their foundations in his day, and his distinguished
son Nebuchadrezzar seemed to do nothing else but build dur
ing his long reign. Herodotus (456 B. C.) appears to have
seen the great temple of Bel Merodach while it was still prac
tically intact, but Diodorus (60 B. C.) speaks of it as a struc
ture " which time had caused to fall," and it was a complete
ruin in the time of Strabo, who was born 60 B. C.
Asshurnatsirpal (885-860 B. C.) built a palace in Nineveh,
and Sennacherib (B. C.) 705-682, rebuilt it and restored the one
built by Rimmon Nirari (812-783 B. C.) in the same city at
Nebby Yunus.
So also Asshurnatsirpal erected a palace at Calah (Nimrood)
and Sargon (722-705 B. C.) restored it.
This frequent reconstruction was made necessary by the
fact that these structures were built on the sand.
BUTTER AND HONEY.
Isa. 7: 15. Butter and honey shall he eat; ver. 22. To
us this seems a strange juxtaposition of things ; we can hardly
understand it; and commentators- have explained the incongru-
ousness of the mixture by saying that the prophet speaks of the
condition of the country when the fields, instead of being cul
tivated as usual, were devoted to pasturage.
But the people of Mesopotamia seem to have recognized no
incongruity in the association. They speak of it as an every
day custom in which they see nothing that calls for explanation,
any more than in the butter and sugar we compound for pud
ding sauce.
There is a cuneiform tablet in the British Museum, num
bered K. 48, a portion of which is thus translated by Prof.
Sayce, in H. L., p. 301., note: "Offer sacrifices, lay reeds
which have been cut up, offer food and oil. Let the hand of
the prince take honey, dishpu, and butter, khimitu, the food of
the god of revelations, Bar-bar, and recite as follows," etc.

CAPPADOCIA. 43
In R. IV. 25. 2. 28, is another mention of these two arti
cles. The first half of the line speaks of bringing dates an d
kuatir, which some interpret pine cones, but the last half is
very plain. That says, " Place " i. e. as an offering on the altar,
" honey and butter," precisely the same words as before ; show
ing how familiar the association of these two articles of food
was in Babylon and Nineveh. In R. IV. 25. 4. 45, is a line that
seems to make these the food of paradise. " He (Ea) will place
thee in the midst of honey and butter." See also R. of P. XI,
162. 7. Other quotations might be made, but these are sufficient
to prove the custom.
If any one is curious to look further into the matter, let him
consult Hib. Lect. 529. 28. and 530. 7.
CAPPADOCIA.
Cappadocia, or, to give the ancient spelling, Kappadokia, is
mentioned twice in the New Testament : once among the countries
represented at the feast of Pentecost when the Spirit descended
on the Apostles, Acts 2 : 9, and once among the countries to
which Peter addressed his first epistle. 1 Pet. 1 : 9.
Its eastern boundary was the Euphrates, from the vicinity
of Malatia as far north as nearly to Erzingan. On the south it
took in the northern part of the province of Marash along the
ridge of Mt. Taurus as far west as the neighborhood of ancient
Derbe, thence it ran some distance to the west of Kaisariyeh
as far as the boundary of Ancient Phrygia, and thence returned
through the centre of the Pashalic of Sivas to the Euphrates at
Kemakh. It was known to the Assyrians as Khani Babbat.
Asshur Muballid, king of Assyria 1400-1370 B. C, writes to
Amenophis IV. of Egypt concerning it, R. of P. new III. 62,
and Asshurnatsirpal (885-860 B. C.) tells of Shalmaneser I.
the builder of Calah (1300-1271 B. C.) having sent Assyrian colo
nists to the east of it, at Kkalzilukha (or Dibkha). This colony
imported many things from home. They had inscriptions in
which is mentioned their tartan (Turtanu) their chief judge
(Rab Zikitum), and so* on. They even had their annual eponym
(Limmu). We find also the names of many Assyrian gods, as
Asshur, Anu, Ishtar, Bil, Nabu, Nana, Shamsu and Zu, and some

44 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
others besides, as Babu, Basku, Tarku, and people were named
from the gods, as Nanas from Nana, Nineps from Ninip, and Ne-
naris from Nannaru, a title of Sin. (R. of P. new IV. 121, 122.)
It is interesting to see how they were discovered. Mr.
Pinches, of the British Museum, had noticed two tablets in an
unusual script and apparently in a strange language. Finding
the word kudina (mules) in one of them, he remembered that
a tablet from Nineveh spoke of mules being obtained from
Cappadocia, and at once associated the two together. Then
Prof. W. M. Ramsay bought five more tablets at Kaisariyeh,
and Mr. Golennischeff 's large collection of them furnished abun
dant material to Prof. Sayce for study and comparison, as wit
ness his interesting article, R. of P. new VI. 1 15-13 1.
CAULS.
The word in the original is shibisim, w^v Isa. 3: 18, and
is rendered nettings : caps of network, in Gesenius.
They were just such things as are worn by young women
to-day to confine the hair, and it shows the antiquity of this
fashion when we find no less than ten of them worn by the
younger members of the musical procession. See "Music."
One or two of the wearers, however, are grown up women.
Frequently one of the monuments illustrates several scriptures
in matters that have no necessary connection with each other.
CEDAR, THE.
No king of Assyria or Babylonia came as far west as Syria
without carrying back beams of cedar, either from Lebanon
or Amanus, and they are enumerated along with the other pre
cious things carried away as tribute to the capital. It may seem
as though it would be impossible to convey such huge spars so
great a distance, but the soldiers were subsidized as carriers,
and such labor was cheap as well as abundant ; nor did those
who had the management of the matter think much of the toil
and suffering that might be involved. There were few palaces of
any note in the valleys of the Tigris and*feuphrates that could
not boast their beams of cedar for the support of the roof, and
boards of cedar for their doors.

CEDAR, THE. 45
As a specimen of these royal records concerning cedars we
quote some passages from the India House inscription of Neb
uchadrezzar, R. I. 53-58 and R. of P. new III. 101-123.
Col. 2. 30-39, he says, " Silver, gold, brightness of precious
stones, copper, misma kanna wood, cedar, whatever is precious in
large abundance, the produce of mountains, the fulness of seas,
a rich present, a splendid gift to my city of Babylon, into his
presence (i. e., of Merodach) I brought."
And again, in col. 3. 18^32 : " To build E Saggilla my heart
lifted me up, the chief thing have I regarded it, the choicest of
my cedars which I brought from the noble forest of Lebanon
for the roof of E Kua, the sanctuary of his lordship (Merodach).
I looked them out and my heart set them apart. The huge
beams of cedar I covered with shining gold for the roof of
E Kua. The panels under the cedar of the roof I made bright
with gold and precious stones."
Compare also col. 3. 38-53, col. 6. 8-15, where he says, "I
laid on (it) strong beams of cedar for the roof, doors of cedar I
set up in its gates (i. e., the openings for the doors) (covered)
with plates of bronze and with bolts* and hinges of copper work."
Having procured their cedar from such a distance, and with
so much labor, no doubt it was finished very elaborately, for
their work in stone and metal evinces no lack of skill.
David speaks of dwelling in a house of cedar, 1 Chron. 17:1,
and Asshurnatsirpal, L. N. I. 18, A. M. 6. 20, speaks of a pal
ace of cedar, also of cypress, of juniper, of urkarini, of palm-
tree, etc. ; not that the entire structure was composed of these
woods, but only those portions that are usually constructed of
wood. Cedar wood was valued for its compact grain, its size, its
durability and its fragrance.
There was another use of cedar wood in Babylonia which
is also mentioned in Scripture. Cedar twigs were used in con
nection with sacrifice. Compare Lev. 14:4s 6, 49, 51, 52; also
Num. 19 :6.
When Khasisadra came out of the ship after the deluge and
built an altar on the mountain of Nitsir he arranged the sacred
* Probably let into the lintel overhead and the threshold beneath for the doors
to revolve on.

46 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
vessels by sevens, and placed cedar wood, cane and riggir un
derneath. D. L. 105, 149, 150. A. M. 60, 17 and 18. So also the
directions for a religious ceremony, R. IV. 62. No. 2, obverse,
154 seq., also H. L. 539, 540, speak of cedar wood, sherbin wood,
scented reed, palgrass, etc. The fragrance of the cedar seems to
be the reason for its use in religious services.
CEMETERIES.
The twenty-third chapter of Genesis contains the account of
the purchase of the field and cave of Machpelah by Abraham
from the sons of Heth in Hebron for the possession of a bury
ing-place, and all the ages have been moved by the sight of the
bereaved patriarch buying a place for the burial of his beloved
Sarah. The limestone of Palestine furnished many caves suited for
this purpose, catacombs already prepared for such a use, but the
level and stoneless plain of Babylonia offered no such facilities.
There was no rock out of which to hew a tomb for the dead any
more than stones wherewith to build houses for the living, and
yet it is strange that in Assyria, that land of rock and moun
tain, so few sepulchres have been found, while every mound be
tween Niffer and Mugeyer is a place of graves. Arrian, De Ex
pedition Alexandrou, VII. 22, says that most of the sepulchres of
the Assyrian kings were in the region south of Babylon. The
most important of these is Erech (Warka), where the accumula
tion of human remains is enormous. One can hardly convey
any idea of it. The area of the ruins is nearly six miles in cir
cumference, and almost the whole of it is filled with the bones
that were buried there for many centuries. At first they may
have buried in the earth, but later on the coffins were laid side
by side and end to end, and one on top of the other, like bricks
in a wall or strata in a cliff. The Persians of to-day in carrying
their dead to be buried in Kerbela and Meshed Ali seem only
to be keeping up the practice of many centuries. Probably
no other place on earth can compare with Warka. Even Thebes
does not contain such a mass of mortality. For 2,500 years after
it was founded by Urukh it seemed to be the favorite graveyard
of all the region. Mr, Loftus dug in many places to the depth

CEMETERIES.

47

of thirty feet, when the safety of his workmen forbade him to
go farther in the loose, treacherous soil, and he found nothing
but clay coffins and dead men's bones. He was satisfied that it
was the same to the base of the broad mound, which was sixty
feet in height.
The earliest form of the coffin is the " Babylonian urn," so-
called, shaped like a pear, and lined with bitumen. Another
form is like an oval dish-cover, sloping outwards towards the
base ; but the kind most in use was a slipper-shaped, glazed
earthen one, with an oval opening near the head for the admis
sion of the body, and a hole near the foot for the escape of gas.
The whole was coated with rich enamel, green without and blue
within. After the body was placed within, the large opening
was closed with a lid and hermetically sealed. Loftus, Travels
in Chaldea and- Susiana, chap, xviii.
The annexed representation is reproduced from p. 204 of
that volume. It shows a side and a front view of the same
coffin. ,

GLAZED CLAY COFFIN, FROM WARKA.

48 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
CHAIN OF GOLD.
This seems to have been a favorite form in which gold was
used as an ornament, and it was worn about the neck. We find
it in places and at periods far apart. Pharaoh, King of Egypt,
arrayed Joseph in garments of byssus, or fine linen, and put a
chain of gold about his neck, Gen. 41 =42 ; and Belshazzar said
to the wise men of Babylon, " Whoever shall read this writing,
and show me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with
purple, and have a chain of gold about his neck." Dan. 5 : 7, also
16 : 19. It will be noticed that in both cases honor is conferred in
two ways : a, by dress, in the case of Joseph of fine linen, and
in the case of Daniel of purple, and b, by hanging a chain of gold
about the neck.
We find the same twofold expression of honor in the monu
ments. When Asshurbanipal would show his regard for Pharaoh
Necho, one of the kings of Egypt, he clothed him in birmi,
whatever that was ; some render it linen, which would be ap
propriate in Egypt, but Prof. Lyon translates, " a kind of cloth
ing," without specifying what, and then, as in both these Scrip
ture examples, he adds, " A chain of gold, the insignia of his
royalty, I made for him." R. V. 2. 10, 11, and A. M. 48 and 49
14-16. It also was doubtless hung about his neck.
CHANGING GODS.
The prophet Jeremiah asks (2:11)," Hath a nation changed
their gods, which yet are no gods ?" as though such a thing had
never been known. What is the testimony of the inscriptions
on this point ? In answering this question we must be careful
to distinguish between progress and change. By progress is
meant a natural development, as the germ develops into a
plant, and the plant again develops first leaves, then blossoms,
and, last of all, the ripened fruit. Change is where one god is
arbitrarily set aside and another substituted for it. If, for ex
ample, Babylon had renounced Bel Merodach and taken Asshur
in his stead, that would be such a change as Jeremiah intimates
had never taken place.

CHANGING GODS. 49
The religion of early Babylonia was the lowest Shamanism.
Everything that moved was credited with life, and as injury to
man often resulted from the movements of bodies, charms and
incantations were depended on for deliverance. They had sor
cerers but not yet priests. Gradually, however, living beings
outside of the human race were divided into benevolent and
malevolent, or good and evil, and this opened the way for the
charm to turn into a prayer and the enchanter into a priest.
The first gods were objects close at hand, like Gibil, the fire
god ; for fire was recognized as a fruitful source of both good
and evil. Then, as the area of thought and observation enlarged,
the worship once rendered to Gibil, or to fire and -flame near at
hand, was gradually transferred to Sliamash or the sun-god,
who was regarded as the great source of fire, and hence of life
and light as well as of scorching heat and drought ; but this
was not a change of gods, it was only progress in the same
direction, movement along the same line.
Other causes intensified this result. In Babylonia the Shem-
ite appeared, and his ideas modified those of the Accadian who
had previously stood alone. It may have been progress or
compromise, or both together, but the result was modification,
not change in the proper sense of that term.
Another cause affected the relative importance of different
gods. When a city or tribe attained political supremacy, through
war or otherwise, the gods of that city or tribe shared in that
supremacy, and the gods of the conquered town or province
occupied a lower place than before. Still they were not changed
for others, they were only subordinated. This is illustrated in
the case of Nabonidus, king of Babylon ; previous to his day
the gods of surrounding cities had shrines in E Saggil, the
great temple of Bel Merodach at Babylon, where they rendered
homage to the great god of the capitol ; but Nabonidus gave
great offence, both to the priests of the other cities and to the
priests of Merodach, by transferring the gods themselves from
their temples in other cities to Babylon. The anger of the
priests whose idols were removed needs- no explanation. That
of the priests of Merodach was occasioned by the worship of the
others detracting from the sole supremacy that had previously
Assyrian Echoes ii

50 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
belonged to their god ; now others also were objects of worship
in the place that of right belonged to him alone. So bitter was
this feeling that Cyrus, by taking sides with the offended priests,
captured Babylon without a battle, as he himself records (R. V.
35. 7-35, especially line 17, and A. M. 39. 23-41. 34, especially 40.
18-21 ; see also R. of P. new V. 164. 1-168. 36, especially 166. 17),
and Nabonidus fell before the hatred of the priests rather than
by the arms of Cyrus.
The practice of the Assyrian kings in carrying off the gods
of conquered people may seem to conflict with the immutability
of idolatrous attachments, but it only shows that the kings of
Assyria knew how to distress those whom they subdued, for the
removal of an idol by no means involved the cessation of its
worship, as the following facts may show : Kudur Nankhundi,
king of Elam, conquered Erech and carried off the image of
Nana, its tutelary goddess. Did the men of Erech forsake the
service of Nana and turn to another god ? Instead of that, for
1,635 years they remained faithful to their absent idol, until
Asshurbanipal conquered Elam and restored Nana to her faith
ful votaries. See H. L. 261, R. V. 6. 107-124, R. of P. I. 90. 9-24.
The spirit that maintained steadfast devotion for 1,635 years
to one who was no god gives great force to the question of the
prophet, and is a sharp rebuke to Israel for forsaking the foun
tain of living waters, and hewing out broken cisterns that can
hold no water. „ Jer. 2:13.
On a fragment of a tablet published in R. IV. 19. No. 3, is a
threnody, and what remains of it is translated by Mr. T. G.
Pinches in R. of P. new I. 85 as "An Erechite Lament." It
seems well named, and the worshippers of the captive Nana, as
they chanted it by the moonlight under the feathery palm-trees,
must have presented an impressive spectacle of loyalty to their
long-absent idol. This pleasant picture, however, dissolves in
air when we remember that Nana was only another name for
Ishtar, the Babylonian Aphrodite, and that Erech was the city
of " the choirs of the festival girls and consecrated maidens of
Ishtar," with all their abominations ; represented in our day by
the dancing-girls connected with the temples of Hindostan.
H. L. 184. See "Bringing Back."

CHARIOTS. 51
CHARIOTS.
One is struck with the prominence given to chariots in the
Old Testament accounts of wars. Exod. 14 : 7 tells that Pharaoh
took 600 chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and cap
tains over all of them ; and not till verse 9 are we told that he
took his horsemen and his army. So God declares that he will
get honor first of all upon his chariots, v. 17, and then we are
informed that the waters covered all the chariots, v. 28, and —
after that — also all the host. And the song in chapter 15:4 was,
" Pharaoh's chariots "—first of all—" and his host hath he cast
into the sea."
This peculiarity runs through all the subsequent history ; we
are even told that the chariots of God are 20,000. Psa. 68 : 17.
Precisely the same prominence is given to chariots in the
inscriptions. Tiglath Pileser I., in Assyrian Tukulti apali sharra, B. C.
1120-1100, R. I. 9. 71 and A. M. 1. 7, says, "By the help of
Asshur, my lord narkabati u ummanatiya luptikhir,— the char
iots and my army I assembled ;" as though the chariots were the
principal thing. Again, R. I. 10. 6 and A. M. 2. 5, narkabati
u quradiya, the chariots and my soldiers I took, etc. Again, he
says that the enemy collected their chariots and their ar
mies, R. I. 12. 84 and A. M. 3. 15. Sennacherib calls his war
chariots the casters down of the evil and the good, R. I. 41.
82 and A. M. 16. 11, and again he speaks of his lofty war-char
iots which prostrated his enemies, R. I. 41. 56 and 57 and
A. M. 15. 23, showing how much he depended on them for
victory. Shalmanezer II. took from Hazael of Damascus 1121 char
iots, but only 470 horsemen, R. III. 5. No. 6. 11 and 12 and A. M.
8. 19, though perhaps the chariots could not get out of his way
so easily as the horses without such incumbrances.
The figure on the following page is taken from Nineveh and
its Remains, II., 269. The bas relief was found in the south
western palace at Nimrood, built by Esarhaddon 681-668 B. C,
but originally belonged to the northwestern palace of Asshurnat
sirpal 885-860 B. C, and, little as either of those kings may

52

ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.

CHARIOTS. 53
have intended it, it furnishes a beautiful illustration of the words
of Nahum concerning the chariots of Nineveh. He wrote in the
days of Hezekiah, while Nineveh was yet in the full tide of her
prosperity. He speaks of the noise of a whip, and the noise of the rat
tling of wheels and of prancing horses and jumping chariots
f 3 : 2). We can almost see and hear the picture, it is so vivid.
First of all is the sharp lashing of the whip as the charioteer
mercilessly urges the horses to their utmost speed, and in the
bas-relief the whip is very conspicuous. Perhaps rumbling
would be a better word than rattling, for that suggests something
loose and out of order ; but here all is firm and strong. There
is the whir of the spokes as they rapidly beat the air, the rush
of the whole mass through the atmosphere — horses and harness,
men and their armor, and the various parts of the chariot itself —
all accentuated, as a musician would say, by the regular stroke of
the hoofs on the road. The expression " jumping chariots " is
not only picturesque but accurate, for the pole of the chariot
bends at such an angle, it is fastened so firmly, and so strength
ened by the ornamented board that joins the upper part of the
body with the front end of the pole, that when the wheel strikes
an obstacle the whole stiff machine is jerked from the ground by
the impetuous steeds and carried forward through the air till it
strikes the road again some distance in advance. Well may the
prophet say in one place (2 : 3) that it flashes with steel — either
its polished surfaces glittering in the sunlight or the sparks fly
ing as it strikes the stones ; and again (2 -.4) it flames like a torch,
it flashes like the lightning. How expressive, too, of their head
long rush are the words " they rage on the streets " — like living
monsters seeking whom they may devour ; and then that other
dash of the pencil : not only in the narrow oriental streets, where
such a thing might be expected, but even in the broad ways, or, as
we would say, the wide squares, they jostle one against another.
A glance at the bas-relief at once explains this. There is not a
moveable joint in their entire construction, not a coupling-pin
round which as a fulcrum the horses may be turned to one side ;
but the entire body, horses and chariot, moves in straight lines, and
so they cannot but jostle for they cannot bend out of the way.

54 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
The construction of the chariot without either horses or men
may be seen more clearly in Rawlinson's Anc. Mon. I. 412, and
the changes in form at different periods maybe seen (do. 413)
P. and C. II. 76. L. N. II. 272. B. and N. 447.
CHEDORLAOMER.
This is the name of the king of Elam who went with Amra-
phel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Larsa, and Tidal, king of
Goiim, (Gutiuni, Ass'n.) on a campaign into the land of Canaan.
It is to be expected that the monuments will throw some light
on this episode of antiquity, but while some inscriptions lift this
account of Chedorlaomer from the sphere of the mythical into
that of actual occurrence and others shed light on the narrative,
still we have not that complete illustration of this incursion into
Canaan that we hope to have when the monuments are more
fully brought within the reach of scholars.
It would appear from the order of the names in Gen. 14 : 1,
that Amraphel was the leader of the expedition, as he is men
tioned first. Shinar is also written Shungir, and as we see the g
elided in Lagamaru, so here as in the Hebrew ">JW it is changed
into ayin. Amraphel is read by some Amarphel. (See Sayce's
Anc. Emp. of East, in).
Various fanciful derivations of the name Chedorlaomer have
been given in our Bible Dictionaries, as in Smith, Kuduret el
ghomer, handful of sheaves, though that would make it part
Arabic and part Hebrew, and also Kudur el akhmar (the red),
but these have been set aside by the discovery of an Elamite
god named Lagamaru (R. III. 22. 77, also V. 6. 33, and Ass'l.
228, 77), and Chedor (Kudur) means servant, or one devoted to the
service of, and so this king calls himself the servant of Lagamaru.
One of the sons of Ummanaldas, a king of Elam in the days of
Asshurbanipal, was called Kudurru. Ass'l. 106. 78 and 116.88.
Another king of Elam was named Kudur nankhundi (Ass'l. 250.
12) ; still another is Kudur mabuk (R. I. 2. No. 1 11, and R. of P.
III. 19).
Then if Kudur is so common a name among the Elamites, and
Lagamaru is one of their gods, even though the name has not yet
been discovered we may confidently expect to find it hereafter.

CHILDREN, DESIRE FOR. 55
It has been intimated by some that this episode is mythical,
hut the cuneiform inscriptions found at Tel el amarna, written in
the Babylonian language and script, cumbersome as it was,
show that the Babylonian power was no myth in Southern Pal
estine in the days of Burna Buriyas and Asshur yuballidh, B. C.
1400-1370, for it formed a portion of their empire, nor in the
light of those despatches to Amenophis IV., or Khu en Aten,
son of Amenophis III. and the Mesopotamian princess Tadu
khepa, can the victory of Abraham over those confederate kings
be anything else than an actual occurrence. See R. of P. new
V. 62. The tide of battle and conquest seems to have ebbed
and flowed between Egypt and Babylonia all through the centu
ries from Abraham to Amenophis IV., or from circa 1900 B. C.
to 1400 B. C. Meanwhile we must wait patiently for the greater
light on this portion of inspired history that is sure to come.
CHILDREN, DESIRE FOR.
Gen. 30 : 1. And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no
children, Rachel envied her sister, and said unto Jacob, Give
me children, or else I die.
1 Sam. 1 : 8. Then said Elkanah her husband to Hannah,
Why weepest thou ? and why eatest thou not ? and why is thy
heart grieved ? Am I not better to thee than ten sons ?
These instances reveal the intensity of the desire for
children on the part of the Jewish women. One reason why
the desire was so strong was the national expectation of the
Messiah. Each woman hoped that she might be privileged to
bring him into the world, and hence her intense desire for off
spring. The Assyrians had no expectation of a Messiah. Did they
also prize the gift of children ? We have no direct record of the
fact, for their histories deal chiefly with war and conquest, and
give little insight into popular sentiment aside from these
things. Still, the very names of some of her noted kings, as
Sennacherib, Sin, the moon god, has increased brothers, Asshur
banipal, Asshur has created a son, Asshuryuballidh, Asshur giv-
eth life, Ea mukin ziri, Ea establishes a seed, Nabuyusabsi, Nebo
caused to exist, all bear witness to a desire for children, and to

56 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
the feeling that for such gifts they were dependent on the favor
of the gods.
R. of P. XL 75. 11, gives the prayer of Arad Nabi, that
Asshur, Shamash, Bil, Zirbanitu, Nabu, Tasmitu, Ishtar of Nine
veh, and Ishtar of Arbela, may give old age and offspring to
King Asshurbanipal. CHILDREN EATEN.
There is a dreadful picture of fathers and mothers driven
to the extremity of eating their own children, Deut. 28 : 53-57.
Nor is this the only one. We have glimpses of the same in
2 Kings 6 : 28 and 29, and also elsewhere ; and the same horrible
practice is brought before us again and again in the monu
ments. When Asshurbanipal seized the wells of the Arabians
under Vaiteh the suffering people were guilty of this unnatural
crime. The record is very brief. It reads simply, " Ana buri
shunu ikulu shir apli shunu :" for their food they ate the flesh of
their children, R. V. 9, 59 ; A. M. 32, 14, and Ass'l. 276, 43, but
it tells a terrible story of suffering on the part of both parents
and children. On a previous page we are told that those who
fled for refuge into Babylon, and were shut up there, endured
the horrors of famine till ikulu shir akhamis, they ate the flesh
of one another. R. V. 8. 37; A. M. 29. 6. and Ass'l 263. 27.
Again, binuti shunu, their daughters, are added to the victims
that furnished this cannibal feast in R. V. 4. 44, and A. M. 26. 1.
Other quotations might be added but it is too distressing, for,
though the events occurred millenniums ago, still the truth re
mains that we are not reading fiction but a record of actual
occurrences. But even this is not the worst. There is, if possible, a still
lower depth. Jews built the high places of Tophet in the val
ley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and daughters in
the fire, Jer. 7:31. Still we might hope that the fire had not
been used in a way to destroy life, did we not read again, Jer.
19 : 5, " They built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in
the fire for burnt offerings unto Baal," and the accounts fur
nished by history of the manner of the offering make it horrible
enough.

CITIES, ANCIENT AND MODERN. 57
CISTERN.
Isa. 36 : 16. Drink ye every one the waters of his own cis
tern. In 30 : 14, the word is joa and in Jer. 14:3, D'3J,
The inscriptions carefully discriminate between fountains
of water, ina, and cisterns guubbu. Asshurbanipal, R. V. 8. 102,
and A. M. 30. 20, also Ass'l. 269, 88, tells us that he pitched his
camp at Laribda, in Arabia, by the cisterns, guubbaani, of
water. And it is worthy of note that while God promised to Israel,
Deut. 8 : 7, a land of brooks, of water, of fountains and depths
springing out of valleys and hills, the envoy of Sennacherib
promised to allow the citizens of Jerusalem only (2 Kings 18:31,
and Isa. 36 : 16) to drink every one the waters of his own cistern ;
he makes no allusion to either fountain or well of living water :
showing how thoroughly the plan of Hezekiah had been carried
out to stop all the fountains, and the brook that flowed through
the midst of the land, so that the Assyrians should find no
water. 2 Chron. 32 : 3, 4. Rabshakeh, the chief officer, thought
they had none, and were wholly dependent on rain water.
CITIES, ANCIENT AND MODERN.
When a traveller describes a city he mentions those things
which distinguish it from every other. Is the scenery pic
turesque ? Is it noted for wealth, manufactures, commerce, or
general intelligence? These are brought out with great dis
tinctness. So also the difference between ancient and modern
types of thought^ brought out in the contrast between ancient
and modern descriptions of cities.
That the ancients were perfectly aware of the distinguish
ing peculiarities of different cities is manifest from the Assy
rian bas-reliefs. In the palace of Asshurbanipal on the large
mound of Koyunjik, opposite Mosul, the Elamite city of Mad-
aktu is represented with its walls and rivers, its houses and
palaces, its palm and other trees, and a triumphal march is
portrayed, with instruments of music, both male and female
singers, and great rejoicing. P. and C. I. 331. Also, the city
of Lachish is set before us in the bas-reliefs of Sennacherib from

58 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
the same mound, presenting an entirely different landscape,
"with its vines and fig-trees, the royal throne and tent, and the
ling deciding the fate of the prisoners brought before him.
B. and N. 149-15 1, and frontispiece Smith's Hist, of Senn.
Yet, notwithstanding this confessed appreciation of the
facts, in the written inscriptions they are entirely ignored.
Sidon is mentioned by name in the records of Sennacherib, but
there is nothing* to tell us whether it stood on a mountain or a
plain, on the sea shore or on an island. Jerusalem also is
mentioned, with its walls and gates, but though the temple of
Solomon was then standing there is not the slightest allusion to
it. In the mind of the Assyrian king it was only a strong city
to be subdued and plundered ; and some parts of the Old Testa
ment in this respect very much resemble Assyrian inscriptions.
One thing relating to ancient cities was very prominent
Loth in Hebrew and in Assyrian thought. Prominent cities
-were each dedicated to some god. Jerusalem was par excellence
" the city of God," Psa. 46 -.4 ; 48 : 1, or " the city of Jehovah," as
the only true God, Psa. 101 : 8 ; Isa. 60 : 14.
In like manner the old Assyrian city now known as Kalah
Shergat was named by its founder the city of the god Asshur,
and when the capital was removed to Nineveh the tutelar deity
went with it. H. L. 124.
Babylon also was the city of Bel Merodach. See R. V. 35.
15, 17; A. M. 40. 14, 19. A hymn to that god says, "May thy
city speak to thee of a resting-place ; it is thy house." " May
Babylon speak to thee of a resting-place ; it is thy house." R.
IV. 18. 3, 4. Again, " Look down upon thy temple ; look down
upon thy city, O lord of rest." " Look down upon Babylon ;
look down upon (the temple of) E Saggil (i. e., the lifter up of the
head), O lord of rest." H. L. 489. Marduk is called king of
Babylon and lord of E Saggil. R. IV. 29. 9. So a hymn to
the god Nebo says, " O lord of Borsippa, no city can compare
with thy city Borsippa." R. IV. 20, No. 3. 1, 11. Nergal also
is addressed thus: "O Lord of Kutha." R. IV. 26. 5; com
pare 2 Kings 17 : 30. Nusku is called " the god of Nipur, who
giveth rest to the heart." R. IV. 26. 3. And to Shamash (the
sun-god) it is said, " O Lord of E Babara (z. e., house of bright-

CITY AND COUNTRY. 59
ness, the name of his temple in the city of Sippara, called Se
pharvaim in 2 Kings 18 : 34, and Isa. 36 : 19), in E Babara (is) the
seat of thy sovereignty." H. L. 513, 168. The more familiar
examples of Artemis (Diana) of Ephesus and Pallas Athene of
Athens, with many more, hardly need to be mentioned. The
Old Testament also speaks of the " Holy City." Neh. 1 1 : 1 ;
Isa. 48 : 2 ; 58:1; Dan. 9 : 24 ; Matt. 4:5; 28 : 53. But heathen
ism only can speak of cities dedicated to some deity, and that
dedication sometimes, instead of holiness, involved unspeakable
pollution and abomination.
The Old Testament also speaks of cities as "strong"
(Heb. -wo, fortified). Isa. 17:9; 23:11; Judg. 6:26; see also
Psa. 31 : 22 ; 60 : 1 1. Every reader of Assyrian is familiar with
the phrase alani dannuti (strong cities). R. I. 38, 41. will give
the Assyrian characters.
Where small cities are mentioned we would naturally ex
pect large cities to be the correlate, but instead of that we have
dannuti u bit durani (strong and walled) in the annals of Sen
nacherib, where he says: "And of Khazaqiahu* the Jew
(Faudana), who had not bowed to my yoke, I took forty-six of
his strong, walled cities and small cities in their environs without
number," etc. R. I. 39. 11-17 ; compare I. 40. 64, 65, 66. Walled
or fenced cities are also mentioned in the Hebrew nvr«D, fenced,
or inaccessible, Num. 13 : 28 ; Deut. 1 : 28 ; 3:5; Jos. 14 : 12 ; Isa.
25 : 2, and the occurrence of the term in Assyrian is too common
to need reference.
These things show very clearly how men's views of places
are moulded by the prevailing practices of the times. Neither
Hebrew nor Assyrian asked whether a city was flourishing and
prosperous, but only, Is it so fortified as to be able to resist
attack ? A sad comment on the violence and insecurity of an
cient days, before the gospel brought peace to the world.
CITY AND COUNTRY.
The inscription of Cyrus brought from Babylon some nine
years ago is unfortunately in some places unreadable, but one
sentence in it may furnish a text for a short discourse. He says,
* Hebrew Wptn, Hizqiahu.

6o ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
" Ilu Sin shar ilani sha shamii u irtsitim sha ullanuush shu alu u
matu la innamduu." The god Sin, king of the gods of heaven
and earth (during) whose absence (lit. distance) the city and coun
try were not established, i. e., not prosperous. R. V. 64. 26, 27.
A. M. 37. 4, 5. Nabonidus had collected the other gods of
Babylonia into the capital, much to the disgust of the priests of
Bil Marduk, whose income was thus diminished, and as a
result Marduk and the other gods quitted Babylon. But I wish
to speak not of the history, but of the expression " city and
country." A similar phrase occurs in the inscription of Asshur
natsirpal (L. N. I. 13, A. M. 6. 5) that reads "alani u khurshani,"
cities and wooded mountains. We find also " ali u tsiri," cities
and plains, R. V. 3. 133 and A. M. 24. 27, also Ass'l. 158. 59,
which is evidently equivalent to " city and country."
In Mark 5 : 14 and Luke 8 : 34 we find " they fled and told
it in the city and country." In Luke 23 : 26 we have the phrase
coming out of, or from, the country, and in Mark 6 : 56, " where
soever he entered, into villages or city or country." Here the
small towns are distinguished from the cities and the country.
In 1 Sam. 6 : 18 ipsn isa is rendered by Gesenius and by our
versions " country villages." In this passage they are contrasted
with fenced cities, and both together include the whole land ;
for in the interior of the old Bible lands the rural population
dwell not every man on his own farm, but each district builds its
houses close together for mutual protection. In Kurdistan the
writer has seen them built in a hollow square, with only one
entrance for the entire village. Such a thing as a house stand
ing alone and far from neighbors is there unheard of. It would
not be safe.
Now if in California Chinamen find gold in the refuse
thrown away by Anglo Saxons, the writer may feel emboldened
to question whether the Hebrew mv, rendered by Gesenius
field, country, should not in many places be translated country
instead of field, although even the new revision retains the other
rendering. We do not say " city and field," but " city and
country." A few examples may be quoted : would not Deut.
28 : 3 read better " Blessed shall thou be in the city and blessed
shalt thou be in the country "? Also verse 16, where " cursed "

CITY, THY'. 6 1
occurs instead of "blessed." i Kings 14:11 would be more
perspicuous if it read, " Him that dieth (of Jeroboam) in the
country shall the fowls of the air eat." So also 1 Kings 16 -.4 •
21 : 24, where the same thing is said of Baasha and of Ahab.
In 1 Chron. 27 : 25 both our old version and the new revision
translate a Hebrew singular man (in the country) by an Eng
lish plural (in the fields) as indeed they were compelled to do to
be consistent ; for the treasuries were not in any one field, but
in the country, in many places, wherever it was convenient
to store up grain. For at that time the government of David
was so strong and so firmly established that it was safe to de
posit stores in the open country.
It is significant of this security that the inspired writer here
discribes the land as in four divisions : the country, the cities,
the villages, and the castles, or forts, that held violence of all
kinds in check.
The complaint of Jeremiah, 14:18, would be much more
intelligible to modern ears if it read thus : " If I go into the
country, then behold the slain with the sword," because there
they were without protection, " and if I enter into the city, then
behold them that were sick with famine," because the country
was so unsafe it could not be cultivated, and the roads were
so dangerous that men did not dare to bring in supplies ; and
the same things might be said of a similar lament by Ezekiel,
(7:i5.) One wonders why the revisers did not change the awk
ward rendering " field " for " country " in all these places, when
it is of equal authority according to the best lexicographers, and
expresses the meaning much more clearly. A revision of a
translation should give the exact meaning of the original in the
language of the present, and no other word can take the place
of " country " in these Scriptures, bringing out the meaning of
the original Hebrew in the English of to-day.
CITY, THY.
Dan. 9: 16. O Lord, according to all thy righteousness let
thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jeru
salem, thy holy mountain ; because for our sins and for the

62 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
iniquity of our fathers Jerusalem and thy people are become a
reproach to all that are round about us. v. 17. Cause thy face to.
shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.
v. 18. Behold our desolation and the city that is called by thy
name. v. 19. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, heark
en and do ; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God : because
thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
On the night of the first day of the new year the priest who
watched in the temple of Bil Marduk in Babylon chanted a
hymn of which these words form a part :
O Bil, lord of the world, who dwellest in the temple of the sun,
Reject not the hands that are lifted to thee.
Show mercy to thy city Babylon.
To E Saggil* thy temple, incline thy face.
Grant the prayers of thy people, the sons of Babylon.
H. L. 81. 483, 489, 491, also R. IV. 46 and 47.
One cannot but wish that this last prayer had been offered
to the living God, who redeems his people from their sins, and
not to an imaginary being, who had no real existence and there
fore could not help his worshippers. Reading such words one is
reminded of the address of Paul to the men of Athens : " What
therefore ye worship in ignorance, this set I forth unto you."
CITY AND TOWER.
Gen. 11:4 tells how men proposed to " build a city and a
tower whose top might reach to heaven," and commentators have
straightway dreamed of an insane ambition that would scale the
skies, or an equally insane presumption that would assault om
nipotence ; but the men of that day had actual sins enough
without our adding any imaginary ones to the list, and the true
reason is that assigned in the same passage from their own lips :
" Lest we be scattered abroad on the face of the whole earth."
Other cities had also towers, as the tower of Penuel, Judg. 8:17;
Shechem, Judg. 9:51; Edar, Gen. 35 : 21 ; Siloam, Luke 13:4;
Syene, Ezek. 30 : 6. When Asa builded cities in Judah, besides
walls and gates he built in them towers as a thing of course,
* Or Bit Saggil, an Accadian term, meaning, " The house of the raising of the
head."

CLEAN. 63
2 Chron. 14: 7. And if these men after the flood proposed to
build a tower that would reach to heaven it was because the
memory of that terrible destruction was so fresh in their minds,.
because the world around them seemed so large and empty and
those who were to occupy it so few, that they felt bound to keep
them together. The same instinct that now draws youth from
the country into the city was stronger then than now, for violence
was more rife and insecurity greater, so a tower was then more
indispensable than pavements and gas-lights are to-day.
In Babylonia and Assyria the ziggurat (tower) was the most
conspicuous part of their temples, and served the ends of astrono
my as well as of religion. Men of rival cities boasted of the height
and strength of their towers as they now do of their splendid
structures or extensive manufactures, and we can readily see
that even in that early time after the flood anything that made
men proud of their city would tend to prevent the segregation
which they dreaded. CLEAN.
The distinction between animals as clean or unclean dates
back as far as the flood, Gen. 7 : 2, and seems to have been
then not a new idea but a well-known fact. It also came down
even to gospel times, as appears from the words of Peter in
Acts 10 : 14, 15.
The same distinction appears to have existed in Assyria, for
we read (R. IV. 32. 1.3) of a gazelle clean or without blemish,
ellu, and in 62. No. 2. 55 of a pure lamb, ibbu, and clean herbs;
so also a pure strong sheep (64. 2. 22). The hog, Heb. chazir,
is not mentioned in the Semitic inscriptions, either Babylonian
or Assyrian (H. L., 83), and reptiles were counted unclean as
among the Jews. One of the penitential psalms expresses sor
row for having eaten the forbidden thing. These things seem
to indicate that the Babylonians, like the Jews, divided animals
into two classes, one the clean, lawful to be eaten, and the other
the unclean, which might not be eaten. Still the certainty is
not absolute, for each of these texts may be explained without
such a distinction as existed between the clean and unclean
animals in Scripture.

64 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
CLOTHED WITH CURSING.
Psa. 109 : 18. As he clothed himself with cursing like as
with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and
like oil into his bones.
It would seem as though such words could hardly find a
parallel in any language, and yet on boundary stones in Babylon
and Assyria may be found such sentences as these, invoking
curses on any invader of the rights of the owner : " May the
bright Sin (moon god) who dwells in the sacred heavens clothe him
with leprosy as with a garment." R. of P. IX. 96. 100, 106. " May
Gula, the great queen, the wife of Ninip, infilter into his bowels
a poison that cannot be got rid of, and may he micturate blood
and pus." R. of P. IX. 96. 101, 107. These are only specimens
of a long list of like punishments to be inflicted by other gods.
COLORS : BLUE, VERMILION.
Ezekiel 23 : 5, 6, describes Israel as doting on the Assy
rians, " who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of
them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses," and
adds that Judah also did the same, vs. 12, 14, 15, for "she saw
men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans por
trayed with vermilion, girded with girdles upon their loins, ex
ceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to
look upon, after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the
land of their nativity."
The prophet had evidently visited the palaces of Assyria
and wandered through their many halls bordered with the
monumental bas-reliefs that record the triumphs of her kings.
We now can look on many of the same sculptures, and no one
can gaze on the figures of the monarch, his court and his gen
erals without feeling that they are " all of them princes to look
upon," and also being impressed with the fact that there is not
an old man to be seen among them, but they are all, in the
words of the prophet, " desirable' young men," vigorous, ener
getic, and impressing the spectator with a feeling of respect for
their manifest executive ability.
As for the colors mentioned by Ezekiel, we can hardly ex-

COLORS : BLUE, VERMILION. 65
pect that after they have gone through all the rough handling
and friction of a voyage to Europe, and then for so many years
been exposed to the dampness of an English or even a French
climate, we should find the freshness of color which showed itself
to their first discoverers.
Mons. Botta tells us, P. and C. II. 247, " The band about the
head of the king or vizier is often colored red, as well as the ro
settes, which in other figures sometimes decorate the royal tiara.
The same tint is used upon fringes, baldricks, sandals, earrings,
parasols and fly-flappers, sceptres, the harness of horses, and the
ornamental bosses with which it was covered, and the points of
weapons. In some instances blue is substituted for red in these
details." Could there be a more complete endorsement of the
prophet who says that Israel saw the Assyrians " clothed with
blue," and Judah saw the same personages " portrayed with ver
milion" ? We might have feared that Ezekiel had been care
less, to say the least, in allowing the diversity of statement, but
here we find in the seeming discrepancy an exact transcript of
the facts. Mons. Place, the successor of Mons. Botta, L. N. I. 58,
says that on one of the fragments unfortunately lost in the Ti
gris the colors were more brilliant than usual. The fan of pea
cocks' feathers in the king's hand was the brightest mineral blue.
Mr. Layard says, L. N. II. 238 : " There were fewer remains
of color at Nimroud than in the ruins explored by M. Botta. I
could distinguish them on the hair, beard and eyes, on the san
dals and bows, on the tongues of the eagle-headed figures, and
very faintly on the garland round the head of a winged (figure),
and on the representation of fire in the bas-relief of a siege . . .
At Khorsabad the remains of paint were far more general, being
found on the draperies, the mitre of the king, the flowers carried
by the winged figures, the harness of the horses, the chariots
and the trees. In the bas-reliefs of a siege, the flames issuing
from the houses and the torches of the assailants were invaria
bly red." Then quoting Ezek. 23: 14, 15, he says, p. 240, "The preva
lence of a red color, shown by the remains at Khorsabad, and
the elaborate and highly ornamented head dress of the Khorsa-

Assyrian Echoes

66 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
bad and Koyunjik kings are evidently indicated;" p. 241 he
adds : " On the sculptures I have only found black, white, red
and blue, and these colors alone were used in the painted orna
ments of the upper chambers at Nimroud — at Koyunjik there
were no traces of color." " The Assyrian red exceeds in bril
liancy that of Egypt, which was merely an earthy bole. It ap
proaches nearly to vermilion on the sculptures at Khorsabad,
and has a bright crimson or lake tint on those of Nimroud."
In a note on p. 243 he adds : " The following were the parts
of bas-reliefs on which colors were found at Nimroud and Khor
sabad. The hair, beard, eyebrows, eyelids and eyeballs, black ;
the inner part of the eye, white ; the king's mitre, principally
red ; the crests of helmets, blue and red ; the heads of arrows,
blue ; the bows, red ; the handles of maces, red ; the harness of
horses, blue and red ; sandals in oldest monuments, black, edged
with red ; in those of Khorsabad, striped blue and red ; the ro
settes in the garlands of winged figures, red ; trees at Khorsabad,
a bluish green ; flowers, green, occasionally red ; fire, always
red." It may be worth while to add that the Hebrew ppn, which
is translated " portray, " means literally to cut or engrave ; as
though the prophet intended to convey the idea that the bas-
reliefs were cut in the stone slabs that served to wainscot the
halls, as well as colored with paint, so accurate are his state
ments respecting the things which he had seen in Assyria.
COMMANDMENT, SECOND.
Exod. 20:4. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven
image, nor the likeness of any form that is in heaven above, or
that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the
earth, etc.
It may seem strange that this threefold specification
should be made, of things in heaven above, the earth beneath,
and the water under it; but precisely this was needed to
make — according to the old saying — " the plaster as large as
the sore." The gods of Egypt were drawn from these three
departments. There the fowls of heaven were represented,
among others, by the ibis, the hawk, and the goose. Among

CONCUBINE. 67
animals we need only mention Apis, the sacred bull, though
even the jackal is among the list of the gods. Then Pharaoh
was the living image of the sun-god upon the earth, and from
the waters under the earth among others was the crocodile.
Renouf's Religion of Ancient Egypt 167-74, 245-9.
These three departments also found a place in the Assyrian
Pantheon. In that, the birds of heaven were represented by the
god Zu, the divine storm bird, corresponding to the Prometheus
of Greek mythology (H. L. 224-9), an<3- bird-headed figures
abound on the monuments. See P. and C. I. 63. The earth was
represented by the Sbidi, or winged bulls, that guarded the
gates of Assyrian palaces. See frontispiece in L. N. and B. and
N., also B. and N. 360. Here also kings were received into the
number of the gods, as was the case with Naram Sin, son of
Sargon of Accad. H. L. 31 and Trans. Soc. Biblical Archaeology,
1 877. And the waters under the earth produced Ea, the god of
ancient Eridu, who is figured sometimes as clothed in the skin
of a fish (B. and N. 350 and P. and C. I. 64) and again as hav
ing a human bust joined to the body of a fish. L. B. and N.
343, Smith's Diet, of Bible 528. So perfectly do the prohibitions
of the second commandment fit in to the idolatrous practices that
called for the enactment of the law.
CONCUBINE.
It is worthy of note that when a Hebrew had occasion to
make mention of a concubine he could find no word in his own
language to express the idea, but had to use an exotic term con
cerning the origin of which scholars are not agreed to this day.
That term w'rs occurs in Judg. 19:2; but the Assyrian has a
word of its own to denote the idea, only scholars are not agreed
about its pronunciation, and concubinage was denoted by the
addition of uti, the regular termination of abstract nouns. Prof.
Delitzsch in his Lesestiicke seems to analyze the term for concu
bine into two ideograms, one the determinative for female and
the other the ideogram for tukulti, help, or service. Still he gives
no pronunciation. The difference between the Hebrew and Assyrian in this
respect represents the different status of women in the religion

68 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
of the Bible and in heathenism. In the one her position is that
of virtue and honor, and any deviation from that is a degra
dation induced from without ; in the other degradation is the
rule rather than the exception. It is the inevitable working
of the system. Asshurbanipal in his inscriptions boasts that
Baal, king of Tyre, Yahimelek, his son, and Takiinlu, king of
Arvad, sent each a daughter and the daughters of their brothers
to be his concubines, and that Ningallu, king of Tabalu, and
Saandasharmi, king of Khilakaa (Cilicia), sent each a daughter
with large dowries for the same purpose. R. V. 49-80 and A. M.
21-24. COPIED OUT.
Prov. 25 : 1. "These also are proverbs of Solomon which
the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied out." Hezekiah
lived about 300 years after Solomon, and yet, instead of adding
something new to the stock of human knowledge from the expe
rience of those three centuries, the royal scribes are employed in
transcribing the sayings of the wise king uttered so long before.
This would not be the natural order of things to-day ; but Assy
ria furnishes a perfect parallel to this procedure in the capital of
Judea. In the lands watered by the Euphrates and Tigris civi
lization and culture began at the southern border and travelled
northward. The Accadians were the source of all the litera
ture both of Babylonia and Assyria. The hymns to the gods
were originally written in Accadian, and from that translated
into Assyrian. The same was true of the whole of the early
literature of that region.
Sennacherib transferred a library from Calah to Nineveh in
the latter part of his reign, but Asshurbanipal was the only
Assyrian king who really cared for learning. When Babylonian
cities were captured no spoil was so acceptable to him as some
ancient tablet from Ur or Babylon, and a colophon at the end
certified that it belonged to the Royal Library. One is sufficient
for a specimen. At the end of the hymn to Sin (see " Moon ")
we read : " Like its old copy, copied and made public. Tablet
of Ishtar-shumeshesh, chief scribe of Asshurbanipal, the king of
all, the king of Assyria, and son of Nabu-zir-esir, chief of the
penmen."

COVENANT.

69

COUNT.
The frequent use of this verb is one of the peculiarities that
constitute what is called a Scriptural style ; e. g., Psa. 44 : 20,
" We are counted as sheep for the slaughter ;" 139 : 22, " I count
them mine enemies:" 1 Sam. 1 : 16, "Count not thine hand
maid for a daughter of Belial'." Compare Acts 20:24 and
Philemon, 17.
The same use of this verb is characteristic of the in
scriptions :
Ana shalati aranu, I counted as spoil, is a very frequent
phrase. Asshurbanipal uses it, as in R. V. 2. 133 and Ass'l. 85.
54. So does Sennacherib, as in R. I. 39. 5., Senn. 60. 5 and
A. M. 12. 2.
Shalati is from the verb shalalu, to carry off, and includes
both captives and plunder, as in the above instances, where men
or people are mentioned as well as horses, asses, oxen and sheep,
and valuables of all sorts. COVENANT.
The word covenant occupies a very prominent place in
Scripture. The people of God are looked on as in covenant
with him, and departure from him is transgressing the cove
nant : Josh. 7 : 11, 15 ; Hosea 6 : 7 ; 8 : 1, or forsaking it, Jer. 22 : 9 ;
or breaking it, Deut. 31:20; Lev. 24:15; Jer 11:10; 31:32.
Even sins against men are regarded as breaches of the covenant
of God. Prov. 2:17.
The word occupies an equally prominent place in the As
syrian monuments. Asshurbanipal complains thus of the rulers
in Egypt, R. V. I. 119, 120, Ass'l. 23. 124, A. M. 46. 9, 10: "After
wards these kings, as many as I had appointed to office, ina
adiya ikhtuu, transgressed against my covenant, and did not
keep the oath (mamit) which they had made by the great gods."
R. V. 123, Ass'l. 24. 7 and A. M. 46: 15, he says, "To Tir-
haka, King of Kush, ana shakan adii, for making covenants, and
alliance they sent their envoys." R. V. 1. 132, ^ss'l. 26. 21, A. M.
46. 26, he says, "The oath of Asshur, king of the gods, cap
tured those who had sinned against the covenants of the great
gods." Compare R. V. 7. 18. 93, Ass'l. 238. 44 and 257. 106.

70 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
COVERING THE FACE.
When David heard of the death of Absalom he covered his
face and cried with a loud voice, " O my son, Absalom ! O Ab
salom, my son, my son !" It was the instinctive movement of
sorrow that did not wish others to intrude on his grief, nor see
anything that would call off his mind from his sore distress.
The Assyrians show us that they also recognized this spon
taneous expression of mental anguish when they picture the
'gods as crouching down by the walls of heaven, dissolved in
tears and with their lips covered, because so distressed by the
destruction of the human race by the flood. So Adrakhasis de
scribes to Izdubar the effect which the deluge produced in the
Chaldean Olympus. A. M. 59. 13, D. L. 104. 120. See " Deluge."
Covering the lips is equivalent to covering the face, for one can
not cover them without covering the most expressive portion
of it. CREATION.
It is an interesting inquiry how far the Chaldean account of
Creation is in agreement with the Mosaic; but only a partial
answer can be given to the question, the copies of the creation
tablets are so imperfect. They are seven in number, corre
sponding to the seven days of the Mosaic creation, though, un
like that, the seventh Chaldean tablet is devoted to the creation
of animals. The account of the creation of man is not yet
recovered, only R. IV. 1. 1. 36, 37 speaks of " the woman
brought forth from the man," but that is the work of evil spirits,
not of the gods.
We have only the beginning of the first tablet, small frag
ments of the second and seventh, portions of the third, nearly
the whole of the fourth, about two-thirds of the fifth, and none
at all of the sixth. The first tablet speaks of " that time," cor
responding to the " In the beginning " of Moses. Out of a
watery chaos called Mummu Tiamat proceed both the gods and
the world. This same Tiamat, Hebrew Tehom, the abyss, fig
ures also as a dragon, the leader of the powers of evil, and is
spoken of as " the wicked serpent."
The order of events is somewhat obscure ; but first of all

CREATOR. 71
are the original deities, Lakhma and Lakhama, then Ansar and
Kisar, the sky and atmosphere, and last of all Anu, Bil, and Ea —
the Zeus, Pluto, and Poseidon of Chaldea.
In connection with the chaos there seems to have been a
host of imperfectly formed and malevolent creatures under
Tiamat, and before creation could be a success Tiamat and her
hosts must be overcome. This work devolved on Merodach, the
son of Ea, who engaged in single combat with the dragon and
overcame her. The sky was formed out of her skin and became
the dwelling-place of the new gods. The earth seems not to
have been made till after the institution of the heavenly bodies
in the fifth book, and it is not very manifest just where the
creation of the light comes in. A complete set of the tablets,
however, may clear up that as well as other dark points and
give us a more intelligent knowledge of their ideas. As it is,
there appears a heaven-wide difference between the material
ism and polytheism of Chaldea and the spirituality of the word
of the living and true God. See under " Dragon."
One very noticeable thing in the Chaldean account of Crea
tion is that the gods are created, as well as men and matter.
It would be interesting to see a skeptical scientist try to
make the Chaldean record of Creation conform to the revela
tions of science on that subject. Before he could find any possi
ble way to reconcile the two he might obtain a new conception
of the truthfulness and accuracy of the Scripture record.
CREATOR, FATHER.
Peter 4:19. Wherefore let them also that suffer ac
cording to the will of God commend their souls in well doing
unto a faithful Creator.
Some complain of this as wanting in comfort. They say,
" If it had spoken of commending ourselves to ' a loving Father,'
that had been genuine consolation ; but ' a faithful Creator ' is
too cold and abstract an idea to cheer our sorrow." The question
might be raised whether the Creator has not a purer and more
tender affection for those whom he has formed in his own
image, Gen. 1 : 27, than all the fathers that ever lived ; but we
do not need to press that point. The Scriptures use Creator and

72 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Father as synonymous ; for when carrying back the genealogy
of Christ they do not stop with Adam, Luke 3 : 38, but carry
it one step further, "Adam, the Son of God."
dne would hardly look for help to the Assyrian on such a
point, and yet we find it there ; for Asshurbanipal, after saying,
R. V. 1. 5. and A. M. 19, 20, that Asshur and Sin created him,
ibnuu, calls Esarhaddon three lines after that abu banuua, " the
father, my creator," and repeats the same in line 27.
It may be said this refers only to man, but in the account
of the deluge the goddess Ishtar says, A. M. 59. 9 and 10, " I, the
mother, did not bring forth, ullada, mankind that like the prog
eny of fishes they should fill the sea." This manifestly refers
to the creation of the race. Is even Ishtar thus pictured by her
worshippers as possessed of natural affection ? and what shall
we say of the true Creator, who asks, Isa. 49 : 15, " Can a woman
forget her sucking child ? — yea, these may forget, yet will I not
forget thee " ? CRUELTIES.
2 Sam. 12:31. And he (David) brought (out) the people
that were therein, and put them under saws and under harrows
of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the
brick kiln.
This would be branded as inhuman conduct to-day. Why
was David so cruel ? It was not the grace of God in him that
yielded such fruit, but it was the cruel spirit of the nations round
about that blinded him to its enormity, and made his heart cal
lous to human suffering.
This may appear from a view of the cruelties inflicted by
the kings of Assyria as set forth in their own annals. Asshur
natsirpal lived later than David, he was the cotemporary of Jehu,
and he records in his annals (R. I. 21.72, R. of P. new II. 154.72)
" Twenty soldiers I captured alive, in the wall of his palace I
immured them." This was at Ameka. In Suru on the Euphrates
above the mouth of the Balikh he built a pyramid at least in
part of living men, then flayed alive the rebellious nobles, and
covered the pyramid with their skins. Others he impaled alive
on stakes inserted in the upper portion of the pyramid. He built
eight such pyramids at different places. In one city he cut off

CRUELTIES. 73
the legs and arms of the leaders, and then flayed their king alive
oh his return to Nineveh (R. I. 19.89-93 and R. of P. new 143
and 144) and both these horrid cruelties are portrayed in the bas-
reliefs of his palaces. B. and N. 456 and Kitto's Bible Illustra
tions, Isaiah, p. 232.
After that, in the city of Tela, he cut off the limbs of some
of his captives, and the noses, ears, and fingers of others, put out
the eyes of many, built one pyramid of living men, and another
of human heads, and burned their young men and maidens in
the fire. R. I. 19. 117, 118, and R. of P. new II. 146. 117, 118.
Then at Ipsilipria, in the neighborhood of Lake Van, he built up
a column of heads, and consumed their young men and maidens
in the fire, R. I. 20. 19, and R. of P. new II. 148, 149. In the
city of Pitura (Pethor, Num. 21:5) also he burnt many soldiers
in the fire, as well as young men and maidens, and built his two
kinds of pyramids besides impaling 700 men in front of the city
gate. R. I. 22. 108, 109, R. of P. new II. 159. 108, 109. At Amida
(Diarbekir) he piled up a pyramid of 600 human heads and im
paled 400 soldiers before the gates. R. I. 26. 107, 108, R. of P.
new II. 174. 107, 108. One wonders how his soldiers could have
endured for so long the sight of so much human suffering. It
seems as though even the protracted monotony of so much mis
ery must have palled on the senses. And what an education for
the young men who were made to carry out such — shall I call
it — refinement of torture ? One is ready to question the utility
of the history that compels us to dwell upon such horrors.
I have passed over several cases where a number were im
paled, lest the reader should be surfeited with the monotony of
misery, yet as some may turn to these pages for light on the
statement that "the dark places of the earth are full of the
habitations of violence," Psa. 74 : 20, the case of the fortified city
of Kinabu must be added, where he destroyed 3,000 captives by
fire, besides burning their young men and maidens to ashes,
building 600 bodies of slain soldiers into pyramids, and flaying
alive Khula the ruler of the city. R. I. 19. 108-1 10. R. of P. new
II. 145. 108-110.
This does not furnish very pleasant reading, and the worst
thing about it is that it is not fiction, but the record of sufferings

74 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
actually endured and of cruelties really inflicted by one who was
not ashamed to record them on his monuments as a memorial of
his glory. His full length statue is given in L. N. II. 12 from
his palace at Nimrood, and it looks fully capable of such enor
mities. No wonder he styles himself " the unique monster ....
the consumer of the strong. The hero who spares not " (R. I.
26. 126, 127, R. of P. new II. 176, 126, 127), adding another to the
list of those whose glory is in their shame and showing us from
what a horrible pit we have been lifted up by the grace of God
in Jesus Christ our Lord ; for if Christ had not come to our earth
what power had availed to check the perpetuation of such cruel
ties? CUNEIFORM WRITING, EXTENT OF.
Cuneiform writing originated among the non-Semitic popu
lation of Sumir and Akkad, who spoke an agglutinative lan
guage like the Tatar and Turkish. From them it passed over to the
Semitic Babylonians and Assyrians, who used its signs in writing
their own language. In Elam or Anzan it was used to record
their ideas and annals, and in the ninth century B. C. it was
adopted by the annalists of Van and Ararat to express their
Alarodian words. Cuneiform tablets mainly relating to business
affairs have been found near Caesarea in Central Asia Minor. A
colony from Assyria introduced it there. A seal'with cuneiform
characters was found near Herat, and Sir Henry Rawlinson
found an inscription in this character at Seri-pul (Siripool) forty-
five miles southwest of Balkh. The tablets of Tel el Amarna in
Egypt bear witness that it was the common medium of literary
intercourse from Assyria as far west as Egypt (R. of P. new
II. 55 seq., and VI. 115 seq.), even before the exodus of Israel
from Egypt. CURSE OF JERICHO.
The curse pronounced by Moses, Deut. 13 : 16, and by Joshua,
6 : 26, on the man who should rebuild Jericho finds a curious
illustration in R.I. 14. 13-11. See also A. M. 4. 14-30 and the
notes on 66.
Tiglath Pileser I. (Tugulti apal i sharru : servant of the son
of the house of the firmament, B. C. 11 20-1 100), R. of P. new I.
90, after describing the capture and utter destruction of the city

CURSlftG. 75
Khunutsa, adds that over the shapeless mounds of rubbish he
sowed tsipa, stones (see i Kings 3 : 19), and I made a birik siparri
(literally, copper lightning)* from the spoils of the lands which I
had captured through the help of my God and Lord, and I wrote
upon it that that city should never be rebuilt nor its walls re-
erected. A house of brick I built upon the ruins (lit. upon its
head) and I placed within it that birik siparri." The object was
the preservation of that written prohibition from age to age so
that it should never be transgressed. This is translated in R.
of P. V. 20. 29, but the meaning is not fully brought out — as
indeed it could not have been at that early date, 1875, even by
the best scholars. CURSING.
1 Sam. 17 : 43. And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
We have a specimen of such cursing in the list of maledictions
which Tiglath Pileser invokes on the heads of any who may in
the future erase the inscriptions that set forth his mighty deeds.
He says, R. I. 16. 74-88, "May the gods Anu and Bammanu, the
great gods, my lords, exceedingly pulr him to shame and curse
him with a grievous curse. May they overthrow his kingdom
and forcibly remove the foundation of his throne, the armies of
his lordship may they annihilate, his weapons may they break
in pieces. May they bring about the defeat of his warriors.
May they cause him to spend life bowing down (Rom. 1 1 : 10)
before his enemies. May Bammanu with destructive thunder
bolts dash his land in pieces. Want, hunger, and famine, dead
bodies may he cast on his land. Against the lordship of his ful
ness may he pronounce. Let his name and his seed perish in
the land." Other kings pronounce like maledictions on the de
stroyers of their records and their monuments. Indeed, such
curses form a stereotyped portion of the contents of the inscrip
tions on every corner-stone (Timin) of temple and palace in
Babylonia and Assyria. In this connection one cannot help
thinking of those words of the Psalmist (109: 17-19). "Yea, he
loved cursing, and it came unto him, and he delighted not in
blessing, and it was far from him. He clothed himself also with
cursing as with his garment, and it came into his inward parts
* It would seem to be a curse engraved on copper.

76

ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.

MUSLIM DEVOTEE CUTTING HIMSELF LIKE THE PROPHETS OF BAAL, (i Kings 18 : 28.)

cyrus. 77
like water, and like oil into his bones. Let it be unto him as the
raiment wherewith he covereth himself, and for the girdle
wherewith he is girded continually."
CUT THEMSELVES.
The priests of Baal, in their great contest with Elijah at
Mount Carmel, "cried aloud, and cut themselves after their
manner with knives and lances till the blood gushed out upon
them." i Kings 8 : 28.
In their mourning for Tammuz (see under " Tammuz ") the
frenzied worshippers tore their hair, disfigured their faces, and
cut their breasts with sharp knives in token of their deep dis
tress. The wailing of the women mingled with the cries of the
Galli, the emasculated priests of Ashtoreth. At Komana in Kap-
padokia 6,000 eunuch priests joined in the worship, and the Galli
of Phrygia rivalled the priests of Baal and Ashtoreth in cutting
their arms with knives, in scourging their backs, and in piercing
their flesh with darts. H. L. 229, 267.
Nor is such worship yet obsolete ; it is still practised in
Western Asia. Modern dervishes sometimes cut themselves
with knives and swords till the blood pours out, or pierce their
naked flesh with iron spikes till they faint with pain and loss of
blood. See " Bible Lands " by Rev. H. J. Van Lennep, D. D.,
p. 767 ; pp. 765 and 769 are sketches from life made by his facile
pencil, and as one looks at them he is amazed that any man could
suppose that in such ways he was rendering service to God.
One of them is here reproduced. CYRUS.
Isa. 45 : 1-4. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him ;
and I will loose the loins of kings, to open the doors before him,
and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee, and make
the rugged places plain : I will break in pieces the doors of brass,
and cut in sunder the bars of iron : and will give thee the trea
sures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou
mayest know that I am the Lord who call thee by thy name,
even the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel

78 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
my chosen, I have called thee by thy name : I have surnamed
thee, though thou hast not known me.
Isa. 41:2 also asks, " Who hath raised up one from the east,
whom he calleth in righteousness to his foot ? He giveth na
tions before him, and maketh him rule over kings ; he giveth
them as the dust to his sword, and as the driven stubble to his
bow." Also Isa. 44 : 28 : " That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd,
and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying of Jerusalem,
She shall be built ; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be
laid." The monuments of Babylonia furnish some remarkable co
incidences with these words of Isaiah ; but before quoting from
them a few words of introduction are needed in order to make
them understood. The reader already knows that, while Israel
worshipped the one only living and true God, in Mesopotamia
men worshipped gods many and lords many ; but there was also
a difference in Mesopotamia itself. While in Assyria religion
was national, and the whole empire united to exalt Asshur as
the father of the gods, in Babylonia each city had its own god,
whom it preferred before all others. Thus Ur was devoted to
Sin, the moon-god, Sippara (Sepharvaim) to Shamash, the sun-
god, and Babylon to Bil Marduk (Merodach). More than that :
the prosperity of each city and of its special cult went together.
If the king of the city subdued his neighbors, not only did the
government of the conquered city submit to the conqueror but
its god became subordinate also. The worship of its special idol
did not cease, but the god of the conquering city became primus
inter pares among the gods of the tributary cities, who became
the attendants of the god of the conqueror. Their shrines were
arranged around his, in token of their inferiority ; or, as Nebu
chadrezzar, king of Babylon, expressed it when his victories
had made his god Merodach supreme in Babylonia, " They stood
around him listening in reverence, and bowed down before him.
But Nabonidus (Nabunahid, Nebo is exalted), the last king of
Babylon, B. C. 556-541, went a step further, which gave great
offence both to the conquered cities and to the inhabitants of his
own capital. He undertook to remove the idols of the various
cities to Babylon, both them and their worship. This, of course,

CYRUS. 79
gave offence to the other cities, who were thus robbed of all the
glory that remained to them after they had lost their liberty,
and it also offended the Babylonians, because it brought in a
host of other gods to divide with Merodach the honor that had
up to this time belonged to him alone.
These statements may prepare us to appreciate some ex
tracts from the Cylinder Inscription of Cyrus found in the palace
of Babylon by Mr. Hormuzd Rassam in 1879, which is written in
the Babylonian language by Babylonian scribes and for Babylo
nian readers. It may be found in R. V. 35, and also in A. M.
39-42. There is a good translation by Prof. Sayce in R. of P.
new V. 165-168, and also one by Prof. H. V. Hilprecht of the
University of Pennsylvania in the " Sunday-School Times," 1893,
pp. 34 and 35. Throughout it speaks of Nabonidus as the enemy
of Merodach, and of Cyrus as his favorite, and it is significant that
as soon as Nabonidus suffered a reverse the whole population at
once submitted. The unpopularity of Nabonidus may perhaps
furnish an explanation of the way in which the gates of the city
happened to be left unguarded on that night when Belshazzar
was slain ; for of course bars and gates were provided in order to
be closed, and if they were left open there must have been some
reason for the negligence, such a breach of military discipline
outside being hardly accounted for by the revelry within the
palace. Unfortunately only 16 of the 45 lines of this Cylinder In
scription are legible, but these make us acquainted with several
important facts. Because of the outcries of the Babylonians,
Marduk and the gods deserted the city. All around was desola
tion till Marduk sought out a righteous king after his own heart,
whom he took by the hand. (Comp. Isa. 41 : 2 and 13, and 45 : 1.)
Cyrus, king of Anzan (Elam), he proclaimed his name for uni
versal kingship. (Compare with this Isa. 45 : 3 and 4.) The
country of Quti (Kurdistan) and all the people of the nomads
(Mandu)— Prof . Hilprecht says, " The tribes in the north and
northwest of Assyria "—he made to bow at his feet. He caused
the black heads (Accadians) to yield to him. In justice and
righteousness has he cared for them. (Comp. Isa. 41 : 2.) Me
rodach, the great lord, the restorer (?) of his people, beheld with

80 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
joy the works of him who was righteous in heart. To Babylon
he caused him to march and take the road to that city, and as a
friend and helper marched at his side. He marshalled the weap
ons of his extended army, countless as the waters of the river.
Without a battle he caused him to enter Babylon, which he
spared. In Shapsha (?) he gave Nabonidus the king, who did
not worship him, into the hands of Cyrus. All the men of Baby
lon, all Shumir and Akkad, princes and Sakkanakka (high priest
or chief) bowed before him and kissed his feet. They rejoiced
in his dominion. Their faces shone. " I am Kuraash, the king
of all, the great king, the mighty king, the king of Tintir (Baby
lon), the king of Shumir and Akkad, the king of the four quar
ters of the heavens, the son of Kaambuzia (Cambyses), the great
king, the king of Anzan, the grandson of Shiispiish, the great
king, the king of Anzan, of an ancient royal family, whose rule
Bil and Nabu love, and whose dominion was the joy of their heart.
" When I entered Babylon graciously, with joy and rejoic
ing, in the palace of the kings I fixed the abode of my lord
ship. Marduk, the great lord inclined (?) the large (broad) heart
of the sons of Babylon to me ; daily I cared for his worship.
My numerous (extended) troops march (?) peacefully in Baby
lon." The five lines following are imperfect.
" For these things Marduk, the great lord, rejoiced over
me, King Kuraash, his worshipper, and Kaambuzia, the son of
my body, and favored my whole army that in peace moved on
prosperously before him. By his great command all the kings
dwelling in palaces of all the regions from the upper sea (Lake
Van) to the lower sea (Persian Gulf), indeed the dwellers in all
lands, even the kings of the west land, dwelling in Sutari (?),
all of them brought their great tributes to' Babylon and kissed
my feet. From  to Asshur (Kalah Shergat) and Shushinak
(?) (Susa) Akkad, Eshnunak (or Abnunak), Zamban Mi turnu
(the river Tornadotos, near Bagdad) Burilu as far as the bor
ders of Quti (Kurdistan), cities beyond the Tigris, founded from
ancient days. The gods who dwelt in them I restored to their
places, and founded for them a permanent abode. All their in
habitants I gathered together and restored to their dwelling-
places, and the gods of Shumir and Akkad, whom Nabonidus

DAGON. 8 1
had brought into Babylon, thereby provoking the lord of the
gods, by the command of Marduk, the great lord, I settled in
their sanctuaries according to their desire."
And so the same Cyrus who was hailed as a benefactor in
Jerusalem because he restored the vessels of the temple which
Nebuchadrezzar had taken away was also hailed as the restorer
of the gods of Babylon to their worshippers. Only in this last
case it was not a follower of Zoroaster but a worshipper of Mero
dach honoring his own god, and Cyrus, according to his own
annals, was not king of Persia, but king of Elam.
dagal hn.
This verb has been derived from the noun hit, a banner,
and in Ps. 20 : 6 has been translated thus : " In the name of our
God we will set up our banners." There is another derivation,
suggested by the Assyrian, that would be much more appro
priate. In that language dagala means "to look to," and hence
"to trust," "to confide in," and in the causative form, " to com
mit," " to entrust to the care of." Thus Asshurbanipal speaks
of "servants looking to or beholding my face." R. V. I. 70,
76, also A. M. 42, 19, 25. So also he says that the gods zanin
ishriitishuun ushadgilu pannna, the adorning of their shrines
entrusted to me. The goddess Ishtar said to Esarhaddon (Asshur
akh iddina, Asshur has given a brother), R. IV. 68. 2. 28
and 29, Mutaakh enika, ana aashi dugulanni : direct your eyes
to me, look to me. A hymn to the sun god says, R. IV., 19. No.
2- 53-55. " Thou art the enlightener of the regions of the far-off
sky, and of the great earth; their cynosure (digilshina) art
thou." In the light of this meaning of the word that Psalm
would read, " We will rejoice in thy salvation, and hold our eyes
fixed upon the name of our God." So also Cant. 5 : 10, is not
"the standard bearer among ten thousand," but the one among
them all who attracts our loving gaze. The Hebrew is h'ai. See
Bib. Sacra. 1884. p. 379. See " Look upon the face."
DAGON.
1 Sam. 5:4. And when they arose early on the morrow
morning, behold Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground

82 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
before the ark of the Lord ; and the head of Dagon and both
the palms of his hands lay cut off upon the threshold ; only the
stump of Dagon was left- to him.
Dagon is generally regarded as the god of the Philistines.
We read of the house (temple) of Dagon at Ashdod, I Sam. 5 : 2,
and there seems to have been another at Gaza, Judg. 16 : 21, 23.
The Philistines fastened the head of Saul in the temple of
Dagon, 1 Chron. 10 : 10, but we are not told whether it was one
of these two or another in some other city. A town in Judah
bore the name of Beth Dagon, Josh. 15 =41, and there was an
other of the same name in the tribe of Asher. Josh. 19 : 27.
There was also a Babylonian Dagan, Da in Accadian mean
ing a summit, and gan being the participle of the verb " to be "
(H. L. 188. note), so that Dagan means "the exalted one." As
shurnatsirpal, B. C. 883-858, calls himself "the beloved of Anu
and Dagon." R. I. 17. 10, 11, also R. of P. new II. 135, and
A. M. 5. 2.
Sargon, B. C. 722-705, assumes the same title. See Prof.
Lyon's Sargon I. 1 and 30. 1 and 31. 1. He also says, do. do. 13.
10 and 40. 10 and 41. 10, that "he has extended his protection
over the city of Kharran and (as the warrior of, or) according to
the ordinance of Anu and Dagan, had written down their laws."
Now Kharran (way) was a sort of half-way house between Baby
lonia and Palestine, and so formed a connecting link between
the Dagan of Assyria and his name-sake among the Philistines.
The general opinion has been that Dagon bore the form of
a fish, but there is nothing to give rise to such an opinion either
in the records of the Greeks or the Assyrians. The Scriptures
certainly do not teach such an idea. The only ground for it is
the fact that the Hebrew word y, means fish ; but that is no suffi
cient basis. As well might we claim that Sharon meant the royal
demesne because *w means prince in Hebrew and shar is king
in Assyrian. \i-\ (grain) is a much more likely derivation, as Philo Biblius
of Gebal (Jebail) says in one place, " Dagon, who is z«w, " Si-
ton," the god of grain, and in another, " Dagon, since he invented
grain (siton) and the plough, is called Zrof Aporptof, arotrios. (Sanco-
niathon, ed. Orelli, pp. 26 and 32.) There is a seal of crystal in

DARKNESS. g,
the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, England, inscribed in Phoe
nician letters " to Baal Dagon," but the symbol engraved on it is
not a fish, but a tree. (Prof. Sayce in S. S. Times, May 27, 1893.)
True, there is a fish god found on the Assyrian monuments,
but it has no connection with Dagon. It represents Ea or Oannes,'
as Berossos calls him, the god of Eridu (Abu Shaherain), which
was once a seaport in the Persian Gulf. Berossos tells us that
he came out of the Erythrean Sea in the morning, instructed
men in useful arts all day, and then returned to his watery home
at night. Dagon, however, is not associated with Ea, but with
Anu, the god of the sky. See S. 1. 1. Still, even in the Amer
ican edition of Smith's Dictionary, a copy of a bas-relief of
Oannes, or Ea, the god of pure life, is made to represent Dagon,
and the old definition of Gesenius, " diminutive of Dag, little
fish, or dear little fish," is given as the true etymology of the
term, and Alexander's Kitto argues very lamely against the deri
vation from dagan (grain).
It was not the body of a fish, but of a man, whose head and
hands were cut off that lay on the threshold of the temple of
Ashdod. The Septuagint adds " his feet " also, and a fish has
neither hands nor feet. DARKNESS.
Job 10*21. The land of darkness and of the shadow of
death. 22. A land of thick darkness, as darkness itself, a land
of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light
is as darkness.
The writer of Ishtar's descent to Sheol, in Assyrian mat la
nugaa the land (whence is) no return, calls it biti shu iribushu
zuummuu nuuru, the house whose entrance is the taking away
of light. R. IV. 31. 7; also in D. L. no. 7, and A. M. 52. 7.
Line 9 of the same reads as follows : nuuru ul immaru, ina ituti
ashba : the light is not seen ; in darkness it dwells.
The ideas are alike in both Job and the Assyrian, but the
expression of them is immeasurably more poetic in the former.
There is a blackness of darkness, especially in the statement
that there the light is as darkness, compared to which the other
is tame and commonplace.

84 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
DEDICATION.
Neh. 12 : 27. To keep the dedication, rain, with gladness,
both with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, psal
teries and with harps.
Under " Music " is given a bas-relief of a musical procession
representing such a scene with great vividness.
And, R. V. 10. 106 and 107, Asshurbanipal tells us after de
scribing his palace at Nineveh, which he was not ashamed to
name bit riduti (domus coitionis), sipir ipsiiti aqtsur niqani urri-
ikhti aqqaa ana ilani biliya ina Khidaati risaati usharrishu : the
work of its construction I put together ; willing * sacrifices I
offered to the gods my lords ; with joy and rejoicing I dedi
cated it. DELUGE, THE.
Traditions of the Deluge exist in many lands, not in the old
world only, but also in the new. It was to be expected then
that among the old records of Babylonia we should find some
account of an event that made so permanent an impression on
the race. Nor are we disappointed. In the palace of Asshur
banipal, on the mound of Koyunjik, Mr. Layard found a cham
ber where clay tablets of all shapes and sizes had been stored
away. The clay was very fine, the characters were formed on
it while soft, and then it was burned, the tablets having been
perforated with small holes to permit the escape of the gases in
the fire, so that they should not crack or lose their shape. The
inscriptions were in the cuneiform character which does not
represent letters but syllables ; many characters are used as
ideograms, i. e., each one represents a word or object. Thus
the character mat represents also country, for matu is coun
try ; and shu stands also for kishatu, a multitude, or shanitu,
repetition. Inscribed cylinders with from six to ten sides were
deposited in the foundations of temples and palaces as we de
posit documents in corner-stones. One was placed under each
corner and contained the annals of the royal builder.
The early literature of Babylonia astonishes us by its
* Literally " hastened." I know not how sacrifices could be hastened, unless
by the fact that the victims submitted without resistance to their fate.

DELUGE, THE. 85
amount and variety. Nor is it lacking in beauty or finish.
They had works on grammar, mathematics, astronomy, geog
raphy, history, and jurisprudence. Bilingual lexicons also ex
plained the obsolete Accadian in the spoken language, which
was Shemitic. There were poems also, and mythological tradi
tions. There were many copies made of important works, for
though there was no press there were many scribes, and many
cities had their libraries, so that we may perhaps handle the
identical tablet that has been read by Daniel, Ezekiel, Nehemiah,
or even Abraham.
Perhaps no Assyrian library was larger than that of Asshur
banipal already mentioned, and in examining a mass of broken
fragments in the British Museum that once belonged to it
George Smith discovered pieces that seemed to speak of the
Deluge, and having put them together with great labor found
an account of that event narrated by Khasisadra, or Shamash
Napishti, the Chaldean Noah, to Izdubar, who is supposed by
many to represent the Nimrod of Genesis. It forms the elev
enth book of an epic in twelve books. Izdubar, suffering with
painful disease, comes to his ancestor who dwells as a god at
the mouth of the Euphrates, and learns from him the story of
the flood. It is vain to inquire which is the more ancient account, the
Mosaic or the Chaldean, for just as these Izdubar tablets were
copied by the royal scribes in Nineveh from much older ones
brought from Babylonia, so it is probable that Moses also had
very ancient records from which he was guided by the Spirit
of God in writing a true history of the past. But which was the
older, the tablets copied under the superintendence of Ishtar-
shum-eshesh or the records in the hands of Moses, who shall
decide ? The same providence of God may throw light on this
question hereafter that has so wonderfully opened up the buried
treasures of the past to us to-day ; for the same God who has
led us so far is able to lead us still further in our knowledge of
ancient days.
It will doubtless be found, when we know exactly how
many years transpired between the Deluge and the formation of
the" first Izdubar tablets in Chaldea, that the period was long

86 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
enough to bring about many changes in the tradition before
it was stereotyped in baked clay ; and Moses may either have had
access to earlier sources of information, or the Spirit of God may
have guided him to reject the errors and follies which idolatry
had already introduced into the record. No one who believes
that " God has of old time spoken unto the fathers in the proph
ets by divers portions and in divers manners" (Heb. i : i) can
for a moment question the fact of such guidance. Nor can we
call in question the antiquity of this inspiration when Zecharias
was inspired to tell us (Luke i : 70) that " God spake by the
mouth of his holy prophets which have been since the world
began.". The older writers, then, whom Moses followed may
have been equally inspired of God with himself, at least so as
to furnish a reliable basis for his record of the past.
We shall find the Chaldean tradition of the Deluge differing
in many things from the inspired record, but in most of the
points of diversity it will not require very long study to distin
guish truth from error, though there is a morbid scrupulosity
that may feel tempted to withhold approval from 'the inspired
account because it is ours, and early associations have prejudiced
us in its favor, and to look favorably on the other because it
comes from another source, or even because it is the less credible
of the two. The impulse that prompts to help the man who is
under, or who has no friends, may be found operative here also.
And yet it may be well to remember that if both accounts
had come to us from sources equally deserving of credit we must
show them equal favor, but if one comes from a people noted for
their immorality, if this immorality went on till just as their
palaces were buried out of sight so they also sank into the grave
that had been dug by their own vices, we may well question the
account emanating from such a source wherever it differs from
the other. In such matters moral character tells. One who
knows affirms, " Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or
make the tree corrupt and the fruit corrupt ; for the tree is known
by its fruit" (Matt. 12 : 33). If, now, the other comes from a dif
ferent people, who, though also by nature children of wrath,
were yet subjected to a moral discipline that lifted them steadily
towards holiness, if, though at times this upward movement

DELUGE, THE. 87
seemed irregular, yet it was moved forward by one who never
faltered, and if the Scriptures given through that people are the
source of all spiritual life in the most favored lands to-day, then
may we expect to find truth in the line of this moral progress.
At any rate we should not accept the latest novelty simply
because it contradicts Holy Scripture. Scripture has more than a
claim to inspiration. The Quran and the Book of Mormon have
that, but the claim of the Bible is established by its fruits on a
foundation that cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.
So far we have had reference to the character of the two na
tions and their Scriptures. Let us also glance at their contents.
If anything is settled in religion it is that there is only one living
and true God. What intelligent man believes that Noah was a
polytheist ? Yet the Chaldean account of the Deluge in connec
tion with that event describes the acts and words of Anu and Ea,
of Bil (Bel), and Nabu (Nebo), of Ishtar and Bammanu (Rim-
mon), besides goddesses and demigods without number. In
such a pantheon Noah would never recognize the God with
whom he walked. What would he say of gods who "huddled
together in terror like dogs " or who " swarmed like flies over a
dead carcase ?" and yet, as we shall see, these words are used of
the gods of Chaldea. If the record errs on a point so fundamen
tal how can we trust it in other matters when it contradicts the
Scriptures ?
This early departure from monotheism is a proof of the in
spiration of Holy Scripture with its revelation of one living and
true God that has not yet received the attention it deserves.
Genesis is more trustworthy than this Izdubar tablet because
written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that guid
ance was given in a way that left Moses free to use every written
help within his reach, and God took care that the result was in
accordance with the facts. We know there are many different
traditions. One where Noah is known as Ogyges ; another in
which he is called Deucalion. That of Apamea, where he' and
his wife are pictured standing inside the ark and the name Noe
written on it in ancient letters. Besides these, Hierapolis and
Samothracia, Megara and distant China had each its tradition,
yea, even Mexico also, and other American nations. Then we are

88 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
not to suppose that the patriarchs learned nothing from genera
tion to generation, for they constantly received instruction from
Him who was "the light of the world." Besides, the flood was
not further removed from Abraham than the Reformation is from
us, and an intelligent Christian in New England can appreciate
that Reformation better than some learned German professors.
That the use of other records by the sacred writers is not
inconsistent with inspiration is manifest from the number of an
cient writings either quoted or referred to in the Old Testament ;
e. g., the Book of Jasher, Josh. 10 : 13 ; the Book of the Wars of the
Lord, Num. 21 : 14 ; the Book of Nathan the Prophet, 2 Chron.
9:29; the History of Shemaiah the Prophet, 2 Chron. 12:15;
the History of Iddo the Seer, 2 Chron. 13 :22 ; the prophecy of
Ahijah the Shilonite, 2 Chron. 9 ; 29, etc. The inspired writer is
not less under divine control in rejecting what is erroneous in
previous records than in writing down a direct revelation of truths
previously unknown. So we are not at all concerned to know
how many previous records Moses had access to in performing
the work assigned him.
One mode of attack on the book of Moses has been to deny
the existence of writing at a period so early as that in which he
lived ; but Egyptian research has shown that the great pyramids
of Gizeh were in course of erection and hieroglyphic writing
already fully developed at a time when, according to our chron
ology, the creation was taking place. H. L. 33. The statues
also discovered at Telloh, on which an inscription tells us that
the stone, a hard diorite, was brought from the land of Magan,
(the Sinaitic peninsula) may be roughly dated at about B. C.
4000. H. L. p. 137. These, to say nothing of other discoveries,
set that objection forever at rest.
Unexpected light on this point has also come from another
quarter. In the winter of 1877 tablets covered with cuneiform
characters were found among the mounds of Tel el Amarna, on
the eastern bank of the Nile, half-way between Minieh and Siout.
These were government despatches from rulers in Assyria, Baby
lonia, Kappadokia, Syria, and elsewhere, to the kings of Egypt,
Amenophis III. and his son Amenophis IV., on public affairs,
and as Asshur Yuballidh of Assyria and Burna Buriyas of Baby-

DELUGE, THE 89
Ionia were among the correspondents the date of the despatches
must be circa B. C. 1430. So here we have, not copies of, but
the identical letters, written at least 100 years before the exodus
of Israel from Egypt, showing that writing was then practised
all over Western Asia.
It would be very unsatisfactory to give the whole of this
eleventh Izdubar tablet as we now have it, there are so many
imperfect lines, and so many lacking altogether, but portions
can be selected which will convey a good idea of the thread of
the story. At the outset we read :
The divine Gisdubar (or Izdubar) said to Khasisadra the far away,
Do I really behold thee ? Thy form has not changed. As I am, so art thou.
A few lines later Khasisadra replies :
" Let me unfold to thee the story of the preservation,
And the decree of God let me relate to thee.
Thou knowest the city of Surippak on the banks of the Euphrates.
It is an ancient city, and the great gods
To- the production of a deluge gave their minds."
Then, after mentioning several things, the god Ea says :
" O dweller in Surippak, son of Ubaratutu,
Leave thy house, build a ship, gather into it the chief (heads) of living creatures,
For they will destroy the seed of life, both of cattle and of wild beasts.
'Passing now over more than 50 fragmentary lines it pro
ceeds :
All that I had I gathered together. All that I had of silver and gold I gathered
together.
All that I had of every kind of seed of living creatures I gathered together.
I put on board the ship all my family and near kindred.
Cattle of the field, wild beasts of the field, and all the workmen I put on board.
The god Shamash (the sun) issued a command.
A voice cried, In the evenings
The heavens will rain down destruction.
Enter into the ship and shut the door.
That command was urgent.
Four days I turned imploringly to his face,
Till I feared to look one day longer.
(Then) I entered the ship and shut the door.
I committed the great structure and its contents to Bnzurkurgal the mariner.
Then the goddess named Sliahmi Slieri ina namari (the water of dawn at daybreak)
Rose from the horizon (foundation of heaven) as a black cloud.

90 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
In it Bammanu (Rimmon, god of the air) thundered.
The gods Nabu (Nebo) and Sharru (the king) went on before.
The throne-bearers (compare Ezek. i) bore it over mountain and plain.
The Targnlli (servitors ?) of the great god of pestilence filled all with confusion.
The god Ninip marched in advance, causing the streams to flow.
The Annunaki (spirits of earth, demons) carried blazing torches.
In their brightness the earth shimmered ;
The rushing roar of Bammanu reached the skies ;
'' All brightness was turned into darkness.
They laid waste the earth like (an invading army ?)
Swiftly sped the winds, charging on men like the shock of battle ;
Brother saw not brother. In all the heaven one could not discern another.
The gods were terror-stricken by the storm.
They sought shelter. They went up to the heaven of Anu (highest heaven),
Like dogs the gods huddled together. They crouched down by the walls.
Ishtar cried out like a mother in her pangs.
Thus spake the great goddess (god) of kindly speech :
That race is verily turned to clay ;
A calamity which I had plainly foretold to the assembled gods.
I proclaim war for the destruction of my people.
I, their mother, did not bring men forth that they should fill the sea like the spawn
of fishes.
The gods as well as the Annunaki joined in her weeping ;
The gods sat in their places dissolved in tears ;
They covered their lips, mourning the flood so near at hand.
Six days and seven nights the storm advanced, the flood and the tempest destroyed.
At the dawn of the seventh day the storm slackened its fierce attack. It was calm ;
The sea went down, the evil wind and flood abated.
My eyes were fastened on the sea ; I lamented aloud ;
For the whole race of men had turned to clay ;
Like logs (Uribi) the corpses floated hither and thither.
I opened the window and the light fell upon my face.
I writhed in agony ; I sank down ; I gave myself up to weeping ;
On my face my tears flowed down.
I looked towards the shore,
And to the height of twelve (measures ?) the land rose up before me.
To the land of Nitsir (deliverance) I steered (stood) the ship.
The mountains of the land of Nitsir held it fast ; it could hot float.
This is repeated six times for six days ; then at dawn on
the seventh —
I sent forth a dove ; I let it go. The dove went forth and returned.
A resting-place it did not find ; it turned back.
I sent forth a swallow ; I let it go. The swallow went forth and returned.
A resting-place it did not find ; it turned back.
I sent forth a raven ; I let it go. The raven went forth and saw the subsiding of
the waters.

DELUGE, THE. 91
It ate, it waded about, but did not return.
Then I sent forth to the four winds (all that were on board) (?) I offered sacrifice.
I erected an altar on the summit of the mountains ;
I set the sacred vessels in order by sevens :
Underneath them I placed cane, cedar, and cypress (pine ?)
The gods smelled the pleasant fragrance,
And lilce flies gathered round the officiating priest.
Then the great mother at her approach
Lifted up the great splendors (bows ?) which Anu had made as his Tsnkliu (?)
This is enough to show that those early days produced some
lines of rare poetic beauty ; but we omit the consideration of it
as a work of art to dwell on its relations to the inspired record
of the same event.
The two narratives have many things in common. Each
assigns to the Deluge a divine origin. Each affirms that all out
side of the ark, or ship, perished. It was characteristic of a
maritime people to call it a ship and not a shapeless ark. In
each the animals were taken on board by divine direction. Each
caulks the vessel inside and out with bitumen, though the quan
tity in the Chaldean account seems immense — three shars ; for
a shar is sixty shosshes, and a shossh contains sixty smaller
measures, so that a shossh is 10,800 measures of some kind. Each
affirms that the vessel was built on dry ground, that it had a roof
or deck, and that, after the inmates had entered, the door was
closed, though in one account man closes it by divine command,
and in the other God does it with his own hand— an important
difference, in view of the pressure that might have been used at
the last moment to keep it open. It was fitting, too, that God
himself should shut out those outside as well as shut in those
inside — a point specially important now, when men question
whether the door will be shut hereafter, and those outside,
through their own fault, shall plead in vain, " Lord, Lord, open
unto us."
The two narratives also present some marked contrasts.
Though they both agree that the race was destroyed, yet the
reason given is not the same. The Bible tells us it was because
the wickedness of man had become so flagrant that it could no
longer be endured — a reason worthy of a holy God, who declares
death to be the wages of sin.

92 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Then, though the flood was dreadful, yet it was righteous,
yea, even beneficent ; for, had the foul orgies and bloody violence
then prevailing been allowed to go on, greater suffering would
have fallen to the lot of a greater number, as the race went on
increasing, or it would have arrested that increase and the race
had perished by a lingering process through its own corrup
tion. It was mercy, then, that sent the flood to arrest this process
and prepare the way for better things. On the other hand, the
Chaldean account simply says that the gods set their minds on
causing a flood, but no reason is given for that determination.
Then the gods take sides. Some passionately bring it on. The
angry Bil demands, " Has any one come out alive ? let not a
man live from the destruction." Others oppose and bewail it.
One god rebukes another for losing his temper, and after that
the passing statement that " the sinner has borne his sin " car
ries with it no moral force. Not so does the word of God recount
his righteous judgments.
In Prof. Sayce's "Fresh Light," p. 27, is the following: "It
has often been remarked that, though traditions of a universal
or a partial deluge are found all over the world, it is only in the
Old Testament that the cause assigned for it is a moral one.
The Chaldean account of the Deluge offers an exception to the
rule. Here, as in Genesis, Sisuthrus, the Accadian Noah, is
saved from destruction on account of his piety, the rest of man
kind being drowned as a punishment for their sins."
It would be very pleasant to be able to speak so strongly,
but while the statement quoted in the text implies that the Del
uge was the result of the sins of men, I fail to find any positive
record of the piety of Khasisadra.
Prof. Sayce, p. 32, translates "Ruumi aa ibbatiik shuduud
aa— " may the just prince not be cut off ; may the faithful not
be destroyed. But unless he has a different text from that in
D. L., 3d edition, the words simply mean, " Have compassion;
let him not be cut off; be kind; let him not — " the rest of
the sentence is wanting. Evidently some verb followed equiva
lent to the " cut off " of the previous clause, but there is nothing
whatever concerning the moral character of Khasisadra, though

DELUGE, THE. 93
we may infer from his being " raised to be like the gods " that
he was not unworthy of that honor.
The proportions of the ark in Genesis are those of our best
ships, but the extravagant measurements which some have read
into the Chaldean accounts are of no authority whatever. Un
fortunately the numbers are illegible, as the tablet is injured at
that place, and we must wait for the discovery of another copy
to fill the blank ; but so long as the Turkish Government pursues
the "dog-in-the-manger" policy of neither excavating them
selves nor suffering others to make excavations, it is to be feared
that the day of additions to our present stock of material is far
distant. There is another seeming discrepancy between the two ac
counts, which is only seeming. Genesis says that the ark rested
on the mountains of Ararat, while the Chaldean tradition makes
the ship ground on the mountains of Nitsir, now Mount Elwend.
So also a Moslem tradition designates a third place, Jebel Judi,
in Kurdistan. At first the contradiction seems hopeless, but
when we remember that a line from southern Babylonia to
Mount Elwend if prolonged goes into Armenia, that a line from
Mesopotamia drawn through Mount Judi touches the same region,
and that the inspired writer does not say Mount Ararat, which is
one prominent mountain, but the mountains of Ararat, i. e., of
Armenia, for so the Assyrian inscriptions designate that country
(Urardi), the seeming contradiction is in a fair way to be ex
plained. In some things, however, the two accounts do not agree ;
as, for example, the number of those who were on board. Gen
esis limits it to Noah and his family, including his sons' wives
and perhaps their little children. There may possibly have
been servants also, to help care for so many animals. Still they
are not mentioned, and it is not best to be wise above what is
written. The Chaldean account, however, adds not only man
servants and maid-servants, but relatives and mechanics, and
even sailors also. Now if the ship had cleared for a foreign
port, and must be navigated into a specified harbor, sailors
might have been essential ; but if it is merely to float about
till the flood subsides, what need of sailors? Wherever it

94 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
touches dry land, that will be its destination, unguided by hu
man care.
The accounts differ also in the duration of the flood. Ac
cording to Moses, the windows of heaven were opened on the
17th day of the second month. Then the waters continued ris
ing for forty days, and prevailed upon the earth 1 50 days. Then
the ark grounded on the 17th day of the seventh month, and
the tops of the mountains appeared seventy-three days later.
Forty days after that Noah sent out the raven that never came
back, and then the dove which returned. A week later he sent
it forth again, and it brought back an olive leaf, a pleasant proof
that the waters were drying up. Then, on the first day of the
new year, Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked
out, and lo ! the face of the ground was dry. He did not leave
the ark, however, till the 27th day of the second month, 375
days after the date when the Lord had shut him in. This long
period is required for the rise and slow decrease of so great a
mass of water ; but the Izdubar story makes it reach its height
in seven days, and then disappear in seven more, a manifest in
congruity. Even had it reached its height in seven days, then
the tempest was of course proportionately severe, and how could
the sailors endure it ? When Khasisadra wants to look out he
must open a window, and we do not read that it had been
opened before. Were the sailors, then, on deck? But why
expose them to such a tempest when they had nothing to do ?
and if, like the others, they remained under cover, then why
were they there at all ? If they were outside, were their provi
sions outside also ? or how were they fed ?
Both accounts mention the sending forth of the raven and
the dove, but in Genesis the raven characteristically does not
return. The dove returns twice, and poetry presents no picture
more beautiful than its return with the olive leaf in its mouth.
Perhaps the Babylonians had some mythological idea connected
with the swallow that led to the insertion of that bird in their
tradition. Each account mentions that sacrifices were offered after the
flood, but one calls forth the gracious promise that no deluge
shall ever again destroy the earth, with the beautiful rainbow

DELUGE, THE 95
for its seal. It is doubtful whether the character translated
splendors may not be an error of the scribe for rainbow, since
the sign for bow very much resembles it ; still there is no men
tion of the promise of which it is the divinely appointed me
morial. Idolatry is noted for the want of love to its gods, who are
served through fear, and not from affection. Even the Moslem,
though he maintains the unity of God, does not make heaven
consist in the enjoyment of God, but in being ministered to by
80,000 beautiful attendants and the seventy-two houris assigned
to him for his special delectation ; in the 300 golden dishes that
shall be set upon his table, each containing a different food, the
last morsel of which shall be as delicious as the first, and eaten
with equal relish ; in perpetual youth — in fact, in anything and
everything but God. We are not surprised that the expectants
of such a heaven are like the heaven which they expect.
One hardly needs to contrast the moral influence of the two
narratives. We have already seen the lack of that clear exhibi
tion of the demerit of sin in the Chaldean tradition as compared
with the inspired record, which tells us that the wickedness of
men was so great as to grieve God at his heart and call for a
righteous retribution that would prevent the waters of a more
destructive deluge.
Two other points may be briefly alluded to. Genesis, sub
ordinating the reputation of a good man to the well-being of the
race, impartially and without any attempt at apology tells the
sad story of the drunkenness of Noah. The Chaldean epic
makes Khasisadra lay in wines, to use his own words, " like the
waters of the rivers," without one hint of danger, while the sin
of the patriarch is passed over in silence.
Again, Holy Scripture in like -manner exposes the false
hood of Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, and shows how the lep
rosy of Naaman was transferred to the untruthful attendant.
But this sacred book of Babylonia tells how Ea betrayed the pur
poses of the gods, and then makes him say, " I did not reveal
them ; I only caused Khasisadra to see a vision, and he heard
them ;" and this pitiful prevarication proceeds from the lips of
one of their so-called " great gods." What must have been the

96 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
influence of such deities on their worshippers! If any one
would know the infinite superiority of Holy Scripture let him
compare the sacred books of other religions with the word of
the living God. DESTRUCTION BY COMMAND. v
1 Sam. 15 : 18. The Lord sent thee. . . and said, Go and
utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites. . . till they be con
sumed, v. 19. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of
the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil ?
This is the rebuke of Saul by the prophet. The sword of
God smites on account of transgression, and not for plunder.
Compare with this the inscription of Asshurbanipal con
cerning Madaktu, one of the leading cities of Elam, R. V. 7.
13, 14. Ass'l. 237, 40, 41 : he calls it " Madaktu the city which ina
kibit (by the command of) Asshur and Ishtar I destroyed, laid
waste, and carried away its spoil." The contrast is instructive.
See also the case of Achan, Josh. 7, though in some cases the
ministers of the divine retribution were allowed a reward for
their work. It would require a great effort to imagine a king of
Assyria forbidding his soldiers to touch the spoils of a city which
they had captured. DETERMINATIVES.
These are a great help in reading Assyrian. They are
ideograms, or signs representing classes of objects which are
prefixed to objects belonging to that class. Thus, a wedge stand
ing on its point is used to show that what follows is a proper
name. The sign sal shows that a woman's name follows after
it, mat indicates that the name of a country or district follows,
alu denotes that it is the name of a town or city, ilu that it is the
name of a god, naru denotes the name of a river or lake, arkhu
of a month, khu, the ideogram for itstsuru, marks out birds,
kakkabu stars, aan, ta an or kam numbers, imiru animals, nunu
fishes, ku clothing, amilu a tribe, or people, or an official, itsu a
tree, or vessel of wood, or an instrument, abnu a stone, whether
precious or otherwise.
Of course these signs do not have these meanings always, in
other positions, and yet their use as determinatives is a very

DEVILS. 97
great help. Generally they precede the words which they define,
but some, as ki, country, and others, follow after.
DEVILS. DHW
Deut. 32 : 17. They sacrificed unto demons which were not
gods. The Authorized Version reads " devils."
Gesenius renders Dnw "idols pp. lords," and adds that the
Septuagint rendered it demons because the Jews thought idols
were demons who thus caused themselves to be worshipped.
The monuments give a more satisfactory view of the mat
ter. Those who have read the volumes of Layard remember the
frontispieces to his first work on Nineveh. Vol. I. showed the
lowering of one of the great winged bulls from its place at
the principal entrance of the palace in Nimrood, and Vol. II.
showed the same en route to the Tigris. Another view is
given I. 1 19, though a better head of the animal appears in II.
228. These were called shidu, plural, shidi. The frontispiece of
B. and N. shows the positions they occupied in the palace as it
was restored by Mr. Ferguson, and p. 112 gives an Assyrian
view of the journey of one of these from the quarry to the
royal gate.
These huge idols were the guardian deities of the king's
palace, and were believed to defend it from all harm. They
were worshipped like other gods, and the sin of Israel consisted
in sacrificing to them as to God. Our thoughts revert at once
to the worship of the calf at Horeb, and we can appreciate the
situation. Their leader has been absent many days. They are
strangers in a strange place, unknown trials lie before them,
and they feel the need of a guardian who should lead them out
of their present perils into safety.
It may be said that they had come out of Egypt, not from
Assyria; but the tablets from Tel el Amarna, dating from the reign
of Amenophis III., show that a constant intercourse existed
between Egypt and Assyria long before the Exodus, and they
show also that the golden calf may have ^f^f^
tion to the Assyrian shidu as to the sacred bull of Egypt.
Israel would naturally be more disposed to favor the religious
ideas of the Pharaohs that showed kindness to the sons of Jacob

Aaayrlan Echo**

98 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
than those of the Pharaoh that knew not Joseph, in their altera
tions of the ritual God had give them.
These shidi were also called cherubs. Indeed, the word
cherub may have been derived originally from the Babylonian.
Does not this description of their office as protectors give new
meaning to the expression " covering cherub " applied to Tyre
in Ezek. 28 : 14 and 16 ? True, it may refer to the cherubs cover
ing the mercy-seat with their wings, but the office of the
shidi as guardians of the palace may show why this form
was selected to cover and protect the mercy-seat, as well as a
reason why the name is applied to Tyre.
DEVISE EVIL.
To the reader of Scripture this phrase is very familiar, as in
Prov. 3 : 29 : " Devise not evil against thy neighbor, seeing he
dwelleth securely by thee." Compare also 14 : 22 ; Ezek. 11:2;
Dan. 11 : 25.
It is not less frequent in the monuments. Asshurbanipal
says of Tarquu (Tirhakah) and other rebellious rulers in Egypt,
ishtiniu amat limuttim : they devised an evil plot. R. V. I.
128 and A. M. 46. 20. See also R. V. 25, A. M. 48. 6 and Ass'l.
27, 31. Another verb, ikpuud, with exactly the same meaning, is
also used, R. V. 1. 120. A. M. 46, 1 1. and Ass'l. 24. 2 ; and the con
tiguity of the two quotations is an indication how frequently
such phrases occur. The latter verb, e. g., occurs also in R. V.
4. 43, A. M. 25, 32 and Ass'l. 162, 100. and in R. V. 4. 68, A. M.
26. 20, and Ass'l. 165, 4. But it is not necessary to go farther.
DIAL.
2 Kings 20 : 1 1 speaks of the dial of Ahaz. Compare also
Isaiah 38 : 8. The Hebrew word is nhyo, maaloth, which Gese
nius renders, " dial, as divided up into degrees ;" others, less cor
rectly, understand " the steps of a staircase." It is a peculiarity
of the Hebrew, in describing a foreign production, to use some
simple term that paints a picture of the object, where the foreign
name is not transferred bodily. The Chaldee paraphrase of.
2 Kings 20 : 1 1 is toyw ps, hour-stone, and the same expression
is used in Isa. 38 ; 8.

DIVORCE. gg
Without going into any discussion of the modus of the mir
acle, for God is never at a loss in such things, our object will be
gained if we call attention to the fact that the gnomon or dial
originated in Babylonia ; and the celebrated one at Delhi, in In
dia, the capital of the Mogul Empire, indicates how they may
have existed in connection with the temples, though of course
without being necessarily of exactly the same form in all re
spects. Herodotus says that the Greeks derived the dial from the
Babylonians, and Vitruvius says that their knowledge of its
most ancient form was obtained from Berossus, the Chaldean, ix.
9. Ahaz seems to have been smitten with the love of new
things, as his copying the foriri of the altar in Damascus shows,
2 Kings 16 : 10, and through his acquaintance with Tiglath Pile-
ser III., on the same visit, it may be that he had the dial in ques
tion set up in his palace in a position where it could be readily
seen from his sick room. Even though he may not have learned
about it directly from his Assyrian visitor, yet his tastes in that
direction abundantly account for the introduction of the then
new and wonderful means for measuring time.
DIVORCE.
Matt. 5 : 31, 32. It was said also, Whosoever shall put away
his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement : but I say
unto you, that every one who putteth away his wife, saving for
the cause of fornication, maketh her an adulteress : and whoso
ever shall marry her when she is put away committeth adultery.
Our Saviour did nothing to elevate women that wrought
with greater efficiency to that end than this stand that he took
on the subject of divorce. Man in his tyranny over woman had
broken down every safeguard of the sanctities of the home, till
woman stood a helpless victim, liable at any moment, on the slight
est pretext, to be rudely torn from her throne in that home and
cast out to utter misery ; not only homeless but separated from
those to whom she had given life, and from whom her heart re
fused to be severed however she might be shut out from their
society. Christ stopped this wrong and outrage, and gave her
peace ; now, so far as society is moulded according to the mind
of Christ, woman sits secure from the infliction of such wrong.

IOO ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Though the testimony of the monuments relieves us from
the incubus of that story of Herodotus that every Babylonian
woman must perforce sacrifice her virtue once in her lifetime to
the gods — and it is a very great relief — yet the following law,
that had been handed down from the old Accadian period, shows
how absolutely the Babylonian wife lay at the mercy of a rich
and unscrupulous husband :
" If a husband say to his wife, Thou art not my wife, half a
maneh of silver he weighs out " (by way of fine). R. of P. III. 24.
It is to be hoped that even this paltry sum went to the di
vorced wife for the supply of her present necessities, though the
law contains no hint to that effect. But note the unblushing
wickedness of the statute. Not even the shadow of a reason is
assigned for the procedure, nor even a hint that the pretence
of assigning a reason forms a part of the ceremony. The man
may do this because he wants to do it, without any other cause.
Then there is no question .that she is his wife, for the law is
based on the assumption that she is, and as such possessed of all
the rights of any wife ; but if to his true and lawful wife he
simply utters the lie, " Thou art not my wife," that lie ipso facto is
changed into the truth ! While the man might send away the
woman on the payment of so much money, unfaithfulness on
her part was punished with death. *Thus Nabu ikhi addin, in the
days of Nebuchadrezzar, put into the marriage contract — if such
a document may be so called — that in case he divorced his con
cubine and married another he should pay her six manehs of
silver— about $250; but if she committed adultery she should
be slain with an iron sword. Prof. Sayce's Social Life among
the Assyrians, 46. It is some relief, however, to know that
even a concubine must be divorced before a man could take an
other in her place. Then polygamy could have no place among
such a people. DOGS.
Job speaks, 30 : 1, of those " whose fathers I disdained to set
with the dogs of my flock."
We find a striking illustration of these words in the declara
tion of Asshurbanipal concerning the Arab chief Vaiteh, son of
Hazael, R.V. 8. 10-12 : Ana knllum tanitti ilu Asshur u ilani rabuti

DOUBLED. IOl
biliya annu kabtu imidsu ma, itsu shigaru ashkunshuma itti asi
kalbi askunsshuma ushaantsir shu abulli qabal alu Nina nirib
mashnakti adnaati : In order to show forth the glory' of the god
Asshur and the great gods my lords, I laid a heavy punishment
upon him ; I put him in a cage, with asi (?) and dogs I enclosed
him, and caused him to be kept inside the gate of Nineveh
called nirib mashnakti adnaati.
Again, lines 27-29, he repeats, Ina kibit ilani rabuti biliya
ulli kalbi ashkunshuma ushaantsir shu shigaru: By the com
mand of the great gods my lords, with the dogs I placed him ;
I caused him to be kept in a cage.
See also R. V. 9. 108-1 11." With the dogs I placed him at the
eastern gate in Nineveh ;" etc., etc.
The Jewish estimate of the dog is forcibly set forth in the
question of David, 1 Sam. 24 : 14 : After whom dost thou pursue ?
after a dead dog, after a flea.
The dog does not appear in the earlier art of Assyria, even
in Babylonia, where a valued breed existed. The only image
of the animal we find belongs to the Sassanian period. Yet
Merodach was said to have owned four divine hounds, named
Ckkumu, the seizer ; Akkuln, the devourer ; Ikshuda, the cap-
turer, and Iltebu, the pursuer.
In the fragment of a legend relating to Rammanu, a shep
herd is told to rejoice for the message sent him by Ea through
Merodach. " Ea has heard thee ; when the great dogs attack
thee, then seize them from behind and throw them down, hold
them and overcome them ; strike their head, pierce their breast,"
etc., etc. The dog is here an object of hate ; and a prayer against
evil reads, " From the baleful fetter which injures the feet, the
dog, the snake, the scorpion, the reptile, and whatever is bale
ful, may Merodach preserve us." H. L. 287-289.
In the palace of Asshurbanipal terra-cotta statuettes of his
best dogs have been found, and bas-reliefs representing their
achievements in the chase. P. and C. II. 144-147.
DOUBLED.
In Gen. 4:32 we read, both in the old version and the new
revision, "and for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh

102 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
twice." But if doubling anything makes two instead of one,
doubling twice makes four out of one. Is that the meaning of
the Hebrew in this passage ? Was the dream repeated to
Pharaoh four times ? It is not strange that translators in the
year. 1611 should give such a rendering, for Hebrew grammars
and lexicons were then very imperfect, but it is strange that
our revisers in the year of grace 1885 should leave the error
uncorrected. -
The question hinges on the meaning of the Hebrew term
hishanoth nwn infinite, absolute : niphal, from shanah two which
Robinson's Gesenius renders to do the second time, to repeat, also
to be different, to be changed. The niphal conjugation he
renders to be repeated, and refers to this passage. In Syriac
and Arabic shanah becomes thanah. Castell renders the Syriac
iteravit, repetiit, renarravit, and Freytag translates the Arabic
thanah flexit, duplicavit, iteravit, repetivit. Then the Hebrew might
be rendered " for that the dream was repeated unto Pharaoh
twice," which is precisely the rendering given of this sentence
in the excellent Arabic version of our missionaries in Beirut :
wa ama a'n tikrar el hilim a' I a Pharoon murretain (and where
as the dream was repeated unto Pharaoh twice), and it is in
accordance with the facts : for the seven years of famine were
foretold to him twice — once under the figure of seven lean and
ill-favored kine and again as seven blasted ears of grain.
It is interesting to note the mental process by which the
verb " to double," came to mean show, or set forth. A narrative
was counted as a repetition of the event narrated. The event
itself was the original and the account given of it a duplicate of
that original ; hence such words an relate, recount, repeat, report,
mterate, rehearse, represent, etc. This was the first step. Next
the idea of repetition was lost sight of in the simple idea of tell
ing or giving information. Thus, if a servant was sent to count
sheep, his report might be taken as a counting over again, or
as only making known the result of the count. A painting
might be viewed as a second presentation to the eye of the
object that had been before it once, and then simply as a rep
resentation of it in the sense of picturing it out. So a letter
or written character represents a sound not by reproducing it,

DOUBLED. 103
but simply serving as its symbol. In this case the seven years
of famine were first symbolized by the kine, and again by the
ears of grain, and the verb denotes the symbolizing of them
twice over, and not a doubling of them twice, which would be a
fourfold repetition. Again, our revisers render this same verb
repeat in Prov. 17:9: "He that repeateth a matter sep-
arateth very friends." If shanah must always be rendered
" doubled " why is it not so rendered here ? and if it may be
rendered " repeat " in Proverbs, why not in Genesis also ? If it
would be absurd to say, " He that doubleth a matter separateth
friends," is it less absurd to speak of doubling a dream twice
when the fact was that it was only set forth in two different
ways ? Surely the rendering of the Syriac and Arabic forms of
the word by "repeated," ought to have suggested and sanc
tioned the same meaning here.
The Assyrian, however, renders very efficient help to the
right rendering of this passage, for in that language the verb is
exactly the same as the Hebrew, with the simple exception of the
final termination. That according to Assyrian usage is u : shanu
instead of shana. As yet we have no Assyrian lexicon, but the
Worterbuch in D. L. renders it first doppelt, doubled, zweifack
sein, to be twofold, then erzahlen, to tell, and kundthun, to make
public, and A. M. renders it to be double, to repeat, inform.
If anything more was needed we have it to the full in the use
of this verb in the inscriptions. Asshurbanipal the king of As
syria B. C. 668-626 (R. V. 2. 202. and A. M. 22. 17), in telling of a
vision seen by Gyges, king of Lydia, adds, he sent by the hand
of his messenger, u ushaanaa yaati, and repeated or showed
it to me. Here the meaning of doubling is wholly out of the
question. In R. IV. 50. 18 exactly the same word is used
in the sense of " he revealed the decrees of the gods." Again,
the same king says that a messenger of Ishtar of Arbela, R. V.
1. 63 and Ass'l. 123. 52, ushaanaa yaati: informed me, as before.
The goddess of goddesses shii tushannaka umma : she repeateth
to thee, or telleth thee thus. R. V. 1. 63 Ass'l. 125. 63. See also
Ass'l. 103. 42 and 123. 52, and 119. 21 and 23. The last passage
reads ushaanuu : they repeated the purport of his news. Would
any one render it, they doubled the purport of his news ? Again,

104 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
after sending a threatening message to Indabigas, king of Elam,
180:104, he adds, "the messengers la uskaannushu, did not
inform him, of the fixedness of my purpose." It would hardly
do to render it, they did not double him of its fixedness.
In view of this repeated use of the same verb in Assyrian
can we hesitate to render the Hebrew in this passage, " The
dream was set forth or repeated to Pharaoh twice "? i. e., by two
different symbols. DRAGON.
In Rev. 12:7 and 8 we read: "And there was war in
heaven : Michael and his angels going forth to war with the
dragon, and the dragon warred, and his angels ; and they pre
vailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven.
And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is
called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world ; he
was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with
him." It is not proposed to give an exegesis of this prophecy, or
to determine its position in chronology. Without undertak
ing to determine the relation of the two things to each other,
or whether they have any connection at all, it is interesting to
know that Chaldean mythological legends in connection with
creation narrate a battle between Bil Marduk, i. e., lord Merodach,
the son of Ea or Hea, and Tiamat (Heb. oinn), the champion of
the seven evil spirits, the dragon of the abyss (apsu). A pre
vious creation seems to have taken place under evil auspices,
and this combat was necessary to redeem it from the powers
of darkness and bring it into relations with the light. The con
flict enlists the deepest interest of the good gods. Bil Marduk
is armed with the bow of Anu. He wields thunderbolts, evil
winds, and a peculiar weapon, shaped like a sickle, that is usually
represented in the bas-reliefs of this battle. In one of them, now
in the British Museum, the dragon is represented with horns,
wings, and a tail, four feet, and a head like a wild beast ; its feet
are like birds' feet and armed with claws. See Prof. Sayce's edi
tion of Smith's Genesis, 62. The combat is described pp. 1 04-1 14,
also in R. of P. 9. 135-140. But a better account of the whole
legend appears in the new R. of P. I. 122-146, from the pen of

DRINK-OFFERING. 105
Prof. Sayce. It contains the best translation that has yet been
made. DREAMS AND VISIONS.
Some may wonder that an apostle should allow a vision of
the night to influence his movements as Paul did, Acts 16:9, 10,
but before the Bible was completed and in the hands of men
dreams and visions played a much more important part in divine
revelation than they do to-day. God spake to Abraham through
them, Gen. 15:1, to Pharaoh, Gen. 41:1, to Job, 4:12-16, to
Daniel, 1 : 17, 2 : 26, and to Nebuchadrezzar, Dan. 4:5. It is not
strange, then, if they are mentioned frequently on the monu
ments. Asshurbanipal, R. V. 3. 120 and Ass'l. 123. 50, gives an
account of a seer who saw a vision. This had reference to his
campaign against Teumman, king of Elam, and is translated in
R. of P. VII. 68.
Again, he tells that Asshur his god made Gyges, king of
Lydia, to have a dream that led to his submission to Assyria.
R. V. 2. 97, A. M. 22. 11, Ass'l. 73. 15. Again, R. V. 5. 98 and
Ass'l. 221. 22-24, he says that Ishtar of Arbela, the goddess of
war, made his army see a vision of approaching victory over
Elam, which doubtless contributed to its own fulfilment. Nabo
nidus also, R. V. 64. 16, 17 and A. M. 35. 14, claims that Mero
dach in a vision commanded him to rebuild E Khulkhul, the
temple of Sin (the moon god) in Kharran.
In R. IV. 66. 2 is a prayer offered after a bad dream, trans
lated in R. of P. IX. 151 and 152.
Izdubar, like Pharaoh and the king of Babylon, offered a
reward for the interpretation of a dream. C. G. 202 seq. 2d. ed.
DRINK-OFFERING.
The drink-offering or libation is appointed and described in
Num. 15 : 5, 7, 10, also 28 : 7, 14 ; viz., a quarter of a hin of wine
for a lamb, a third of a hin for a ram, and half a hin for a bul
lock. So the pious Hebrew took the cup of salvation and called
on the name of the Lord. At the same time he was forbidden
to pour out drink-offerings to other gods. Jer. 7 : 18 ; 44: 17, 19. 25-
Under the head of " Rites " will be found some account of
Assyrian libations. One difference between them and the Jewish

106 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
drink-offering was the use of beer as well as wine. R. IV. 62.
No. 2 obv. 56 and 59 says shikaru (Heb. sheker) u karanu iqqi :
offer beer and wine. The sheker is translated strong drink in
our English version, and iqqi is literally "pour out." R. IV. 64
obv. 5 also says pour out biris, which was another kind of beer,
but in what the exact difference consisted who knows? The
libation was a favorite form of worship, and the use of the
verb naqu to describe the act of sacrifice would seem to give
prominence to the pouring out of the blood. The burning of
the sacrifice was not made so prominent as it was in the Hebrew
ritual. DROUGHT, HORRORS OF.
Jer. 14:5. The hind also in the field calveth, and forsak-
eth her young because there is no grass.
This pitiful picture of animal suffering from excessive
drought may be compared with the following from the descrip
tion of the suffering in Arabia caused by Asshurbanipal taking
possession of their wells of water, R. V. 9. 65-67, A. M. 32, 18-
20, Ass'l. 276. 49-51 : Baakru sukhiru gutsur, lunum ina ili VII.
taan mushiniqaati iniquuma shiispu la ushabbuu karasishunu:
The droves of young camels (?), the young buffaloes (?), and the
lambs (though) they sucked their dams even seven times could
not get enough to satisfy their hunger (stomachs).
One feels a sort of relief to think that those Assyrian sol
diers, however callous they had grown in shedding human
blood— and God only knows how much they did shed and with
what aggravations of cruelty— yet noticed and recorded the suf
ferings of those dumb beasts as though they pitied them, so
strangely inconsistent is man ; or did they enter into such details
because they enjoyed the suffering— as men now attend cock
fights, and editors dilate on the bloody details of pugilistic en
counters for the delectation of their readers ?
DUST.
Gen. 3 : 14. Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.
Isa. 65:25. Psa. 72:9. And his enemies shall lick the dust.
Mic. 7 : 17. This unusual use of language in the Hebrew, de
scriptive of the utter humiliation of the serpent, condemned to

EAR, HEARING. 107
mingle the dust with the food which it ate from it— if not to
eat dust itself — finds a parallel in the Assyrian.
In the account of the descent of Ishtar into Hades, R. I.
31. 8, D. L. no. 8, A. M. 52. 8, the under world is described as
ashar iprati bubuussunu akalshunu tiittu : a place of dust — their
food, their eating, clay. Perhaps they got the idea from the
fact that dust or loam was the food of the earth-worm in its
under world. DUST ON THE HEAD.
Joshua and the elders of Israel fell to the earth and put dust
upon their heads before the ark of the Lord when Israel was de
feated by the men of Ai, Josh. 7 : 6. Job's friends sprinkled dust
upon their heads when they came to visit him, Job 11:12. Com.
pare Neh. 9 : 1 ; 1 Sam. 4:12; 2 Sam. 1:2; Lam. 12 : 60, and Rev.
18: 19. In R. V. 4. 29, and Ass'l. 161. 88, Asshurbanipal says, Tam-
" maritu, king of Elam, kissed the feet of my royalty, and Qaqqaru
ushishir ina ziqnishu ; threw earth (literally caused it to collect)
upon his beard.
Joshua with his companions and Tammaritu, could either
party have been ushered into the presence of the other during
this acting out of their sorrow, would have needed no interpreter
to tell how they severally felt, but only to explain the occasion
of their trouble. EAR, HEARING.
Isa. 50 : 4. He wakeneth my ear to hear, as they that are
taught, v. 5. The Lord God hath opened mine ear.
These expressions show how much intelligence in those
days was associated with hearing, and not as now with the use of
the eye in reading, when almost every one reads and there is so
much to be read. The same thing appears, only more fully, in
the inscriptions. Asshurbanipal says, Ass'l. n. 6, 7 : "The great gods in
their assembly a prosperous fate have decreed to us, and have
given me a broad ear uznu rapaashtu, i. e., so as to take m sound
better. So much did he pride himself on this that he mentions
it in the colophon of works copied by his scribes from the Acca-

108 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
dian. For a good illustration of this see R. V. 51.4. 46,
where at the close of the hymn to the sun god he says that Tas-
mitu (wife of Nebo) had given him broad ears.
EARRINGS AND IDOLS.
It is written in Gen. 35 : 4, " They gave unto Jacob all the
strange gods which were in their hands and the rings which
were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was
by Shechem." This would seem to imply that figures of their idols were
• also on the earrings, else why were they hidden with the rest ?
Is there, then, any trace of earrings discovered in the ruins of
Assyria with images of idols traced on their surfaces ? Mr. Lay
ard (B. and N. p. 596) gives copies of moulds discovered in Nim-
rood and Koyunjik for casting earrings, and on these are several
symbols of their gods, and also one image of a god with what
seems to be a dog's head standing in a boat or ark, and holding
up an object in each hand. On looking at it we are sure that if
Jacob had found such an earring among the family jewelry he
would at once have consigned it to the grave he had dug under
the oak near Shechem.
P. and C. II. 362 give engravings of two earrings found at
Niffer (Nipur), Babylonia, now in the British Museum. They
represent a child with a very large head and long hair, who may
be some mythological personage. EDEN.
All feel an interest in Paradise, the place where man was
created and where he began his eventful history. Many vol
umes have been written trying to discover where it was, and it
has been located all the way from Syria to India. In our own
day Prof. Delitzsch has discussed the subject, nor has he been
the last writer on the interesting theme.
Of all the localities assigned it, none has so good a claim as
Babylon. Here is the land of Shinar. Here rose the heaven-
seeking tower of Babel. Here were Accad and Erech, Babylon
and Calneh.
Eridu was one of its most ancient seaports. Though its

EDUCATION. IO9
site is now far up the river, at Suk esh shiookh (the market of
the chiefs or sheikhs), originally it was, like Ur, a seaport on the
Persian Gulf. Nowhere in the whole earth does the land encroach
faster on the sea, and still it encroaches. But when one of
the bourgeoisie of ancient Eridu spoke of the country back of the
town he called it " Eden," i. e., the country, or the plain ; and the
garden was planted " eastward in Eden," or back in the interior
from the shore. Then its rivers were the Euphrates and Tigris
or Hiddekel (Assyrian, ldiklu), the Pishon, which is the Baby
lonian for canal, and the Gihon. Prof. Sayce tells us that Guk-
han was the name of a river near Babylon (Fresh Light, p.
26). Besides that, the sacred pine-tree, or tree of life, is often
mentioned in its literature, and bitumen and bricks are still the
building material of the region. We do not read that any houses
were builded in Paradise, but in it or out of it the first one con
structed was no doubt a brick house, or, as our neighbors in
Mexico would call it, an adobe house, and the abundance of trees
along the river banks there to-day show that God planted his
trees in a region admirably adapted for their growth. All things
point to the region of the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates
as the probable seat of the original Paradise. It may be ob
jected that back from the rivers the garden would need irriga
tion, but the Creator could provide that also, not by laborious dig
ging of water-courses, as would be necessary on our part, but just
as He said " Let there be light," and there was light.
EDUCATION.
Acts 19:9. He departed from them and separated the dis
ciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.
A nation that had grammars and dictionaries (syllabaries),
works on astronomy, geography, and natural history, also public
libraries— for the libraries of Sargon I. and of Asshurbanipal,
like others, were open to the people— must have also had schools ;
but while we find ample records of war and conquest as yet
nothing has come to hand concerning her institutions of learn
ing. Classical writers tell us that Babylonia had universities,
but the monuments leave us to infer that fact from the measure
of intelligence that prevailed in the land.

IIO ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Asshurbanipal, however, leaves this on record (Ass'l. 6. 31-
33) : " Within the royal palace of my father Esarhaddon I ac
quired the deep wisdom of Nebo, the whole of the inscribed.
tablets, even all of the clay tablets — which were their books—
their contents I learned." Again he says (1 1. 7 and 8), speaking
of the great gods : " Broad ears they gave me — i. e., fitted to hear
well — and to all the inscribed tablets they caused me to give
attention." So then in the palace of Nineveh it was not all lux
urious self-indulgence or royal magnificence, but there was some
good hard work, such as is now done in our higher institutions
of learning. Still, some may think that in the harem at least it was all
splendor and gayety. Fortunately we have a glimpse also into
the daily life of the king's daughters, showing us that even the
education of women also was attended to in those ancient days,
however it may have been neglected since. Serua edherat, the
eldest daughter of Asshur ebil ili yukin (620-607 B. C), writes a
letter to her grandmother, the wife (widow ?) of Asshurbanipal.
B. L. 78, and R. III. 16. 2.
This shows that princesses in those days were educated.
They were not only taught to read but to write the difficult and
cumbrous cuneiform script, containing hundreds of characters,
some of them involved and complicated. Then, doubtless, they
had private tutors in the palace, and custom would require that
they belong to their own sex — for a eunuch would scarcely be
found capable of such work — and this again would involve a
degree of education among women in general, for we should
hardly expect the royal family to engage in such employment.
Prof. Sayce is very clear in his utterances on this subject.
He says (Social Life among the Assyrians, etc., p. 42): "Women
as well as men enjoyed the advantages of education. The Baby
lonian contract-tablets prove this, where women as well as men
appear as parties to suits and partners in commercial trans
actions, signing their own names. Woman was not jealously
secluded in ancient Babylonia as she is in the East of to-day, and
it is probable that boys and girls studied at the same schools."
It is wonderful how many things are connected with a seem
ingly trivial statement; so that, in studying one fact, we find

ELAM. 1 1 1
ourselves face to face with many others, and each one of the
greatest importance.
Young ladies in our colleges could not find a more prolific
theme for a composition than this same Miss Serua edherat.
One wonders what became of her in those last days of the mon
archy, and whether she perished in the funeral pyre kindled by
the despairing king when he found that all his efforts to beat
back the foe from Nineveh were vain.
ELAM.
Gen. 10 : 22. The sons of Shem :' Elam and Asshur, etc.
Elam was a very ancient kingdom and occupied an impor
tant place in ancient history. It is mentioned repeatedly in the
Old Testament, and furnished a part of the audience on the
great day of Pentecost. Acts 2 : 9.
Its home was among the mountains to the east of the Tigris,
opposite Babylonia. Its capital, Susa, or Shushan (the old city),
was situated near the river Choaspes, now the Kerkhah, or rather
on the Euloeus (Ulai, Dan. 8 : 2), an artificial connection of the
Choaspes and Coprates.
The name Elam is simply the Assyrian word high, elamu,
and was given to it on account of its great elevation. It was also
called Cissia and Susiana by the Greeks, Numma by the Accadi-
ans, and Ansan. Prof. Sayce called it Western Ansan in his
Ancient Empires of the East, p. 240, and Ansan, or Anzan, sim
ply, in his Fresh Light from the Monuments, 41 and 144, and
as the last is the latest work by several years we must take this
as his maturer judgment.
The importance of Elam is seen in the subjugation of Baby
lonia by Khammuragas, a Kassite king, about B. C. 2290, and
Asshurbanipal records in his annals that Kudur Nankhundi (ser
vant of Nankhundi), king of Elam, conquered it 1635 years before
his own taking of Shushan.
One of the kings of Elam also subdued southern Palestine
in the days of Abraham. See " Chedorlaomer."
But the most striking fact about this country is that Cyrus,
who till now has been supposed to be a king of Persia, has been
proved by the monuments, and especially by his own records, to

112 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
have been king of Ansan (Elam). See R. V. 35, also A. M.
39-41, and Fresh Light from the Monuments, 135-140. This
confirms the words of Isaiah, 21 : 1-10, who does not summon
Persia, but Elam and Media, to go up and destroy the city of
Babylon. Prof. Sayce says (Fresh Light, 145), that Ezra 1 : 2 was orig
inally written Cyrus king of Elam, but gives no authority for
the statement. The kingdom of Elam was overthrown by Asshurbanipal,
king of Assyria, about B. C. 645.
The country afterwards was included in the Persian Empire,
and the most conspicuous ruins in Shushan are those of the pal
ace of Xerxes, where the feast described in Esther I. was held.
ELOHIM.
This name of God is usually written in the plural. Prof. J.
G. Murphy says (Genesis, p. 25), " The name is found in the He
brew Scriptures 57 times in the singular and about 3,000 times
in the plural." Various explanations have been given of this.
Dr. W. L. Alexander, in his edition of Kitto's Cyclopedia
(II. 148, col. 1), inclines to the opinion that "it rests on a princi
ple pervading the language ; viz., that words describing objects
which combine plurality with unity are used in the plural, and
generally with verbs in the singular." Whatever the reason
may be, it is interesting to know that in the tablets found at Tel
el Amarna several of the correspondents of Amenophis IV.
address him as " my sun-god " and also as " my gods," using the
name in the plural. This is true of Su-yardata, R. of P. new
V. 77, lines 2 and 7, of Malchiel, 79. 2, 7, 10 and 16, also 80. 2
and 7, of the woman Urasmu, 83. 2 and 6, of Abisharru, 88. 1,
and of Zimriddi, 89. 1 and 6. The fact that so many adopted
this style goes to show that the usus loquendi of Canaan in the
fifteenth century B. C. was to employ the plural form of the
name of God in the sense of the singular.
EL SHADDAI.
There is no name of God that describes him perfectly. One
sets forth this excellence and another that ; but even those that

EL SHADDAI.

"3

hold up to view one attribute of God do not present it just as it
exists in his perfect character, but with more or less of imperfec
tion. This is especially true when the attempt is made to illus
trate what is in God by familiar objects, so that when one com
pares God to one object, often, as if conscious of its inability to
do justice to the divine subject, he immediately adds another,
and goes on adding illustration to illustration, as though in des
pair of adequately setting forth the divine perfection. We have
a striking instance of this in Psalm 18:2: "The Lord is my
rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer ; my God, my strong
rock ; in him will I trust ; my shield, and the horn of my salva
tion, and my high tower." It is as though, when the writer
said, " The Lord is my rock," he felt that to be indefinite : a rock
may be viewed in many aspects which would do injustice to
God ; so he adds, by way of specifying what he means, " my
fortress ;" but then a fortress is without life, mere inert matter;
and so he goes on, " my deliverer ;" and still, as even that only
sets forth one side of God, he falls back on " my God," which
indeed includes all, though it describes none.
There is one name of God which is seldom brought into the
foreground, though, like everything pertaining to him, it will
well reward our study. When Abraham was ninety-and-nine
years old the Lord appeared unto him and said, "lam God
Almighty ; walk before me, and be thou perfect." Gen. 17: 1.
Compare 28:3, 35:11, 43:Io, 48:3- 49 : 25- The Hebrew is
nw hx, and in both King James' version and the new revision is
rendered as above. What is the origin of the name ? Gesenius
makes Shaddai pluralis excellentice from shad, mighty, powerful ;
but -w does not appear in his Lexicon, though a word of the
same form is rendered violence, oppression, desolation, destruc
tion. He also derives Shaddai from shadad rw, to practice vio
lence, to oppress, to destroy, to desolate. If this is the correct
derivation, then hit hit is not. the Almighty, but the destroying
God, which would hardly do justice to him who is love.
We may conclude, therefore, that the Hebrew can furnish no
better derivation, else Gesenius would have discovered it. Let
us turn, then, to the Assyrian. There shadu is a mountain, and
shaddai would be the regular adjective form, as gimirrai, from

114 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Gimiru, Gomer, or Mutsrai, from Mutsur, Egypt, Hebrew
Mitsraim d'isb; and if it is objected that in shaddai nw the i is
reduplicated, the answer is that in R. III. 14. 42 we have shad
dai martsu instead of the more familiar shadu martsu, a rugged
mountain. Prof. Delitzsch proposed this derivation, and Prof.
Sayce says of it, H. L. 407, " It is possible that Prof. Delitzsch is
right in proposing to see in the Assyrian shadu the explanation
of the Hebrew title of God, El Shaddai. At all events God is
compared to a rock in the Old Testament. Psa. 18 : 2." But as
some Assyriologists are not satisfied with this derivation, let us
bear in mind that the statement is not that a mountain is God,
or that God is confined to mountains, but that just as the term
Ss, strong, mighty, has a meaning that renders it fit to represent
one view of God, just as the word rri."V is adapted to set forth
another view of God, just as the term Word has a peculiar
fitness to describe the second person in the Trinity previous to
his incarnation, so the word mountain is fitted to suggest some
delightful views of God. The Assyrians must have thought so
when they called Asshur, the head of their pantheon, Shadu
rabu, a great mountain. R. V. 8. 5, also A. M. 28. 19, also Senn.
2. 4, and R. I. 37. 10.
The question arises, How did the thought of God become
associated in the minds of the Assyrians with a mountain ? Of
course they had not those Scriptures from which we derive our
most precious views of God. Even Abraham, apart from his
direct communion with God, had only some of those documents
which may have aided Moses in writing the book of Genesis ;
but, feeling in their hearts that God was great, they could find
no better symbol of his greatness than the mountains which
towered up in massive greatness towards heaven. " The great
mountains " was the expression that rose naturally to their lips.
Even the Psalmist sings, " Thy righteousness is like the great
mountains," 36 : 6, just as in the same verse he adds, " Thy judg
ments are a great deep." So the prophet says, Isa. 2 : 14, " The
day of the Lord shall be upon all the high mountains." Why?
Because, v. 17, "The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day."
Even the high mountains shall no longer serve to show forth
the exaltation of one so high above them. How striking, in

EL SHADDAI. H5
such a connection, is that word of God, Isa. 57 : 15, " i dwell in
the high and holy place, with him also that is of a humble and
contrite spirit."
Again, men felt that God was all-powerful, and how could
they express this better than by saying (Psa. 65 : 6), " Who by
his strength setteth fast the mountains; being girded about with
might ;" or (Job 28 : 9), " Who overturneth the mountains by the
roots ;" or (Isa. 40 : 12), " Who weighed the mountains in scales ;"
or (Nahum 1 : 5), " The mountains quake at him, and the hills
melt " ? Compare Hab. 3 : 10.
So too men felt that God endured while they themselves
passed away, as it is beautifully expressed, Heb. 1 : 1 1, 12, " They
shall perish, but thou continuest ; and they all shall wax old as
doth a garment ... but thou art the same, and thy years shall not
fail:" and how grandly this is set forth by Habakkuk, 3:6;
" He stood, and measured the earth," he did not need to move
from his place in doing it ; " he beheld, and drove asunder the
nations," a look sufficed for this, " and the eternal mountains
were scattered, the everlasting hills did bow ; (but) his goings
were (i. e., continued) as of old."
So also in times of ancient violence — and it was terrible ;
we have nothing now to compare with it — God was felt to be
often the only refuge, and this most precious view of God was
gloriously set forth by the mountains : not only do they enclose
the dwellings of his people in their protection, Psa. 125 : 2, but,
Isa. 2 : 2, the Lord's house is established in that most inaccessi
ble place the top of the mountains, and while the Psalmist says
to his enemies, 1 1 ; 1, " In the Lord put I my trust. How say ye
to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain (refuge) ?" to God he
says, 30 : 7, " Thou, Lord, of thy power hast made my mountain
(refuge) to stand strong." One cannot help recalling how often
the merciless Asshurnatsirpal records in his standard inscription
such passages as these : col. 2. 16, " To the inaccessible moun
tain they trusted, and the summits of the mountain I attacked
and captured. In the midst of the mighty mountain I slew their
warriors. Like wool I dyed the mountain with their blood ;" col.
2. 40, "The mountain which they occupied as their place of
refuge was, to look on, like the blade of a sword. After them I

Il6 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
climbed up, and threw their bodies down the cliffs or piled them
on the rocks." But not such is the result of trusting in El
Shaddai. It is a delightful addition to these views of God, suggested
by this name, that when the good man is cast down by the sight
of abounding wickedness, not only in the world, where we ex
pect it, but sometimes also in those from whom we had looked
for better things, he can turn to God and say (Psa. 36 : 6) " Thy
righteousness is like the great mountain:" vast, firm, and endur
ing through the ages.
It may be objected that worship on the mountains is con
demned in the Old Testament. Certainly. But we are not de
fending worship in the forbidden high places, we only seek to
show how man, under the teaching of Him who is the light of
the world, has by means of the mountains climbed up to the
knowledge of God ; for not only (Rom. 1 : 20) are " the invisi
ble things of God since the creation of the world clearly seen,
being perceived through the things that are made," but those
same things also suggest names of God through which we ex
press the ideas thus obtained.
It was on a mountain that God gave his law to Israel, it
was on a mountain that Christ was transfigured before a chosen
few of his disciples, and it was from a mountain that he stepped
up into the glory which he had with the Father before the world
was ; and though the time will come when neither on Gerizim
nor at Jerusalem men shall feel that they must, worship God,
that does not forbid that the name El Shaddai came into exist
ence in the manner here supposed, nor is such a derivation of it
inconsistent with the most spiritual worship on earth or in
heaven. ENTERING OF THE GATE.
The Bible speaks not only of the gate, but of entering of the
gate. Josh. 8 : 29 ; 20 14; Judg. 9 : 35, 40, 44; 18 : 16; 2 Sam. 10 : 8 ;
2 Chron. 18:9. Perhaps the entering of the gate means the
passage through which one enters into the city, in distinction
from the open space outside or inside, or the point where one
ceases to be outside the city and is inside the wall.
The Assyrian monuments in like manner speak sometimes

EVENING AND MORNING. 117
of the opening of the gate, as in R. I. 18. 62. The word is puut,
construct of putu, which Prof. Lyon in A. M. renders opening,
entrance, side. Another word is niribu, from iribu, to enter,
which the same writer translates entrance, pass. See R. V. 8.
14 and 9. 100. It is singular that these expressions should occur in
both Hebrew and Assyrian when, as it would seem, the simple
word gate would answer the purpose equally well. The phrase
atsii abulli alisu, Senn. 62. 22, which G. Smith renders " the exit
of the great gate of the city," Prof. Lyon in A. M. renders (see
70. note on 12. 16) "the one coming out," i. e., of the gate, etc.
R. IV. 31. 5. describes Hades as "the house that has an en
trance, but no exit." ETERNITY.
Matt. 25:46; John 3:15, 4:36, 5:39, 6:54, 10:28, 12:25,
17: 2, 3; Rom. 5:21, 6: 23 ; Tius 1:12; 1 John 1 : 2, 5 : 11. Isa.
57 : 15. The holy One that inhabiteth eternity.
We should hardly expect to find the idea of eternity brought
out so clearly in the inscriptions as in the Scriptures, and yet it
is there. In R. V. 64. 3. 21, Nabonidus prays to the god Shamash
that " the strong weapon which thou hast made my hands to grasp
may rule ana duuri daari," to eternity, or for ever. So the Arabic
expresses the same idea by ila daher eddahur. Psa. 45 : 6.
So Cyrus says (R. V. 35. 32 and A. M. 41. 24) that he restored
the gods and caused them to dwell in their everlasting (duraata,)
habitations. EVENING AND MORNING.
In Gen. 1 : 5 we read that the evening and the morning were
the first day. In like manner the record of each succeeding day
of creation bears witness that the evening precedes the morning.
The Hebrew day always commenced after sunset, and it touches
the heart to read in the account of the crucifixion that towards
its close " the Sabbath drew on," (Luke 23 : 54) : while the Saviour
was enduring such agonies the day of rest procured by them was
coming to a world of sinners.
Did Babylonians also begin their day at sunset ? We should
hardly expect a direct statement of the fact, for there are very
few occasions that would call forth such a declaration, and yet

Il8 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
we have information on this point as clear as it is unlooked
for. Old English printers had a way of putting the first word of
the next page at the bottom of the preceding one, so that the
reader need not pause in his reading while turning the leaf. And
Assyrian scribes had a fashion of putting at the end of a clay
tablet that was to be followed by others belonging to the same
series the first line of the next tablet ; so a tablet containing
a hymn to the setting sun, that was to be sung at Babylon in
the temple of E Babara (house of the oracle or revelation) " at the
beginning of the night," ends thus : First line of the next tablet,
" O sun, rising in the shining sky ;" showing that among the
Babylonians also the evening came first and after it the morn
ing. This is confirmed by some of the bilingual hymns, for in
places where the Sumerian reads " day and night " " female and
male " — for they politely put the ladies first — the translator
into Assyrian is always careful to put " night and day," " male
and female," in accordance with Assyrian ideas. H. L. 430.
EVIL, THE PROBLEM OP.
The prophet is commissioned to say for God, Isa. 45 : 7, "I
form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create
evil. I am Jehovah that doeth all these things."
This utterance of God shows that there was occasion for it
in the thoughts of the people to whom it was addressed, and
that need was nowhere more urgent than among the inhabitants
of lower Mesopotamia. It is not necessary to settle the disputed
date of the birth of Zoroaster in order to appreciate this. The
polytheism of Babylonia taught the existence of evil deities as
well as good. As Prof. Sayce says (H. L. 347), " Persian dualism
was no new thing in Babylonia, the gods of good and the spirits
of evil had been struggling there, one against the other, since
the remote days of Sargon of Accad." Ever since man had
broken away from the knowledge of the one only living and
true God revealed in Eden, Rom. 1 : 18-25, he had advanced
deeper into this darkness. At first every object was thought to
have a zi, or spirit, which produced both injurious and benefi-

EVIL, THE PROBLEM OF I ig
cent effects ; but soon they became sorted into two classes, as
those effects were seen to be generally favorable or unfavorable
to human welfare. By degrees the spirits rose to the dignity of
gods, who occupied two opposite camps, one friendly to man
and the other hostile ; one erecting and upholding, the other
attacking and destroying. To the Accadian even the heavens
and the earth were gods waging eternal war with darkness and
chaos, and so, in daily life, the tempest, the eclipse, and the
pestilence showed that the enemy was getting the advantage ;
on the other hand, the calm, the sunshine, and returning health
indicated the return of the good to power. All alike, however,
were controlled by the Sabba or fate, and that could be manip-
ulated by the spells and incantations of the conjuror, who could
at will either remove or produce disease, and even compel the
gods to do his bidding, There were hymns also in which con-
¦ science sought to express its sense of guilt, and the heart
yearned after some one in whom it could repose its trust, but
even these were hopelessly mixed up with the old conjurations.
It shows this duality in their gods, that in the account of the
deluge while Ea, the god of the sea, and Anu, the god of the sky,
were friendly to the human race, Bil or Mullil, the god of the
under world, was its bitter enemy. " He stood still and was
filled with wrath against the (other) gods and the igigi (spirits of
' heaven). ' What soul has escaped ?' he cried. ' Let no one remain
alive in the great destruction.' " A.M. 61. 5, 6, also D. L. 106. 162,
163. It is seen also in the combat hetween Bel Merodach and
Tiamat, where, though the former overcame the powers of evil,
yet there was no antecedent certainty of his success.
It may be supposed by some that this duality in the charac
ter and conduct of their gods would improve in the course of the
ages, but the question is, Did it so improve ? The inquiry is not
one of theory but of fact, and as such must be answered. Neither
Babylonian nor Assyrian could ever forget that conduct of Mullil
at the Deluge, and how could they ever put their trust in such a
god, or in other gods more friendly but not higher than he,
and so liable at any moment to have their efforts thwarted more
successfully than on that occasion ?
Just as there is no physical life that originates itself, just as

120 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
all such life must proceed either directly from a creator or
through a parent, so there is no spiritual life aside from thatx
which is wrought by the Holy Spirit. Nations do not grow up
into Christianity, but grace and truth come by Jesus Christ, John
1:17, and his method of imparting that grace is made suffi
ciently clear in his last comma*hd7 Mark 16:15, and in Rom.
10 : 14 : " How shall they believe in him of whom they have not
heard ? or how shall they hear without a preacher ?
It is very true that Christ is the light of man, John 1 ; 4, but
only the man that followeth him shall have the light of life,
8: 12. If God chose the Jewish nation to be the depositary of
his truth, if he not only instructed it through his prophets but
led it through manifold and severe discipline, and yet the result
of all was that only a remnant was saved, for " they are not all
Israel that are of Israel," Rom. 9 : 6, 27, we may be very sure that
no people left to itself will regenerate itself, and, as has been
already intimated, the only question is what was the actual result
of Babylonian and Assyrian idolatry as seen in the history of
these nations ? There is no spiritual life apart from the knowl
edge of the only true God, for as Christ says, John 17:3, " This
is life eternal, that they should know thee, the only true God, and
him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ."
EVIL MERODACH.
This evil name is not charged in Scripture with any very
evil deed. He is said, 2 Kings 25 : 27, 30, to have lifted up the
head of Jehoiachim, king of Judah, out of prison, to have spoken
kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings
that were with him in Babylon ; also to have given him a daily
allowance all the days of his life. The same thing is repeated
Jer. 52:31-34.
The seeming charge of evil-doing wholly disappears in the
Assyrian. " The Accadian m was either m or v ; so the Assyrians
had to use the same character for m and v." (A. L. and S.
34.) Thus Amilu may be also read Avilu. That word, however
pronounced, meant simply man or servant. So that Amilu mar
duk means " the servant of Merodach," just as in Arabic Abdal-
lah means " the servant of God," and Abedne(b)o, as we have

FACE. 121
seen, the servant of Nebo ; for Abednego is apparently the mis
take of a copyist.
He was the son of Nebuchadrezzar, whom he succeeded
B. C. 562, and after a reign of only two years was assassinated
by conspirators under the lead of his brother, Nergal shar ezer
(Nergal sharra utsur) : Nergal defend the king, who in this case
woefully belied his name. EYES.
2 Kings 25:7. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before
his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in
fetters, and carried him away to Babylon.
Mons. Botta found at Khorsabad a bas-relief of Sargon who
built his palace there. It represents a prisoner kneeling before
the king in a most pitiful attitude, and held by a cord, in the left
hand of the monarch that passes through the flesh of the lower
lip of his victim. Sargon is prodding the eyes of the suppliant
with a spear held in his right hand, while two other kneeling
prisoners, fettered hand and foot, and held by cords similarly
inserted in the lower lip, seem patiently awaiting their time to
suffer. See Smith's History of Assyria, p. 169. Also Rawlinson's
Anc. Mon. I. 243.
Asshurbanipal inflicted on Vait'eh, king of Arabia, similar
cruelties. "At the command of Asshur and Beltis with a
khuutni mashiri (some kind of weapon) I cut in pieces the flesh
of his mitsu, whatever that was. In the lakhu (ball ?) of his
eye I put tsiritu (vitriol ?). I put upon him the collar of a dog
and at the eastern gate of Nineveh at the entrance of masnakti
adnaati I shut him up in a cage." R. V. 9. 107-109, also A. M.
33. 18-22 and Ass'l. 280. 86-93. FACE.
(a) To set the face toward. Luke 9:51: He steadfastly set
his face to go up to Jerusalem.
A similar expression is used by Sennacherib (Sin akhi iriba,
Sin has increased brothers), B. C. 705-682. He says paan niriya
utir, the face of my yoke I turned, towards this place or that.
See R. I. 38. 7, and Senn. 47. 7. Also R. I. 39. 49- and Senn- 74-
49. Also R. I. 40. 2, and Senn. 82. 2.

122 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
(b) To set the face against. Lev. 20 : 3, 6 ; Jer. 44 : 1 1 ;
Ezek. 14:8; 28:21; 29:2.
This same phrase is used in R. V. 3. 53, and Ass'l. 113. 108 :
Against Dimanu the Gambulian, who trusted to Elam, I set my
face, ashkuna paniya.
(c) To flee from the face of. Rev. 20: 11 ; Gen. 35:1; Ex.
. 2: 15. Asshurnatsirpal (Asshur protects the son), B. C. 883-859,
says Ultu pani kakkiya ipparshidu : from the face of my weapons
(soldiers) they fled. R. I. 22. 82. It is a striking evidence
of the small value set on human life that an army was
counted only as so many weapons wherewith to destroy men's
lives. See " Look upon the face of."
FAITH THE CORRELATE OF GRACE.
Though grace is absolutely free yet it would avail us noth
ing without some way in which to appropriate its benefits. We
appropriate them through faith. God reveals to us his grace in
Christ, and we enter on its possession by simply setting to our'
seal that the revelation is true. Nor can there be any other way
of appropriating grace without destroying grace itself ; for the
moment we put anything else in the place of the great redemp
tion wrought out by Christ we seek to be saved by our works,
and not through the free grace of God.
One hardly expects Assyrian tablets to endorse a truth in
theology which some who have the Bible in their hands are
bold to deny ; and yet they do endorse it thoroughly when they
make the word Tukultu mean both trust in God for help, and
the help received in answer to that trust. It is the same thing,
only in one case it is viewed from the divine side and in the
other from the human side. In the first aspect it is the help
which God bestows, in the second it is the faith through which
that help is received, and in the point of contact they are one.
In many places where the word occurs it may be rendered
either hope or trust according as we stand at one point of view
or the other. Prof. Lyon translates the word in his Manual,
"confidence, reliance, aid," and refers to R. I. 9. 70; 12. 45.
Layard 1. 2. In all the passages the reader may render it
either trust or help and find both equally appropriate.

FAST, PROCLAIMING A. 1 23
FAMINE IN EGYPT.
In Gen. 41 we have an account of seven years of famine
in Egypt in the days of Joseph. Is there any record of a like
calamity in history outside of the Bible ?
Under the 12th dynasty, Ameni, an officer of Usertasen I.
left this record in his tomb at Beni Hassan :
" No one was hungry in my days, not even in the years of
famine, for I had tilled all the fields of the province of Mah up
to the southern and northern frontiers. Thus I prolonged the
life of its inhabitants. . . . No one in it was hungry. I distrib
uted equally to widows and to married women. I did not pre
fer the great to the humble in all that I gave away." (Fresh
Light, etc., 51).
It is seldom that the inundation of the Nile is so low that the
crops fail for even one year, and it is very seldom that they fail for
several years in succession, but the inscriptions in the tomb of
* a nobleman named Baba at Elkab in southern Egypt tell us
" When a famine arose, lasting many years, I distributed corn
to the city each year while it lasted." (Fresh Light, etc., 52).
Baba lived about the time of Joseph, and probably refers to this
very famine.
The last famine in Egypt that continued for seven years
was in A. D. 1064-1071 under the Khalif El-mustansir billah.
A vivid description of its horrors, in the original Arabic of Ab-
dullatif, may be found in Oberleitner's Arabic Chrestomathy,
Viennae, 1823, pp. 162-218. FAST, PROCLAIMING A.
Many who read of the effect produced by the preaching of
Jonah on the people of Nineveh and on their king, as recorded
in Jonah 3 : 5-9, may desire to know whether there is mention
of such a spirit on any of the monuments. The prophet Jonah,
according to our received chronology, went to Nineveh about
B. C 862, which was towards the close of the reign of Asshur
natsirpal, one of the most cruel and ferocious of her kings. If
he was the king at that time, it may be that the consciousness
of the extreme cruelties he had practiced on so many, disposed

124 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
him the more to give heed to the startling announcement of the
Hebrew prophet, but there is no special record of the fact.
Later on, however, in the days of the last king, Esarhaddon II.,
and just before the destruction of the city in B. C. 602, we read,
H. L. 77, that he prayed to Shamash, the sun god, that he
would remove the sin of his people, and ordered the khal
(prophet) to appoint the legal solemnities (meshari isinni) for
100 days and 100 nights from April (Iyyar) 3 to July (Ab) 15.
See R. of P. new IV. 9 for a translation. Prof. Sayce says (Anc.
Empires of the East, p. 140), "Though Esarhaddon II. pro
claimed public fasts and prayers to the gods, Nineveh was be
sieged, captured, and utterly destroyed." FEAR.
The prophet Isaiah begins several exceedingly great and
precious promises with " Fear not." See chaps. 41 : 10, 13 ; 43 :
1, 5 ; 44 : 2, 8. So also the goddess Ishtar commences her answer
to the prayer of Asshurbanipal, saying, Fear not, la tipallakh.
R. III. 32. 42. Ass'l. 123. 2.
Obadiah says to Elijah, 1 Kings 18 : 12, "I, thy servant, fear
the Lord from my youth." And the son of Gyges, king of Lydia,
says to Asshurbanipal, I am thy servant that feareth thee : ardu
palikh ka. R. V. 2. 125. A. M. 23. 11. Ass'l. 68. 42.
FEAST.
Dan. 5 : 2 gives an account of the last feast of Belshazzar,
who " commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which
Nebuchadrezzar his father had taken out of the temple which
was in Jerusalem, that the king and his lords, his wives and his
concubines, might drink therein."
Some have deemed this so contrary to oriental customs that
it could not be true, but a bas-relief in the British Museum,
brought from the palace of Asshurbanipal at Koyunjik, shows that
in Assyria woman was thus accustomed to share in the banquets
of the king. It shows us the king and queen together banqueting
under their own vine (1 Kings 4 : 25) which is full of large
clusters of grapes ; birds are singing on the trees, a band of
musicians is playing, and attendants hold up, behind both king

FILIAL DUTY. 1 25
and queen, those peculiar instruments with which they either
fanned those seated at the banquet or brushed away the flies.
It gives a sad insight, however, into the Assyrian idea of enjoy
ment to see a ghastly human head, hanging among the branches
of the tree behind the queen. P. and C. I. 107, 108, also Raw
linson's Anc. Mon. I. 493. It is possible that some of the trees
in the bas-relief were meant for fig-trees, according to the saying
of Rabshakeh, 2 Kings 18:31, but the resemblance is not very
apparent. Fig-trees, however, are represented very plainly in
the bas-relief of Sennacherib on his throne before Lachish.
See frontispiece of Smith's Sennacherib. FEET.
In 2 Kings 4 : 27 the woman of Shunem caught hold of
the feet of Elisha. The kings of Assyria described the sub
mission of kings by saying that they clasped the feet of my
royalty : izbatu shipi sharutiya. So Asshurbanipal speaks of Um-
manaldus, king of Elam, R. V. 7, 57, and Ass'l. 241, 75. , And
in R. V. 2. 103-106, also A. M. 22. 103-107, he says that from
the very day that Gyges, king of Lydia, embraced the feet of
my royalty he captured the Gimirraai (Gomerians) who had
not done so. He uses the same language concerning the
people of various cities. R. I. 20. 10 ; 21. 46, 78, and R. I. 22. 90.
In Isa. 58 : 13 we are bidden to turn away our foot from the
Sabbath. Asshurbanipal complains that Yaiteh, king of Arabia,
" hindered his feet from seeking my peace," ana sha'al shulmiya
shipishu ipruus ma. There may be a difference in the use of the
foot, but it is a striking similarity that the foot is made to be
the instrument used in both cases.
The command in Josh. 10:4, " put your feet on the necks
of these kings," is illustrated in line 4, of the standard inscrip
tion of Asshurnatsirpal (R. I. 17. 15, and A. M. 5. 10), who
styles himself mukabbiis kishad a'abishu : he who treads on the
necks of them that hate him. FILIAL DUTY.
In a tablet of ancient Accadian laws copied and translated
by the scribes of Asshurbanipal it is written, " His father

126 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
and his mother (a man) shall not deny." A decision of the
courts reads as follows :. " (If) a son says to his father, ' Thou
art not my father," and confirms it by (his) nail mark (on the
wet clay tablet) he binds himself in a recognizance, and silver
he gives him." Another decision reads thus : " If a son says to
his mother, 'Thou art not my mother,' his hair is cut off,
(in) the city, they deny him earth (and) water, and expel him."
In the Accadian it reads, " and in the house imprison him." R.
of P. III. 23 and 24.
There is one pleasant side to these old laws, and that is
their appreciation of a mother's love, shown in the severer
penalty visited on the guilty despiser of it.
In the Old Testament we are confronted three times with
the stern requirement, " He that curseth his father or his moth
er shall surely be put to death " (Exod. 21 : 17 ; Lev. 20 : 9, Prov.
10:20); and from the last book (30:11) goes up the wailing
cry, " There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth
not bless their mother." It is as though the writer could not
bear to admit that any child could be so far lost to all that was
good as to curse its mother.
It is humiliating to find such a record in Holy Scripture,
but we must not forget that Scripture is not the cause of such
wickedness, it is the consequence of the depravity that is not
confined to this nation or that, but is co-extensive with the race ;
as it is written, " For all have sinned, and fall short of the
glory of God." Rom. 3 : 23, 5:12.
It does not follow that because filial impiety was visited
with more condign punishment by the divine law, therefore it
abounded more under the law. The mere statement of the
penalty may have sufficed to deter men from incurring it, while
the lighter retribution of another land may have encouraged
evil-doers in their wickedness.
Nor can we base any argument on the comparative guilt of
cursing and disowning parents. The cursing may have been a
hasty outbreak of temper followed by bitter repentance, and the
disowning may have been the final outcome of a life of wicked
ness that found in that its climax.
There are many things that need to be taken into account

FIRE. 127
before we are prepared to decide on the comparative guiltiness
of different lands. They cannot be all enumerated here ; it is
enough to assert squarely that the severer penalty does not
necessarily involve the greater prevalence of the crime con
demned, and to remind men that sinning against greater light
always induces a greater boldness on the part of those whose
hearts are fully set in them to do evil.
Notwithstanding the severity of the divine law so much
complained of, we are firmly convinced that there was a far
greater measure of domestic enjoyment and a far higher stand
ard of family character in Israel than in the nations round
about them ; and now that Christ has come with his more
glorious manifestation of love, and of character formed under
the influence of love, we expect as the result to see the will of
God done on earth as it is done in heaven, and so all cavilling
shall be hushed for ever, according to Matt. 5 : 16.
FIRE.
Nehemiah (2 13) told the king, " The city, the place of my fa
thers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed
with fire." This was the work of the king of Babylon, and there
is a phrase in the annals of the kings of Assyria so frequently
recurring that a tyro learns to recognize it before everything
else. Tiglath Pileser I., who reigned B. C. 1 120-1000, had it
" Ina ishati ashruup abbul aqqur," with fire I burned, I des
troyed, I devastated. Centuries passed on with this refrain occur
ring continually, the only change being in the words, not in
the ruin that was wrought. Sennacherib, B. C. 705-682, wrote it,
"Abbul aqqur ina ishati aqmu," but the destruction was the same,
only the order was reversed : " I destroyed, I devastated, with
fire I burned." References are hardly needed, but a few are
given. Tiglath Pileser I., R. I. 9. 94 to 10. 1, A. M. 2. 1, R. I. 13. 3,
and A. M. 3. 26. Sennacherib, R. III. 14. 51, A. M. 18.9, Senn.
134. 51, etc. Asshurbanipal, Ass'l. 85. 52, 91. 39, 92. 50; and the
cruel Asshurnatsirpal repeats it eighteen times in his inscription,
R. I. 17-26. He narrates very coolly that he burned the cities of
Qurkhi with fire, R. I. 20. 21 ; that he burned 3,000 captives from
Kinabu (col. 1. 108) and 200 from Mariru (col. 1. in). Concern-

128 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
ing no less than seven cities he leaves the following record:
" Their young men and maidens I burned as a holocaust." How
he did it, whether in the furnace or saturating their clothing
with bitumen, he does' not say, but passes it over as something
not worth describing.
The Hebrews burned Jericho, Josh. 6:24, Ha2or, 11: 11,
and Laish, Judg. 18 : 27. The Amalekites burned Ziklag, 1 Sam.
30: 1, and Pharoah burned Gezer, 1 Kings 9: 16. The Philistines
threaten to burn a woman and her father's house, Judg. 14: 15,
as though it was an ordinary occurrence, and 15 : 16 tells how
they kept their word. FIRSTBORN, THE.
The Lord Jesus Christ is called "the image of the in
visible God, the firstborn of all creation," Col. 1:15, and the
reason of this title is, v. 16, " for in (or by) him were all things
created." Some ask, How can the Creator be the firstborn of
creation ?
The Babylonians and Assyrians had no difficulty on that
score, for their gods were created, and so Nebuchadrezzar says,
"The firstborn, the glorious, the firstborn of the gods (i. e.,
Merodach) heard my prayer and accepted my petition." H. L.
97. Farther down on the same page we read, " O Merodach,
my lord, firstborn of the gods, the mighty prince, thou didst
create me, and hast entrusted to me the sovereignty over multi
tudes of men. As my own dear life do I love the exaltation of
thy house," etc. While he was addressing this prayer to a crea
ted god he did not know that the only living and true God had
said, Jer. 27 : 8, " The nation and the kingdom which will not
serve the same Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, and that
will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon,
that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword and with
the famine and with the pestilence till I have consumed them by
his hand." But having originated such a title of God under a
mistaken apprehension of his nature, the title remains as an ex
pression descriptive of his greatness and glory, even though we
know that he is self-existent and had no beginning.
H. L. 128 gives a hymn to the god Asshur that contains

FLESH OF MEN. 1 29
these titles of that god : " The Father who has created the gods,
the supreme firstborn of heaven and earth."
FLAY.
Amos, 3 : 2, speaks of some of the princes of Israel as hating
the good and showing that hatred in the horrid way of pluck
ing off their skin ; we might have hoped that this was only done
metaphorically, but in the next verse he describes it very plain
ly : " Who flay their skins from off them."
It is a horrible way of inflicting human suffering : for the
surface of the body under the skin is more sensitive to pain than
it is deeper down. But the monuments leave no room for meta
phor, since they picture the revolting process right before our
eyes on the inner walls of the palace of Sennacherib at Koyunjik
(Nineveh). See B. and N. 457. The victim is fastened on the
ground by pegs, with feet and hands stretched wide apart, while,
knife in hand, the executioner kneels to his task. More than one
Assyrian king glories in this his shame, blazoning it on his palace
walls. What a public sentiment must that have been that made
such representations to be looked on as royal ornamentation.
Asshurnatsirpal, R. I. 19. 1 10, says, "Khula, the ruler of their city
Kinabu, I flayed alive, his skin I spread upon the wall of Damda-
musa. See also R. I. 19. 90. More than six examples of this
cruelty are commemorated in his inscriptions.
Asshurbanipal says, R. V. 10. 5 and A. M. 34. 6, " I flayed
Aamu, the brother of Abiyati, in Nineveh." See also Ass'l. 283.
112. He also slew the inhabitants of three cities in Egypt, not
leaving one man alive. Their dead bodies they hung on stakes,
the sharp point of the stake being inserted in their breasts, and
with their skins they clothed the city walls. R. V. 2. 3 and 4.
A. M. 49. 6. Let us hope the flaying in these cases was not done
till after death. FLESH OF MEN.
The Psalmist complains, Psa. 79 : 2, " The dead bodies of thy
servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the hea
vens, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth ;" and
Goliath said to David, i Sam. 17 144, "Come to me, and I will
Assyrian Echoes Q

130

ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.

CAPTIVES IMPALED BEFORE THE WALLS OF NIMROOD.

FOOT MARKING. I31
give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the
field,"" and David replies, vs. 45-47, " Thou comest to me with
sword and spear and shield, but I come to thee in the name of
the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast
defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand and I
will smite thee, and take thy head from thee, and I will give the
dead bodies of the hosts of the Philistines this day unto the
fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the
earth may know that there is a God in Israel."
The Philistine thinks of nothing but what he is going to
do to the unarmed stripling before him. David on the other
hand is full of what God is about to do for him and for his
people. The coarse cruel spirit of heathenism is seen even more
clearly in the monuments, which gloat over the details and find
delight in specifying the beasts as follows : "As to the rest of
the men who were with Shamash shum ukin (the rebel brother
of Asshurbanipal), their flesh cut into pieces I fed to dogs, slink i
(bears ?), wolves, vultures, fowls of heaven, and fishes of the sea."
R. V. 4. 74 and A. M. 26. 24. Ass'l. 166. 10, 11. It is not neces
sary to pursue the unpleasant theme any farther.
FOOT MARKING.
Job 13:27. "Thou settest a print upon the soles of my
feet." This is such an out-of-the-way statement that we hardly
expect to find any illustration of it. Yet Prof. Sayce (Social Life
among the Assyrians, etc., p. 42) gives the following from an
old Accadian Folk-story : A foundling has been taken from
among the dogs of the street to be adopted into the family of a
king. First the child is brought to the aship (wizard), who marks
the soles of his feet with his seal, and then hands him over to
the nurse, to whom the boy's food and clothing are guaranteed
for three years.
The marking may have been a mere opus operatum before
witnesses, leaving no trace on the foot, or some corrosive poison
may have been put on the seal that left its marks in the flesh, or
tattooing along the lines of the seal may have made a perma
nent record of the act. Be that as it may, this is certainly a

132 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
wonderful and unexpected corroboration of the words of Job,
such as we might look for in vain elsewhere.
FOOTSTOOL.
The throne of Solomon had a footstool of gold. 2 Chron.
9:18. Psa. 1 10 : 1 speaks of enemies being made a footstool.
We have a beautiful illustration of a footstool in connection
with a throne in the sculpture that represents Sennacherib at
Lachish. (See under "Feast," and B. and N. 150.) It is very
artistic in form, the feet ending in lion's paws. It was cased in
embossed metal, and was just high enough for the feet of the
king to rest on it while seated on the throne. A Persian foot
stool in front of a throne may be seen in Kitto's Cycl. Bibl. Lit.
III. 476, also in Rawlinson's Anc. Mon. III. 203.
As for making enemies a footstool, see Josh. 10 : 4and A. M. 5.
10, where Asshurnatsirpal is called " Mukabiis kishad aabishu,"
he who treads on the necks of them that hate him. A human
footstool may be seen in Rawlinson's Anc. Mon. III. 7, though
it may be that the foot is planted on the breast of the prostrate
man as a preparation for the blow with the mace that is to break
his skull, and the victims held by a bridle in the hands of an
attendant are waiting their turn to undergo the same dreadful
fate. See " Bridle." FOREORDINATION.
Deut. 7:6, 8 : Jehovah thy God hath chosen thee to be a
peculiar people unto himself, etc.
One would hardly look for such a doctrine in the Assyrian,
and yet even the Old Testament has nothing stronger than the
following from Asshurbanipal, R. V. 1. 3-7: A. M. 19. 18-25, and
Ass'l. 4. 3-7 :
Sha Ashshur u Sin bil agi ultu umi ruquti nibit shumshu
izkuru ana sharruti u ina libbi ummishu ibnuu ana riuut mat
Ashshur. Shamash Bamman u Ishtar ina purussishunu kiini iqbuu
ipish sharrutiya. Ashshurakhiiddina shar mat Ashshur abu banuua
amat Ashshur u Bilit ilani tiikliishu itta'i'id sha iqbuu shu ipish
sharrutiya. Whose name Asshur and Sin, lord of crowns, made
mention of from remote days for the kingdom, and in the womb
of his mother created him for lordship over Assyria. Shamash,

FORGIVING TRANSGRESSION. 1 33
Rammanu and Ishtar by their firm decrees commanded the
formation of my royalty (or kingdom). Esarhaddon, king of
Assyria, my father and creator, honored the commands of the
gods, Asshur and Beltis, in whom he trusted, who ordered him
to establish my kingdom. See also R. V. 10. 7, and Ass'l.
300. 114.
So Asshurnatsirpal says : " I am the powerful king, the king
of ' Assyria, named of Sin (the moon god), the favorite of Anu
(god of the sky), the beloved of Rammanu (the air god), the
mightiest of the gods, a weapon which spares not, but brings
slaughter to the land of his enemies — the destroyer of cities and
mountains, the king of the four regions, who enslaves all his
foes, the king who subdues the rebellious, who has conquered
the whole race. This is the destiny which from the mouth of
the great gods has issued forth for me, and they have estab
lished it firmly." R. I. 17. 33, seq. and R. of P. new II. 137. 33.
seq. Nebuchadrezzar says : " Merodach, the great lord, lifted up
the head of my majesty, and invested me with lordship over all
the peoples." R. I. 59. 40-42 and R. of P. new III. 105. 40-42.
Nabonidus says : "I am Nabonidus, the great king, the
mighty king, the king of all, the king of Babylon, the king of
the four zones, the nourisher of E Saggila and E Zida, whom
Sin and Nergal in the womb of (his) mother have destined to
the destiny of sovereignty."
There can be no question that Babylonians and Assyrians
believed in "a divinity that shapes our ends."
FORGIVING TRANSGRESSION.
Ex. 34 : 7. Forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.
In R. V. 4. 38, A. M. 25. 28 and Ass'l. 162. 95, we read :
Anaku Ashshurbaniapl libbu rapshu, la katsir, ikkimu, pasisu
khitaati, I am Asshurbanipal, large of heart, not contracted,
wise, forgiving sins or rebellions.
Another expression equivalent to this is very common :
riimu arsishu, favor I granted him. See R. V. 2. 62, A. M. 21.
10, Ass'l. 60. 97. Also R. V. 4. 39, A. M. 25. 29, and Ass'l. 162.
96, 97. For Asshurbanipal at least, among the kings of Assyria,

134 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
sometimes showed a good deal of forbearance. The same could
not be said of all of them.
A penitential psalm (R. IV. 29. No. 5, and H. L. 521) con
tains these lines :
" I thy servant ask thee for rest ; to the heart of him who has sinned thou speakest
words of blessing.
Thou lookest on the man and the man lives, O ruler of the world,
Lady of mankind, O compassionate one whose forgiveness is ready, who acceptest
prayer. Above thee, O God, have I no director.
Ever look upon me and accept my prayer. . . .
When, O my goddess, shall thy face incline to me in pardon ?
Like a dove * I mourn. On sighs do I feast.
FORSAKEN OF GOD.
There are two meanings to the expression " forsaken of God."'
One is the sense of being forsaken by him, such as Christ felt
upon the cross when he cried out, " My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me ?" (Mark 15 : 34). This involves some desire
after God, if not actual communion with him. There may have
been some of this in Babylonia. Yet even the cry for forgive
ness may proceed from a selfish desire of good, rather than from
grief at having done that which is displeasing to God.
Another is in the sense of being a reprobate, without God,
and so even manifestly and offensively ungodly. This sense of
the phrase is used more in speaking of others than of one's self.
Men are not apt to count themselves reprobates, but they are
often strongly tempted to pronounce harsh judgment on others,
and of this we find examples in the monuments. Esarhaddon,
(R. I. 43. 1. 38) pronounces Sanduari, king of Kundi and Sizuu, as
one whom the gods had forsaken, i. e., given over to destruc
tion. And Asshurbanipal gives very broad hints that his rebel
brother Shamash shum ukin was no better, as he says, Ass'l.
160. 81 and 82, " For these thing's which he boasted of Asshur
and Ishtar turned from him," and again, 162. 100, 101, "Those
who devised evil with him famine seized them. For food they
ate the flesh of their sons and daughters."
* Compare Isa. 59 : 11.

FUNERALS. 1 35
FOUNTAINS, A LAND OF.
Deut. 8 : 7 describes the promised land as a " land of brooks
of water, of fountains and depths springing forth in valleys and
hills." It is a lovely Arcadian picture, but he who would ap
preciate it to the full must travel in Bible lands, and after
suffering the extremity of thirst all day come at evening to
such a region. Then he will understand the beauty of the
description. Asshurbanipal speaks of nine cities in the mountains of
Khuukkurunu, and calls it ashar kuppi nambai sha mi, a region
of fountains and springs of water, and then adds that over them
all he set guards, and so cut off the water of the life of their
souls and made water for drinking very costly to their mouths ;
i. e., to be obtained only at the hazard of their lives, so that they
died of thirst and hunger. R. V. 9. 27-35 an<i A. M. 31. 21-26.
He had previously told that in Laribda, a fortified city built
of sheet stone, whatever that might be, " I pitched my tent
among cisterns of water." This also is pleasant, but the next
sentence is, " My army destroyed the water for drinking so that
the enemy might have no supply." Of course the same result
followed here also. FUNERALS.
Luke 8:2. Now when he drew near to the gate of the
city, behold there was carried out one that was dead.
It is evident that the burial took place outside of the gate.
So in Babylonia the cemetery was outside of the city walls and
the mourners carried the dead there on a bier, as at Nain. The
body was laid on the ground wrapped in reed mats covered
with bitumen. It wore the dress and ornaments it had worn in
life. The woman wore her earrings and other ornaments, and
her distaff was placed in her hand. The man had his seal and
weapons, also some of the tools of his trade, and the child still
wore his necklace of shells. Above all was laid a layer of clay,
strewn often with branches of palm and other trees, and the
whole was burned to ashes. In later times oven-like chambers
were built of brick, and the cremation was not so complete but
that the skeleton often remained fairly preserved. Offerings such

136 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
as dates, calves and sheep, birds and fish, were buried with the
body. The result of the cremation if complete enough was
placed in an urn inside of a brick tomb, or a tomb was erected
over the remains that had been only partially consumed by the
fire. The cemetery rose higher as the roofs of the tombs of one
age became the floors for those of the next, like the stories of a
building. The tombs of the rich consisted of several chambers,
and sometimes they were adorned by monuments commemorat
ing their names and virtues, or by statues in a sitting posture
perpetuating their features.
Only kings and their families could be buried inside the
city walls. They were interred in their own palaces, or gardens.
See 2 Kings 21 : 26 and 2 Chron. 33:20; and one king is said
to have been burned or buried in the palace of Sargon. Prof.
Sayce's Social life among the Assyrians, etc., 54-57.
Does not the above also illustrate 2 Chron. 16 : 14 : " And
they made a very great burning for him " (Asa), also 21 : 19 and
Jer. 34 : 5 ? FURNACE OF FIRE.
Dan. 3 : 6. Cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
Compare verses 11, 15, 17, and 19-27.
In the monuments we have the destruction of life by fire,
yet there is some question as to the mode. The word miqit is
used, the construct form of miqtu, from the verb maqatu, to fall.
That may possibly have been the ordinary term used for furnace,
as that into which the doomed men fell down or were thrown
down, Dan. 6 : 23, or that which caused them to fall, i. e., des
troyed them.
In R. V. 4. 51, 52 and A. M. 26. 6, 7, Ass'l. 163. 108,
109, Asshurbanipal says of his rebel brother Shamash shum ukin
" They cast him into a miqit of consuming (literally cursed)
fire and destroyed his life."
The many other accounts of the destruction of life by
fire (see under the word " Fire") may have been by means of a
furnace, but we have no record of the mode of applying the
fire, or of the form and construction of the furnace.
It would seem, however, to have been such as could be got
up readily and speedily when wanted. They do not seem to have

GATE (CITY). 137
thought it necessary to say how it was done. They did not
anticipate that a day would ever come when the readers of their
annals would feel interest enough in the immense destruction of
human life there set forth to inquire how it had been brought
about. GASHMU.
The name Gashmu occurs in Neh. 6 : 6 as one of the talking
enemies of the Jews. To the readers of the English version it
is a name, nothing more, and many never think of it as having
any significance ; but to the man of Assyria it brought up the
image of an old Accadian goddess whose name denoted " The
wise one." She is identified with the goddess Zarpanitu, or as
is sometimes written Zirbanitu (creator of seed), the wife of Bil
Marduk, the god of Babylon.
It is one of the pleasant testimonies to the accuracy of Holy
Scripture even in little things, when what might have seemed
a mere meaningless name is thus linked in with the mytholog
ical traditions of a neighboring people, and represents one of
the dwellers in their Olympus.
Aside from this, is there not a stroke of quiet humor con
veyed by the statement, " ' The wise one ' saith it," ? as if for
that reason the malicious slander must certainly be true.
gate (city).
Great prominence is given to the gate of the city in Scrip
ture. It was there that judicial transactions took place. Ruth
4 : 1-1 1, Amos 5 ; 1 5, Zech. 8:16. The king sometimes sat there,
Jer. 38 : 7, and princes, Jer. 39 : 3. Mordecai sat there, Esth.
2:19, 21, and Daniel, Dan. 2:49. So we find in the Assyrian
monuments (R. I. 19. 99) that Asshurnatsirpal set up inscriptions
celebrating his illustrious majesty in the gate of Khiindanna,
and Asshurbanipal, after mutilating and torturing Vaiteh, king of
Arabia, exposed him in a cage at the eastern gate of Nineveh
(R. V. 8. 12, 13, and A. M. 28. 23 ; 33. 20 ; R. V. 9. 109, 1 10) ; and
when Sennacherib would describe the straitness of the siege
of Jerusalem he says (R. I. 39, 22, and A. M. 12. 16), "Him who
came out of the gate I turned back." He also tells how the sons
of Babylon, wicked devils, barred the gates and set about mak-

138 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
ing war. R. I. 41. 5, 6, and A. M. 14. 6, 7.) See under " Enter
ing of the Gate." genesis 10.
This chapter is the one reliable ethnological chart of ancient
history. Appreciated to some extent in the past, its value shines
out as never before in the light of modern discoveries. Of course
its statements have been challenged, as all truth is, sooner or
later, but the more thorough the investigation the higher has
this scripture risen in the estimation of investigators. A sug
gestion of Prof. Sayce corrects a misconception of some of its
assailants. He says (Fresh Light, etc., 36), "The nations are
here grouped according to geographical position, not according
to ethnologic relations ; e. g., non-Semitic Elamites are classed
with their neighbors, the Semitic Assyrians, and Phoenicians
with Egyptians. Keeping this in mind, the chapter is in per
fect harmony with the latest results of modern research."
Japhet is the Assyrian ippat (the white race), Ham is
khammu (the burned black race), and Shem is shumu (the in
termediate, or, as Prof. Sayce has it, olive-colored race). Gomer
is the Gimirrai of the monuments, defeated by Esarhaddon, B. C.
570; Javan (Ionian) is the Hebrew name of Cyprus (Assyrian
Tavnan), visited by Sargon of Accad B. C. 3750 ; Tubal and Me-
shech (Tibareni and Moschi) are yoked together in Assyrian as
in Hebrew. Both dwelt in Cappadocia. Ashkenaz (Assyrian
Asguza) lay between Ekbatana and the Minni. Cush lay south
of the first cataract of the Nile, now Nubia. Mitsraim was the
two matsors (walls), i. e., forts built to defend Egypt from the
Bedawin. The Pathrusim were the dwellers in Peto res (the
south land). Phut is Puut on the Somali coast. The Lehabim
were the Libyans. The Caphtorim were the men of Keft ur
(greater Phoenicia), on the delta of the Nile, and so on.
GLADNESS AND REJOICING.
No one familiar with the Old Testament can have failed to
notice how gladness is set forth by an accumulation of terms ex
pressing the sense of enjoyment. One word is not sufficient to
express the delight that fills the heart, and so duplication and
iteration are employed to describe what otherwise had been unut-

glorify god. 139
terable. Examples will readily occur to all. Ps. 45:15 says,
"With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought;" i. e., the
bridesmaids of the queen. Ps. 51:8 prays, "Make me to hear
joy and gladness." Perhaps the two Hebrew words employed
most frequently to denote this superabundance of joy are \wtf
and nnaw. These occur together in Isa. 22 : 13, 35 : 10 and 51:3,
11. One of these passages furnishes another similar combina
tion, " songs and everlasting joy," 35 : 10, still carrying out the
iteration. The Assyrian furnishes numerous examples of the same
overflow of joyful emotion : ina khidaati u rishaati will at once
occur to every tyro in that language. They may be rendered
" with joy and rejoicing." Nabonidus uses them to describe his
joy at finding the corner-stone of a temple of Shamash laid by
Asshurbanipal (R. V. 64. 2. 2, and A. M. 36. 15), and also his de
light when the gods Sin, Ningal, Nusku and Sadur nunna, p. 66,
brought him into Babylon (R. V. 64. 20, and A. M. 36. 33), and
yet again when Shamash and Bammanu revealed to him in a
vision the corner-stone laid by Naram Sin, the son of Sargon of
Agade. R. V. 64. 63, and A. M. 38. 5. Compare R. V. 64. 3. 6, and
A. M. 38. 12.
So also Asshurbanipal entered with joy and rejoicing into
Bit riduti, the palace of his father Esarhaddon. R. V. 2. 23, and
A. M. 20. 6. GLORIFY GOD.
Rev. 15:4. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify
thy name ? for thou only art holy. 1 Pet. 4:11: That God in all
things maybe glorified. 1 Cor. 10:31: Whether therefore ye
eat, or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God. It
surely is a token for good when we find the heathen moved by
the desire to glorify the idols, who in their minds take the place
of God. The priest in the temple of Bil Marduk at Babylon, at the
feast Zagmuku, on the night of the new year, sang a hymn of
which these lines form a part. The Assyrian copy in R. IV. 47
is badly mutilated. Prof. Sayce's translation in H. L. 81 seems
to have been made from a more perfect copy :

140 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
O Bil (lord) of the world, light of the spirits of heaven, utterer of blessings,
What mouth does not murmur of thy righteousness ?
Or speaks not of thine exaltation, and celebrates not thy glory ?
In R. V. 9. 112, A. M. 33. 22, and Ass'l. 281. 94, Asshurbani
pal, after placing Vaiteh, king of Arabia, in a cage at the eastern
gate of Nineveh, adds : " To show forth the glory of Asshur,
Ishtar and the great gods my lords, I showed him mercy and
spared his life." When just before this (R.V. 8. 12) he had said
that he " shut him up with his dogs to show forth the glory of
Asshur and the great gods," it seemed in keeping with the
general current of Assyrian affairs, but one is surprised to find
the declaration that the exercise of mercy glorifies the one who
is supposed to have inspired it ; yet in implanting such ideas in
the mind of the king of Nineveh God has not left himself with
out witness that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. John
8:12. GO BEFORE, OR, GO FORTH WITH.
Exodus 13, 21, 22. And the Lord went before them by day
in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar
of fire, to give them light, etc. Psa. 108 : 1 1. Thou goest not forth,
O God, with our hosts.
In R. I. 20. 25, 26, Asshurnatsirpal says : The great god
Marduk went before me (alik pania) with the mighty weapons
of Asshur, the lord of night.
Also in R. V. 9. 88, 89, and A. M. 33. 4, and Ass'l. 279. 72-
74, Asshurbanipal says : " The god Nusku, the exalted messen
ger, the author of government, who by the command of Asshur
and Beltis, the mighty goddess of war, went forth with my
armies (idiaa illik ma) and preserved my royalty ; in front of
my army he held (his place) (itsbat ma) and destroyed my ene
mies." Also, in R. V. 1. 82 : Asshur, Bil, Nabu, the great gods my
lords, marching by my side (alikut ittiya) in the broad field of
hattle, I accomplished his overthrow — i. e., of Tirhakah.
GOD OF GODS.
Deut. 10: 17. For Jehovah your God is God of gods and
Lord of lords.

GODS, ANIMAL. 141
This is a clear and explicit declaration of the superiority of
the true God above all that is called god, a declaration needed in
some quarters to-day as much as it was ever needed in the past.
Compare 1 Tim. 6:16; Rev. 19:16.
One of the lines of the hymn sung to Bil Marduk in his
great temple at Babylon was, "Thou art the god of gods."
H. L. 99.
Asshurbanipal tells us, Ass'l. 73. 16, that the god Asshur
caused Gyges, king of Lydia, to see a vision in which he was told
to submit himself to the yoke of the king of Assyria, " the be
loved of Asshur king of the gods and lord of all."
While Merodach was only " primus inter pares" among the
Babylonian gods, and that simply because Babylon bore rule
over the other cities, Asshur was the king of the Assyrian pan
theon to all his worshippers. GODS, ANIMAL.
The question must often occur to those that think, How
could rational men worship irrational brute beasts ? When
Israel bowed down to the golden calf they said, " These are thy
gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of
Egypt." Exod. 32 : 8.
It is easy to say that animals are symbols of qualities, any
one can see that, but it affords not the least justification of beast
worship. We do not worship symbols but the living God, as it
is written, from the lips of Jesus, " Thou shalt worship the Lord
thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." Matt. 4:4.
Though we may not be able to explain it save as the Bible
ascribes it to the working of ungodliness and unbelief, yet the
monuments furnish abundant corroboration of the fact that they
were guilty of this folly. It is well known that the Egyptians
represented" their gods under the forms of animals. And the sa
cred bull of Egypt must have given shape to that idolatry of Is
rael in Horeb.
The oldest forms of idolatry in Babylonia also point in the
same direction. Ea, the god of ancient Eridu, was known as
" the antelope of the deep," " the antelope the prince," "the an
telope the creator." Merodach, the god of Babylon, was " the

142

ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.

S&int-Ehso Gaulior deLet.sc.

ONE OF THE SHIDI. (See p. 98.)

bull of light." He had also two other bulls attached to him, one
named "the god of the field of Eden," and the other, "the god
of the house of Eden." Another name of Ea was " the princely
gazelle," " the gazelle who bestows the earth," and his son As
shur ilim was known as " the mighty one of the gazelle god."
H. L. 280-284. The gods of the ancient Babylonians seem to
have corresponded to the Totems of our own Indians. The
winged bulls also at the gates of the Assyrian palace were its
divine guardians. The body of the animal denoted strength,
and the human head rational intelligence, and so its worshipper
might claim that it did not belong to the brute creation.

GOETH. 143
GODS MANY AND LORDS MANY.
The reader of 1 Cor. 8 : 5 in our English version asks, What
is the difference between the two expressions ?
The Assyrian gives a very clear answer to the inquiry in
the very familiar expression " such and such a god my lord ;"
e.g., Asshurbanipal (R. V. 2.107) saYs. ma tukulti Asshur u Ishtar
ilani biliya : by the help (or in the service) of the gods Asshur
and Ishtar my lords," i. e., these two deities to whom I owe alle
giance and in whom I trust. The word god denotes one who is
regarded as a deity by some nations somewhere, but the word
lord denotes the chosen object of personal worship and obedi
ence. So he speaks of ilani rabuti biliya : the great gods my
lords. R. V. 4. 60, 8.30, 9.91. Nabonidus also, R.V. 64. 18,
speaks of ilu Sin ilu Ningal ilu Nusku 11 ilu Sadarnunna biliya,
the gods Sin, Ningal, Nusku, and Sadarnunna, my lords. It is
precisely the distinction that was in the mind of Thomas when
he cried, " My Lord and my God," John 20 : 28 ; only in the fer
vor of his love he puts the particular before the general and
personally appropriates both. GOETH.
The centurion said to Christ, Matt. 8 : 9, " I also am a man
under authority, having under myself soldiers, and I say to this
one 'go ' and he goeth, and to another ' come ' and he cometh."
It is in curious correspondence with this that we find the
Assyrian verb " saparu," to send, used also in the sense of " to
govern." Sargon, in the 45th line of his cylinder inscription,
speaks of the 350 -kings who before him iltanaparu baulat Bil
(the 1. 3.* form of the verb), meaning literally " were sending the
subjects of Bil," but he used it in the sense " were governing "
or ruling them. See also Layard 33. 5, ultashpiru baulat Bil.
(the 1 1 1.2 * form of the verb with the same meaning.)
This last text contains another illustration of this in the word
mu'aru in the sense of ruler. The verb maaru means also to
send, but the derived word numairu likewise means ruler or
general, precisely corresponding to the statement of the centu
rion. The word occurs in an inscription of Sennacherib, R. I.
* This is a technical designation of one of the several forms of the verb.

144 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
41.70, and also in one of Shalmanezer II., 858-824 B. C. Layard
87.8. The words of the centurion have a striking illustration in
the records of Tiglath Pileser I. (R. I. 12.52): Ilu Asshur bil
umai'ranni ma allik. " Lord Asshur sent me and I went."
GOINGS OUT.
The reader of the Old Testament meets now and then with
this somewhat strange expression, and wonders what it means.
See Num. 33:2; Deut. 33:18; Num. 34:5, 8, 9, and 12; Josh.
15 -.4, 7, and 11 ; 16:3, 8, etc.
The Hebrew is xsiD, a noun formed from a verb meaning to
go forth. And the Assyrian uses the same word, muutsa, from
the same verb, and having precisely the same meaning. R. V.
3. 132 and A. M. 24. 26. Asshurbanipal says of Sippar (Sephar
vaim), Babil, Barsip (Borsippa), and Kutu, " I seized their outgo
ings " muutsashun, and he says the same of Miimpi (Memphis)
(R. V. 2.26 and A. M. 48.27).
Both in Hebrew and Assyrian the country was pictured as
going out from the centre until it reached the boundary of a
neighboring State, and there came to an end.
So the mutsa of waters was a fountain, and the goods ex
ported from a country were also its mutsa.
GOLD.
It is amazing how much of this precious metal was used in
and about the temple. The mercy-seat was of pure gold. Ex.
25:17. The ark was overlaid with pure gold (verse 11) both
within and without. The candlestick was of pure gold (verse 31),
so were the dishes and spoons (verse 29), and even the snuff-
dishes — snuffers (verse 38). The porch in front, 20 cubits long
and 120 cubits high, was overlaid with pure gold. 2 Chron. 3 : 4.
And Solomon garnished the house with precious stones for
beauty (verse 6). House-beams, thresholds, walls, and doors
were overlaid with gold (verse 7). The Holy of Holies was
overlaid with 600 talents' (55,950 lbs.) weight of gold, and the
weight of the nails was 50 shekels (verses 8, 9).
So in the description of the ark (papakhu) of Merodach. R. II. .

GOURD. 145
25. 10. Its serpent-like oar had a golden handle, and its mast
was pointed with turquoise. H. L. 67 and 527. The cedar work
of the great temple of Bel Merodach in Babylon was over
laid by Nebuchadrezzar with gold and silver, and its furniture,
also like that of the temple at Jerusalem, was made of massive
gold. The following selections from the India House inscription
show this : " Silver, gold, brightness of precious stones — what
thing soever is precious in large abundance — into his presence I
brought. E kua, the Adytum of Merodach, the lord of the gods,
I made its walls to shine like suns with abundant gold. The
chapel of the lordship of Merodach, the open-eyed ruler of the
gods, I overlaid with glistening gold, and the vessels of the tem
ple with large gold. The barque of Merodach I made bright as
the stars of heaven with Zariru stones. The huge cedar beams
for the roof of E kua I overlaid with shining gold, the panels
underneath I made bright with gold and precious stones. The
cedar of the roof of the Adyta of Nebo I overlaid with gold
The cedar of the roof of the gate of Nana I overlaid with shin
ing silver. The throne in the chapel was made of silver," etc.,
etc. See R. of P. new III. 102-123.
GOURD. JVp'p.
Jonah 4: 5, 6. Then Jonah went out of the city and sat on
the east side of the city, and there made him a booth and sat
under it in the shadow till he might see what would become of
the city. And the Lord God prepared a gourd and made it to
come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head,
to deliver him from his evil case.
Jerome rendered )fr>pip in the vulgate by the Latin word
hedera. The Septuagint and Syriac versions translate it gourd.
And both Augustine and Luther follow their example. Some
think it is the Ricinus Palma Christi, or castor oil plant. This
last is not unknown in the neighborhood of ancient Nineveh
to-day, for the natives burn castor oil in their lamps it is so
common, but Niebuhr, with his accustomed accuracy, says that
both Jews and Christians there understand by it the gourd,
el kerra. Dr. Henry Lobdell, one of our missionaries there
io:

146 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
from 1852 till his death in 1855, though at first inclined to the
Ricinus theory, was constrained as he became better acquainted
with the facts to take a stand in favor of the gourd, and the
writer never heard any other idea advanced in all that region ;
and yet Smith's Diet, of Bible, after stating the testimony of
Niebuhr and Dr. Lobdell, adds (p. 961), "There can, we think,
be no reasonable doubt that the kikayon which afforded shade
to the prophet is the castor-oil plant."
So far is that from being true, that the Scripture narrative
seems to forbid it, no less than the unanimous native tradition
in which Jews and Christians are agreed, without exception,
however they may differ in other things ; for the prophet him
self tells us that he erected a booth for shelter from the sun, and
the Lord made the gourd to come up over him — of course while
under his booth, to make the protection more complete, or to
supplement the withering of the leaves wherewith he had cov
ered it by something more sufficient ; and who ever heard of a
castor-oil plant being trained over a booth ? Well does Dr. Lob
dell say (Memoir, p. 258), " The castor-oil plant is never trained,
like the kera or pumpkin-squash, to run over structures of mud
and brush to form booths in which gardeners may protect them
selves from the terrible heat of the sun in this region. I have
seen at one glance dozens of these ' lodges in a garden of cucum
bers ' (Isa. 1 : 8) around the old walls of Nineveh, covered with
kera vines, of which there are numerous species, with fruit vary
ing from one to fifty pounds' weight." See also Bibliotheca
Sacra, April, 1855. GRAMMATICAL FORM.
An interesting illustration of the accuracy of Holy Scrip
ture and its conformity to the circumstances in which it was
written occurs in the use of an unusual grammatical form in
Dan. 2:20 and 3 : 18. The form sin1? is found in both these
passages, and Prof. Gesenius says of them in his Lexicon (Bos
ton, 1844, p. 252. col. 2. note), " In the formation of the future
of this verb there occurs this singularity, that in the third per
son singular and plural is found the prefix h (1) where we should
expect the preformative ' (y)~ and this with the regular and usual
signification of the future or subjunctive." He adds, " Forms

GREAVES. 147
of this kind are found in the Targums. From all this it appears
that the forms are not infinitives, as is sometimes supposed, but
that in such examples; either the >? is put for the nun of the
Syrians, or else these forms have arisen out of the Hebrew
usage which began to put ^ep^ liqtol instead of <?t2pi yiqtol."
Thus does that learned Hebraist voice his perplexity ; but
had he lived to read Assyrian he would have found a far better
explanation of this unusual form. The Assyrian has what is
called a precative form of the verb, denoting a wish that the
action may take place. It is formed by prefixing lu or li to any
form of the aorist. Prof. Sayce's Elem. Ass. Gram. 66, and
A. M. 38. 2.
In his A. L. and S. Prof. Sayce says, p. 91 : " The precative
is generally used only in the third person ; occasionally it is
found in the first, and once or twice in the second person." The
third person singular precative of the regular verb shakanu is
liishkun, and in this passage from Daniel we have the Assyrian
precative form applied to a Hebrew verb, as would be likely to
be done by those accustomed to converse in Assyrian when they
wrote in Hebrew. Daniel said, " Let the name of God be blessed
from eternity to eternity ;" and his three associates said, " Let it
be known unto thee, O king !" etc.
Though this is a technicality in Assyrian grammar it is a
beautiful illustration of the help afforded by the Assyrian lan
guage to the right understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures.
GREAVES.
1 Sam. 17:6. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs.
The greaves worn by the Greek soldier were of metal and
intended to protect the leg, but we find nothing of the kind in
the bas-reliefs. There we have a kind of laced boot, as pictured
in L. N. II. 261. 268. and B. and N. 458. It may be made
of cloth or of leather — it evidently is one of the two. Still
it is not the " hosen " of Dan. 3:21, for that is a mistranslation,
and should be rendered " tunics," i. e., the inner garment or
shirt. The only word that can describe them is |ixD, Isa. 9:5,
which Gesenius renders " shoe," translating that passage " every
shoe of the shod," i. e., of the soldier, who specially seems to

148 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
have been privileged to wear them. Our version renders wildly
" every battle of the warrior," and the revised version " all the
armor of the armed man."
In the bas-reliefs it certainly seems to be a very comfortable
covering for the foot, protecting it from injury from the rough
ness of the road, and enabling the wearer to travel far without
discomfort. HADADRIMMON.
Zech. 12 : 11. In that day shall there be a great mourning
in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley
of Megiddon. Rimmon was the supreme god of the Syrians of Damascus.
When Benhadad was king of Syria, Naaman the captain of his
host was healed of his leprosy by Elisha, and in leaving he said
to the prophet (2 Kings 5:18): When my master goeth into the
house (temple) of Rimmon to worship, leaning on my hand, and
I bow myself with him, the Lord pardon thy servant in this
thing. Hadad was the sun god of Northern Syria, and he was
called Rimmon as corresponding to Rammanu, the god of the
air in Assyria, and was worshipped as far south as Megiddon.
The special worship and mourning referred to by Zechariah
was the annual mourning for Tammuz. (See under " Tammuz)."
Prof. Sayce affirms that the Assyrian inscriptions prove the
identity of Rimmon and Hadad, and in the records of Shalmanezer
II. Benhadad appears as Bada idri or Hadadezer. See inscrip
tions of Shalmanezer II. in R. of P. new IV. 71. 98 and 76. 2.
HAMATH.
2 Kings 14:28 speaks of Hamath as belonging to Judah, but
that city is so far off that it cannot be said to belong to the
territory of that tribe, and we have no record of its having been
captured in war and so made a dependence of that kingdom.
Even David at the time of his greatest prosperity did not subdue
Hamath. For its king only sent a friendly message and pres
ents by his son Joram because David had conquered Hadad
ezer, with whom he was at war. 2 Sam. 8 : 9, 10. The careful
reader, however, will notice that the verb " belonged" is not in
the Hebrew. It is supplied by the translators, and the monuments

HANAMEEL AND JEREMIAH. 1 49
tell us that the city was on friendly terms with Judah, and
Jeroboam detached it from Judah and drew it over to the side
of Israel. Sargon speaks of a Tahubidi of Hamath, whose name im
plies that he was a worshipper of Jehovah, and so most likely
from Judah, which was noted for loyalty to the true God. He
was also known as Ilubidi (worshipper of God.) Prof. Lyon's
Sargon. Cyl. 25. HANAMEEL AND JEREMIAH.
The monuments shed a fresh light on the legal transaction
recorded in Jer. 32 : 6-15.
The prophet, forewarned of the coming of his nephew to
ask him as the nearest of kin to redeem a piece of land in
Anathoth, complies with the request, and makes the bargain for
17 shekels of silver. Then, precisely as would have been done in
Babylon or Nineveh, he weighs out that amount in bars of that
metal. The deed is written on a tablet of soft clay. The
prophet subscribes it and affixes his seal, the witnesses do
the same, and the silver is formally reweighed in their presence,
it may be, also, in their balances, or in those of the man who re-
, ceived the money. The tablet is then encased in an envelope
of clay, as we put our letters in one of paper, only the clay fits
more snugly, so that both become practically one, though the
outside one can be peeled off and leave the enclosure intact.
A summary of the deed inside is then inscribed on the en
velope to distinguish it from other documents that may be laid
away with it. Jeremiah delivers both the wrapper and its
enclosure to Baruch in the presence of Hanameel and his wit
nesses, with directions to put them in an earthen vessel for pre
servation. Deeds and similar documents written on clay, that
have been discovered, were found in earthen jars buried in the
earth precisely as the prophet directed Baruch to dispose of this.
Prof. Sayce adds, " Who can say whether we shall not yet
recover the deed of sale signed by Jeremiah, and the jar to
which it was entrusted, as we have already recovered similar
deeds signed by his contemporaries in Babylonia?" Social life
of Assyrians, pp. 32 and 73.

150 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
HANNAH AND SAMUEL.
i Sam. i . This story is too familiar to need repetition here,
and though we may hardly have looked for such a thing yet the
monuments furnish a case somewhat similar, though by no
means so striking. Nor does it touch the heart like the narra
tive of the devout Hebrew mother and her boy.
The following is the substance of a tablet published by Dr,
Strassmayer and reprinted in R. of P. new IV. 109-113.
Ummudhabat (the mother is good), wife of Shamash Tubal-
lidh (the sun god gave life), brought a tablet to the priest of the
god Shamash, and also Shamash edhir, Nidditu and Aradkin,
her three sons, and said, " They have not yet entered the house of
the males (Bit zikaru.) With my sons I have grown old till they
are counted among the men." She then made written appli
cation for their admission, as she desired to devote them to the
service of the sun god. Here follow the names of the witnesses.
" The house of the males " was a sort of monastic institution
attached to one of the temples. Its superintendent received
monthly supplies of provision for himself and associates, who
lived together and aided in the daily services of the temple. The
institution resembled that in which Daniel and his three friends
were placed by Nebuchadrezzar, only, while that was for the
service of the state, this was for the temple exclusively.
JHARAN — KHARRAN.
Terah emigrated from Ur to this city (Gen. 11:31) and died
there, (v. 32,) and Abraham was 75 years old when he departed
out of it ( 1 2 : 4) for Canaan. The name is spelled in various ways :
Haran, Harran, and Kharran. The last is the Assyrian form,
and is an old Accadian word meaning " road." This name was
given to it probably because it was on the road to the Mediterra
nean Sea from Babylonia — a sort of half-way house. Then, like
Ur, it was sacred to Sin, the moon god, whose temple in Kharran
rivaled that of Ur. The name Kharran occurs in early texts,
and Nabonidus records his restoration of the temple of the moon
god there, which he says had stood from time immemorial. R. V.
64. 8 and 23-29. A. M. 35. 7 and 37. 1-7. Sargon, also, whose palace
has been brought to light in Khorsabad, records that he had ex-

HARPS. 1 5 I
tended his protection over Kharran and by the command of Anu
and Dagan had written (again) its laws. S. 13. 10 and 40. 10.
The famous temple called E Khulkhul, house of rejoicing, which
was restored by Nabonidus about B. C. 5 50, had previously been
repaired by Shalmaneser III., B. C. 783-773, and by Asshurbani
pal, B. C. 668-626. Showing how frequently such structures
needed renovation. HARPS.
The subject of music will be presented under that head,
but some readers may look for an allusion to that touching
passage in the Psalms (138:1, 2): " By the rivers of Babylon
there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.
Upon the willows in the midst thereof we hanged up our harps,"
and so that instrument is here spoken of separately.
This passage is as distinct as a photograph. We can see the
weeping willows along the banks of the sluggish canals, where
the exiles retired to be alone in their sorrow and indulge in
thoughts of their distant home. They hang up their harps on
the branches, for they are too sad to find comfort in them, and
they may also have wanted them safe from the injury that might
befall them if left within reach of the children, who had gone
out with them, and who — more easily comforted than those who
remembered Zion — might be tempted to indulge in uncongenial
music. The bas-relief under " Music " gives a very good idea of the
Babylonish harp. If one has good eyes he may count as many
as fifteen strings on some of them, and also note openings in
the hollow frames of two of them to make them more resonant.
The artist has left out the fastening that must have held the
instrument in place so as to leave both hands free for playing,
and we see at once how unsuited were the quick measured step
and clapping of the hands to the state of mind of these Jewish
exiles. One can readily picture the sharp antagonism of such a
procession to the grief of the Jews, and the taunting sarcasm
which as their haughty conquerors swept by would sneeringly
call for one of the songs of Zion from the heartbroken cap
tives.

152 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
HEAD.
I Sam. 31:9. And they cut off his head. 1 Chron. 10 : 10.
And fastened his head in the house of Dagon.
These passages relate the treatment which the corpse of
Saul received from the Philistines. A similar record is made by
Asshurbanipal concerning the king of Elam. R. V. 3. 36 he says,
" I cut off the head of Teumman, their king." So in Ass'l. 129. 100,
' ' The head of Teumman king of Elam by command of
Asshur and Merodach, the great gods my lords, before the
assembly of his army I cut off;" and 137. 57, "The decapitated
head of Teumman in front of the great gate in Nineveh I set up
as a votive offering."
G. S. translates Umakhkhira makhkhuris " I raised on high ;"
but makharu means to be in front of, hence to pray, or offer
sacrifice, and makhuru is prayer, or offering, with the adverbial
termination meaning like, or, in the style of.
HEAD, CARRYING OFF.
1 Sam. 17 : 54 tells us that David took the head of Goliath,
which he had cut off, and brought it to Jerusalem. This does
not accord with the practices of modern war, but it was perfectly
in accord with the customs of his time. Mr. Layard gives a
copy of a bas-relief (L. N. II. 147) representing warriors bringing
the heads of their slaughtered foes to be counted by the scribes
of the army, and in R. I. 45. 47-51 and A. M. 19. 13-15 we have
the following record : " Because of the power of Asshur my
lord, to men were exhibited the heads of Saanduarri and
Abdimiilkuuti suspended from the necks of their great men ;'"
and a copy of a bas-relief in B. and N. 457 shows a man with
such a ghastly burden under the leading of a warrior.
HEART STIRRED HIM UP.
Ex. 35 : 22. And they came, every one whose heart stirred
him up and every one whom his spirit made willing, and brought
the Lord's offering.
The object of a translation is to express in another lan
guage the idea before us just as it stands, adding nothing to
and taking nothing away from the original statement. Now

HEART STIRRED HIM UP. 1 53
in the Hebrew there is no hint of " stirring " up. That implies
excitement and commotion ; but instead of that is the calm,
steady movement of "lifting" up. They came, every one
whose heart " lifted him up " to a higher level of beneficence.
Nor is this a distinction without a difference. The heart
may be stirred up by social excitements, by dancing, by games
of chance, by the prospect of a lucky ticket in a lottery, and
all these things have been resorted to in order to " stir up "
people to build a house of worship ; but none of these is the
Lord's way. His way is so to move the heart by his Spirit that
it shall be raised to a higher spirit of consecration and so lift up
the whole man, and make him disposed, not through the working
of ungodly excitement, but through the indwelling of the Spirit
of God, to bring the Lord's offering.
In this matter it will do professed disciples of Christ no
harm to learn a lesson from one whom they may have looked
down on as a heathen king.
Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, in the India House in
scription (III. 18, 19), tells us, " To build E Saggilla my heart
lifted me up ;" the identical verb used by Moses in the Hebrew,
Ktttt, occurring here in the Babylonian.
It may be objected, however, that in using that word the king
of Babylon only gave another expression of his pride and self-
sufficiency, such as we find in Daniel 4 : 30 : "Is not this great
Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling-place by the
. might of my power, and for the glory of my majesty ?" but, if
such is the impression any one receives from lines 18 and 19, let
him read lines 33-35 in the same column : " For the building
of E Sagilla daily I besought the king of the gods, the lord of
lords" (Bel Merodach). When the heart of a disciple of Christ
lifts him up to build a house for the service of his Master, and
he daily feels constrained to go to God in prayer and implore
his blessing on the undertaking, we do not feel called on to say
much of his pride and self-sufficiency. I repeat it, then : it will
do professed disciples no harm to learn a lesson from this hea
then king.
See further under " Nebuchadrezzar."

154 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
HEAVEN.
Several things are called by this name in the Holy Scrip
ture: a. The air which is above the earth ; so birds are called
the " fowl of the air," Gen. 2:19, and also " the fowls of the
heaven," Psa. 104: 12.
b. The sky or firmament, Gen. 1 : 17, 22 : 17; Deut. 1 : 10.
c. "The heaven of heavens," Psa. 168:4; called also "the
third heaven," 2 Cor. 12:2. There is the throne of God, Psa.
103:19, 123:1, and there also is our home "not made with
hands," 2 Cor. 5 : 1.
This threefold meaning of the word appears also in the
Assyrian :
a. The air ; itstsuri shamii, birds of heaven, R. V. 4. 76, and
A. M. 26. 25. also 10. 10.
b. The sky or firmament. Shamash the sun god is called
dan shamii u irtsiti, the judge of heaven and earth, in the in
scription of Shalmanezer II. A. M. 7. 5. Sennacherib speaks of
the dust raised by the march of an army covering like heavy
clouds the face of the broad heaven, paan shamii rapshuti. R. I.
41. 46 and A. M. 15. 13. The deluge tablet speaks of a black
cloud rising from the horizon, isid shamii (foundation of the
heaven), A. M. 58. 11. The same tablet speaks of destructions
raining from heaven. A. M. 58. 1.
c. Though we cannot look for such views of heaven in the
monuments as are set before us in the New Testament, yet the
same tablet last quoted refers to something higher than the visi-
hle firmament when, describing the distress and consternation
produced among the gods by the deluge, it says that they itelu
ana shamii sha ilu Anu : ascended to the heaven of the god Anu.
A. M. 59. 1. At any rate, it was the serene abode of a deity, un
disturbed by the storms of this lower world.
HEBRON AND HITTITES.
That is a beautiful picture of oriental life in Gen. 23 where
Abraham rises up from before his dead and purchases a place
wherein to bury the body of his beloved Sarah. We cannot see

HEBRON AND HITTITES. 155
such a scene in the East to-day any more than we can see the
beauty of a stream in the prairie after an army has broken down
its banks and churned them into mud by the crossing of its
wagons and artillery. That which was sincere kindness and
sympathy on the part of Ephron the Hittite, the son of Zohar,
is now a mere form, not empty indeed, but full of shameless
greed and undisguised duplicity.
The Rev.' T. K. Cheyne, however, has advanced an objec
tion to the narrative such as hardly ever occurred to others. He
says (Encyc. Brit., under " Hittites ") : " The undoubted authentic
inscriptions of Egypt and Assyria represent the Hittites in far
different guise — as preeminently a warlike, conquering race."
Can it be that he means to contrast with the " undoubted authen
tic " nature of the inscriptions a doubtful, unreliable nature of
Holy Scripture? He must be not only a bold but a reckless
man who could make such a charge in the light of the confirm
ations of Scripture history that are coming to light on every
side, and it would seem to be unfair even to think that he could
make such an insinuation. But we are not left to any inference
from his words. In another sentence he tells us that this Scrip
ture narrative " cannot be taken as of equal authority with
Egyptian and Assyrian inscriptions." We turn to those inscrip
tions, as described under the head " Hittites " on another page,
and are amazed that any man in his right mind should think of
comparing the rhodomontade of Pentaur with the simplicity of
Moses. Are we told that Pentaur was not only a poet, but poet
of the royal court ? We reply, Rameses himself did not fall be
hind him in the exaggerations he stereotyped in the granite of
the Ramesseum, and this can be paralleled in Assyria without
long searching, while such facts as the destruction of 188,000
men, 2 Kings 19 : 35, are wholly ignored. More than one disas
trous defeat has been set down in the inscriptions as a splendid
victory, and yet Holy Scripture, according to the Rev. T. K.
Cheyne, cannot be taken as of equal authority ! No, for it is as
much more truthful as the heavens are higher than the earth.
But let us return to the reason for the condemnation. It is
simply this : The Hittites are "-preeminently a warlike race ;"
and because a nation is warlike is it without arts of peace ? Does

156 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
the bloody deck at Trafalgar involve no skilled artisans to build
it, no scientific learning to plan it, and no prosperous homes to
provide the funds needed to construct and fit out the fleet?
Does not the frightful carnage at Waterloo involve like things —
many happy homes and also fair ladies' 'bowers filled with
mourning and sorrow ? Could the Hittites have carried on the
wars they did, and for such a length of time, without a corre
sponding prosperity at home to sustain them ? and do not the
gold ornaments found by Schliemann at Hassarlik, with Hit
tite emblems, no less than the hard basalt wrought in high
relief at other places, bear witness to that prosperity and refine
ment? Let no one, however, be tempted by this blunder of one
man to look with alarm on the most thorough investigation into
the reliablity and value of Scripture history. The rock of reve
lation can let all the floods dash over it, and come out of them
not only unharmed but more trusted than before.
As for evidence from outside the Bible that a colony of Hit
tites lived for a time at Hebron, we should expect that a people
so noted for energy and enterprise would send out colonies.
They always do. If they are found in Mysia in one direction,
why not at Hebron in another ? Then the stone in the Louvre
from Egypt, belonging to Amenemhat, of the Xllth dynasty,
records the overthrow of Hittite palaces in that region, and if
they had palaces in the field of Zoan why not possessions also
in Hebron ? And why did the mention of Hebron in Num.
13:22 call forth the statement, "now Hebron was built seven
years before Zoan in Egypt," if there was not such an associa
tion of ideas between the Hittite builders of the two that the
mention of the one recalled the other ? Brugsch Bey, referring
to this stone of Amenemhat, says : " The mention of Kheta at
this time is remarkable, for it appears to prove that at this time
they were close to Egypt ;" and then Mariette Bey holds that one
of the Hyksos dynasties was Hittite, and Dr. Isaac Taylor says :
" To the south, at a time prior to the Exodus, their dominion
extended as far as Hebron," and Prof. Sayce says (Anc. Emp. of
East, 214): "A Hittite tribe even succeeded in settling in the
south of Palestine."

HIGHWAYS. 157
Let us thank God even for the blunder that directs our at
tention to such confirmations of Scripture history.
HELMETS.
Sam. 17:5: He (Goliath) had a helmet of brass upon his
head. Among a people so warlike as the Assyrians we expect to
find armor of all sorts, nor are we disappointed. Their helmets
exhibit a great variety of form. There is the round form, like an
inverted bowl, the conical and crested forms ; no two of them
exactly alike. These may be seen in Anc. Mon. I. 441, 442;
L. N. II. 236. Herodotus attributes the crested helmet to the
Carians, but it seems rather to have originated in Assyria, along
with many other things that in time past have been credited to
the Greeks. Ezekiel 27 : 10 speaks of hanging up the shield and helmet.
Do those disks resembling shields on the sides of a ship illus
trate this passage? See Anc. Mon. I. 550, and L. N. II. 297.
HIGHWAYS.
Sometimes a whole history is wrapped up in a single term.
Many read the name highway and think only of a principal
road, larger and more travelled than ordinary ways ; but it is
more than that. No one who has travelled in Bible lands but
must have been impressed by the old Roman roads, with their
huge cubical blocks of stone raised above the surface of the soil.
And even before the advent of the Roman the prophet cried,
Isa. 57 : 14, "Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way ;" i. e., raise
it in a convex form above the surface on either side, so as
to afford a dry road in the rainy season, like the roads now
cast up on our western prairies. If one should describe our
railroads by a single epithet he would call them excavated
roads, for the hills dug through make a stronger impression, ex
cept in rare cases, than the valleys filled up, especially as the
railroad seeks the lowest levels. But the Hebrew called the
king's road a nhoa mesillah, a raised way, or highway, from
salal, to lift up. Judg. 20:31,32. And the Assyrian called it
urkhu itlutu with precisely the same signification. See the in-

158 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
scription of Tiglath Pileser in R. I. 12. 56: arkhi itluti, durgi la
pituti ushetiiq : raised ways, roads unopened I made passable.
HITTITES, THE.
Josh. 1 : 4. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even
unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the
Hittites. This people for centuries have been among the lost tribes,
but of late years have attracted much attention. Prof. Sayce in.
several of his works, especially in his Anc. Emp. of East, Rev.
W. Wright of Damascus in Trans. S. B. A., and Emp. of the
Hittites, London, 1884-1885, and Prof. J. Campbell of Montreal,
The Hittites, their Inscriptions and their History, 2 vols, have
done much to make us acquainted with them.
The Hebrews called them »Tinn,- the Egyptians kheta, and
the Assyrians Khatti. Ethnographically they were the sons of
Heth. Gen. 10: 15-18. And Caanan begat Zidon his first-born,
and Heth, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girga-
shite, and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, and the
Arvadite, and the Zamarite, and the Hamathite.
Their inscriptions have been found at Hamath, Aleppo,
Marash, Ibreez, Jerablis (Carchemish), Tyana, and other places.
Their monuments at Boghaz Keuy (Pterium) in Angora, and
south of that at Eyuk to the west of Cassarea, at Ninfi (Nym-
phoeum) between Smyrna and Sardis, at Ibreez near the Cili-
cian gates, at the Karabel pass, Giaour Kalessi, and elsewhere.
The inscriptions have not been deciphered sufficiently to
determine the language with certainty, but the prevailing im
pression of scholars is that it is not Semitic. The hieroglyphics
are very different from the Egyptian, and many arbitrary signs
are found among them.
We have as yet few Hittite inscriptions, and are not able to
read even these well enough to learn much of their ancient his
tory. We do not know when the children of Heth left the
primitive home of the race, or when they found their way up
into Kappadokia. They may have sauntered in oriental style
along the road, or even settled down once or twice before they
reached the region where they remained so long, but their

HITTITES, THE. 159
energy and enterprise, that made them " leaders and command
ers" among their neighbors, seem traits produced by a resi
dence for many generations in pure mountain air, corroborating
the testimony to the same fact that has been found in the turned
up toes of their boots. They seem to have been more inti
mately connected with Lydia than with any other kingdom.
Still they were not confined to any one locality, but as Prof.
Sayce says, Anc. Emp. of East, 217, " It is with the Hittite period
that Lydian history begins." Ephesus, Smyrna, Kyme, Myrina,
Priene, Pitane, were all of them founded by Hittites. Cyprus
also was of Hittite origin. Their priestesses, the Amazons clad
in the national costume and armed with the double-headed axe,
performing their sacred dances with shield and bow in honor of
Atargatis or Derketo, the goddess of war and love, gave rise to
the myth of a nation of women warriors. (Do. 223.) The Ther-
modon, on the banks of which the poets placed them, was near
Eyuk and Boghaz Keuy, and at Komana in Cappadocia 6,000
ministers served the goddess. She took the place of the Chal
dean Nana, and Atys represented the sun god Shamash. They
had also gods named Sutekh and Sandon. In Ephesus Atargatis
or Ma was named Artemis, and also Kybele and Amma, and
her worship as the goddess of reproduction was marked by the
same immoralities as in Syria and Babylonia.
Perhaps we should not think of them only as one homoge
neous people, but while in some places that was true, in others
they may have intermarried more or less with the tribes around
them, and were thus enabled to enlist in their wars many more
than their own numbers could furnish.
Brugsch Bey (Egypt under the Pharaohs, II. 405, quoted
in the Emp. of Hittites, 14) says that on an Egyptian monument
in the Louvre, dating from the first king of the Xllth dynasty,
is a record of Hittite towns and palaces destroyed on the borders
of Egypt. That would be at least 2380 B. C, and Marie tte Bey
holds that one of the early dynasties was Hittite. About the
middle of the 17th century B. C. Thothmes I. began a war
against the Hittites which was carried on by his successors for
nearly 500 years. (Brugsch Egypt, etc., I. 336, in Wright's Em
pire of H., 14.) Thothmes III., 1600 B. C, who was victorious

l6o ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
from Central Africa to the border of India, prosecuted this war
with great energy. On the 25th anniversary of his coronation
he fought the battle of Megiddo with the Hittite king of Kadesh,
who had under him all the kings from Egypt to the Euphrates ;
also the Phoenicians and the army of Cyprus— 119 tribes and
cities. Thothmes was victorious, and took 924 chariots, and the
chariot plated with gold used by the Hittite king. He then at
tacked Carchemish and Kadesh, the two Hittite capitals. Seven
years later he destroyed Kadesh, and drove the Hittites north
ward. In his ninth campaign — his seventh was in the thirty-
third year of his reign — he again stormed Kadesh, and yet after
his death, 1 566 B. C, the Hittites became formidable as before,
and his successors carried on the war with varying fortunes
until, as Brugsch Bey says (Egypt, etc., I. 379, in Wright's Em
pire, etc., 18), "Even Egyptian inscriptions honor the kings of
the Kheta and speak of their gods with reverence." Seti I., who
came to the throne 200 years after the death of Thothmes III.,
subdued Phoenicia and stormed Kadesh. Under his successor,
the great Rameses II., the oppressor of Israel, war again broke
out between Egypt and the Kheta. The king of the latter ral
lied his forces from all parts of his empire. His allies came
from Mesopotamia and from Mysia, from Arvad and Kappado-
kia ; the Dardanians from the Troad, the men of Aleppo, and
the hardy warriors of Gauzanitis. The battle was fought with
great carnage. At one time Rameses seems to have been alone
in the midst of his foes, but fought his way out. Yet the Egyp
tian account of it is even ridiculous in its exaggerations. He is
represented as contending alone with 2,500 chariots, manned by
7,500 men. The 5,000 horses are dashed in pieces. The hearts
of the enemy fail them ; their limbs give way ; they cannot
thrust a spear. No one resisted, and none escaped. With his
own hand Rameses had slain hundreds of thousands, and yet,
strangely, the "vile, miserable " king of the Kheta who entered the
battle comes out of it the "great " king. Then there is no record
of plunder taken to Egypt, as is customary in other campaigns.
Peace becomes very popular towards the end of the battle, and
it is the king of the Kheta who dictates the terms of the treaty
and calls it an alliance between Kheta and Kemi. The Hittite

HITTITES, THE. l6l
is put before the Egyptian (Emp. of Hittites, 109, note), and trie
great king of Egypt married the daughter of his late adversary
in the 34th year of his reign. This treaty was kept to the end
of the long reign of Rameses, and through that of his son,
Mineptah II., the Pharaoh of the Exodus. More than a century
later Rameses III. inscribes among the names of the conquered
on the temple of Medinet Abou, " The miserable king of the
Hittites." Do. 35.
In " The Observations of Bel," an astronomical work origi
nally written in the time of Sargon of Accad, we read : " The
king of the Hittites ... on the throne seizes," and Prof. Sayce
learns from an inscription of Nabonidus that Sargon lived 3750
B. C. ; so we might find mention of the Hittites in the Assyrian
inscriptions as early as that date did not the professor suggest
that Kheta was substituted for akhitu (foreign) by the translators
or copyists of Asshurbanipal.
Prof. Sayce says of the wars of Tiglath Pileser I., 1120-1110
B. C, that they " weakened the power of the Hittites in the
north, and allowed the small states of Syria to make head
against them. For more than a century the latter had no pow
erful neighbors to fear " (R. of P. new I. 88), and Esarhaddon
speaks of twenty-two kings of the Hittites, twelve belonging to
the shore of Syria and ten to the island of Cyprus. (R. of P. III.
107, 108.)
After the time of Sennacherib Syria was known as the land
of the Hittites, though they had been forced back to the north
ward before the days of Solomon. Asshurnatsirpal, 883-859 B.
C, carried the arms of Assyria to Tyre and Sidon, and levied
tribute on the Hittites. His son, Shalmanezer II., 858-824 B. O,
took Carchemish and carried off many horses and chariots.
From Hamah he took 700 war chariots. The Black Obelisk
tells that he received the tribute of all the kings of the Hittites,
and carried off their chariots. At one time he says, " I captured
countless cities," and at another, " 89 cities I took." Shalmanezer
died in 823 B. C.,-and war continued till the time of Sargon, who
destroyed Carchemish and slew its king, Pisiri, in 717 B. C.
That must have been a strong nation that, standing between
two such powers as Egypt and Assyria, bore the brunt of both
Assyrian Echoes. 1 1

1 62 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
of them for more than sixteen and a half centuries. The
wonder is not that it succumbed at last, but that it stood so
long. Prof. Sayce supposes that the Hittite occupation of northern
Syria took place about the sixteenth century before Christ, and
that from 1300 B. C. to 1100 B. C. was the time of their great
est enlargement. Emp. of Hittites, 228.
Hittite art and culture, based on those of Babylonia— for
Assyria was then just emerging into notice — date from the time
of the founding of their Syrian capitals. Their monuments
in Asia Minor were many of them near some silver mine
which they had wrought, and some of their records were in
scribed on plates of that metal. Their copy of the treaty with
Rameses II. was written on silver, and accompanied by a silver
plate bearing a likeness of their god Sutekh with an inscription
round it, and this probably suggested the idea of silver coins,
which were said to be invented by the Lydians ; most likely by
Hittites in Lydia, for silver plates were a common material for
writing among them (Anc. Emp. of the East 229. 231). They
had a syllabary of their own, used in Asia Minor before the
simpler Phoenician alphabet, and it was still used in Cyprus in
400 B. C. Besides silver, gold and emery were dug out of their
mountains. They constructed two highroads for trade, one by
Giaoor Kalessi and Ancyra to Boghaz Keuy, used by Kroesos
when he marched against Kyros, and the other through Lyka-
onia and Thonion, by the Kilikian gates, to Antioch and Scan- '
deroon. This trade was so flourishing that the mina of Car
chemish was the standard all through Western Asia for weigh
ing silver. The Egyptian monuments speak of Khilip Sira (King Khilip)
as the writer of the books of the vile Kheta, and Kirjath-sepher
(Book-town) was the name of one of their towns. Judg. 1 : 1 1 .
Their mountain boots have already been described. On the
head they wore sometimes a close cap, and again a tiara or a
Phrygian cap. They wore an outer tunic with an embroidered
edge so arranged as to leave the right arm free. The inner
tunic reached only to the knees. They shaved the entire face,
and also a place above the ear.

HITTITE CHARIOTS. 1 63
HITTITE CHARIOTS.
2 Kings 7 : 6. The Lord had made the host of the Syrians to
hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses, even the noise of
a great host, and they said one to another, Lo, the king of
Israel hath hired against- us the kings of the Hittites, and the
kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.
Prof. F. W. Newman says of this, "The unhistorical
tone is too manifest to allow of our easy belief in it," and
again, " The particular ground of alarm attributed to them does
not exhibit the writer's acquaintance with the times in a very
favorable light." Once more : " No Hittite kings can have com
pared in power with the king of Judah, the real and near ally
who is not named at all, nor is there a single mark of acquain
tance with the contemporaneous history." History of the He
brew Monarchy, 178, 179.
It seems as though the Almighty allowed such a supercil
ious attack to be made on his word in order to call attention to
the facts in the case.
What have the monuments to say to all this? Prof.
Sayce tells us that the empire of Aram Naharaim had been
followed by that of the Hittites as far back as the time of
the XlXth dynasty (B. C. 1600?), and in the days of Tiglath
Pileser I. (B. C. 11 30) the Hittites were still paramount from
the Euphrates to the Lebanon. (Trans. S. B. A. V. 28.) Asshur
natsirpal (B. C. 883-858) says (R. of P. new II. 168. 57) "To
the city of Carchemish, in the country of the Hittites, I took
the road. To the country of Bit Bakhiani I approached," and
then he tells how he received tribute of chariots, teams, horses,
etc., " and chariots, riding horses, and grooms, I took away with
me ;" and repeats precisely the same things of the country of
Azalli. Then in line 65 he says, " The tribute of Sangara,
king of the Hittites, twenty talents of silver, beads of gold, a
chain of gold, etc., the multitudinous furniture of his palace, of
which the like was never received, couches and thrones, dishes,
etc., of ivory, two hundred slave girls, variegated cloths, linen
vestments, etc., sirnnma stones, elephant tusks, and small images
of gold in quantities I received." The palace that contained

164 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD,
such things belonged to no insignificant monarch or rude sav
age. " The chariots, riding horses and grooms of Carchemish I
carried off."
Then from Kunulua, another Hittite city, he received
twenty talents of silver, one talent of gold, one thousand oxen,
ten thousand sheep, and rich furniture again in great variety :
and their chariots, horses, and grooms he carried off. From all
which it appears that the Hittites were noted for their chariots
and horses, and that, instead of the sacred writer being " unac
quainted with contemporaneous history," it is Prof. Newman
who must plead guilty to his own indictment.
And if anything is needed to aggravate his condemnation
let the Theban poet Pentaur furnish the evidence. He says
that the king of the Hittites had brought with him all the
peoples from the uttermost ends of the sea, the peoples of Naha
raim Arathu, the Dardani, the Masu, the Pidasa, the Malunna,
the Karkish, the Leka, Qazuadana, Carchemish, Akerith, and the
whole people of Anaugas Kadesh and Mushanath. He left no
people on his road ; their number was endless. They covered
the mountains and plains like the locusts ; and afterwards he
describes Rameses II. as engaged in fight single-handed with
twenty-five hundred chariots drawn by five thousand horses,
and manned by seventy-five hundred men.
True, that belonged to a previous generation, but the mem
ory of it had not passed away when Samaria was besieged. Nor
had the empire of the Hittites then passed away. See Rev. W.
Wright's Emp. of Hittites, 106, 1 13-120.
HONOR.
Thoughtful readers of Holy Scripture must have admired
the wise selection of the verb in the fifth commandment, Exod.
20 : 12. " Obey thy father and mother " might have been met by
a mere formal and perfunctory obedience in which the heart
had no part ; "love thy parents " might have been put off with a
gush of feeling that yielded no fruit of obedience ; but " honor "
them carries with it both the love and the obedience. The
child who does not obey his parents cannot render to them the
honor that is their due, and as little can he honor his parents who

HORSE. 165
does not love them. Think of returning a mother's love by
anything that was not pervaded through and through with the
warmest affection. In such a case the lack of love would be
an insult, but love honors father and mother in obeying them.
The Assyrian also uses the verb honor in the sense of obey.
Asshurbanipal says of Esarhaddon, his father, that he honored
(itta'iid, literally, exalted) the command of Asshur and Beltis,
the gods whom he served. R. V. 1. 9. A. M. 19. 23. He lifted
up their command to a position of honor by obeying it. So,
two lines after, he speaks of it as the pii muttalli, the honored
or exalted command ; muttalli being the causative form from
the verb ilu, to be high, as itta'iid is from naadu with the same
meaning. The same thing occurs in the Chaldean tradition of the flood.
See D. L. 102. 28 and 29, where after Khasisadra is ordered to
build a ship he says, att'iid anaku, I honor (thee, or thy com
mand); I do (it), or, as we say, I will do it.
HORSE.
When the king asked Haman, " What shall be done unto
the man whom the king delighteth to honor ?" Esther 6 : 6,
Haman answered, vs. 8, 9 : " Let royal apparel be brought which
the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon,
and on the head of which a royal crown is set, and let the ap
parel and the horse be delivered to the hand of one of the
king's most noble princes, that they may array the man withal
whom the king delighteth to honor, and cause him to ride on
horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before
him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth
to honor." The Assyrians were accus'tomed to ride in chariots, and
the Persians in their rugged mountains chose the saddle.
Bearing this one difference in mind some of the bas-reliefs from
Assyria enable us to form a very vivid picture of this royal
parade in the streets of Shushan. Take for example that
picture of some great man riding in a chariot, sumptuously
adorned, with servants leading the horses and an officer of the
court striding on before (L. N. II. 273). If we only transfer the

1^6 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
rider to a saddle we have a striking illustration of that pageant
described in the book of Esther.
HOSTS, LORD OF.
The Assyrians believed in 300 spirits of heaven or angels
(igigi) and 600 spirits of earth or demons (annunaki). Asshur
natsirpal speaks of 65,000 great gods of heaven and earth, and
if every city, town and hamlet had its own gods, that number
might not be far out of the way, even making allowance for
duplicates. Even so large a number might be easily offset by the 10,000
times 10,000 of Rev. 5:11; but the multitude of the hosts is not
the principal thing. There is another contrast of much more
importance. Those 65,000 great gods of Assyria might not even have
heard of each other. They had nothing in common but the one
fact of their being gods. For the sake of argument, then, let us
for the moment suppose that they actually existed ; so shall we
be better able to enter into the feelings of their worshippers and
see how things appeared to them.
How could they know that they were not thoroughly op
posed to each other ? They actually held that many of them
were as much set against each other as Satan is set against God.
Then, as they made out only 300 angels, and over against these
were 600 demons, just twice the number, how could they know
that their power was not in the ratio of their number ? and how
could they tell that any effort of their own gods to help them
would not be at once and forever thwarted ? In such circum
stances what peace could they have in the present, or what hope
for the future ? What comfort could they find in prayer ? and
would not each flash of the lightning and blast of the storm fill
them with dismay ?
As we think of these things we are prepared to appreciate
the revelation of one God and Father of all — one Saviour, whose
is all power in heaven and on earth, and all the hosts of heaven
not his slaves, doing his will through force and fear, but all ren
dering the glad service of love ; for are we not taught to pray
that the will of our Father may be done on earth as it is done

HOURS. 167
in heaven ? and are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to
do service for them that shall inherit salvation ? How it lifts
up the heart to look out on that great cloud of witnesses all
working together for good to them that love God ; and not they
only, but also all things and all events joining to promote the
same end, and, what is best of all, the whole working under the
constant and immediate superintendence of the one living and
true God !
Heathenism cannot open up a view like that, or give occasion
for such joy in God. HOURS.
Our Saviour asks, John 11:9, " Are there not twelve hours
in the day ?" It is an interesting question, where and when did
this division of the day into hours originate ? The Jews divided
the night into three watches : the first from 6 p. M. till 10, the
second from 10 P. M., till 2 A. M., and the third from 2 A. M. till 6.
The Babylonians had the same three watches, though the Ro
mans had four : 6 to 9 P. M., 9 to midnight, midnight to 3 A. M.,
and 3 to 6, or sunrise.
But besides this division of the night into three watches, the
Babylonians, and after them the Assyrians, divided the entire
day into twelve kasbu, or periods of two hours each, and these
were each divided into sixty minutes, and each minute again
into sixty seconds. We recognize the relations of duration and
area by using the same word to denote both time and space.
Thus Acts 5:7," It was about the space of three hours after," and
Rev. 14 : 20 (old version), " by the space of a thousand and six
hundred furlongs." So also the Babylonians used the same word,
kasbu, as a measure of distance. Thus Asshurbanipal (R. V.
8. 91, and Ass'l. 268. 77, and A. M, 30. 12) says, "100 kasbu-
qaqqaru ultu Nina," one hundred kasbu of ground from Nin
eveh, etc., etc. It is the old Persian parasang, and, curiously
enough, it is the modern " hour's distance " all over the East,
showing what may have been the original idea, as it is to-day :
" the space travelled over in an hour." At that rate the Assy
rian kasbu ought to have been twice as long as the modern hour's
journey, for their kasbu was two hours in duration. A. M. 72 ,
note on 16. 25.

l68 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
The gnomon or dial was a Babylonian invention, as some of
their temples show, and so was the clepsydra, at a later period.
The number twelve seems to have had an astronomical ori
gin in connection with the twelve divisions of the equator, twelve
signs of the zodiac, twelve months of the year, etc. It is worthy
of note in this connection that the first mention of an hour is in
the book of Daniel, who dwelt at Babylon, and the word is used
by him as many as five times : 3 : 6, 15 ; 4 : 19, 33, and 5 : 5.
HOUSE OF THEIR FATHERS.
This is a phrase of frequent occurrence in the Hebrew.
See Num. 1:2, 4, 18, 20, 22, 24, 44, 45 ; 1 Sam. 22: 16; 24:21 ;
2 Sam. 3 : 29, and often. The Jewish tribes {Shibatim) were
divided first into families (Mishpakhoth), and these again into
Fathers' houses (Beith Ha Aboth).
Precisely the same phrase occurs in the Assyrian. In R. I.
60, found also in A. M. 11. 10, 11, Sennacherib says that Tsidqa,
king of Isqaaluna (Ascalon), who did not submit to my yoke, the
gods of the house of his fathers (ilani bit abishu), himself, his
wife, his sons, his daughters, his brother, the seed of the house
of his father (zir bit abishu) I carried off by force and brought
to Assyria. The same expression occurs frequently in the inscriptions
of Asshurbanipal. See Ass'l. 160. 83, 162. 97, 176. 56, 177. 83.
Found also in R. V. 4. 23. 40, and in A. M. 25. 17. 29.
IMMORTALITY.
Job. 20:25-27. But I know that my Redeemer liveth, and
that he shall stand up at the last upon the earth, and after my
skin had been thus destroyed, yet from my flesh shall I see God,
whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not
another. In view of this wonderful utterance of the man of Uz we
cannot help asking, What were the views of the Babylonians as
to the life to come ? This question, however, is much easier to
ask than to answer, for besides the difference between those
who think profoundly and the ignorant multitude, different
cities had diverse creeds. The men of Eridu held to a Hades

IMMORTALITY. 169
" beyond the mouths of the rivers " in connection with their god
Ea*, whose home was in the sea, but the men of northern
Babylonia placed their heaven on or above the high mountain
of Kharsag karkara, mountain of the world. They also spoke
of a Kharsag Kalama, mountain of mankind. See " Mount of
the Congregation." Their ideas concerning the future life varied
at different periods ; they grew dim or became more clear as
ages passed by, for the period under review extended across
many centuries. Sargon of Accad lived 3750 B. C. and Nine
veh was destroyed 606 B. C, leaving a space between of more
than 3,000 years. There is no nation on earth that has not
experienced very great changes of opinion during so long a
period. We should expect to find some traces of the primitive faith
in immortality among their early traditions, and so we find Ea,
the god of primitive Eridu, is known as " the god who raises the
dead to life ;" and though, as Prof. Sayce suggests, this may
have become a mere thought of bringing the dead back again
to the life that now is, yet it must have had some connection
with Edenic tradition, although the clearness of that had become
dim. Nor would this be strange, for if man did not like to retain
God in his thoughts neither would he like to retain a belief in
future retribution. Even Christians need exhortation to set the
mind on things which are above. Col. 3 : 2. Still this title
seems to reveal a glimpse of more than a return to this life, and
even granting that this is not incontrovertible, yet it would be
difficult to hinder thinking men from passing through that door
into the idea of a life beyond.
Moreover some things bring out this belief in a future life
more plainly. Izdubar finds the Chaldean Noah, who had been
long dead, dwelling among the gods. And if one man may be
so favored why not others also? H. L. 359.
More than this. A list of the gods of the cities of Assyria
contains a prayer that the writer may see " the land of the silver
sky," which can be nothing else than a name for heaven. H. L.
356. R. III. 66. 6, seq.
The spirit of Ea bani, also, in the epic of Izdubar is repre
sented as rising like a cloud of dust to heaven, where he lives

170 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
among the gods (H. L. 365), reclines on a couch, and drinks pure
water. The Hades of Babylonia resembles that of Greece.
And yet even so, belief in a hereafter was so dim and was
confined to so few that it still remains true that Christ " brought
life and incorruption to light through the gospel," 2 Tim. 1:10;
for he alone revealed it clearly, and gave assurance of it unto all
men in that he hath risen from the dead. Acts 17:31 compared
with John 10: 18. INCANTATION.
Ex. 7: 11. And they also, the magicians of Egypt, did in
like manner with their enchantments.
Deut. 18: 10-12. There shall not be found with thee any
one . . . that useth divination, one that practiceth augury, or an
enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or that consulteth with
a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer, for whosoever
doeth these things is an abomination to the Lord.
Do the monuments throw any light on this subject ? The
early Accadians were Shamanistic in their opinions. They saw
evil in the world, but they did not enter into its moral signifi
cance. The looked on it as the work of demons, or a decree of
fate, rather than the result of sin, and to be removed by the
spell of the magician rather than in any other way. The same
fire which cooked their food also destroyed life, and they sought
to enjoy the benefit and avoid the injury by means of their
sorcerers. The following are specimens of their magical texts :
Incantation. Seven are they. Seven are they.
In the hollow of the deep they are seven.
In the brightness of the sky they are seven.
From the hollow of the deep, from a palace came they forth.
Male they are not, female they are not.
They are dust-storm ghosts, travelers are they.
Wife they possess not, child they beget not.
Compassion and kindness they know not.
Prayer or supplication they will not hear.
Horses bred in the mountains are they.
Of the god Ea they are enemies.
The throne-bearers of the gods are they.
To injure the canal in the street are they set.
Evil are they, evil are they.
Seven are they, seven are they, twice seven are they.
O spirit of heaven, conjure, O spirit of earth, conjure. H. L. 207. 457,

INSCRIPTIONS, THE. 171
The idea was that the repetition of these words as they
were written in the Accadian language would effectually pro
tect a man from the mischief of these seven demons.
From 38 pages of similar incantations we select these :
Incantation. The evil curse like a demon has fallen on the man.
The voice as a scourge has fallen on him.
The voice ill-boding has fallen on him, the evil curse, the ban, the madnesss,
the evil curse has slaughtered this man like a sheep.
His god has gone far from his body.
His goddess, the giver of counsel, has stationed herself outside.
The smiting voice like a garment has covered and bewitched him.
Merodach regards him, he goes down into the house, to his father Ea, and says,
" My father, the evil curse like a demon has fallen on the man."
Twice did he say, " What this man should do I know not ; what will give him rest ?"
Ea to his son Merodach made answer :
" My son, what dost thou not know ? what shall I tell thee more ?
Merodach, what dost thou not know ? what shall I add to thy knowledge ?
What I know thou also knowest. Go, my son Merodach,
Take the man to the house of pure sprinkling, remove his ban, expel his bane, the
evil that troubles his body, whether it be the curse of his father, or the curse
of his mother, or the curse of his elder brother, or the destructive curse of
a man whom he knows not.
May the ban, by the spell of Ea, like garlic be peeled off, like a date be cut off, like
a branch be torn off.
The ban, O spirit of heaven, conjure, O spirit of earth, conjure.
Then follows, as a part of the same spell,
Incantation. Like this garlic, which is peeled off and cast into the fire, the burning
flame shall consume it ; in the garden it shall not be planted, in pool or canal
it shall not be placed, its root shall not seize the earth, its stem shall not
grow and shall not see the sun, for the food of God and king it shall not be
used.
So may the guardian priest cause the ban to leave him, and loose the bond of the
torturing disease, the sin, the backsliding, the wickedness, the sinning, the
disease which exists in my body, my flesh and my muscle.
Like this garlic may it be peeled off, and this day may the burning flame con
sume it.
May the ban depart that I may see the light. H. L. 471-73.
Similar incantations follow this last one concerning a date
and branch, wool, goats' hair, dyed thread, and a pea ; but enough
has been quoted to give the reader an idea of these sorceries.
INSCRIPTIONS, THE.
I. Their quantity. One is surprised- at the amount ac
cumulated in so short a time. The five large folios of " The

172 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Inscriptions of Western Asia" contain only a part of them.
The more numerous and well-filled pages of Strassmeyer contain
more, and there are many not yet copied from the originals.
There are far more of them than there are of Holy Scriptures,
which though bound in one volume form a library rather than a
book. II. Their dates. As the Bible is made up of books writ
ten from near the close of the fifteenth century B. C. down
to near the end of the first century A. D., so the inscriptions
date from an uncertain period previous to Sargon of Agade,
who lived 3750 B. C, down to the Achsemenian rulers of Persia
centuries after Cyrus, who lived in the last half of the six
teenth century B. C.
III. Their languages. Our Scriptures were writen first in
Hebrew, then partially in Chaldee, and last of all in Greek.
The inscriptions began in Sumerian or Accadian, then used the
Babylonian or Assyrian, for they were practically one, and be
longed to the Shemitic family of languages, as the Accadian
did to that of the Finns and Turks. They also were written in
Elamitic, in Persian, and in the language of Cappadocia, be
sides others which were necessary to make subject nations ac
quainted with the laws.
IV. Their material. We have none of them on paper, or
similar perishable material, but we know that such materials •
were used, for the clay seals, and the fastenings that attached
them to the documents that have perished, bear silent testimony
to what had been. Only in the dry air of Egypt could rolls of
papyrus survive the ages.
Sargon of Dur Sargina inscribed one of his records on tin,
another on silver, and a third on gold ; and we have precious
stones, such as agate, jasper, cornelian and chalcedony, bearing
inscriptions as well as figures of men, and animals, and other
objects. The marble walls and floors of the royal palace were also
utilized as material for inscriptions. The writer well remembers
the inscriptions on the floor of the principal entrance of the
palace at Khorsabad, where the engraved parts of the characters
had been filled with lead to prevent too rapid wear by the feet

ISAIAH IO.

173

that walked over them. Also the long strips of inscription,
many lines in depth, that began on the wall at one side of the
door of a royal hall, passed un
der the bodies of the lamassi
(bull colossi) and across the bas-
reliefs of gods and cities all
round the apartment, till it
ended on the other side of the
door. The engraving in all
these cases was large and dis
tinct, so as to be read with ease.
The favorite material, how
ever, was baked clay. This
bore many forms. Cylinders
round and many-sided, pen
tagonal, hexagonal, octagonal.
Tablets, cushion form, in the
shape of a cake of soap, and as
varied in size as our modern
books. The cylinders, of which a
specimen is here given, were
often deposited in the corner
stones of the temples and pal
aces to immortalize the builder,
and, so used, they were called
the timmin of the structure.
When tablets were used as
books, instead of making them
so large as to be unwieldy a
series was used, and so num
bered that the reader knew the order in which to read them.
Sometimes the characters used were very fine, so that it must
have been very trying to the eyes of the reader.

INSCRIBED CYLINDER.

ISAIAH IO.
This chapter has been the stumbling-block of the commen
tators. Some, like Cowles and Fausset, never seem to dream

174 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
that it can apply to anything else than the campaign of Sen
nacherib and the destruction of his army, and they make des
perate efforts to make it apply. Ewald supposes the descrip
tion drawn from actual occurrences, but applying to an event
still future. Gesenius and Hendewerk look on it as an ideal
picture of the invasion, and not a narrative of what actually oc
curred. Dr. Edward Robinson takes the same ground on ac
count of the impracticability of the route described, and J. D. Mi
chaelis even supposes the invasion to be that of Nebuchad
rezzar. But the prophet expressly mentions the Assyrian and
not the Babylonian. Then Sennacherib came up from the
southwest, not from the north as here described, and of him
Isaiah said by the word of the Lord (37 : 33), " He shall not come
into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come
before it with shield, nor cast up a mount against it." But the
Assyrian here set forth is to take the spoil, and to take the
prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets
(verse 6). Only a remnant was to escape destruction (verse 20)
and that remnant was to return again (vs. 21 and 22), i. e., from
captivity in Assyria.
The monuments come here to our help and make all plain.
It was not Sennacherib, but his father Sargon, who took Car
chemish B. C. 717, Samaria B. C. 722, and Hamath B. C. 720.
Damascus had been taken by Tiglath Pileser II. B. C. 732, and
Arpad a few years before. Now Sargon tells us that he cap
tured Jerusalem B. C. 711, and it was his swift, sudden, and
irresistible approach to the doomed city that is, so vividly de
scribed by the prophet. Sargon halted at Nob, only one hour
from Jerusalem, on the very day that this prophecy was
spoken. So clearly and satisfactorily do the monuments confirm the
words of the inspired penman, pointing the way out of a laby
rinth from which commentators otherwise could find no means
of escape. ISRAEL.
Israel in Scripture is the name both of a person and of a
country. It is the new name given to Jacob, Gen. 35:10, it is
also the name of the northern kingdom as distinguished from

JEHOVAH. 175
the southern. The land of Israel and the land of Judah or Ju-
dea, Ezek. 27, 17.
In the inscriptions the house of Israel is usually called the
house of Omri, mat Bit Khuumria. Sargon. Cyl. 19 and 20. It is
also in one place called mat Sirelaa. R. III. 8. 92. This occurs in
the inscription of Shalmaneser II. found at Kurkh, who mentions
Akhaabbu (Ahab) as its king. Such things show how intimately
connected are the monuments and Holy Scripture, for, as Shal
maneser II. reigned 858-824 B. C, the occurrence of the names
of Israel and Ahab in his annals may shed some light on the
chronological questions raised in this connection.
IVORY PALACES.
Psa. 45 : 8. Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments
have made thee glad.
Some were called palaces of cedar because that was the
principal wood used in their construction, and so of other woods.
There could have been none built of ivory. But the cornices and
other portions were often adorned with bronze or with alabaster.
In some cases ivory was used for the same purpose, and hence
the appropriateness of the expression "ivory palaces," a term
used also in the monuments. Or, the furniture of a palace may
have been adorned with that material, and the name given for
that reason. See, e. g., the ivory throne of Solomon, 1 Kings
10: 18. Sargon says, Cylinder 63, A palace of ivory, ushu wood,
box wood, cedar, cypress, etc., I builded by the high command
of the gods for the abode of my royalty.
JEHOVAH.
Exod. 6:3. I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac and
unto Jacob as God Almighty (nw) but by my name Jehovah (nirv)
I was not known unto them.
There has been much dispute about the proper pronuncia
tion of this last name, and it is certain that it should not be pro
nounced Jehovah, as in our authorized version, for the first letter
is y and not y The Hebrew alphabet was used to express conso
nants only, the vowels were supplied by the reader. This was
all very well so long as Hebrew was a spoken language, but after-

176 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
wards the knowledge of the correct pronunciation depended on
tradition, and this tradition was fixed by the Masoretes of Tibe
rias, circa A. D. 570. Unfortunately this proper name of the
God of Israel was held to be too sacred for utterance. In the
Septuagint it was rendered by the Greek word oP«>r, and so wher
ever it occurred the Masoretes gave to ntrr the vowel points of
wx (Adonai), the usual equivalent of ia>pu>g, thus indicating that
that word was to be pronounced by the reader. The prevailing
opinion now seems to be that Yahveh is the true pronunciation.
In the Assyrian monuments the word when occurring in
proper names is rendered Yahu, or Yahua. Thus Hezekiah is
Khazakiyahu (Senn. 58. 71), and Jehu is Yahua (R. III. 5. 6. 64).
Fresh Light 61. 64.
Unfortunately we are a little in the dark as to the Assyrian
pronunciation, for that is also a dead language, and there may
have been an obscure sound of v along with u, as Yahuv and
Yahuva. See A. L. and S. 45.
JERUSALEM.
There has been much dispute concerning the origin of this
name. Some have derived it from wn' and chvf, meaning the
possession of peace, and others from n\ foundation, with the
same ending, making it " the foundation of peace." Here also
the Assyrian helps us to a better derivation. The ordinary
name for city in Assyrian is alu. A bilingual tablet, however
(R. II. 2. 393), gives the Accadian equivalent of this as uru.
The first part of the name, then, means city ; but according
to Ebed Tob, the priestly king of the place, whose despatches to
Amenophis IV., king of Egypt a century before the exodus of
Israel to Canaan, have been recovered in Tel el Amarna, here was
the temple and oracle of the god Salim, i. e., god of peace, and so
we have the name city of Salim, corroborating the title of Mel
chizedek as " king of Salem, which is king of peace " (Heb. 7 : 2).
It may be objected to this that in Hebrew Salem begins with w
while the Assyrian has 0. It is sufficient answer to this that while
the Hebrew spells Ashqelon with iv the Assyrian has o- The same
is true of Shimron and Usimuruna (Samaria) and Lakish and
Lakisu (Lachish), Ashdod and Asduda; and with such an array

JUDGMENT, RIGHTEOUS. 1 77
of examples there need be no difficulty concerning u>hvrc and
Urusalim. See R. of P. new V.61.
JUDGE.
The usual term for ruler is king, but the rulers of Israel
between Joshua and Saul are known as judges, and that period
is known as " the days when the judges ruled." Ruth 1:1. The
idea at the root of the word is authority, especially in dispensing
justice and punishing evil-doers. So the men of Sodom said of
Lot, Gen. 19 : 9, " This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he
will needs be a judge," and the Hebrew who wronged his brother
demanded of Moses, Exod. 2 : 14, " Who made thee a prince and
judge over us?" So Deborah judged Israel, Judg. 4:4, 5, for
the children of Israel came to her for the adjudication of their
strifes about property and rights.
So also the usual term for ruler in Assyrian is sharru, king,
but in saying that one espouses the cause of another they used
the expression, "he does his judgment." R. V. 4. 32 and A. M.
25. 24, where it is joined with " coming to his help."
Shalmanezer II., 858-824 B. C, calls the god Shamash the
judge of heaven and earth, the ruler over all. Layard 87. 8 and
A. M. 7. 5. So also does Nabonidus, R. V. 64. 2. 47, and A. M.
37. 24, and Asshurbanipal calls him danu rabu ilani, the great
judge of the gods, as having authority over them. R. V. 62. 19
and A. M. 24. 7. JUDGMENT, RIGHTEOUS.
John 7 : 24. Judge not according to appearance, but judge
righteous judgment.
Take an Assyrian illustration. Asshurbanipal, while carry
ing on the war with Ummanaldas king of Elam, thus addressed
the goddess Ishtar : " Give to me life, length of days, and joy of
heart as I tread the way to thy temple, Bit masmas, till my feet
grow old." Ass'l. 305. 8 and 9. This seems to indicate greater
joy in his favorite goddess than some Christians find in the liv
ing God, but that impression disappears when we find that her
priests had told him in her name, " O Asshurbanipal, thou king
whom my hands have made, I march before thy army." Ass'l. 22 1.
Assyrian Echoes. I 2

178 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
24 and 25. Before that she had sent word, " Feast, drink wine,
make music — I will grant to thee the desire of thy heart." Ass'l.
125. 65-6S. This sets his words in another light. It is one thing
to love a god who engages to give success to our own undertak
ings, it is another thing to love Him who commands us to make
his will ours, and pray " Thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven." In this matter of human desert and divine retribution some
deal in universal, or at least general statements. They may not
go so far as to say that Christian nations are saved and all others
lost, for they know that the best Christian nations contain many
of " them that are without," whose guilt is measured by their
greater knowledge ; but they are so impressed by the unspeak
able wickedness of heathendom as to lose sight of the fact that
" in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness
is acceptable to him " (Acts 10: 35), and though they know that
Judas was one of the twelve, and Ananias a Pentecostal convert,
yet they seem to count all church members as true disciples.
But God does not judge men by their position but by their char
acter, nor does he decide the eternal doom of any without taking
into account every element that enters into that character. God
forms no mistaken judgments. He is not imposed on by a mere
show of piety, and he waits patiently for the penitence that may
justify forgiveness ; and when he finds it he rejoices with exceed
ing joy. He does not doom men by classes, but inspires his apostle to
say, " As many as have sinned without law shall also perish with
out law : and as many as have sinned under law shall be judged
by law." Rom. 2:11, 12. This means that everyone who out
side the written law deliberately and persistently practices what
he knows is wrong shall not be excused. " For the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteous
ness of men who hinder the truth in unrighteousness, because
that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God
manifested it unto them — so that they may be without excuse."
Rom. 1 : 18-20. They are not overlooked, then, because they had
no written law, but perish because they wilfully went contrary to
the knowledge which God gave them. Each one, however, is

JUSTICE. 179
judged by himself and each item of "his record enters into the
formation of the perfect judgment of God.
Those who judge men by classes, when they find a fact that
seems to contravene their judgments, are tempted to go to the
opposite extreme and contradict their previous decision. But
the true way is to judge each case by itself and, if after a careful
examination of all sides of it we are still unable to form a decis-
sion, leave the matter to the Lord, assured that whatever his de
cision may be it will be the most merciful that can be made
consistent with truth and right, and command the approval of
the universal conscience ; even as when on earth his bitterest
enemies could not help approving each one of his replies to their
ensnaring questions. JUSTICE.
Prov. 29 : 14. The king that faithfully judgeth the poor,
his throne shall be established for ever. 2 Sam. 23 : 3 and 4. The
God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, One that
ruleth over men righteously, that ruleth in the fear of God, he
shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, a morn
ing without clouds, when the tender grass springeth out of the
earth through clear shining after rain.
The name Sargon, Sharrukenu, the father of Sennacherib,
who reigned B. C. 722-705, meant either tne rightful or tlje
righteous king ; it was, literally, the true king, which might be
understood either as the legitimate or the just. He says in his
cylinder inscription, lines 50-52, In accordance with my name,
which is for the promotion of right and justice, and which the
great gods gave me to protect the helpless and preserve the weak
from harm, the price of the fields on which I built the city of
Dur sargina (fortress of Sargon) I paid to the owners thereof in
silver and copper, according to the estimates recorded in the en
during tablets, and that no wrong might be done to any, even in
the case of a piece of land that for any reason was not wanted, I
gave field for field wherever the owner chose to select it.
Of course this is his own account of the matter, but he would
hardly dare to insert in an inscription anything which every
reader would know was not true. At all events it shows that he

180 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
had very clear ideas of what was right and just, and if in anything
he did not live up to the requirements of duty, it was not for the
want of knowledge as to what that duty was.
So these words of Sargon furnish a striking illustration of
the truth that " when Gentiles who have no (written) law do by
nature the things of the law, these, having no law, are a law unto
themselves ; in that they show the work of the law written in
their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and
their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them."
Rom. 2 : 14, 15. KING OF KINGS.
The victorious Redeemer is represented in Rev. 19: 16 as
having on his garment and on his thigh a name written, " King
of kings, and Lord of lords ;" and even before his victory, while
the war still raged between his enemies and his kingdom, he is
called "Lord of lords, and King of kings." 17. 14. Perhaps
no special lesson is intended to be conveyed in this reverse
order of these titles. Do they occur anywhere in the monu
ments ?
In the beginning of his great inscription, Asshurnatsirpal,
883-859 B. C. (R. I. 17. 5), calls the god Uras, known also as
Adar and Ninip, among other things, Bil bili, lord of lords,
showing that this epithet was used concerning a god even at
that early day.
Asshurbanipal assumes the title Shar sharrani, king of
kings, in his account of his temple restorations. R. V. 62. 2 and
A. M. 23 : 14.
Asshurnatsirpal makes a title for himself out of the two
names, Shar bili (R. I. 17. 19), and in the next line calls him
self Shar kali malki, king of all the princes. It is fitting that
the God-man should have a title compounded of one used con
cerning God and another used concerning men, and his people
look forward with joyful hope to the day when earth and heaven
shall unite in calling him King of kings, and Lord of lords.
KINGDOM AGAINST KINGDOM.
In Isa. 19:2 we read, "I will stir up the Egyptians
against the Egyptians, and they shall fight every one against his

KIRJATH SEPHER. l8l
brother, and every one against his neighbor, city against city,
and kingdom against kingdom."
There is a noteworthy parallel to this in a quotation Prof.
Sayce makes from an old inscription (H. L. p. 312): "And the
warrior Nerra spake thus, Sealand against Sealand, Sumasti
against Sumasti, the Assyrian against the Assyrian, the Elamite
against the Elamite, the Kosssean against the Kosssean, the Kurd
against the Kurd, the Lullubite against the Lullubite, country
against country, house against house, man against man, brother
against brother, let them destroy one another, and afterwards
let the Accadian come and destroy them all and fall upon their
breasts." KIRJATH SEPHER.
The American edition of Smith's Diet, of Bible, p. 1568,
says " Kirjath Sepher is generally assumed to mean ' city of
.books ' (from the Hebrew word Sepher, book), and it has been
made the foundation for theories of the amount of literary
culture possessed by the Canaanites. Keil, fosua 10, 39. Ewald :
I. 324. But such theories are, to say the least, premature during
the extreme uncertainty as to the meaning of these very an
cient names."
Of course we cannot point to the results of the exploration
of Kirjath Sepher, for it has not yet been explored, but the
tablets found at Tel el Amarna in Egypt (see p. 184) make
the above remarks of Dr. Smith entirely uncalled for, and
prove that the literary culture of the Canaanites existed not
in theory only, but in fact. Egypt, however, is not alone in her
testimony on this point ; Canaan is a second witness by whom
the fact is established. After the brilliant discoveries of Dr.
Flinders-Petrie at Tel el Hesy (Lachish), in 1890, Mr. Bliss
from Beirut continued the exploration there. Among the Tel
el Amarna tablets was one -from Zimrida, the Egyptian gov
ernor of Lachish, to Amenophis IV. ; and now from the ruins of
that Amorite city Mr. Bliss unearths a tablet from Amenophis
to Zimrida. Well may Prof. Sayce say (R. of P. new VI. xiii),
" Nothing more extraordinary ever happened in the annals of
archasology. The discovery had hardly been made that a gov
ernor of Lachish named Zimrida wrote letters in the Babylonian

1 82 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
language and script to his suzerain the Pharaoh of Egypt, when
the site of Lachish was identified by Dr. Petrie and a letter
found by Mr. Bliss in which the name Zimrida occurs twice.
For more than 4,000 years the broken halves of a correspondence
that had been carried on before the Exodus had been lying
under the soil— the one half on the banks of the Nile, the other
half in Canaan — and the recovery of one was followed almost
immediately by the appearance of the other."
Prof. Sayce thinks that Mr. Bliss has reached the door of the
archive chamber of the old Amorite city of Lachish, and that
ere long we may have in our hands a Canaanitish library that
was in existence before the Exodus from Eygpt. He gives a
transliteration and translation of this old letter. R. of P. new
VI. 14 and 15. KI'SS.
The reader of the Bible must be struck with the frequent
recurrence of this word. Isaac asked his son Jacob to come
near and kiss him, Gen. 27 : 26 ; Jacob kisses Rachel, 29 : 1 1 ;
and Laban and Esau kiss Jacob, 29:13; 33:4. Laban kisses
his sons and his daughters, 31:55, and Joseph kisses all his
brothers, 45 : 15, and his father, 50:1. Aaron kisses Moses,
Exod. 4:27, and Moses kisses Jethro, 18:7. Naomi kisses her
daughter-in-law, Ruth, 1 : 9, Samuel kisses Saul, 1 Sam. 10:1,
and Jonathan and David kiss each other, 20:41. David kissed
Absalom, 2 Sam. 14: 33, and Absalom kissed all that came near,
15:5. David kissed Barzillai, 19 : 39, and Joab took Amasa by the
beard to kiss him, 20 :g. Christ complains that Simon his host
gave him no kiss, Luke 7:45, and Judas betrayed him with a
kiss, 22 :47 and 48, showing that he was accustomed to kiss and
be kissed by his disciples. The elders from Ephesus kissed
Paul, Acts 20 : 37, and Christians are exhorted four times to give
each other-a holy kiss : Rom. 16:16; 1 Cor. 16 : 20 ; 2 Cor. 13 : 12,
and 1 Thess. 5 :26, to which may be added 1 Pet. 5 : 14.
The inscriptions are no less free in using the word. The
common phrase used by the kings of Assyria to denote sub
mission to them is that kings kissed their feet. Sennacherib
says of Menahem of Samaria, Tubal of Sidon, Abdiliti of Arvad,
Urumilki of Jebail, Mitinti of Ashdod, Puduil of Bit Ammon.

KNEES. 183
Kamusunatbi of the Moabites and Malikrammu of the Edom-
ites, "They kissed my feet." Compare Luke 7 = 45. R. I. 38.47-
57. So Asshurbanipal tells us, R. V. 2. 67, 72 and 81-87, tnat
Mugallu of Tabal and Yakinlu of Arvad, with his sons Azibaal,
Abibaal, Adunibaal, Sapatibaal, Pudibaal, Baalyashubu, Baal-
hanunu, Baal Maluku, Abimilki, and Akhimilki, did the same.
The kings and governors of Egypt did likewise. R. V. 2. 32.
33. Cyrus uses the same expression in describing the sub
mission of Babylon, R. V. 35. 18. Asshurbanipal speaks of
Immanigas king of Elam kissing the ground before his ambas
sador. R. V. 3. 18 and 19. Compare Rev. 3. 9.
The custom is much more prevalent in Oriental lands than
with us. The writer was surprised on going on board the
steamer at Smyrna for Constantinople, on his first arrival in
Turkey, to see men kissing men on both cheeks as they bade
each other good-bye. It is there the ordinary mode of saluta
tion, and he would be counted churlish who did not heartily
enter into the spirit of the act. KNEES.
Every reader of Scripture must have noticed how these
members of the body are mentioned in connections where we
would not think of them. Thus Job 4:4, " Thou hast strength
ened the feeble knees." Psa. 109 : 24, " My knees are weak
through fasting," Compare Isa. 35 : 3. Ezek. 7 : 17, " All knees
shall be weak as water," also 21:7 and Heb. 12:12. Dan. 5 : 6,
The knees of Belshazzar " smote one against another." Compare
Nahum 2:10.
The Assyrian, however, gives equal prominence to the knees.
We read of strong oxen sha la innahhuushunu birka shunu,
whose knees do not grow weary. R. V. 65. 34. 6.
It is said of Shuzub, king of Babylon, sha la i shuu birki,
who has 110 knees, i. e., is feeble. R. I. 41. 9.
Sennacherib calls his eldest son, Asshur nadin shun, tarbit
birkiya, the offspring of my knees. R. I. 39. 64.
The same monarch tells that, when climbing the mountains
on foot after his enemies, his knees found a resting-place upon
the stones. R. I. 39. 78.

1 84 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
KNEW NOT JOSEPH.
Exod. 2 : 8 states that " There arose a new king over Egypt
that knew not Joseph." We should naturally look to the hiero
glyphics of that country for illustrations of this, but we are in
debted to the most complicated forms of the cuneiform inscrip
tions for a very satisfactory explanation.
Amenophis IV., known also as Khu en Aten, reigned about
B. C. 1430, and was the son of Amenophis III. by the Mesopo-
tamian princess Tadukhepa, daughter of Duisratti, king of Nah-
araina, the Aram Naharaim of Judg. 3 : 8. He surrounded him
self with Semitic courtiers, as his father had done before him,
and, like his mother, worshipped the winged solar disk named
Aten in Egyptian. This was so distasteful to the priesthood of
Thebes that he had to build a new capital at Tel el Amarna, half
way from Minieh to Siout, on the eastern side of the Nile, and
among the ruins of his palace there the royal correspondence be
tween him and the rulers of the provinces has been discovered
in the form of clay tablets written in Babylonian. They are
governmental despatches from Babylonia, Assyria, and even as
far off as Kappadokia. Now Amenophis IV. was nearly the last
king of the 18th dynasty, and the 19th came in with Ramses
I., who restored the national religion and removed the capital
back to Thebes. Such a king would not " know Joseph " in the
sense of regarding either him or his people with favor, and the
Pharaoh of whom this was said by Moses is now identified as
Ramses II., who is familiarly spoken of as the Pharoah of the
Oppression, and we now, thanks to the cuneiform tablets of Tel
el Amarna, see very clearly how it came to pass that he knew
not Joseph. The exodus is supposed to have occurred about B.
C. 1320, under Menephthah II.
KNOWLEDGE OF THE FATHERS.
There is one way of honoring parents that is not popular
with Young America, and that is honoring their knowledge.
The tendency among the youth of to-day is to feel that none
have ever known so much as they, and that previous generations
are to be pitied for their ignorance. In some lines of truth there
is no question that the knowledge of this generation exceeds that

KOYUNJIK. 185
of /its predecessors. This is true of inventions and discoveries.
No previous age had such a knowledge of applied electricity, or
of the means of rapid transit, and yet only yesterday I read of
the rediscovery of the lost art of hardening copper : for in ancient
times that metal was made to be as hard as steel.
Far different was the estimate put on the knowledge of pre
vious ages in ancient times. Then men honored their fathers as
the great sources of knowledge. They may have felt that those
who had lived hundreds of years to their scores must have accu
mulated richer stores of knowledge than they as yet had gather
ed. At any rate the knowledge possessed by their fathers was to
them the perfection of attainment, and to say that anything was
unknown to them was equivalent to pronouncing it unknowable.
Thus Moses threatens a plague of locusts such as " neither thy
fathers nor thy fathers' fathers have seen since the day they
were upon the earth unto this day." Exod. 10:6. So God
threatens to bring Israel " unto a nation which thou hast not
known, thou nor thy fathers." Deut. 28 : 6.
This same style of speaking occurs in the Assyrian monu
ments. Asshurbanipal (R. V. 2. 96 and A. M. 22 : 10) calls Lydia
a far-off region, " the mention of the name of which the kings
my fathers had never heard."
Tiglath Pileser I., B. C. 1 106, says (R. I. 15.17-27). " The cedar
(and other trees) which among the kings my fathers who were
before me none had planted, I planted," etc. For translation see
R. of P. new I. 115. 17-27.
So Asshurnatsirpal, B. C. 883-858, in R. I. 18. 50 and 62,
speaks of " mountains which none of the kings my fathers had
penetrated." It may be objected that these last quotations speak
of achievement rather than knowledge, and yet they show the
same spirit of highly esteeming the attainments of the fathers.
KOYUNJIK.
The mound of Koyunjik, literally " sheep pasture," is a very
conspicuous object to one looking from Mosul east across the
Tigris. It is not its absolute height that makes it so conspicu
ous, for it is only some thirty-five or forty feet high, but that it
rises so abruptly and stands by itself with the lofty mountains

1 86 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
for a background. One can easily ride up the sheep tracks to
the top on horseback, though there are places so washed away
by the winter rains that it would be hard to climb them on foot
without making quite a detour.
The mound is an irregular pentagon over a mile and a % half
in circumference. At the southwestern angle nearest Mosul
the palace of Sennacherib (705-681 B. C.) has been explored, form
ing a rectangle of 600 by 330 feet. One hall of 176 by 40 feet
and another of 124 by 30 have been found, and the names of
Jehu, Hezekiah, and other kings of Israel and Judah. Nearly at
the opposite extreme is the palace of Asshurbanipal (668-626
B.C.) in one of the chambers of which was found his famous
library of clay tablets, which have found their way to the British
Museum, the Louvre, and many a less noted library on both sides
of the Atlantic. Nor is it at all certain that there remains no
more to be recovered from its unknown interior of both sculp
tures and inscriptions, besides additional tablets.
The mound of Neby Yoonas is reserved in the providence of
God for the future, when it may be more needed than now, or
when the Turk shall not stand in the way of its thorough and
scientific examination. The French have left nothing more to
be expected from Khorsabad, so exhaustive have been their
researches there. In spring Koyunjik is one mass of green, but
later on it is an arid heap — bare and unattractive.
LACHISH, unh, LAKISU.
The name of this city may be translated either " the smit
ten " or " the impregnable." It occurs twenty-two times in the
Old Testament. We mention only two : 2 Kings 18 : 14 and 17.
A bas-relief in the palace of Sennacherib at Koyunjik shows
the king elaborately dressed, sitting on a portable throne ; his
feet rest on a footstool highly ornamented. Two attendants
stand behind, each holding a fan or fly-flapper over the head of
the king with one hand, and an embroidered napkin in the other.
The royal tent stands behind them, and the king's war chariot
below that. The artist seems to have got everything into the
picture that would gratify the monarch. The Rabshakeh, or
general, poses before Sennacherib in apparel almost as splendid

LANDMARKS. 1 87
as that of the king, and is receiving the royal decision as to the
fate of the captives, who occupy various positions of abject sub
mission or impassioned yet seemingly hopeless entreaty. Fur
ther off some whose fate has been already decided are being
tortured, and others butchered by the soldiers, while palm-trees,
vines and fig-trees fill in the background. It forms the large
frontispiece of Smith's History of Sennacherib, covering both
pages, and is described in B. and N. 149-153. See also p. 69.
The following inscription is engraved in the bas-relief :
" King Sennacherib, king of all, king of Assyria, sat on a
stationary throne and the captives taken in Lachish came before
him." Nimidu, here rendered stationary, is from imidu, to set,
to place. Both Smith and Layard mistake the meaning of the
closing sentence. Layard renders it " I give permission for its
slaughter," and Smith says, " The spoil of Lachish came before
me." But Prof. Delitzsch renders shalaat, which is the construct
of sliallatu, " Beute, kriegs gefa?igcne," and the latter is plainly
the meaning in this passage. LANDMARKS.
Deut. 19 : 14. Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's land
mark. Comp. 27. 17 and Prov. 22: 28.
Fortunately we have a good specimen of these landmarks,
of which there are many, in what is known as the Caillou
Michaux, now in the French National Library. It was brought
to France in the year 1800, is of hard black marble, 19! inches
high, and weighs about seventy pounds. Nearly two-thirds of
it is occupied by a deed of the land, which is accurately described
and bounded and the names of adjoining owners given. The
upper third is pictorial, giving the emblems of gods who are in
voked to curse whoever may in any way invade the rights of the
owner or assail his title to the land. These figures are given
in R. III. 45. and IV. 43, also in P. and C. II. 200, 201.
The curses are very acrid, involving the extirpation of the
wrong-doer and of his family, clothing him with leprosy, casting
him to the wild beasts, infiltering poison into his bowels so that
he shall be cursed with irrevocable malediction. They must
have been a great terror to believers in the power of the ban.

1 88

ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.

THE CAILLOU MICHAUX.

The stone was found near the Tigris, not far from Ctesi-
phon. A translation is given in R. of P. IX. 94-96, and a similar
stone is described and translated pp. 96-103.

LANGUAGES.
In Esther 1 : 22, 3:12 and 8 : 9, the king of Persia commands
letters to be written " to every province according to the writ
ing thereof, and to every people after their language ;" and this
was needful because more than one language was spoken by
the inhabitants of Persia.
The inscriptions furnish one illustration of this in the

LIFE, WATER OF. 1 89
bilingual hymns to the gods, and other tablets, written both in
Accadian and Assyrian, but a perfect and enduring illustra
tion of this fact relating to Xerxes is the great triumphal tablet
of Darius Hystaspis, containing nearly one thousand lines of in
scription, on the face of a precipitous rock four hundred feet
above the plain at Behistun (place of the god), near Kermanshah,
in Persia. It is in three languages, Aryan, Shemitic, and Scythic,
and we are indebted to Sir Henry Rawlinson both for a copy of
the inscription itself and for its translation. He was engaged
on the work at intervals from 1837 to 1843, an& published it
first in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1846, also in
1850 and 1852. A translation of it be may found in R. of P. I.
109-132. LEARNING OF THE CHALDEANS.
King Nebuchadrezzar commanded that promising young
men among the Jewish captives, skilful in all wisdom, and
cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as
had ability to stand in the king's palace, should be taught the
learning and tongue of the Chaldeans (Dan. 1 : 4.), and after a
three years' course of study the king seems to have con
ducted their examination in person (verses 19 and 20) ; showing
that he himself was not ignorant of letters.
It is. in complete accordance with this that Asshurbanipal
says in the account he gives of his early life (R. V. I. 31,
31, also A. M. 10. 11-14): In the palace Bit riduti (harem) I
acquired the deep knowledge of Nabu (the god of intelligence)
and I inspected all the tablets of all the sciences, as many as
there were." So that there seems to have been a royal train
ing school, and Daniel and his three companions were either
admitted into such an institution, or, to use a modern phrase,
into a university extension, where they received lessons from
the regular professors.
As to the extent and variety of Chaldean learning, see
under "Deluge " and " Hannah and Samuel."
LIFE, WATER OF.
Besides the tree of life Scripture speaks also of the water of
life. Rev. 22: 1. And he showed me a river of water of life

190 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
bright as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and of the
Lamb in the midst of the street thereof."
So also, in the Assyrian account of the descent of Ishtar
into Hades, AUat says to Namtar, the keeper of the gates, " Over
Ishtar pour the waters of life, and bring her before me." It was
these waters that Ishtar had come to obtain for her husband,
Tammuz, that by means of them he might be restored to life,
for whoever drank of them became immortal. See the whole
legend translated in H. L. 221-227.
It is evident that the Babylonians believed in a future life,
for they filled vases of clay in their tombs with dates and grain,
wine and oil, and the rich were careful to conduct rills of living
water through the chambers of their dead, not only for their
use, but as a symbol of these waters of life in Hades, and an ex
pression of their belief in the life represented by them. Many
a bereaved one among them must have found great consolation
in leading these living streams through the tombs of their de
parted friends, and thinking of the immortality they brought to
mind. No doubt in later times the traditions were so altered that
they were made to represent in one region the revival of vege
table life in spring-time, after the desolation of winter, and in
another a like revival of verdure in autumn after the summer
drought had burned up every trace of life in the fields ; but
the question is, Why even then did they not describe literally
these annual changes in the face of nature, but spoke of a life
beyond after this one had passed away ? and the only satisfac
tory answer is, The original tradition of a life to come had
been handed down from Eden — a name that still survives in
their ancient literature, and a locality recognized to this day
among their oldest traditions.
Is it not also an additional confirmation of that word con
cerning Christ : " In him was life, and the life was the light of
men " ? John 1 : 4. Not a self-moved seeking after life on the
part of man but a personal work wrought by Christ in human
hearts according to his own declaration,'" I am the light of the
world." John 8: 12.
This Babylonian tradition was an unconscious prophecy of

LIFT UP THE HEAD. 191
Him who said to the woman of Samaria, " Whosoever drinketh
of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the
water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water
springing up unto eternal life." John 4 : 14.
LIFTING UP OF THE HANDS. '
That is a beautiful synonym of prayer, Psa. 141. 2: "Let
my prayer be set forth as incense before thee — the lifting up of
my hands as the evening sacrifice," and it was a beautiful illus
tration of it also — during the battle with Amalek — that when
Moses held up his hand Israel prevailed, and when he let down
his hand Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy ; so
they seated him on a stone, and Aaron and Hur stayed up his
hands till the going down of the sun, and Israel triumphed.
Ex. 17:11. So in the monuments (R. V. 2. 121, also A. M. 23. 7,
also R. of P. I. 71. 37) Asshurbanipal speaks of " that evil work
which, at the lifting up of my hands, the gods my protectors
had destroyed." Again (R. V. 9 103, also A. M. 33. 16), he makes
mention of " the lifting up of my hands which I prayed for the
capture of my enemies ;" we would say, " the prayer which I
offered for," etc. In like manner Nebuchadrezzar (India House
inscription, col. 9. 60, and R. of P. new III. 122. 60 and H. L.
97) in his approach to Merodach says, "Accept the lifting up of
my hands. Hear my prayer." It would be easy to furnish
other examples. LIFT UP THE HEAD.
The Psalmist (3 : 4) calls God the lifter up of his head. See
Psa. 110:7 and 27:6; Luke 21:28; Judg. 8:28; Gen. 40:13.
Just as sadness depresses the heart and makes a man bow
down, so joy elates and makes him march with head erect.
That was a beautiful name given to the temple of Bil at Baby
lon which dated from B. C. 2250, E Saggilla or E Sagilu, " The
house of the raising of the head." For that is the beau ideal of
a house of worship. The house that comforts and strengthens
and enables men to go with the head lifted up, and not bowing
down like a bulrush. See H. L. 94, and for a description of
the temple see pp. 437-440.

192 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
LIGHT.
The beloved disciple says of his Lord, " In him was life, and
the life was the light of men," John 1:4; and Christ himself
says, " I am the light of the world," John 8 : 12. He was this
light not only while he was a man among men, but in all lands
and in all the ages he has been the giver of that measure of
spiritual "knowledge which men have possessed, and the source
of all those aspirations after better things which sometimes flash
on us out of the midst of darkness.
We may detect the yearning of men after Christ in some of
the titles which they give to their gods.
In R. I. 32. 11, Shamash, the sun god, is styled " the light of
the gods." In R. IV. 9. 19. Sin, the moon-god, is styled " the god
who creates the light from the horizon to the zenith, opening
wide the doors of the sky and establishing light. The illumi
nator of living creatures." The whole hymn is given, H. L.
160-162. This last title, "The Illuminator," is repeated in it
many times. Another hymn to Shamash (H. L. 100) says :
" O Lord, the illuminator of darkness, thou that openest the face of the sick,
Unto thy light look the great gods.
The spirits of earth look upon thy face,
Yea, thou art their light in the far-off sky ;
In the broad earth thou art their illumination.
Men far and wide behold thee and rejoice."
LILITH.
Isa. 34 : 14 reads, in the old version, " The screech-owl shall
rest there." The new revision reads, " The night-monster shall
settle there." The Hebrew word is rvb^, and the Assyrian helps
us to understand its meaning. The old Accadian word lilu
signified originally a cloud of dust, and as ghosts were believed
to assume that form it came to mean a disembodied spirit. The
Shemitic Babylonian added the feminine, Lilatu, and in the
course of time this came to mean a night-monster, a vampire or
evil spirit that ate the bodies of the dead and sucked the blood
of the living. When Ishtar descended to Hades she threatened
if her requests were not granted to let loose all the dead, thus to
destroy the living. The Rabbins held Lilith to be a beautiful

LITANY. 193
woman who had been the first wife of Adam, but fed on the
blood of children whom she killed at night. The Arabs give us
Lilith under the name of Ghoul, and any one may find them de
scribed in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. Such evil
spirits were thought to frequent desolate ruins as their fitting
abode, and the prophet threatens that Idumea shall become an
appropriate home for these night-monsters. LION.
1 Sam. 17 : 34, 35. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant
kept his father's sheep, and when there came a lion or a bear,
and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after him and smote
him, and delivered it out of his mouth, and when he arose
against me I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew
him. This is paralleled by several encounters of Asshurbanipal
with lions, represented in bas-reliefs and described by inscrip
tions. One reads as follows : " I am Asshurbanipal, king of all,
king of Assyria, the manly one. My majesty (being) on foot a
strong lion (appeared), whose back (body) I seized by his ears.
By the help of Asshur and Ishtar, the goddess of war, with the
spear which was in my hands I transfixed his body."
Dan. 7 : 4 sees a lion with eagle's wings in one of his visions,
and we could not form a more vivid picture of such an object
than we have in L. N. I. 76. LITANY.
The reader who has heard of Assyrian litanies may like to
see a specimen. They were written in Accadian previous to the
days of Sargon of Accad, and were generally attached to a peni
tential psalm. The following is taken from H. L.522. See also
336:
" Mother goddess, destroyer of evil, whose hand no god attacks, exalted lady
whose command is mighty,
A prayer let me utter, and let her do unto me as seemeth her good.
My lady, from the day when I was small much am I yoked unto evil.
Food have I not eaten, weeping has been my veil,
Water I have not drank, tears have been my drink.
Assyrian Echoes. I 3

194 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
My liver has not been enlightened, like a hero I have not walked, bitterly I
mourn.
My transgressions are many, my liver is full of anguish.
O my lady, tell me what I have done, establish for me a place of rest.
Absolve my sin, lift up my countenance.
* O my god, the lord of prayer, let my prayer address thee.
O my goddess, the lady of supplication, let my supplication address thee.
O Matu, lord of the mountain, let my prayer address thee.
O Gubarra (flame of fire), lady of Eden, let my supplication address thee.
O Ea, ruler of heaven and earth, ruler of Eridu, let my prayer address thee.
O Damkina, mother of the house supreme, let my supplication address thee.
O Marduk, lord of Babylon, let my prayer address thee.
O spouse of his, the royal bond of heaven and earth, let my supplication ad
dress thee.
O messenger of life, the god whose good name is pronounced, let my prayer ad
dress thee.
O bride, first-born of Ira, let my supplication address thee.
O lady of him who binds the mouth of the dog, let my prayer address thee.
O Gula, exalted one, my lady, even the goddess Nana, let my supplication ad
dress thee.
May it say to thee, Regard me with favor. Turn to me thy face. Let thy
liver be quieted.
Let thy heart, as the heart of a mother who has borne children, return to its
place.
As a mother who has borne children, as a father who has begotten them, let
it return to its place.
For additional litanies see H. L. 532-40.
LIVER THE SEAT OF EMOTION, THE.
In all languages feeling is associated with the viscera of the
human body. The heart is the symbol of feeling. We speak
of a large heart, or a tender heart, and where we speak of a hard
heart the Assyrian, true to his warrior instincts, spoke of a
strong heart. So Gyges is said to have made his heart strong
when he rebelled against Assyria, R. V. 2. 113 and A. M. 22. 28.
Merodach is described as large hearted, libbi riitpashu, R. V.
35. 23, and A. M. 41. 2.
In Arabic we have rahmet, mercy, and rahman and rahim,
merciful, from the word rahim or rihm, the womb. In Assyrian
is the verb ramu, to pity, the noun naramu, love, rimu, beloved,
but I do not know if they have the same association as in Hebrew
and Arabic. Then there is a peculiar idiom in all these lan-
* The litany proper begins here.

LONG LIFE. 195
guages that -associates emotion with the liver. Mr. Layard
quotes a letter from a Turkish cadi to a friend of his whom he
addresses as "the joy of my liver." That is good Arabic. B.
and N. 663. In Hebrew we have naa y^h -]Siw, nishpak laaretz
kibaedee, Lam. 2:2, my liver is poured out upon the ground.
Comp. Job 16 : 13 and in Assyrian, R. V. 1. 64. and A. M. 42. 13 :
libbi igugma itstsarruuh kabitti : my heart was enraged and
my liver was angry. See p. 196, 11. 1,2 and 19.
LIVING CREATURES.
Rev. 4: 17. And the first creature was like a lion, and the
second creature like a calf, and the third creature had the face
of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. Com
pare with this Ezek. 1:5-11, especially verse 10. They had the
face of a man, and they four had the face of a lion on the right
side, and they four had the face of an ox on the left side, they
four had also the face of an eagle.
One cannot read such scriptures without recalling the fact
that these four faces are found in all the rediscovered palaces of
Nineveh. Only one more is to be added, the face of a fish :
though this appears in the form of a cloak thrown over the
head of an image rather than the head belonging to the wearer
himself. See C. G. 325.
Ezekiel doubtless looked on these mythological images of
Assyria and Babylonia with his own eyes, and the beloved disci
ple based his imagery on that of the prophet who preceded him.
Verily these monuments of old Assyria have a real connection
with Holy Scripture ; one worthy to be sought out and recog
nized, to our better understanding of the word of God.
LONG LIFE.
Prov. 3:16. Length of days is in her right hand.
Dan. 6 : 6. Then these presidents and satraps assembled to
gether to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for
ever. Cyrus writes (R. V. 35. 34 and 35) "Let all the gods whom
I restored to (caused to enter into) their cities daily speak be
fore Bil and Nabu in behalf of the length of my days." Na-

196 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
bonidus (R. V. 64. 3. 1 1-2 1) thus prays to the sun god : " O Sham-
mas, great lord of heaven and earth, light of the gods, their
father ! Offspring of Sin and Ningal (the great lady), in thy
entrance and abode in E Babara, the home of thy delight, thy
enduring sanctuary, to Nabuna'id the king of Babylon, the
noble, thy adorner, gladdener of thy heart, maker of thine
abode, joyfully regard with favor my great good work, daily in
ascension and declension, in heaven and earth, be gracious to
my work ; let my sighing be an acceptable offering ; favor my
prayer. May the sceptre and true sword which thou hast caused
my hands to hold rule for ever." A slightly different translation
may be found in R. of P. new V. 174. 11 seq.
He prays to Sin (the moon god) R. of P. new V. 172.
35 seq. : "May he lengthen my days, may he extend my years,
may he firmly establish my reign." Nebuchadrezzar prays
(India House inscription, 10. 2), " O merciful Merodach, may
the temple I have built endure while Babylon exists, and with
its fulness may I be satisfied* Within it may I reach to hoary
age." In an address of Ishtar of Arbela to Esarhaddon, im
perfectly copied R. IV. 68, and translated R. of P. XI. 59-72.
also in H. L. 274. She says, " Length of days and everlasting
years will I give to Esarhaddon, my king."
LOOK EACH OTHER IN THE FACE.
A very unusual form of speech occurs in 2 Kings 14 : 8, n.
where the phrase to look each other in the face is used to denote
engaging in battle, but, unusual as it is, an equally strange ex
pression is used by Sargon (Cylinder 27) where he says, Itlu
qardu sha ina rebit Durilu itti Khumbanigash Shar Elatnti in-
namru ma ishkunu takhtashu : The high, the mighty one, or the
strong hero who in the suburbs of Durilu with Khumbanigas
king of Elam was seen ; i. e., fought ; he effected his overthrow.
In both the Hebrew and the Assyrian the idea seems to be
that they confronted each other in the battle. As Sir Walter
Scott puts it : ' Then, hand and foot and eye opposed,
In dubious strife they darkly closed."

LOOK UPON THE FACE OF. 197
At any rate in those good old times men seem to have
thought that two kings could not get a sight of one another
without at once coming to blows. So tamkharu, battle, is from
makharu, to be in front of ; as though two men could not meet
without fighting, or would not come together except for fight
ing. LOOKING-GLASSES.
Ex. 38 : 8. And he made the laver of brass, and the base
thereof of brass, of the mirrors of the serving women who
served at the door of the tent of meeting.
Serving women here does not mean domestics, gathered
there to be hired out to service, but women who rendered some
kind of service in connection with the tabernacle. The old ver
sion reads "looking-glasses" instead of mirrors, and many a
thoughtful reader has wondered how looking-glasses could fur
nish brass enough to make so large a casting as the brazen
laver. They may have thought of brass frames round the mir
rors, but ancient mirrors were not made of glass at all, but
always of metal, often largely of copper, with a highly polished
surface. It is strange that we have no accounts of similar mirrors in
Babylonia or Assyria, for intercourse between these countries
and Egypt was so frequent, even Mesopotamian princesses
being installed as queens in Egyptian palaces, e. g., Tadukhepa,
daughter of Duisratta, king of Mitanna (Naharaim) and wife of
Amenophis III. (R. of P. new III. 55); and Nahum, speaking
against Nineveh, declares that " there is none end of the store,
the glory of all pleasant furniture " (2. 9). But the contributions
from Assyria are not all in yet ; when they are we may have a
different invoice to present.
LOOK UPON THE FACE OF.
Psa. 84:9. Look upon the face of thine Anointed. This
phrase does not at all accord with our modern style of speech,
but it is in perfect accord with Assyrian usage.
There is an Assyrian verb generally rendered to trust,
though sometimes to protect or help. The verb is Dagalu or
Tagalu. The literal meaning is to see, or look upon, but as one

198 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
looks up to the one in whom he trusts, and looks after, as we
say, those whom he protects or helps, so the verb passed out of
the primary into the secondary meanings. It is used as a
synonym for amaru, to see. R. III. 15. 1. 10 and 11. The
goddess Ishtar of Arbela, corresponding to the Bellona of the
Romans, said to Esarhaddon, Mutukh enika ana aishi dugulanni :
Direct thine eyes to me. Look to me. Delitzsch renders ^n
Psa. 20 : 6, We will keep our eyes fixed upon the name of our
god. So also the Sun of Cant. 5:10 is, the cynosure among
ten thousand, or he who attracts all eyes to himself among
the ten thousand. See Prof. D. G. Lyon in Bib. Sacra. 1884. p.
379- Sennacherib says (R. I. 37. 63), In my second campaign,
Asshur my lord utaggil panima, looked upon my face, i. e., pro
tected and prospered me ; the identical expression used in the
Hebrew. It is also of frequent occurrence elsewhere.
Asshurbanipal (R. V. 1. 70 and 76) speaks of kings as
ardani dagil paniya, servants subject to me ; literally, looking
upon my face. So Shuzub king of Babylon is said contemptuously
to be a dagil paan, a looker on the face, of the satrap of Lahiri.
R. I. 41. 9. Compare Psa. 123:2, "As the eyes of servants look
unto the hand of their master, and as the eyes of a maiden unto
the hand of her mistress," etc. See " Faith the correlate of
grace," and " Dagal." " LORD OF ALL.
When Peter mentioned the name of Jesus Christ in the
house of Cornelius the Centurion, he added, " He is Lord of all,"
Acts 10 : 36 ; and the sight of the title suggests at once the well-
known hymn that bids us " crown him Lord of all." This title,
which so fitly belongs to him who is " King of kings and Lord
of lords," Rev. 19: 16, is in substance assigned to Sin, the moon
god, in a hymn addressed to him as the supreme god of the city
of Ur, which must often have fallen on the ears of Abraham as
it was sung by the priests in the stillness of the night from the
lofty sanctuary of the temple.
R. IV. 9. 21, 23, 24, 33, and H. L. 161, 162 :

MAJESTY. 199
21. Lord, the ordainer of the laws of heaven and earth, whose command may not
be broken.
23. In heaven who is supreme ? Thou alone ; thou art supreme.
24. On earth who is supreme ? Thou alone ; thou art supreme.
33. O lord, in heaven is thy lordship, on the earth is thy sovereignty. Among the
gods thy brethren a rival thou hast not.
So did the spirit of man, under the influence of the spirit
of God, struggle up towards the true idea of God in spite
of the darkness of polytheism, that sought to put out the
light. It also deserves notice here that the kings of Assyria had
for one of their titles Shar kishat (king of all).
MAJESTY.
King Ahasuerus " showed the riches of his glorious king
dom, and the honor of his excellent majesty many days," Esther
1 =4, and Nebuchadrezzar said, Dan. 4:30, "Is not this great
Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling-place by the
might of my power, and for the glory of my majesty?" From
these glimpses of oriental life in Scripture we should expect in
the records of oriental monarchs a style of speech not only self-
asserting but self-laudatory also, and we are not disappointed.
The king is not only the great king, but he is the king of hosts,
the unrivalled king, the king of all the four regions of the
world, the sungod of men, who has no rival, fears no opposi
tion, who subdues the rebellious, who treads on the necks of his
enemies, who tramples them down, the king of kings, the hero
of the great gods, and the conqueror of the world.
Nor do they hesitate to put it in the first person singular :
I am king, I am sovereign, I am exalted, I am strong, I am
glorious, I am the first born, I am the champion, I am a lion,
or even, I am the mighty monster (usumgal). Then they speak
not so much of "me " as of " my lordship,' or " my majesty," or
" my royalty," or " my sovereignty," and these expressions are
so common that any specific references are superfluous. Go
where we will, and read what we will, the same grandiloquence
meets us at every turn. Such expressions as these lie before me
in consecutive sentences : At that time an image of my majesty
grandly I made. My power and exaltation I inscribed on it. In

200 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
the midst of the palace of the conquered king I set it up. I
erected my stela. The record of the exaltation of my strength
I inscribed upon them. R. I. 22. 98, 99. ; also R. of P. new 144.
98, 99. The impression is constantly made upon the reader that in
these ancient monarchs we see the supreme exercise of auto
cratic human power, free from the opposition that to-day would
confront it at every turn, and along with that is the deep con
viction that the enjoyment found in the perfection of such
power is not worth mention in comparison with the joy which
the very humblest may find in loving their fellow-men and
doing them good. MANASSEH.
2 Chron. 33:11. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the
captains of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh
among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him
to Babylon. It has been objected to this that the empire was now Assyrian :
how then would he be carried to Babylon ? The answer is very
simple, and as satisfactory as simple. Esarhaddon had succeed
ed to the throne in B. C. 681, and was noted for his mildness
and moderation. Unlike his father, Sennacherib, who had de
stroyed Babylon in B. C. 691, so that the Euphrates was choked
with its ruins, Esarhaddon rebuilt that city, and conciliated
the Babylonians by making it his capital for six months of the
year ; so that it depended wholly on the season of the year
whether a political prisoner would be taken to Nineveh or to
Babylon. Fresh Light, etc., 122.
MEAT AND. DRINK.
Ezra 3 : 7. And meat and drink and oil to them of Sidon.
Compare 7. 22. A hundred measures of wheat, a hundred baths
of wine, and a hundred baths of oil. It is evident that the drink
of chap. 3. is the same as the wine of chap. 7. Compare Dan.
1 : 10, also Rom. 14: 17 and Col. 2 : 16.
The mention of oil in connection with meat and drink is
illustrated by the 41st line of the cylinder inscription of Sargon,
which speaks of oil as balti amiluti, the life of men, which heals

MELCHIZEDEK. 201
sores. As for the food and drink, Sennacherib (R. I. 38. 38-42)
speaks of Tsiduunu (Sidon), Bitzitti, Tsariiptu (Sarepta), Muhal-
liba, Usu, Akzib and Akkuu (Accho) as strong fortified cities,
"places of food and drink," i. e., store cities. Prof's. Delitzsch
and Lyon thus translate riti u masqiti. Prof. Sayce, H. L. 161.
27 and note 3, renders the words " the stall and the fold ;" but ritu
means literally pasture, hence the food which the pasture fur
nishes, and masqitu is a noun from the verb saqu, to drink.
MELCHIZEDEK.
There is an air of mystery about Melchizedek that makes
him very interesting. He flashes on us out of the darkness,
and then with equal suddenness disappears. Who has not
longed for a better acquaintance with this unique personality ?
He is introduced in the epistle to the Hebrews, 7:1, as
" king of Salem," and at the same time " priest of the Most High
God." The offices seem to us inconsistent, but they constitute
what Peter calls "a royal priesthood," 1 Pet. 2 :g, reminding us
that " priests of God and of Christ shall reign with him a thou
sand years." Rev. 20 : 6.
Inconsistent as these offices may appear, some facts in
Scripture make their combination at least familiar. Samuel
judged, i. e., ruled, Israel, and also blessed the sacrifice. 1 Sam.
9:13. The king of Moab offered up his eldest son for a burnt-
offering. 2 Kings 3 : 27. And we may add with reverence our
great High-Priest is also King of kings.
The monuments of Assyria also set forth this strange union.
There the palace often contained the temple. In Khorsabad
(Dur Sargina) a bas-relief represents Sargon worshipping be
fore the sacred tree. P. and C. II. 98. Asshurbanipal also offers
a libation over a wild bull which he had slain. P. and C. II. 40,
204. Asshurrishilim, B. C. 1 1 50-1 120, is called the priest, shangu,
of Asshur. R. III. 3. 12. Asshurnatsirpal, B. C. 885-860, claims
the same title, and gives it to his father, Tiglath Adar, B. C. 891-
885, and to his grandfather, Ramman Nirari, B. C. 913-891. R.
III. 3. 39. And Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon B. C. 605-562,
styles himself the supreme high priest (patesi), the beloved of
Nebo. India House Inscription, col. 1.5,6; R. of P. new III. 104.

202 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
The same truth is seen in the different meanings given by
different scholars to the same Assyrian word. Thus some
render patesi viceroy, and Prof. Delitzsch, D. L. 9, renders
Nisakku Priester ? Furst ? as unable to decide between them.
Prof. Sayce, H. L. 59, says the records of Assyria go back to a
time when there were as yet no kings, but only high-priests
(patesi) of Asshur, and quotes an inscription " palace of Nebo
shum eshir, the son of Dakur the high priest (patesi) of Mero
dach." So while Prof. Lyon translates Shakkanaku in his A.
M., governor, and also in S. 79. No. 2. 2, Prof. Sayce says
of it, H. L. 109, note : " It is sometimes identical with the
king and sometimes distinguished from him." R. I. 64. 9. 64.
Thus Esarhaddon calls himself shakkanaku of Babylon, but
king of Sumir and Akkad. R. I. 48. No. 6. Like shangu it denoted
servitude to God." G. Smith, Senn. 57. 69 and 60. 1, translates it
priests, and Schrader (K. A. T. 588) gives Herr, Oberherr. See
also 301. 23 and 302. 4. and notes, where he renders der hochster,
or oberste beamter the highest civil official. Prof. Delitzsch,
D. L. 29, renders it machthaber, ruler.
Amenophis IV., Khu en Aten, the heretical king of the
XVIIIth dynasty in Egypt, had for his maternal grandfather
Duisratta, king of Mesopotamia, and forsook the national religion
to worship the winged solar disc (aten). This caused a rupture
with the priesthood in Thebes, so that he built a new capital
at a place now known as Tel el Amarna, east of the Nile, and half
way between Minyeh and Es Siout. Here, in A. D. 1887, a num
ber of cuneiform tablets were discovered, being the despatches
received from various officers of the government in all parts of
the empire, especially from Palestine. Communications, from
Burna Buriyas of Babylonia, B. C. 1425-10, and from Asshur
Muballidh of Assyria, B. C. 1400-1370, fix the date at about a
century before the exodus of Israel from Egypt.
Among these correspondents was Ebed Tob, who was king of
the city of Salim by virtue of his priesthood to its god, Salim,
whose temple and oracle stood on Mount Moriah. This beauti
fully lights up the fact that Melchizedek was (Heb. 7. 1.)
" king of Salem and priest of the Most High God." In Accadian
uru represents the Assyrian alu (city), so Urusalim, the Assyrian

MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. 203
name of Jerusalem, is " The city of the god of peace." We are
further told (Heb. 7 : 3), that Melchizedek was " without father,
without mother, and without genealogy," and Ebed Tob writes
to the king of Egypt, R. of P. new V. 66. 9-13, " Behold, neither
my father nor my mother has exalted me to this position, but
the prophecy of the mighty king has caused me to enter the
house of my father." In other words, he did not inherit his
position, but he was appointed to it by the oracle of the god
whom he served ; and so important does he consider this fact
that he repeats it in another letter, 68. 13, etc. How well this
suits the argument of the Epistle to the Hebrews it is not neces
sary to show.
A skeptical Assyriologist might smile at the thought of
that language testifying for Melchizedek when it contains no
form of the Hebrew word for righteousness (pis) that constitutes
a part of his name, but uses the term ^ instead : isharu ; yet
just as Arabic in Mosul contains words from the Kurdish, and
Turkish in Smyrna has words from the Greek, so in old Salem
Assyrian had words from the Phoenician, and among them Ebed
Tob gives us, letter 6. line 32, tsaduq (righteous). This is the
more striking as the only two kings of ancient Salem that we
have any record of are Melchizedek, Gen. 14: 18, and Adonizedek,
Josh. 10: 1. In ways so unexpected, and at the same time be
yond all contradiction, does ancient history corroborate the truth
of God. Prof. Sayce also calls attention to the fact that " these
letters of Ebed Tob show us why Melchizedek went forth to bless
Abram after the defeat of the confederate kings. His god was
Salim, the god of peace, and that victory over the invaders had
assured peace to the country for a long time to come. Then,
too, as the sacred character of the priest-king of Salim was ac
knowledged in all the region, the victorious Abram felt that it
was fitting that he should offer to him the customary tithes."
MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
These were the fateful words written by a divine hand on
the plaster of the wall of the palace of Babylon, Dan. 5:25, and
we should expect some light would be shed on them by the

204 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
inscriptions. Still some may expect too much, for they were not
written in the language of Babylonia but in the kindred dialect of
the Aramaic. Mene and Tekel are past participles in the singu
lar number, and Peres the same ; but in the form Pharsin it was
plural, the u preceding that word being the conjunction " and "
both in Assyrian and Aramaic. The whole was in that terse
epigrammatic style that fixes attention on the warning and will
not let it rest on smaller things.
Mene is identical with the Assyrian. We find it in R. V.
i. 122, where Egyptian rulers plotting against Assyria say attuni
ashabani mini : as for us (the days of) our dwelling (here are)
numbered ; and a very frequent description of spoil is ina la mini :
without number. The word is repeated to call attention to it,
like the " verily, verily " of Christ.
Tekel in Assyrian would begin with sh instead of t, as the
numeral two begins with sh instead of t, as in Aramaic.
Peres is the Hebrew or Aramaic form for the Assyrian Parsu
or Parsua ; parasu is the Assyrian verb that means to divide.
We do not expect to find any mention of this event on the
monuments, for they never record unfavorable events, but only
those that promote the glory of the king or the prosperity of the
kingdom. See under " Plaster." MERATHAIM.
Jeremiah writes (50 : 21) "Go up against the land of Merath-
aim." This was a district in southern Babylonia adjoining the
Persian Gulf, and noted for its great salt marshes. So it was
known in Babylonia as marratu (salt marsh). The climate was
very hot, and the heat was rendered yet more insupportable by
the great humidity of the atmosphere.
In this district was Bit Yagina, the city of Merodach-Baladan,
to whose ambassadors king Hezekiah so unwisely displayed his
treasures. Isa. 39 : 1 and 2. It was also the native land of the
Chaldeans (Kaldu). MERODACH-BALADAN.
Isa. 39:1. At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of
Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah,
for he heard he had been sick and was recovered.

METHUSELAH. 205
This name shows the greater accuracy of the original in
scription over the oft-copied volume. Baladan means "gave a
son," and to complete the sense needs the name of some god
who is said to have given it. The monuments say Merodach-
baladan, son of Yagina. Some careless scribe has looked up to
his copy and caught the wrong name.
After the death of Tiglath Pileser II. Babylon threw off the
yoke of Assyria and remained free five years. Then, in B. C-
722, Merodach-baladan, the chief of the tribe of the Kaldai, who
dwelt in the marshes near the mouth of the Euphrates, seized
the vacant throne and so the Chaldeans became prominent in
Babylonia. For twelve years he reigned in peace, but seeing
that Sargon was preparing to attack him he sought to strike the
first blow, and sent ambassadors to enlist Elam in the east, and
Palestine with the adjoining countries in the west, against Assy
ria. This was the real object of his embassy to Hezekiah, and
Sargon, who understood that well, at once marched against the
Jewish king. ¦ The Tartan (general-in-chief) was sent against
Ashdod, and Sargon himself seized Jerusalem.
Ashdod was destroyed and its people carried into captivity
in B. C. 7 1 1 , Edom and Moab were also punished, and next year
the whole force of Assyria was hurled against Babylon. The
king was driven back to his marshes, Elam was smitten, and a
year later Sargon drove him to Bit Yagina, his ancestral home.
After the death of Sargon Merodach-baladan reoccupied
Babylon for six months, when Sennacherib again drove him out,
and four years later he left Bit Yagina to found a new colony on
the western shore of Elam ; but there also Sennacherib followed
him in Phoenician ships and destroyed the town, and we hear no
more of him. He was a man of great energy and indomitable
perseverance, and deserved a better fate.
METHUSELAH.
In H. L., 185. note, Prof. Sayce suggests that "the two vary
ing forms of Methuselakh and Methusael should be mutu sha
ilati: the husband of the goddess, i. e., the sun god Tammuz,
the husband of Ishtar." As he offers it only as a suggestion,
and not as a positive statement, it hardly needs an apology for

206 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
declining to accept it. If it does, he furnishes an ample one in
his A. L. and S. 2, where he says : " The teacher and the pupil
must both alike be learners — there is no authoritative standard
to refer to."
Recent writers, while admitting a resemblance in names
between some of the descendants of Cain and Sheth, Gen. 4 and
5, yet deny the identity of the two lines of descent.* Yet this
suggestion would make one name from one line and a different
one from the other refer to the same person. Then Methuse-
lakh cannot represent a goddess, for it ends in Hheth, not in He,
an ending never used to denote the feminine, while the ending
of Methusael is masculine only.
Mutu sha ilati refers to Tammuz in Assyrian, but can that be
a ground for transferring that meaning to the Hebrew Methu
sael ? Is it said that the goddess Ishtar is sometimes spoken of
as masculine ? The professor furnishes a reply to this when he
tells us (H. L. 253-4) that Ishtar in Accadian is without gender,
so that in using it the Shemites were in doubt whether to treat
it as masculine or feminine. Indeed one tablet, speaking of
the planet Venus, then called Ishtar, says that it is "a female
at sunset and a male at sunrise." But what has that to do with
the Hebrew name for God ? Is it good logic to say, Assyrians
in doubt about the sex of an idol spoke of it now as male and
now as female, therefore there is the same uncertainty about the
Old Testament name of God ?
Were this only a question about names it would not call for
notice, but it is more than that ; for if in the days of Mehujael,
the father of Methusael, so soon after the creation, men believed
in goddesses, why not from the beginning? In that case poly
theism dates from Paradise, and man has been ever since slowly
climbing to monotheism ; but Scripture teaches us that the one
only true God revealed himself to Adam, and walked with
Enoch and with Noah. And when men had gone over to idol
atry because, though God had revealed himself to them, they
refused to have him in their knowledge, God chose Abraham
* See J. H. Kurtz, D. D., Hist, of Old Covenant, I. 88-95, and commentaries
of E. Harold Brown, D. D„ Prof. C. F. Keil, F. Delitzsch, J. P. Lange and J. G.
Murphy.

MOABITE STONE, THE 207
and his seed to bring back the race to the knowledge of God in
Christ. And such truths are too fundamental to be overlooked
even for a moment. See " Names Compounded."
MILK OF SHEEP.
Deut. 32 : 14. Butter of kine and milk of sheep.
Moses is here describing the goodly inheritance God had pro
vided for his people, and the thoughtful reader will notice that,
while the best butter is here said to be made from the milk of
cows, the milk that is esteemed most highly is that of the sheep,
a fact familiar to dwellers in Bible lands.
The writer was once travelling across the high lands of Asia
Minor, and one night nothing could be had but ewes' milk.
Knowing the strong aversion of his companion to that beverage,
though she had never tasted it, he put the abhorred article on
the table and said nothing. After supper came the inquiry,
" Where did you get such good milk to-night ? It was unusually
rich and sweet."
In one of the magical texts occur the following lines :
On the butter which is brought from a pure byre,
The milk which is brought from a pure sheepcote,
On the pure butter of the pure stall, lay a spell.
H. L. 462. 16-18. We also read in a hymn (R. IV. 28. 3, and
H. L. 285):
The milk of a light-colored goat, which in a pure feeding place the shepherd of
Tammuz has reared.
The milk of the goat let the shepherd give thee with his pure hands, etc.
MOABITE STONE, THE.
In 1869, Dr. Klein, a German missionary, discovered in
Dhiban (Dibon of Moab) a stone of black basalt, rounded at
the top, 2 feet broad and nearly 4 feet high. On it was an in
scription of 34 lines in Phoenician letters. He copied a part,
and after the negotiation of a year with the Arabs and Turks
he bought it for ,£80 in behalf of the Berlin Museum. Then
Mons. Clermont Ganneau, of the French Consulate at Jerusalem,
offered £375 for it. Of course both Arabs and Turks were
greatly excited, and the former, to prevent the talisman leaving

208 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
the country, put fire under it, poured water over it, and sent the
pieces of it as charms throughout the tribe. M. Ganneau, how
ever, bought most of the pieces, and they are put together in the
Louvre at Paris.
2 Kings 3 narrates the campaign of Israel, Judah and Edom
against Moab. They evidently retreated without completing its
subjugation. Mesha, king of Moab, takes up the entire story in this stela,
and narrates it as follows : " I, Mesha, am the son of Chemosh
Gad, king of Moab, the Dibonite. My father reigned over Moab
30 years, and I reigned after my father, and I erected this stone
to Chemosh at Kirkha, a stone of salvation (1 Sam 7:12), for
he saved me from all despoilers (Psa. 1 8 : 39 and 44 : 7) and made
me see my desire upon all my enemies (Psa. 54 : 7 and 92 : 1 1),
even upon Omri, king of Israel (r Kings 16 : 16). Now they
afflicted Moab many days (Isa. 32 : 10 : Dan. 1 1 : 33), for Chemosh
was angry with his land (2 Kings 17:18, Num. 32 : 14 . His son
(Ahab) succeeded him, and he also said, I will afflict Moab. In
my days (Chemosh) said, Let us go, and I will see my desire
upon his house, and I will destroy Israel with an everlasting des
truction (2 Thess. 1 : 9.). Now Omri took the land of Medeba and
occupied it in his days, and in the days of his son, 40 years.
And Chemosh had mercy on it in my days, and I fortified Baal-
meon (Ezek. 25 :g), and made therein the tank, and I fortified
Kiriathaim (Jer. 48:1,23). For the men of Gad dwelt in the
land of Ataroth from of old (Num. 32 : 34), and the king of Israel
fortified for himself Ataroth. And I assaulted the wall and cap
tured it, and killed all the warriors of the wall for the well pleas
ing of Chemosh and Moab, and I removed from it all the spoil
and offered it before Chemosh in Kirjath, and I placed therein
the men of Siran and the men of Mochrath. And Chemosh
said to me, Go, take Nebo against Israel (1 Sam. 23 : 2). (And
I) went in the night and fought against it from the break of
dawn until noon, and I took it, and slew in all 7,000 (men, but I
did not kill) the women (and) maidens, for (I) devoted them to
Ashtar Chemosh. And I took from it the vessels of Yahveh (Jeho
vah) and offered them before Chemosh (Jer. 48:13). And the king
of Israel fortified Jahaz (Num. 21 : 23), and occupied it when he

MOABITE STONE, THE.

209

made war against me, and Chemosh drove him out before (me)
(Num. 21 : 32) (and) I took from Moab 200 men, all its poor, and
placed them in Jahaz, and took it to annex it to Dibon (Num.
21 = 30 and 32:34). I
built Kirkha, the wall
of the forest and the
wall of the city, and I
built the gates thereof,
and I built the towers
thereof, and I built the
palace, and I made the
prisons for the crim
inals within the walls.
And there was no cis
tern in (side) the wall
at Kirkha, and I said
to all the people, Make
for yourselves, every
man, a cistern in his
house. And I dug the
ditch for Kirkha by
means of the (captive)
men of Israel. I built
Aroer (Num. 32 : 34),
and I made the road
across the Arnon (Nu.
21 : 14). I built Beth-
Bamoth (Josh. 13:17),
for it was destroyed ;
I built Bezer (Josh.
20:8), for it was cut
down by the armed
men of Dibon, for all Dibon was now loyal, and I reigned from
Bikran, which I added to my land. And I built Beth-gamul (Jer.
48:23) and Beth-diblathaim (Jer. 48 : 22) and Beth Baal-meon (Josh.
13 : 17), and I placed there the poor of the land (2 Kings 25:12).
And as to Horonaim (Isa. 15:5), (the men of Edom) dwelt there
in (from of old), and Chemosh said to me, Go down, make war

THE MOABITE STONE.

Awyriku Behoof*.

H

2IO ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
against Horonaim and take (it. And I assaulted it and took it
and) Chemosh restored it in my days."
The rest is illegible. I have given references to passages
in Scripture which illustrate the text, mentioning the same
places, or using the same phrases. Prof. Sayce says that the
language differs less from Hebrew than do some English dia
lects from each other. See Fresh Light, etc. 73-78.
MOLLIFIED WITH OIL.
Isa. 1 : 6 speaks of " wounds, bruises and festering sores
(that) have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified
with oil." One hardly looks for an illustration of this in the mon
uments, nor would such a find be helpful in the way of con
firming any Bible doctrine. Nevertheless, it is interesting
in such a connection to find Sargon, 722-705 B. C, the king of
Assyria mentioned in Isa. 20 : 1 , who also built Khorsabad (Dur
Sargina), mention among other blessings attending his reign
that " the oils, the life of mankind, serving also to soothe or
mollify sores, were not expensive in my territory. Simsim
(sesame) was of the same price as ordinary grain." Cylinder
Inscription, line 41. S. 7. MONOTHEISM.
Rom. 1 : 21-23. Because that, knowing God, they glorified
him not as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their
reasonings, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing
themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the
glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of
corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creep
ing things. It is not necessary to quote many Scriptures to prove that
they teach that men originally knew the one living God, and
that when they refused to have God in their knowledge he gave
them up to believe the lie of polytheism, with all its bitter
fruits. The passage quoted above tells us that men knew the
one God, and when they did not glorify him as God they be
came polytheists and idolators ; and the word of God is our only
rule of faith.

MONTHS. 211
What have the monuments to say on this subject ? No ex
plicit Assyrian record of the original monotheistic period has
come down to us. All the monuments date after the change to
polytheism had already taken place, so that they mention directly
only polytheism ; and yet even among these records are many
hints and traces of the primeval faith in one God.
There is first the fact that Ilu, the Assyrian word for God,
is identical with Anu, the name of one of the earliest gods. So
it would seem that there was a time when no other god existed
to dispute the title ; and it confirms this view that when, during
the deluge, the gods are said to have ascended to heaven, it is
called the heaven of Anu. Fresh Light, etc., 30. A. M. 59. 1.
Then sometimes we meet with the generic statement that
God did thus and so, as though there was but one being to whom
it could refer. This also can be nothing less than a relic of
ancient monotheism, working its way through the mass of poly
theism to the light. Some of the hymns to the gods even speak
of "the one god " (H. L. 191), and such a palpable contradiction
speaks eloquently for the truth.
There are also many expressions that point unmistakably to
monotheism. One is " the father of the gods," " the father who
has created the gods " (H. L. 128), showing the concept of a God
before and above all gods. Indeed, in the same line we read,
" the supreme first-born of heaven and earth." Then there is
the title "king of the gods," implying authority over all other
gods, who must needs be inferior and subordinate to him.
It may be objected that some of these epithets apply to
more than one god. Yes, because each one was eager to claim
the priority and superiority belonging to the supreme God for
his own deity, and it is interesting to see how in this matter
" Truth crushed to earth shall rise again ;
The eternal years of God are hers."
MONTHS.
The influence of a people may be measured by the extent to
which their language affects the nomenclature of surrounding
nations. Thus the influence of the Roman empire is revealed in
the manner in which their names of the months were used by

212 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
neighboring nations. Not Italy alone, but France and Germany,
Austria and Switzerland, England and Holland, Denmark and
Scandinavia, Spain and Portugal, to say nothing of peoples far
ther east or of the New World, adopted to a greater or less extent
their names of the months. How far was the influence of Assy
ria felt along the same line ?
Previous to the Captivity the Jews generally referred to
their months by their numbers. They spoke of the first, the sev
enth or tenth month, though they had other names for several of
them. Thus the first month was also known as Abib (ear of
corn). Exod. 13 -.4, et al. The second month was also called Zif
(beauty, or flowers). 1 Kings 6:1, 37. In the next verse the
eighth month is also called Bui (rain) the name given to it also
in the Phoenician inscription of Ashmanezer king of Sidon.
The Land and the Book II. 644. N. Y., 1882. The seventh month
was also known as Ethanim (gifts ?). 1 Kings 8 : 2.
In the later years of the kingdom of Judah this was all
changed. The Assyrian names of the months were adopted, as
is seen in the books of Nehemiah, Esther, Zechariah and Ezekiel.
This was the result of the political supremacy of Assyria, though
the literature of the empire was Babylonian ; but Assyria carried
with it the literary influence of Babylonia as Rome carried with
her the literary supremacy of Greece. Indeed the Assyrian
names of the months gave place to their Babylonian nomencla
ture as well as the Hebrew names.
These Babylonish names were written ideogrammatically
with an Accadian basis. Each month consisted of thirty days,
with a month intercalated once in six years to conform to the
solar year. Their names are given in R. IV. 33, 1, also in
Vol. V. 29. 1, and more fully on p. 43 of this last volume. See
also Ass'l. 325 and 326. This last list was compiled from un
published tablets in the British Museum. A good list is found
in D. L. 92 and 93. See also R. of P. I. 166, 167, also VII. 169,
170, also new I. and III.
Though only seven of the Assyrian names of the months are
mentioned in Scripture they were probably all in use ; the others
are mentioned in the Talmud. The seven names are Nisan, Es
ther 3 : 7, Neh. 2:1; Sivan, Esth. 8:9; Elul, Neh. 6:15; Kisleu,

ENGLISH.

ASSYRIAN.

HEBREW.

ARAMAIC.

ARABIC.

SACRED TO

April

Nisannu

]U<J

Nisan

Nisan

Anu and Bil.

May

Airu or Aura

T'S

Iyyar

Iyyar

Ea (god of waters).

June

Simanu or Sivanu

\V0

Khaziran

Khaziran

Sin (moon god).

July

Duzn

J1DD

Tammuz

Tammuz

Adar (Ninip).

August

Abu

3K

Ab

Ab

Allat (Queen of Hades)

September

Ululu

W*

Ailula

Ailul

Ishtar (Aphrodite).

October

Tashritu

wn

Teshri Qadmaya

Teshrin el Awal

Shamash (sun god).

November

Arakh Samnu

|wm»

Teshri Akhraya

Teshrin et taneh

Marduk (Merodach).

December

Eisilimu or Kislivu

1^03

Kanun Qadmaya

Kanun el Awal

Nergal (King of Hades),

January

Tabitu or Tebetu

rots

Kanun Akhraya

Kanun et taneh

Papsukul (messenger).

February

Slia,batu

B3W

Shibat

Shebat

Rammanu (air god).

March

Addaru

yik

Adar

Adar

Intercalary

Arkhu Makliru or
Ye Addaru

YW1 T

o HXw
Prof. Delitzsch explains the meaning of these months as follows :
Nisannu, the beginning. Buzu, the only-begotten.
Addaru, the cloudy. Tebetu, the showery.
Shebat, the destroying or devastating. Bib. Sacra r884. 384.
?0
214 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Neh. i : i, Zech. 7:1; Tebet, Esth. 2 : 16 ; Shebet, Zech. 1 : 7, and
Adar, Ezra 6:15, Esther 3 : 7. Tammuz appears in Ezek. 8 : 14,
as the name of a person only.
The Assyrian months overlap ours ; e. g., Nisan extends a
little into May, and so all round the year.
The accompanying table shows at a glance how the Babylon
ian gave form to the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic. The Mos
lems have never been able to displace the Assyrian calendar, which
holds its own in Turkey to this day. Mohammedan months are
lunar, and revolve all round the year once in thirty-three years
and a half. They are Mokharram, Sufar, Rabeea el Owwal, Ra-
beea et taneh, Joomad el owwal, Joomad et taneh, Rejeb, Shaa-
ban, Ramadan, Showwal, Zoo el qadeh, Zoo el khejjeh.
MONUMENT.
1 Sam. 15 : 12. Saul came to Carmel, and behold he set him
up a monument (t). Gen. 35 : 14. Jacob set up a pillar (mso) at
Bethel, and another (v. 20) over the grave of Rachel. Absalom
also set up one in memory of himself. 2 Sam. 18:18.
From the shores of the Mediterranean as far east as Persia,
and from the Black Sea to the Persian Gulf, we find to-day the
stelce of the kings of Assyria. Besides the one at the top of the
pass at Keli shin (Green Pillar) Dr. A. Grant found another half
an hour east from the village of Sidek (Dr. Grant and the Mtn.
Nestorians, 225) on his way to Oroomiah from Ravendus.
Asshurnatsirpal (B. C. 883-858) set up one in the land of Eqi
at the head of the river (Tigris ?) (R. I. 18. 68. R. of P. new II.
141), another at the gate of the city of Suri (R. I. 19. 98 and R. of
P. new II. 144), another at the head of the Supnat, now the Seb-
beneh soo, which flows into the Tigris above Diarbekir (R. I. 19
104, 105 and R. of P. new II. 145), another at the city of Tusk ha,
between Mt. Masius and the Tigris, south of Diarbekir (R. I. 20.
5 and R. of P. new II. 147), another at the city of Mattiyati (R.
I. 22. 91 and R. of P. new II. 157), and another in the city of Suru
(R. I. 24. 25 and R. of P. new II. 165).
Shalmaneser II. (Shalmanu asharidu, Shalman is leader), B.
C. 860-824, set up very many. In his obelisk found at Koyunjik,
copied in Layard's Inscriptions 87-98 and translated in R. of P.

MOON, WORSHIP OF THE. 21 5
new IV. 38-54, he speaks of a stela set upon Mt. Lallar, R. of P.
IV. 39, one at the sources of the Tigris, 42, another at the
caverns near the source of the eastern Tigris, 43. Also Miss.
Herald, 1870, 128, 129.
Then in his monolith at Kurkh, copied in R. III. 7 and 8 and
translated in Hebraica Vol. III., 1887, also in R. of P. new IV.
53-71, he speaks of a stela erected on an eminence overlooking
lake Van, R. of P. new IV. 58, also 67, another at the source of
the river Saluara near the foot of Mt. Amanus, 60, another on the
shore of the Mediterranean, 61, also 75, and on Mt. Atalur, near
one set up previously by Asshur irbi (Asshur rab buri?) 61 and
75, another in the city of Saluria at the foot of Qireqi which is
near the Moorad soo above Paloo, 65, and still another on the
mountains of Eritia, 66.
Tiglath Pileser II., Tugulti pal esira, B. C. 745-727, erected
one at Turuspa on Lake Van (G. Smith's Hist, of Assyria, 85), and
Sargon, B. C. 722-605, set up one in the island of Cyprus which
is now in the British Museum.
Sennacherib, B. C. 705-68 1 , erected one among the mountains
between Sulimanieh and Kermanshah, Smith's Assyria, 117. R.
of P. I. 27 and 28, in the country of the Kasshii and Yasubigallaa.
It is needless, however, to pursue the subject further.
MOON, WORSHIP OF THE.
Among other protestations of his integrity Job says (31 : 26-
28) : " If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking
in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly enticed, and my
mouth hath kissed my hand, this also were an iniquity to be pun
ished by the judges, for I should have lied to God who is above."
These words indicate a strong pressure constraining to sin in
that direction, as well as a declaration of uniform loyalty to the
true God throughout his whole life, notwithstanding such influ
ences. Is there anything that explains this special temptation of
that good man ?
The land of TJz lay between Palestine, or rather Mt. Seir, on
the west and Chaldea on the east, and Chaldea was the strong
hold of Sabianism, or the worship of the heavenly bodies.
TJrukh, the earliest king of that land of whom we have any

2lC

ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.

MOON, WORSHIP OF THE. 217
knowledge, built a temple to the sun god at Larsa, now Sen
kereh, which was the centre of that worship until its fame was
eclipsed by another temple to the same god at Sippara, called
Sepharvaim in Scripture. Isa. 36:19. The early Accadians,
however, thought much more of the moon than of the sun, the
exact opposite of the better knowledge of to-day. With them
the moon was masculine and the sun was feminine. Indeed,
they made Sin, the moon god, father of Shamash, the sun god,
and while the temple at Larsa differed little, if at all, from other
temples, that built by TJrukh at Ur for the moon god was noted
for its magnificence ; so that while other temples in Chaldea have
been buried out of sight, this one alone, though erected in the
grey dawn of history, about B. C. 3000 or 2500, still towers aloft
to the height of 70 feet, which is only a part, however, of the
original elevation. Not many structures of our times will re
main equally prominent 4,000 years hence.
As the splendor of this structure represents the power of
that influence which Job resisted so successfully, let us look on
it as set before us in the pages of Loftus' Chaldea and Susiana
(128-134). Here we have by far the best picture of the ruins as
they now appear, though other engravings have been reduced
from this.
First of all a spacious solid platform of sun-dried bricks was
built up to the height of 20 feet above the plain. The centre of
this is now buried deep under the talus of debris that has fallen
from above. The first story, 198x133 feet, rose 27 feet above
above this, with pilasters 8 feet wide and 13 inches in depth
buttressing the walls on the north and west sides. These were
formed of red fire-burned brick to the depth of 10 feet ; inside of
that a solid mass of sun-burned brick left only a passage from
the door on the middle of the east side to the platform above.
Like all Chaldean structures, the angles, not the sides, faced the
four cardinal points, and the walls gradually sloped inwards at
an angle of 90. Another evidence of the science of those early
days is found in the narrow openings into the interior of the
mass, through which the hot dry air of summer is brought in
contact with every part. P. and C. I. 157. Their arrangements
for drainage also evinced no little skill ; vertical drains with very

21 8 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
uarrow openings at the top received the rain water from the
upper surface. These soon enlarged into the form of an inverted
cup, perforated with holes so as to receive the' excess of moisture,
and extended to the bottom of the mass in the form of a hollow
column composed of drums of terra cotta 2 feet long and 18
inches in diameter, one above the other, with their sides made
slightly concave in order to secure greater strength, and these
perpendicular drains were filled and surrounded with broken
pottery, which added to their strength while it did not interfere
with the drainage. P. and C. I. 159.
On the top of this first story, or, more likely, on a second
story removed by Nabonidas when he built another in its place,
stood the sanctuary of the god. Abraham must often have
looked on it, even though he did not enter as a worshipper, and
must often have heard the chants of the priests borne on the
still night air, though, like Job, he maintained his loyalty to
God. MORDECAI.
Esther 2:5. There was a certain Jew in Shushan the pal
ace whose name was Mordecai.
This name is in Assyrian Mardukaa, or Mardukai, and means
a worshipper of the god Marduk (Merodach) ; and the question
at once arises, How could a pious Hebrew, who believed in the
one true God, be called by such a name ? It seems like a bold
transgression of the first commandment.
Mr. T. G. Pinches gives the very satisfactory explanation of
the matter (R. of P. new IV. 108), that the word marduk often
meant simply god, and quotes a tablet that speaks of Nergal as
the marduk of gablu, fight, combat ; Zagagu as the marduk of
takhazn, battle, war ; Bil, the marduk of dominion. Sin is mar
duk the illuminator, etc. This would make Mordecai to mean
the godly man, or worshipper of God. The tablet was found by
Mr. Hormuzd Rassam about 1881 in the vicinity of Babylon and
Sippara (Sepharvaim). MORNING STAR, THE.
The Lord Jesus promises this star as a gift to his faithful
servants. Rev. 2 : 28. Later on, 22 : 16, he affirms, " I am the

MOSES AMONG THE BULRUSHES. 219
bright and morning star." This is true in a higher sense than
had ever been true before, and that makes it all the more im
portant to know the sense in which it had been used.
The Babylonians were devoted to the study of the stars,
and their mythology was strangely mingled with their astron
omy. In it Shamash was the sun god, Sin the moon god, and
Ishtar was represented by the planet Venus. In the time of
Sargon of Agane (Akkad), which H. L. 21 puts as early as 3750
B. C., they knew that the same planet was both morning and
evening star. So in an old Accadian hymn Ishtar says (H. L.
269): Ishtar, deity of the evening sky, am I.
Ishtar, deity of the dawn, am I.
Now the name of this planet was Dilbat (Announcer),
which it could be only as in the morning it heralded the dawn.
Now, just as it heralded the sunrise, Jesus Christ heralds the
coming glory of that day when the benefits of his redemption
shall dawn on an admiring universe, and all the glory of that
day shall proceed from that redemption and for ever and ever
shall it show forth his praise ; for the whole of it is only the
shining out of the glory that is in him as our Redeemer.
MOSES AMONG THE BULRUSHES.
The story of Moses laid by his mother in a little ark of
bulrushes and committed to the Nile is too familiar to need
repetition. See Ex. 2 : 1-10. A very nearly similar account is
given of Sargon of Agane (Accad) in R. III. 4. No. 7 ; a transla
tion is given in H. L. 26 and 27 note :
Sargon (the true king) the mighty king, the king of Accad, am I.
My mother was a princess, my father I know not, the brother of my father dwells
in the mountain,
In the city of Azupiranu, which is situated on the bank of the Euphrates,
My mother the princess conceived me, in a secret place she brought me forth.
She placed me in a basket of reeds, with bitumen the door she closed.
She committed me to the river, which did not drown me.
The river bore me along, to Akki the water-carrier it brought me.
Akki the water-carrier in his goodness of heart took me up.
Akki the water-carrier reared me as his own son.

220 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
The characters of this tablet are of the latest style, such as
were used in the days of Asshurbanipal, and as Sargon was a
ruler and patron of learning it may be possible that some lit
erary admirer, centuries after his death, conceived the idea of
ascribing to him such an experience in infancy as report had
brought to Babylonia concerning the great Hebrew lawgiver and
writer. MOUNTAINS.
Ezek. 32 : 5. I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and
fill the valleys with thy height. Gesenius renders, instead of
height, heap of corpses, worms. Also 35 : 8. I will fill the
mountains with thy slain, in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in
all thy water courses, shall they fall that are slain with the sword.
No modern battle is described in this way ; but they so
resemble some of the descriptions of Assyrian warfare con
tained in the monuments that it seems as though Ezekiel
must have read through the long annals of Asshurnatsirpal at
Calah (Nimrood). This is quite possible, for that king died B.
C. 860 and the prophet was at the river of Chebar about 260
years afterwards. He may then have visited Calah before the
fall of Nineveh. Asshurnatsirpal says, damishunu kima napasi
shadi lu atsruub, and Prof. Sayce translates it " with their blood
the mountains I dyed like wool," though there is some doubt
about the word he renders " wool." The king then goes on,
" hollows and water-courses devoured the rest of them." This
description is repeated in several places : R.I. 18. 53 ; 20. 17 and
18 ; 22. 1 14. In this last he says : " 1,000 of their warriors I slew
in the rugged mountain ; with their blood I made the mountain
to flow, with their bodies the ravines and water-courses I filled."
These passages are translated in the new R. of P. II. 139. 148,
159. MOUNT OF THE CONGREGATION.
Isa. 14 : 13 makes the king of Babylon to say : " I will ascend
into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and
I will sit upon the mount of the congregation in the uttermost
parts of the north ;" i. e., I will sit among the gods in the high
.mountain to the north where they make their home. For before
the Greeks had their Olympus the Babylonians and Assyrians

MOUNT OF THE CONGREGATION. 221
had their kharsag kalama, or mountain of the universe. Prof.
Sayce says, H. L. 360, " Here the gods were imagined to have
been born, and to have their seats. Its summit was hidden by
the clouds and the starry firmament seemed to rest upon it. It
is possible that it was identified with the mountain of Nizir, the
modern Rowandiz."
This last statement is somewhat confusing. The modern
mount Elwend or Elvend is generally identified as the ancient
Nizir, and I have not heard of any prominent mountain named
Rowandiz, and yet Prof. Sayce says, " Rowandiz towers high
above its fellows in the Kurdish range." May it not be that
more than one mountain had this honor — for the idea seems to
call for a summit visible from afar — and that, while the southern
Babylonians made Elwend the dwelling-place of their gods, they
of Assyria chose one farther north as the home of Asshur and
his associates ? The Toora 'dfelu towers high above all else that is
visible from Assyria, and if any mountain was to be selected as
the scene of their Valhalla, that would, before all others, be the
successful candidate. The writer has often looked up at its un
broken covering of snow, from the hot banks of the Tigris in
early summer, and when he opened his eyes, from his bed on the
flat roof in the dawn of the morning, the first object to meet his
gaze was that white, glittering cone that dominated all the peaks
of Kurdistan. Mr. Layard says, B. and N. 430, " Before reaching the rocky
ridge of the Sappa Durek we had to cross a broad tract of deep
snow, over which we painfully dragged our heavily loaded
mules. On the crest of the pass we found ourselves surrounded
on all sides by rugged peaks, among which the highest was
Toora 'dfelu, of which we had scarcely lost sight since leaving
Mosul. It is probably the highest peak in Central Kurdistan,
and cannot be under 15,000 feet in height. On its precipitous
sides the snow cannot rest, but around it are eternal glaciers.
Some Nestorians assured me they had followed the wild goat
even to its summit, whence they looked down on a view of vast
extent and grandeur — the desert stretching away like a vast sea
beneath, and Mosul distinctly visible in the distance." Those
bragging Nestorians may never have reached the summit, but

222 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
we give our ballot for the mountain of Jelu. No other in all
the region is so worthy to represent the mountain of the Assyr
ian Olympus in the uttermost parts of the north.
MOUTH.
There is one meaning of the Hebrew word ns that does
not appear in our English Bible. In Gen. 24: 57 Laban is said
to inquire " at the mouth " of Rebekah. Gesenius makes him
simply " ask counsel " of her, and he gives the same rendering
to the word in Josh. 9 : 14, " asked not counsel of the Lord." See
also Isa. 30 : 2.
The Assyrian endorses this rendering of Gesenius in the
following manner : In R. V. 8. 48, see also A. M. 29. 17, Asshur
banipal says that Abiyati, king of Arabia, piishu ishkimma,
literally " set his mouth," with the Nabateans. Obviously he so
took counsel with them that their hearts had the same purpose^
and their mouths spoke the same things. Thus the old Assyrian
records endorse the rendering reached independently by modern
Hebrew scholars.
The Hebrew ns is also used in the sense of command : Gen.
45 : 21 ; Ex. 17:1; Eccles. 8:2. So also is the Assyrian pu. A
striking instance of this occurs in R. V. I. 13, and A. M. 19. 26 :
pii muttalli, exalted command. See under " Honor."
MUSIC.
The ancient Hebrews had a great fondness for music,
which they used abundantly in their religious services, in their
pilgrimages to Jerusalem, their civic and bridal processions,,
their public and private banquets, and even at their funerals.
The notices of music in Scripture indicate several things con
cerning it. First, something of variety in musical instruments.
Daniel 3:7, 10 and 15 speaks of cornet, flute, harp, sackbut,
psaltery and dulcimer. Psa. 33 : 2 speaks of the psaltery of ten
strings, Psa. 8 1 : 3 of trumpets, and Psa. 150:5 of two kinds of
cymbals. One rather wonders at the omission of the drum,.
which is so common in the Orient, but it must have been knowu
then under some other name, as timbrel, Exod. 1 5 : 20 ; at any
rate, the word drum is not found in our English version. Second,.

MUSIC. 223
musical performers were of both
sexes, Ex. 15 : 20, 1 Sam. 18 :6, 7,
Judg. 1 1 : 34. Third, the music
was processional, to borrow a
phrase from modern usage. Mir
iam, the daughter of Jephthah,
and the women from all the cities
of Israel, when Goliath was slain,
marched as they sang.
Precisely the same state of
things obtained among the Assy
rians. On page 455 of Layard's
B. and N. we have a musical pro
cession of twenty-three persons —
four men, eleven women and eight
children. Of the men, two have
a harp of even more than ten
strings. One is an auletes, play
ing on double pipes, and one has
a flat instrument, perhaps a dulci
mer, which he strikes with a short
stick. Four of the women have
harps of the same form and size
as the men : one is an auletes,
and one strikes with her hands a
small drum or timbrel like a mod
ern tubl. Two of the remain
ing five have one hand raised as
if beating time, one has her hand
raised to the throat like oriental
women when they make the shrill
zughareet, or cry of joy, and the
rest are clapping their hands in
concert with the children. I
should have noticed that two of
the men have one foot raised as
though dancing, or at least beating time. Thus this one bas-
relief illustrates all three of the Scripture statements concern-

224 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
ing music. When the women came singing and dancing to
meet Saul with, timbrels, with joy and with instruments of
music, and sang responsively, " Saul hath slain his thousands
and David his myriads," they must have presented just such a
sight as we have on the preceding page.
The inscriptions endorse its testimony. Esarhaddon (Assur
akli iddina, Asshur has given a brother), who reigned B. C. 68 1-
668, had conquered the two cities of Kundi and Siznu, and also
the king of Sidon, who had gone to their help. After the return
of the victors to the capital there was a great triumph, and the
heads of the slaughtered kings were borne aloft in the procession,
and the record adds, " with musical performers, male and female,
in the broad square of Nineveh I marched triumphant." This
also covers all the three points alluded to. R. I. 45. 52, 53.
After the subjugation of Elam and the sack of Gambuli,
King Assurbanipal says, " with musicians making a great jubila
tion I entered into Nineveh with great rejoicings." Ass'l. 134.
46, 47. NAME OF GOD, THE.
Holy Scripture gives special prominence to the name of
God. It occurs often when we would speak of God himself.
Thus God says to Pharaoh, Exod. 9 : 16, " I have raised thee
up . . . that my name may be declared throughout the earth,"
i. e., that I may be known everywhere. So God speaks of
"places where I record my name," Exod. 20:24. He also
says, 1 Sam. 7: 13, " He (Solomon) shall build a house for my
name." God speaks of his name being blasphemed, Isa. 52:5,
of its being great among the Gentiles, Mai. 1:11, of giving
glory to his name, Mai. 2 : 2, and of " you ' that fear my
name," Mai. 4:2. The third commandment forbids to take the
name of God in vain, Exod. 20 : 7. Christ teaches us to pray, not
" Be thou glorified ; but, " Hallowed be thy name," Matt. 6 : 9.
And the glorified Redeemer commends one church because, to
use his own words, "thou hast not denied my name," Rev.
3 : 8, and another, " for thou holdest fast my name." This is a
very marked usus loquendi. We cannot fail to be impressed by
it. Has the Assyrian any light to throw on this peculiar form
of speech ?

NAME OF GOD, THE. 225
As the old realistic philosophy held that words denoting
genera and species not only represented an idea but an actual
entity, so the old Babylonians held that names were things ;
real equivalents of the things they represented. " The name in
fact was the personality." Thus an account of the creation,
reads, line i, " When the heavens above had not yet announced,
nor the earth beneath recorded a name," D. L. 13, and A. M.
62. The writer means to say, when as yet nothing had been
created, but he speaks as though announcing a name was equiva
lent to creating the object named. So lines 7-9 of the same tablet :
"" When the gods had not yet any of them come into existence —
were mentioned as yet by no name — then the great gods were
created." Here his meaning cannot be mistaken ; he clearly
affirms that creating and mentioning a name are identical.
Their magical formulas also confounded persons and
names. Many of these have been found, and it only needed
a name to be inserted in reading the spell for the owner of the
name to suffer the evils it invoked or the healing which it was
designed to effect, for whatever was spoken concerning the
names took effect on the person who bore it. The idea also
that such formulas could injure by means of pictures, locks of
hair, parings of nails, or even shreds of clothing, seems to have
originated in Babylonia (R. II. 17, 1. 30, also H. L. 330 and
442), but the use of the name was more common because it
was deemed more efficacious. They believed that the result
was effected by spirits who had their abode in every thing that
existed, and had power to confer good and, especially, to inflict
evil, and though all things were under the control of the great
gods yet both gods and spirits were subject to fate, and the
sorcerer could control this fate by his spells. So great was the
power inherent in the use of a name.
This identification of a name with its owner made the name
an object of supreme regard. The adoption of a time-honored
name lifted a novus homo into the line of succession and estab
lished his throne, e. g., Sargon of Dur Sargina. This is seen
also in the dreadful curses invoked by Assyrian kings on who
ever erased their names from their inscriptions.
Tiglath Pileser I. (Tugulti pal esira, my confidence, i. e.,
ABayrlan Echoes. I K

226 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
the god in whom I put my trust, let him guide the son). B. C.
1120-1110, writes thus: "In future days when the temple of
the great gods my lords Anu and Rammanu and these lofty
towers (ziggurat) shall decay, let whoever fills the throne re
pair the falling structure, anointed with oil let him restore my
memorial tablets to their places and offer sacrifices. Let him also
inscribe his own name along with mine on the renovated struc
ture, and the great gods Anu and Rammanu will keep him in
gladness of heart and in the enjoyment of victory, as they have
kept me. But whoever shall break my records in pieces, cover
them up or burn them with fire, whoever shall bury them in a
grave (literally, in the house of the pure god — la, the Chaldean
Pluto) or put them in a place out of sight, and where no man
goeth, whoever shall erase the name that is written or put his
own name in its place, and consign my memorial to a dark
oblivion (literally an epoch of night), let the great gods my lords
Anu and Rammanu inflict on him terrible destruction, and curse
him with a dreadful curse. Let them overthrow his kingdom, re
move the foundation of his throne, and swallow up the royal
armies. Besides this destruction of his soldiers let them break
his weapons, and make him to bow down always before his
enemies. (Compare Rom. 1 1 : 10.) Let Rammanu smite his
land with destructive lightning, fill it with famine, and strew it
with dead bodies. Against his lordship let him utter his most
terrible curses, and cause his name and his posterity to perish
from the earth." R I. 16. 50-88. Also Prof. Sayce's Elem.
Gram. 1 11- 113. Compare Psa. 109: 17, 18, new revision.
Asshurbanipal (Asshur creates a son), B. C. 668-626, writes
in a gentler mood (R. V. 62. 23-29, also A. M. 24. 14-22.): " In
the last days (compare Gen. 49: 1 ; Micah 4:1; Acts. 2:17; Heb.
1 : 2 ; 2 Pet. 3:3,) let the ruler in whose reign this structure shall
decay build up again its ruins. Let him write my name along
with his own ; my inscription let him look on ; let him anoint
with oil (on this rendering see A. M. 75, top), sacrifices let him
offer, and with his own^ inscription let him set it up, and Sha
mash (the sun god) will hear his prayer ; but he who shall treach
erously destroy my name and the name of my beloved brother,.
he who will not inscribe my name along with his own, and with

NAME OF GOD, THE. 227
his inscription does not set it up also, let Shamash, who is lord
of all above and below, destroy him in anger, and let his name
and posterity perish from the earth." Compare Psa. 41 : 5 ;
109 : 13.
He also closes an account of his rebuilding the palace in
which he was born in these words: "When this Harem (Bit riduti)
becomes old and ruinous, let that name among the kings my
descendants whom Asshur and Ishtar shall then have proclaimed
ruler of the land and the people repair its ruins. Let that re
mote descendant see the written name of myself, my father,
and my father's father. Let him anoint with oil and offer
sacrifices, then place it along with the written record of his own
name, and let all the great gods named in this inscription con^
firm to him the power and glory which they have given me. But
whoever shall destroy my written name, and that of my father
and father's father, and with his own name does not set them
up, let Asshur, Sin, Shamash, Rammanu, Bil, Nabu, Ishtar,
of Nineveh, the divine queen of Kidmuri, Ishtar of Arbela,
Ninip, Nergal and Nusku judge him with a judgment worthy
of the naming of my name." Could language set forth with
greater clearness the importance attached to a name ?
The risen Redeemer saith to the church at Pergamos, " To
him that overcometh, to him will I give of the hidden manna,
and I will give him a white stone, and upon the stone a new name
written." Rev. 2:17. Asshurbanipal thus writes of Pharaoh
Necho (R. V. 2. 8-13, A. M. 48. 8-14. and Ass'l. 27. 34-28. 40):
" I clothed him with (birmi) embroidered (?) garments, and a
chain of gold, the insignia of royalty, I gave him (compare
Joseph, Gen. 41 : 42, and Daniel 5.6); rings of gold I bound upon
his hands (Luke, 15 : 22), on a steel girdle-dagger (such as Kurds
and Arabs wear to-day) with a golden hilt I wrote the naming of
my name and gave to him." Doubless that dagger was looked
on by both giver and receiver as the most precious item in the
gift, because it bore the name of the royal giver. Do not these
extracts from the records of a kindred race throw light on the
way in which the Scriptures teach us to look upon the name
of God?

228 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH THE NAME OF GOD.
Few studies are more fascinating than the meaning of names.
The Blacks and Browns, Smiths and Taylors, Hunters and Fish
ers are plain enough, but to learn that Leonard is " the lion
hearted," Westcott " the occupant of the west cottage," Sheldon
"the resident by the fountain on the hill," that Forsythe is " the
honest man," Luther " the celebrated man," and Morgan " the one
born at sea," is continuous delight. It is like looking into a revolv
ing kaleidoscope, when each moment surprises with a new joy.
Originally each name had its meaning. It might point to
some peculiarity of character or some physical singularity. It
might denote an occupation. The writer knew a resident in old
Assyria named Nakkar, millwright ; but when he turned his hand
from mill stones to watches his name became Saati, watchmaker.
Or it might have to do with the location of his home ; thus Wood-
worth is " the occupant of the farm in the wood," and Northrop
" the man in the north hamlet."
We see this very clearly in Bible names, where the manner
of their origin is often mentioned with the name. Adam was the
man formed from "red earth" and Cain the man "obtained"
from the Lord. Saul is the one " sought for," and David the
" beloved." Dido in the language of Phoenicia had the same
meaning. Ruth is the "lady friend." Susan or Susanna is
" lily." Even the Hebrew term for " name " was given as a
name to one son of Noah. Ham is the "hot" one, and Japhet
the " wide spreading."
In Bible names we are struck with the large number of
which the name of God forms a part. To us this may seem ir
reverent, but in the simplicity of the early ages this grew out of
a feeling of genuine reverence for God. The Hebrew has seve
ral names for Deity. One of these is the generic term El (pro
nounced Ail). It means " the mighty one," and it is noticeable
that both in Hebrew and Assyrian all other attributes are subor
dinate, and supreme power is the one thing suggested by the
name of God. The Assyrian vocabulary abounds in synonyms
for strength, power and force, and they seem to be exhausted in
the description of their gods.

NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH THE NAME OF GOD. 229
When this name of God is used to form a human name it is
placed either at the beginning or the end, as Eliezer or Eleazar,
God is his help ; Elizur, God is his rock ; Eliphalet, God is his
deliverance ; Eliakim, whom God appointed ; Elnathan, whom
God gave ; and Elisha, God is his salvation. So also Samuel,
heard of God, and Ishmael, whom God hears, Raphael, whom
God healeth, Gabriel, the strong man of God, Daniel, made judge
by God, and Abdiel, servant of God — Arabic, Abdullah.
Another name of God which enters into many human names
is Jehovah, or more correctly Yahveh. This was not merely the
name of the national god of the Hebrews, as though there was an
other god called Baal and still another named Moloch or Asshur,
but it was the proper name of the true God, besides whom there is
no god. We see its meaning in that appeal of Elijah on Carmel,
" How long halt ye between two opinions ? If Jehovah is God, fol
low him, but if Baal (is God) follow him," 1 Kings 18 : 21, and in
the repeated confession of the prostrate people, " Jehovah, he is
the God ;" and so the first commandment was, " Thou shalt have
none other gods before me." Among the human names of
which this most sacred name forms a part are Jonadab, whom
Jehovah impels ; Jonathan, whom Jehovah gave ; Jehoram,
whom Jehovah created ; Joshua, whom Jehovah saves ; Jehosha-
phat, whom Jehovah judgeth, i. e., protects from wrong. So also
Hezekiah, whom Jehovah strengthens ; Benaiah, whom Jehovah
created ; Adonijah, Jehovah is my Lord ; and Malchiah, made
king by Jehovah.
A. like desire to be associated with idols appears in the in
scriptions. Thus Asshurbanipal is Asshur created a son. Esar
haddon (Asshur akh iddina) is Asshur gave a brother: Shalman
ezer (Shalman utsur) is Shalman protected. Shalman is the god
of peace. See Rom. 16 : 20. This name was borne by four kings.
In most of these cases the king selected his own name. Ram
manu nirari, Rammanu (the god of the atmosphere) is my
helper, was the name of two kings. Asshur dan (Asshur vindi
cates) was a name borne by three occupants of the throne, and
Tugulti Ninip (Ninip is my trust) was the name of two others.
So in Babylon we have Belshazzar (Bil shar utsur), Bil (in this
case Merodach) preserved the king. Nebuchadrezzar (Nabu ku-

230 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
duri, or kudurri, utsur) Nebo preserved the crown, or the land,
and Bil Marduk, Merodach is the lord, may serve as specimens
of many more.
The question arises, Who set the example in this style of
names, the Hebrews or the Babylonians ? Certainly not the Assy
rians, for Ismi Dagan (Dagon heard), who reigned B. C. 1850-20,
was the earliest of their kings. The earliest among the Babylo
nians was Naram Sin, the favorite of the moon god, son of the
celebrated Sargon of Agane (Accad), who Nabonidus, the last
king of Babylon (B. C. 556), tells us lived 3,200 years before, or
circa B. C. 3750. This according to our chronology would place
him 1402 years before the deluge, which occurred, in our reckon
ing, B. C. 2348, but according to the Babylonians Naram Sin
lived long after the deluge, how long is not yet ascertained.
Then, however the two chronologies may be harmonized, Na-
rum Sin was no antediluvian. But Scripture speaks of men in
corporating the name of God into their names long before the
flood ; two at least in the line of Cain — Methusael, man of God,
and his father, Mehujael, smitten of God — and one in the line of
Sheth, Mahalaleel, praise of God, who according to our reckon
ing was born B. C. 3069 ; 1260 years before the flood.
The earliest mention of this kind of name is in Scripture,
and it is in connection with the name of the true God, and not in
connection with that of any idol, whether Babylonian or belong
ing to other nations.
For some notice of a suggestion of Prof. Sayce on the names
Methusael and Methuselakh, see " Methuselah."
NEBUCHADREZZAR.
This name is commonly written Nebuchadnezzar, but the
correct reading is Nebuchadrezzar. The original is Nabu
kudurri utsur, Nebo protect the crown, or frontier, or servant ?
He reigned B. C. 605-562, and was by far the greatest of the
kings of Babylon. We may add that he is also the most lovable ;
no one can read some parts of his great Inscription and not find
his heart going out in love towards the writer. True, Daniel
4 : 30 introduces him as saying, " Is not this great Babylon which
I have built for the royal dwelling place, by the might of my

NEBUCHADREZZAR. 23 1
power and for the glory of my majesty ?" but one who had
built so well may be pardoned if he knew it, and we honor the
man who tells so honestly the way in which God humbled his
pride, and then adds (v. 37), " Now, I, Nebuchadrezzar, praise and
extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are truth,
and his ways judgment : and those that walk in pride he is able to
abase." We can scarcely expect a record of this in his inscrip
tions, but it was something to have written it at all, and his
public records deepen the good impression made on us by this
confession of the greatness and power of God. The following
expressions occur in what is known as the India House Inscrip
tion, R. I. 53-58, especially col. 1. 55 to the end. See also H.
L. 97 and R. of P. new III. 106. 55 to the end. I have
placed in the margin various scriptures the spirit of which
seems to have, been expressed by these -words of a heathen
monarch. The address is to Bil Marduk, his god :
O prince who art from eternity. Psa. go : 2 ; John 1:1; Gen. 1:1; Heb. 1 : 10.
Lord of all that exists. Psa. 103 : 19 ; John 17:2; Rom. 9:5; Acts 10 : 36.
For the king whom thou lovest. John 11:3; Rev. 1 : 5.
Whom thou callest by name. Isa. 43 : 1 ; Jer. 14 : 9 ; Dan. 9:18 and 19.
As it seemeth good unto thee. Matt. 1 1 : 26 ; Luke 10:21.
I, the prince who obeyeth thee, am the work of thy hands. Psa. 138 : 8.
Thou hast created me. Psa. 119:73; Job 10:8; Isa. 64 : 8.
* And hast entrusted to me sovereignty over multitudes of men. Jer. 27 : 8 and
28 : 14 ; Ezek. 29 : 19 ; Dan. 5 : 18.
According to thy goodness, O lord, wherewith thou crownest all of them. Psa.
145:9.
Let me love thy supreme lordship. Matt. 22 : 37 and 38.
Let the fear of thy godhead dwell within my heart. Eccl. 12:13.
And give what seemeth good to thee, since thou maintainest my life. Acts. 17 : 28.
One is amazed to read (col. 3. 33), " For the construction
of E Saggilla (the temple of Merodach) daily I besought the
king of the gods, the lord of lords ;" and again, (col. 7, 26-35 0
¦" From the time that Merodach created me for sovereignty,
from the time that Nebo his true son entrusted his people to
my care, as my own dear life do I love the exaltation of thy
house (Psa. 26 : 8). Among all mankind have I not seen a city
fairer than thy city of Babylon, which I love." It seems almost
* See also line 42 in col. I.

232 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
as though we were reading from the Psalms of David rather
than from the records of a king of Babylon.
NIMROD.
Gen. 10 : 10. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babelr
and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
One would naturally expect that the monuments would
pour a flood of light on one who filled a position of such promi
nence, and some seek to identify him with the hero Izdubar or
Gisdubar. They may be correct, but the names are totally un
like, and we have no evidence that that name is to be read ideo-
graphically in any way that resembles the name Nimrod. Fu
ture discoveries may furnish the required identification, but, as
at present informed, we must hold ourselves in readiness either
to accept this identification on sufficient warrant, or any other
that may be presented with more satisfactory endorsement.
If we could only get at the records now hidden in the an
cient mounds of Babylonia this and many other questions
would at once receive ready solution, but so long as the Turkish
Government pursues its dog-in-the-manger policy, we must
watch and wait. God, whose hand is in all these things, may be
holding back those records for a time when their discovery shall
tell with greater efficiency for the advancement of his kingdom.
NIMROOD.
No one who has read Mr. Layard's fascinating volumes, or
visited the British Museum, or the Assyrian rooms of some of
our American colleges, fails to feel an interest in Nimrood.
The river Tigris flows almost straight south from Mosul,
and on the left bank of the river, about six leagues from the
city, the tower, or rather the ruins of it, is the most conspicu
ous object in the landscape, rising to the height of 140 feet.
Mr. Layard thinks that originally it was 200 feet high. Extend
ing south from this, and gullied by the rains of centuries, is a
mound 1,300 yards by 750. Here stood the ancient city of Calah ;
not the first Assyrian capital, but the earliest centre after
the kingdom became an empire. Its rulers delighted to ex
pend their treasures in its embellishment. The city of Shal-

NINEVEH. 233
manezer I. (1 300-1 271 B. C.) indeed soon disappeared, but
Asshurnatsirpal (885-860 B. C.) rebuilt it, and erected the north
west palace, between the tower and the southwest corner of the
mound. His son Shalmanezer II. succeeded him in 860 B. C,
and built the central and part at least of the southeast palace.
Vul (Rimmon) Nirari III. (812-783 B. C.) built the temple of
Nebo and the upper part of the southeast palace, and Tiglath
Pileser II. (745-727 B. C.) rebuilt the centre palace, which by
this time was in ruins. Sargon (722-705 B. C), besides his
splendid erections at Dur Sargina (Khorsabad), restored the
northwest palace, and his grandson Esarhaddon (681-668 B. C.)
built, apparently in great haste, the southwest palace, and it
was never really finished, though he did hot hesitate to appro
priate freely valuable material from the structures erected by
his predecessors ; and Asshur etil ilani, one of the last kings of
Assyria, rebuilt the temple of Nebo. Thus there was hardly an
Assyrian monarch of any note who did not leave his mark upon
Calah, and yet it was the oldest of all that furnished the best
sculptures that Mr. Layard sent home, and as the American
missionaries were at that time in Mosul, they also were able to
procure some for a few of our own institutions of learning.
NINEVEH.
Jonah 3 : 3. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of
three days' journey.
This is a very indefinite description of the size of the city.
Does the three days' journey measure the circumference of the
city ? or the distance to be traversed in proclaiming the message
of the prophet so that it should be generally known to the inhab
itants ? Perhaps the time has not yet come for the final answer
to these questions. New discoveries may furnish data that are
now lacking. Several points, however, are already known, and
these may help us to form some idea of the problem.
1. The name Nina was used to denote the city directly
opposite Mosul, whose dimensions are accurately marked out
by the existing earthen mounds, between 40 and 50 feet in height,
that enclose a space 13,200 yards, or 7 English miles and 4 fur
longs, in circumference. This is proved by the Bavian inscrip-

234 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
tion of Sennacherib, who in connection with a group of 1 7 cities
says, " Sixteen channels I excavated ; to the midst of the river
lihusur I fixed their course; from the boundary of the city
Kisiri to Nineveh I dug a channel for their waters." Senn. 158.
10-12 and R. of P. IX. 24. 10-12. Other similar passages occur
in the same inscription, and the river Khausser still flows from
the vicinity of Khorsabad and empties into the Tigris below the
mound of Koyunjik.
2. These mounds may have enclosed the centre of the city,
while the houses of the common people extended out on all
sides — except the west, where the Tigris flowed — far into the
fertile plain of Assyria.
3. Just as there was an original London which swallowed up
Southwark, Westminster, Lambeth, Whitechapel, and many
other suburbs, the name sometimes denoting the original
nucleus and sometimes including the whole territory annexed
to it, so the name Nineveh, though strictly belonging only
to the enclosure opposite Mosul, may also have been applied to
the whole of the dense population occupying the plain of Assyria
as far south as Nimrood, and as far north as Khorsabad, and
from Shereef khan on the west to Karamles on the east.
4. The fact that the same king built palaces in cities as far
apart as Asshur (Ealah Shergat) and Nineveh favored this
looking on them all as forming one body politic, and giving to
it the name of the most important city. Thus Shalmanezer I.,
B. C. 1300, enlarged the palace at Asshur and built two others,
one at Calah (Nimrood), and the other at Nineveh (Koyunjik).
Passing on nearly 400 years, Asshurnatsirpal, B. C. 885-860,
transferred his capital from Asshur to Calah, where he built
more than one palace, besides a temple to Nebo. He also built
a palace and rebuilt the temple of Ishtar at Nineveh. Shalma
nezer II., B. C. 860-825, lived at Nineveh for 12 years, where he
enlarged the palace of his father and adorned the temple of
Ishtar. Then he removed to Calah, completed that city, built a
ziggurat (tower) that is still 140 feet in height, and also a new
palace. Rimmon Nirari III., B. C. 812-783, besides building one
palace at Calah, erected another at Nineveh (Nebby Yunus), and
a new temple to Nebo and Merodach at Koyunjik, besides a

NOUNS. 235
temple to Nebo at Calah containing two colossal statues of that
god. It is not necessary to carry these details further, for suffi
cient has been said to show the substantial unity of these sev
eral cities where the same monarch occupied his own palace
now in one of them and now in another, and though the exact
¦era of Jonah is unknown yet he must have lived some time
¦during or between these reigns.
5. It is not strange, then, if a prophet of Israel, who had
heard of these things before his arrival in the country, should
speak of all the inhabitants of that plain, then so populous, as
belonging to one city, and that that city should be Nineveh, the
¦capital of the king, who resided now here and now there, accord
ing to the exigences of the hour and his own desire.
NISROCH.
Isa. 37 : 38. And it came to pass as he (Sennacherib) was
-worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adramelech
<(Adar is king) and Sharezer (he protected the king) smote him
with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat, i. e.,
Armenia. This item of history is confirmed by the monuments in every
thing except the name of Nisroch. There was no god known in
Assyria by tnat name. It may be that some copyist, not being
familiar with either name, wrote Nisroch instead of Nusku, the
associate of Nebo, the god of literature, or, having seen the eagle-
headed figures in Assyrian palaces, he may have given that
name from the Hebrew nasr (eagle).
NOUNS.
In Assyrian, nouns have stems either simple or doubled, or
-with the addition of other elements, and these last may be pre
fixed, affixed, or inserted in the middle. There is no neuter
gender, only masculine and feminine. The dual number seldom
occurs save in objects which exist in pairs, as hands, eyes, and
ears. The plural ending is u, i, ani and uti, and f. pi. in ati or
iti. The Arabic forms named madhmoom, maksoor, and mef-
tookh, i. e., Norn., Gen., and Accus., are found also in Assyrian

236 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
and are distinguished by the same vowels, i. e., u, i, and a. Mim-
mation also occurs in Assyrian as well as in Hebrew and Arabic.
So also does what is called the construct state, where the first
noun loses its final vowel, and the second is used in the genitive..
In segholates the noun becomes disyllabic, as uzun from uzhii,
ear, napshat from napishtu, soul, life. The construct state is
very common before suffixes, as matshu, his country, qatshu, his
hand. Nouns, as in other languages, exist both as substantives and
adjectives. Many nouns in Assyrian correspond with the He
brew both in form and meaning ; others agree in form but differ
in meaning, as in Hebrew dha is a king, but in Assyrian raalku,
is a prince or ruler, while sharru denotes a king.
NUMBER OF A NAME.
Rev. 13: 18. It is the number of a man, and his number
is 666. Without going at all into the exegesis of this, I simply
throw out the inquiry whether line 65 of the cylinder inscrip
tion of Sargon (S. 10) throws any light on this Scripture. It
reads thus : " Four shars, three ners, one shoss, three reeds, two
cubits (Prof. Lyon adds them up 16,280 cubits), so much my
name signifies  The mass of the wall I built, and on stone from
the high mountains I made strong its foundations." The cor
respondence is certainly suggestive, but I cannot find formal
proof that the Assyrians, like the Greeks and Latins, and indeed
the Hebrews also, used letters to represent numerals. The fact
that Hebrews did so affords a presumption, however, that Assyr
ians did the same. OMENS.
Ezek. 21:21 and 22. For the king of Babylon stood at the
parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divina
tion : he shook the arrows to and fro, he consulted the teraphim,
he looked in the liver. In his right hand was the divination for
Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the
slaughter, etc.
An omen is an augury or prognostication, something sup-

OMENS. 237
posed to portend a future event, and in Babylonia the connec
tion of omens with their fancied results rose to the dignity of a
science. There were tables of omens from dreams, see R.
III. 56. 2 ; from the moon and its appearance, R. III. 51. 2, 3, 4,
also 6, 7, 8, 9 ; also 54. There were auguries from the earth
and the heavens, R. III. 52. 3 ; omens for each month, R. III.
55. 4; also from the inspection of the hand, palmistry, from
the inspection of the entrails of animals, as afterwards among
the Romans; and even from the objects a traveller meets on
a journey, as in some countries to-day a man turns back if on
setting out he meets an unlucky object. Even the movements
of dogs were counted ominous. If a dog entered a palace and
lay down on a bed they held that that palace could never be
captured by an enemy, but if he lay down on the throne that
was a token that the palace would be burned. So if a white or
black dog entered a temple that was a sign that the temple would
go to ruin, but if a blue or yellow dog entered, its offerings would
abound, while the entrance of a spotted dog betokened the favor
of the gods. R. of P. V. 169.
There are some curious birth portents, R. III. 65, translated
in R. of P. V. 1 71-176. When the right ear of a babe is small
the father's house will be destroyed, when it is wanting the ruler
-will live long, and if both ears are wanting an enemy is in
the land and it will not prosper. When the upper lip of a babe
overhangs the lower, or if it has a stiff knee, the people will pros
per. When a child has six toes on each foot the result will be
that children do not go to school, but six toes on the right
foot foretokens an increase of the population — and so on.
As for the divination by arrows, one can hardly see how
the rendering of the old version, " he made his arrows bright,"
could furnish any omen, but " he shook them to and fro " makes
it more intelligible, for any stir or agitation that left one of two
arrows pointing this way and the other that might indicate
whether to turn to the right hand or the left, according to a
prearranged interpretation.
We hear much of the superior intelligence of our age and
of pity for the superstitions of the past, but so long as men
assure themselves of good fortune because they find a bit of old

238 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
iron in the road, or fasten up old horse-shoes on the walls or
over the door for the sake of luck, it may be that, after all, our
age is not so far in advance of the old Chaldeans as we thought
it was. PADAN ARAM.
Gen. 25:20, 31:18. Gesenius in his Lexicon, Robinson's-
Ed., explains this as the plain of Syria, deriving it from the
Syriac word pidana, which Erpenius renders campus, desertum.
Gesenius describes, it as " Mesopotamia, with the desert west
of the Euphrates, as distinguished from the mountainous-
region along the Mediterranean." The Assyrian suggests a.
different derivation. Padanu in that language means a way.
Asshurbanipal, R. V. I. 74, says that he caused certain kings to
take urkhu padanu, the way, the road, with his army. Tiglath
Pileser I. (R. 10.4) says that the rest of Kummakhu (Commagene)
fled to Shiriishi, by the roads (padani) on the other side of the
Tigris. Padan Aram, according to this, is the way Aram, i. e.,
the Aram that lay on the way between Babylonia or Chaldea-
and the Mediterranean ; for then as now the Bedawin made the
direct road unsafe, and travel had to go round via Oorfa and
Kharran. And it is a confirmation of this view that Kharran
also in Assyrian means the way, i. e., the city on the way to
Palestine and the Mediterranean ; as we would say, the half-way
city. PARTICLES.
These are composed of adverbs, prepositions, and conjunc
tions, and for convenience of reference some of the more im
portant ones are given in the order of the Hebrew alphabet.
Aa, ai, not, negation, like la or ul.
Adi, and, up to, until, as far as, together with.
Adi mati (R. IV. 29. 54), how long. (Heb. >on ~ty.)
Agannu, (Behistun 12), aganna (Ass'l. 125. 63), here.
Akkai, akka, how, as, like. (D. L. IX.)
Ana, to, unto, against.
Ana libbi, within.
Ana mukhi, upon, literally on the head.
Ana mini, written ammini, why. (A. M. 63. 7. 10. 13. 16.
19. 22.)

PARTICLES. 23g>
Ana shu, written ashshu, in order to, because. (A. M, 18. 14.
22. 26). Arka, arki, after, afterwards, also arkanu. (A. M. 14. 6, 20. 4).
Balu, without, (A. M. 40. 18) in the sense of not having.
Birit, ina biri, or birti, between. (D. L. IX.)
Gadu, together with, also.
Hi, over, above, upon, at.
Ilish, above.
Illamu, before, in front of,
Ina, in, with, by, during, when.
Ina ili, at, over, above, upon, more than.
Ina kirib, or qirib, into, in the midst of.
Ina libbi, into, in the inside of.
Ina mahar, before, in front, in the presence of.
Ina muhhi, upon, over, above.
Ina pan, pani, before.
Ina tartsi, opposite, in the time of.
Ininna, now.
Inuma, at the time when.
Ishtu, like ultu, from, out of, etc.
Ki, as, like.
Kiam, thus.
Eillalan, round, around, about.
Kim a, like, similar to.
Kum, instead of.
La, not, negation, same as ul or aa.
Lapan, before, in front of.
Lu, verily, truly, adverb of affirmation.
Mahar, before, in front of.
Matima, ever. La matima, never.
Tana, panama, before.
Shaplish, below.
Timali, yesterday.
Ul, not, negation.
Ulla, of old, formerly.
Ultu, same as ishtu, from, after, from the time when.
Ultu kirib, or qirib, out of, outside, from out.
Umma, thus, introducing a quotation.

440 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Any noun or adjective, singular or plural, may form an ad
verb by adding ish; thus damqu, favor, damqish, favorably, gra
ciously. Those thus formed are generally adverbs of manner.
PEACE, GOD OF.
This is a frequent name of God in the epistles of Paul. See
Rom. 15:33 and 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:11 ; Phil. 4:9, and 1 Thess.
5 : 23, also Heb. 13 : 20.
In Assyria there was a god named Shalmanu, a name, it will
be seen, identical with our Solomon. It may seem as though we
should hardly expect to find a deity having such a name among
so warlike a people. Yet Shalmanu does not mean peaceful in
contrast with warlike, but rather perfect as opposed to imper
fect, complete in distinction from unfinished ; prosperous, suc
cessful, safe, unharmed. Four kings of Assyria bore the name
of Shalmaneser, and the aggregate of their reigns amounted
to 79 years. The name means Shalman guides, makes straight
or correct. See H. L. 57. 58. PETHOR.
Numb. 22 : 5 states that Balak " sent messengers to Balaam
the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the
children of his people," but Pethor has been so thoroughly lost
sight of by Biblical scholars that even the large American edi
tion of Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible" says "its position is
wholly unknown." The Assyrian monuments, however, enable
us to locate it very satisfactorily. Shalmanezer II. (in Assy
rian, Shalmanu asharidu, Shalman is leader) was the son of As
shurnatsirpal, and reigned B. C. 858-823. He set up a monolith
at Kurkh, on the upper Euphrates, to commemorate the vic
tories of the first four years of his reign. A copy of the inscrip
tion is given in R. III. 7 and 8, and it was translated first by
Prof. Sayce in R. of P. III. 81-100, and again by Rev. V. Scheil
in R. of P. new IV. 53-79. The 36th line reads, "The city of
Ana Asshur utir atsbat (to Asshur I restored, I have taken),
which the Hittites call Piitru (Pethor), which is upon the river
Sagura on the farther side of the Euphrates," and on modern
maps we find the river Sajoor flowing from near Aintab (where

PLASTER OF THE WALL. 24 1
the American Board has a large flourishing mission, where also
is the college of Central Turkey) down to the Euphrates. On
the banks of that river stood Pethor, the home of Balaam. It
is to be hoped that the pick of the explorer shall make us
acquainted with its ruins, and that they shall be found neither
barren nor unfruitful in contributions to our knowledge of those
ancient days. PITCH.
Gen. 6: 14. Thou shalt pitch (mas) it within and without
with pitch, isa.
Pitch here is asphaltum, or mineral pitch, which is found in
many parts of the world. The root "isd means to cover, hence
kopher means a village, as that which covers or shelters the in
habitants, and kopher also means pitch, as that wherewith any
thing is covered, as here the ark. The word is kuupru in the
Assyrian, and Shamash Napishti tells us (R. IV. 50. 2. 10, 11.
D. L. 103. 62, 63) :
III shari kuupri attabak ana kiiri,
III shari iddu uddua 1 ana libbi.
" Three shars of bitumen I poured upon the outside, three shars
of asphaltum I smeared upon the inside ;" statements which
record an explicit carrying out of the directions given to Noah
in Genesis, only the quantity is specified in the Assyrian and
not in the Hebrew, though the question may be raised whether
so large an amount was used.
PLASTER OF THE WALL.
Daniel records (5 : 5) that the fingers of a man's hand wrote
over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the
king's palace. It is strange that Mr. Layard makes no mention of
candelabra among the articles discovered by him in the old Assy
rian palaces. They must have had them to light up the dark
ness of those halls that even in the brightest days of summer
were so secluded from the light, and in the dark days of winter
were so much more in need of artificial illumination. The tall
lamp-stands of that region to-day point back to more costly ones
in ancient times of which they are the humble imitators, but, in
our ignorance of their peculiar form, may they not have been
16

242 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
really discovered, but their nature and use misunderstood, so that
they failed to be recognized ? On pp. 178 and 179 B. and N. he
gives copies of what he calls " tripods or stands for supporting
vessels and bowls." May they not in fact be stands for support
ing the bowls of magnificent lamps for the illumination of those
royal halls ? The writer, riding one day where the present road
is cut through the ancient walls of Nineveh, picked up a seg
ment of a circular piece of basalt which he has always regarded
as a piece of the base of a lamp-stand. But, however we may be
in doubt about the candlestick, there is no doubt about the plas
ter. Some very fine specimens of Grecian and Roman struc
tures may have been without any plaster on the inner walls,
but it was not so with the structures of Babylonia and Assyria.
Perrot andChipiez, in their magnificent work on the Art of those
countries (I. 271), say, "Explorers are unanimous in the opinion
that neither burnt nor sun-dried brick was ever left uncovered ;
it was always covered with a coat of stucco. At Nineveh this
was formed by a mixture of burnt chalk with plaster, which ad
hered very tightly to the clay wall ; its thickness was never
more than one or two millimetres, and yet it was so cohesive that
it afforded efficient protection. It has often been found upon the
walls of both courtyards and chambers, and on the under side of
vaulted ceilings," and in a note they refer to Dan. 5:5. W. K.
Loftus, in describing the ruin called Wuswas at Warka (Chaldea
and Susiana 176) says, "The whole front has been undoubtedly
coated with white plaster from two to four inches thick." This,
obviously refers to an outer wall, but on p. 1 80 he adds a descrip
tion of some chambers which he explored : " The largest meas
ured 57 feet by 30, and the smallest 9 by 30. A shaft was dug
in the former, and the rubbish cleared out of the latter to the
depth of twenty-three feet and a half. The walls were rudely
plastered, but showed no trace of color." Of course these were
interior walls, for they were uncovered by clearing out the
chamber. So minute is the testimony of the antiquities of Chaldea
and Assyria to the accuracy of the statements of Holy Scrip
ture.

POLYTHEISM. 243
POLYTHEISM.
It is difficult for a believer in the Bible to appreciate the
views and feelings of a polytheist. One Scripture incident, how
ever, helps us very much in this direction. Good King Heze
kiah had carried out the divine requirement that sacrifices
should be offered to God only in the place which He had chosen
for his worship (see Deut. 12). The Rabshakeh of Sennacherib
heard of it, and this is the way in which the obedience of the
king presented itself to his mind : " But if thou sayest to me,
' We trust in Jehovah our God,' is it not he whose high places and
whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and
to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar ?" Isa. 36 : 7. We
are amazed at this misunderstanding, and yet it was no inten
tional deception. The Rabshakeh honestly believed what he
said, and thought of course that the Jews understood the matter
just as he did, for to his mind each city had its own god, who
could be worshipped with acceptance nowhere else. Of course,
then, to prohibit his worship in that place was to interdict it
altogether. A follower of Zoroaster would understand the action
of Hezekiah just as it was, for he also believed in one God, but
every Babylonian would misunderstand it just as the Rabshakeh
did. This whole subject finds a good illustration in the case of
Nabonidus, king of Babylon. He undertook to substitute a
national for the local worship that had prevailed so long in
Babylonia, and to this end gathered together the gods of the
various cities in Babylon, the capital, but he thereby made ene
mies of the whole country. The other cities resented this rob
bery of their gods, and Babylon was angry because he had
brought in other gods to be rivals of their great Merodach, and
in this way he lost the crown ; for Cyrus came as the servant of
Merodach and the other gods, whom he restored each to his own
city, and so entered Babylon without a battle, and ascended the
throne with the universal approval of the people. According to
his own inscriptions, Cyrus was no Zoroastrian, but a worshipper
of the gods of Babylonia.

244 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
POOR IN SPIRIT.
Our Saviour said, " Blessed are the poor in spirit : for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 5 : 3. That was the key-note
of the beatitudes, and was followed by like benediction on the
meek, the merciful, and the peacemakers.
We do not find an echo of such sentiments in Assyrian mon
uments, but rather a marked contrast to such teaching, and the
direct opposite of such a spirit. Take for an example Asshurnat
sirpal, who begins his inscription with an invocation to Ninip,
whom he addresses as " the strong, the almighty . . . the powerful
warrior . . . whose onset in battle has no equal ; (1) the crusher of
opposition, (2) who treads down the broad earth," and so on,
and then introduces himself as " the powerful king, the mon
arch of all, the king without an equal " (9 and 10). " The warrior
hero who marched forward in the service of Asshur his lord,
and among the kings of all lands has no equal. The ruler
(shepherd) who fears no opposition . . . who subdues the rebellious,
who has overcome the race. The mighty hero who tramples on
the necks of his enemies, treading down all opposers, breaking
in pieces the forces of the mighty, who through the help of the
great gods his lords, has marched on and conquered all lands
and even the rough mountains to their remotest bounds " (12-16).
" Then Asshur the lord proclaimed my name, and enlarged my
kingdom, he committed his weapon that spares not to the hand
of my lordship (even to me), . . the mighty monster (usumgal, vam
pire) . . . the consumer of the violent, who is crowned with terror,
who fears no opposition, the valiant one, the supreme judge that
spares not, but conquers resistance " (17-20). And after a repeti
tion of similar phrases, among them, " who has fixed the bodies
of his enemies on sharp stakes " (29), he breaks out, " I am king,
I am lord, I am exalted, I am strong, I am glorious, I am power
ful, I am the firstborn, I am mighty, I am the warrior, I am the
lion, I am the hero ... a weapon that spares not, which brings
slaughter to the land of his enemies, am I " (32-34), with more
of the same tenor which it were too tedious to quote.
If any wish to read more they will find the original in R. I.
17 seq., and a good translation in R. of P. new II. 134 seq.

PORCH. 245
PORCH.
2 Chron. 3 : 4. And the porch that was before the house,
the length of it according to the breadth of the house was twenty
cubits and the height one hundred and twenty, and he overlaid
it within with pure gold.
This verse has been a trouble to the commentators, many of
whom have had recourse to that last resort of perplexity, the
suggestion of an error in the reading ; but we may find such help
in the monuments as relieves us from the need of that violent
method of relief.
The earliest known inhabitants of Babylonia were the Ac-
cadians (compare Accad, Gen. 10: 10), whose original home was
among the high mountains of southwestern Persia, east of the
lower Tigris. In that elevated region their temples occupied
the high places, which they deemed to be nearest the gods.
Lev. 26:30; Num. 22:41 and 33:52; 1 Kings 3:2 and 13:2.
So when they migrated to the low plains of Chaldea they built
their temples on artificial mounds elevated above the surround
ing plain. Still even this did not satisfy them. Besides this, they
made a ziggurat, or tower, seven or eight stories high, and gen
erally solid.
In 1 Kings 12 : 31 and 13 : 32, also 2 Kings 17 : 29, we read of
" houses of the high places." These Babylonian temples were
literally such. Indeed their Accadian name was E kur, house
of the mountain, which in Assyrian became Bit shadu. Does
not this name illustrate Isa. 2 : 1 and 3, repeated in Micah 4 : 1
and 2 ? " And it shall come to pass in the latter days that the
mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of
the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all na
tions shall flow unto it, and many people shall go and say, Come
ye, and let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of
the God of Jacob."
The temple at Jerusalem was built on the top of Mt. Moriah,
which had been enlarged by substructures to accommodate con
veniently its buildings and its courts. This was 2,438 feet above-
the Mediterranean, and though the northern part of Zion was
higher (2,540 feet), and some parts along the present northern

246

ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.

m^m^^.

CHALDEAN TEMPLE.

POTIPHAR, WIFE OF. 247
city wall even higher still (2,680 feet), still the site of the tem
ple showed to the best advantage in contrast with the deep val
ley of Jehoshaphat directly beneath.
Are not the 120 cubits (180 feet) of 2 Chron. 3:4 like
the ziggurat of the Babylonian temple ? only the Jews utilized
the space by having halls within, that could be overlaid with
gold. Mr. Layard gives the present height of the ruined zig
gurat at Nimrood as 140 feet, and supposes it was originally 200
feet, which is only twenty feet higher than the porch of the
temple. The grandest of Babylonian temples, that of Bil Mar
duk at Babylon, had a ziggurat 300 feet in height.
The following are its dimensions as given in a Babylonian
text translated by G. Smith in H. L. 439 :
The first stage was 300 feet square and 1 10 in height. The
second 260 feet square and 60 in height. The third, fourth and
fifth were each 20 feet high. In lateral dimensions the third was
200, the fourth 170, and the fifth 140 feet square. The dimen
sions of the sixth stage are not given, probably it was 1 10 feet
square and 20 feet in height, and upon this rested the sanctu
ary of Merodach, 80 feet in length, 70 feet broad, and 50 feet
high. Does not this ziggurat of the Babylonian temple furnish the
original not only of the porch of the temple at Jerusalem, but
also of the towers and spires of our own churches ? It has set the
fashion for all the centuries. Only Greece and Rome did not
follow it in their classic constructions, and the spirit that has
forbidden so-called dissenting churches in Great Britain to be
marked by tower or spire has forbidden the distinctive mark of
a building set apart for worship. If any would appreciate the
grandeur of these structures as they appeared in ancient days,
let them turn to the artistic pages of P. and C. I. 370. 374. 378
and 380, one of which is here given, and then picture the lofty
sanctuary glowing with the sheen of polished gold under the
brightness of a Babylonian sun.
POTIPHAR, WIFE OF.
It is not necessary to go over the story in Genesis 39. It
finds an illustration in the Egyptian tale of the two brothers,

248 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
written in B. C. 1300. Anepu sends his younger brother Bata
from the field to the house for corn, who finds his sister-in-law
braiding her hair and asks for the corn. When he is ready to
return to the field the tale says that her heart knew him . . .
(some details are here omitted). She laid hold of him and
said " Come and enjoy an hour's rest with me." He replies,
" Thou hast been to me like a mother ; why hast thou proposed
this great sin ? Never repeat such words again and I will never
betray thee." So he returned to his brother and finished their
day's work. Meanwhile the woman took means to give her
person the appearance of one who had suffered violence. Her
husband found her lying prostrate ; she gave him no water for
his hands, and the house was dark, for she had not lit the lamp.
When he spoke to her she accused his brother of having
tempted her to evil, and when she refused him, of having re
sorted to force, adding, "If you let him live I will kill myself."
Anepu then took a knife and went out to seek his brother. The
cows, however, warned Bata of his danger, and the sun god
placed a river full of crocodiles between the brothers. Then
when Anepu at length learned the truth in the case he hurried
back and put his wife to death.
One cannot help contrasting the reticence of the sacred
narrative as to vile details with the freeness of the other. Then
how different the childish miracles of the tale from the love
that went with Joseph into prison and devised that wonderful
deliverance from a dungeon and exaltation to a palace. The tale
also ends with its infliction of a human vengeance, while Scrip
ture quietly leaves the wrong-doer to be dealt with by the Lord.
POTTER'S VESSEL.
- Psa. 2 : 9. Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessel. Compare Isa. 45:9 and 30:14; also Jer. 19:11; and
Rev. 2 : 27.
This very impressive figure is repeated in the inscription
on the cylinder of Sargon, line 9, discovered by Mons. Botta at
Khorsabad. It reads, matati kulishina kima khatsbati udaqqi-
quma. I dashed in pieces all their lands like potsherds.

PRAYER. 249
PRAYER.
If we could find an Assyrian prayer offered to one of their
gods in circumstances similar to those in which a prayer was
offered that is recorded in Holy Scripture, a comparison of the
two might be very profitable.
The Rabshakeh (general) of Sennacherib had written to
Hezekiah, " Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive
thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of
the king of Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of
Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly : and
shalt thou be delivered ? Have the gods of the nations deliv
ered them which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran
and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar ?
Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the
king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena> and Ivah ?" And Heze
kiah received the letter . . . and went up into the house of the Lord
and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed before the
Lord and said : " 0 Lord, the God of Israel, that sittest upon the
cherubim, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms
of the earth ; thou hast made heaven and earth. Incline thine
ear, O Lord, and hear ; open thine eyes, and see ; and hear the
words of Sennacherib, wherewith he hath sent him to reproach
the living God. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have
laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods
into the fire ; for they were no gods, but the work of men's
hands, wood and stone ; therefore they have destroyed them.
Now, therefore, O Lord our God, save thou us, I beseech thee,
out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know
that thou art the Lord God,, even thou only." 2 Kings 19 : 10-
19. This is a beautiful example of worshipping God in spirit
and in truth (John 4 : 24) for even before the coming of Christ
the Spirit helped the infirmity of good men in prayer. There is
in this prayer no trace of either fear or revenge. It contains no
request for injury to the Rabshakeh or his master. It does not
even ask for personal blessing to be bestowed on Hezekiah.
Self is lost sight of, and the interests of the kingdom of God fill
the whole range of thought. If only God's name may be hal-

25b ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
lowed, his kingdom come, and his will be done on earth as
in heaven, the good king asks for nothing more. So thor
oughly does the spirit of the Lord's Prayer pervade this suppli
cation. Alongside of this intercession of the good Hezekiah let
Asshurbanipal, the grandson of Sennacherib, describe one of
his prayers, which he offered to Ishtar of Arbela, the Assyrian
goddess of war. See Ass'l. 117. col. 5, translated in H. L. 275
and 276 :
" When Teumman strengthened himself in Elam, I looked
to Ishtar, who looks on me. I obeyed not the order of his rebel
lious mouth. I surrendered not the fugitives. Teumman de
vised evil, and the moon god devised evil for him. In the
month Tammuz an eclipse during the morning watch obscured
the lord of light, and the sun was darkened, and as he rested, so
did I rest for three days, that the years of the king of Elam
might be ended. In the month Ab (July, August), the month of
the appearance of the star of the bow, the festival of the glorious
queen, the daughter of Bil, to worship her, the great goddess, I
remained in Arbela, the chosen city of her heart. Of the inva
sion of the Elamite, who marched impiously, they informed me
as follows. ' Teumman says . . . that he will not depart till he has
fought with Asshurbanipal.' Because of this threat of Teumman
I prayed to the exalted Ishtar, I wept before her, I bowed be
neath her, I did honor to her deity, and she came to me with
favor. " O lady of Arbela, I am Asshurbanipal, the creation of
thy hands (and the creation of Asshur), the father who created
thee, that I might restore the shrines of Assyria and complete
the strongholds of Akkad. I seek thy courts to worship thy
deity, and he, the king of Elam, who regards not the gods, comes
to make war. Thou art the lady of ladies, the terror of battle,
the lady of war, the queen of the gods, who in the presence of
Asshur thy father dost utter blessings. As for Teumman, who
has rebelled against Asshur the king of the gods, the father that
created thee, and against Merodach thy brother, and against
me, Asshurbanipal, who is to give rest to ,the heart of Asshur
and (Merodach), he has gathered his army and urges his soldiers

PRESENTS. 251
to march to Assyria ; do thou, who art the archer of the gods,
strike him down like lead (a weight) in the battle, and smite
him like a tornado."
In reading this prayer we are conscious of breathing another
air. It is no longer one who loses sight of his own interest in
the greater interest of the kingdom of God, but one who magni
fies himself to the utmost, and instead of seeking what is for the
highest good of all, bends his whole power to secure personal
revenge in the destruction of his rival. He whines and weeps,
reminds Ishtar of his good deeds and devotion to the gods her
relations. He flatters the goddess, he magnifies the evil in his
adversary, and concludes by invoking on him a summary and
terrible vengeance. By their fruits we know them. Can a man
gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ? If we want good
fruit we must first of all make the tree good. Only so, according
to the highest authority, shall we succeed. Matt. 7 : 17, 18,
and 12 : 33. PRESENTS.
1 Kings 4:21. They brought presents and served Solomon
all the days of his life. Compare 1 Kings 15 : 19, 2 Kings 8 : 8,
16 : 8, and 17 : 3, 4. also Psa. 68 : 29.
We should expect to find these Scriptures abundantly illus
trated in the monuments; and we are not disappointed. R. V.
7. 90, A. M. 27. 23 and Ass '1. 257. 104 record that Vaiteh, king
of Arabia, iklaa tamarti mandaatashu kabittn : ceased or stopped
his presents and his abundant tribute ; a kind of statement
which is very common, and illustrating 1 Sam. 10:27: "They
despised him (Saul), and brought him no presents."
Gyges, king of Lydia, also saw a vision in which the god
Asshur advised him to submit to Asshurbanipal and so over
come his enemies. Accordingly, itti tamartishu kabitti ushibi-
la adi makhriya : he sent (a messenger) with his great gifts to
my presence. R. V. 2. no, and A. M. 22. 24, Ass'l. 66. 22, 23.
Nudnnni takes the place of tamarti in R. V. 2. 78, A. M. 21. 23,
and Ass'l. 60. 102 with the same meaning. R. V. 2. 86, A. M.
22. 1 and Ass'l. 63. 123 read, itti tamartishunu kabitti illiku
nimma unaashshiqu shipiya : came with their great presents and
kissed my feet. And so in many other places.

2jJ ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
2 Chron. 9 : 24. And they brought every man his present
(minkhatho, inm»), vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and
raiment, armor and spices, horses and mules, a rate year by
year. This was what the kings of the earth brought to Sol
omon. The idea of bringing presents year by year of a specified
character and value was so identical in Assyria with tribute that
the same word is used for both. So Sennacherib, king of As
syria, B. C. 707-682, says of Tuba'alu : In the throne of the king
dom I seated him ; tribute, the gift of my lordship, every year
unceasingly I appointed to him. R. I. 38. 44-46.
As a specimen of such gifts we have those of Hezekiah,
R. I. 39. 34-41 : " With 30 talents of gold, 800 talents of silver,
precious gukhli, daggassi, large angugmi stones, ivory bed
steads, stationary thrones of ivory, elephant hides, ivory, usu
and urkarini wood, everything very precious, whatever its name ;
also his daughters', the females of his palace, male and female
musicians, into Nineveh, the city of my lordship, after me' he
sent (caused to bring) ; for the giving of a present and the
rendering of homage he sent his ambassador."
The reader will notice that while Sennacherib claims to
have received 800 talents, 2 Kings 18: 14 says only 300. There
are two explanations of this. One, that all the silver found in
the house of the Lord and in the king's treasury was added to
this (v. 15), and the other that there were two standards of value,
and 300 talents of the one equalled 800 of the other.
In view of both these explanations, we need not be much
disturbed by the discrepancy. PRICES.
2 Kings 7:16. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a
shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to
the word of the Lord. See v. 1.
Nothing brings us more en rapport with the every-day life
of a people than a knowledge of the price of daily commodities,
and this is furnished to us by the Assyrian monuments. We
know the market prices of grain and other things in the days of
Nebuchadrezzar, Nabonidus, Darius, and Cambyses. Thus, e. g.,

PRICES. 253
200 sheep sold for 15 manehs of silver (£135 sterling) in the days
of Darius, 18 under Nabonidus for 35 shekels, or nearly 6 shil
lings each, and 8 fine ones for 58 shekels (£8. 14s.) in the reign
of Cambyses. This, however, included a bakshish to their Arab
shepherd. One ox cost 13 shekels (£2) under Darius and 10
shekels (£1. 10s.) under Cambyses.
In the same reign " a mouse-colored ass, seven years old "
was sold for 50 shekels {£7 10s.), though a less valuable one went
for 13 shekels (£2, nearly). At that time two artabs (100 qts.)
of grain cost 6 1-2 shekels, about 2 1-3 d. per quart. So that a
poor Babylonian might find himself for 3 d. a day. Under Neb-
uchadrezzer a quart of sesame cost a little over a penny, and under
Nabonidus a little less than 1 1-2 d. In the seventh year of
Nebuchadrezzar dates cost 1-2 d. a quart, and in his 38th year
1-25 d. for the same quantity.
Wages were very cheap : a granary porter received only 1-2
shekel per month ; but he must have had his food besides. A
seal cutter received one maneh, 7 shekels, (£10), showing that
skilled labor, then as now, commanded a high price.
A large house and field brought 4 1-2 manehs (£40 10s).
Under Cambyses one house rented for 16 shekels per annum,
and another for only 5. See Social Life, etc., chap. V.
But while grain and fruit were so cheap the regular rate of
interest was 20 per cent. ; so while the farmer got a low price
for his produce the rich man could live luxuriously on the in
come of his money. The same influences controlled prices then
as now. Social Life, etc., p. 67.
Speaking of prices, we have the following resemblance be
tween Ahab and Sargon :
1 Kings 21:2. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give
me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, be
cause it is near unto my house : and I will give thee for it a bet
ter vineyard than it ; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee
the worth of it in money.
Sargon, the builder of Khorsabad, in giving an account of
his arrangements for its construction, says (S. 8. 50-52) :
"According to the meaning of my name, which the great
gods gave to me for the guarding of right and justice, the pro-

254 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
tection of the defenceless, and doing no wrong to the weak, I
paid to their owners the price of the fields of that city in silver
and copper according to the recorded valuation of the deeds ; and
in order to prevent all injustice, when one did not wish to take
the price of his field, I gave him field for field in any place
which he preferred." PRIESTHOOD.
The time has not yet come for a full setting forth of the
relations of the religion of Babylonia to that of Judea, since the
materials for the comparison are not yet provided ; but a be
ginning may be made, noting facts as they come to light, and
so paving the way for the more complete investigations that
are sure to follow. These brief notes on the Priesthood and
Rites (see " Rites ") of the two countries are offered as a slight
contribution towards an intelligent apprehension of the subject,
in the hope that others may go further and shed greater light
on a matter so full of interest.
No class has yet been found corresponding to the Levites
among the Jews. It is not known that any family was set apart
for religious service as they were, though the priesthood may
have descended regularly from father to son.
The Hebrew jna, cohen, is represented by the Babylonian
shangu, priest (shanguti, priesthood). The term denotes one
devoted or bound to a god or to his sanctuary ; and it is signifi
cant in this connection that shangu also means a chain. R. II.
375. Kings gloried in calling themselves the shangu of this or
that god. Asshurnatsirpal styles himself the shangu of Asshur ;
the son of Tiglath Adar, the shangu of Asshur ; the, son of Rim
mon Nirari, the shangu of Asshur, R. III. 3. 39.
Over the Jewish priesthood was the high-priest, ^-on jron
and here we are plunged at once into deep waters. Seldom
do we find such a decided contradiction as in the rendering of
shakkanakku and kindred terms by different Assyriologists. See
"Melchizedek." Prof. Delitzsch in D. L. 27 interprets it macht-
haber, potentate. Prof. D. G. Lyon, S. 79. note 2, explains it
as composed of shangu, high, and kunaku, door, i. e., " he who
is over the city gate, or over the going out and coming in, im-

PRIESTHOOD.

SARGON BEFORE THE SACRED TREE. (IN THE LOUVRE.)

plying supreme control of the city." Compare the Sublime
Porte of to-day.

256 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
On the other hand, G. Smith renders it priest, Senn. 5. 69,
and 60. 1, and Prof. Sayce says high-priest, H. L. 109, note ; and
adds, " Sometimes he was identical with the king, and again he
was distinguished from him ; and the shakkanakku of Babylon
was a special title. Thus Esarhaddon calls himself shakkanakku
of Babylon, but king of Shumir and Accad. Like shangu, the
term denoted servitude to the god."
Another ideogram, nuab, is read nisakku, and is synonymous
with patesi. See " Melchizedek." Prof. Sayce renders it supreme
high-priest, H. L. 59, and adds, " In the far off pre-Semitic age
there were kings of Telloh as well as high-priests of Telloh, and
the kings did not take the title of high-priest nor the high-priests
the title of king. The records of Assyria go back to a period when
as yet there were no kings, but only high-priests of Asshur (R.
I. 15. 62 and 63) : and on a weight of green basalt brought from
Babylonia by Dr. W. Hayes Ward we read, 'The palace of
Nebo shum esir, the son of Dakur, the high-priest of Merodach.'
A distinction is drawn between the king and high-priest in
R. IV. 12. 36, 37. The old rendering of patesi by viceroy rested
on a mistake ; the word always has reference to the worship of
a god." H. L. 59 and 60.
The fact that Melchizedek was both king of Salem and
priest of El Elyon (Gen. 14:18; Heb. 7: 1) may furnish the
key to the reconciliation of these conflicting opinions.
In Assyria the temple and the palace were parts of the
same structure. At Khorsabad Sargon is represented on the
palace walls as worshipping before the sacred tree. P. and C.
II. 98. Asshurbanipal also offers a libation over a wild bull
which he had slain. Do. 40 and 104. See " Melchizedek."
PRONOUNS.
These resemble pronouns in other Semitic languages, and
are as follows :
PERSONAL.
Singular. Plural. As object. Plural.
1 Anaku anini yatu, yati, yashi, aashi
2m. Atta attunu katu, kati, kasha kashunu
f. Atti attina kati or kashi
3m. Shu shunu shashu shashunu
f. Shi shina shashi

PSALMS.

With nouns.
SUFFIX.
With verbs.
Singular.
Plural.
Singular.
Plural.
-i-ya-a
-ni
-ni
-nashi
-ka
-kun(u)
¦ka
-kunushi
¦ki
-kina
-ki
-shu-sh
-shun(u)
-shu-sh
-shunuti
¦sha-sh
-shin(a)
DEMONSTRATIVE
-shi-sh
-shinati
This, Annu
i, pi. Annuti, f. Anniti.
That, Ullu,
Ulluti.
Sing.
pi.
Sig.
pi.
m. Shuatu.
, Shuati,
Shuatunu,
f. Shiati.
Shuatina,
257
The first u in these is sometimes omitted.
The relative pronoun for all persons, genders and numbers is sha.
Interrogative, mannu, who ; minu, what ; mannan, whoever.
Reflexive, ramanu, one's self. See A. M. 29-32 and D. L. 9.
PSALMS.
Every one is familiar with the Psalms of David. There is
no need to quote from their sacred pages. There were also
psalms in Assyria and Babylonia. As good a specimen as has
yet been discovered is a psalm to Sin, the moon god, in Ur, that
must often have been heard by Abraham as it rang out from the
lofty sanctuary on the still night air among the palm-trees. In
the Orient to-day, when the city is hushed in silence, whether at
noon or night, the voice of the muezzin call to prayer from the
minaret sounds impressive in the stillness. Mohammed may
never have heard of Urukh and his great temple in Ur, but the
chant of the priests of Sin arose in the calmness of the night
when silence brooded over land and sea, when the cries of the
sailors were hushed along the shore and not even a bird-note
broke the stillness. Thus this psalm to Sin may have formed
the historic basis for the Moslem call to prayer that has usurped
its place. The times of Mohammed seem far off to us as we
look back through the vista of more than 1,200 years, but they
are modern compared with this antiquity of more than 3,000'
years beyond. It is as follows (R. IV. 9, and H. L. 160, 162) :
1. O Lord, ruler of the gods, who in heaven and earth alone is great,
2. Father, illuminator, lord of the firmament, the exalted among the gods.
3. Father, illuminator, lord of heaven, the exalted among the gods.
Assyrian Echoes. I j
258 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
4. Father, illuminator, lord of the moon, the exalted among the gods.
5. Father, illuminator, lord of Ur, the exalted among the gods.
6. Father, illuminator, lord of the temple of the great Shamash, the exalted
among the gods.
7. Father, illuminator, The lord who maketh the crown (moon) to rise, the
exalted among the gods.
8. Father, illuminator, who maketh the crown complete (full moon), the exalted
among the gods.
9. Father, illuminator, who strideth along with great slaughter, the exalted
among the gods.
12. Merciful one, father of the universe, who among living creatures makes
his illustrious home.
13. Father, compassionate and full of forgiveness, whose hand upholdeth the
life of all lands.
14. Lord, thy deity like the far-off heavens fills the wide sea with fear.
15. Placing temples on the earth he proclaims their names.
16. Father, producer of gods and men, causing the dwelling to be inhabited,.
establishing the sacrificial offerings.
17. Who proclaimeth dominion, who bestows the sceptre, who fixes destiny
even to days remote.
18. First born, mighty, whose heart is vastness, and no one can know it.
19. Whose limbs are firm, his knees rest not, he opens the paths of the gods
his brethren. 20. He is the- god who maketh it light from the horizon to the zenith, and
opens the doors of heaven.
21 . Father, creator of the universe, illuminator of human beings. . . .sending. . .. ?
22. Lord, who ordaineth the decrees of heaven and earth, whose command
may not be broken.
23. Thou holdest the rain and the lightning for all living creatures, no god
hath discovered thy fulness.
24. In heaven who is supreme. Thou alone, thou art supreme.
25. On earth who is supreme. Thou alone, thou art supreme.
26. As for thee, thy will is made known in heaven, and the angels bow their faces.
27. As for thee, thy word is made known on earth and the Annunaki (spirits
of earth) kiss the ground.
28. As for thee, when thy word is on high like the wind, with skill food and
drink are renewed.
29. As for thee, when thy word is given on the earth the grass is created.
30. As for thee, when thy word is perceived in the cattle-pen and sheepfold it
increaseth living creatures.
31. As for thee, thy word hath created law and justice ; to men it uttered laws.
32. As for thee, thy word is the remote heaven and hidden earth which no one
knoweth. 33. As for thee, thy word, who has learned it ? who can contend with it ?
34. O lord, in heaven is thy lordship, on earth thy supremacy. Among thy
brother gods rival thou hast not.
35. King of kings, of whose ... no man is judge, whose deity no god re-
sembleth.

PSALMS. 259
The colophon at the close reads thus : " Like its ancient
copy copied and published. Tablet of Ishtar shum eshesh, chief
scribe of Asshurbanipal, king of all, king of Assyria, and son of
Nabu zir eser, chief of the penmen."
In this psalm is a strange mingling of good and evil, just
such as we would look for from a people who had not yet for
gotten Noah, and through him retained still some memories of
the revelations made in Eden, but who yet had gone so far in
idolatry as to show the trail of the serpent in their holiest
things. How else can we account for the degradation manifest
in such an address to a god as we have had to omit in lines 10
and 11?
On the other hand, the name of father is given to the god
worshipped in this psalm no less than twelve times. See lines
2-9, 12, 13, 16 and 21. No one can read that beautiful recog
nition of a father's love in line 13 and then say that name was
never applied to a god until Christ taught us to say "Our
Father." We can explain the occurrence of the name here
only by the memories of that Father who planted a garden
eastward in Eden for his children, and afterwards clothed them
with skins (Gen. 3:21); nor that only, but came down to walk
with his children in the cool of the day (3 : 8). Even after
man had fallen, one who had returned to his father was per
mitted to walk with him (5 : 24) as a loving child walks with his
father. Another fact which almost startles us is that in this psalm
we find the same term applied to God which the Evangelist
gives to Christ before his incarnation (John 1 : 1 and 14). As
Prof. Sayce has rendered the term " will," in his translation
(H. L. 161. 25 — 162. 32), it will be needful to justify my render
ing. The Assyrian term is "Amatu," and Prof. Delitzsch in his
Lesestucke renders it " Wort, befehl, sache, angelegenheit," but
does not even mention the name of "will." Prof. Lyon in his
Manual renders it precisely in the same way : " Word, command,
affair, thing," and here too " will " is not mentioned as one of the
meanings ; and so I feel authorized to call attention to this won
derful corroboration of the use of the term " word," as applied to
a divine being no less than eight times in lines 26-33. Some

260 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
lines, e. g., 24 and 25, seem to favor monotheism ; but it is to be
feared that the writer only seeks to exalt Sin above his " brother
gods " in the pantheon, for the same language is used by the
worshippers of other Chaldean gods in behalf of their favorites.
In lines 11, 13, 22-25, 29~3I> are expressions worthy to be used of
the true God. Others, as from 2 to 9, are polytheistic. The
first clause in 34 and 35 savors of monotheism, and the second
clause of polytheism.
As sure as a living man is better than a material sun, the
tendency of such idolatry is toward the spirit that led Nebuchad
rezzar to ask, Dan. 4 : 30, " Is not this great Babylon which I
have built for the royal dwelling-place, by the might of my
power, and for the glory of my majesty ?" But the worship of
the true God prompts David to give expression to the opposite
feelings as recorded in 1 Chron. 20: 10-16, and Solomon to say
in like manner, 2 Chron. 6: 18, "Will God in very deed dwell
with men on the earth ? Behold heaven and the heaven of hea
vens cannot contain thee ; how much less this house which I have
builded !" PSALMS, PENITENTIAL.
After the incantation came the litany, and subsequent to
that the penitential psalm. To this last the litany was frequently
joined so as to form a part of it. Zimmern has published a col
lection of them, Babylonische Busspsalmen ; also Prof. Haupt,
Akkadische und Sumerische Keilschrifttexte. See also H. L. 521-
53i- The following, taken from H. L. 349-52, is the best speci
men I have been able to find :
The heart of my lord is wroth ; may it be appeased.
May the god whom I know not* be appeased.
May the goddess whom I know not be appeased.
May the god I know, and (the god) I know not be appeased.
May the goddess I know, and (the goddess) I know not be appeased.
May the heart of my god be appeased.
May the heart of my goddess be appeased.
May the god and the goddess whom I know and know not be appeased.
May the god who has been violent against me be appeased.
* " I know " or " know not," in this case and ;n those that follow, means
"whose name I know" or "know not.''

PSALMS, PENITENTIAL. 26 1
May the goddess who has been violent against me be appeased.
The sin that I committed I knew not.
A name of blessing may my God pronounce upon me.
A name of blessing may the god whom I know and know not record for me.
Pure food I have not eaten ; clear water I have not drank.
The cursed thing of my god unknowingly I did eat.
The cursed thing of my goddess unknowingly I did trample on.
0 lord, my sins are many, my transgressions are great.
O my god, my sins are many, my transgressions are great.
O my goddess, my sins are many, my transgressions are great.
O god whom I know and whom I know not, my sins are many, my transgressions
are great.
O goddess whom I know and whom I know not, my sins are many, my transgres
sions are great.
The sin that I sinned I knew not.
The transgression I committed I knew not.
The cursed thing that I ate I knew not.
The cursed thing that I trampled on I knew not.
The lord has regarded me in the wrath of his heart.
God has revealed himself to me in the fierceness of his heart.
The goddess has been violent against me, and has put me to grief.
The god whom I know and whom I know not has distressed me.
The goddess whom I know and whom I know not has inflicted trouble (upon me).
I sought for help, and none took my hand.
I wept, and none stood at my side.
I cried aloud, and there was none to hear me.
I am in trouble and darkness ; I dare not look up.
To my god, the merciful one, I turn ; I utter my prayer.
The feet of my goddess I kiss and water with tears.
To the god whom I know and whom I know not I utter my prayer.
O lord, look upon me ; receive my prayer.
O goddess, look upon me, accept my prayer.
O god, whom I know and whom I know not, accept my prayer.
O goddess, whom I know and whom I know not, accept my prayer.
How long, O god, shall I suffer ?
How long, O goddess, shall thy face be averted from me ?
How long, O god, whom I know and know not, shall the fierceness of thy heart
continue ?
How long, O goddess whom I know and whom I know not, shall thy hostile
heart be unappeased ?
Mankind is made to err, and there is none that knoweth.
Mankind, as many as pronounce a name, what do they know ?
Whether he shall have good or ill, there is none that knoweth.
O lord, destroy not thy servant.
When cast into the water of the sea, take his hand.
The sins I have sinned turn to a blessing.
The transgressions I have committed may the wind carry away.
Strip off my manifold wickednesses like a garment.

262 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
O my god, seven times seven are my transgressions ; forgive my sins.
O my goddess, seven times seven are my transgressions ; forgive my sins.
O god, whom I know and whom I know not, seven times seven are my trans
gressions ; forgive my sins.
O goddess, whom I know and whom I know not, seven times seven are my trans
gressions ; forgive my sins.
Forgive my sins ; may thy ban be removed.
May thy heart be appeased as the heart of a mother who has borne children.
As a mother who has borne children, as a father who has begotten them, may it
be appeased.
Colophon : Psalm of 65 lines, a tablet for every god. Its
repetition ensures my peace.
Thus far Accadian ; then in Assyrian : Like its original,
copied and published: palace of Asshurbanipal, king of all,
king of Assyria.
This psalm was surely written out of the depths. The
reader will observe that no one god of the pantheon is men
tioned, but simply god. (See " Monotheism.") Even that fre
quent mention of the " god whom I know and the god whom I
do not know " seems forced from him by the stress of his trouble.
So one has no heart to dwell on its repetitions. But if the reader
desires to measure the extent of our obligations to Holy Scrip
ture, let him compare Psalm 5 1 with this product of Assyria.
PUL.
The name of Pul, king of Assyria, occurs in 2 Kings 15 : 19,
and has occasioned no little perplexity, for it was not found in
the Assyrian lists. The Eponym canon from B. C. 900 to 666
did not contain it. Some thought the name might be a varia
tion of Yul lush, and when that theory was not found tenable
others thought that he might be a king who, though he made
some conquests in Syria, never succeeded in securing the throne
at Nineveh. Now, however, conjectures are made unnecessary by the
discovery of the name in the second dynastic tablet from Baby
lon, col. 4, line 8. See R. of P. new I. 18, where it occurs as
Pulu, with the usual Assyrian ending. Prof. Sayce, in a list of
the kings of Assyria (R. of P. new II. 205-207), identifies him
with Tiglath Pileser III., who reigned B. C. 745-727, and so en
dorses the conclusions which others, among them E. Schrader,

PUL.

263

had already reached in another way ; for, proceeding on the basis
that in ancient times many had two names, e.g., Gideon and Jerub-
haal, Asshurbanipal and Sardanapalus and possibly Asnapper,
Ezra 4: 10, they found that Tiglath Pileser reigned at the time
referred to in 2 Kings 15 : 19 ; he styled himself king of Chaldea.
Pul was king of Babylon B. C. 731, but in that year Tiglath Pi-

264 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
leser subdued Merodach Baladan, and Chinzer of Amukkan and
styled himself king of Babylon (K. A. 7. 238, 239). Then the
canon of Ptolemy gives Chinzirus and Porus (another form of
Pul) as kings of Babylon from B. C. 731 to 726; but Tiglath Pi
leser conquered Chinzirus about B. C. 731, and succeeded to the
throne of Babylon, and Babylonian records give Chinzirus as
king in 731, and Tugulti pal e sharra in 729, so that perplexity
about Pul, king of Assyria, is now happily at an end, through
the testimony of the monuments agreeing as they do with these
other authorities.
A bas-relief of this monarch is given on p. 263. It also gives
a good idea of an Assyrian chariot. QUEENS.
1 Kings 10 : 1. When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame
of Solomon, etc. In Esther 1 : 9 we read, Vashti the queen made
a feast for the women in the royal house, etc. Dan. 5 : 10. Now
the queen came into the banquet-house, etc. Acts 8 : 27. A eunuch
of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. Psa.
45 : 9. At thy right hand doth stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
These and other passages lead us to suppose that queens
existed quite generally in ancient times ; and if the monuments
should make no mention of them we might question the ac
curacy of the Holy Scriptures. How is it ?
The Assyrian monuments show the prominence given to
queens on earth when they place the queen of Kidmuri among
the gods, and queen Allat, or Ninkigal, as she is sometimes
called, on the throne of Hades. Smith's list of Babylonian
kings, prefixed to his History of Babylonia, mentions Bilat
Sunat as queen of Erech, and still later Ellat Gulu, queen of Agane
who was conquered by Khammuragas, king of Babylon, who
reigned 2290-2235 B. C. Asshurbanipal also makes mention
of Adiya, queen of Arabia, in giving an account of his wars
with her husband, and we must not forget that Sheba was in
Arabia, and Ethiopia not far off. We have a fuller record of
queens in the Egyptian monuments, and Egypt was near both to
Arabia and Ethiopia.
Look first at a list of queens who reigned conjointly with

QUEENS. 265
their husbands. The monuments give the names of Iihmun
neferhet Mentu hetep I. of the Xlth dynasty and Aah hetep of
the XVIIth, and of the XVIIIth, Nefertari Aahmes, Aahmes
Meri Amen, Hashepsu Maka Ea, Mutemua, Teie, Nefri Thi, Meri
Aten, Ankhnes Amen, and Thi. In the XlXth, Tua, Tauser.
Then of queens who reigned alone the monuments mention
Nitaker (Nitocris) of the Vlth dynasty, Aah of the Xlth, Sebek
Nefru Ra of the Xllth, who reigned nearly four years. Manetho,
according to Julius Africanus, mentions another in this dynasty,
Skemiofris. In the XVIIIth the mother of Amenophis I. was
for a while regent, and Khnum Amen Hashepsu Maku Ra reigned
sixteen years. R. of P. new VI. 132-152.
The reader may wonder why no notice is taken of the re
nowned queen Semiramis, well known to every reader of Rol-
lin's Ancient History. The reason is given by Prof. Sayce,
who tells us that the Persian Annals translated for Ktesias
consisted, like those of Firdusi, for the most part of legends and
myths. So that we have in them not history but mythology,
in which Queen Semiramis played the part of the goddess
Ishtar, Ninos represented the city of Nineveh, and Ninyas was
the sun god. Indeed Zames — a name sometimes given to this
last — was only a mispronunciation of Shamash (see Anc. Em. of
East, 99. and H. L. 271).
In order to get a correct idea of the position of woman in
the far-off past we must give all the facts the most careful con
sideration. Queen on the throne. Neh. 2 : 6. The king said unto me, the
queen also sitting by him. Comp. Rev. 18:7 and Isa. 47:1.
This idea of a special throne for the queen is beautifully illus
trated in the bas-relief of Asshurbanipal and his queen banquet
ing under a large vine laden with ripe clusters. See under
" Feast," also P. and C. I. 107. 108.
Queen of heaven. Man craves the sympathy of a being
higher than himself. The incarnation of the Word (John 1:1,
14) fully meets this want. But where that is unknown man de
vises for himself a queen of heaven. Jer. 44 : 17, 25 tells how the
Jews were led away to burn incense to her. Among Buddhists
she is known as Kwan shi yin or Kwan yin, the goddess of mercy.

266 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Among Roman-catholics this name is given to Mary, the mother
of our Lord.
In the monuments several queens of heaven are recognized.
First of all is Ishtar. Whether under that name or the
older name of Nana, she is called mistress of heaven and earth
and queen of all the gods. In an ancient hymn she is called
lady of heaven, etc. A. D. 392, 393, and R. of P. V. 158 and
159. Beltis is also called the mother of the gods and queen of the
earth. Ninkigal (the lady of the great land) is also called queen.
D. L. no. R. IV. 31. 24. A. M. 52. 24.
Sarratu (queen) is the Assyrian form of the name Sarah.
RAB MAG.
Gesenius says that mag is the name for priests or wise men
among the Medes, Persians and Babylonians — magus, pi. magi —
and that Rab mag is the great magus, or chief of the magi.
There are two Babylonian words that may be referred to :
one is makhkhu, the great one, from the Accadian makh ; and
Prof. Delitzsch prefers this derivation. Gesenius also seems to
have this in view, as he defines mag great, powerful. See a quo
tation from Haupt's Nimrod epos in H. L. 62. 63. The other is
imqu, wise, from the verb imiqu, to be wise, whence also comes
nimiqu, deep or profound wisdom. In that case Rab Mag would
be chief of the wise men. In the Hebrew it is pay and in
Arabic, a'muk. Nabonidus says (R. V. 64. 6 and A. M. 35. 5), the
son of Nabu balat su iqbi, the great wise man, rubu imqu, wor
shipper of the great gods, am I.
As in Assyrian the adjective always follows after the sub
stantive (Prof. Sayce's Elem. Gram. 49,) rab and mag must both
be substantives, or two nouns in apposition : the chief and the
great one, or, more probably, the man of deep insight.
RABSHAKEH.
The Hebrew word npurzi occurs in 2 Kings 18 and 19, also in
Isa. 36 and 37. It is not a proper name, as Gesenius renders it
(Robinson's edition, 1844), for in R. III. 42. 1. n we have a

RABSHAKEH. 267
proper name, Merodach utsur, and this person is described as shaq
sharri, i. e., shaqu of the king. Shaqu is equated with rishu,
head, so that it must mean a man who is set over others. Smith's
Bible Dictionary takes it in the Hebrew sense of cupbearer. But
there are two verbs in Assyrian of the same form, shaqu, one
meaning to drink, to water, and the other to be high, and the
title in question is derived from the latter. A common form of
this is shupar shaqi, or as it may be read, shuud shaqi, commonly
rendered general, chief officer of the army. In Ass'l. 9. 6 the
king says, amilu shupar shaqi upaquu zikar shaptiya; the generals
obeyed the commands of my lips ; again (43. 43) he says, amilu
shupar shaqiya ama'ti annaati ishmu ma : my generals heard of
these things. The generals were in Egypt, and the things heard
wrere the plots of Tirhaka, Necho, Sharludari and others against
Asshurbanipal. Again (81. 11) he says, My generals I sent as
governors (pikhati) over them. A still clearer case is(ioi. 27)
Merodach zikir ibni shupar shaqi (of) Urak, king of Elam, where
the proper name is given first, and then the official title.
Rab shaqu is of rarer occurrence. Rab or rabu means chief.
Jer. 39: 11, Rab tabbakhim, captain of the guard — literally, of
the slaughterers ; Dan. 4 : 9, Rab khartummim, chief of magicians.
Rab shaqeh occurs (Ass'l. 40. 25), Rab shaq, pikhati, sharri: the
Rabshakeh, the governors or satraps, the kings. Prof. Sayce ren
ders the first the " prime minister " or " grand vizier " (A. L. and
S. 156), and Prof. Delitzsch " commander in the army" (Hebrew
in the Light of Assyrian Research, 13), and the person named
seems to have been in command of an army. Sargon (Khors.
120) sent seven shupar shaqi to the help of a tributary king.
That they sometimes acted as governors is shown by Esarhaddon,
who says (R. I. 45. 1. 34, also A. M. 19, 5), " My general I set
over them as governor," as Asshurbanipal did afterward. Tig
lath Pileser (Tugulti apal isharra, R. II. 67. 66) says, My shupar
shaqi I sent to the city of Tyre as Rab shaqi. But what the
difference between these two titles is cannot as yet be deter
mined. Perhaps the day will come when general and major-
general shall be titles as puzzling to future scholars as these are
to us. It would appear, however, to be a civil rather than a
military position that he sent him to fill in a city so far

268 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
away, for there is no mention of troops having been sent with
him. The Rabshakeh of Sennacherib affords a good illustration of
the linguistic attainments of an educated Assyrian. Of course
he knew Assyrian, for it was his mother tongue. Then, as one
who worshipped at the temples and transacted business at the
courts, he was as proficient in Accadian as European scholars
used to be in Latin. The men of Hezekiah took it for granted
that he would speak in Aramaic, the language of the merchants
of Western Asia, and we have seen that he could address He
brews in Hebrew. Thus he was master of at least four langua
ges, three of them resembling each other and one wholly unlike
the other three. RAIN FIRE, ETC.
Gen. 19 : 24. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Go
morrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. Com
pare Gen. 7 : 4 and Luke 17 : 29.
There is a sentence in the Chaldean account of the deluge
that reads, " The voice said, In the nights I will cause destruc
tion to rain down from heaven," ushaaznana shamutan. R. IV.
50. 2. 31, and D. L. 103. 86. and A. M. 58. 1.
A better illustration is as follows : " Ishtar, who dwells in
Arbela, clothed in fire and raised aloft in brightness, rained
destruction (izaannuu nabli) upon the land of Arabia." R. V. 9.
81, and A. M. 32. 31, and Ass'l. 278. 63.
Still better, however, is a sentence taken from a cuneiform
fragment in the British Museum, numbered k. 5001, and quoted
in Prof. Sayce, H. L. 4. The speaker is addressing one of the
gods : " Thou who rainest stones and fire upon the foe, may thy
heart be exalted !" Brimstone is brend-stone, or burnt stone,
from the old English verb brennen, to burn.
RAVEN.
Gen. 9 : 6. And it came to pass at the end of forty days that
Noah opened the window of the Ark which he had made, and
he sent forth a raven, and it went forth to and fro, until the
waters were dried up from off the earth.
In the Chaldean account of the deluge Shamash Napishti

REDEMPTION. 269
says (R. IV. 50. 3. 42-44, and D. L. 105. 144-146, and A. M. 60.
12-14): Ushitsima aribi umashir,
IHik aribi ma qarura sha mi imurma,
Ikkal ishakhkhi itarri ul issakhra.
I sent forth a raven. I let it go.
The raven went forth and saw the decrease of the waters.
It eats, swims, turns about, and does not return.
The two records are here in perfect agreement, only the
Chaldean says also of a swallow precisely what both had said of
a dove (see " Dove "), perhaps because of some religious associa
tions with the swallow. Either because it was a Chaldean addi
tion to the truth, or because it was not deemed essential to the
narrative, there is no mention of a swallow in the Hebrew.
REDEMPTION.
Redemption is the grand theme of Scripture. They who
lived before Christ looked for a redemption to come. Luke
1 1 : 38. The good since Christ are they who are justified through
the redemption which he wrought out, Rom. 3 : 24 ; "in whom
we- have redemption through his blood," Eph. 1:7; and "in
whom we were sealed until the day of redemption," Eph. 4 : 30 ;
that is, the day when all the as yet hidden glory of that work
shall be unfolded to the admiring gaze of heaven and earth.
We should hardly expect to find anything relating to this
in the Assyrian monuments, and yet in Prof. Sayce's H. L. 140,
occurs this sentence from an ancient hymn : " For their redemp
tion did he create mankind, even he, the merciful one, with
whom is life ;" a most remarkable statement to come from such
a source. R. IV. 61. 40. is rendered in H. L. 527. 22 : Accept
his gift, receive his ransom (pitiitu), Heb. ms, Arabic, Fida,
which Freytag renders, res qua aliquis redimitur et liberatur.
The idea of vicarious atonement could not be set forth
more clearly than in a text which says of the sacrifice of a child
(k. 5139 and Prof. Sayce's Elem. Gram. p. 123), "The child for
his life he gave. The head of the child for the head' of the man
he gave. The neck of the child for the neck of the man he

270

ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.

gave. The breast of the child for the breast of the man he
gave." Indeed we are startled by such words, not merely because
they bear such testimony to the existence of the idea of vicarious
atonement in ancient Babylonia, but because they so fully en
dorse the Scripture account of the sacrifice of children to Mo
loch. Alas that this should be so true a record '
REPETITIONS IN PRAYER.
Matt. 6 : 7, Christ says, " And in praying use not vain repeti
tions, as the gentiles do." Few have any clear idea of what those
repetitions are. The following, called by Prof. Sayce a litany to
the gods (H. L. 532), may show what they are :
What have I done that I should bear the sin ?
To the light I have uttered the spell, and yet I bear the sin.
To Nusku, the supreme messenger of Ekur, I have uttered the spell, and yet I
bear the sin.
To the moon god I have uttered the spell, and yet I bear the sin.
To Rimmon " " "
To Ea
To Merodach
To Nebo
To the great god and the great goddess
To my god " " "
To my goddess " " "
To the god of my city " "
To the goddess of my city " "
To the four streets "
To Suqamunna " " "
To Sumaliya " " "
To the seven gods and the twin gods
To the god whom I know not
To . . . khuya I have uttered the spell. May my sins be forgiven.
Since, then, as the apostle says, 1 Cor. 8:4," We know that
no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no God but
one," how dreary must be the hopes of those who go through
such a round of repetitions and find themselves as unblest at
the close as when they began. REST.
It is delightful to note in how great a variety of ways the
Bible speaks of rest. In the beginning God instituted a Sabbath

REST. 27 r
of rest, knowing how much man would need it, and so the Sab
bath was made for man, who enjoys rest in proportion as he
keeps it holy.
When Israel went forth from Egypt into the great and ter
rible wilderness, God said, " My presence shall go with thee, and
I will give thee rest." Exod. 33 : 14. Well might they enjoy
rest who had the presence of God with them continually. When
Naomi set out on her sorrowful return to Bethlehem she said to
her widowed daughters-in-law, " Go, return each of you to her
mother's house. The Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have
dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant you that ye
may find rest, each in the house of her husband." Ruth 1 : 8, 9.
What a vista of peace that Scripture opens up before troubled
souls that speaks of God as giving rest from the days of adver
sity ! When we look forward to such a prospect we may well
say, " Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt
bountifully with thee." Psa. 116:7.
Some cuneiform inscriptions seem as if designed to illustrate
Scripture utterances concerning rest. David, the king, " had it
in his heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant
of the Lord," 1 Chron. 28 : 2 ; and the Psalmist sings, " Arise, O
Lord, into thy resting-place, thou and the ark of thy strength."
Psa. 132:8. A hymn to the god Adar reads thus: "O lord, in
thy city which thou lovest may thy heart be at rest. O lord Adar,
in thy house which thou lovest may thy heart be at rest. In the
temple of Nipur, thy city which thou lovest, may thy heart be at
rest." Fragment R. 117. H. L. 483.
Some readers of the gospels wonder that Jesus spoke of rest
rather than of pardon or deliverance from sin when he said,
" Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest." Matt. 1 1 : 28. But his choice of that word shows
how well he knew what was in man ; he appreciated his utter un
rest, and the longing that cannot be satisfied until he finds rest
in God. This unsatisfied longing is manifested very clearly in the
Assyrian inscriptions. In a hymn to Nusku, the sun god of
Nipur, who had a chapel in the celebrated temple of Merodach
at Babylon by the side of its lofty ziggurat (tower), he is ad-

272 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
dressed as Mushtalum, a causative form of the verb shalamu :
" He who satisfies, or causes to rest." See Heb., shalom, and
Arabic, salaam. The Accadian version reads " giver of rest to
the heart," and this title is repeated four times in as many lines.
R. IV. 26. No. 3. 30-34. Not that Nusku really gave this rest to
his worshippers, save as for a time they might suppose that
they had received it — only to suffer a greater disappointment ;
but this title which they gave him revealed the intense craving
of their hearts for rest.
A hymn to Merodach reads, " Look upon (or regard with
favor) thy house. Look upon thy city, O lord of rest. Look
upon Babilu (Babylon) and E. Saggilla (his temple), O lord of
rest. May the gods of heaven and earth say to thee, O lord, rest,
(or call thee lord of rest)." R. IV. 18. 2 reverse, 25, 27 and 31.
It bears witness to the unrest of his worshippers, that they
invoke the gods of the whole pantheon to impart rest to their
chosen deity; and that even the gods stood in need of rest, in
their estimation, is abundantly manifest from another part of the
same hymn :
May thy city speak rest to thee (it is) thy house.
May Babilu speak rest to thee (it is) thy house.
May the great Anu, the father of the gods, say to thee, When wilt thou rest ?
May the great mountain, the father of Mullil, say to thee, When wilt thou rest ?
and so on through four lines more. R. IV. 18. 2 obverse, 5-20.
Well might Christ say, " Come unto me and I will give you
rest," when men not only despair of finding it themselves but
look on their gods also as in need of it from one another. At
the feet of Jesus, even here and now, the weary are at rest. Much
more, then, there remaineth a rest for the people of God,
when they shall see him as he is, and, once entered on that rest,
they shall go no more out for ever.
RETURN OF THE YEAR.
2 Sam. 11 : 1. "And it came to pass at the return of the
year, at the time when kings go forth "—the translators and re
visers add, " to battle ;" better " to war," for they do not go forth
to fight one battle, but on a prolonged campaign that may in
volve many battles with different peoples. The kings of Assy-

RETURN OF THE YEAR. 273
ria, as might be expected, furnish no end of illustration in this
matter. Asshurnatsirpal, who reigned B. C. 885-860, is very
full on this subject. At the end of his tenth year he wrote the
large inscription that fills ten folio pages (R. I. 17-26), describing
the campaign of each year. The date of departure on the first
year is not mentioned. For some reason he was unusually late
in the second ; not till Ab (July- August) 24, did he leave Nin
eveh, in the very hottest of the season. He must have moved
his army in the night, for at that season the mercury rises as
high as 1 1 58 in the shade during the day (col. 1. 69.) In the
third year he does not give the date of leaving (1 21-104). In
the fourth year he left Sivan (May) 1 (col. 2. 51). On the same
date next year he crossed the Tigris (86, 87). The following
year he set out from Calah, Sivan 22 (col. 3. 1). The seventh
year he left the same city Sivan 18 (28). Next year his departure
was only two days later, Sivan 20 (50). The ninth year saw him
on the way from Calah, Iyyar (April) 8 (56), and in B. C. 867 he left
Calah, Iyyar 20. With the exception of the second year these
campaigns began after the heavy rains of winter and before the
severe heat of summer. He was just as regular in going every
year to plunder and desolate neighboring nations as our well-
to-do citizens are now in taking their annual outing. That was
his way of spending vacation. For the translation of this inscrip
tion of Asshurnatsirpal see R. of P. new II. 128-177.
Shalmanezer II. also (R. III. 7. 29 and col. 2. 13 ; for trans
lation see R. of P. III. 86. 29 and 90. 13) left Nineveh, Iyyar 13,
to go against Lakhlakhti, and again on the same date against
Tulbarsip. At other times he set out when the river was in
flood (Layard 87. 27 and 57 and A. M. 7. 24 and 83). So also did
Asshurbanipal (R. V. 8. 79 and A. M. 30. 5 ; see also G. Smith's
History of Assyria 46-61). Now the Tigris begins to rise in the
middle of March and attains its height about the middle of May,
so that this agrees with the dates of Asshurnatsirpal.
As to the frequency of these campaigns, Sargon says in his
annals that for fifteen years he made not one only each year,
but often more. See R. of P. VII. 27-52.
On the black obelisk of Shalmanezer II., now in the British
Museum, it is recorded that he made annual raids for eight
Assyrian Echoes. I O

274 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
years ; then instead of the ninth year comes the ninth campaign ;
then, after mentioning those of his tenth and eleventh years, it
speaks of his twelfth campaign, and returns to years again till
number nineteen once more becomes campaign. After that
twenty is a year with its campaign, and twenty-first simply cam
paign, and after alternating to the twenty-sixth year they remain
years from that time till the thirty-first.
RETURN NOT.
One of the things relating to death that impresses itself
most deeply on all men, whether rude or refined, is that the
dead never come back. So Job says, 7 : 9, 10, " he that goeth
down to Sheol shall come up no more ; he shall return no
more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more."
Compare 10: 21 ; 2 Sam. 12:23.
In the descent of Ishtar into Sheol (R. IV. 3 1 . 1 , Prof. Sayce's
Elem. Gram. 119. 1, A. M. 52. 1, and D. L, no. 1. third ed.),
it is called the land of no return ; mat nugaa ; nu (not) and gaa
equated with taru, to return. This Accadian name was ren
dered into Assyrian, mat la nakiri, the unchanging land. Line
5 describes it as " the house whose entrance has no exit," and
line 6 as " the road whose going has no returning." Thus the
monuments endorse this Bible characteristic of the other world.
RIGHTEOUSNESS, THY".
Psa. 71 : 15, 16. My mouth shall tell of thy righteousness,
and of thy salvation all the day ; for I know not the numbers
thereof. I will come with the mighty acts of the Lord God. I
will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.
In Rev. 15:4 it is written, "Who shall not fear, O Lord,
and glorify thy name ? for thou only art holy : for all the nations
shall come and worship before thee ; for thy righteous acts have
been made manifest."
Some may think, Certainly nothing can be found in the
monuments to correspond to that, for idolators care nothing for
righteousness. And yet an ancient hymn to Bil Marduk, the god
of Babylon, says (H. L. 81) :
" Cause them to behold the light that they may tell of thy

RING. 275
righteousness, O lord of the world, light of the spirits of heaven,
utterer of blessings. Who is there whose mouth makes not
mention of thy righteousness, speaks not of thine exaltation,
and celebrates not thy glory?"
All such utterances, instead of proving that the heathen
do not need the gospel, only reveal Him who saith, " I am the
light of the world," John 8 : 12, shining in the darkness. John 1 : 5.
RIMMON.
2 Kings 5:18 speaks of the house of Rimmon, and we find
the word forming a part of proper names, as Hadadrimmon,
Zech. 12 : n, and Tabrimmon, 1 Kings 15 : 18.
Before the Assyrian inscriptions were deciphered our knowl
edge of this deity was very indefinite. Even the latest edition
of Smith's Dictionary says that the signification of the name is
doubtful. The Jews wrote Rimmon as though it had some con
nection with the pomegranate, and many have supposed that it
had reference to the productive power of nature, as the pome
granate is so full of seeds ; but the Assyrian is Ramanu, the ex
alted one — written sometimes Rammanu, as though from Barn
aul u, to thunder. So in the account of the deluge, A. M. 58.
10, D. L. 104. 94, and R. IV. 50. 2. 42, ilu Ramanu ina libisha
irtammaamma: the god Ramanu in it (the cloud) thundered.
In the Manual 20. 24. R. V. 1. 45 he is said to give rain : zunni-
shu umashshiru ; literally, his rain he let loose. He was the god
of the air, as Anu was of the sky, and represented the Accadian
god Meri, the exalted one, known also as Mer Mer, the very ex
alted. In Syria he was called Hadad, and in Arabia, Dadda or
Dada, and regarded as the sun god.
RING.
Gen. 41:42. And Pharaoh took off his signet ring (njOB)
from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him
in vesture of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck.
Esther 3 : 10. And the king took his ring from his hand
and gave it unto Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite,
the Jews' enemy ; v. 12, and it was sealed with the king's ring.
Luke 15 :22. And put a ring on his hand.

276 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
In like manner Asshurbanipal, speaking of several persons
in the island of Arvad, says, " I clothed them in garments of
birmi, rings (shimir) of gold I bound on their hands." R. V. 2.
93, 94, and A. M. 22. 7, 8. The text in Ass'l. 64. 3 and 4 is im
perfect. He says also of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, " I clothed
him in birmi, and a chain of gold, insignia of his royalty, I made
for him ; rings of gold I bound upon his hands." R. V. 2. 11, 12,
and A. M. 48. 12, and Ass'l. 45. 57.
In the descent of Ishtar into Sheol, when she entered the
sixth gate Namtar took away the rings of her hands and feet.
R. IV. 31. 57, and A. M. 63. 21.
The question arises, Were these rings for the finger, or
bracelets? In favor of the former is the noun dax-ruiim from
iaxTv/u)? a finger, and also the Hebrew njots, tabaath, that which is
used to make an impression. The verb job, tabaa, is used to de
note printing in both Hebrew and Arabic.
To this it may be replied, that though faKrokm is derived
from <5<MTO?.«r yet it is not confined to the meaning of finger-ring.
Liddelland Scott's Lexicon adds, "felloe of a wheel," something
much larger than a bracelet ; and as to the signet-ring (njoo),
P. and C. tell us, II. 256 : " In Chaldea the fashion at one time
seems to have been to fasten them to the wrist. In tombs at
Warka and Mugheir cylinders were found on the floors close to
the wrist bones of the skeletons, and the tombs had never been
disturbed." Then for positive argument in favor of a bracelet, Pharaoh
took it not from his finger, but from his hand, and put it not on
Joseph's finger, but on his hand. The same is true of king
Ahasuerus, and the command in the parable is, " put a ring on
his Iiand." Luke 15 : 22.
Then in the bas-reliefs on the monuments we never see
finger-rings worn, but bracelets are very conspicuous on the
statue of the king (L. N. II. 13 and no), on the large statue of
Nebo from Nimrood (P. and C. I. 81), on Sargon and nine of
his suite from Khorsabad (97), on those who feast with Asshur
banipal, eight in all (107 and 108), on three persons making an
offering to a god ( 109), on a winged genius (II. 87), on the stela

RITES.

277

of Marduk idin akhi (95), on Sargon before the sacred tree (99),
on the statue of Asshurnatsirpal (123), stela of Shamash Vul II.
(211), on a bas-relief from Khorsabad (221).
But it is not necessary to go further ; enough has been ad
duced to show that the command to put a ring on the hand of the
younger son was full as likely to be an order to adorn him with a
bracelet as with a finger-ring. RITES.
The same uncertainty that attends the study of the priest
hood follows us in the investigation of the Babylonian ritual,
though in some things we recognize the faces of old acquain
tances. The Hebrew »lp qorban, oblation (Ezek. 20 : 28 ; Mark 7:11),
appears in Assyrian as qirbanu. D. L. 145. The Hebrew daily
or continual sacrifice has its counterpart in the Babylonian
sattuku. Nabonidus, king of Babylon B. C. 555-538, says (R. V.
64. 3. 37. and A. M. 39. 8), sattuku u nindabii ili sha makhri
ushatiir ma ukin makhar shu : the daily sacrifice (is nindabu the
Heb. rmJ?) and free will(?) offering I restored even beyond what
they had been before. And Asshurbanipal, speaking of Baby
lon, says (R. V. 62. 7, and A. M. 23. 21), Within its temples I set
up their sacred objects and reestablished the sattuku that had been
interrupted. The most common name for a sacrifice is niqu,
from naqn, to pour out, and one very common mode of offering
was as a libation. When Asshurbanipal had killed three lions
he " set up over them the mighty bow of Ishtar, the lady of war,
presented offerings over them, and made a libation of wine over
them." P. and C. II. 41 gives a bas-relief of Asshurbanipal making
a libation over a wild ox which he had slain, p. 205 also shows
him making a libation. See also R. I. 7. No. 9. and Prof. Sayce's
Grammar, 126. So, just as the pious Hebrew took the cup of
salvation and called on the name of the Lord, the Assyrian took
his cup of wine and called on his gods. Zibu, Heb. mj, makes
prominent the slaughter of the victim. Makhkhuru puts the
emphasis oh its presentation before the god. Mukhibiltu, from
khibiltu, injury, damage, Prof. Sayce (H. L. 69 note 3) renders
sin offering. See " Drink Offering" and " Priesthood."

278 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Taklimu, from kalamu, to see or show, may be something
that resembled the show-bread of the Jews, as Prof. Sayce says,
H. L. 73, note 1 ; but the Hebrew word is r\7iya> the row or
array of loaves. So nikasu may be the stated offering, for nakasu
means to cut off, and so regular intervals of offering may be im
plied. The animals offered in sacrifice in Assyria were oxen, fat
sheep, gazelles, goats, and different kinds of birds.
There seems to have been a distinction between clean and
unclean animals, we read so often of a pure lamb, a white lamb,
a pure gazelle, clean herbs, pure water, etc. In Shemitic texts
swine are never mentioned, and reptiles were counted unclean.
So also were dogs, as appears in the following prayer against
evil : " May Merodach preserve us from the baleful fetter, the
fetter which injures the feet . . . the dog, the snake, the scorpion,
the reptile, and whatever is baleful." H. Li 287.
Among the Jews were meal offerings (rendered meat of
ferings in the old version) ; but' among the Assyrians were not
only grains of wheat and flour and corn, but dates and pine-
cones — whose kernels are still eaten in Syria — honey and butter,
oil and fruits, green herbs, clean herbs, pieces of pure food, etc.
I do not recall any sculpture either in Assyria or Babylonia
that represents a sacrifice consumed by fire. Nor do the verbs
sharapu, qamu, qalu, meaning to burn, usually occur in connec
tion with sacrifices of any kind. Many of their altars, too, seem
unsuited for the burning of a sacrifice, yet some part of the
animal must have been consumed by fire. Prof. Sayce says (H.
L. 78) that in the great work on astronomy, called " The obser
vations of Bel," we are told that " on the high places the son is
burnt." This raises the question whether human sacrifice was known
in Chaldea, and after reading (2 Kings 3 : 27) that the king of
Moab offered his eldest son for a burnt offering upon the wall
we are not suprised to find a tablet (k. 5 1 39, Prof. Sayce's Elem.
Gram. 123) declaring that the father "must give his child for
his own life, the child's head for his head, the child's neck for
his neck, and the child's breast for his own." This shows that
they had the idea of a vicarious atonement, and it is to be feared

RITES. 279
that it was sometimes more than an idea, and practised in a
manner the atrocity of which was equalled only by its utter in
sufficiency. Compare Lev. 20: 1-5 and Jer. 32 : 35.
Not only was the burning of sacrifices placed in the back
ground, and attention concentrated on the shedding of the blood,
but other things were introduced which we do not find in con
nection with the sacrifices of the Old Testament. After the
deluge Khasisadra erected an altar on the summit of the moun
tain, set the sacred vessels (adagur) in order by sevens, and un
derneath them placed cedar, cane and cypress (?) riggir (A. M.
60. 17 and 18, D. L. 105. 149, 150). So also the directions given
for a religious ceremony (R. IV. 62. No. 2, obv. 154 seq.) speak
of " a green branch and a layer of reeds . . . cedar wood, sherbin
wood, scented reed, prickly grass, the pal grass and saffron."
H. L. 539, 540.
Another arrangement requires " a green branch which has
grown in a distant place before Merodach ... a vessel holding
one-third of an ephah, qarbi (?), and corn, green herbs arranged
by twos, in front of the garden, among . . . trees, cedars and
palm-trees, im par, incense (?), wood of the tall tree, thorn wood,
sisi and siman," etc., etc. R. IV. 64. obv. 2, and H. L. 536, 537.
Various special dresses were worn during their rites. One
is somewhat doubtfully rendered "the mountain dress," "the
gossamer cloth," " the white cloth," and " the fillet," " a barsik (?)
dress," and " the robe of a herald." Priests and Levites might
have found some articles among them corresponding to a portion
of their own dress, though others might have seemed as strange to
them as to us. Ablutions in pure water were strongly insisted on.
The great crowning difference, however, between the rites
of Chaldea and Judsea was that, while the last constantly sought
as their end conformity in character to a God who was perfect
in holiness, the first never aimed higher than the attainment of
some temporal benefit, or relief from some present suffering.
The great end God has in view in his dealings with men was
something wholly beyond their sphere of vision, and redemption
from sin never entered into their thoughts. They had no
knowledge of happiness beyond the pitiful measure that could
consist with the most unbridled selfishness, cruelty and lust.

28o ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
RIVER OF EGYPT.
In the Hebrew are several words thus rendered in our
authorized version: i. onxttvo, Gen. 15:18. This denotes the
Nile, on which Egypt depends for its fertility. 2. ansa hm, Josh.
15:4 and 47. This is the Wady el 'Arish, on the border between
Egypt and Palestine, and is rendered "the brook of Egypt" in
the new revision. 3. ~w or onxei ~ix\ Jer. 46 : 7, Amos 8:8, is the
Egyptian name of the Nile transliterated in Hebrew, and ap
pears also in the Assyrian, for Asshurbanipal calls the Nile
Yaruhu (Ass'l. 41. 32). Number 2 is also mentioned by Sargon,
who says (S. 2. 13), "The whole of the land of Mas (see
Massa, Gen. 25 : 14, and 1 Chron. 1 : 30), even to Nakhal Muutsri
(Wady el 'Arish), the spacious country of Akharri (Canaan,
literally the west land), the land of Khati (the Hittites), over
the whole of them I reigned." It is very pleasant to note this
accuracy of statement in both the Hebrew and Assyrian, an
accuracy that it is to be feared has not always been appreciated
by the readers of our English version.
RIVERS.
Isa. 41 : 18, I will open rivers on the bare heights.
This must mean artificial rivers, i. e. canals, for the word inj
has that meaning, according to Gesenius, in 2 Kings 5:12, rivers of
Damascus, and Zeph. 3 : 10, rivers of Ethiopia. Asshurbanipal
calls himself pitu naqbi, opener of canals, R. I 17. 3, and the
God Ea is called the opener of canals, upattira naqbi, in R. V,
I. 45 and A. M. 20. 24. Patru is a dagger, and the verb derived
from it means to cut open, as one cuts open flesh with that in
strument. ROCKS OF ASSYRIA.
Dr. W. M. Thomson has brought out the wonderful con
nection existing between The Land and the Book, and much
might be written on the relations of Palestine to Assyria. For
the present we confine ourselves to one or two features of the
rocks of the two countries. The prevailing rock in Assyria and
Palestine is limestone of various kinds and degrees of hardness.
In the alluvial soil of Babylonia rock was wanting ; a westerner

ROPES ON THE HEAD. 28 1
would call it a prairie country. The constant disintegration of
the limestone made both Syria and Assyria lands flowing with
milk and honey. The plains of the land of the Philistines
after the continuous culture of millenniums still yield large
crops of grain without the use of manure, and the same is true
of the plain of Assyria.
The limestone in both countries gives them another common
inheritance, referred to in Isa. 2:19: "And men shall go into the
caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth from before
the terror of the Lord." Also Rev. 5:15: "And the kings of
the earth and the princes, etc., hid themselves in the caves and
rocks of the mountains."
Abraham bought the cave of Machpelah for a burying-
place, Gen. 23 ; and Lazarus was raised out of a cave, John
11:38; David found caves very convenient hiding-places, and
Obadiah hid a hundred of the prophets of the Lord by fifties
in a cave, 1 Kings 18:4. Caves abound in Lebanon.
So also they are frequent in Assyria. I remember one with
a spring in it just outside the walls of Nineveh, beyond the
village of Nebi Yoonas. C. J. Rich calls it Thisbe's Well. The
people of Mosul visit in summer a cave on the mountain above
the convent of Sheikh Mattai. In the center of the rocky floor
is a crystal pool fed by drops falling continuously from the
roof.* Some of the churches of the Mountain Nestorians are
part caves and part structures erected in front of them.f One
of their villages is called Le Gippa (cave), and the inhabitants
of Ashitha and Lezan in 1 843 were butchered by the Kurds in
a cave high up the mountain side, whither they had fled for
refuge (L. N. I. 164-166). ROPES ON THE HEAD.
1 Kings 20 : 32. So they girded sackcloth on their loins and
put ropes on their heads.
Bahr, in Lange, G. Rawlinson, Dr. Jamieson and Kitto all
speak of the ropes as put about their necks ready to hang them
with if Benhadad were so disposed, just as Eustace de St. Pierre
* Dr. Granfrand the Mountain Nestorians, 123.
t The Nestorians or Lost Tribes, 68.

282 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
and six of the leading citizens of Calais, France, delivered them
selves up to king Edward III. of England, and were spared
only through the intercession of Queen Philippa.
An early Chaldean monument shows the king trampling
on a prostrate prisoner preparatory to despatching him with the
heavy mace he holds in his right hand, while his vizier leads
two others by the bridle inserted in the lips, elsewhere referred
to, to meet the same fate, and a wretched coffle of six, fastened
to each other by ropes round their necks and with their hands
tied behind them, advance to receive in their turn the dreaded
stroke of the heavy mace in the hands of the king. Anc. Mon.
III. 7. ROYAL HOUSE.
Esther 1 : 9. The royal house, rfomn no.
Asshurbanipal calls the palace of Nineveh mushab sharu-
tiya : the abode of my royalty ; an exact translation of the Hebrew
in the above Scripture, for to the mind of the old Hebrews and
Assyrians the kingdom was not something that existed inde
pendent of the king, but formed a part, as it were, of his per
sonal glory. Thus wine of the kingdom, (Esther 1 : 7, rro^D pO
was not wine produced in the kingdom, but wine for the use of
the kings. So Esther 5.1, niD^a rwib is royal apparel. The use
of sharutiya and bilutiya in this strictly personal sense is very
common in Assyrian. The king there speaks of the robes,
throne, palace, etc., of my royalty ; i. e. of my royal person.
SABBATH.
Some regard the Sabbath as merely a Jewish institution, that
did not exist before the giving of the' law at Sinai, and that ceased
to be obligatory with what is generally called the ceremonial
law. But the Sabbath did not belong to the Jews, it belonged to
God. Four times in the law he claims it as " my Sabbath :"
Exod. 31:13, Lev. 19:3, 30 and 26:2; and this divine owner
ship of the Sabbath is asserted many times in the prophets:
Isa. 56:4; Ezek. 20: 12, 13, 16, 24; 22 : 8 and 26; 23 : 38 ; 44:24.
The Jew did not institute the day any more than he originated
the prohibition of murder or adultery. It was only entrusted to
his care along with other things because God had chosen him to

SABBATH. 283
he the depositary of the truth. He had no right to modify or
alter the day : it was his to preserve it precisely as it was entrusted
to his keeping. God alone, as the Lord of the Sabbath, had any
power to change anything that belonged to it. And they who
denounce the Sabbath as either Jewish or Puritan betray a sad
ignorance as to its real ownership. We have to do neither with
a Puritan nor a king Charles the Second's Sabbath, a New Eng
land nor a Continental Sabbath, but the Lord's. That is a
¦wonderful statement which God made about his holy day both
in the law (Exod. 31:13) and in the prophets (Ezek. 20 : 12): " For
it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations
that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you ;"
a statement as true under the gospel as it was under the law.
So far from its being a Jewish institution we have the
authority of the Lord of the Sabbath for saying that " the Sab
bath was made for man ;" and this word of our Lord is most fully
•corroborated by the Assyrian monuments, for they testify that
long before Moses, and even before Abraham, the day was known
to the Babylonians. That cannot be Jewish, then, that was
known even in a heathen land before a Jew existed on the earth.
The name occurs in a bilingual tablet (R. II. 32. 16) as Sha-
battu. The sign read " ba " was misprinted there, and so has
heen called a textual emendation by the Ency. Brit., but Prof.
Sayce testifies that "ba" is the reading of the original tablet
(H. L. 76 note), and in a parallel column of the tablet the defini
tion is given as um nukh libbi, " a day of rest for the heart,"
-which is an excellent definition of the Sabbath to come from a
heathen scribe of Asshurbanipal. " He evidently regarded the
word as derived from the Accadian Sa bat, heart-resting."
The most important document on this subject, however, is
a " Hemerology for the intercalary month Elul." R. IV. 32 and
33. This is written in Assyrian, but is full of Accadian terms.
The copy that we have was written by a scribe of Asshurbani
pal, but that was copied from a much older one brought from
Babylonia, and as different kings used different titles we can
learn the date of the original copy from the title it gives the
king. Thus Asshurbanipal on cylinder B. (Ass'l 10. 1-5) calls
himself sharru rabu, sharru danuu, shar kisshati, shar Asshur,

284 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
shar kibrat arba'i: the great king, the mighty king, the king of
all, the king of Assyria, the king of the four regions ; offspring
of Asshur akh iddina Shakkanakku Babil, shar shumiri u Akkadi.
Esarhaddon appears as the high priest of Babylon and king of
Shumir (Shinar) and Accad, grandson of Sin, akhi iriba shar
kishati shar Asshur : Sennacherib is king of all, king of Assy
ria. Asshurnatsirpal calls himself (R. III. 3. 39) the appointed
(governor) of Bil, the priest of Asshur, and gives the same titles
to his father Tiglath Adar, and his grandfather Rimmon Nirari ;
and Asshur rish ilim is the appointed (governor) of the divine
father (Bil), the priest of Asshur. R. III. 3. 12. Now the title of
the king used in this tablet is rium nishi rabaati : shepherd of
great nations ; and Prof. Sayce says (H. L. 70. note 1), " This title
refers us to the age of Khammuragas as the period when the
work was composed." He was the Kossean conqueror who sub
dued Naram Sin, the son of Sargon of Accad, and the founder of
the city of Babylon. He reigned 55 years, from B. C. 2290 to
2235. Prof. Sayce says (H. L. 23, note), " This agrees with the
date arrived at by Von Gutschmidt for the beginning of the
Babylonian era. The astronomical observations sent by Kallis-
thenes from Babylon to Aristotle, B. C. 331, reached back 1093
years, to B. C. 2234. Berossos, according to Pliny (N. H. VII.
57), stated that they began to be made 490 years before the
Greek era of Phoroneus, B. C. 1753 or B. C. 2243. Babylon, ac
cording to Stephanos of Byzantium, was built 1002 years before
the siege of Troy, B. C. 1229, which would bring us to B. C.
2231, while Ktesias made the reign of Belos (Bel Merodach) of
Babylon to extend from B. C. 2286 to B. C. 2231, almost identical
with the reign of Khammuragas."
This tablet, dating from that reign, says of the seventh day
of Elul : "A fast day dedicated to Merodach and Zarpanit,
a lucky day, a day of rest (Sliabattu). The shepherd of great
nations must not eat flesh cooked in the fire (or) in the smoke.
He must not change his clothes. He must not put on white
garments. He must not offer sacrifice. The king must not
drive a chariot. He must not issue royal decrees. The augur
must not mutter in a secret place. Medicine for sickness he
must not use. For making a curse it is not proper. During

SAKKUT AND CHIUN. 285
the night the king makes his free-will offering before Merodach
and Ishtar. He offers sacrifice. The lifting up of his hand finds
favor with the god."
The fourteenth day is precisely the same, only Beltis and
Nergal are the objects of worship. The same is true of the
twenty-first, only it is devoted to Sin and Shamash, and the
twenty-eighth day is the same, only it is sacred to Ea.
The nineteenth day is also a Shabattu, and as Prof. Sayce
says concerning it, " Why it should have been so I cannot
pretend to say " (H. L. 77), the writer may be excused if he
also does not attempt to explain it. The reason for this extra
Sabbath will doubtless appear in due time, when we have more
inscriptions to study. Meanwhile the existence of one day in
seven sacred to God outside of the Jewish nation, and dating
back almost to the deluge, points to a Sabbath made for man in
Paradise as well as affirmed to be " made for man " by the Lord
of the Sabbath while he was here upon the earth.
If any still insist that the day was instituted by Moses, can
it be possible that the heathen preserved the traditions of Para
dise so much better than the nation chosen by God to be the
depositary of his truth ? Or do heathen inscriptions record that
truth more accurately than the holy men who of old were in
spired of God on purpose for that work ?
SAKKUT AND CHIUN.
Amos 5:26. Yea, ye have borne Siccuth your king, and
Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to your
selves. As some reader of this volume may look for a word con
cerning this Scripture an explanation is here attempted. E.
Schrader (Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament, 442)
translates, "As ye have sought after Shakkut your king, and
Kiwan your star -god, your images which ye have made for
yourselves," etc.
Shakkut is another name for that god of many names, Ninip,
Adar, Uras, etc., as is shown. in R. II. 57. 40, and so " your king "
in this passage agrees perfectly with the meaning of Adram
melech (Adar is king). See " Adrammelech."

286 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Chiun is Kaaivanu or Kaaimanu, the sign can be read
either way (R. II. 32. 25), the name of the planet Saturn. The
Peshito version reads here Kimo, so Castell.* Schrader says,
Kaivono. The reading Remphan or, more correctly, Raiphan, in Acts
7:43, arose from the writers of the Septuagint, which Stephen
quotes, taking the Hebrew 3 for 1. The name would then read
Raivan, which was softened into Raiphan.
SALT, SOWN WITH.
Judg. 9:45. He (Abimelech) sowed the city with salt.
2 Kings 3:25. On every good piece of land they cast every
man his stone, and filled it.
We find something to match this barbarous mode of war
fare in R. I. 14, 15 and A. M. 4. 25, where Tiglath Pileser says
that the whole of the city of Khunusu he laid waste ; he reduced
it to heaps of rubbish and sowed stones of tsipa, whatever that
may be — perhaps stones of a certain size, as we say paving stones —
over its surface. It sounds like the Aramaic word for stone.
SAMARIA PEOPLED FROM ASSYRIA.
2 Kings 17:24. And the king of Assyria brought men
from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva and from Ha
math and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria
instead of the children of Israel.
In the annals of Sargon, the builder of the palace at Khor
sabad discovered in 1843 by Mons.. Botta (Cylinder Inscription,
line 20), he is called the conqueror of the people of Tamudi,
of Ibadidi, of Marsimani, of Khayapa, the rest of whom trouble
befel, and he made them to dwell in Bit Khumri (the house of
Omri, Samaria) ; but this only speaks of the deportation of some
Arab tribes to Samaria.
An inscription better fitted to illustrate the above scripture
is found in Hall II. tablet 3, as numbered by Mons. Botta, where
Sargon says, " I took the city of Bit Khumri (Samaria) and
led into captivity 27,280 persons. ... I carried them to Assyria
* The explanation may be that the references in. Castell's Lexicon refer to
another Syriac version of the Old Testament.

SANCTIFIED FROM THE WOMB. 287
and in place of them I caused men to dwell whom my hand had
conquered. I set over them my shuparshaki (generals) as pikhati
(governors), and laid on them the same tribute as on the men
of Assyria." 1 Kings 17 : 28 tells us that a priest whom they had carried
away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel and taught
them how they should fear the Lord ; and we are almost startled
to read (Sargon, Cylinder, 74) " Sons of Assyria, of intelligent
insight in all things, wise and learned in books, I commanded
to take good care and teach them to fear God and the king."
According to Isa. 20:1, the Tartan (general) of Sargon
captured Ashdod, and his Cylinder Inscription, line 18, records
the fact that he carried the king of Ashdod into captivity.
It is not many years since the veracity of Isaiah was called
in question because he alone mentioned a Sargon, king of Assyria,
and no secular historian made any mention of such a name ; but
the splendid palace at Dur Sargina, with its voluminous records,
has triumphantly vindicated the prophet.
SANCTIFIED FROM THE WOMB.
It is written of John the Baptist (Luke 1:15), " he shall be
filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb ;" and
of Jeremiah the prophet (1 : 5), " before thou earnest forth out of
the womb I sanctified thee." These words find a very unlooked-
for illustration in the India House Inscription of Nebuchadrezzar,
col. 1. 23-29. See R. of P. new III. 105.
"After that the lord my god had created me . . . that
Merodach had framed the creature in the mother, when I was
born . . . when I was created, even I, the holy places of the god I
regarded, the way of the god I walked in."
So also Asshurbanipal says (Ass'l. 3, and R. of P. L
59) : "lam Asshurbanipal, the creature of Asshur and Beltis,
son of the great king of Bit riduti (north palace on Koyunjik),
whose name Asshur and Sin the lord of crowns from remote
days have mentioned for the kingship, and created in the womb
of his mother to rule over Assyria ;" literally, for the shepherd-
hood of Assyria.
Nabonidus says (R. V. 64. 4. 5 and A. M. 35 3 and 4) that

288 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Sin and Ningal in the womb of his mother appointed his fate
to the kingship. SAVOR, SWEET.
Gen. 8 :2i. And the Lord smelled the sweet savor. Com
pare Exod. 29: 18; Lev. 1 :g, 13, 17; 2 Cor. 2: 15; Eph. 5:2.
In the Chaldean account of the deluge (R. IV. 50. 49, D. L.
105. 151, and A. M. 60. 19), after Khasisadra left the ship and
offered sacrifices, it is added, as in Genesis, " The gods inhaled
an odor. The gods inhaled a pleasant odor." Ilani itsinu irisha,
itsinu irisha tabi.
Nabonidus says (R. V. 64. 2. 11, 12 and A. M. 36. 24. 25),
" Doors of cedar, whose fragrance was pleasant, I erected in its
doorway." SAW NOT ONE ANOTHER.
So the authorized version renders Exod. 10 : 23, but the He
brew reads vnx nx rs isn xh, Lo raoo eesh eth akhiv : no man saw
his brother. Thus Moses describes the intense darkness which
God produced in Egypt during the day time when he sought to
induce Pharaoh to let his people go out from their house of bond
age. And the Assyrian record of the deluge uses precisely the
same language to describe the darkness caused by that event :
Ul immar akh akhushu, Brother did not see his brother. D. L.
104. 106, A. M. 58. 24. SCEPTRE, GOLDEN.
Esther says (4:11), that whosoever, whether man or woman,
shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called,
there is one law for him, that he be put to death, except such to
whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live.
It may seem to the reader of such a statement that the life
of some might be sacrificed because the sceptre did not happen
at the moment to be within reach of the king. It may, however,
reassure such to know that in all the bas-reliefs of Persian kings
at Persepolis, and there are many, there is not one in which the
king does not hold the long slender sceptre in his right hand.
In fact it formed a part of the royal dress, and the king would
no more appear on his throne without that than without any
other portion of his royal apparel.

SEAL OR SIGNET. 289
SEA TO SEA, FROM.
Psa. 72 : 8. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea.
Sennacherib in R. III. 12. 3, and Senn. 4. 3 says: Ultu aabba
iliniti sha shnlnin shamshi adi tamti shapliti sha ziit shamshi
gimri maalki sha kipraati ushaknish shipuua: From the upper
sea of the setting sun (Mediterranean) to the lower sea of the
rising sun (Persian Gulf), all the kings of the regions I brought
into submission at my feet.
Sargon also has a similar statement in his inscription in
Halls II. and V., as numbered on the plans of Mons. Botta ; for a
translation see R. of P. VII. 27.
SEAL OR SIGNET.
Where we would append our signature to a letter the Orien
tal appends his seal. So every man except the very poor has
his signet, which he either carries in his bosom or wears on his
finger-ring. Tamar asked of Judah his signet as a pledge for
the payment of money. Gen. 38:18. Jezebel wrote letters in
Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal. 1 Kings 21:8.
It is a general impression that seals are used to authenticate
the documents to which they are attached, but all are not aware
of the extreme care that was sometimes taken in the matter.
The seal of the monastery of Mount Athos, on an island in the
JEgean Sea, was in four pieces, and each piece was entrusted to
a different person. The key that combined them into one was
kept by the secretary, so that it required the presence and co
operation of five men before a document could be sealed.
When the writer resided in Mesopotamia he found that cus
tom required a seal to be used with the signature of an ordi
nary letter, and so he had to provide one to authenticate his own
signature, which he still retains. This custom is not confined to
men in office, but exists among all classes in the community who
use the pen at all. In such a land one sees new meaning in the
Scripture statement, " He that hath received his testimony (i. e.
of Christ) hath set to his seal that God is true " (John 3 : 33), or,
as the new revision has it, " hath set his seal to this : that God is
true." Assyrian Echoes. I Cj

29O ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
It is a pure delight to affix our seal, if only in thought, to
any and every statement of Holy Scripture, and when we read
it in that state of mind the Word is radiant with a new beauty,
for God himself looks out of the page on us and his own lips
address us. Let any one read such a word as Isa. 66: 13, "Ass
one whom his mother comforteth so will I comfort you," with
no special apprehension of the truth, and then let him set to
his seal that this is true, and it will be as if he entered a new
world. The same practice prevailed in Babylonia and Assyria.
According to M. Menant, there were when he wrote as many as
3,000 of their seals in Europe. The British Museum alone had
at that time 660, the Cabinet des Antiques in Paris 500, and the
Louvre 300. P. and C. II. 251. At first they were in the form of
cylinders, but afterwards they were made in the shape of cones
or spheroids. The cylinder was rolled on the moist clay, as may
be seen illustrated in B. and N. 609, P. and C. II. 256. The
others were simply stamped, as the matrix occupied their lower
surface. The cylinders were cut in limestone, marble, and
steatite, or in the harder basalt, porphyry, syenite, and hematite.
The others were made of jasper, onyx, and chalcedony, gar
nets and rock crystal. The oldest of these conical seals yet dis
covered dates from the reign of Bin Nirari, king of Assyria "to
ward the end of the ninth century B. C. P. C. II. 277, query
Vul or Rammanu Nirari II., 913-891 B. C.
The engraving on all of them is in the style of intaglio, not
of cameo. Some of them, as, e. g., those in P. and C. II. 261, are
rude enough ; heads and shoulders are represented by drilled
holes of equal size, and knee-joints and calves of the legs by the
same contrivance. Others again, as on pages 262 and 264, are
very creditable pieces of work. These facts in the neighboring-
nation of Babylonia amply justify speaking of "the work
of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet " (Exod.
28:11) as early as 1491 B. C, which was as long before the
Christian era as the discovery of America by Columbus was
after it.
Job speaks of being "turned as clay to the seal," 38 : 14, and
Mr. Layard found in a chamber or passage in the south west

SEAL SKINS. 29I
corner of the palace of Koyunjik many lumps of fine clay bear
ing the impressions of seals which had been affixed to docu
ments like modern official seals of wax, though the documents
themselves had either been burned or perished from decay.
B. and N. 153.
The seal of King Urukh, or Ur Bagas, as Prof. Sayce calls
him, H. L. 167, once belonged to Sir Robert Ker Porter, then
for a long time was lost, but recently it has been recovered and
is now in the British Museum. P. and C. I. 38. It is of green
serpentine and shows the king on his
throne. Two of the legs of the throne /~*\
are shaped like legs of oxen. Mi ® \ ilk
When the writer left Mosul, in if |j'j '|f|
1844, Mons. Botta gave him for a m :|||a
souvenir a beautiful chalcedony seal ^ssm^^
with the sacred tree engraved on it, SEAL PEESENTED TO DR- LA™'E-
surmounted by the winged globe, a priest on one side of the
tree and a dagger behind him. SEAL SKINS.
Exod. 36 : 19. And he made a covering for the tent of rams'
skins dyed red, and a covering of seal skins above (them).
The old version reads badgers' skins, but seal skins is more
correct, for they belonged to some sea animal, and most proba
bly to the seal.
It would be very easy to refer to Dr. Julius Oppert, the
French savant, who quotes Sargon as saying, " I built in the
town (of Dur Sargina) palaces covered with skins " (R. of P. VII.
54 and XL 40) ; and again, " palaces covered with the skin of the
sea calf" (R. of P. IX. 18); also "halls covered with "(sea calf)
skins " (XL 36) ; or, still better, " I constructed palaces of skins of
takhash," the precise word in the Hebrew (XL 21) ; but unfortu
nately he pronounces takhash to be "a very obscure word," and
of his sea-calf skins he says, " the assimilation is not quite cer
tain." So, being thus put- on our guard, we look at the only origi
nal of his "palaces covered with skins" within our reach and
find no mention of skins at all, but only of shin piri (ivory), and

292 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
the same is true of his quotation of " palaces covered with the
skin of the sea calf," from the silver inscription of Sargon.
Prof. Lyon, S. 52. 19, reads that also shin piri, and so we con
clude that the whole thing is a mistake.
Indeed, how could it be otherwise, when Moses writes of a
movable tent that needed a covering easy to put on and take off,
and Sargon described permanent structures that were never to
be moved from the place where they were first erected ? Simi
larity of material in circumstances so diverse would have thrown
doubt over the inspired narrative more than it would have illus
trated the work of Moses. SEPHARAD.
Obadiah (v. 20) speaks of " the captivity of Jerusalem which
is in Sepharad." Till recently the locality of this country was not
definitely known, but in the Achaemenian inscription at Behis-
tun the name of Spareta immediately precedes that of Yanna
(Ionia) and it is spoken of as " by the sea." Also at Nakshi Rus-
tum it occurs between Cappadocia and Ionia, and so it represents
central Asia Minor west of the Halys, or the Greek provinces of
Galatia and Bithynia. R. of P. new VI. 8.
SERPENT.
If Paradise lay in the region of the lower Euphrates, we
should expect to find not only some trace of the name of Eden
and of the tree of life, but also of the serpent, and though the
trace is not very distinct still we find it. Among other names of
the Euphrates, it is called " the river of the serpent," and as it is
not noted for its sinuosity it would seem as though this title was
an echo of the narrative in Genesis. Then Ea, the local deity of
Eridu, was the god who is said to have taught the Babylonians
the knowledge of practical arts, and he had a daughter, named
Nina or Nana, who was also spoken of as " the serpent." Have
we not here also a trace of the serpent who was "more subtile
than all the beasts of the field " ? True, the connection is some
what remote, but still it may claim a place among Assyrian echoes
of the Word.
There is a strong temptation to include among them a seal

SEVEN.

293:

SEAL REPRESENTING TREE OF LIFE AND TEMPTATION
OF ADAM AND EVE.

containing the representation of a tree with fruit hanging on
some of its branches and a
man and woman seated near
by with a serpent close by
standing very unnaturally
on its tail. But though this
seems a perfect picture of the

Mosaic narrative, yet until
we have some evidence that
it was intended to be this we
do not feel at liberty to claim it as an endorsement of the sacred
narrative, for it may relate to something else, and there are
enough of reliable facts set before us by the monuments, without
resorting to uncertain things that after all may fail us. Still the
resemblance is so complete as to justify the mention of this fact.
SEVEN.
The number seven is very prominent in Scripture. Seven
of every clean beast were taken into the Ark. Balaam ordered
the erection of seven altars. Seven priests blowing seven trum
pets marched around Jericho seven days, and on the seventh day
did so seven times, when the walls fell. Samson was bound
with seven withes, and his seven locks of hair were shaven off.
The golden lampstand in the tabernacle had seven lamps. Seven
baskets of broken pieces were taken up after the feeding of the
four thousand, and time would fail to tell of the seven candle
sticks, seven stars, seven trumpets, seven seals, seven angels, etc.,
etc., of the Revelation.
The division of time into seven days is common to Scripture
and the monuments. The Assyrian flood lasted seven days.
Seven vessels of earthenware were prominent in the sacrifice
that followed. Seven gates had to be passed through into Sheol
by Ishtar. The witch tied seven magic knots. R. IV. 3. 5. 6.
The sick man was anointed seven times with oil. R. IV. 26. 49.
Certain prayers had to be repeated seven times, the planets
and the demon messengers of Anu were seven, and the god
number seven received special honor. H. L. 82.

294 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
SHADOW.
In our cold climate it sounds strange to hear the shade
spoken of as a thing to be desired or trusted in. But in Isa. 30 : 2
we find men trusting in the shadow of Egypt, and in R. V. 10.
64 we find the monuments speak of the good shadow of the gods,
i. e., their benign protection. More than that, it speaks of their
divine darkness of peace, ilu rapala shunu sha shalami; i. e.,
their divine shadow, which is a benediction to them that enjoy it.
Asshurbanipal says (R. V. 62. 15, and A. M. 24. 2), over all
the cities I placed a protection (literally, a shadow).
SHEPHERD.
Rev. 7:17 assures us that not only in this life, but also in
the world to come, the Lord Jesus Christ shall be our shepherd.
"The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall be their
shepherd." The old version read " shall feed them," but the
verb is mupavei from the noun mw^v shepherd. It also means to
govern, as in Matt. 2:6; Rev. 2 : 27, 12:5, etc.
Precisely so in Assyrian, from the noun riu, or rium, we have
the verb riu with the same meanings corresponding to the He
brew ny\ ; though there it is the present participle form that
means shepherd.
Thus Sargon styles himself riu kiinu, true or faithful shep
herd (A. M. 9. 3, and Layard 33. 2, also Prof. Lyon's Sargon,
1. 3). In this last work the verb is found with the meaning
"to rule," in 11. 72: "The warrior of the gods, the lord of all,
ruled the dwellers in mountain and plain in the four realms
(i. e., quarters of the world) of strange tongues and speech dis
cordant." Sargon here is speaking of the god Adar, named also
Ninip and Uras, to whom he ascribes the epithet " lord of all,"
a title which belongs to Christ alone, Acts. 10: 36; who has not
only all authority in heaven and in earth, Matt. 28: 18, but is
also our Shepherd, Psa. 23 : 1. SHIP.
Isa. 43 : 14. The Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing.
The Persian Gulf in ancient times extended up so far as to

SHUSHAN THE PALACE. 295
make Chaldea a maritime province, and the Chaldeans a sea
faring people, so that what in English is the sailor's " Yo heave
ho!" must often have been heard in the ancient harbor
•of Ur. It is a corroboration of the above Scripture that whereas
Moses speaks of the " ark " of Noah, the writer of the Izdubar
legends everywhere speaks of a "ship." It is uniformly its
elippu, the ship, and not the ark.
SHOULDER PEELED.
Ezek. 29:18. Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his
army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was
made bald, and every shoulder peeled.
One day in Mosul, Mons. Botta told me that he had found a
-wonderful illustration of this Scripture in one of his bas-reliefs
at Khorsabad. It represented the siege of a seaport ; the sol
diers were at work carrying stones on their heads, and great
teams of timber were borne on the shoulders of as many as
¦could well get under them, so that a long continuance of such
toil was well fitted to make the heads bald and peel the shoulders
of the soldiers engaged in the work. See Monuments de
Ninive. SHUSHAN THE PALACE.
Esther 1 : 5, 6. The king made a feast unto all the people that
-were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small,
seven days in the court of the garden of the king's palace ; there
were hangings of white cloth, of green, and of blue, fastened with
¦cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of mar
ble; the couches were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of
red and white and yellow and black marble.
Loftus describes four masses of ruins belonging to ancient
Shushan. The citadel, a mound rising 119 feet above the water
in the river and 2,850 in circumference. The eastern platform
extensive but not easily defined, because it sinks so gradually
into the plain. The central platform covering upwards of sixty
acres represents the city ; and lastly in the northwest corner is Shu
shan the palace, a large square mound near the centre of which
•was a square of 36 pillars. From the centre of one pillar to

296 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
the centre of the next is 27 \ feet, making the whole group about
140 feet square. The pillars are gone, only their bases remain.
These are four feet three inches high and rest on blocks of lime
stone nine feet square. Three of the 36 bear trilingual inscrip
tions in the cuneiform character. Distant from this central
group 64 feet 2 inches on the west, north and east, stand two
lines of bases, six in each line, making 36 in all, the same
number as the central group, forming a parallelogram 343 feet 9
inches by 244 feet. The central bases are square but the outly
ing ones bell-shaped, and from fragments the base and capital
were reproduced, though of course the height could not be ascer
tained. Each capital may be readily divided into four parts,
and the four together measure 28 feet in height. See Loftus'
C. and S. 369.
If the central group of pillars supported a roof, and awnings
extended from that to the three outer lines of pillars, in the style
of the throne room at Teheran as given in B. and N. 649, Xerxes-
had a most magnificent hall for his feast, where his guests
might look out from their gold and silver couches on the city
and country and enjoy the cool breeze, that was not hindered by
walls from circulating freely through the hall.
As for the pavement of red and blue and white and black
marble, Loftus, 408, speaks of " a piece of red sandstone slab "
and also of " a broken slab of blue limestone;" 415, mentions
very archaic sculptures upon a trough of yelloiv limestone, lying
in the river near the tomb of Daniel ; and chap. 31. p. 416 seq.
describes the celebrated " black stone " that was found on the
palace mound and rolled down to the bank of the river, where it
long served as a washing-block, till the offer of 1,400 kerans for
it by a Frank resulted in its being blown up by a Seyid of the
Beni Lam tribe in the vain hope of securing the gold he thought
must be inside of a stone valued so highly ; the fragments were
built into a pillar in the veranda of the tomb.
These facts are all the more interesting because Mr. Loftus
was not thinking of an illustration of the description in Esther
when he unwittingly furnished one so satisfactory.

SILOAM, THE INSCRIPTION AT. 297
SHUTTING.
Our Saviour describes himself to the church at^Philadelphia
as " He that openeth and none shall shut, and that shutteth and
none openeth." Rev. 3 : 7. The speaker is evidently one pos
sessed of power that cannot be gainsaid or resisted. It is singu
lar that the acts of opening and shutting should have been
chosen to express this idea out of so many other acts that might
have expressed it equally well, but it is still more singular when
we find in the Assyrian monuments that the common name for
governor is pikhatu, he who shuts, from the verb pikhu, to
shut. The use of the title pikhatu is so common that it hardly needs
a reference. Take only one. Esarhaddon, 681-668 B. C, says, I
appointed my generals to be their governors, or satraps (R. I. 45.
1. 34. and A. M. 19. 5). So both in Scripture and Assyrian
the idea of shutting is used to denote an exercise of authority
which no man may presume to contradict or disobey.
SILOAM, THE INSCRIPTION AT.
In the summer of 1880 a boy was playing in the pool of
Siloam at Jerusalem, and while wading up the channel in the
rock that supplies it with water he slipped and fell. His sharp
eyes at once detected traces of an inscription on the rock in the
semi-darkness, and he informed his teacher, Mr. Schick, who tried
to copy it. In the beginning of 1881 Prof. Sayce succeeded in
getting a better copy, but six weeks later Dr. Guthe washed out
with an acid the lime that had formed in some of the characters,
and made a very good facsimile of the whole. It is not in the
round Hebrew characters now in use, but in an old Hebrew al
phabet resembling the Phoenician. The language is pure He
brew, and the writing must have been done in the reign of
Hezekiah, who " stopped the upper course of Gihon, and brought
it straight down to the west side of the city of David," 2 Chron.
32 : 30, and also " made a pool and a conduit and brought water
into the city," 2 Kings 20 : 20, unless the mention of " the waters
of Shiloah that go softly," Isa. 8 : 6, written while Ahaz was yet
on the throne, throws the date farther back, for that " going

298

ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.

softly " must refer to the
quiet flow of this artificial
channel in the rock.
The inscription relates
to the excavation of this tun
nel, which was begun by
workmen at both ends, and
is as follows : " (Behold) the
excavation ! Now this is the
history of the excavation.
While the excavators were
still lifting up the pick each
towards his neighbor, and
while there were yet three
cubits to (excavate, there was
heard) the voice of one call
ing to his neighbor, for there
was an excess (?) in the rock
on the right hand, and after
on that day the excavators
had struck pick against pick,
one against the other, the
water flowed from the spring
to the pool, a distance of 1,200
cubits. And (part) of a cubit
was the height of the rock
over the heads of the exca
vators. ' ' Fresh Light 97- 1 07.
The accompanying fac
simile of the inscription is
from the same work.
The blank spaces show
where the writing has been
obliterated by changes which
time has wrought in the surface of the rock.
In these ancient letters we see the mode of writing that was
«mployed by the earlier prophets of the Old Testament, and
they are of great value for the restoration of passages that have

SIN AND SINAI. 299
"been altered by transcribers, especially of proper names that
lave been misspelt. SIN AND SINAI.
On the east of the Red Sea Israel came into the wilderness
•of Sin, between Wady Feiran and that sea, Ex. 16:1, and of Sinai
-we read that it was moved at the presence of the Lord. Psa.
<66 : 8. What was the origin of these names ? It cannot be the
Hebrew word Sin, for that means mud, and however that deriva
tion might suit Pelusium, located in the mud of the delta of the
Nile, it is not appropriate for either the sand of Sin or the gran
ite of Sinai. Prof. Sayce suggests (H. L. 50) that both names
-were derived from Sin, the name of the moon god, Sinai having
probably been a high place for his worship ; so that his shrine
may have stood there long before Moses asked leave to go three
days' journey into the desert to worship the true God. Ex.
8 : 27. Several things favor this idea. The name of the moon god
and the desert are the same, and though Sinai was far from Ur,
the centre of the worship of Sin, yet, on the other hand, a Him-
yaritic inscription in Southern Arabia contains his name. H. L.
50. Then an inscription on one of the statues found at Telloh,
near ancient Eridu, tells us that the stone was brought from
Magan, which Lenormant and Sayce agree is the Sinaitic penin
sula, and in both style and attitude the statues resemble the
Egyptian statue of Kephren. H. L. 31 and 137.
Nor should this derivation of these names seem strange
-when we meet with the names of so many Babylonian gods in
Palestine. There was a city called Nebo in Moab (Isa. 15:2,
Jer. 48 : 22). The children of Reuben built a city of that name
{Num. 32 : 38). It is well known that Moses died on Mount Nebo
(Deut. 34 : 1, 5), in sight of the moon city, Jericho — for that name
is almost identical with the Hebrew for moon, m\ yaraekh.
There was also a city of Naphtali called Beth Anath (Judg. 1 =33),
in Assyrian, "the house or temple of Anatu," the wife of the
god Anu ; and the birthplace of the prophet Jeremiah was
Anathoth (i : 1), i. e., the Anatus, just as Ashtaroth was the
Ishtars.

3OO ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
If this derivation is correct, and there seems no reason to
call it in question, then that verse of a familiar hymn,
" Shine, Lord, on each divine attempt
To spread the gospel's rays,
And build on Sin's demolished throne
A temple to thy praise,"
has a meaning which its author never dreamed of, and that
manifestation of the glory of the Lord on Sinai becomes a sym
bol and a pledge of the suppression of all idolatry and his taking
possession of the whole earth for Christ.
SINGING MEN AND WOMEN.
2 Sam. 19 : 35. Can I hear any more the voice of singing
men and singing women ?
Exod. 15:1. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel
this song. Ver. 20. And Miriam took a timbrel in her hand.
Ver. 21. With timbrels and dances.
Compare 1 Sam. 18:6, Neh. 7 : 67, and Ezra 2 : 65.
Esarhaddon (R. I. 45. 52, 53, and A. M. 19. 16) says-: itti
amilu lib zikaru u zinnisu ina ribit nina itiittiik : with male
and female singers, or musicians, in the broad street of Nineveh
I marched. There is a bas-relief that represents them as both
singing and playing on instruments (B. and N. p. 435.) Asshur
banipal, in Ass'l. 132. 20, 21, says, concerning Bunanu of Sapibel :
" His wife, his. sons, his daughters, his women, male and female
musicians, I brought out;" and on p. 134, lines 46 and 47, it is
added, " With players making music I entered Nineveh with
rejoicing." Sennacherib also (R. I. 37. 30, and Senn. 35. 30),
among others belonging to Merodach baladan, king of Kardu-
nias (Babylonia) speaks of amilu lib sal lib, players and women
players. In all these inscriptions lib is not the Hebrew a1?,
meaning heart, but ay1?, to play. The Arabic laub has the same
meaning. See " Music." SKIES.
Isa. 45 : 8. Let the skies pour down righteousness.
Psa. 77 : 7. The skies sent out a sound.
In the Chaldean account of the deluge (D. L. 103. 83, and

SLAUGHTER. 301
A. M. 58. 1) it is written, ushaaznannu shamutu kibaati : the skies
poured down woes, or destructions.
In both languages the skies, and not any living person, are
poetically said to do these things. SKIN.
Job 19 : 26. And after my skin had been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh shall I see God.
It is manifest that the word is not used here in the literal
sense. So also Job 2:4," Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath
will he give in exchange for his life." This seems to be a prov
erb in the sense of value for value. Job. 18: 13, "It shall de
vour the strength of his skin," is rendered in the revised ver
sion, " devour the members of his body."
This same word is used in a non- natural sense also in
Assyrian." In R. L 41. 49, and A. M. 15. 15, and Senn. 119. 49 Sen
nacherib says that in Khaluli the enemy was drawn up in front
of maskiya (my skin), that is, myself, or my body, as in Job 18:13.
So the Hebrew uses also ma and Day, both meaning bone, for self,
or body. See Job 21 : 23 : one dieth, literally, in the bone of his
wholeness, i. e., in his full strength, or in his very wholeness ;
and 2 Kings 9:13: they took every man his garment and put it
under him, literally, upon the bone of the steps, i. e., the steps
themselves. In Arabic the word for eye is used in the same
way— to denote the very thing, or the substance and essence of
a thing. SLAUGHTER.
It denotes the very bloody character of ancient warfare,
which was in fact a mutual butchery, that Ezekiel (9 : 2) calls the
weapons used " slaughter weapons." In Assyrian the soldiers
themselves were known by the term slaughterers, or butchers.
So Asshurnatsirpal was accustomed to speak of them as tsabi
tiduki, men of slaughter. See R. I. 18. 47, and elsewhere.
Shalmanezer (A. M. 8. 11) uses precisely the same term in
a similar sense. See also A. M. 8. 18, R. III. 5- No. 6. 10, and
D. L. 98.

302 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
SLAVES.
Gen. 17 : 12. Every man-child in your generations, he that
is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, who
is not of thy seed.
That there were slaves bought with money in Assyria ap
pears from the following bill of sale :
" — Seal of Nabubikhti usur, son of Akhardise the Hasean,
who assists in his art Zikar Ishtar in the town of  . — Seal
of Tebetai his son. — Seal of Silira Asshur his son, the owners
of the woman who is sold.
" The girl, Tavat Hasina, daughter of Nabubikhti usur, Nihti
Equarrau (Nitocris) for 16 drachmas of silver (£2 8s.), for Siha
(her son) to marry her, she bought her. She will be the wife of
Siha. The price was definitely fixed.
" Whosoever at any time hereafter will stand before me, i. e.r
the judge, and will invoke me, either Nabubikhti usur, or his
sons, or his grandsons, or his brothers, or his brothers' sons, or
his representative, or any relative of his, who would claim before
me the annulment of the contract from Nihti Equarrau, her
sons, or her grandsons, shall pay 10 minas of silver. Then he
shall be free from his contract. He has not sold.
" Sahpimayu the sailor. Bel sum idin, son of Udanani. Ardu
Tayat, son of Ate. The man — . These are the three heirs of
the woman (Nitocris) on account of the fastening of the hands,
and the tying of the knots (legal ceremonies), with Kermeoni,
the heir. " In the presence of Akhardise of Nipikalantakar, of Mut-
humhepu of Hasba, of Ululai.
" In the month of Elul, the first day, of the eponymy of
Asshur Shadu Shagil.
" Judged before Nur Shamash, before Muthumpaiti, before
Ate, before Nabu idin akhi, the chief."
The treatment to which slaves were liable may be seen from
the following decision : " If a master saws asunder and kills his
slaves, or injures their offspring, etc., his hand must measure
out every day a half measure of corn " (in requital). R. of P. V.
24. No. 18.

SLAVES. 305.
On the other hand, R. of P. new I. 154-162 gives an account
of the trial of a slave for falsely claiming to be a free man, and
the only penalty imposed was simply the confirmation of the
fact that he was a slave.
Slaves in our own land carried the mark of their condition:
in the color of their skin. This aggravated their suffering, for
if they fled from one locality they were more easily recognized
wherever they went. If they remained where they were their
condition was more hopeless, and now that they are legally free
their color is a constant reminder that they were once slaves and.
invites a continuance of the feelings cherished towards them iu
their bondage.
In Assyria all this was reversed. The slave was of the
same color, and generally of the same people as his master^
If in some cases he belonged to another nation, yet the pres
ence of fellow-countrymen who were free prevented his national
features from bringing down upon him the odium attached to
slavery, and he could rely on the clannish feelings of his tribes
men to help him out of any difficulty in which he might be
involved. Thus his avenues to freedom were many. Not only might he
acquire money and purchase liberty, he could also be set free by
his master, or he might prove in court that he was unlawfully-
enslaved, if that was true. Moreover a man could be taken into-
the service of the king, and a woman into the royal harem, and
in either case this made them free. Indeed a former slave could.
become an officer of the government, and so exercise authority
over his quondam owners. All this tended greatly to mitigate
the asperities of slavery.
It is interesting to note the price of slaves. One slave wo
man was taken as payment of a debt of two-thirds of a maneh of
silver (£6.) Another was estimated at half a maneh (£4. 10s).
A Persian slave woman and her infant at 19 shekels (£2. 17s.)
Sukinnu and her three . . . years old daughter sold for 25 shekels
(£S- 5s-)> an<^ a slave with his wife for 55 shekels (£8. $s. ;) also
the slave of a slave for two-eighths of a shekel (2s.) See So
cial Life among the Assyrians, etc., chap. 6.

304 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
SLEEPETH.
There is a curious illustration of that ironical appeal of
Elijah to the priests of Baal (i Kings 18 : 27), "Cry aloud, for he
is a god; peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked," in an
old hymn to Bel, a hymn so old that it is partly in Accadian.
One line reads thus : " What is Bil (doing) now ? He is resting."
The Accadian hymn must have been written, however, many
centuries before that heroic conflict of the prophet with the
champions of idolatry. SLIPPERY PLACES.
Jere. 23:12. Wherefore their way shall be unto them as
slippery places in the darkness.
This Scripture was impressed so visibly on the mind of the
writer while travelling in the mountains of Assyria that the
reader will perhaps pardon some personal allusions.
In 1843, while on my way to Amadia with Dr. Grant, the
road passed over a hard, smooth shelf of limestone, with a steep
cliff rising on one side and a sheer precipice, I know not how
deep, on the other. My horse was unwilling to trust himself to
the slippery surface, but there was no way round it ; that was
the only road. I had just said to myself, " If my horse ever falls
I hope it will not be here," when, after a moment's scratching 01
the horse's shoe on the rock, I found his feet over the edge and
my foot held firmly under his side. Dr. Grant extricated me
from my perilous position and we resumed our journey.
A still greater peril was encountered by Dr. Azariah Smith
in the autumn of the following year. Dr. Grant had died in
April, and we had gone as far as Julamerk and Berchullah to
learn what was the condition of the Nestorians after the mas
sacre. We were high up the mountain on the east of the Zab,
heading for Tehoma. At one point we were crossing the path
of the avalanches from the summit on our left, and an unbroken
slope of bare clay extended from the peaks above to the edge of
the precipice at whose base the river rushed noisily along on our
right. Nothing but a line of footprints made while the clay was
soft in the spring marked the path. In some way Dr. Smith

SMOKE OF BURNING. 305
lost his footing and began to slide down the steep incline toward
the brink of the cliff. I looked on in horror, expecting to see
him go out of sight to destruction, but just before he reached
the edge he succeeded in grasping a small shrub that God had
planted there for his help, and our sure-footed Nestorians, accus
tomed to such work, soon landed him safe out of danger and we
remounted our saddles.
If now to the slipperiness there had been added darkness
our perils had been greatly increased.
SMALL AND GREAT.
There are some expressions so natural that we utter them
spontaneously ; the lips seem to speak them automatically. In
an age of great refinement they may seem too simple to be used
and men seek to express the same thing in more elaborate ways,
but in the early ages these were precisely the expressions men
loved to use. Among them is the familiar phrase, " small and
great." In Gen. 19: 1, the angels "smote the men that were at
the door of the house of Lot with blindness, both small and
great." See also 2 Chron. 15:13.
So Asshurbanipal destroyed with the sword both small and
great. R. V. 2. 2. and Ass'l. 44. 49. Sennacherib also took
-captive 200, 1 50 Jews, small and great, male and female. R. I.
37. 17. and A. M. 12. 12, also Senn. 61. 17.
Small cattle. Isa. 43 : 23, God complains to his people,
" Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offer
ings." These included both sheep and goats. The Hebrew is
nw and to this corresponds the Assyrian Tsiinu. It is of very
frequent occurrence, especially in lists of plunder. See R. V. 8.
114 and A. M. 30. 27 ; R. I. 39. 19 and A. M. 12. 13 ; R. V. 9. 5
and 42, and A. M. 31. 4 and 34.
SMOKE OF BURNING.
The smoke caused by burning villages in the East is exceed
ingly black and dense, because there is such a mass of earth
upon the roof that it prevents the wood below it from kindling
into a blaze. The writer has more than once seen this in the
case of war, both on Mt. Lebanon and in Kurdistan.
Assyrian Echoes. 20

306 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Similar scenes are mentioned both in Scripture and in the
Assyrian monuments.
Gen. 19 : 28. The smoke of the land went up as the smoke
of a furnace. Compare Rev. 18 : 18.
Sennacherib (R. I. 40. 68, Senn. 109. 68) says that qutur
naaqmuti shunu kima imbari kabti paan shamii rapshuti ushak-
tim : the smoke of their burning, like a dark heavy cloud, cov
ered the face of the whole heaven. And he wrote describing
precisely that which his own eyes had seen.
so, SABAKO.
In 2 Kings we read that Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, the
fourth of that name, who reigned 727-722 B. C, " found conspir
acy in Hoshea, king of Israel, for he had sent messengers to So,
king of Egypt, and offered no present to the king of Assyria, as
he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut
him up and bound him in prison." Mr. Birch of the British
Museum says, in a note in B. and N. 158: "The hypothesis
originally proposed by Marsham, in his commentary on 1 Chron.,
p. 457, and subsequently adopted by others, is that Sabaco is this
So ;" and in a chamber marked lxi. of the palace which Layard
excavated at the southwest corner of the mound of Koyunjik he
found many pieces of clay bearing the impressions of seals—
the documents originally attached to them had been consumed
either by fire or by the decay of the material on which they
were written — and one of these bore a perfectly legible impres
sion of the royal seal of Sabako II. of the XXVth dynasty. The
other seal connected with it, on the same piece of clay, was Assy
rian. The Egyptian king is represented wearing the red cap,
teshr, seizing an enemy with his left hand by the hair of his
head, and about to smite him with the mace which he wields in
his right hand, with the hieroglyphics denoting " the perfect
god, the lord who creates, Sabako." B. and N. 157, note. The
document to which the seal belonged was probably a treaty be
tween Sabako and the king of Assyria (B. and N. 159), and thus
furnishes an interesting illustration of this portion of the word
of God. Unfortunately lines 4 and 5 in the hall marked n. by Mons,

SON OF GODS. 307
Botta, in the great inscription of Sargon which he discovered at
Khorsabad, are destroyed. They appear to have described the
great battle at Raphia between Shalmaneser IV. and So, Sabako,
or Sebech, for the name is written in various ways, but line 6
reads, " Sebech trusted in his armies and advanced against me to
deliver battle. I defeated them by the help of the great god
Asshur, my god. Sebech fled with a shepherd who was watch
ing his sheep and escaped." R. of P. VII. 29.
SON OF GODS.
When Nebuchadrezzar looked into the furnace where Sha-
drach, Meshech and Abednego had been thrown by his orders,
he was astonished to see a fourth person walking with them, all
being alike unharmed in the midst of the fire, and described
him as like a son of the gods, Dan. 3:25. Is there anything in
the inscriptions that throws light on this expression : a son of
the gods ?
One who was devotedly attached to his god was known
among the Babylonians as " the son of his god ;" but this could
not have been the thought of Nebuchadrezzar, for that meaning
does not fit the occasion, and so we must seek for another. The
first gods of the Babylonians were without any distinction of sex,
but afterwards they were known as male and female. Anu had
his Anitu, Bil his Beltis and Ea his Davkina. These last were
the parents of Shamash, the sun god, called also Dumuzi (Tam
muz), the only begotten one, known also as Bil or Bil Marduk by
the Babylonians. Then Namtar (the plague demon) is the son
of Bil (Mullil) ; Adar, called also Ninip or Uras, the god of war,
was another of his sons. The Assyrians also called Asshur " the
Father who created the gods" (H. L. 128. 2) ; and these things
shed light on the expression.
Then as to the relation of man to the gods. A hymn to Ea
speaks of him as the creator of the black-headed race, i. e., the
non-Shemitic race from Eridu (H. L. 143). In the story of the
deluge Ishtar calls herself the mother of the human race (see
also R. IV. 61. 27). So that Nebuchadrezzar may have had in
mind either a god or a man who was a son of the gods, most
likely the former.

308 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Our interest in this incident is greatly increased by another
consideration. When the old Babylonians saw fire devouring
like a thing of life, and also ministering to the wants of man,
they worshipped it as a god. Afterwards Gtibil, this fire god,
was absorbed in Shamash, the sun god, and Shaul, another form
of Gibil, became identified with Bil Marduk, the great god of
Babylon. It was most astounding, then, for Nebuchadrezzar
not only to find his command disobeyed, but that fire, which
was the special servant of his god, had no power to punish the
disobedient. It was not only that the furnace heated seven
times hotter than usual did not burn up rebels, but that the exe
cutioner belonging to his own god had no power against them.
Surely he must be a Great God against whose servants the all-
devouring fire of Merodach could avail nothing. It was the fact
that the angel of this God had power to nullify the force of
flames acting under Merodach that led Nebuchadrezzar to say
that he was like a son of the gods.
SONS OF ZION.
Jeremiah in his Lamentations (4 : 2) mourns over the calami
ties of " the precious sons of Zion." Asshurbanipal often speaks
of the sons of Assyria. Thus, R. V. 2. 24, Ass'l 29. 57 and A. M.
48. 25 and 26, he says that Urdamani, son of Shabaku, king of
Egypt, gathered his army to fight my troops, apli matu ilu
Ashurki, the sons of Assyria.
He also speaks of apli Babil, the sons of Babylon, in R. V.
4. 92, A. M. 27. 5, and Ass'l. 153, 22 and 25, also 168. 27, showing
that the form of expression was common to both Hebrew and
Assyrian. SOUL IN life.
Psa. 1 19 : 175. Let my soul live.
Psa. 66 : 9. Who holdeth our soul in life.
The Hebrew word wsi nephesh, rendered soul in both these
scriptures, means life as well as soul. The corresponding word
in the Greek, m^pa, has the same peculiarity, and precisely the
same thing is true in the Assyrian. Thus Asshurbanipal, R. V.
3. 17. Ass'l. 87. 74, says that Uaallii, king of Minni, ashshu balat
napishtishn, in order to the life of his soul ; the identical word in

STARS. 309
Assyrian which we had in the Hebrew, and, like it, meaning life
as well as soul.
"To the saving of their lives" (souls) is a very common
phrase also. See R. III. 5. No. 6. 14, and A. M. 8. 20, also R. I. 42.
18, and A. M. 16. 30, also R. III. 14. 39 and 41, and A. M. 17. 15,
and 20, and compare Heb. 10: 39.
These things show that in passing from the Hebrew to the
Assyrian and vice versa we do not leave behind us the phrases
that have become familiar to us in either, and as the usus
loquendi of the Hebrew has moulded the style of our English
Bible it follows that we are at home in many Assyrian idioms.
spoil.
Num. 31:12. The captives and the prey and the spoil. He
brew hhv.
No one can read very far in the records of Assyrian kings
without meeting with the Assyrian form of this word. Shal-
latu ashlula, I carried away spoil, is a universal statement, and
constantly recurring in the records of their campaigns. Instead
of quoting instances where the expression occurs, take the fol
lowing detailed enumeration of what their spoil consisted in :
Asshurnatsirpal records, R. I. 19. 84-88, that he took away from
the city of Asibi, silver, gold, copper (various forms of this are
mentioned), iron, tin, alabaster, hilts for swords and daggers ; the
women of the palace, their daughters, relatives, and treasures ;
esuquru stones, chariots, war horses, yokes, trappings of horses,
and accoutrements of men, birmi (variegated ?) garments, qitu
(linen?) garments, beautiful stands of cedar, perfumes, cases of
cedar-wood, red and blue purple, heavy wagons, oxen, flocks, etc.
There are two words to denote spoil, khubtu and shallatu.
Both of them are found in R. V. I. 116 and 117, A. M. 46. 7. 8,
and Ass'l. 23. 121, itti khuubti maadi shallati kabitti : with much
plunder and abundant spoils peacefully I returned to Nineveh.
STARS.
Deut. 4 : 19. And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven,
and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even
all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them
and serve them.

310 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Babylonia was the cradle of astronomy. It was also the
earliest home of the worship of the stars. That people named
the leading groups of stars, formed a calendar, and noted and
recorded eclipses ; they divided the annual course of the sun
through the sky into twelve sections, and named each from its
most prominent star, and thus formed the Zodiac. Its signs are
Accadian, from " the directing bull " of the first to " the fish of
Ea," which was the last. The fact that their Zodiac began with
Taurus proves its antiquity, for that constellation ushered in the
year at the vernal equinox from B. C. 4,700 to B. C. 2,500; but
the copy of the great astronomical work of Sargon of Accad now
extant, called " The Observations of Bel," makes Aries to open
the year instead of Taurus, showing what changes the work had
undergone in the days of Asshurbanipal.
However that may be, whether in the days of the king of
Accad or of the king of Nineveh, the stars were regarded and
worshipped as gods. Babylonian cylinders with their frequent
representations of a star show that they were their gods. In
deed the most ancient form of the word god was an eight-rayed
star, and this was used as the determinative for deity. The
enumeration of the sacred days in the month Elul (September)
and the rule of worship for each ordained that on the tenth night
sacrifices should be offered to two specified stars (R. IV. 32. 47-
50, H. L. 72,) and long afterwards an Assyrian scribe required the
king to sacrifice to the stars, to Asshur and to Marduk. It will be
noticed that the stars took precedence of both the god of As
syria and the god of Babylon. See H. L. 396-402.
When God would -reveal to Abraham the number of his
posterity (Gen. 15:5), he brought him forth abroad, and said,
" Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to
tell them," and he said unto him, " So shall thy seed be."
And when Asshurnatsirpal would describe the immense
plunder he had taken from some captured cities, after enume
rating the things mentioned under " Spoil," he ends by calling
it an immense booty, which, like the stars of heaven, could not
be counted. R. I. 19. 86-88. The metaphor is the same, but
how different the object and spirit of its use. In the one case it
points to a blessing through which all the families of the earth

STONES, COSTLY. 311
are to be blessed ; in the other it is employed by a robber to set
iorth the extent and thoroughness of his robbery.
STONES, COSTLY.
1 Kings 5:17. And the king commanded and they hewed
•out great stones, costly (niipi) stones, to lay the foundation of the
house with wrought stone.
These were manifestly different from what we call precious
stones, such as John saw in the foundation of the walls of the
New Jerusalem (Rev. 21 : 19, 20). Their costliness depended not
on their intrinsic value, but partly on the amount of labor be
stowed on them — in hewing them out of the ledge, squaring and
shaping them for the place they were to occupy in the structure —
and partly on their size. Stones of ten cubits, such as some of
Ihem were, must have been very valuable. 1 Kings 7:9, 10.
The Assyrians also made a distinction between precious
stones and the square stones used in building. The former they
named abni nisikti, and the other abni piili. D. L. translates
this last quaderstein, and so does Prof. Lyon in his Sargon, though
in his A. M. he renders it only "a kind of stone." I incline,
however, to the opinion that the first will be found in the end to
be the true meaning. The wall that retains the eastern ap
proach to the bridge across the river Tigris at Mosul is con
structed of these large, square, costly stones taken from the
palaces of Nineveh. The stone is different from that used for
"bas-reliefs and inscriptions on the walls of the palaces : that is a
dark-colored sulphate of lime, so soft that it can be cut with a
knife, but these are of mountain limestone, much harder, and of
a lighter color. There must have been some name to distin
guish them, and if piili is not that name no other is yet found.
The above also furnishes an illustration of Dan. 2 : 45 : " For
asmuch as thou sawest that a stone was cut out of the mountain
without hands." Some read that Scripture as though it had no
basis in any actual occurrence, but was an imagination of the
prophet and nothing else. But both Daniel and his readers had
seen these huge costly stones growing under the hands of the
workman as he laboriously cut them out of the mountain ledge,
and he seizes on the fact as a fit illustration of that work of God

312 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
out of which shall grow something larger than any costly stone
of Baalbek, or the mountain from which it was taken, for it shall
fill the earth.
The summer visitor at Cape Ann, in Massachusetts, may see
in the granite quarries of Rockport just such a process going on as
the prophet has here made use of to illustrate the work of God
in the earth, only, while the abnu piili is smaller than its parent
ledge, and never grows, the kingdom of God shall not cease grow
ing while earth has one square foot of surface unfilled with the
glory of the Lord. STOREHOUSES.
After Joseph had gathered up the grain of the seven years
of plenty and stored it in the cities (Gen. 41 : 48), when the famine
came he opened the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians
(verse 56), and all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy
corn (verse 57).
In the precepts of Ptah Hotep, an Egyptian papyrus said
to be the most ancient book in the world, the writer speaks of
the Larit, a well-guarded collection of magazines for storing-
away all kinds of provisions, and says : " If thou art employed
there, determine from the first never to be absent, even wheu
weary ; keep an eye on him who enters ; what is consigned to
thee is above appreciation." Am(o)nteh, overseer of one, tells us
that he never closed his eyes at night. The place was guarded
so carefully that only the presentation of the seal of the gov
ernor could open the door, and its keepers had authority to
strike even an official who did not produce the seal. The tax of
the corn raised in the district formed the principal contents of
these buildings, and the tomb of Rekhmara shows the peasants
bringing the whole of their wheat that the government might
take its quota, as the farmers in Turkey do to-day. They empty
their baskets in a heap, from which the keeper measures out
the share due to the state, so fixed are the customs of the East.
In the same tomb we see foreigners bringing their sacks to
be filled with grain, as the sons of Jacob did when their brother
Joseph ruled in Egypt. Gen. 42 : 3 and 25. See R. of P. new,
III. 1-10.

STRAW FOR BRICK.

313

STRAW FOR BRICK.
Ex. 5:7. Ye shall no more give the people straw to make
brick as heretofore. Let them go and gather straw for them
selves. Many see no use for straw in making brick, unless as fuel
for the brick kiln ; but the bricks of Assyria and Babylonia are

BABYLONIAN BRICK. (IN THE LOUVRE.)
more than fifteen inches square and three or four inches in
thickness, and chopped straw is mixed with the wet clay to give
it firmness and consistence. A friend sent me a brick from Nin
eveh, and, as it had to come on horseback to Constantinople,
to save the. cost of freight he chopped off all save the in
scription in the middle and then split away part of the thick
ness of the piece that remained. So my heart of a brick from
Nineveh not only shows plainly where the iron used for making'
the inscription broke the straw on the surface, but it shows
everywhere in the mass, which is burned of a red color, the im
pressions of the pieces of the straw in the interior. Of course
the straws themselves have disappeared in the burning, but the
outline of every line in them is as sharp and clear as when the
brick was first moulded, affording a beautiful illustration of the

3 14 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
accuracy of Holy Scripture even in little things, and those, too,
wholly secular and apart from spiritual teaching.
A building contract made in the sixth year of Nabonidus
reads thus : " It is agreed that twelve manehs of silver (;£io8) be
paid for bricks, reeds, beams, doors, and chopped straw for build
ing the house of Rimut." The straw was no doubt for the manu
facture of a clay coating for the wall and for the floors.
There is an interesting fact that deserves mention in this
connection. Mons. Naville, a French explorer in Egypt, dis
covered in Tel el Maskhuta evidence that the ancient religious
name of the city was Pithom (Ex. 1:11), and its civil name
¦Succoth (Ex. 13 : 20). Here, then, was one of the treasure cities
huilt by Israel for Pharaoh (Rameses II.), and from this point
they began their long journey to Canaan. Mons. Naville also
found the treasure chambers which they built, strongly con
structed, and with brick partitions eight to ten feet in thickness.
Some of the bricks had straw and some not; were these last
those made after the order, " I will not give you straw. Go
yourselves ; get you straw where ye can find it " ? Ex. 10 : 20, 1 1.
Prof. Sayce's Fresh Light, 60. It would not be a bad idea
should some Sabbath schools that have Biblical museums add
some of these bricks to their collection.
STRIKE OR THRUST THROUGH.
Psa. 110:5. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through
kings in the day of his wrath.
To the ears of some in this nineteenth century such words
sound strange, but they were not unfamiliar to Assyrian ears.
Asshurbanipal (R. V. 9. 78, and A. M. 32. 29, and Ass'l. 278.
€1) says in the account of his war with Vaiteh, king of Arabia,
Beltis pierced through my enemies with her strong horns:
unaqib nakrutiya ina qarnati gashraati. Four lines farther on
he adds, Dibbaru, the god of pestilence, resistance devised, and
pierced through (uraassipa) my enemies.
Isa. 15 : 19. Thrust through with a sword.
In those connections where the word sword is used in Scrip
ture, kakki, weapons, occurs in the Assyrian inscriptions. Thus
R. V. 4. 2, A. M. 25. 1, and Ass'l. 158. 65, urasipushu ina itsu kakki :

SUICIDE. 315
he thrust him through with weapons. And Nebubilzikri, grand
son of Merodach baladan (R. V. 7. 35, Ass'l. 239. 57), said to his
armor-bearer, in the same words as Saul used in Mt. Gilboa,
1 Sam. 31 : 4, thrust me through, rasipaanni, and in line 61 it is
added, urasipushu, he thrust him through. But where Saul and
his armor-bearer fell separately, each on his sword, the Elamite
chief and his armor-bearer thrust each other through, ina kakki,
with their weapons — probably their swords, or the daggers which
they carried in their girdles. SUCCOTH-BENOTH.
2 Kings 17 : 30. The men of Babylon made Succoth-be-
noth. This would seem to be the name of an idol, for it follows
that the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath
made Ashima, and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak.
While scholars agree in this, and are also generally agreed
that this name represents Zirpanit, the wife of Marduk, who had
a chapel in his great temple of E Sagilla set apart for her wor
ship (see Five Great Monarchies I. 136, H. L. 95, K. A. T. 281
and 282), yet nowhere do I find any explanation of the way
in which Tsir, the great or exalted one, is transformed into
Succoth, the Hebrew for tents. It is easy to see how banit, the
creator (feminine), slides into benoth, daughters. I have some
where met with a verb banu, to shine, from which we might get
shining tents, a name given on account of the special splendor
of her shrine ; but that is nothing more than conjecture. So we
must live in the hope that future finds will make the matter
clearer. SUICIDE.
1 Sam. 31 : 4. Saul took his sword and fell upon it. 2 Sam.
17 : 23. Ahithophel set his house in order, and hanged himself.
In Ass'l. 135. 56 we read that Nabudamiq, when he saw the
lifeless head of his king Teumman, stabbed himself with the
dagger which he carried in his girdle, as the Koords of to-day
carry theirs.
So in Section 29 of the great inscription of Sargon in the
palace at Khorsabad we are told that Urzaha, king of Urardi

316 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
(Armenia), killed himself in the same manner. See under
" Zimri." But suicide seems to have been much more rare in Assyria
than it is among us, perhaps because sinning against greater
light makes men more desperate.
SWIFT DESTRUCTION.
This somewhat unusual expression occurs in 2 Pet. 2:1, but
it finds an exact parallel in the inscription of Tugulti pali shar
ra (R. I. 13. 1. 42), which reads, Tugulti pali sharra, nablu,.
Hhaamtu ma, Shuzuzu, abuub tamhari. Tiglath Pileser, the
swift destroyer, the one who causes to stand, the storm-flood of
battle. This passage is rendered less correctly in R. of P. V. 18. 24 :
Tiglath Pileser, the ruling constellation, the powerful, the
lover of battle. SWORD, A FLAME OF A.
Gen. 3 : 24. And the flame of a sword which turned every
way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
In an ancient Accadian liturgy, translated by Prof. Sayce in
R. of P. III. 125-129, and again in H. L. 480-482 (for the origi
nal see R. II. 19) occur the following lines :
The deluge of battle, the weapon of fifty heads I bear,
Which like the strong serpent of the sea (drives) the foe before it.
That whose light gleams forth like the day,
The terror of whose splendor (overwhelms) the earth,
Which in my right hand is made to move mightily,
The child of battle, the flail of the hostile land I bear.
Bil (Merodach) is the speaker of these words, and the weapon
is the sickle-shaped sword with which he is represented as fight
ing with the dragon Tiamat.
See also the English translation of Lenormant's Beginnings
of History, 137-145.
SYMBOL OF POWER.
Scripture abounds in symbols. Power is represented by a
throne or sceptre, and also by a horn. It is worthy of note that
the power thus symbolized is power for good, and not for evil.
David calls God the horn of his salvation (Psa. 18:2). Hannah

TABERING UPON THEIR BREASTS. 317
said, " Mine horn is exalted in the Lord " (i Sam. 2 : 1), and Mary
sang (Luke 1 : 69), " (God) hath raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David." On the other hand, the Psalm
ist said to the wicked, " Lift not up the horn," i. e., do not put
forth your power to do evil.
The Assyrians used the same symbol for power : horns were
laid in rows one above another around the royal tiara, and also
around the head-dress of the human-headed bulls, to indicate the
greatness of their power, and when they came to describe the
use of that power they showed that in their minds it was power
to destroy. Asshurbanipal says (R. V. 9. 75-78, and A. M. 32. 27-30)
Beltis, the beloved of Bil the victorious, the mighty (?) (kadirti),
the exalted, who with Anu and Bil rules enthroned, pierced my
enemies with her strong (gashraati) horns. So even a goddess
is set forth as not only pushing but piercing the enemies of her
worshipper. It is a sad picture, but quite in keeping with the
spirit of the people and their history.
TABERING UPON THEIR BREASTS.
This very unique expression occurs in the description given
by the prophet Nahum of the reverses of Assyria (2:7): " Her
handmaids mourn as with the voice of doves, tabering upon
their breasts," i. e., smiting their breasts as one beats a drum.
The writer felt sure that there must be some special appropriate
ness in this imagery, but looked in vain through all the com-
mentaries within reach for any explanation of it. At length he
found the following in Dr. W. M. Thomson's The Land and the
Book II. 562, latest edition : " The low sad plaint of the turtle
dove may be heard all day long at certain seasons in the olive
groves and in the solitary valleys among the mountains."
" There is a foundation in the habits of the dove for the phrase
* striking upon their breasts,' for when about to utter its plaintive
moan the throat is inflated and thrown forward till the head
rests on and tabers on the breast."
A description of the conquest of Erech in the Izdubar
legends, K. 3200, says :
Like cattle the people are afraid, like doves the slaves mourn.

318 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
TAHTIM-HODSHI.
2 Sam. 24:6. Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of
Tahtim-hodshi ; and they came to Dan-jaan, and about to Zidom
The route here is plain enough : from Gilead, on the east of
the Jordan, Joab and his captains went either across to the west
of the Jordan, and so up through the high lands west of the sea
of Galilee to Dan, now Banias, or they reached the same point
by keeping on the eastern side of the sea of Galilee and crossing"
the Jordan at Jisr benat Yakoob ; perhaps part of them went one
way and part the other, so as to take the census thoroughly.
Then from Dan they went down to Zidon.
But how about Tahtim-hodshi ? This is the only place in
Scripture where the name occurs, and it is the despair of all the
commentators. The old versions furnish no help, and Gesenius
only says, " vixpro sano habendum." In Robinson's Gesenius it is
not given at all, only tahath is " the lower part," and hodshi a
matronymic from a woman's name. The Septuagint, however,
gives among other renderings of the passage : " The land of the
Hittites of Kadesh," and four ancient MSS. agree in this render
ing. The Speaker's Commentary adopts it, and above all others,
it seems the most likely to be the true emendation of the pas
sage. There was a Kedesh or Kadesh to the west of the waters
of Merom, and that may have taken its name from Kadesh on
the Orontes and, like it, been inhabited by Hittites, and that lies
directly in the route taken by Joab and his captains.
TALENT AS A WEIGHT.
2 Sam. 12 : 30. The weight thereof a talent of gold.
Not that a talent of gold was of a different weight from a
talent of anything else, but the crown had so much weight of
gold in it besides the precious stones.
So Asshurnatsirpal (R. I 25. 73) speaks of 20 biltu (talents}
of silver, a talent of gold, 100 talents of lead, and 100 of iron;
manifestly designations of weight in every case.
In like manner Asshurbanipal (R. V. 2. 42, A. M. 50. 24, and
Ass'l. 54. 77) speaks of two lofty columns made of white or pure
zahali (some sort of metal) 2,500 talents in weight, which he took

TAMMUZ. 319
from in front of a temple in Egypt and carried to Assyria ; no
doubt by water, down the Red Sea and up the Persian Gulf.
TAMMUZ.
Ezek. 8 : 14. Then he brought me to the door of the gate
of the Lord's house which was toward the north ; and, behold,
there sat the women weeping for Tammuz.
Who and what was Tammuz ? This is an interesting ques
tion to such as recall the words of Milton (Paradise Lost L
446-457) : " Thammuz came next behind,
Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured
The Syrian damsels to lament his fate
In amorous ditties all a summer's day,
While smooth Adonis from his native rock
Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood
Of Thammuz yearly wounded. The love tale
Infected Zion's daughters with like heat :
Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch
Ezekiel saw, when, by the vision led,
His eye surveyed the dark idolatries
Of alienated Judah."
The name Tammuz in Assyrian is Buzu, contracted from
Duwuzu, which represents the original Accadian Dumuzi or
Duwuzi, the son of life. H. L. 232.
Prof. Sayce finds the basis of the legend in the sun god of
Eridu, who was the son of the god Ea (H. L. 236) and the god
dess Ishtar, his wife — represented by the Aphrodite of Greek
mythology, as Tammuz was by their Adonis. The legend is
that Tammuz was killed by a boar, and Ishtar went down to
Hades to bring him back again to life. The philosophic explan
ation of the myth is the young and beautiful sun god slain by
the approach of winter ; and this occasioned an annual mourning-
over the death of Tammuz, noted for its fearful exhibitions of
sensual passion and religious frenzy. Greek writers stood aghast
at the violations of social decency enjoined as acts of religious
worship. The worship of the fierce powers of nature required
from the worshipper a sympathetic participation in the sufferings
and pleasures of his gods, involving alternate outbursts of fren
zied self-torture and frenzied lust. H. L. 267.

320 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Amos (8 : 10) says, " I will turn your feasts into mourning,"
and " I will make it as the mourning for an only son ;" and in
the account of the descent of Ishtar into Hades occurs the line
(R. IV. 31. 2. 55), "O my brother, the only one." See transla
tion of the myth, H. L. 221-227.
" When Macrobius states that Adad meant ' the only one ' in
Syrian, he implies that Adad was identical with Tammuz."
H. L. 231. The story of his fate must have come to Phoenicia
in those remote times when Chronos (Ea) had taken Yeud, his
" only begotten son," and, arraying him in royal robes had sac
rificed him on an altar in a season of distress. Philo Byblus 44.
in H. L. 235.
One word about the season of this annual weeping for Tam
muz. In Babylonia he was the god of spring, and his foe was
the summer heat which burned up the entire region ; but when
Julian reached Antioch in the late autumn he found the festival
of Adonis being celebrated, "according to ancient usage," after
the harvest and before the new year, in Tishri (October). So too
Ezekiel saw the women weeping for Tammuz " in the sixth
month," and the feast of Hadadrimmon (Zech. 12 : 10) was in the
autumn. Indeed Macrobius tells us that the Syrians explained
the boar's tusk that slew the god as the cold and darkness of
winter, and that he returned to the upper world with the
lengthening daylight.
The gradual disrobing of Ishtar at each one of the seven
gates on her descent into Hades, and the equally gradual re-
clothing of her on her return, denote the gradual destruction
of verdure by the approach of winter, and the no less gradual
return of verdure in spring. TARTAN.
Isa. 20: 1. In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod, when
Sargon the king of Assyria sent him.
Here the translator evidently takes Tartan for a proper
name. The same is true of 2 Kings 18:17. Gesenius also gave
it as a proper name (see last page of Robinson's ed. Gesenius),
but the Assyrian inscriptions show that it is an official title, and
should be translated " the tartan." It is composed from tur, the

TELASSAR. 32 1
Accadian for son, rendered aplu in Assyrian, and dannu (strong),
and so means the strong son or strong prince. See Ass'l. 14. 1.
and 38. 11. The first of these places speaks of the eponym of
Marlarim, the turtan of the city Ku — the other simply gives the
word, made up as usual of the two ideograms referred to. Senn.
18 and 19 also gives us another eponym : Bilemurani amilu tur-
tannu ; the amilu being the determinative prefix for a class of
men. Prof. Sayce in A. L. and S. 1 56 derives the word from tur
and dannu, but in H. L. 472, note, he says turta (guardian priest)
whence turtann, and refers to R. II. 31. 26. Prof. Delitzsch
says (Hebrew Viewed in the Light of Assyrian Research, p. 12)
that it means commander-in-chief, and is a derivative of turtu,
law. See Bib. Sacra 1884, 382. We have seen that Marlarim
was the turtan of Ku — . Iludari also (Ass'l. 98. 6) was, accord
ing to one copy, Bil pikhatu (prefect), and according to another,
turtan of Luubdi. Then even the Assyrian general might be in
time of peace the ruler of a city, or in old age, when unfit for a
campaign, he might retire to that position.
TEAR IN PIECES.
Ps. 50 : 22. Lest I tear you in pieces.
A terrible expression to our modern ears, and one which we
can scarcely bear to think was ever carried out in practice.
The thing, however, was not at all unfamiliar to Assyrian
thought. Asshurbanipal, one of the mildest of Assyrian kings,
says of Akhsheri, king of Minni (R. V. 3. 9. and Ass'l. 87. 67),
indaashsharu pagar shu : they tore his body in pieces. Nashar is
an eagle, and the verb corresponding to that noun means to tear
in pieces the prey which he brings to his eyrie wherewith to
feed his young. TELASSAR.
Isa. 37 : 12. The children of Eden who were in Telassar.
Compare 2 Kings 19 : 12.
Telassar is in Assyrian Tilu Asshur, the hill of Asshur. G.
Smith (Hist, of Assyria, 1 37) locates it in the mountains south
east (query, west, or even northwest ?) of Assyria, in the region
of the Assyrian Bit Adini, the Eden of Isaiah. It is connected
Assyrian Echoes. 21

322 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
with Gozan (Gauzanitis) or Mygdonia (modern Nisibin), Harart
(Carrhae), and Reseph, the Besappa of the monuments. The
first of these lies along the river Khabor. The next in the val
ley of the Belik, and the last, probably a day's inarch west of the
Euphrates, on the road from Rucca to Hums. Still all these
helps do not enable us definitely to locate the place. The
old version in 2 Kings spells it Thelasar, but the new revisiou
Telassar, as in Isaiah. In Amos 1 : 5 Beth Eden is translated
Xappav in the Septuagint. TELLQH.
Telloh is the name of a group of ancient mounds on the
Shat el hie (river of the serpent), that flows in a southwesterly
direction from Kut el Amarah on the Tigris to Elkut on the
Euphrates. It is not far from the Tigris, and only a few miles
north of ancient Eridu (H. L. 142). To Mons. Ernest de Sarzec,
French Consul at Baghdad, belongs the honor of having exca
vated them and thereby added much to our knowledge of south
ern Babylonia. They contain a small palace, 172 by 101 feet,
after the same pattern as the larger one of Sargon at Khorsa
bad. Digging down the explorer came to another and older
ruin. The upper one was built by King Gudea about 2800 B. C.
It contains the temple of Ningirsa, the fire god. A clustered
column built wholly of brick in a most artistic way claims special
notice ; also a number of statues of Gudea, and one of Urbahu, a
predecessor of Gudea. The most striking thing, however, in
connection with them is that several of them are made of green
diorite from Magan (Sinaitic peninsula), one of the hardest of
all stones, and the pose is identical with that of Kephren in the
museum of Gizeh — also of Menkara and Userenra, all of them
Pyramid kings. They are all made out of the same stone from.
the same locality, and, what is more remarkable, on the knees
of Gudea is a tablet bearing a scale of an Egyptian cubit of 20. 63
inches, and not the Babylonian one of 21.6 inches.
Some dates are full of interest in this connection. In B. C.
3800 Sargon of Akkad and his son, Naram Sin, say they con
quered Magan. A century later, B. C. 3700, Senefru says he
drove out the foreigners from Magan, and between the Vlth
and Xllth dynasties was a period of weakness in Egypt and

TEMPLE. 323
prosperity in Chaldea, and during this period Gudea worked
the diorite quarries and turquoise mines of the Sinaitic penin
sula. See H. L. ; also P. and C. ; but better than either a paper in
" Harper's Magazine," 1894, pp. 190-205, by W. S. Chad Bos-
cawen. TEMPLE.
1 Sam. 1 : 9. Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the
temple (hyn ) of the Lord.
Then even the tabernacle, as well as the more splendid struc
ture built by Solomon, was known by that name. In 1 Kings,
chap. 6, the word is applied to the latter.
The origin of this word was unknown until it was revealed
by the Assyrian inscriptions. Gesenius sought to derive it from
a verb, hy, to be spacious ; still he did not give such a verb a
place in his lexicon. But the monuments revealed the secret of
its origin. The Assyrians named the palace of the king Bit rabu,
the great house ; but the signs that represent these words had
been previously used by the Accadians, who read them E gal or
E kal, with precisely the same meaning, and this old Accadian
E kal reappears, hardly changed, in the Hebrew Haikal. In all
three languages it is the great house in which the sovereign
lord dwells among his people. It was more than seventeen cen
turies before Christ when the old Accadian E kal was supplanted
by the Assyrian Bit rabu ; but the Hebrew Haikal preserves it
to this day, as the amber preserves the dead insects enclosed in
its transparent mass.
We meet the term very frequently in Assyrian, and often
in connections that forbid it to be misunderstood. Thus the
expression Sal nishu ekalisu can mean nothing else than the wo
men of his palace. See R. V. 1. 51 and Ass'l. 308. 31. Also R.
39. 38 and Senn. 64. 38.
The same meaning appears in Prov. 30:28: "The lizard
taketh hold with her hands, yet is she in kings' palaces" (hoTi);
also in Isa. 39 : 7 : " They shall be eunuchs in the palace of the
king of Babylon." And so the temple in Jerusalem was only the
great house in which the King of kings condescended to dwell
visibly among his people, that in their daily life they might

324 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
joyfully sing, " For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst
of thee." Isa. 12 : 6.
The temple at Jerusalem consisted of a central building,
surrounded by courts and other buildings. G. Smith (Athe-
neum, February 12, 1876; and Hib. Lect. 436-440) gives an
account of a Babylonian text that describes E Sagilla, " house
of the raising of the head," the famous temple of BilMardukat
Babylon. In that he mentions two courts and a court within a
court. The number of temples, however, that were here dedi
cated to different idols was in marked contrast with the one tem
ple of the only living and true God.
The Jewish temple had a sanctuary and a Holy of Holies.
Babylonian temples also contained a shrine, Parakku. Prof.
Lyon in his Manual translates it "sanctuary," and Prof. Sayce
as " Holy of Holies." Hib. Lect. 94. It often occupied the upper
story of the ziggurat, though sometimes it was content with a
humbler position ; and, like the inner sanctuary of the Jewish
temple, was regarded as the special abode of deity.
TENSES.
The Assyrian tenses are formed like the Hebrew, by pre
fixes and suffixes ; thus :
1st imp: Sing. 3 m. ishukan Permansive shakin
3 f. tashakan shaknat (a)
2 m. tashakan shaknata
2 f. tashakani sliaknati
1 ashakan shaknak (u)
PI. 3 m. ishakanu (ni) shaknu (ni)
3 f. ishakana (ni) shakna
2 m. tashakanu shaknatunu
2f. tashakana shaknatina (?)
1 nishakan shaknani.
TESTAMENT.
Heb. 9:16. For where a testament is, there must of ne
cessity be the death of him that made' it ; for a testament is of
force where there hath been death, for doth it ever avail while
he that made it liveth ?

THRONE. 325
It is not proposed to endorse this truth by quotations from
the monuments, but only to quote what Prof. Sayce calls " the
earliest example of a will extant," known as the private will of
Sennacherib. Esarhaddon was not heir to the throne by right,
for he was not the eldest son, and his father may have expected
another to inherit the kingdom ; but Esarhaddon was his favor
ite and so he deposited certain treasures with the priests of
Nebo to be paid over to him according to the following testa
ment :
" I, Sennacherib, universal king, king of Assyria, have given
and bequeathed to Esarhaddon my son, afterwards named
Asshur ibil mukinpal according to my will, rings of gold (gold was
preserved in that form), heaps of ivory, a gil of gold (Prof. Sayce
says cup ; it may be a term used as we use the word plate),
crowns (?), and rings other than those before mentioned, all the
treasures, of which there are heaps, precious stones of various
kinds, and a crystal — the weight of them amounting to one-and-
a-half manehs and two-and-a-half shekels," etc.
So Sennacherib intended to provide for his favorite son, but
through the murder of the testator by two of his sons Esarhad
don became his successor on the throne of Assyria.
For the original testament see R. III. 16. 3 ; and for a trans
lation made about nineteen years ago, which the learned transla
tor could now much improve, see R. of P. I. 138.
THRONE.
1 Kings 10 : 18-20. (Solomon) made a great throne of ivory,
and overlaid it with the finest gold. There were six steps to the
throne ; . . . and there were stays on either side by the place of
the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays.
We get a very good idea of this throne from that of Sen
nacherib portrayed herewith. The six steps of Solomon's throne
are wanting, for it is set up out of doors, near Lachish ; but
even so, Layard says, "it stood on an elevated platform."
There was little ivory in it except in the legs, for it was of
wood covered with embossed metal (bronze?). The steps or
arms are there (as well as a high back), and are supported by
twelve men in three rows of four each. The legs ended in pine-

326

ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.

THE THRONE OF SENNACHERIB.

cone-shaped ornaments of bronze, and a richly embroidered
shawl was thrown over the back and hung down almost to the
ground. A highly ornamented footstool furnished a support for
the king's feet.
For a description of the throne found by Mr. Layard at
Nimrood, see B. and N. 198-200.
In the throne. Pharaoh said to Joseph, Gen. 41 : 40, " Only in
the throne will I be greater than thou ;" i.e., in everything else we
shall stand on the same level. This seems contrary to universal
oriental tradition, for in that royalty always takes the precedence
in everything. But if we had arranged beforehand for an illus
tration of this Scripture we could not have devised one so appro
priate as we find in a letter of Aziru to his father Dudu. He
calls him " my lord," the title usually employed in addressing
Pharaoh. Nor that only, but he uses the following collocation
of names (R. of P. new. III. 70. 35 and 36) :
" And thus speak Dudu,
And the king my lord, and the nobles."
So striking was this disregard of the usual precedence that
it suggested at once these words of Pharaoh to Joseph in the
mind of Prof. Sayce (p. 58).
TIGLATH PILESER.
We are told in 2 Kings 15:17 that Menahem began to reign
over Israel in the thirty-ninth year of Azariah, king of Judah,
and the reign of the latter is described as very prosperous, pre
cluding the idea of his suffering any trouble from Assyria.

TOWER OF BABEL. 327
The annals of Tiglath Pileser confirm this, for though R.
III. 9. 23 only mentions his name, the rest of the line "being il
legible, yet line 3 1 speaks of him in such an unfriendly way as
to show that he had not submitted to Assyria.
2 Kings 15: 19 relates that Pul (Tiglath Pileser) received
1 ,000 talents of silver from Menahem, who sought in this way to
secure the favor of Assyria ; and Tiglath Pileser tells us m his
annals (R. III. 9. 50), that he received, among other gifts, those
of Bitsunnu (Rezin) of Damascus and Minikhiimmi Samirinaaa
(the Samaritan). 2 Kings 1 5 : 30 informs us that Hoshea con
spired against Pekah, and slew him and reigned in his stead ;
and Tiglath Pileser tells the story thus (R. III. 10. 26-29) — tne
inscription is very broken, but we can make out : " The land of
Bit Umria ... all the assembly of its people and their property
I carried to Assyria. Paqakha their king I (?) slew. Ausii (Ho
shea) I appointed to rule over them." We cannot determine
who is said to have done the slaying, but Tiglath Pileser claims
the credit of seating Ausii on the throne.
G. Smith (History of Assyria, p. 6) gives only two kings of
this name: T. P. I., B. C. 1120-1100 and T. P. II., B. C. 745-
727; but Prof. Sayce, R. of P. new II. 207, gives three : T. P. I.,
B. C. 1 1 10, T. P. II., B. C. 950, and T. P. III., Pul, or Poros, B. C. 745.
TOWER OF BABEL.
This goes so far back into the past that if any echo reaches
ns from that confusion it must be only a distant and muffled
murmur, yet Prof. Sayce thinks we have a Babylonian version of
the occurrence. Mr. Geo. Smith discovered a fragmentary
tablet which said of the leader of the rebellion that "the
thought of his heart was hostile " (to the gods), and " he had
turned against the father of all the gods." When " he was hur
rying to seize Babylon, and when small and great were mingling
the mound, the divine king of the illustrious mound intervened.
Anu prayed to his father, the lord of the firmament. All day
long he troubled them ; in his wrath he overthrew (their) coun
sel, in his (fury) he set his face to mingle their designs ; he gave
the command, he made strange their plan." The same verb
•which Moses used, mil v. 7, hhi v. 9., is also used in the Assy-

328 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
rian, and in the same sense of mingling or confounding. Prof-
Sayce suggests that Etanna, the Titanos of Greek writers, may
have been the wicked king under whom this event occurred
(Fresh Light, 36.) See H. L. 406 and Trans, of Soc. of Bib.
Archaeology, 1876.
The monuments make the autumnal equinox the time of the
occurrence, for September is " the month of the illustrious
mound ;" so the mound of Borsippa must have been a ruin when.
the Accadian calendar was formed.
The building of this is described Gen. 11 : 1-9, and as the
tower was built in the land of Shumir (Shinar) the reader may
look for some confirmation of the record from the monuments.
We find this in the materials used, burned brick and bitumen
being the articles employed exclusively in all that region. Then
the journeying from the east (verse 2) is confirmed by the Acca
dian tradition that they came from the mountain of the east.
We have not yet as detailed a tradition of the Dispersion
from the monuments as we have of the deluge.
TRANSLATIONS, ACCURACY OF.
The question of the trustworthiness of the interpretation of
the inscriptions by Assyriologists is one of such vital importance
that it deserves thorough investigation. It is easy to indulge in
general statements, and say that, while at first the translations
were more or less tentative, as words were studied in new connec
tions their meaning came to be better understood. So that, just
as the ripe fruit differs from the unripe in sourness and im
maturity, so our interpretations of the monuments, by a process
perfectly natural, become continually more trustworthy.
But an example will present the matter in a clearer light,
and let it be one that makes at first anything but a favorable
impression, though the more we look into it the more clearly
we see that it set out for the true goal from the first, and could
not but reach it in due time. It makes it all the more satisfac
tory that the same learned Assyriologist who made the first
translation also gives us the last.
In his Lectures on Babylonian Literature (p. 78), which
unfortunately was published without date, and has not even a

TRANSLATIONS, ACCURACY OF. 329
preface or printer's colophon to supply the omission, but which
appears to date from about 1877, Pr°f- Sayce gives the follow
ing transliteration and translation of R. III. 16. 2.
1 Abat binat sharri ana
The prayer of the daughter of the king to
2 Neshat D. P. Asslmri sharrati
The lady of the city of Asshur the queen
3 Ataa Umpiki la tasadhdhiri
Why Umpiki dost thou not write ?
4 Impuki la taqabbii
Impuki dost thou not say ?
5 Ulaa iqabbiu
Thus they say
6 Maa annitu belat sa
This (is) the prayer to her lady
7 Sha D. P. D. P. Serua edherat
Of Serua edherat
8 Binati rabitav sha bit-riduti
Eldest daughter of the harem
9 Sha I). P. Asshiir-etil-ili-yukinni,
Of Asshur etil ili yukinni
10 Sharru rabu, sharru dannu, shar kishshati, shar mat Asslmri
The great king, the mighty king, the universal king, king of Assyria.
11 Va atti marat dannat bilti sha D. P. .Asshurbanipal
And thou art the potent princess, the lady of Asshurbanipal,
12 Ibil sharri rabi sha bit riduti
Son of the great king, of the harem
13 sha U. P. Asshur akhi iddina, shar D. P. Asshur
Of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria.
In October, 1890, at least 13 years later, Prof. S. gave the
following translation of the same tablet (R. of P. new IV. XII) :
" Order of the daughter of the king to the lady Asshur Shar-
rat. Now do not inscribe thy tablet, do not utter thy word,
lest perhaps they say, This is the mistress of Serua edherat the
eldest daughter of the harem of Asshur etil ili yukinni, the
great king, the powerful king, the king of legions (all), the
king of Assyria. Yet thou art a mighty princess, the lady of
the house of Asshurbanipal, the eldest royal son of the harem
of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria."
A few notes may throw some light on the changes in this
last translation, and may help some beginner in Assyrian :
Line 1. The professor in his second rendering reads a in at
for abat, and although Prof. Delitszch does not give mat as one

330 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
of the sounds of that sign, yet it must be so, for this is not a
prayer but an order.
Line 2. The determinative prefix here is alu, city, followed
"by the ideogram for the old capital of Assyria, now Calah Sher-
gat, literally, heart city — a very good definition of a capital.
Nishat, better belit.
Line 3. He makes ataa an affirmative particle, not an in
terrogative ; um is read dup, which very closely resembles it ; pi
is the phonetic complement, showing what was the last syllable
of the word. Duppu, gen. Duppi, a tablet ; and ki is the pronom
inal termination of the second person singular, feminine.
Line 4. Impuki is obscure. D. L. says, under im, Buppu ?
But this is not written, it is spoken. So that Prof. Sayce's ren
dering is better. It seems to be a form derived from nabu, to
speak. For ki see line 3.
Line 5. Ulaa is rightly rendered lest, or, literally, that (they
may) not.
Line 6. Annitu is the demonstrative pronoun, feminine, this.
I am not quite sure about sa at the end of the line. It is an
ideogram for band and may imply something of superior author
ity. The writer does not deny this power, but would have it
used wisely. The implication seems to be that Asshur sharrat
had in some way " assumed authority " over the family of the
reigning king.
Line 7. Serua edherat, his eldest daughter, is evidently the
writer of this "order."
Line 8. The reader will notice both here and in line 12 the
nsus loquendi that calls the child of the king the child of his
harem. Line 10. Shar Kishshati is equivalent to universal king, or
lord of all.
Line 11. Atti is the personal pronoun, second, singular,
feminine. Marat, feminine of mar, offspring, and here well-
rendered princess, bilti, lady.
So the professor was quite excusable in missing the exact
drift of the communication at first, because some words were
strange, and either um was written by mistake for dup, or there
"was no clew showing that it was used as an ideogram rather

TREAD DOWN, TRAMPLE ON. 33 1
than a phonogram. Yet, for all that, he was on the right road
and was sure sooner or later to arrive at its true meaning, and
¦every new tablet discovered fills up the lacuna? of those we
have, and either confirms right renderings or corrects mis
takes. Even the Hebrew has still a large space left for progress in
this direction, and the Assyrian has so much more material
-whence- to draw emendation that it would not be strange if it
came in ahead of the language that has been studied so much
longer at the goal of a comparative perfection.
TRAVAILING WOMEN.
We cannot but be struck with the perfect naturalness with
-which the Bible mentions such things, and well is it that it does,
for so woman in her hour of anguish may know that she has a
¦compassionate High Priest. Heb. 11:18.
The Lord Jesus himself spoke words full of sympathy to
such, though one would hardly realize it from the form that is
given to his prophetic condolence even in the revised version
¦of Matt. 24 : 19. The feeling there intended is no doubt this :
"Alas for them who in such a time of trouble are in a condition
that renders flight difficult, if not impossible."
The monuments are equally free in the mention of such
matters. In the nth Izdubar Tablet (D. L. 104. no, A. M. 59. 3
and R. III. 50. 3. 8), Ishtar cries out like a woman in travail ;
t>ut it is hardly necessary to give examples.
TREAD DOWN, TRAMPLE ON.
The word describes an act implying combined power and
iate, haughtiness and brutality. Micah 5:5. " The Assyrian
shall tread in our palaces." Compare Job 40 : 12 ; Psa. 50 : 12 ; Isa.
10 : 6 ; Zech. 10:5; Mai. 4 : 3.
The idea is expressed in a single word in R. V. 2. 30, A. M.
.50. 3, and Ass'l. 52. 63, akbusu : I had trodden, or trampled
on. G. Smith here renders crossed over, thus losing the whole
force of the expression. See also R. V. 4. 102 and A. M. 27.
12 : Upon the whole of them I trampled. Sargon describes
himself (Layard I. 4, A. M. 5. 10) as the strong man, mukabiis

332 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
kishad aabishu, treading on the necks of them that hate him;
See Josh. 10 : 24 ; Psa. 18 : 40.
So Asshurnatsirpal speaks of the god Ninip or Adar (R. L
17. 3) as kabisi irtsiti rapshuti : treading down the broad earth,
and Layard, Standard Inscription I. 4, A. M. 5. 10, mukabiis
kishad aabishu, daaish kullat nakruti : treading on the necks of
them that hate him, trampling on all enemies.
TREE OF LIFE.
Gen. 2 : 9. The tree of life also in the midst of the garden.
Compare Prov. 3 : 18, 9 : 30 ; Rev. 2 : 7, 22 : 2.
Trees are very prominent among the religious emblems of
the monuments. One of the oldest names of Babylon is Dintirki,
the place, or the land, of the tree of life. This at one time seems
to have been regarded as that kind of pine, called Snobar in
Arabic, which bears a large cone, the kernels of the seeds being
cooked and eaten. It is also called the stone pine. See Royal
Seal of Sennacherib, B. and N. 160, also 606 ; also C. G. 85. The
winged figures in the bas-reliefs are often represented as
holding the cone in their hands; see L. N. I. 71 and 118. At
another time it is a palm-tree ; see C. G., 2d ed., 112, also B. and
N. 604. Again, it assumes a conventional form, as in L. N. IL
233, C. G. 97, and P. and C. I. 63 and 213.
There is a curious representation on an early Babylonian
cylinder already referred to, on page 293, of two persons seated
under a pine-tree (?) engaged in earnest discussion, with two cones
or other fruit hanging within reach of their hands, that would
pass readily for Adam and Eve discussing the question of eating
the forbidden fruit.
On seals there is often a symbol of the deity over the tree
while the priest worships before it. Mons. Botta presented the
writer with one of them. See illustration on page 29 1 ; another
is given B. and N. 606, and still another on page 160.
The Biblical student will not be troubled by the mention of
two different sacred trees on the monuments when he remem
bers that there was not only a tree of life in Eden, but also the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil ; i. e., the tree in connec
tion with which that knowledge entered the world : not a tree

TREES. 333
bearing a fruit by that name, which would be indeed mythical,
while all these memorials of the event call for something more
than a myth to furnish an explanation of their existence. A
myth could hardly supply a foundation solid enough for such
very concrete things to stand on.
It is significant also in this connection that Babylonian tra
dition has placed the garden of Eden near the ancient city of
Eridu, and an old hymn has been preserved which says (H. L.,
238) : In Eridu a stalk grew overshadowing. In a holy place it grew green.
Its root of white crystal extended down to the deep.
Before the god Ea it grew. Eridu was very fertile.
Its abode was in the central point of the earth ;
Its foliage formed the couch of Zikum, the (primeval) mother.
Into its holy abode, spreading a shade like a forest, no man has entered.
There is the home of the mighty mother who walks across the sky.
As Prof. Sayce adds, " This reminds us of the Ygg-drasil of
Norse mythology, the world -tree, whose roots go down into
the abode of death while its top rises into Asgard, the heaven
of the gods."
The cedar, the tree that shatters the power of the Incubus,
was to Babylonia what the rowan tree was to Scandinavia. It
was used in connection with sacrifice, as in that first one offered
by Khasisadra after the flood. It was also used in magic rites
performed to heal the sick, and hence was also set forth on the
monuments as a tree of life.
The vine also was called gistin, a tree of life, perhaps from
the exhilarating nature of the wine which it produced ; and that
proverbial saying about " every man sitting under his own vine "
may have had reference to this. The conventional form also of
the tree of life in some of the bas-reliefs may have been an at
tempt to combine in one both the tree of life and the vine. P.
and C. II. 99. TREES.
1 Kings 4: 33. And he (Solomon) spake of trees, from the
cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth
out of the wall.
Eccles. 2:4-6. I made me great works; I builded me

334 • ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
houses ; I planted me vineyards ; I made me gardens and parks
and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit. I made me
pools of water to water therefrom the forest where trees were
reared. Many may have the impression that in these things Solo
mon was different from all other oriental kings ; but many kings
of Assyria devoted themselves to the same line of culture. Tig
lath Pileser I. (B. C. 1 120-1 100) lived about half a century before
Solomon, and he says in his inscriptions (R. I. 15. 7. 17-27,
translated in R. of P. new I. 115): "The cedar, the likkarin
tree and the allakau tree, from the countries which I had con
quered, these trees, which among the kings my fathers before
me no one had planted, I took, and in the plantations of my
country I planted, and the costly fruit of the plantation which
did not exist in my country I took (there). The plantations of
Assyria I established." It must have required a great deal of
care to transport living cedar trees from Lebanon to Assyria,
and no less knowledge of plant life to select the soil and climate
favorable to their growth. His words imply that he had more
than one such plantation in different localities. " Kew gardens,"
then, existed nearly 3,000 years ago in old Assyria.
Four centuries later Sargon (B. C. 722-705), in describing"
his city of Dur Sargina, says : " I planted around it an extensive
park (or paradise) resembling Mount Amanus (Mount Amanus
was their beau ideal of a mountain forest), of all the forest trees
of Syria, and all its mountain plants." S. 42. 41.
Sennacherib, son of Sargon (B. C. 705-681), seems to have
inherited his father's taste for groves as well as for war and
building. He says (Senn. 147. 57) : "I made large plantations,
resembling the forests of Amanus, of every choice plant and
reed, the products of mountains and of the land of Chaldea."
He tells also of cleaning out and deepening water courses, of de
veloping springs, and other things that denote great attainments.
in what we would term landscape gardening.
Isaiah says, 41 : 19, " I will plant in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia tree, and the myrtle and the olive tree. I will set in
the desert the fir tree, the pine, and the box tree together," and '
promises that "the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the

TRIBUTE. 335
rose," 35:1. Sargon and his son must have wrought a similar
change in the region around Nineveh, but no one who travels
over the treeless plain of Assyria to-day finds the least trace of
their royal paradise. Their only monuments are the buried ruins
of their palaces. These also in the days of their glory were
much indebted to trees for their beauty, as Asshurnatsirpal says
(A. M. 6. 20-23) = " A palace of cedar, one of cypress, one of juni
per, one of urkarini, one of palm tree, one of pistachio and
ladanum, for the abode of my royalty, for the majesty of my
lordship, which is enduring, I erected in it."
TREES FELLED.
2 Kings 3:25... and they stopped all the fountains of water
and felled all the good trees.
This was a common procedure in ancient warfare, but it
was expressly forbidden by the Mosaic law, and the law is so
peculiar that we cannot forbear quoting it : " When thou shalt
besiege a" city a long time, in making war against it to take it,
thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by wielding an axe
against them, for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not
cut them down : for is the tree of the field a man that it should
be besieged of thee ? Only the trees which thou knowest that
they be not trees for food thou shalt destroy, and cut them
down." Deut. 20 : 19. How different this is from the practice
of the Moslem Arab in our day in destroying the banana groves
of Africa and leaving their owners to perish of starvation, as
described by Mr. Stanley.
Among the many horrid cruelties inflicted by Asshurnat
sirpal we cannot expect so small a thing as the cutting down of
trees to be noticed, but the monuments show us soldiers in the
act of cutting down palm trees. Anc. Mon. I. 475, B. and N. 588.
Egypt also did this. Brugsch Bey tells us that Thothmes III.
destroyed Kadesh of the Hittites, and cut down all the trees-
Egypt under the Pharaohs, I. 376, in Emp. of Hittites, 17.
TRIBUTE.
Tribute was paid to rulers as an acknowledgment of subjec
tion to them and a means of maintaining their power. When

336 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
the payer of tribute had gold and silver he paid that, and when
he had neither he paid what he had, and so tribute was often paid
in kind. Thus 2 Kings 3 : 4 tells us that Mesha, king of Moab,
paid to king Jehoram the wool of 100,000 lambs and of 100,000
rams, or, as it may be rendered, so many animals with the
¦wool. Precisely so Asshurnatsirpal tells us that he received tribute
in kind from his provinces. See his inscription passim (R. I.
17-26, and translated R. of P. new II. 128-177). A dozen times at
least it is oxen, sheep, wine, etc., and again it. is horses, silver,
gold, lead, copper, bowls of copper, plates of copper, variegated
cloths, linen vestments, cedar beams, treasures of the palace,
chariots, riding-horses and their grooms, teams, ivory dishes,
couches, yokes and thrones, beads and torques of gold, iron, fur
niture, images, weapons, couches, and legs of couches, female
musicians, etc. Nothing seemed to come amiss. Even a por
poise is mentioned as one item in the tribute received from the
Syrian coast. R. of P. new II. 172. 88.
Tribute was not made up of things only, but of service also.
The Canaanites who were not driven out from Gezer " were
made servants to do task work." Josh. 16:10 and 17:13. So
also Solomon "raised from them a levy of bond -servants,"
1 Kings 9:21, and 2 Chron. 8:8, "but of the children of Israel
Solomon made no servants, but they were men of war, and chief
of his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen,"
(v. 9). And Sargon in giving an account of the building of Dur
Sargina says, " People from the four quarters, having a foreign
tongue, and discordant and mutually unintelligible words, dwell
ers on mountain and plain, all whom the sovereign warrior of
the gods ruled over, whom in the name of Asshur my lord I had
taken captive by the power of my sword, I made to speak one
language, and caused to dwell in it," i. e., they were the serfs or
peasantry ; as an Arab would say, they were the fellahin. " But
the sons of Asshur who were intelligent I made to keep guard,
as they were readers, and feared god and the king." S. n. 72-
12. 74, also 38. 72-74).
Again, Darius made a decree that of the tribute beyond the
river expenses be given to the elders of the Jews for the build-

TRUST IN HIMSELF. 337
ing of the house of God. Ezra 6:8. So also in Assyria, " the
city of Nineveh was taxed 30 talents : 10 of it for clothes, 20 more
for the fleet, and a fresh assessment of 10 " — though there must
have been more besides, for it follows — " 274 talents in all." R.
of P. 11. 141.
The city of Calah was assessed 5 talents and 4 and a special
tax of 30 for the highlands. The city of Enil 10 talents for the
lowlands. Nisibis 20 talents for 600 makakhi, whatever they
might be. The city of Alikhu had to pay for 600 royal robes,
and 6 vestures of linen, 3 talents for the keeping of the gates,
and — talents for the collector, and — again for the chariots,
— for the astronomer, 3 for fringed dresses, — for the throne
of the palace, and 2 for royal robes of purple, and so on. So the
assignment of the taxes beyond the river for the building of the
temple was in perfect accordance with Assyrian custom, though
one wonders whether this prevision of the use to be made of the
tax made it any easier to be collected. Other interesting details
may be found in R. II. 53. 2, 3 and 4, and the translation in R.
of P. XL 138, 46. We cannot forbear quoting one, which seems
to be an utterance of the collector or treasurer : " We do not
receive (i. e., retain for ourselves) ; what we take we give up."
TRUST IN GOD.
Psa. 40 : 4. Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his
trust. Psa. 34 : 8 and Prov. 29 : 25.
Asshurnatsirpal (R. I. 17. 22) calls Asshur and Shamash
Hani tiikliya, the gods of my trust. Sennacherib (R. I. 41. 50
and 51, A. M. 15. 17-19, and Senn. 120. 50, 51) says, I prayed to
Asshur, Sin, Shamash, Bil, Nabu, Nergal, Ishtar of Nineveh
and Ishtar of Arbela, the gods in whom I trust— Ilani tiikliya,
as before. There is no end to such expressions in the monuments;
one can hardly go amiss to find them at the beginning of the
annals of any king. TRUST IN HIMSELF.
Prov. 28 : 26. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. Com-
pare Psa. 44 : 6, 49 : 6, 52:7; 2 Cor. 1 : 9, and Luke 18:9.
Assyrian Echoes. 22

338 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
In the Assyrian monuments frequently, when Asshurbanipal
narrates the rebellion of a tributary king, he begins by stating-
that he trusted in himself, or in his own might. Thus (R. V. 2.
113, A. M. 22. 25, Ass'l. 66. 27) he says: " Gyges, king of Lydia,.
paid no regard to the command of the god Asshur, my crea-
ator. To his own strength (or forces) he trusted, ana imuk
ramanishu ittakil ma, and made his heart strong." Then follows
an account of his rebellion and overthrow in answer to the
prayers of Asshurbanipal to Asshur and Ishtar.
So Tarquu (Tirhakah) (R. V. 1. 57, A. M. 42. 6, Ass'l. 16. 56)
despised the power of Asshur, Ishtar, and the great gods, and
trusted to his own might ; and then follows the account of his
war with Assyria, his defeat and death.
ULAI.
There is a very unusual expression in Dan. 8: 16 : " between
the Ulai." The Ulai is a river, and in their perplexity our
translators have rendered it " between the banks of Ulai." Ge
senius would render it, " among the windings of the Ulai." Mr.
Loftus furnishes a very satisfactory solution of the enigma (C.
and S. 423-431). He was informed by an Arab named Sheikh
Mohammed that the Kerkhah (ancient Khoaspes) anciently bifur
cated near Pai Pul, and the eastern branch flowed about two
miles east of the great mound at Shush (ancient Shushan), and
after receiving the Shaour (it is Shapur on the map) below a
ford named Umm et timmin, emptied into the Karun (ancient
Pasitigris, i. e., Little Tigris) at Ahwaz. A few days after, riding
northeast to Dizful, on the ancient Coprates, now called the Diz
or Dizful River, he crossed a depression, about 900 feet in width
and from twelve to twenty feet deep, with the ruins of irrigating
canals on both sides, and known among the Arabs as Shat el atiq
(the old river). A little water from the Kerkhah still flows in
the old channel, but is exhausted in irrigation. This explains
the language of Daniel as meaning between the two channels
of the Ulai — the western, which was the natural bed of the
river, and this eastern, which was probably raised by a dam and
carried along a higher level for purposes of irrigation. It shows
also how Alexander could, according to Quintus Curtius, cross

UNCHANGEABLENESS IN MAN AND IN GOD. 339
the Choaspes before entering Susa from the west (Lib. 2. 9), and
again, according to Strabo (Casauban, 729), cross the same river,
going from Susa eastward to Persepolis. Ptolemy (Lib. 6. ch. 3)
speaks also of the two branches of the Eulseus (Ulai), and Pliny
(Lib. 6. ch. 27) says that the Eulaeus surrounded the citadel of
the Susians. This ancient branch of the Ulai also explains how
Alexander, then at Susa, could embark and sail down the Eulas-
us. Arrian Exped. Alex. 7. 7.
UNCHANGEABLENESS IN MAN AND IN GOD.
Asshurnatsirpal ruled Assyria from B. C. 885 to 860.
Though the kingdom had begun to recover from a long decline
before his accession, still he was the founder of the later Assy
rian empire. He rebuilt the city of Calah, that had been founded
by Shalmaneser I., and enclosed it with a wall five miles in cir
cumference. He built his palace on an artificial mound facing
the Tigris, and from it came some of the finest monuments now
in the British Museum. His annals fill ten pages, each 21x14
inches, of vol. I. of " The Inscriptions of Western Asia," and
contain 389 lines.
He begins with the praises of the god Ninip, called also
Adar or Uras, who is described as " the strong one whose com
mand never changes, the leader whose utterance is immuta
ble, the mighty god who does not change his purpose." Com
pare Psa. 89 : 34, " I will not alter the thing that is gone out of
my lips." We might seek to determine whether the Assyrian or the
Hebrew utterance was expressed more tastefully, or which
was the original, or whether both are independent of each
other, but as each simply declares that the utterances are un
changeable it is more important to know the moral character
of each. The spirit of Ninip is plain enough. He was the son of Bil of
Nipur (Niffer), known also as Mullil, the strong, who was the Pluto
of the Babylonians, and as such opposed to the gods of the
heavenly regions. His messengers were demons, nightmares
and diseases ; his wife was Allat or Ninkigal, i. e., lady of the great
place, which is Hades. He was represented by the fierce sun of

340 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
an Assyrian sky, scorching the earth through the long summer
day. He is further described as " the warrior whose battle
charge is resistless, the crusher of opposition who tramples down
the broad earth, the unsparing one whose onset sweeps down the
foe like a flood." It was his father whose anger caused the flood,
and who was with difficulty held back by the other gods from
destroying the ship of Khasisadra and all on board. The mild
Merodach was the favorite god of Babylon, but this Assyrian
fighter chose Ninip, the warrior of the gods, who breathed out
threatenings and slaughter.
It is very true that an idol is not a real existence (i Cor.
8 : 4 and 10 : 19), but as God created man in his own likeness so
man devises gods after his own evil likeness, and in worshipping
them intensifies that evil. So this worshipper of Ninip describes
himself as one whom none can resist ; who subdues the rebellious
and treads on the necks of his enemies. He is " the consumer
of the violent, the unsparing one " — a favorite expression, often
repeated. Four times he speaks of shedding the blood of moun
taineers till he dyed the mountains in blood like heaps of wool.
He says, " Asshur entrusted to my hands his weapon that spares
not ;" thus linking in his cruelties with his idolatry, and de
claring that in him unchanging meant never swerving from his
course of ferocious cruelty. He even styles himself " the mighty
monster (vampire) ; the powerful king foreordained by Sin
(the moon god) ; the beloved of Bammanu (god of storms) (in
2 Kings 5:18 it is Rimmon), the strongest of the gods, the
weapon unsparing, the butcher of his foes, am I."
It would be a relief to know that all this was idle rhodomon-
tade, but while his annals narrate the facts already mentioned
under the head of " Cruelties," they are also graven on the stones
of his palace as worthy to be handed down to the latest ages.
As we think of those pyramids of living men with earth enough
above the writhing mass in which to insert stakes for impaling
others, unchangeableness of purpose has a terrible meaning ;
the denunciations of Nahum (2 : 7-3 : 4) are better appreciated,
as also those words of the Psalmist, " The dark places of the
earth are full of the habitations of violence." Psa.74 : 20.
We gladly turn from these horrors to study the unchange-

UR. 341
ableness of God. We have the key to this in those words of
Malachi (3:6): " Because I, the Lord, change not, therefore ye,
O sons of Jacob, are not consumed." We tremble lest our sins
exhaust the grace of God ; yet even though we are faithless he
abideth faithful, for he cannot deny himself (2 Tim. 2:13).
" For what if some were without faith ; shall their want of faith
make of none effect the faithfulness of God ?" Rom. 3 : 3. How
different this Scripture view of the unchangeableness of God
from the merciless persistence of the king of Assyria in cruelty
under the fancied sanction of - his gods ! Were they not so
familiar we might quote in illustration of the same divine
unchangeableness those precious words of the apostle in Rom.
8 : 32-35 and 37-39. The following, however, may not be so
familiar : " They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go
from him and become another man's, shall he return to her
again ? Shall not that land be greatly polluted ? But (though)
thou hast played the harlot with many lovers, yet return again
unto me, saith the Lord " (Jer. 3 : 1). " Return, thou backsliding
Israel, saith the Lord ; I will not look in anger on you, for I am
merciful, saith the Lord. Only acknowledge thine iniquity that
thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God . . . Return, O
backsliding Israel, for I am a husband unto you, saith the Lord "
(vs. 12-14).
Assyria may furnish many valuable illustrations of Holy
Scripture, but nothing more satisfying than this contrast be
tween the unchangeableness of man and that of God. Better
acquaintance with God through his word forms our best defence
against all the assaults of unbelief. UR.
Ur of the Chaldees must always be of interest as the native
city of Abraham, the father of the faithful. On account of a
slight resemblance in sound and some Jewish tradition it has
been located in northern Mesopotamia ; but the resemblance be
tween Ur and Orfa does not furnish a very substantial basis
for a derivation, nor does the older name of Orrha help the
matter. The very name, Ur of the Chaldees, points us to
Chaldea as the true locality* Was the name Chaldea ever

342 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
applied to any district north of Mosul? We must look, then,
in Southern Babylonia, and two places there have been made
to claim the honor. One is Warka ; but that is Erech, and
therefore cannot be Ur, for they were separate cities and
cotemporaneous. The other is Mugheir. At first sight it
seems more difficult to make Ur out of Mugheir than out of
Orfa ; but this is only a modern name given to its principal ruin
by the Arabs. This structure is built of large bricks cemented
with bitumen, hence called in Arabic " El Mugheir," i. e., "the
bitumened." Of course that modern name is no more the an
cient name of the city than El Mujelibe or El Qasr is the ancient
name of Babylon. Mr. J. E. Taylor, who first explored the
ruin, discovered the ancient name of Ur in the cylinders under
the corners of its upper story, and that settled the point beyond
all question. This is endorsed by the old Jewish names of
Qamarina and Khaldiopolis, for each city in Chaldea was dedi
cated to a god, and Ur was dedicated to Sin, the moon god.
Qamarina is derived from Qamr, the Arabic for the moon, and
Khaldiopolis is also from Khaldi, the Armenian name of the
same planet.
The ruin where the cylinders were found was the temple of
Sin, built by Urukh, the oldest king of Babylonia of whom we
have any record, and repaired by his successors as late as Na
bonidus (Nabunahid, i. e., Nebo is exalted) B. C. 556-541.
The inscription which vindicated the historical accuracy of
Daniel in making Belshazzar the last king of Babylon was found
in this ruin. (See " Belshazzar.") Mugheir is now a verdureless
desolation, consisting of a circle of mounds half a mile in diam
eter and some two miles in circumference, surrounded by a
cemetery that has been in use more than 4,000 years. The
Euphrates is now six miles away, but in winter the surround
ing lowlands are flooded by the river ; anciently both river
and gulf were so near that Ur was a seaport. These mounds
have not yet been explored, but though one part of the place
is now an arid waste and another a useless marsh, ancient
canals irrigated the desert and drained the marsh, so that the
beautiful palm groves that now line the river once dotted the
whole region, while the fields, according to Herodotus, yielded

verbs. 343
two crops of wheat every year, with an increase of two hundred
fold. The landscape in those days must have formed a bright
contrast to the bare sand-hills and reedy jungle of to-day, for
Turkish mismanagement and neglect make the great river an
engine of destruction instead of a power for good.
VEIL.
i Cor. n : 10. For this cause ought the woman to have a
sign of authority on her head, because of the angels.
It is not intended to go into the discussion concerning the
meaning of this obscure statement ; only to enquire whether the
following lines in R. IV. i. 45, translated by Prof. Sayce in H. L.
451. 21 and 452. 22, may not illustrate the text. Prof. Sayce
reads, "The god of the man, O shepherd who lookest after
the sheepcote, is toward the man whom his god has carried
away to the veil ;" and in a note says, " The reference is to a sort
of monastic vow, whereby a man placed himself under the pro-
lection of the deity, and, as in the case of Izdubar, by wearing
.a veil on his head became proof against all evil spells."
VERBS.
The Assyrian verb has four primary, four secondary, and
two tertiary stems : primary:
I. 1. Peal, as Ishkun, denoting a simple act.
II. 1. Pael, as Ushakkin, intensive, causative, or making an
intransitive Peal transitive.
III. 1. Shaphel, as Ushashkin, causative.
IV. 1. Nifal, as Isshakin, passive, rarely reflexive.
secondary:
I. 2. Ifte'al, as Ishtakin, reflexive.
II. 2. Ifta'al, as Ushtakkin, reflexive.
III. 2. Ishtafal, as Ushtashkln, reflexive.
IV. 2. Ittafal, as Ittashkin, reflexive.
tertiary:
I. 3. Iftane'al, as Ishtanakin, reflexive.
IV. 3. Ittanafal, as Ittanashkin, reflexive.

344 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Each of these stems has a first and second imperfect.
The first imperfect in I. i., has a after the first radical, and.
a or u or i after the second, as ikash shadu.
The second imperfect in I. i., has no vowel after the first
radical, and a, i, or u after the second, as ikshud.
In the other stems they are distinguished by the vowel a.
after the second radical in the first imperfect, and i after the
same radical in the 2nd imperfect. The ist imperfect denotes
continuous action, past, present, or to come, and the 2nd is the
tense of narration, marking an act as occurring at a point of
time. Both forms of the imperfect may be used as precatives.
Many verbs in Assyrian and Hebrew are identical, as pj,.
nadanu, to give ; im, gamaru, to complete ; mp, qarabu, to ap
proach. Some are almost the same, as xvi, nashu, to lift. In one
case a curious reversal of the stem letters occurs. In Hebrew-
ro, barak, means to bless, but in Assyrian the verb is karab..
Thus D. L. 106. 181 and A. M. 61. 24, in the account of the
deluge, we have ikarrabannashi : he was blessing us.
VESSELS OF THE TEMPLE.
Daniel tells us that Jehoiakim and a part of the vessels of
the temple of God were given into the hands of Nebuchadrezzar,
king of Babylon, who carried the vessels into the land of Shinar
and deposited them in the treasure house of (Merodach) his god.
Dan. 1 : 2.
The Standard Inscription of Nebuchadrezzar, col. 2. 30-39, says,
" Silver, gold, the shining of precious stones, copper, mismakanna
•(palm ? ) wood, cedar, whatever is precious, a large abundance,
the produce of mountains, the fulness of seas, a rich present, a
splendid gift to my city of Babylon, into his presence I brought."
Of course the whole of it was the plunder of the countries he had
conquered, and we may suppose that these vessels of the temple
were among the large abundance of those precious things that
went into the treasure house of his god, which appears to have
been regarded as safer than the treasure house of the king. See
also col. 8. 1. 30, and R. of P. new III. 107. and 1 19.

WATER-WORKS.

345

VOICE.
Exod. 19 : 19. Moses spake, and God answered him by a
voice. Compare 1 Kings 19 : 12 ; Job 37 : 4 and 5 ; Psa. 18 : 13 ;
Psa. 68 : 33 ; Isa. 40 : 6, 46 : 6 ; Ezek. 1 : 24, 10 : 5 ; Dan. 4:31; Matt.
3:1;, 17 = 5; John 12 : 28 and 30 ; Acts 9:7; Acts 10 : 13 and
15 ; 2 Pet. 1:17; Rev. 1 : 12, and 16 : 17.
These Scriptures point out a very prominent mode of divine
-manifestation, and it is precisely what we should expect, for God
is a Spirit, and therefore invisible.
It is remarkable that, though idolatry deals in tangible
images, yet the same theophany appears in the Assyrian monu
ments, and characteristically in one that dates far back, near to
the time when as yet idolatry had not blotted out the memory of
the true God.
In the nth Izdubar tablet (R. IV. 50. 2. 31., A. M. 58. 1, and
D. L. 103. 83) we read, " A voice said (izzakir kuukru) that in the
evening the heavens will rain down destructions " (kibaati), and
the same words are repeated three times below.
WATER-WORKS.
The son of David who was king in Jerusalem says (Eccles.
2 : 6), " I made me pools of water, to water therefrom the forest
where trees were reared ;" and the pobls of Solomon (El birak)
near Urtas, south of Bethlelem, furnish a good illustration of
their construction. A subterranean collection of springs was
carefully excavated, the several streams brought together and
conveyed underground to a large reservoir, partly excavated in
the rock and partly built up with stone and cement ; this over
flowed into a second one of similar construction, and this again
into a third, and from these the plantations were watered. Rob
inson's Bibl. Res. II. 164-168.
So Sennacherib tells us that he prepared beautiful fountains
from the borders of the city of Kisiri down to the vicinity of
Nineveh (Senn. 148. 59), and Mr. Layard found a tunnel ex
cavated in the rock on the banks of the Zab, south of Nimrood.
It was entered by two low arches from the river, whose swift
current seems to have lowered its channel during the centuries

346 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
since the work was done. The tunnel form soon gives place to
a deep open channel, also cut in the rock, that extends a mile
into the plain. A slab with a cuneiform inscription bore witness
to its Assyrian origin. It was doubtless intended for the irriga
tion of the plains around Nimrood. L. N. I. 83.
Another monument of Assyrian art in the Tigris opposite
this city claims a notice in this connection. The Arabs call it
the Sidd (dam), also Sakar en Nimrood, and El Awayee (the
roaring). It is built of large stones firmly bound together with
iron clamps, and extends across the river. Rafts find little
trouble in floating over it at high water, but in summer, when
the river is low, even they cannot pass in safety.
Accidents often occur here to large rafts, and even with his
small kellek Mr. Layard was carried over it with some violence
in the middle of April, when the river was in flood. L. N.
I. 30. The Assyrians must have used caissons or a coffer-dam in its
construction, yet even with all the thoroughness which was thus
made possible it is amazing that it has stood so long, and a pas
sage will have to be made through it with dynamite before
steamers can go up to Mosul.
This also, most likely, had some connection with the irriga
tion of the low lands upon the shore.
WAY PREPARED, THE.
Mark 1:3. Make ye ready the way of the Lord, make his
paths straight.
In Great Britain the roads are marvels of excellence, and in
our own land one may guess the age of a town by the character
of its highways.
In Assyria the roads along which Sargon, Sennacherib, Neb
uchadrezzar and Cyrus marched their armies were mere paths,
and, though in some places the wear of centuries has made them
plain enough, in others, where the open country invites to
change, or snow and mud compel the traveller to turn out of the
"beaten track, the sultan's highway cannot be distinguished from
the path to a neighboring hamlet. These roads are never re
paired unless something occurs to make them absolutely impass-

WEIGHING GOLD AND SILVER. 347
able. So when some Pasha is expected to pass that way the
people are compelled to turn out and prepare the way before
him. This is done without wages, the laborers also furnishing
their own tools and provisions. This refers to a state of things
a generation ago ; what change may have taken place in con
nection with the construction of recent highways in the interior
the writer has no means of knowing.
The state of the roads in ancient times may be learned from
the Assyrian annals. Tiglath Pileser I. (B. C. 1120-1100) says,
" I marched against the people of the country of Mildis (Malatia)
the powerful rebels. I crossed mighty mountains in an almost
impassable region. The best part I traversed in my chariot, and
other portions on foot. At the mountain of Aruma (Aram :
Mt. Taurus ?), where my chariot could not go, I left it, and
like a lion marched at the head of my army. R. I. 10. 68-76,
translated R. of P. new I. 98. Compare also R. of P. new I. 100.
20-25 and 101. 46-51. He also tells us how he managed in the
worst places (R. I. 10. 7-9 and R. of P. new I. 96) : " in difficult
mountains, impassable paths I made passable with picks of
Tsronze." So also Asshurnatsirpal (B. C. 885-860) tells us (R. I. 21.76
and 77, translated R. of P. new II. 155), " Across the very rugged
mountain of Lara, which was impassable for chariots and armies,
I hewed my way with axes (sledge-hammers ?) of iron and pick
axes of bronze." Again, in the 95th line of the same column, he
says, " For six days I wrought with the same tools in the recesses
of the rugged mountains of Kasyari before I could make it at
all passable for my chariots and soldiers." We can understand
liow why in the bas-reliefs we sometimes see a chariot borne on
the shoulders of several soldiers over the rocks.
WEIGHING GOLD AND SILVER.
Gen. 23 : 16. Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver which
lie had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, 400 shekels
of silver, current money with the merchant. Jer. 32:9, 10.
•"And I bought the field of Hanameel, my uncle's son, that
was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seven
teen shekels of silver ; and I subscribed the evidence and sealed

348 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
it, and took witnesses and weighed him the money in the bal
ances. We call such a document a deed, making prominent the act
of sale ; the Jews called it the evidence, giving prominence to
the proof it furnished of the transaction. But to us the strangest
thing about it is that the silver was weighed, not counted. The
fact is that in ancient times coins did not exist ; neither the early
Babylonian nor the Assyrian empire ever had a coin. In the later
Babylonian period they began to use them. Till then gold and
silver were always weighed. The 300 talents of silver and 30
talents of gold paid by Hezekiah to Sennacherib (2 Kings 1 8 : 14)
were weights, not coins, and to procure them Hezekiah not only
emptied his own treasury but cut off the gold from the doors of
the temple. When Assyrian kings received tribute from other nations
they often specified gold and silver among the articles given, but
without stating the quantity ; at other times they specified only
the weight, as in the case of Hezekiah. There is no direct state
ment in the monuments that they had no coins, for the very good
reason that they were not conscious of the want of them ; the
idea of a com was unknown to them. The darics coined by
King Darius, the Persian, seem to have been among the earliest
coins, though Lydia or the Hittites, in northern Syria and Asia
Minor, in this matter may have preceded Darius.
It is an interesting corroboration of these things that the
names of so many coins designate either the act of weighing —
like the Hebrew shekel, from the verb shakal, to weigh — or are
measures of weight. Thus the talent among the Greeks deno
ted 57 lbs. avoirdupois, nearly, and among the Hebrews 93! lbs-
So, too, the mina or pound was a weight of 15.02 ounces — com
pare the £ sterling; and that again was divided into ior>
drachmas, the dirhem of the Arabs to-day. So Mexicans speak
of the ounce (of silver), all of them pointing back to the time
when gold and silver were not counted, but weighed.
WENT UP.
Even this familiar phrase, used so often in connection:
with going up to worship in the temple, occurs also in the

WHEEL. 349
inscriptions. See 2 Kings 19 : 14 and 23 : 2 ; Luke 18 : 10 ; Acts
3 = 1- Asshurbanipal, after his great victory over the Arabians
{R. V. 6. 24), " for the offering of sacrifices went up to E Babara,
the abode of their lordships, before Beltis, the mother of the
great gods, the beloved bride of Asshur," etc.
The origin of the expression both in Scripture and in Assyr
ian was the elevation of the temple. Jerusalem was higher than
the most of Palestine, and the Babylonian temples were built on
artificial mounds, and their ziggurat (towers) also gave an aspect
of elevation to the whole structure with which they were con
nected. WHEEL.
Psa. 83 : 13 in the old version reads, " O my God, make them
like a wheel ;" but in the new revision, " make them like the
whirling dust, as stubble before the wind." So also Isa. 17: 13,
" They shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the
wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm ;" here the old
version reads, " like a rolling thing before the whirlwind."
It is the same Hebrew word that is rendered wheel, whirl
ing dust, and a rolling thing ; viz., hibi. Gesenius renders this
(1) a wheel, (2) a whirlwind, and (3) chaff, stubble ; anything
driven round before a whirlwind. Now it will be noticed that
the parallellism in both passages is a vegetable production ; in
the one case stubble, and in the other chaff. May we not ex
pect to find this wheel and rolling thing vegetable also ? Then
uotice that peculiar rendering of Gesenius: "Anything driven
round before a whirlwind ;" certainly a very unusual definition.
Now turn to Dr. W. M. Thomson's vivid delineation of the
-wild artichoke broken off from its root and careering before the
wind— a round globular mass, about a foot in diameter, so thick
with leaves and branches that it is like a ship with all sail set,
hut so dry and light that it rolls and bounds before the gale
like a huge soap-bubble insured against breakage. See Land
and Book, latest ed., I. 212, 213. This is equally noticeable in
Assyria and in Syria. Here as well as in her ancient monu
ments Assyria furnishes a beautiful illustration of the word of
God.

350 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
WHIRLWIND.
Prov. i : 27. And your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind.
This is a very striking and effective figure of speech : one
can almost see the calamity whirling over the plain like the dust
cloud of the storm.
This is a favorite figure in Assyrian, as we would expect it
to be with such a fierce race of warriors, only their storm vocab
ulary is so copious that there is a great variety in the terms
used. Thus Asshurbanipal says (Ass'l. III. 88, and R. V. 3. 3~4),
kima tiib mikhii izzi : like the onset of a mighty storm. Again
(R. III. 14, 44, and A. M. 17. 25), he repeats the same, and adds
kima imbari askhuupshu : like a black cloud I prostrated him,
i. e., with the shock of my attack. Again (Ass'l. 56. 74), They
swept it (Thebes) like a whirlwind or tempest, abubis. The
word used in R. I. 35, No. 3. 13, is abubanis.
WIND.
Ezek. 12: 14. I will scatter toward every wind all that are
round about him to help him.
This is a common expression to-day, and I think I have
found a corresponding expression in Assyrian. In R. V. 6. 64
Asshurbanipal says, Their gods and their goddesses I gave ana
zakiki or zaqiqi. G. S. in Ass'l. 230. 98 renders this, into cap
tivity ; but D. L. 140 renders zaqiqu, wind, and as that is the
latest so it is most probably the true rendering here. Thus we
have the phrase in Assyrian as well as in Hebrew and in our own
familiar speech. WINE.
The Hebrew name for wine is ;», which Gesenius says
means fermenting, effervescing, from the verb jv>, to boil up.
The Arabic term is kkumr, concerning which it is enough to say
that khumir means leaven. The Arabic for unfermented wine
would thus be unkhummired khumr. The same things might be
said concerning the Syriac khamro or khamra.
The Assyrians gave it the name of karanu or kurunnu, and
the verb karanu means to heap up ; so that the Assyrian term
points us to the froth that heaps up on the surface of wine dur-

WITNESSES. 35 r
ing the process of fermentation or when it is poured from vessel
to vessel. The estimation in which it was held may be inferred
from the mention of it so often in the annals of Asshurnatsirpal
and Shalmanezer II. Among the articles received as tribute
from the various provinces of the empire the mention of it is too
frequent to call for any specific reference. It takes its place with
the gold, silver and copper, the herds and flocks, and the various
manufactured articles that found a place in the royal treasury.
Then, though the tree of life was originally a conifer among-
the people who migrated from the high mountains of Elam and
southwestern Persia, yet afterwards both the palm-tree and the
vine were admitted among the representatives of that tree of
Eden, and the reader will remember that wine was made from
the palm-tree as well as from the vine. So early did man mis
take the transient excitement of stimulation for the vigor of a
true vitality — a confusion, alas, that the world has not yet out
grown. He is a genuine benefactor who enables the young to
discriminate between things so radically different before it is too
late to avoid the consequences.
The prophet Ezekiel enumerates among the commodities
traded in by the merchants of Tyre " the wine of Helbon "
(27: 18), and in a Babylonian wine list, copied from a bilingual
tablet and printed in R. II. 44- 3- 9. we find karanu khulbunur
wine of Helbon. Nebuchadrezzar also in one of his inscriptions
(R. I. 65. 23) makes mention of the oil of the same country,
shamnu mat khiilbunum ; so that Helbon must have been fa
mous for both wine and oil. WITNESSES.
Deut. 17:6. At the mouth of two witnesses or three wit
nesses shall he that is to die be put to death ; at the mouth of
one witness he shall not be put to death. 1 Tim. 6: 12. Thou
hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
The reason for this beneficent law is obvious. One witness
may be prejudiced, he may even be the bitter enemy of the one
accused; but when two or more witnesses agree in the same
testimony there is not so much danger from that source. Then,
even if a witness is kindly disposed toward the accused, the re-

352 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
quirement of more than one witness guards against the error
that may arise from mistake or forgetfulness.
Among the Assyrians we find a larger number of witnesses
required, perhaps because they were less trustworthy in that
country, perhaps to secure greater accuracy.
It is also worthy of note that while the Hebrew legislation
mainly had regard to matters of right and wrong, or to acts
viewed in their moral relations, the Assyrian witnesses testify
mostly to the correctness of pecuniary transactions, or they
guard against the repudiation of bargains.
The largest number of witnesses the writer has observed
on any document is sixteen. These testify to the sale of a piece
of land in the town of Dindu on the 28th of Tebet (December),
in the 10th year of Marduk idin akhi, king of Babylon (R. of P.
IX. 96-99) ; and the smallest number is four. In one case they
testify to a sale of slaves (R. of P. XL 95), and in another to the
lending of 40 tetradrachma (Do. 106), and in a third to the
payment of some cattle or money instead (Do. new IV. 99). Other
cases, in which the number of witnesses varies from five to nine,
may be found in pp. 92-96 and in Vol. I. 140, 141, Vol. VII.
114-116. Five witnesses testify that in a time of famine during the
reign of Shamash shum ukin, king of Babylon, Eemut lent to
Mushezib Marduk and Kulla his wife the sum of 50 shekels to
purchase necessaries. And the beautiful thing about it was that
the debt was to be paid, not on such and such a day, but when
the land again became fertile, and that without interest, for
none is mentioned. It is pleasant to find the record of such
kindness among so many things that were just the opposite.
(R. of P. new IV. 97. See also p. 105.)
WOMAN, CONDITION OF, IN ANCIENT TIMES.
The glimpses we get of the condition of woman in the times
of the Old Testament suggest both grievous wrong and great
suffering. God created one woman for one man, but men in the
hardness of their hearts soon set aside the divine order of things
and set up another of their own, full of impurity and violence,
and of course full of distress and degradation. The first intima-

WOMAN, THE VIRTUOUS. 353
tion we have of polygamy is in Gen. 4 : 19 ; but we are not told
when or how it originated. The inspired historian seals up the
humiliating record from human eyes ; though now and then
he allows the seething mass to flash out into the light. In 1
Sam. 27 : 19 we are told that David made a raid upon the Geshur-
ites and saved neither man nor woman alive. Was it amid that
bloody extermination or previously that he added Maacah, the
daughter of the king of Geshur, to the number of his wives?
We know not which would call for the severest reprobation : the
extermination of the people of one already his father-in-law, or
the compelling her whom his sword had left sole survivor to be
the wife of the slayer of her parents and her people. 2 Sam.
3:3. And what a record that is of David's son and successor (1
Kings 11:3): " He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and
three hundred concubines." What pen can do justice to the
wretchedness of these thousand blighted lives !
Unfortunately the Assyrian monuments endorse to the full
est extent- this shameful record. From a single expedition of
one of the kings of Assyria (Asshurbanipal) we cull the follow
ing unblushing statements. Baal, king of Tyre, sent his own
daughter and the daughters of his brother as concubines. R. V.
2. 56 and 57 ; also A. M. 21. 6 and 7. The same thing is said of
Yakinlu, king of Aruadda (R. V. 2. 65 and 66; also A. M. 21. 13
and 14), of Mugallu, king of Tabali (R. V. 2. 70 and 71 ; also
A. M. 21. 17 and 18), and of Saandasharmi, king of Cilicia. R. V.
2. 78 and 79 ; also A. M. 21, 22 and 23.
In the light of such facts it is safe to affirm that, so far as
concerns the present life, the gospel has conferred no greater
temporal boon on the race than the lifting up of woman from
being trodden under foot to that position of equality for which
she was created ; and the spiritual blessings in the same line of
things are as much higher than the temporal as the heaven is
higher than the earth. WOMAN, THE VIRTUOUS.
The portrait of the virtuous woman as drawn in Prov. 3 1 is
too long for quotation here, but another portrait of the same
object may be found in R. II. 35- No. 4 , and that the reader
Assyrian EchoeB. 23

354 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
may compare the two here is a translation of it, from R. of P. XL
159, 160: The woman who being married has caressed no man,
Who in her husband's absence does not paint herself,
Who in her husband's absence takes not off her clothes,
Whose veil no free man of pure race has raised,*
Who never moistened her teeth with an intoxicating drink.
The rest, unfortunately, is wanting.
The character of the Hebrew woman was far superior to that
of the heathen around her. No doubt it was the expellence of
her Jewish mother-in-law that led Ruth to choose Jehovah as her
God. But woman never attained her highest glory till Christ
came. Mary, however good she may have been when she be
came the mother of Christ, far excelled that goodness under the
influence of daily communion with him in her home ; and ever
since, Christ has been leading a larger number of her sex to
higher attainment in the divine life, so that in the millennium
woman on earth may become a worthy likeness of woman in
heaven.
WORD, THE.
John 1:1. In the beginning was the Word.
Of course we cannot expect anything from Chaldea or Assy
ria to rise to the height of this great argument, or betray any
knowledge of so great a mystery, and yet we are startled to find
the following lines in the third tablet on the Creation, trans
lated in R. of P. (new) I. 137. 19-28 :
Then they set in their midst his word unique.
To Merodach, their first-born, they spake :
May thy destiny, O lord, go before the god of heaven ;
May he confirm (?) the destruction and creation of all that is said.
Set thy mouth, let it destroy his word.
Turn, speak unto it, and let him lift up his word (again).
He spake, and with his mouth destroyed his word ;
He turned, he spake unto it and his word was recreated.
Like (the word) that issues from his mouth, the gods his fathers saw it.
They rejoiced, they approached Merodach the king.
Psa. 1 19 : 74 and 147. I hoped in thy word.
Asshurbanipal says (R. V. 3 : 127), I trusted in the word of
Sin, my lord.
* Before slaves and men of low rank Eastern women do not wear a veil.

WORLD, GOD OR PRINCE OF THIS. 355
Isa. 55: 11. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of
my mouth : it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accom
plish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing where
to I sent it.
In R. I. 17. 4, Asshurnatsirpal describes Ninip (Adar) as the
mighty one, the word of whose mouth does not bend or change.
WORDS.
When a ruler took the oath of office he was said to utter
his words before the Lord. So Jephthah, Judg. 1 1 : 1 1, and Josiah,
2 Chron. 34: 31. The inscriptions use the same term to denote
covenants of allegiance. So Asshurbanipal (R.V. i. 119) com
plains that the kings whom he had set over Egypt la itstsuru
mamit ilani rabuti : did not keep the word (or oath) of the great
gods. The noun is from the verb imuu, to speak.
Words smooth as butter : Psa. 55:21. His mouth was smooth
as butter, but his heart was war. His words were softer than oil,
yet were they drawn swords. Comp. Psa. 62 : 4 ; Prov. 5 : 3, 4.
These scriptures are very expressive, and there is something
in the inscriptions which corresponds, only as one word is some
what doubtful the meaning does not strike one with the same
force. In R. V. 3. 80, 81, Asshurbanipal says, shaptiishu itammaa
tuubaati shaplanu libbashu qatsir niirtu : his lips spoke pleasant
things, but underneath, his heart binds yokes, niirtu. Niru is a
yoke, niirtu may be the feminine or the plural, or it may be a
word having an entirely different meaning.
WORLD, GOD OR PRINCE OF THIS.
2 Cor. 4:4. In whom the god of this" world hath blinded
the minds of the unbelieving.
John 12 ; 31. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
Comp. 14 : 30 and 16:11.
There is no question that both of these titles refer to Satan,
the great enemy of God and man, who alienates the world from
its Maker, and seeks to use it in his war against God.
It is a curious coincidence that Mullil, the lord of Sheol,
answering to the Pluto of the Greeks, is also called the lord of
the world. See R. I. 9. 3, 4. In line 3 he is called sharru gimir,

356 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
king of all, or universal king, and in line 4 bil matati, lord of
countries, or lord of the world. See H. L. 146.
WORSHIPPER.
In Acts 19 : 35 the town clerk of Ephesus says to the excited
populace assembled in the theatre, " Ye men of Ephesus, what
man is there who knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians
is temple-keeper of the great Artemis ?" He means to describe
the city as wholly devoted to the worship of that goddess, so that
its inhabitants gloried in being even hewers of wood and drawers
of water in her service.
Similar expressions occur on the monuments. Cyrus in his
inscription, discovered by Mr. Hormuzd Rassam in 1879 at Baby
lon, calls that city palukha ilu Marduk, the worshipper of the
god Merodach (R. V. 35. 7 and A. M. 39. 24). In the 17th line
he speaks of Nabonidus as la palikh shu, not his worshipper ; in
the 23d line he claims for himself the honor of having daily
looked after his worship, and in the 26th line he says, " For these
things Marduk, the great lord, rejoiced in me, Kuraash (Cyrus),
his worshipper ; and in the last line he calls himself in his prayer
to Merodach " King Kuraash, thy worshipper," palikh- ka.
Asshurnatsirpal, 883-859 B. C, styles himself "the exalted
prince, worshipper of the great gods." Layard I. 13, and A. M.
6. 3, 4. " Worship him, all ye gods," Psalm 97 : 7, is quoted,
Heb.. 1 : 6, thus : "And let all the angels of God worship him." It
finds an illustration in the India House inscription of Nebuchad
rezzar, 1. 55-62. See R. of P. new III. 108. "The Quarter of
Assembly, the chapel of the Fates, wherein at Zagmuku the
opening of the year, on the eighth (and) the eleventh day (Mar
duk), the divine king, the god of heaven (and) earth, the lord of
heaven, taketh up his abode. The gods of heaven and earth
with awe submit to him ; they bow, they take their stand before
him." WRONGS OF WOMAN.
Just as the continuance of the human race is provided for
in the existence of sex, so the well-being of families, communities
and nations — other things being equal — may be measured by the
degree of their conformity to the law of God concerning the re-

WRONGS OF WOMAN. 357
lations of the sexes. No one can promote human welfare in this
life more effectually than by promoting morality, and no one
can strike a more cruel blow at human happiness than by pursu
ing the contrary course. One of the earliest and most bitter
fruits of the first transgression was wide-spread immorality. In
the expressive words of Scripture, "All flesh corrupted his way
upon the earth" (Gen. 6 : 12). Man, because he was the stronger,
made a slave of woman, and ruthlessly sought his own gratifica
tion at her cost. The things in which God had fitted woman to
make the largest contribution to human well-being man's selfish
ness made the means of her greatest suffering. Others might
look on and pass by on the other side, but God looked down with
divine compassion and struck at the root of the evil when he
said, " Thou shalt not commit adultery " (Ex. 20 : 14) : Thou, who
ever thou art, young or old, rich or poor, man or woman, shalt
not break this law ; so impartial was the law of God. And its
penalty was dealt out with even-handed equity to both parties in
the transgression (Lev. 20 : 10. Deut 22 : 22.) In that impartial
way alone could justice be done.
In quite a different key are the following Accadian laws :
" If a woman is unfaithful to her husband, and says to him,
'Thou art not my husband,' into the river they throw her."
Those sacks sunk in the Bosphorus, then, with their living occu
pants, were only the carrying out of a very ancient law. But
when, on the other hand, "A husband says to his wife, ' Thou
art not my wife,' half a maneh of silver he weighs out in pay
ment." R. of P. 3. 24; and compare " Social Life Among Assy
rians," 46.
Why so great difference in the penalty meted out to those
equally guilty before God ? Is it Said, no mention is made of un
faithfulness on the part of the man ? It is to be feared that the
omission is not so much a proof of his innocence as of the exist
ence even at that day of the spirit which counts that a mere
peccadillo in a man which is a capital offence in a woman ; and
it may be that some laws in Christian communities to-day are
administered more in the spirit of that heathen law of Assyria
than of the holy and beneficent law of God.
A sensitive spirit may shrink from reading Deut 22 : 13-21,

358 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
but whoso is wise and understands it knows the loving-kindness
of the Lord. He makes the parents of the wronged one the
agents of her deliverance, well knowing that none would feel
such interest in righting the wrong, and then wondrously makes
the same means which rescue the innocent make more sure the
punishment of the guilty. For though he is " full of compassion
and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy and truth,"
yet " he will by no means clear the guilty." Ex. 34 : 6, 7. I have
not yet found an echo to this law in Assyria or Babylonia,
though I would rejoice to find there such a disposition to right
the wrongs of woman. YAHUA OR YAOOA (JEHU).
The name of the destroyer of the house of Ahab finds a
place in the obelisk of black marble which Mr. Layard discov
ered at Nimrood. The Assyrian form of the name is Yahua,
with a very slight sound to "h," if indeed there is any. Shal-
maneser II. (B. C. 860-825) erected the obelisk and inscribed on
it the annals of his reign in 190 lines of cuneiform writing. Five
rows of bas-reliefs illustrate the annals, and the second row pic
tures the bearers of the tribute of Jehu to the Assyrian king.
The bas-reliefs run round the four sides of the obelisk, and the
inscription reads, " The tribute of Yahua, son of Khuumri (Omri).
Silver, gold, bowls of gold, cups of gold, pitchers (or pails) of
gold, lead, sceptres for the hand of the king, and staves (or
shafts for spears) I received." R. III. 5. No. 6. 64, and A. M. 8.
27. Also R. of P. V. 41, par. 2, and R. of P. new IV. 52, par. 2.
The term son (son of Omri) is used here in the broader
sense of descendant. Shalmanezer does not seem to have known
the manner of Jehu's accession to the throne, but supposed that
as he occupied the place of Omri he of course belonged to his
family. This tribute was received B. C. 842, while the king of Da
mascus was being besieged in his capital, and neighboring mon-
archs felt the need of securing the favor of his powerful as
sailant. This obelisk illustrates the inaccuracy of writers in minor
details. Prof. Sayce (R. of P. V. 27) gives its height as five feet.

YEAR OF THE KING. 359
Morris Jastrow, Jr., in the January Century, 1894, p. 408, says
" about seven feet ;" and the writer of " The Buried City of the
East," London, 185 1, gives it as "six feet six inches." As it
stands in the British Museum that question can be definitely
settled at any time by any one who will take the trouble to
measure it. It was doubtless a lapsus pennce that led Rev. V.
Scheil, in R. of P. new IV. 17, to say that the obelisk was found
at Koyunjik instead of Nimrood.
A very good view of the obelisk is given in the Century
for January, 1894, p. 400, and the first line of inscription, p. 401,
reads, "The presents of Yaooa, son of Khumri, silvers," i. e.,
bars or ingots of silver. YEAR OF THE KING.
There are many eras in use by different nations : in India
the era of the Kaliyuga, 3101 B. C. ; in China one dating from
2700 B. C. ; in Persia the era of Yezdijird III. from 632 A. D.
The Hejira of Mohammed dates from 622 A. D. ; the Roman
era from the founding of Rome, circa 750 B. C. ; that of the Se-
leucidas from 312 B. C, and many more. But it is a part of the
homage which Christian nations render to Christ that all history
is made to date from his incarnation. Whatever has taken place
since then took place in such and such a year of our Lord ; what
ever occurred previous to that event occurred in such and such
a year B. C. ;* so that the whole of human history is made to sus
tain a relation to his appearance on the earth, and Christians
never feel that they fully understand other eras till they have
translated them into this Christian era.
And yet the Bible never uses that era unless in the purely
personal record of his going up to the temple in his twelfth year
(Luke 1 1 : 42), and entering on his public ministry when he " was
about thirty years of age. Luke 3 : 23.
The Scriptures usually record events as occurring in a cer
tain year of the reign of a certain king. Thus, " In the four
teenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria,
came up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them."
Isa. 36 : 1. Again, " In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim,
king of Judah, came Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, unto

36b ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Jerusalem and besieged it." Dan. 1:1. And, " In the first year
of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus," etc. Dan. 9:1.
In precisely the same way Shalmanezer II. (B. C. 860-825)
says, " In the first year of my reign (paliya), I crossed the river
Euphrates in the time of flood and marched to the Mediter
ranean Sea "—sea of the setting sun he calls it. A. M. 7. 23.
So on the next page he tells what he did in the sixth and
eighteenth years of his reign ; and such quotations might be
made ad libitum.
There was one chronological arrangement peculiar to this
people, and that was the so-called eponym, or, as they called it,
limmu, each year being known by the name of some ruler who
gave the eponym for that year. Thus in the reign of Senna
cherib we read, " First of the month Tisri, limmu Tekiya, ruler of
Damascus." That was B. C. 694, and B. C. 691 has its eponym
from Bilemurani, ruler of Carchemish. See Senn. 15. 17.
It would seem as though Luke the evangelist had heard of
this system of denoting the year when he wrote (3 : 1), " Now in
the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate
being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and
his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trach-
onitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene." There was no
eponym to be mentioned, but he recorded the names of all the
rulers in the region so as to make the date unmistakable.
YOKE.
Matt. 1 1 : 29. Take my yoke upon you. Hos. 11:4. I was
to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws.
The ox yoke lies at the foundation of this figure of speech,
which seems to have suggested itself to all nations in describing
the oppressive governments of ancient times. The use of it is
very common in Assyrian. Asshurbanipal (R. V. 7. 19, Ass'l.
238. 44) says of Nabu-bil-zikri, grandson of Merodach-baladan, He
has thrown off the yoke of my lordship, izluu niru bilutiya, and
charges Yaiteh of Arabia with the same crime. R. V. 7. 87. Ass'l.
256. 101. In the 88th line he says that the god Asshur had
appointed Vaiteh to bear his yoke, ishudu abshuani — another word
for yoke. So he says of Ummanigas, king of Elam (Ass'l. 129.

ZIDON, KINGS OF. 36 1
105), izbata niriya, he took my yoke ; the very expression used by
Christ. He says the same of Tammaritu, another king of Elam.
Ass'l. 206. 49. And the god Asshur says to Gyges in a dream,
Take the yoke of Asshurbanipal, king of Assyria, the beloved of
Asshur, king of the gods, lord of all ; or more fully, Take the
yoke of his lordship, reverence his majesty, and bow down to his
dominion. Ass'l. 74. 17.
ZAPHENATH-PANEAH.
_ When Pharaoh had made Joseph ruler over all the land
of Egypt he called his name Zaphenath-paneah (Gen. 41 : 45), and
Dr. Brugsch makes out of it the Egyptian title, Za pau nt pa aa
nkh, which he interprets to mean " governor of the district of the
place of life ;" i. e., the district in which Israel afterwards built
Pithom and Ramses, where also was the land of Goshen. " Fresh
Light," etc., 50. ZIDON, KINGS OF.
Jeremiah 25 : 22 speaks of " all the kings of Zidon," a some
what tantalizing expression, as it gives us to understand that
there were many of them, but does not even give us their names
or the time when they lived ; nor have we very much that may
satisfy our desire to become acquainted with the ancient dwell
ers in this primeval city. They have all gone, and their records
with them. Now and then, however, a ray of light struggles out
to us from their tombs, though we are accustomed to associate
darkness only with such places. On the morning of January 20,
1855, the sarcophagus of king Ashmunezer was discovered in its
rock-hewn chamber. It was of black sienite, very hard, and
highly polished, and its lid bore a perfect Phoenician inscription
twenty-two lines long. This may be characterized as above all
things intensely human. When he lived we do not know, nor at
what age he died, but after giving his name and lineage he
breaks out in the passionate cry, " I am snatched away before
my time, like the flowing of a stream," and the disappearance of
some of the streams in the adjacent mountain in subterranean
caverns gives forcible emphasis to his words. He then gives
utterance to intense desire that no one disturb his last resting-
place, a feeling akin to the one so universally expressed on

362 ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
Assyrian monuments concerning the name of their builders.
See Thomson's Land and Book, 1882, II. 642-645. The Febru
ary number of the Century Magazine for 1893 gives us some
other sarcophagi from the same quarter, the discoveries of
Khamdi Pasha, curator of the Ottoman Museum at Constantino
ple ; and as we gaze on the matchless beauty of the finest of
them all we can well believe that the discoverer was completely
overwhelmed when his eyes first fell on its wonderful elegance.
The people that provided such receptacles for the bodies of its
kings could not have been lacking in any external refinement.
ZIMRI.
1 Kings 16: 18. And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that
the city was taken, that he went into the castle of the king's
house, and burnt the king's house over him with fire, and died.
Towards the close of the Assyrian Empire everything
seemed to be in a state of decay. All social activities were like
the motions of a clock almost run down and just ready to stop.
Nineveh was destroyed, after a siege of over two yedrs, B. C. 606,
but the Assyrian chronicle, as Prof. Sayce calls it (R. of P. new
II. 120), stopped at B. C. 704. The Assyrian eponym canon held
on till B. C. 666, and, after a lacuna of two years, till B. C. 659.
The splendor of previous Assyrian palaces was wholly wanting
in the structures erected by the latest kings. Geo. Smith, in his
" History of Assyria from the Monuments " (p. 198), makes
Asshur ebil ili the last king ; but Prof. Sayce (in R. of P. new
II. 208) says that Esarhaddon II. was the last. Greek historians
call him Saracus, and say that when an unusual flood in the
river Tigris had destroyed a portion of the city wall, despairing
of holding out any longer he collected his wealth, his wives and
concubines together into the palace, and, setting it on fire, per
ished in the flames. POSTSCRIPT.
The reader of the Word is sometimes tempted to take offence
at the straightforward way in which it speaks of matters over
which modern refinement draws a veil, or passes them by in
silence ; but it may relieve such to notice that some are men-

POSTSCRIPT. 363
tioned only by way of condemning and forbidding crimes that
have already been committed ; so that the world is purer for the
courageous prohibition. They will be surprised also to note
how many of these utterances proceed from lips that do not
belong to the people of God.
Such an instance is the vile speech of the Rabshakeh of
Sennacherib, 2 Kings 18 : 27. It would not be difficult to match
it from the inscriptions of his royal master (see R. I. 42. 18-21,
and A. M. 16. 10-15 and 31-33), but the less said on such themes
the better ; only let the guilty in this matter bear their guilt, and
the word of God receive due honor for dealing faithfully with
everything that pollutes and is polluted. All goes to bring to
pass the glorious result when " there shall in nowise enter into
the city of God anything unclean, or he that maketh an abomi
nation " (in word or deed, or even in thought). Rev. 21 : 27. The
sun is not defiled by the carrion Whose corruption it mercilessly
exposes, and so, notwithstanding its fearless rebuke of all that is
vile, " The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments
of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." Psa. 19:8, 9.

V

APPENDIX.

THE INSCRIPTION OF ASSHURNATSIRPAL FROM THE MOUND
OF BALAWAT (BIL ABUD).
Mindful of his own lack of help in studying Assyrian, and before he had heard
of its translation by others, the writer transliterated and translated this inscription,
hoping thus to induce others to enter on this fascinating study and avail themselves'
of the more abundant helps that are now to be found in this department.
The history of this inscription is soon told. Asshurnatsirpal was king of
Assyria B. C. 886-858, and recorded the annals of his reign at length in the
palace which he built at Calah (Nimrood). These fill 389 long lines, extending
completely across the broad pavement of his palace hall. This inscription at Bal
awat contains only 49 lines, and they are so much shorter that it takes the first 20
of them to repeat almost word for word the contents of only 6 lines of the larger
inscription: col. 2. 126-131 ; in R. I. plate 23.
Layard published the larger inscription, which fills 10 folio pages (R. I. 17-26).
Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, a native of Mosul, who assisted Mr. Layard, continued in
the service of the British Museum after Mr. Layard had returned to England, and
in 1878 discovered the Temple of Makhirinthe ancient mound of Balawat, 15 miles
south-east from Mosul and not very far from Nimrood. In that temple he found
a stone coffer containing two inscribed tablets of alabaster — a beautiful illustration
of the two tablets of the law engraven on stone and laid up in the ark within the
Holy of Holies, in the Tabernacle. These were duplicate copies of this inscription,
and are published in R. V. 69-70. They have been transliterated and translated in
Transactions of the Soc. of Bible Archeology, VII. 59 seq., and also translated by
S. A. Strong in R. of P. new IV. 80-85. The writer has not seen the former. The
latter came to hand after this was prepared, and though there are some render
ings in it which may be preferable he has concluded to let his translation stand
as it is, and leave Assyrian scholars to make their own choice between them ; for
it is by each one bringing his contribution that we are to reach the perfect trans
lation yet to come.

OBVERSE

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367
368 APPENDIX.

OBVERSE— TRANSLITERATION.
1. Det. Asshnr-natsir-pal | sharru rabu-u | sharru dau-nu | shar kishshati shar
matu Asshur |
2. apal Tugulti Adar | sharru rabu-u sharru dan-nu I shar kisishati shar matu
Asshur | apal Raman Nirari |
3. Sharru rabu-u | sharru dan-nu | shar kisshati shar matu Asshur | ma |
4. it-lu | qar-du | sha ina tu-gulti Asshur bili-shu |
5. ittalla-ku-ma ina mal-ki pi. I sha kibrat irbit-ta I
6. sha | nin-in-shu la ishuu | sharru sha ishtu i-bir-ta-an I
7. naru Diqlat a-di | shadu Lib-na-na u tamti 1
8. rabi-ti | matu Laqii I a-na si-khir-ti-sha I
, 9. matu Su-klii | a-di | alu Ra-pi-qi ana shipi-shu |
10. u-shik-ni-sha I ishtu | risk i-ni |
Lines 1-21 of this inscription are nearly identical with part of the Standard
Inscription of Asshurnatsirpal (R. I. 23. 125-131) ; a translation of them may be
found in R. of P. new II. 161. 125-131.
Line 1. The upright wedge at the beginning is a determinative; 2. e., a sign
pointing out the class of nouns to which the following word belongs. This one
determines it to be a masculine proper name, as the sign sal would point it out to
be a feminine proper name. See A. M. 17. The next sign is Asshur. Either thus
or with the determinative ilu (god) it is the god Asshur ; with alu (city) it would
denote the city of that name, now Kalah Sherghat, and with matu (country) it
would mean Assyria. These last are also written alu Asshur ki, and matu Asshur
ki; ki meaning place or country. Natsir is an ideogram ; i. e., it represents an idea
or thing, and not merely a sound. As the latter it would be read bab or pap, and
kur or gur; as an ideogram it may stand for akhu, brother, nakru, hostile, napkharn,
the whole, or, as here, some form of the verb natsaru : in this case the participle,
natsir, keeping, protecting, A; M. 18. 32. Pal is also an ideogram, and as such
may mean either mu, water, or, as here, apal, son. A. M. 24. 210. As a sound it
represents the vowel a. The name Asshur natsir pal means Asshur preserves
the son. Sharru (king) is written ideographically ; phonetically it would be man, or
nish. Rabu is a phonogram, and the u is written out to show that it is the nomina
tive, rabu, not the genitive, rabi, or the accusative, raba. Dan, in dannu ; D. L.
gives nine sounds to this sign, 21. 172, and A. M. gives eleven, 14. 146. The con
text determines which of the eleven is to be used. Kishshati is an ideogram ; as
a phonogram it is shu. The last sign is an ideogram for Assyria.
Line 2. Apal is an ideogram meaning son of. Also Tugulti, meaning reliance,
or help, or servant, and the next sign is an ideogram for the god Adar or Uras,
known also as Ninip. The name means Uras is my reliance, or helper. Both.

APPENDIX. 369

OBVERSE — TRANSLATION.
1. Asshur-natsir-pal, the great king, the mighty king, the universal king, the king
of Assyria,
2. Son of Tukulti Uras, the great king, the mighty king, the king of all, the king
of Assyria, son of Rimmon Nirari,
3. The great king, the mighty king, the king of all, the king of the said Assyria,
4. The strong potentate who by the help of Asshur his lord
5. Has marched around, and among the rulers of the four quarters (or regions of
the earth)
6. Found none that could resist him. The king who from beyond (z. e., to the
east of)
7. The Tigris as far as to Mount Lebanon and the Great Sea (Mediterranean)
8. Has subdued at his feet the land of Laqi throughout its whole extent,
9. And the land of the Shukhites as far as the city of Rapiqi
10, From the head waters
Ramanu and Nirari are ideograms. " Ramanu is my helper." Nirari has not
the meaning of reliance, like Tugulti.
Line 3. For ma at the end see A. L. and S. 70 and 127, and A. M. 35. 18.
Here it marks the end of a sentence.
Line 4. Itlu (exalted) from ilu, to be high, here means ruler, and agrees with
the adjective qardu (strong).
Line 5. Ittalla is ideogram for dudu, and ku is a phonetic complement. A.
M. 26. 5. Ma; see line 3.
Line. 6. It is very unusual to divide lines as in this inscription, and its arbitrary
nature is seen in the occurrence of a division in the middle of the word shanin ; the
second in is a phonetic complement as in line 5 ; ishtu is an ideogram. Prof. Sayce
renders ibirtan fords (R. of P. new II. 127), but the Worterbuch in D. L. gives
jenseits, on the other side.
Line 7. The two signs at the beginning form the determinative for rivers or
bodies of water. The Assyrian ideogram for Tigris is a pen picture of its arrowy
speed. Tamti is an ideogram, and rabiti, line 8, agrees with it.
Line 8. Laqii corresponds nearly to the modern Pashalic of Orfa, north of the
land of the Suri. Soorea, on the west bank of the Euphrates above the mouth of
the Belik, recalls the name of this tribe. Bit khalupi, one of their cities (R. of P.
new II. 142. 75) is now Helebi, below the Belik. In Black's General Atlas (1876)
it is printed Zelebi.
Line 9. The Sukhi are the Shuhites of the book of Job. They dwelt west of
the Euphrates, between the Belik and the Khabor. Their city Rapiqi was on the
north-western border of Babylonia.
Line 10. Rish ini, head of the fountain. We say head waters. Ishtu is ideo
gram for ta. 25

370 APPENDIX.
11. nam \ Su-up-na-at | a-di | ni-ri-bi |
12. sha matu Kir-ru-ri I a-di | matu Kir-za-ni |
13. ishtu i-bir-ta-an | naru Za-ba shupali |
14. a-di | alu Til-ba-a-ri sha il-la-an |
15. matu Za-han | ishtu alu Til-sha-Ab-ta-ni |
16. adi | alu Til-sha-Za-ab-ta-ni |
17. alu Khi-ri-mu | alu Khii-ru-tu matu Bi-ra-a-ti |
18. sha matu Ear-du-ni-nsh | a-na mi-its-ri |
19. mati-ya u-tir u rapshati pi. |
20. matati Na-i-ri | a-na pa-kha-ad gim-ri-sha |
21. a-bil | a-lu slm-u | a-na esh-shu-ti atsbat I
22. alu Im-gur ilu Bil | shum-sha | ab-bi I
23. E | kur shi-i | ina li-bit | E-kul-ya J
Line n. The Suupnat is the Sebbeneh Soo, that enters the Tigris near Osman
Khoy above Diarbekir, after passing through Maiafarikin (the separation of the
waters) and Sheikh Butman. Niribi is from iribu, to enter ; but as a pass is lower
than the mountains on either side it came to mean lowlands, as it may here.
Line 12. The region described here takes in the whole width of the Pashalic
of Diarbekir as far east as Kurdistan. Kirruri lay between Rawandiz and Erbil
(Arbela). Line 13. The lower Zab is still known as Zab el asfal. It was the Kapros of
the Greek. Line 14. Ulan or illaan, above.
Line 15. Zaban was the district to the south of that river.
Line 16. Zaabtani reminds one of Zebdany, between Damascus and Beirut.
Line 17. Biraati (fortresses). An abundance of them may have given the dis
trict its name ; but the determinative matu shows that it was the name of a district.
Line 18. Karduniash is the well-known name of Babylonia.

APPENDIX. 371
1 1 . of the river Supnat even to the entrance
12. of the land (or low lands) of Kiruri and to the land of Kilzani
13. From the other side of the lower Zab
14. As far as the city of Tilbari, which is above
1 5. The land of Zaban. From the city of the Tel (mound) of Abtani
16. Even to the city of the Tel of Zabtani
17. The city of Khirimu, the city of Kharutu in the land of Birati (and)
18. (a province) of Karduniash to my own territory
19. I restored and the extensive
20. Provinces of Nairi, in all their subdivisions,
21. I brought (back). This city anew I took hold of,
22. I called its name the city of Imgur Bel (the delight of Bel)
23. Its temple I built in connection with (with the brick of) my palace.
Line 20. Nairi (river country) in the days of Tiglath Pileser I. lay towards the
head waters of the Tigris and Euphrates. In the time of Asshurnatsirpal it
belonged to a region more to the southwest.
Line 21. There seems to be an error of the Assyrian artist here. He has just
spoken of the country of Nairi, and here he refers to " that city." Was he copying
from the Standard Inscription which here says (col. 2. 131), " I took hold anew of
the city of Calah," etc., and here the same expression is used of Belabud (Balawat).
The verb is not aksud, I took, in the sense of captured, but atsbat, I took hold of,
with an idea of making improvements.
Line 22. Abbi, from nabuu, to speak, to name.
Line 23. This line reads literally, " That temple with the brick of my palace I
erected." This may mean, I used the same bricks, stamped with my name, in both
of them, or, I built them both on the platform of the same mound that was paved
with those bricks ; either way the meaning is, I built it in connection with my
palace.

372 APPENDIX.

REVERSE — TRANSLITERATION.
1. lu-u | ad-di tsalam | ilu Makhir | bil-ya |
2. ina lib-bi lu-u u-shi-ghib | ana shadu Lib-na-na |
3. lu-u | a-lik | itsu gushuri pi. | itsu i-ri-ni |
4. itsu shur-man | itsu dap-ra-ni | a-kish |
5. itsu gushuri pi. | itsu i-ri-ni— ili E-kur-shi-i |
6. u-tsa-bit | itsu dalti pi. | itsu i-ri-ni |
7. ipu-ush | ina mi-tsir | si-par-ri | u-ra-ki-is |
8. ina babani-sha pi- | u-ri-ti | E-kur-shi-i |
9. u-si-im | u-shar-rikh | ilu Ma-khir | bilu rabu-u |
10. ina libbi u-shi-shib | abnu na-ra-a | ashtur | ina E-kur-shu I
11. ash-kun | rubu | arku-u ina sharra-ni pi. |
12. apli-ya pi. I sha Asshur | i-na-bu-shu ] E-kur |
13. shii | i-na-khu | abnu na-ra-ya | ta-mar-ma |
14. ta-sha-su-u | an-khu-sa ud-dis 1 shum-ka ki shum-ya |
15. shutur | ana ashar-shu | ti-sa | Asshur bilu rabu-u (rubu) I ilu Ma-khir |
16. a-shib | E-kur-shi-i | ina ni-shi I iuaa-shu-nu I ki-nish-ish |
17. us-tu-lu-shu | shum-shu | zir-shu | ina inatu-shtiiiii | lu-ki-nu I
18. sha abnu na-ra-a | i-ma-ru-ma I an-na-a mi-na |
19. i-qa-bu-u | ilu Ishtar | bi-lat | qabli | u takhazi |
20. itsu kakki-shu pi. | lu-u | tu-sha-bir I itsu kussi-shu |
21. lu ti-kim-shu | sha abnu na-ra-a | i-ma-ru-ma I
22. i-sha-su-u | shamni pi. | i-pa-sha-shu | lu-niqu aqqi |
23. ana ashar-shu I lutir-ru I Asshur bilu rabu-u | tuq-ri-bi-shu |
24. i-shim-mi | ina takhazi sha sharra-ni pi. | ashar |
25. taq-ru-ub-ti I am-mar | lib-bi-shu | u-sham-tsa-ma |
The words in italics are simply determinatives. See p. 96.
Line 1. Lu. This is a particle of asseveration. A. M. 35. §18. It seems to
be an antique form of the verb expressing completed action. Makhir ; there is not
much known about him save that he was the god of dreams.
Line 2. Ushishib, shaphel from ashabu with causative meaning.
Line 3. Irini, cedars. In Hebrew and Arabic the cedar was }")X and ps was
the pine-tree. Line 6. Dalti is an ideogram.
Line 7. Ipush is an ideogram, also siparri.
Line 8. Babani are the doorways, or openings for doors. Daltu, the frame of
boards that closes them.
Line 10. Abnu is here a determinative. Ashtur is an ideogram. The mascu
line pronoun shu is here used with E kur instead of shi, the form in line 5.
Line 13. Tamar.. This and the following verb are in the second person singular.
Line 16. Nishi inaa-shunu, literally, in the lifting up of their eyes ; so in Hebrew

APPENDIX. 373

REVERSE — TRANSLATION.
i. I placed an image (and so) the god Makhir my lord
2. I caused to dwell in it. To Mount Lebanon
3. I went ; beams of cedar,
4. of cypress (or pine) and of juniper I cut down.
5. Beams of cedar upon (the roof of) this temple
6. I laid firmly. Doors of cedar
7. I made, with a covering of copper I bound (or enclosed) them,
8. In-its portals I set them up. This temple
9. I made beautiful. I made it strong. The god Makhir, the great lord,
10. I caused to dwell in it. A written tablet of stone in this temple
1 1. I placed. O thou future ruler among the kings
12. My descendants whom Asshur shall call to the throne, (when) this temple
13. shall decay, my memorial tablet thou shalt look (up)
14. Thou shalt recite (it), its decayed portibn restore. Thy name like mine
15. inscribe (in it) (and) restore it to its place. Asshur the great lord and Makhir
16. dwelling in this temple, let them with kindly feeling together
17. regard him, and let them establish his name and his posterity in their land.
18. (But) he who shall look (up) my tablet and injury to it of any kind
19.- shall order, let the goddess Ishtar, the queen of battle and of war,
20. break in pieces his weapons, and let her take away from him his throne.
21. He who shall look (up) this my memorial tablet,
22. Who shall recite (it), anoint its kisalli with oil, offer sacrifice,
23. And then restore it to its place, the great god Asshur shall hear his prayer.
24. In the battle of kings, the place of fierce encounter,
25. The desire of his heart, he shall cause him to find.
the lifting up of the countenance is used in the same sense. Num. 6 : 26 ; Psa.
4:6; 42 : 5, 11.
Line 17. Dstulu-slm, from natalu, with pronominal suffix.
Line 18. Mina. Mr. S. A. Strong, in R. of P. new IV. 84. 41, seems to derive
this from mann, to count, for he renders it " in plenty." Is it not better to take it
as the neuter interrogative pronoun (see D. L. IX), and render " whatever,'' or " of
any kind " ? Ishtar in line 19 is set down as alu, god, masculine. (Attention is
here called to what in our view is an irregularity : Alu is god ; goddess would be
Ishtar — also her name.)
Line 20. Kakki is an ideogram ; tushabir, feminine, agreeing with Ishtar, so
also is the next verb, tikim, in line 2 1 .
The spirit of the last line is most thoroughly Assyrian. The king regards the
hottest of the battle as the most desirable place, and that once found he has no
doubt as to the issue. Ammar means, literally, the filling up.

INDEX.

Abbreviations in this volume . 6, 7
Abednego  9
Abni piili  311
Abraham ... 9, 10, 218, 257
why he blessed Melchizedec 203

Accadian folk-lore
Accuracy of translations
Adrammelech .
Adultery' impartially condemned
Ahab ....
Alphabet ....
Altar ....
" golden, of Bil
Amazons ....
Ameni 
Amenemhat
Amenophis IV. 43, 55, 88, 181,
Amraphel ....
Angel, Destroying
Anointing, Prominence of

Ansan, Anzan . 74, 79, 80.
Ansar and Kisar
Apparel, Royal
Appiryon .
Apple of the eye .
Appropriation of tributes
Ararat, Mountains of
Arel ....
Arioch .
Ark (shrine)
" Chaldean
ArpadArrows .
Divination by
Art, Hittite .
ArtemisArtichoke
Asherah, The goddess
AshkenazAsses " white .
Asshurbanipal 28, 29, 48
prayer of

131
328
10, 11
357 11
12
12-14 14
15-9
¦ 123156
184, 202
¦ 54 14
15, 16
m, 112 7i
. 1617
17, 18
337

93 13
19
20
93 21
21
237 162
159
349 22
138 23
24
68, 132,180,226 . 250

Asshurnatsirpal 16, 18, 72-74, 123, 127,
133. 365-369
his time for war 273
Assyrian, The (Isa. 52:4). , 24
language . . .25
Atonement, Vicarious . 269, 278
Atys  159

36, 363. 365
• 27

BeerBel 
Belshazzar ... 4,
Benhadad ....
Bethel ....
Binding and loosing .
Bisik Siparri.
Bit Yagina
Black-headed race
Bliss, Mr 
Blue 
Body, nailed to wall .
Boscawen, W. S. Chad .
Botta, P. E. 5, 12, 16,
Bound hand and foot
Bow down
Bowels, Cometh forth out of
Brass, Doors of
Brazen sea .
Breaches ....
Bricks, Assyrian .
Bridle ....
Brightness .
Bring back
Brothers " The two

PAGE. 123
342

Baba's record of famine
Babylonia, Fruitfulness of
" Literature of 9, 10, 68, 84,~85
Balaam  26, 27
Balawat . . 12, 35
Banks ....
Battlements, round-roofed .
Beasts of the field, and wild
Beautiful gate .

. 27, 28
28, 293i
. 106
• 15.29
31,48, 124
1, 148, 281
• 32
• 32, 33
• 75
204, 205
'4. 79. 307 181

64
33
323
38, 65, 121, 291
¦ 34
34
• 35 35
• 3637
• 313 37
• 3»39
40, 288
247, 248

Brugsch Bey. . 156,159,160,335
Bulls, winged and human-headed gy, 142
Burial, outside of cities . . 135
" of kings, in cities . .136
Burn with fire . . . . 127
Burna Buriyas . . .88, 202
Bury alive  72, 73
Butter and honey .... 42
Caillou Michaux . . . 187
Calah . . 42, 43, 68, 234, 337
Campaigns, how often . . . 273
Candelabra . . . 241,242
Caphtor . . . . 12, 138
Cappadocia .... 43

INDEX.

375

145.

Castor-oil plant
Cauls.Caves ....
Cedar , . 44, 45,
Cemeteries .
Century Magazine .
Chain of gold
Chaldean story of Deluge
" " agrees with Genesis
" " differs from
Chaldean learning
Change of gods
" " name .
Chaos
ChariotsChedorlaomer .
CherubimCheyne, T. R., Rev. .
Children desired .
eaten .
Cistern ....
Cities, ancient .
City and country .
" thy .
" and tower
Clean and unclean beasts
Clothed with cursing .
CoffinsCoincidence, Wonderful
Coins invented by Hittites
Colophons . . 68,
ColorsCommandment, Second
to destroy
ConcubineConfidence, Self-
Copied out .
CountCovenantCover the face .
Creation . ,
Creator and Father
Creatures, Living .
Cremation .
Cruel
Cruelties .
Cumulative evidence
Cuneiform writing " extent of use
Curse of Jericho
Cursing
Cut themselves .
Cylinders ....
Cyrus . • • 77-8i

146 44
. 281
279- 333. 334
46, 135, 136
359. 362
. . 48
89-91 9i
92-95
. 189
48,49 9
70,71 51-5354.55
. 98
155. 156
• 5556
• 57
57-5959-61 61
. 62
63
. 6447
181
348
262
64-66
. 6696
67,68 337
. 6869
• 69 70
¦ 7°7i
• 195 135
. 125
¦ 72-74 4
25, 26
• 74
. 74, 75
• 7577
. 290
in, 243

108.

162,
259,

Dagal

81-197

Dagon
Darkness
Deciphering inscriptions
Dedication .
Delitzsch, Prof. Friedrich
Deluge " Duration of
Determinatives .
Destruction by command
Devils (Shidi) .
Devise evil .
Dial ....
DiarbekirDivorce
Dogs ....
Doom of the heathen .
Dove ... 90,
DragonDream, doubled twice
DreamsDrink-offeringDroughtDualismDuisratta .
Dur Sargina .
Dust ....
" on head

Ea .... 67, 83,
Earrings .
E Babara
Ebed Tob . . . 176,
Eden " rivers of .
Education of women .
honored of God
Egibi, Sons of .
Elam (see Ansan)
Ellasar (Larsa) .
Elohim ....
El Shaddai
Elul, Hemerology of
Entering of gate
Eponyms . 43, 262, 321
Eras, Chronological .
Erechite lament .
Eri Aku .
Eridu ... 108
Esarhaddon 51, 133, 134,

EternityEvening and morning
Evil, Whence
" Merodach

. 81-83
¦ • 83
, 4-6
. . 84
18, 67, 108,
114, 202
84-96
¦ 9496
• 9697
• 98
99, 168
• 73
99, 100
. 100178
134, 317
71, 104
101-104 105
. 105 106
118, 119
25, 197
¦ 38
106
. 107

94,

141,

109
[65, 224,

292 108 1 1
202, 203
108, 109
100 109no 10
27
in 19
. 112
1 1 2-1 16
. 283
116, 117
360, 362359
. 50 19
168, 383
200, 202,
300, 325 H7
11,87
118, 119
. 120

376

INDEX.

Eyes destroyed .

PAGE. 121

Gudea ....

PAGE.
. 322

Gula 

64

Face ....

. 121

Guthe, Dr. .

• 297

Faith and grace .

122

Gutium ....

54

Famine in Egypt .

. 123

Gyges . . 103, 105, 1

25. 194. 33»

Fast, Proclaiming a .

123

Father, God our .
. 258, 259
Hadadrimmon .
148
" Creator .
• 7L72
Haikal (temple), origin of w
ord 323
Fear ....
. 124
Hallowed be Thy name .
225
Feast, Women at
124, 125
Hamath
. 148
Feet ....
. 125
Hanameel ....
149
Fertility of Assyria .
280
Hands, Lifting up of
. 191
Filial duty
. 125
Hannah and Samuel .
149
Fire, Burnt with
127
Haran . .
. 150
First-born
. 128
Harper, Prof. R. T. .
6
Flaying alive .
54, 72, 73. 129
Harps ....
. 151
Flesh of men eaten
¦ 129, 131
Head 
152
Foot-marking .
131
" Carrying off .
. 152
" stool
. 132
" Lifting up of
191
Fore-ordination .
132
Hearing
107, no
Forgiving
¦ 133, 134
Heart stirred up
152, 153
Forms, Grammatical .
. . . 146
Heaven ....
154, 169
Forsaken of God .
¦ 134
Moslem
95
Foundations
41
Hebron and Hittites
154, 156
Fountains
• 135
Helbon, Wine of
35'
Fresh Light, etc.
12, 21, 112
Helmets
¦ 157
Funerals
• 135
Hezekiah, Prayer of .
249
Furnace
. . 136
Highways
• 157
Hilprecht, Prof. H. V.
79
Ganneau, Mons. Clermont
207, 208
Hittite art .
. 162
Gashmu
137
" chariots .
,163, 164
Gate, City
• 137
" dress . . . .
. 162
Genealogy, Without .
203
gods
159
Genesis 10 .
. • 138
" inscriptions
. 158
Gibil ....
49
Honor, for obey
164, 165
Gladness and joy .
¦ 138, 139
Horns ....
22, 316
Glorify God
139
Horse ....
. 165
Go before
. 140
Hosts, Lord of
. 166
God and Lord .
H3
Hours ....
167
" of gods .
• H5
House of fathers .
. 168
Gods, animal
67, 141, 142
" " my royalty .
282
" bird .
66, 67
" fish .
67
Idols 
. 108
" many .
• 143
Immortality
168, 169
" prevaricating .
95
Immutability in Assyria
• 339
Goeth ....
• H3
" God.
34i
Goings out
144
Impalement .
• 34
Gold much used .
• 144
Incantations
170, 171
Golennischeff, M.
• 17,44
Incense, altar
14
Gourd (Jonah's) .
. 145, 146
Individuals, God judges
. 178
Grant, Dr. A. . . .
214, 3°4
Inscriptions, numerous .
• 171
Graves ....
46, 47
" accurately translatf
:d 328-330
Greaves . . . .
147
" dates of
. 172
Grotefend
5
" languages .
172
Groves, mistranslated
22
" material used
172, 173
Growth of idolatry
48, 49
Isaiah 10 .
173. '74
INDEX.

377

T , PAGE.
Ishtar  266
descent into Hades . . 190
Israel  174, 175
Ivory palaces . . . . 175
Izdubar (Gisdubar) . 32, 85, 232
" tablet . . 36, 89, 331, 345

Jastrow, Morris, Jr.
Jehovah
Jehu , .
Jeremiah .
Jerusalem
Joseph " Knew not .
Judge Judgment, Righteous
Justice " Royal

• 359
175,176
• • 358 149
176, 202, 203
. 48, 248
. 184177178 179
253

177

Kadesh, Battle of .
Khamdi Pasha .
KhammuragasKharran . % .
Khasisadra 31,32,45

Khorsabad .
King of kings
Kings and priests
Kingdom against kingdom
Kirjath Sepher .
Kisallu ....
Kiss 
" Oriental
Klein, Dr. .
Knees ....
Knowledge of the fathers .
KoyunjikKudur Mabuk .
" Nankhundi

. 160
362
19, in, 264, 284
. 82, 150
85, 89, 92, 95,
279. 333, 340
12, 65, 66, 121, 201, 256
. 180

201, 256
180, 181
181
13, 16
182
• 183
207 183185
185

184,
84, 108,
19, 20, 54
39. 5°, 54, "i

Lachish (Tel el hesy) 57, 181, 186, 187
Lagamaru . . . . . 54
Lakhma and Lakhama . . .71
Land and the Book, The . 3, 349, 362
Growth of, at Ur . . . 109
Landmarks . . . . 187
Languages  188
Larit  312
Larsa  19
Lassen, Prof  5
Layard . . .65, 66, 84, 241, 242
Learning of the Chaldeans . 10,189
Lending without interest . . 252
Length of days . . . .195
Libations  105
Library of Asshurbanipal . 6, 68, 85

r .. . PAGE.
Libraries  10, 68
Life, Spiritual, from Christ only . 120
" Tree of . . 255, 332, 351
" Water of ^9, lgo
Lig Bagas  Ig
Light of the world . . . 190, 192
Lilith ..,...' iQ2
Lion  .193
Litany  lg3
Literature of Babylonia 9, 10, 68, 84, 85
Liver, The — the seat of emotion 194
Lobdell, Henry, M. D. . . 145, 146

Loftus, W. K.'
Long life
Look in the face
" on " "
Looking-glasses
Lord of all
Lyon, Prof. D. G.

19, 46, 47, 295, 296
195, 196
196
• 197
197 198
257,

13, 82, 117, 122

MadaktuMagan
Majesty .
MamitManassehMariette Bey
Meal-offeringMeat and drink .
Mediterranean Sea
MelchizedekMenahem
Menant, Mons. .
Mene, Tekel, Upharsin
Merathaim
Merodach . 30, 49, 62, 71, 78-80,
104, 128,
" relation to other gods 49, 80,

324, 343, 344

156.

289 201

205

207-
87, 206, 210, 211, 211-

Mesha .
Methuselah
Milk of sheep
Mirrors
Mitsraim
Moabite stone
Monotheism .
MonthsMonument 
Moon, Worship of the . 215
" in Accad set before the sun
Temple of, in Ur 30, 216, 218
Mordecai 
Morning star ....
Moses in the ark ....
" used other writings . 85
Mount of congregation

57
88
199 26
200 159
278200
360
-203 326
290203
204
101, 20479- 141
208206
207 197
128
¦209 220
¦213 214
218216342
218
218219
-88220

378

INDEX.

Mountains .

PAGE.
. 220

Pharaoh Necho . . 9

PAGE.
48, 227-276

" God and .

Il6

Phoenician alphabet

12

Mouth for command

. 222

Phrases, Scripture

4. 34, 35. 65

Muezzim, Basis for the

257

Pikhatu ....

33. 297

Mullil ....

• 15,355

Pinches, Theophilus G.

• 44, 50

Music

222-224

Pine-tree and cone

¦ 332

Pitch 

241

Nabonidus 31,32,49,60,78,80,117,

Place, Mons. .

. . 65

133

139, 150,243

Plaster ....

241, 242

Nabopolassar

. 42

Polygamy

. 100, 353

Nahum, picture of chariot

5 • 53

Polytheism

243, 263

Name, Assyrian idea of a

. 225

Poor in spirit

. 244

" Number of

236

Porch before the house

245-247

" of God

224-227

Potiphar, Wife of .

• 247

Names, Meaning of .

228

Potter's vessel .

248

" Origin of .

. 228

Power, Symbol of .

. 316

Men's, of which (

}od is a

Prayer, Hebrew and Assyrian 249, 250

part .

228-230

Precative ....

146, 147

Nana ....

• 39- 4o, 50

Presents to kings .

. 251

Naville, Mons. .

3H

of Hezekiah to Sennacherib 252

Nebo ....

. 29

Prices of asses .

253

Nebuchadrezzar 30, 45,

133, U5, 153,

" grain, houses, oxen,

sheep 253

230, 231

Priesthood ....

254

" " astonished at

furnace 308

Priests' dresses

• 279

Nergal

. 14, 15

Priest-king

201, 256

Newman, Prof. F. W. .

• 163

Procession, Musical

223, 224

Nimrod

232

Psalms .

257, 260

Nimrood

. 232

" ' Penitential .

260-262

Nineveh, Extent of

233-235

Pul .... 262-264, 327

Ningirsa

¦ 322

Pyramids of living men .

72, 73

Ninip, Names of

. 11, 285

Nisakku
202, 256
. Queen of heaven .
. 265
Nishit ina .
18
" on throne
265
Nisroch
• 235
Semiramis .
. 265
Nitsir.
93
Queens in Arabia
_ 264
No return, Land of
. 274
" " Babylonia
. 264
Nouns
• ' 235
" "Egypt
265
Numeration .
• 9i
Quti ....
• 79
Oannes ....
. . 83
Rab Mag
. 266
Oil, Anointing with .
16
Rabshakeh, The
266, 363
" Mollified with .
. 210
"as linguist
. 268
Omens ....
236, 237
Rainbow, after Deluge
95
Oxen not offered whole
• 13
Rain fire, etc.
. 268
Ramses II. ...
25, 160-162
Padan Aram .
. 238
Ramsey, Prof. W. M. .
• 44
Paine, Prof. J. A.
25
Rassam, Hormuzd 11, 12
35, 36, 79.
Particles (grammar)
• 238, 239
218, 356
Patesi ....
202, 256
Raven 
268, 269
Pathrusim
. . 138
Rawlinson, Sir Henry 5, 6,
30, 74, 189
Peace, God of .
176, 240
Records used by Moses
. 88
Pentaur
• 155. 164
Redemption
269
Perrot and Chipiez 12, 16, 3<
5, 41, .125, 242
Refuge, God a
• H5
Persian gulf .
109, 289
Religion, National, in Assyria . 78
Pethor ....
73, 240, 241
Religion, Local, in Babylonia
. 78
Petrie, Dr. Flinders
. 181
Repetitions, Vain
270
INI

EX.

379

PAGE.
PAGE.
Reprobates .
• 134
Serpent ....
. 292
Rest .
.
;8, 270, 271
Seruaedherat . . . no, in, 329
" The gods also
58, 272
Sevens ....
• 293
Retribution
,
• 178
Shadow ....
294
Return not .
¦ 274
Shakkanaku . . . 202, 254, 256
Righteousness .
274
Shalmanezer II. . n,
36, 51, l6l
Rimmon
• 275
Shangu .... 202, 254, 256
Ring (bracelet ?)
275, 276
Shanu ....
IO3
Rites
277-279
Shars ....
• 91
River of Egypt .
280
Sheep, Milk of .
207
Rivers .
. 280
" Price of
• 253
Roads
.
346
Sheil, Rev. V. .
359
Rocks of Assyria .
. 2S0
Shem, Ham and Japhet
. 138
Ropes on head .
281, 282
Shepherd ....
294
Royal house .
. 282
Shidi ....
Shikaru ....
67, 97, 142106
Sabako .
. 3°6
Ship ....
• 294
Sabba
119
Shoulder peeled .
295
Sabbath .
282-285
Shumir and Akkad
. 80
" belongs to G
3d'
282, 283
Shushan ....
m, 295
" date of SabbE
ith t£
iblet . 284
Shutting
¦ 297
day of rest for the heart . 283
Siloam, Inscription at
297, 298
Sacrifices .
278
Silver sky, Land of the .
. 169
human .
. 269, 278
Sin, Temple at Ur 30, 78, 21
7, 218, 342
Sakar en Nimrood
346
" and Sinai
299, 3°°
Sakkut and Chiun .
. 285
Singing men and women 222-225, 300
Salt, Sown with .
286
Sippara ....
IO, II
Samaria peopled from
Ass
yria 286, 287
Skies 
300
Samuel
150
Skin ....
. 301
Sand, Building on (see
:233) !'
Slaughter ....
3or
Sanctified from womb
287
Slaves ....
. 3°2
Sargon, his justice
179, 253. 254
" condition and prices
3°3
" and Isaiah
. 4. 287
Sleepeth
. 3°4
Sattuku .
• 277
Slippery places .
3°4
Savor, Sweet
288
Small and great .
• 3°5
Sayce, Prof. A. H.
21,
42, 44, 83, 92,
Smith, Azariah, M. D.
3°4
100, 104, 109,
no,
114, 118, 124,
" George
• 85
138, 147, 156,
159,
161, 181, 205,
Smoke of burning
3°5
206, 210, 220,
283,
297, 299, 362
So (see Sabako) .
, 3°6
Saw not one another
. 288
Son of the gods .
3°7
Sceptre, Golden
288
Sons of Assyria
. 308
Schools
109, no
" " Zion
308
Scripture and the mon
ume
nts 86, 87,
Sorcerer, power of .
26, 27
91
-96,
269, 270, 295
Sorcery ....
170, 171
Sea to sea, From
289
Soul (life) ....
. 3°8
" Upper and lower
. 80
Spoil .
3°9
Seal ....
289-291
Stand before ....
• 29
" of Sabako
• 3°6
Star worship , ,
310
" " Urukh .
291
Stones, Costly
• 3"
" skins
,
. 291, 292
S. S. Times
• 79, 83
Seals all intaglios
290
Storehouses, ....
. ¦ 312
" Number of .
. 290
Straw for brick .
313
Seamen in the ark
93
Strike through
• 314
Season for campaigns
,
. 272
Succoth Benoth .
315
Semiramis . . •
265
Suicide 
• 3'5
Sepharad
. 292
Swift destruction
316
38o

INDEX.

Sword, Flame of a
Symbols
Tabering
Tablets Tadukhepa .
Tahtim Hodshi .
Taklimu
Talent as a weight
Tammuz two seasons for
Tartan, The .
Tear in pieces .
TeieTelassar
Tel el Amarna tablets
Tel el Hesy .
Tel el Maskhuta
Telloh .
Temple
Tenses, Assyrian .
Testament .
Thothmes III.
Throne of Sennacherib
Thrust through
Tiamat
Tiglath Pileser I. .
" II. .
Timin (corner stone)
Toora 'd Jeloo .
Tower of Babel
Towers in cities
Traditions of the Deluge
Trampling on .
Translations, Accuracy of
" with notes
Travail ....
Tread down
Tree of life . . 255
Trees, Culture of
" felled .
Tribute Trust in God
" " self . . '
Tubal and Meshech
Ulai, Between the banks of
UmmanaldasUnchangeableness, etc
Ungodly heaven, An .
Ur of the Chaldees
Urukh

PAGE.
. 3l6
3l6
• 317 84
25, 55, 197
• 3i8
. 278
• 318
• 3'9
mourning 320
. 320321
25, 197
321
55. 74, 88, 97,
181, 184, 202
. 181
3H
88, 322323
• 324325
159, 160
325, 326
• 3H
70, 71, 104
5L 74, 185
174, 205, 215
• 75
221
62, 63, 327 62
• ¦ 87
331
. 328
328-330, 336
• 331331
293, 332, 351334
• 335
335, 336
• 337337
¦ ¦ 138
• 338 177
339-341 95
78, 34i
215, 291

Vaiteh 100, 125, 137, 140, 251, 314, 360

Van Lennep, H. J., D. D. .
Veil ....
Verbs ....
Hebrew and Assyrian
Vermilion ....
Vessels, Sacred
Vine 
Visions ....
Voice ....
Wady el 'Arish
Wages ....
Ward, Dr. W. Hayes .
Warka (Erech) .
Water-worksWay, Preparing the .
Weighing gold and silver
Went up .
Wheel (artichoke) .
Whirlwind ....
Winds, To the
Will of Sennacherib .
Wine ....
" in the ark
Witchcraft .
Witnesses, Number of
Wolfe Expedition .
Woman in Babylonia 100, n
" The virtuous .
" Wrongs of .
Womb, Sanctified from the
Word, The . . / .
" Thy .
Words ....
World, God of this
Worshipper Wright, Rev. W. W. 158, 159,
Writing in the days of Moses

77
343 343
344 64
91,344
124. 333
¦ 105
345
. 280
253 11
46
• 345346
• 347
348
• 34935o
• 35°325
• 35° 95
171
35i 3
126, 352
• 353
356, 357
. 287 354
. 258 355
• 355 356
160, 164

70,

Yahua .
Yavnan
Year of the king .
" Return of the
Yoke .

Zaphenath Paneah
Zidon, Kings of .
ZigguratZimri 
Zimrida.
Zodiac of Babylonian origin

63, 226,

358 138
359272 360

361361
247, 324
362
181, 182
310

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CINCINNATI, 176 Elm St. SAN FRANCISCO, 735 Market St.

ASSYRIAN ECHOES OF THE WORD.
By Thomas Laurie, D. D. With illustrations.
From the Preface: "This volume does not claim to march in the front
ranks of Assyrian scholars. The writer has not excavated mounds hitherto
unknown and interpreted the tablets he found there, as our own ' Wolfe Ex
pedition ' has done so well. His has been the humbler aim of making a larger
number acquainted with the work that has been done, and with some at least
of the results obtained. He has sought to gather up the fragments, that noth
ing be lost; so that humble believers who have been startled by the noise of
the battle now raging round the Word may have their hearts reassured by the
corroborations of the truth that lie stored up in every ancient mound, and are
brought to light by the pick of the explorer.
"Many facts of history In the royal inscriptions, many incidents of the
daily life recorded on the tablets, illustrate and confirm the Scripture record.
" One object of these pages has been to give a general idea of the pro
gress that has been made in this interesting department of archaeology."
AMUSEMENTS in the Eight of Reason and the
Scriptures.
By H. C. Haydn, D. D. 16mo. 162 pp. 75 cts.
COMPANION TO THE BIBLE.
By Rev. E. P. Barrows, D. D. Large 12mo. 639 pp. Cloth, $1 75.
Designed to assist in the study of God's Word, containing a concise view
of the Evidences of Revealed Religion as to the genuineness, integrity, authen
ticity, and inspiration of the books of the Bible. It has also a notice of each
particular book, to prepare the reader to study it intelligently, and fills a place
not occupied by either Bible Dictionary or Commentary.

SACRED GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES.
By Rev. E. P. Barrows, D. D. Five maps and numerous engrav
ings. 685 pp. Large 12mo. Cloth, $2 25.
In this faithfully prepared volume the scholar will find the most impor
tant information on all the topics Included under the title furnished by the'
large and costly works of the best and latest scholars. Palestine and all Bible
lands are minutely described: the domestic institutions and customs of the
Jews, their dress, agriculture, sciences and arts; their forms of government,
justice and military affairs ; their temple services, priesthood, sacrifices, and
religious customs.
THE SAINT'S EVEREASTING REST.
By Richard Baxter. Large type, fine edition. 12mo. 540 pp. $1 25.
18mo edition, smaller type. 453 pp. 50 cts.
THE PROGRESS OF DOCTRINE IN THE NEW
TESTAMENT.
By T. D. Bernard, M. A. 12mo. 250 pp. $1.
" The style is absolutely perfect. A broad, deep stream of fresh thought,
in language as clear as crystal, (lows through the whole devout, instructive,
quickening and inspiring work. This volume makes my New Testament a new
book to me." kev. x. l» cutler, d. d.
BIBEE ATEAS.
Containing 18 new and beautiful maps. Paper, 25 cts.
BIBEE ATEAS AND GAZETTEER.
4tO. 32 pp. $1.
Containing the following maps, printed from steel: General Map of the
Countries named in the Bible; Route of the Israelites through the Desert; Holy
Land in the Time of Samuel; Holy Land in the Time of Christ; Paul's Mission
ary Tours; Jerusalem in the Time of Christ.
BIBEE TEXT-BOOK.
12mo. 232 pp. Cloth, 90 cts.
This is a short yet very comprehensive cyclopaedia of the contents of the
Holy Scriptures; in fact, "a Topical Concordance." All Bible places, persons
and subjects are arranged alphabetically, and under each word is given the
texts bearing upon the same. This book has been most carefully revised, very
greatly enlarged, and is printed from new plates. It has the " Bible Student's
Manual," with indexes, tables of various kinds, and a complete set of maps. It
is one of the most useful and complete " Bible Helps " published.

From the " Bible Dictionary. "

DICTIONARY OF THE HOEY BIBEE.
By Rev. W. W. Rand, D. D. 8vo. 720 pp. $2; morocco gilt, $3 50.
Revised In the light of recent researches in Bible lands and enlarged from
the popular edition, of which over 200,000 copies have been sold. It is printed
from new ^ype in the best manner upon fine paper, with new wood cuts, 16 of
the whole number of 360 being elegant full-page pictures, and strongly bound.
Is an invaluable help to clergymen, Sabbath-school teachers, and all other
Bible students. Its 18 maps are from the latest authorities, and are printed in
colors. "All the more important information needed by the Sunday-school
teacher or pastor, in connection with the study of the Bible, will be found in
concise shape in this beautiful and well-nigh perfect volume."
CHRISTIAN AT WORK.

BIBLICAL HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY.
By H. S. Osborn, LL. D. 12mo. 312 pp. $1 25.
" It presents not only the consecutive history of the Bible in an attractive
form, but brings much scholarship to bear on the various monumental and
topographical discoveries which help to a better understanding of the sacred
text." INTERIOR.
FAMILY BIBEE, with brief Notes and Instruc
tions.
By Justin Edwards. D. D., and E. P. Barrows, D. D. 4to. Sheep,
dark, $4; Roan, panelled sides, gilt stamp and edge, $6; Persian morocco,
panelled sides, gilt stamp and edge, $7 50; Levant morocco, padded sides,
gilt edge, $10; Seal, padded sides, red under gold edge, $12.
References and Marginal Reading of the Polyglot Bible, Harmony of the
Gospels, 6 Maps, 6 steel plates, Tables of Weights, Measures, Chronology, etc.,
Bible Gazetteer, Family Record.
FAMILY BIBLE.
The above Bible in pocket edition, with Notes, Maps, etc. 3 vols.
18mo. 2,676 pp. Cloth, $3; sheep, $5.
The "New York Methodist " says, " In accuracy and critical trustworthi
ness no other annotated English Bible approaches this."
FAMILY TESTAMENT AND PSALMS.
Taken from the 4to edition, with Notes, Maps, etc. Royal 8vo.
524 pp. Cloth, $1 75; gilt, $2 50; sheep, $3.
FAMILY TESTAMENT.
With Notes, Maps, etc. Pocket edition. 800 pp. Cloth, $1; gilt,
$1 40; sheep, $1 60; morocco, $3 50.
THE SPIRIT OF LIFE.
By E. H. Bickersteth, D. D. 12mo. 192 pp. $1.
BLIND BARTIMEUS.
By Moses D. Hoge, D. D. 18mo. 257 pp. 50 cts.
BLENDING LIGHTS.
By Dr. Fraser. 12mo. 439 pp. $1 25.
BLOOD OF JESUS.
By Rev. Wm. Reid. 18mo. 128 pp. 25 ots.

From the " Pilgrim's Progress," l2mo edition.

BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.
With 129 illustrations. Quarto. 324 pp. $1 60.'
" An exceedingly satisfactory edition. The illustrations are in general of
an excellent style of German art. Many of them are full-page pictures, and all
of them are spirited and telling." evangelist.
Another edition, with Chapman's illustrations. 12mo. 651 pp. $1.
Another edition. 18mo. Illustrated. 495 pp. 50 cts.

BRIDAL SOUVENIR.
With Marriage Certificate. New edition. 16mo. 80 pp. 60 cts.
This dainty little book is composed of choice selections from popular
writers on the relations of husband and wife; suitable to present to those
joined in matrimony as a data and remembrance of the event. It is bound in
dainty cloth, and'put in a neat box.
BOGATZKY'S GOLDEN TREASURY.
32mo. 610 pp. 60 cts. ; gilt edges, 75 cts.
THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD.
By Rev. F. Bourdillon. 12mo. 320 pp. 90 cts,
BURDER'S VILLAGE SERMONS.
Fifty-two sermons. 571pp. $126.
Books by E. F. Burr, D. D.
AD FIDEM.
12mo. $1 50.
CELESTIAL EMPIRES.
12mo. 19 illustrations. $1 50.
ECCE C03LUM.
l2mo. $1.
PATER MUNDI.
2 vols. 12mo. $2.'
SUPREME THINGS.
12mo. $1 50.
TEMPTED TO UNBELIEF.
12mo. 60 cts.
UNIVERSAL BELIEFS.
12mo. 75 cts.
LONG AGO.
12mo. $1.
" The works of this author are all of them so good that to make a choice
of any one of them as the 'supreme' effort of his life would not be an easy
choice to make. Dr. Burr does his own thinking, and it is not necessary to say
how strikingly original he is in these works. christian inquirer

THE GOSPEL OF GLADNESS and Other Sermons.
By David James Burrell, D. D. 12mo. $1 25.
THE MORNING COMETH.
A new volume of sermons by Rev. David James Burrell, D. D.
12mo. $1 25.
" He uses vigorous, forceful Anglo-Saxon. He gives men something to
think about in every sermon, and puts it in a clear-cut way." interior.
HINTS AND HELPS ON THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL
LESSONS FOR 1894.
By the Brothers Burrell. $1 25.
"Good and helpful." christian observer.
"Comprehensive and satisfactory." methodist Protestant.
STORY OF THE HYMNS.
By Hezekiah Butterworth. Large 12mo. $1 76.
STORY OF THE TUNES.
By Hezekiah Butterworth. Large 12mo. $1 75.
" Thi3 is a charming book, and in every home where it goes it will add a
new interest to the hymns that are sung there." methodist recorder.
CENTRAL EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
By Cairns. Wace, Row, and Thomson. 12mo. SI.
" In this volume are brought together the irrefragible modern arguments
for the truth of Christianity, perspicuously put and masterly handled."
METHODIST PROTESTANT.
ASTRONOMICAL DISCOURSES.
By Thomas Chalmers, D. D. 12mo. 70 cts.
MODERN DOUBT.
By Theodore Christlieb. 8vo. $3.
CLARKE'S SCRIPTURE PROMISES.
32m o. 40 cts. ; gilt edges, 50 cts. ; thin paper, calf, $1.
CLEWS TO HOLY WRIT.
A Scheme for Studying the whole Bible in its Historical Order. By
Mi3S M. L. G. Petrie, M. A. 12mo. $1 50.
" The scholarship shown in its plan and execution is of a high order; its
tone is eminently evangelical, spiritual and devout." EPISCOPAL RECORDER.

 8 
COME TO JESUS.
By Newman Hall. Cloth, 15 cts.; paper, 4 cts.
CRUDEN'S CORCORDANCE.
Edited by Dr. Eadie. 8vo. 561 pp. $1.
This book, containing 150,000 distinct references to passages in the Scrip
tures, Is invaluable to the student of the Word. It gives not only the reference
but also the connection, thus enabling a person with ease to find the passage
sought. It is printed in plain, clear type, on fine paper, making an elegant
octavo volume of 561 pages.
POCKET CONCORDANCE.
16mo. 60 cts.
CRUMBS OF COMFORT.
By Mrs. F. A. Noble. Square 24mo. White cloth, gilt, 40 cts.
"This isa sweet little book and will bring joy to many a sorrowing
heart. To parents who have been deprived or their children by death it will be
specially comforting and welcome." central baptist.
Books by Rev. T. L. Cuyler, D. D.
HEART LIFE.
18mo. 50 cts.
NEWLY ENLISTED.
Square 24mo. Cloth, 60 ctsf paper, 25 cts.
WAYSIDE SPRINGS.
16mo. 60 cts,
THOUGHT HIVES.
12mo. $1 25.
"Dr. Cuyler is always earnest, fervid, intensely practical, and so of
necessity interesting a:id impressive. These brief papers address themselves
to all classes and conditions of men, reaching just those experiences which are
at the same time the most common and the most profound."
WATCHMAN AND REFLECTOR.
HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION in the Six
teenth Century.
By J. H. Merle D'Aubigne. 5 vols. 12mo. $3 50.
"It was Dr. Merle's good fortune to be a disciple of the modern school of
history, which is wholly opposed to any mere re-handling, however skilful, of
old materials, and demands a thorough and constant resort to the sources.
Nothing is to be taken at second hand, much less by guess-work, but original
authorities must be consulted throughout. The evidences of this conscientious
diligence are to be seen on every page." christian intelligencer.

 9 
DAILY FOOD FOR CHRISTIANS.
64mo. 192 pp. 16 cts.; gilt, 20 cts.; morocco, 50 cts.; morocco
flaps, interleaved, 75 cts.

From " Daily Food.1

DAILY FOOD FOR CHRISTIANS.
New, large print, illustrated edition, tastefully bound in white and
gilt. Sq. 24mo. 192 pp. 75 cts,.
The same, on thin paper, Calf, $1.
"A well made selection of the promises and other portions of Scripture,
with appropriate verses of hymns. The book is attractive in regard to style,
with its nice paper, clear print, and cover in white and gold."
NEW YORK OBSERVER.

 10 
DAILY LIGHT ON THE DAILY PATH.
32mo. 380 pp.. Morning Hour or Evening Hour, each, cloth, 40 cts.;
gilt, 50 cts. ; morocco gilt, $1 ; kid-lined, $3.
Morning and Evening Hour, combined. 32m» edition. 760 pp. Cloth,
60 cts.; gilt, 75 cts.; white cloth, $1; Seal Russia, $1 20; morocco, $1 40; mo
rocco, red and gold edges, $1 60; Seal, extra, gold edges, $2; calf, $2; kid-
lined, $4.
Large Print Edition.
16mo. Morning or Evening Hour. 380 pp. Each, cloth gilt, 75 cts. ;
morocco, gilt, $1; white cloth, $1.
Morning and Evening Hour, combined. 768 pp. Cloth, $1; gilt, $1 25;
white cloth, $1 50; morocco, gilt, $2; calf, $2 50; Levant gilt, $3; kid-lined, $5.
" Each day occupies one page. A short text at the top and appropriate
passages of Scripture by way of comment and illustration. An excellent work
lor daily devotion; small enough to carry about with one."
CHRISTIAN SECRETARY.
ALL ABOUT JESUS.
By Alexander Dickson, D. D. 12mo. $1.
"It is the spiritual aroma of the book— a certain pervasive fragrance,
no more to be described than the perfume of a flower — wliich constitutes its
charm." interior.
BEAUTY FOR ASHES.
By Alexander Dickson, D. D. 12mo. $1.
" A book for the household and closet, it will be a help to all who are try
ing to ' run the race with patience.' " Albany evening journal.
THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF RELIGION IN
THE SOUL.
By Philip Doddridge. 18mo. 469 pp. 50 cts.
PRAYER AS A THEORY AND A FACT.
By Rev. D. W. Faunce, D. D. 12mo. $1.
This is the " Fletcher Prize Essay " for 1889. The subjects discussed are
the possibility and probability of prayer as heard and answered; the law of
personality as related to prayer; prayer as related to natural law; negative
answers to prayer are actual answers; the reactions of sin as they induce
prayer; the circular motion of prayer; the Lord's Prayer as our model; sup
posed limitations of prayer; prayer in its prophecy.

 II 
Books by C. H. Spurgeon.
CHEQUE BOOK OF THE BANK OF FAITH.
l2mo. $1 50.
" It consists of promises of the Bible with his brief, pointed and practical
suggestions or comments arranged for daily use. Spurgeon will always live
in the Christian world . . He is never dull and common-place in a book like
this. His sharp sayings are full of pith. Many of them are epigrams contain
ing mines of truth." christian at work.

From Mr. Spurgeon 's "John Ploughman's Talk."
JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK; or, Plain Advice
for Plain People.
New edition from new electro-plates, and with 24 illustrations.
12mo. 75 cts.
320,000 copies of this book have been sold in England.

 12 
JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES.
With 38 illustrations. 182 pp. 12mo. 75 cts.
JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK AND PICTURES.
In one volume. 359 pp. 12mo. $1.
" We do not know of a book with so much excellent sense in such racy
English." STANDARD.
MORNING BY MORNING; or, Daily Readings for
the Family or the Closet.
12mo. $1.
EVENING BY EVENING; or. Readings at Eventide.
12mo. $1.
"These two volumes of helps for devotional services, morning and even
ing, have been prepared by one of the most gifted and spiritual minds of the
age. They are fresh and vigorous in thought, and if faithfully used must help
aid to a higher tone of spiritual life."
AROUND THE WICKET GATE,
Or, A Friendly Talk with Seekers Concerning Faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. 104 pp. 12mo. 75 cts.
SERMONS IN CANDLES.
With many illustrations. 170 pp. 12mo. $1.
" The book is rich in material for all who teach the Scriptures. Old and
young alike will greatly enjoy reading it." chronicle.
COMMENTING AND COMMENTARIES.
12mo. 312 pp. $1.
THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR.
12rno. 432 pp. $1.
MEMORIES OF STAMBOURNE.
With Remarks, Recollections, and Reflections. 15 illustrations.
144 pp. l2mo. 60 cts.
LECTURES TO MY STUDENTS.
2 vols. 12mo. $2.
THE ESSEX LAD Who Became England's Great
est Preacher.
A Life of Spurgeon. Illustrated. l2mo. 75 cts.

13

Books by Agnes Giberne.
SUN, MOON, AND STARS ; or, Astronomy for Be
ginners.
New edition, rewritten and enlarged. Illustrated. l2mo. $1 25,
"This book has been distinct
ly successful, having passed through
twenty English editions. The pres
ent edition has been thoroughly re
vised. It is popular in style and
makes easy and delightful reading."
HERALD AND PRESBYTER.
AMONG THE STARS.
12mo. Illustrated. $1 25.
THE WORLD'S FOUN
DATIONS.
(Geology.) l2mo. $1 25.
FATHER ALDUR.
(Water.) lllus. 12mo. $1 25.
THE OCEAN OF AIR.
12mo. Illustrated. $1 25.

THE STARRY SKIES.
12mo. Illustrated.

Eclipse op the Sdn.
From "Sun, Moon, and Stars."
"Miss Giberne is both a skilled story-writer and a writer of accurate
books of popular science, and in this series on Astronomy, Geology, Water, and
Air she takes pains to combine both -characters."
THE ANDERSONS : Brother and Sister.
12mo. Ten illustrations. $1 26.

THE DALRYMPLES.
12mo. Illustrated. $1 25.

LIFE OF CHRIST.
By William Hanna, D. D. Illustrated. 8vo. $1 50.

 14 
THE GREAT DILEMMA.
By Rev. Henry Bickersteth Ottley. 12mo. $1.
"The dilemma as revealed in this book is that men with the Bible before
them, with the claims of Christ, of his life, of his works, should hesitate to
accept his divine character."
AMONG THE TURKS.
By Cyrus Hamlin, D. D. 12mo. 4|^0.
" As a contribution to the literature of missions, aa a portraiture of pic
turesque scenes and romantic incidents in a strange land, and as a novel and
interesting narrative it possesses equal value." congregationalist.
PERIOD OF THE REFORMATION, 1517-1648.
By Prof. Ludwig Hausser. 12mo. $2.
" Prof. Hausser has long been recognized as a leading German historian.
His profound scholarship and his great skill as a lecturer gathered around him
large classes of students from all parts of Europe. The work is not only a
spirited sketch of the history of the Reformation in Germany, Switzerland,
France, Denmark, Sweden and England, but also gives a comprehensive survey
of its influence on the course of thought and action during the period."
ALBANY JOURNAL.
HISTORICAL EVIDENCES— Old Testament.
12mo. $1.
HISTORICAL EVIDENCES— New Testament.
l2mo. $1.
" These companion volumes, each complete in itself, embody a number
of thoroughly sound eBsays on vital topics connected with the Scriptures as a
whole. They will greatly help those who are troubled by the attacks upon the
Bible, and will furnish good material with which to meet prevalent objections."
PRESBYTERIAN QUARTERLY.
RECOGNITION AFTER DEATH,
By Rev. J. A. Hodge, D. D. 12mo. 75 cts.
"The author sets forth with intelligence and force the strong evidence of
Scripture that we shall Bee and know each other after death. The subject is
of universal interest, and the book will encourage and comfort many that are
bowed down." sunday-school journal.
CHRISTIANITY'S CHALLENGE.
By Rev. Herrick Johnson, D. D.
"A noble rallying of evidence, an array of facts, an army of reasons and
a battery of arguments, all bannered with a graceful treatment."
THE REV. C. S. ROBINSON, u. D., IN ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT.

15

Books by Louise Seymour Houghton.
THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY.
269 illustrations. 4to. $1 25.

' This volume is adapted to catch and win the at-
11 tention of every child. There is a picture on every
CHRISTIAN INTELLIGENCER.

THE LIFE OF CHRIST IN PICTURE AND STORY.
Profusely illustrated. 4to. $1 50.
" The benign and tender story of the Saviour's life and death Is reveren
tially tola in appropriate language." graphic.
FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS.
Profusely illustrated. $1 50.

 16 
SEVEN YEARS IN CEYLON.
By Mary and Margaret W. Leitch. Red and white cloth, $1 25;
boards, 75 cts.
"A charming book — charming in its descriptions and narratives; charm
ing in its letter-press and illustrations, and above all charming in the conse
crated spirit that animates every page." golden rule.
LORD'S PRAYER.
A booklet exquisitely illustrated. 25 cts. ; leatherette, 50 cts.
LIFE OF MARY LYON.
By Edward Hitchcock, D. D., LL. D. 12mo. $1.
Books by John R. Macduff, D. D.
BRIGHTER Til AN THE SUN.
A Life of Christ. 16 full-page illustrations. 446 pages. $1 50.
" It is not so pretentious a book as Farrar, not so extensive a book as
Geikie, but we prefer it to either, for its devout spirit and simple naturalness.
The pictorial illustrations are as excellent as they are fresh."
CHRISTIAN AT WORK.
FAMILY PRAYERS.
16mo. $1.
IN CHRISTO.
The monogram of Paul. $1.
MORNING AND NIGHT WATCHES.
32mo. 50 cts.
" The Morning Watches " is a series of petitions lor the blessing ex
pressed in the topic ; and the "Night Watches," a series of evening medita
tions."
MIND AND WORDS OF JESUS.
32mo. 50 cts.
"In 'The Mind of Jesus' the general text for the month is, 'Let this
mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.' For each day a different text
is selected, from which a topic is taken to impress some needed lesson. The
general text for ' The Words of Jesus ' is, ' Remember the words of the Lord
Jesus how he said;' and then some precious words are selected for each day's
meditation." christian advocate.
THE PILLAR IN THE NIGHT.
A book of consolation. $1 25.
"A book of comfort for the suffering and sorrowing. It is sacred to
dimmed eyes and broken hearts and tender memories.

 17 
LECTURES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
By Drs. Storrs, Hall, Taylor and others. 12mo. $1.
" It is not often that so much and such a variety of intellectual force and
culture and so much of the best Christian character and experience are
planted between the covers of one book." christian intelligencer,
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
By Bishop Mcllvaine. 12mo. 90 cts.
" The Protestant Episcopal Church never bequeathed a brighter name
than that of Mcllvaine, whose chaste bcholarship and rich experience give
finish and power to this his immortal work." journal.
STUDIES IN CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES.
By Alexander Mair, D. D. 12mo. $2.
" To one who has neither time nor inclination to consult the more crit
ical and exhaustive treatises, this work is most valuable. It is a popular and
yet accurate treatment of the questions in the current literature of the day."
CHRISTIAN INTELLIGENCER.
Books by Rev. Richard Newton, D. D.
BIBLE ANIMALS.
Ulustrated. l2mo. $1.
BIBEE JEWELS.
Illustrated. 12mo. $1.
BIBLE PROMISES.
Illustrated. l2mo. $1
THE KING'S HIGHWAY.
Illustrated. l2mo. $1.
PEBBLES FROM THE BROOK.
Illustrated. 12mo. $1.
RAYS FROM THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Illustrated. 12mo. $1.
THE SAFE COMPASS.
Illustrated. 12mo. »l.

18

From " The King in His Beauty."
THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY.
Illustrated. 12mo. $1.
" Dr. Newton's books are no mean help to ministers in their labors for
the spiritual welfare of the lambs of their flock." christian advocate.

 19 
THE HEATH IN THE WILDERNESS.
Sermons. By Richard Newton, D. D. $1 60.
THE JEWISH TABERNACLE.
By Richard Newton, D. D. Illustrated. $1 25.
THE CAUSE And cure of infidelity.
By David Nelson, M. D. $1 75.
GUIDE TO YOUNG DISCIPLES.
By Rev. J. G. Pike. 50 cts.
Books by Mrs. George A. Paul.
SILVER BOWLS.
A story. 12mo. 428 pp. 4 illustrations. $1 50.
MRS. MORSE'S GIRLS.
12mo. $l.
BERNIE'S LIGHT.
12mo. $1 10.
CHRISTIE'S NEXT THINGS.
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CHRISTIE'S HOME-MAKING.
12mo. $1 25.
WHATSOEVER TEN.
12mo. $1 25.
"CRADLE THOUGHTS.
A booklet. 20 cts.
CONSOLATION FOR MOTHERS WITH EMPTY
ARMS.
White cloth. 39 cts.

VITAL GODLINESS.
By William Plummer, D. D. 12mo. $1.

 20 
NATURAL THEOLOGY AND HOR.E PAULINJE.
By William Paley. $1.
THE STORY OF JOHN G. PATON.
45 full-page illustrations. $1 50.
"Touching, tender story of a boy's old home and home life, struggles for
an education, city mission life, his answer to the cry from heathen lands,
thirty years among the cannibals of the South Sea Islands. Thrilling incidents
of a life among the savage. Escapes, providences, answers to prayer, a nation
of cannibals won to Christ. Read it." baptist teacher.
Books by Charles S. Robinson, D. D.
FROM SAMUEL TO SOLOMON.
12mo. $1.
STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEL.
12mo. $1; paper, 50 cts.
STUDIES IN LUKE'S GOSPEL.
l2mo. 2 vols. $2; paper, $1.
STUDIES IN NEGLECTED TEXTS.
l2mo. $1.
STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
12mo. $1.
SIMON PETER.
12mo. $1.
" Dr. Robinson in his well-known works exhibits a rare faculty of getting
hold of his reader. And what is better, having won the reader over, he takes
and rewards him plenteously. There is no writer whom, of late, it may as well
be confessed, we have read with larger practical profit. What he says stimu
lates both for study and for service. Some of his apothegms and illustrations
cling to the mind, and his general treatment is both entertaining and inform
ing." STANDARD.
Schauffler's MEDITATIONS ON THE LAST DAYS
OF CHRIST.
l2mo. $1 50.
"No Christian can read these meditations without feeling greatly edified
and benefited. They relate to the most important periods in the history of our
Saviour, and are full of divine unction, pervaded by most excellent Christian
thought, and written in a very forcible and attractive style." messenger.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 08844 6530