- Welcome once again to Genesis Marks the Spot, the podcast where we raid the ivory tower of biblical theology without ransacking our faith. My name is Carey Griffel and in our eighth episode today I’m going to give you some follow-on material from the last episode, number 7, where we talked about mythology and how to read it. It would be unfair to give all of that information and then not dive in directly to some examples of mythology, so we’re going to do that today. So if you haven’t listened to that episode, I suggest you do so as it kind of frames what we are going to do here today and in subsequent episodes of this series about ancient literature. And remember, just like in other topics I’m doing, we’re not going to try to cover it all at one go. We’ll be coming back to these themes as we progress through the podcast, but I’m trying to organize it from the beginning so it will be easier later to be able to track through, topically if you want.
- What I want to do is give you an introduction to some of these writings that are related, or seem to be related in some way, to the Bible, and maybe read through some of them a bit, and then talk about how we might think of them as part of our Bible study. Because as I’ve said before, what we want to do is try to get into the mental landscape of the ancient person. By doing this, we will be in a place to do things like…ask questions of the Bible that they would have been asking rather than solely asking questions that we modern readers have. I mean, you know, it’s okay for us to be asking those questions from our perspectives. It really is. I think God expects us to do that, and I think the Bible is really a timeless book that can be handled in multiple different ways. While I’m trying to get you into a contextual mindset here, I don’t mean to say that this is the only way to read the Bible or that you can’t just pick up the Bible and read it on your own or in a Bible study or that kind of thing. To be honest, what I have seen, often, is that people—myself included in this—will pick up this way of reading the Bible and will be so excited and enthusiastic about it that we lose a bit of our memory of where we used to be. We forget how it was before we had all this insight. After all, most of us came to know Christ and read the Bible without all this in our heads, so clearly it’s not the case that this is necessary, okay. At least not from a knowing-God-and-accepting-Christ kind of way. This is more of…part of our discipleship walk. Getting deeper into understanding God and the Bible. If you just left yourself the way you have been, without studying the Bible more, well that can be a problem. I do think it’s necessary to work to read and to study. But this is part of our further path along life.
- So the hope is that you’ve already been reading the Bible, because that’s the first step. Read the Bible, read it a lot, become familiar with what it is says and write down all the questions that come to you as you’re reading. There’s never anything wrong with questions. You might not always come to a point of satisfying resolution concerning your questions, but questions will guide your thinking and will lead you to other questions and sometimes you’ll realize that your first questions—well, maybe those were kind of stupid questions. It’s okay to have stupid questions. Yes, they exist, and it’s okay that they do. Really. They are a necessary part of learning. If you don’t go through the stupid questions, you’re never likely to get to the really good, juicy ones.
- Okay, so yes, read the Bible. That’s the number one thing I’m getting at here. But understand that the ancient writers of the Bible were literate. And their readers or hearers, well, if they weren’t literate, they still took in plenty of stories. As we discussed in the last episode, narrative seems to have been an important way in which they processed and recorded their world. Today we have things like news outlets and journalists and non-fiction books and youtube videos about how to build background squirrel mazes. We might think that many of these things are pure fact, pure information. But in actuality, even those “factual” info dumps are actually built around narrative, even for us. Even in a to-do video. If you’ve watched Mark Rober’s videos on his squirrel maze constructions—the squirrels all have names. He describes their personalities. Non-fiction books are often centered on a particular axis of bias—it’s inevitable—the story of history fits into our narrative outlooks. We probably couldn’t write history if it didn’t. Who wants to read a list of unassociated facts or events that have nothing to do with one another? There’s nothing interesting in there, nothing to hook into our brains that is relevant to anything else. And I’m sure I don’t need to describe how much news outlets have built themselves around a story, a picture of the world.
- Narrative drives our thinking. It’s how we process the world, how we narrow it down into a manageable level. I mean, can you imagine what it would be like if you were faced with a barrage of data which wasn’t sorted in any way, which didn’t come with any indication as to what was important and what was not? You couldn’t process anything. You couldn’t sort it all, in the moment, into meaningful information.
- So it was in the ancient world. They created stories to describe what they saw, to make sense of the world, to record their historical events. We call these stories myths because they invariably included the workings of the gods, because to them, natural and supernatural were entwined without distinction. Myths told the stories of origins and explained how the world of the invisible affected the world of the visible. “Myth,” then, is a very modern term since it fits within categories which have a dichotomy between supernatural and natural that we have but the ancients didn’t. We’ll continue to use the term because—well, this is our world and our perspective, but we can remember that people way back in the day wouldn’t have had this divide.
- We today don’t like calling the Bible “myth” because it’s hard to shed ourselves of the idea that myth is somehow “untrue” or “unfactual.” But it makes perfect sense that even the ancient Israelite would have processed his world in the same way as his neighbors. That is hard to see, though, when we are coming to the text with our own questions—and our own assumptions. We forget how much wider in scope our world is than theirs. We come to the text and ask propositional questions like, “How did God create the world?” and, do you remember what we were talking about in regards to God assigning the nations to lower-case-g gods, to other created beings, to the sons of God? After the time of the tower of Babel, new nations were created and God assigned a spiritual being over each one. We call these “gods” with a lower-case g because they are not the same as YHWH God. They are created beings who were meant to help God in administration of the nations, much like we humans are meant to help God in administration here on earth. A “propositional” question I have heard with this idea is, “Were there really only 70 nations and thus there were only 70 sons of God who ruled over them? Seventy doesn’t seem like all that many, we have way more nations than that today.”
- Well, as to that question…can you see how it’s a question that is generated by our own, current perspective? And like I said, there’s nothing wrong with such questions. Here are some ways we could answer it.
- Answer number one, a quite skeptical answer, is to say that God had 70 sons of God because the Canaanite deity El (remember we’ve talked about him before, too) had a council of 70, and this must mean that the Israelites “stole” the idea of El and his council, they just adopted the idea and thus it’s not revelation. We’ve discussed the weaknesses of this position. It seems the “obvious” answer to our factually-driven, scientifically-minded modern brains, but it’s laced with a tinge—maybe more than a tinge—of modern superiority and “we can’t possibly accept supernatural revelation.”
- I’m here to tell you, it’s okay to come to to the text with that idea of supernatural revelation, and it’s certainly what the ancient Isaelite would have thought. When you compare the story of El and his council to the story of the Bible—well, they’re similar but in many ways it’s hardly a comparison at all.
- Anyway, answer number two for our question of the number of nations and sons of Gods might be that we restrict the number of the sons of God to what the text says. God **only** had seventy sons who were over seventy nations, and that’s it, because that’s what the Bible spells out. The nations that came later weren’t “assigned” a god. In this answer, we can’t really say how later nations came about, whether God set those boarders and limits or what. Though…remember, Peter in the NT talks about governing authorities being under God, so clearly God is still involved. We’re just not really given much of an answer for that within the structure of this response.
- The glaring gap to me in this is that this answer doesn’t explain the worship of later deities. Are they just made up? Uhhhm, maybe, but—go listen to some stories from other religions or missionaries. If you don’t think something is at work there, doing something, then I don’t know what to tell you.
- This answer, to me, is *too* restrictive. Like we’re just leaving it all back there in the OT. No, we can’t really parse it all out intelligently to say what, precisely, is going on in the spiritual realm today, and I do not suggest we try, even though I know we really, really want to know all those details. It’s like a cosmic soap opera. But this is too much of an either-or answer. I’m not saying we can have any idea which deity is which—as I’ve said before, they’re all liars and cheats. The Bible is the lens, and this answer doesn’t give us much to work with.
- The third answer to our question might be that the Bible only tells us about the nations it knows about and we can extrapolate from there. It only knew about 70 nations, so it only *referenced* 70 nations. Okay, I mean, fair enough. We could just leave it at that. And that makes sense.
- Layered on top of that, though, we might put some more information, like the fact that numbers have significance in the Bible. A number is usually not just a number. They weren’t trying to be exact record keepers and make sure everyone got on the roster. The number 70 is 7 x 10 and both of these numbers have biblical significance. And yes, I’m pretty sure ancient people knew about multiplication. Seven is a divine number and ten is a number signifying completeness. So 70 would be a combination idea—70 sons of God would be “all” the sons of God, the whole divine completion.
- We also have this number seemingly in parallel with the number sent out by Jesus in Luke 10. Yes, I know, you might read 72 there, but the LXX—the Greek translation of the OT—divides the nations of Gen 10 into 72 nations instead of 70. The nations were divided in Genesis, and in the Gospels, they are being brought back together.
- You see, the narrative significance and the “fulfillment” of the idea is far more significant than the actual number. Now, could we still see these things as showing a literal reality? Like, there really are only 70? Of course it might be. But if we leave it at the literal number, then that would suggest that those being sent out by Jesus were actually only sent out to those same nations. And here we are, with a much larger world than that, how does the narrative in Luke 10 intersect with our reality? If we project the seventy to only being sent to the areas around the Mediterranean and the like, then this disassociates the narrative from us here and now.
- If, however, we project this to mean “fullness” or “wholeness,” then this means that Jesus sent them out to the world, to all, to everyone.
- You see, even though we are looking into the text contextually, it can help us apply it widely. Understanding the meaning underlying the text will help us understand how to apply it universally. It is that basic message we need to “get.”
- You see, our propositional question wasn’t a bad question. It’s, in some ways, the right question to ask because we do need to go from the original text all the way over to today. Or, rather, the way we tend to read, we go from today back to the past. First we ask our question, then we ask, hang on a second, what would they have thought then? And then we meld the two together to see where we get. How do we get from there to here? That’s the question.
- The more you become accustomed to this, the more you start asking questions that are first rooted in the Bible’s context, and things start getting interesting. How do they get interesting? Well, you start *wanting* to tackle the weird passages, because you know…guess what, they have answers! You start seeing that there is this cohesiveness to the Bible, that it all fits together in this interesting way—in ways you had no idea about previously. Instead of leaving the Bible’s weirdness where it is or trying to come up with strange theories that we shoehorn into the text, we get to go down paths that have already been tread, we get to understand things in ways that people have understood them for long periods of time and maybe we’ve forgotten. We don’t need original or novel ideas. We need to get back to the ancient knowledge that is actually right there at our fingertips.
- What this also does is bring us together in humanity, in the knowledge that God’s people have existed throughout time—we have the body of Christ around us today, but this connects us to the body of Christ throughout history.
- So go ahead, ask your propositional questions and explore them in contextual ways and find out how our thinking can be adjusted out of our own perspectives into new ones, and that’s just good for critical thinking as a whole.
## Segue to the Literature
- All right, I said we were going to get into some literature, so let’s finally do that. We are going to read a good bit of the Babylonian creation myth known as *Enuma Elish*. Perhaps first I ought to let you know that these comparative literary studies from the ANE—they’re actually fairly recent, because prior to a century and a half or so ago, we didn’t have a whole lot of contemporary literature. When we started discovering more of these things, such as the flood story from Gilgamesh, people were shocked. They thought the Bible was unique, and who could have blamed them because they didn’t know about all this other literature out there. I mean, we didn’t have *nothing*, of course, but the finds we have in recent history have vastly outstripped what we had before.
- A note, also…of course, if we were reading these in the original languages, certain things would be made aware to us that we simply aren’t going to see when we read translations in English. That’s okay; the parallel ideas are the first things to be noticed, anyway.
- The main resource I’m going to be using today is James Pritchard’s *Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament*. This book has translations of the texts, but as it is helpful to have a bit of an outline before reading them, I’m also going to read from Kenton Spark’s *Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible*, which summaries the literature rather than giving translations of the texts themselves.
- The introduction of chapter 10 of this book, the chapter centered on myths, says:
- In the Near Eastern creation myth *Enuma Elish*, the Babylonian god Marduk created the heavens and the earth by splitting the dragon goddess Tiamat into two halves. According to one modern scholar, “no one but a lunatic under the influence of hashish could ever arrive at the theory.”
- Well okay then. Well, we never really have a shortage of arrogant modern scholars, do we?
- At any rate, the first myth we are going to read is *Enuma Elish*. And yes, we’re actually going to read it. Most of it, anyway. Towards the end it’s not so action-packed so we will perhaps skip some here and there.
## Enuma Elish
- Now, *Enuma Elish* is not the earliest text we could look at. In fact, it seems that we might know what some of its source material is—or perhaps texts which it formed a polemic against. But we haven’t really gotten very far in Genesis in our podcast, so for the moment we’re going to stick with accounts that are most like the initial creation account in Genesis.
- The title *Enuma Elish* comes from its first words, “When on high…” which seems to mimic the title of another text called *Atrahasis* which starts with “when the gods like men…” But *Atrahasis* has much to do with the flood narrative of the Bible, so we’ll wait to look at that one.
- *Enuma Elish* is also called *The Seven Tablets of Creation*. It comes from Babylon. Though there were some older sources for this myth, as I said, our best copy comes from tablets which were found in 1849 at Nineveh, modern day Mosul, Iraq. It is written in the language of Akkadian. Thought it is believed to be quite a bit older than this, these tablets were from about the 7th century BC. To put that in biblical chronology, that’s a little before the Babylonian captivity. So this makes it quite likely that the exiles in Babylon would have had direct exposure to this text. The story looks to be about a thousand years older than the physical evidence we have. And how do they know that? Well, they had colophons, which are inscriptions at the end of the tablet which give information like summaries or provenance, that kind of thing. We also have the idea of Marduk—the main god in the narrative—being promoted in other myths, much earlier than the 7th century BC, suggesting that this myth belongs with these other, earlier ones.
- The tablets describe the creation of the world, a battle between gods, and the creation of man.
- Kenton Sparks writes:
- The epic began with a theogony ***[[that’s the origin of deities]]***, when the mingling waters of the oldest primordial beings, Apsu (waters of the earth) and Tiamat (waters of the sea), produced the first generation of gods and goddesses [Note that Apsu and Tiamat do not appear to be deities]. Soon after their birth, however, this noisy generation of young deities annoyed father Apsu, who then moved—against the wishes of his wife, Tiamat—to destroy them. This plan was thwarted when Ea (=Enki), the god of wisdom, recited a spell and killed Apsu. Ea then built his abode upon the waters of Apsu, which served as the explanation for Ea’s status as the god of freshwater and “king of Apsu.” Here, in this holy temple, Ea and his spouse Damkina conceived Marduk, the patron deity of Babylon and key protagonist of our story. (Sparks, 315).
- So to sum up the story of Marduk’s creation, we have Apsu, fresh water, and Tiamat, salt water, who create the first generation of gods, and surprise surprise they’re annoyed by their kids because, they’re noisy. We’re not supposed to sympathize with pagan gods, but I get it. Noisy kids can really tempt you to do some unsavory things sometimes.
- Unfortunately, one of their kids was pretty smart, killed his father before his father could kill him, and Markuk was born. So Marduk was the grandson of the fresh water and salt water.
- Of course, even though Tiamat wasn’t originally keen on the idea of killing all of her kids, she was pretty angry at the fact that Apsu was killed.
- Back to Sparks; Tiamat…
- was a formidable opponent surrounded by a host of demons, including Kingu, a powerful demon god whom Tiamat had adopted as her new consort and to whom she had entrusted the “tablets of destinies,” which gave its possessor the authority to “decree the fates” for both the gods and human beings. When Ea and all other deities recoiled from this hoard of demon gods, Marduk agreed to battle Tiamat in exchange for the authority to decree the fates. When the gods agreed to these terms, Marduk waged his war against the forces of chaos. He let loose a wind into Tiamat’s mouth, shot an arrow into her distended belly, and extinguished her life. When her supporting cast dispersed in response, Marduk seized Kingu and the tablets of destinies. (Sparks, 315)
- Marduk then rips Tiamat’s body apart and he made the heavens and the earth out of each part. He put the sun, moon, and stars up and then planned for humans because he wanted some good old fashioned slave labor so that the gods wouldn’t have to take care of themselves any longer. Ea, the god of wisdom, actually made mankind according to Marduk’s plans using the blood of Kingu mixed with clay. The gods then made the city of Babylon in honor of all of this, including, of course, Marduk’s temple.
- In conclusion, Marduk is given fifty great names. He does end up giving up the tablets of destinies, but he seems fine with that considering his ultimate supremacy.
- So that sums up the story; what was the point of it, though? It elevates Marduk—the patron deity of Babylon—into a supreme spot, of course. Though he didn’t create any of the other gods, he created the world and as a result of all this, the gods made Babylon. So this was a piece of propaganda, to put Babylon’s greatness on display.
- There’s also, of course, the tablets of destinies, which presumably the people would be praying and giving gifts to the gods so that they would manipulate these tablets of destiny in favor of the humans.
- Turning to Pritchard’s book, which gives the text we will read, it says,
- The struggle between cosmic order and chaos was to the ancient Mesopotamians a fateful drama that was renewed at the turn of each new year. The epic which deals with these events was therefore the most significant expression of the religious literature of Mesopotamia. (ANET, 60)
- This text seems to have been read at the new year festival, in other words, to remind the people why it was important to keep sacrificing to the gods, and Marduk in particular.
- Remember our reference earlier to the number 7? It is interesting that there are seven tablets which tell this story. We shall begin our reading with tablet 1. Keep in mind that occasionally there are gaps in the text, and I’m not going to point these gaps for the sake of trying to read the story smoothly. Remember we are going to start out with freshwater Apsu and seawater Tiamat, and as we read I want you to keep in mind the creation story of Genesis 1-2, so if you’re not busy doing something else you might have that open as you listen. I might stop reading *Enuma Elish* to point out some things out here and there. Marduk had not yet created the heavens and earth with Tiamat’s body, so its interesting that the myth starts out with the words it does, involving “naming” in particular. All right, quote:
- When on high the heaven had not been named,
Firm ground below had not been called by name,
Naught but primordial Apsu, their begetter,
(And) Mummu-Tiamat, she who bore them all,
Their waters commingling as a single body;
No reed hut had been matted, no marsh land had
appeared,
When no gods whatever had been brought into being,
Uncalled by name, their destinies undetermined—
Then it was that the gods were formed within them.
Lahmu and Lahamu were brought forth, by name
they were called.
- What parallels do we see already with Genesis? Water, water everywhere… We have sea water and fresh water mingling together as one. Deities are being created within this water. We also have the idea of naming. Naming is very important—in some translations of this, instead of starting with “when on high the heaven had not been named,” it is translated, “When the heavens above did not exist.” Now, I can’t say that this isn’t just an example of using different tablets, but it is my understanding that the fact that the heaven had not been named and the heaven not existing were, really, the same thing. In a few weeks we’re going to get into the idea that, in the ANE, something did not *exist* unless it had a function, and functions were ascribed through naming.
- Another thing to note here is that we don’t begin with nothing. Apsu and Tiamat weren’t really deities, because they’re not described as such. They’re certainly not like the self-existent Creator described in the Bible. They are, literally water.
- Genesis begins with the earth and water also comingling in a fashion…there was no form. “The earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep.” The deep, that’s water. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. God is not water. Though he is the source of creation, he is other than creation. Apsu and Tiamat were literally part of creation—they were *one* with creation. So this isn’t the same at all as a self-existent deity creating.
- All right, back to our story, which talks about specific deities and the trouble they cause with their silly noise:
### Tablet 1 of *Enuma Elish*
- Before they had grown in age and stature.
Anshar and Kishar were formed, surpassing the others.
They prolonged the days, added on the years.
Anu was their heir, of his fathers the rival;
Yea, Anshar's first-born, Anu, was his equal.
Anu begot in his image Nudimmud.
This Nudimmud was of his fathers the master;
Of broad wisdom, understanding, mighty in strength,
Mightier by far than his grandfather, Anshar.
He had no rival among the gods,
his brothers.”
- End quote for a moment. Notice that Anu “begot in his image.” Now, I’m going to try not to interrupt the story too often, because there’s a lot here and I’m not going to try to bring out every little thing I notice in the text, as I want to leave room for you to do that. I want you to notice similar words or grammatical constructions and similar imagery and themes. Really, anything that reminds you of anything you read in the Bible is fair game for consideration.
- All right, back to our story:
- The divine brothers banded together,
They disturbed Tiamat as they surged back and forth
Yea, they troubled the mood of Tiamat
By their hilarity in the Abode of Heaven.
Apsu could not lessen their clamor
And Tiamat was speechless at their \ways\
Their doings were loathsome unto [ . . . ] .
Unsavory were their ways; they were overbearing.
- Then Apsu, the begetter of the great gods,
Cried out, addressing Mummu, his vizier:
"O Mummu, my vizier, who rejoicest my spirit,
Come hither and let us go to Tiamat!"
They went and sat down before Tiamat,
Exchanging counsel about the gods, their first-born.
Apsu, opening his mouth,
Said unto resplendent Tiamat:
- "Their ways are verily loathsome unto me.
By day I find no relief, nor repose by night.
I will destroy, I will wreck their ways,
That quiet may be restored. Let us have rest!"
As soon as Tiamat heard this,
She was wroth and called out to her husband.
She cried out aggrieved, as she raged all alone,
Injecting woe into her mood:
"What? Should we destroy that which we have built?
Their ways indeed are most troublesome, but let us
attend kindly!"
Then answered Mummu, giving counsel to Apsu;
[Ill-wishing] and ungracious was Mummu's advice:
"Do destroy, my father, the mutinous ways.
Then shalt thou have relief by day and
rest by night!"
- When Apsu heard this, his face grew radiant
Because of the evil he planned against the gods, his sons.
As for Mummu, by the neck he embraced him
As (that one) sat down on his knees to kiss him.
(Now) whatever they had plotted between them,
Was repeated unto the gods, their first-born.
When the gods heard (this), they were astir,
(Then) lapsed into silence and remained speechless.
Surpassing in wisdom, accomplished, resourceful,
Ea, the all-wise, saw through their scheme.
A master design against it he devised and set up,
Made artful his spell against it, surpassing and holy.
He recited it and made it subsist in the deep,
As he poured sleep upon him. Sound asleep he lay.
When Apsu he had made prone, drenched with sleep,
Mummu, the adviser, was powerless to stir
He loosened his band, tore off his tiara,
Removed his halo (and) put it on himself.
Having fettered Apsu, he slew him.
Mummu he bound and left behind lock.
Having thus upon Apsu established his dwelling,
He laid hold on Mummu, holding him by the nose-rope.
After Ea had vanquished and trodden down his foes,
Had secured his triumph over his enemies,
In his sacred chamber in profound peace had rested,
He named it "Apsu," for shrines he assigned (it).
In that same place his cult hut he founded.
- End quote. You’ve probably already identified several things that are integral to the Bible. Rest, the theme of firstborn, and sleep—only instead of bringing forth Eve, this sleep vanquished Apsu. The creation of the first temple is described here and along with it the idea of peace and rest.
- Continuing on:
- Ea and Damkina, his wife, dwelled (there) in splendor.
In the chamber of fates, the abode of destinies,
A god was engendered, most able and
wisest of gods.
In the heart of Apsu" was Marduk created,
In the heart of holy Apsu was Marduk created.
He who begot him was Ea, his father;
She who bore him was Damkina, his mother.
The breast of goddesses he did suck.
The nurse that nursed him filled him with awesomeness.
Alluring was his figure, sparkling the lift of his eyes.
Lordly was his gait, commanding from of old.
When Ea saw him, the father who begot him,
He exulted and glowed, his heart filled
with gladness.
He rendered him perfect and endowed him with a
double godhead.
Greatly exalted was he above them, exceeding throughout.
Perfect were his members beyond comprehension,
Unsuited for understanding, difficult to perceive.
Four were his eyes, four were his ears;
When he moved his lips, fire blazed forth.
Large were all four hearing organs,
And the eyes, in like number, scanned all things.
He was the loftiest of the gods, surpassing was his
stature;
His members were enormous, he was
exceeding tall.
- "My little son, my little son!
My son, the Sun! Sun of the heavens!"
Clothed with the halo of ten gods, he was strong to the
utmost,
As their awesome flashes were heaped upon him.
Anu brought forth and begot the fourfold wind
Consigning to its power the leader of the host.
He fashioned . . . , station [ed] the whirlwind,
He produced streams to disturb Tiamat.
The gods, given no rest, under the storm.
Their heart(s) having plotted evil,
To Tiamat, their mother, said:
"When they slew Apsu, thy consort,
Thou didst not aid him but remainedst still.
- When the dread fourfold wind he created,
Thy vitals were diluted and so we can have no rest.
Let Apsu, thy consort, be in thy mind
And Mummu, who has been vanquished! Thou art left
alone!
[ . . . ] thou pacest about distraught,
[ . . . without ce]ase. Thou dost not love us!
[ . . . ] pinched are our eyes,
[ . . . ] without cease. Let us have rest!
[...to batt\le. Do thou avenge them!
[ . . . ] and render (them) as the wind!"
[When] Tiamat [heard] (these) words, she was
pleased:
" [ . . . ] you have given. Let us make monsters,
[ . . . ] and the gods in the mid[st... ].
[ . . . let us do] battle and against the gods [ . . . ] ! "
They thronged and marched at the side of Tiamat.
Enraged, they plot without cease night and day,
They are set for combat, growling, raging,
They form a council to prepare for the fight.
Mother Hubur, she who fashions all things,
Added matchless weapons, bore monster-serpents,
Sharp of tooth, unsparing of fang.
[With venom] for blood she has filled their bodies.
Roaring dragons she has clothed with terror,
Has crowned them with haloes, making them like gods,
So that he who beholds them shall perish abjectly,
(And) that, with their bodies reared up, none might
turn [them back].
- She set up the Viper, the Dragon,
and the Sphinx,
The Great-Lion, the Mad-Dog, and the Scorpion-Man,
Mighty lion-demons, the Dragon-Fly, the Centaur—
Bearing weapons that spare not, fearless in battle.
Firm were her decrees, past withstanding were they.
Withal eleven of this kind she brought [forth].
From among the gods, her first-born, who formed [her
Assembly],
She elevated Kingu, made him chief among them.
The leading of the ranks, command of the Assembly,
The raising of weapons for the encounter, advancing to
combat,
In battle the command-in-chief—
These48 to his hand she entrusted as she seated him in
the Council:
"I have cast for thee the spell, exalting thee in the
Assembly of the gods.
To counsel all the gods I have given thee full power.
Verily, thou art supreme, my only consort art thou!
Thy utterance shall prevail over all the Anunnaki!"
She gave him the Tablet of Destinies, fastened on his
breast:
"As for thee, thy command shall be unchangeable,
[Thy word] shall endure!"
As soon as Kingu was elevated, possessed of [the rank
of Anu],
For the gods, his sons, [they decreed] the fate:
"Your word shall make the first subside,
Shall humble the 'Power-Weapon,' so potent in (its)
sweep"
- This is the end of Tablet 1. As before, there are a number of things that echo the Bible, and in many of them, the Bible presents them as opposites, suggesting a polemic going on, a correction of the pagan literature.
- If you’re familiar with the question of when Genesis was written, you’ve come across the idea that Genesis was written—or, more likely, edited—in the time of the Babylonian exile. Of course, it remains the case that this story we are reading is older than the Babylonian exile, so the Bible could have been edited earlier to include these polemic elements before exile, but if you consider that the people of Israel needed to hold solidly onto their beliefs in a foreign territory, it only makes sense that the text they had would include some of these things. And of course the likelihood that everyone just assumed the nature of these things due to their culture is quite high.
- Okay, we’re going to move on to tablet 2, but since we’re already about halfway through our usual time, we might need to split this into multiple episodes! I’m not sure, maybe I’ll just slog through it all. We’ll see how much might be suitable to cut out, but I feel like it’s easier to listen to this rather than try to slog through reading it for most of us, so I don’t want to cut too much.
- Here’s the beginning of tablet 2:
### Tablet 2 of Enuma Elish
- When Tiamat had thus lent import to her handiwork,
She prepared for battle against the gods, her offspring.
To avenge Apsu, Tiamat wrought evil.
That she was girding for battle, was divulged to Ea.
As soon as Ea heard of this matter,
He lapsed into dark silence and sat right still
Then, on further thought, his anger subsided,
To Anshar, his (fore)father he betook himself.
When he came before his grandfather, Anshar,
All that Tiamat had plotted to him
he repeated:
"My father, Tiamat, she who bore us, detests us.
She has set up the Assembly and is furious with rage.
All the gods have rallied to her;
Even those whom you brought forth march at her side.
They throng and march at the side of Tiamat,
Enraged, they plot without cease night and day.
They are set for combat, growling, raging,
They have formed a council to prepare for the fight
Mother Hubur, she who fashions all things,
Has added matchless weapons, has born
monster-serpents,
Sharp of tooth, unsparing of fang.
With venom for blood she has filled their bodies.
Roaring dragons she has clothed with terror,
Has crowned them with haloes, making them like gods,
So that he who beholds them shall perish abjectly,
(And) that, with their bodies reared up, none might
turn them back.
- End quote. I just wanted to comment for a moment on this whole halo-image. So I’ll be honest, my supposition was that “halos” were more of a thing with art post-Christ, so the imagery of crowing beings with halos to make them like gods is actually a little surprising to me. I haven’t had time to look into this imagery in the ANE yet, but it’s quite interesting.
- Anyway, back to our horrifying battle imagery:
- She has set up the Viper, the Dragon, and the Sphinx,
The Great-Lion, the Mad-Dog, and the Scorpion-Man,
Mighty lion-demons, the Dragon-Fly, the Centaur—
Bearing weapons that spare not,
fearless in battle.
Firm are her decrees, past withstanding are they.
Withal eleven of this kind she has brought forth.
From among the gods, her first-born, who formed her
Assembly,
- She has elevated Kingu, has made him chief among
them.
The leading of the ranks, command of the Assembly,
The raising of weapons for the encounter, advancing to
combat,
In battle the command-in-chief—
These49 to his hands [she entrusted] as she seated him in
the Council:
'[I have cast the spell] for thee, exalting thee in the
Assembly of the gods.
[To counsel all the] gods [I have given thee] full
power.
[Verily, thou art supreme, my only consort] art thou!
[Thy utterance shall prevail over all the Anun]naki!'
[She has given him the Tablet of Destinies, fastened on
his breast]:
'[As for thee, thy command shall be unchangeable],
They word shall endure!'
[As soon as Kingu was elevated], possessed of the rank
of Anu,
[For the gods, her sons, they decreed the fate:
'[Your word] shall make the fire subside,
Shall humble the "Power-Weapon," [so potent in (its)
su/eepl]'"
[When Anshar heard that Tiamat] was sorely troubled,
[He smote his loins and] bit his lips.
[Gloomy was his heart], resdess his mood.
[Hecovered] his [mouth] to stifle his outcry:
- " [ . . . ] battle.
[The weapon thou hast made], up, bear thou!
[Lo, Mummu and] Apsu thou didst slay.
[Now, slay thou Kin]gu, who marches before her.
[ . . . ] wisdom."
[Answered the counselor of] the gods, Nudimmud.
(The reply of Ea-Nudimmud is lost in the break.
Apparently, Ea had no remedy, for Anshar next turns
to Anu:)
[To Anu,] his son, [a word] he addressed:
" [ . . . ] this, the most puissant of heroes,
Whose strength [is outstanding], past resisting his onslaught
[Go] and stand thou up to Tiamat,
That her mood [be calmed], that her heart expand.
[If] she will not hearken to thy word,
Then tell her our [word], that she might be calmed."
When [he heard] the command of his father, Anshar,
[He made straight] for her way, following
the road to her.
[But when Anu was near (enough) ] to see the plan of
Tiamat,
[He was not able to face her and] he turned back.
[He came abjecdy to his father], Anshar.
[As though he were Tiamat thus he] addressed him:
- "My hand [suffices not for me to subdue thee."
Speechless was Anshar as he stared at the ground,
Hair on edge, shaking his head at Ea.
All the Anunnaki gathered at that place;
Their lips closed tight, [they sat] in silence.
"No god" (thought they) "can go [to
battle and],
Facing Tiamat, escape [with his life]."
Lord Anshar, father of the gods, [rose up] in grandeur,
And having pondered in his heart, he [said to the
Anunnaki]:
"He whose [strength] is potent shall be [our] avenger,
He who is been in battle, Marduk, the hero!"
Ea called [Marduk] to his place of seclusion.
[Giv]ing counsel, he told him what was in his heart:
"O Marduk, consider my advice. Hearken to thy father,
For thou art my son who comforts his heart.
When facing Anshar, approach as though in
combat;
Stand up as thou speakest; seeing thee, he will grow
restful."
- The lord rejoiced at the word of his father;
He approached and stood up facing Anshar.
When Anshar saw him, his heart filled with joy.
He kissed his lips, his (own) gloom dispelled.
"[Anshar], be not muted; open wide thy lips.
I will go and attain thy heart's desire.
What male is it who has pressed his fight
against thee ?
[It is but] Tiamat, a woman, that flies at thee with
weapons!
[O my father-]creator, be glad and rejoice;
The neck of Tiamat thou shalt soon tread upon!
"My son, (thou) who knowest all wisdom,
Calm [Tiamat] with thy holy spell.
On the storm-ch[ariot] proceed with all speed.
From her [presence] they shall not drive (thee)! Turn
(them) back!"
The lord [rejoiced] at the word of his father.
- His heart exulting, he said to his father:
"Creator of the gods, destiny of the great gods,
If I indeed, as your avenger,
Am to vanquish Tiamat and save your lives,
Set up the Assembly, proclaim supreme my destiny!
When jointly … you have sat down rejoicing,
Let my word, instead of you, determine the fates.
Unalterable shall be what I may bring into being;
Neither recalled nor changed shall be the command of
my lips."
- This is the end of Tablet 2
### Tablet 3 of Enuma Elish
- On to tablet 3:
- Anshar opened his mouth and
To Gaga, his vizier, a word he addressed:
"O Gaga, my vizier, who gladdenest my spirit,
To Lahmu and Lahamu I will dispatch thee.
Thou knowest discernment, art adept at fine talk;
The gods, thy fathers, produce thou before me!
Let all the gods proceed hither,
Let them hold converse, sit down to a banquet,
Let them eat festive bread, poured wine;
For Marduk, their avenger, let them fix
the decrees.
Be on thy way, Gaga, take the stand before them,
And that which I shall tell thee repeat thou unto them:
'Anshar, your son, has sent me hither,
Charging me to give voice to [the dictates] of his heart,
[Saying]: "Tiamat, she who bore us, detests us.
She has set up the [Assembly] and is furious with rage.
All the gods have rallied to her;
Even those whom you brought forth march at her side.
They throng and march at the side of Tiamat.
Enraged, they plot without cease night
and day.
- They are set for combat, growling, raging,
They have formed a council to prepare for the fight.
Mother Hubur, she who fashions all things,
Has added matchless weapons, has born monster-serpents,
Sharp of tooth, unsparing of fang.
With venom for blood she has filled their bodies.
Roaring dragons she has clothed with terror,
Has crowned them with haloes, making them like gods,
So that he who beholds them shall perish abjectedly,
(And) that, with their bodies reared up, none
might turn them back.
She has set up the Viper, the Dragon, and the Sphinx,
The Great-Lion, the Mad-Dog, and the Scorpion-Man,
Mighty lion-demons, the Dragon-Fly, the Centaur—
Bearing weapons that spare not, fearless in battle.
Firm are her decrees, past withstanding are they.
Withal eleven of this kind she has brought forth.
From among the gods, her first-born, who formed [her
Assembly],
She has elevated Kingu, has made [him] chief among
them.
The leading of the ranks, [command of the Assembly],
The raising of weapons for the encounter,
ad[vancing to combat],
In battle the comm[and]-in-chief—
These to his hands [she entrusted] as she seated him in
the Council]:
- '[I have] cast the spell for thee, [exalting thee] in the
Assembly of the gods.
To counsel all the gods [I have given thee full power].
[Verily], thou art supreme, my [only consort art thou]!
Thy utterance shall prevail over all the [Anunnaki]!'
She has given him the Tablet of Destinies, [fastened on
his] breast:
- 'As for thee, thy command shall be unchangeable,
Thy word shall endure!'
As soon as Kingu was elevated, possessed of the rank of
Anu,
For the gods, her sons, they decreed the fate:
'Your word shall make the fire subside,
Shall humble the "Power-Weapon," so potent in (its)
sweep.
I sent forth Anu; he could not face her.
Nudimmud was afraid and turned back.
Forth came Marduk, the wisest of gods, your son,
His heart having prompted him to set out to face
Tiamat.
He opened his mouth, saying unto me:
'If I indeed, as your avenger,
Am to vanquish Tiamat and save your lives,
Set up the Assembly, proclaim supreme
my destiny!
When jointly in Ubshukinna you have sat down rejoicing,
Let my word, instead of you, determine the fates.
Unalterable shall be what I may bring into being;
Neither recalled nor changed shall be the command of
my lips!'
Now hasten hither and prompdy fix for him your
decrees,
That he may go forth to face your mighty foe!
Gaga departed, proceeding on his way.
- Before Lahmu and Lahamu, the gods, his fathers,
He bowed, kissing the ground at their feet
He bowed low as he took his place
to address them:
- End quote. Okay, you’ve likely noticed before that there is a bit of repetition to this story. This isn’t uncommon in ancient texts, especially if they were used for ritual. So I’m going to skip around a bit. The text talks about Tiamat and her assembly and Mother Hubur and her cool set of monsters and the weapons and tablets of destiny and how Marduk is going to face Tiamat.
- Then it says, quote:
- When Lahmu and Lahamu heard this, they cried out
aloud,
All the Igigi wailed in distress:
"How strange that they should have made [this] decision!
We cannot fathom the doings of Tiamat!"
- They made ready to leave on their journey,
All the great gods who decree the fates.
They entered before Anshar, filling [Ubshukinna].
They kissed one another in the Assembly.
- They held converse as they [sat down] to the banquet.
They ate festive bread, poured [the wine],
They wetted their drink ing-tubes" with sweet intoxicant.
As they drank the strong drink, [their] bodies swelled.
They became very languid as their spirits rose.
For Marduk, their avenger, they fixed the decrees.
- This is the end of Tablet 3
### Tablet 4 of Enuma Elish
- Moving on to tablet 4:
- They erected for him a princely throne.
Facing his fathers, he sät down, presiding.68
Thou, Marduk, art the most honored of the great gods,
Thy decree is unrivaled, thy word is Anu.
From this day unchangeable shall be thy pronouncement.
To raise or bring low—these shall be (in) thy hand.
Thy utterance shall be true, thy command shall be unimpeachable.
No one among the gods shall transgress
thy bounds!
Adornment being wanted for the seats of the gods,
Let the place of their shrines ever be in thy place.
O Marduk, thou art indeed our avenger.
We have granted thee kingship over the universe entire.
When in Assembly thou sittest, thy word shall be
supreme.
Thy weapons shall not fail; they shall smash thy foes!
O lord, spare the life of him who trusts thee,
But pour out the life of the god who seized evil."
Having placed in their midst the Images,
They addressed themselves to Marduk, their
first-born:
- "Lord, truly thy decree is first among gods.
Say but to wreck or create; it shall be.
Open thy mouth: the Images will vanish!
Speak again, and the Images shall be whole!"
At the word of his mouth the Images vanished.
He spoke again, and the Images were restored.
When the gods, his fathers, saw the fruit of his word,
Joyfully they did homage: "Marduk is king!"
They conferred on him scepter, throne, and vestment;
They gave him matchless weapons that ward off
the foes:
"Go and cut off the life of Tiamat.
May the winds bear her blood to places undisclosed."
Bel's destiny thus fixed, the gods, his fathers,
Caused him to go the way of success and attainment.
He constructed a bow, marked it as his weapon,
Attached thereto the arrow, fixed its bow-cord.
He raised the mace, made his right hand grasp it;
Bow and quiver he hung at his side.
In front of him he set the lightning,
- With a blazing flame he filled his body.
He then made a net to enfold Tiamat therein.
The four winds he stationed that nothing of her might
escape,
The South Wind, the North Wind, the East Wind, the
West Wind.
Close to his side he held the net, the gift of his father,
Anu.
He brought forth Imhullu "the Evil Wind," the Whirlwind,
the Hurricane,
The Fourfold Wind, the Sevenfold Wind, the Cyclone,
the Matchless Wind;
Then he sent forth the winds he had brought forth, the
seven of them.
To stir up the inside of Tiamat they rose up behind him.
Then the lord raised up the flood-storm, his mighty
weapon.
He mounted the storm-chariot irresistible
[and] terrifying.
He harnessed (and) yoked to it a team-of-four,
The Killer, the Relentless, the Trampler, the Swift.
(Their) lips were parted, their teeth bore poison.
They were tireless and skilled in destruction.
On his right he posted the Smiter, fearsome in battle,
On the left the Combat, which repels all the zealous.
For a cloak he was wrapped in an armor of terror;
With his fearsome halo his head was turbaned.
- The lord went forth and followed his course,
Towards the raging Tiamat he set his face.
In his lips he held a spell;
A plant to put out poison was grasped in his hand.
Then they milled about him, the gods milled about him,
The gods, his fathers, milled about him, the gods milled
about him.
The lord approached to scan the inside of Tiamat,
(And) of Kingu, her consort, the scheme to perceive.
As he looks on, his course becomes upset,
His will is distracted and his doings are confused.
And when the gods, his helpers, who marched at his
side,
Saw the valiant hero, blurred became
their vision.
Tiamat emitted [a cry], without turning her neck,
Framing savage defiance in her lips:
"Too [imp]ortant art thou [for] the lord of the gods
to rise up against thee!
- Is it in their place that they have gathered, (or) in thy
place?"
Thereupon the lord, having [raised] the flood-storm, his
mighty weapon,
[T]o enraged Tiamat he sent word as follows:
"Why art thou risen, art haughtily exalted,
Thou hast charged thine own heart to stir up conflict,
. . . sons reject their own fathers,
Whilst thou, who hast born them,
hast foresworn love!
Thou hast appointed Kingu as thy consort,
Conferring upon him the rank of Anu, not rightfully
his.
Against Anshar, king of the gods, thou seekest evil;
[Against] the gods, my fathers, thou hast confirmed thy
wickedness.
[Though] drawn up be thy forces, girded on thy
weapons,
Stand thou up, that I and thou meet in single combat!"
When Tiamat heard this,
She was like one possessed; she took leave of her senses.
In fury Tiamat cried out aloud.
To the roots her legs shook both together.
- She recites a charm, keeps casting her spell,
While the gods of battle sharpen their weapons.
Then joined issue Tiamat and Marduk, wisest of gods.
They strove in single combat, locked in battle.
The lord spread out his net to enfold her,
The Evil Wind, which followed behind, he let loose in
her face.
When Tiamat opened her mouth to consume him,
He drove in the Evil Wind that she close not her lips.
As the fierce winds charged her belly,
Her body was distended and her mouth
was wide open.
He released the arrow, it tore her belly,
It cut through her insides, splitting the heart.
Having thus subdued her, he extinguished her life.
He cast down her carcass to stand upon it
After he had slain Tiamat, the leader,
Her band was shattered, her troupe broken up;
And the gods, her helpers who marched at her side,
Trembling with terror, turned their backs about,
In order to save and preserve their lives.
Tightly encircled, they could not escape. (no)
He made them captives and he smashed their weapons.
Thrown into the net, they found themselves ensnared;
Placed in cells, they were filled with wailing;
Bearing his wrath, they were held imprisoned.
- And the eleven creatures which she had charged with
awe,
The whole band of demons that marched on her right,
He cast into fetters, their hands he bound.
For all their resistance, he trampled (them) underfoot
And Kingu, who had been made chief among them,
He bound and accounted him to Uggae.
He took from him the Tablet of Destinies, not
rightfully his,
Sealed (them) with a seal and fastened (them) on his
breast
When he had vanquished and subdued his adversaries,
Had . . . the vainglorious foe,
Had wholly established Anshar's triumph over the foe,
Nudimmud's desire had achieved, valiant Marduk
Strengthened his hold on the vanquished gods,
And turned back to Tiamat whom he had bound.
The lord trod on the legs of Tiamat,
With his unsparing mace he crushed her skull.
When the arteries of her blood he had severed,
The North Wind bore (it) to places undisclosed.
On seeing this, his fathers were joyful and jubilant,
They brought gifts of homage, they to him.
Then the lord paused to view her dead body,
That he might divide the monster and do artful works.
He split her like a shellfish into two parts:
- Half of her he set up and ceiled it as sky,
Pulled down the bar and posted guards.
He bade them to allow not her waters
to escape.
He crossed the heavens and surveyed the regions.
He squared Apsu's quarter, the abode of Nudimmud,
As the lord measured the dimensions of Apsu.
The Great Abode, its likeness, he fixed as Esharra,
The Great Abode, Esharra, which he made as the firmament
Anu, Enlil, and Ea he made occupy their places.
- This is the end of Tablet 4.
- The number 4 is an interesting one as it is the middle when you have seven tablets. This is likely a chiastic structure, and I realize not all of you will know what a chiasm is. I’ll go into it another time in much more detail, but suffice to say, it’s like a mountain, with the main point in the middle. We saw how action-packed tablet 4 is.
- Now we get to see what Marduk does now that he has vanquished Tiamat and sealed his power. Let’s continue with Tablet 5:
### Tablet 5 of *Enuma Elish*
- He constructed stations for the great gods,
Fixing their astral likenesses as the Images.
He determined the year by designating the zones:
He set up three constellations for each of the twelve
months.
After defining the days of the year [by means] of
(heavenly) figures,
He founded the station of Nebiru to determine their
(heavenly) bands,
That none might transgress or fall short.
Alongside it he set up the stations of Enlil and Ea.
Having opened up the gates on both sides,
He strengthened the locks to the left
and the right
- In her belly he established the zenith.
The Moon he caused to shine, the night (to him) entrusting.
He appointed him a creature of the night to signify the
days:
"Monthly, without form designs with a crown.
At the month's very start, rising over the land,
Thou shalt have luminous horns to signify six days,
On the seventh day reaching a [half]-crown.
At full moon stand in opposition88 in mid-month.
When the sun [overtakes] thee at the base of heaven,
Diminish [thy crown] and retrogress in light.
At the time [of disappearance] approach thou the
course of the sun,
And [on the thirtieth thou shalt again stand in
opposition to the sun."
- This is the end of Tablet 5. And yes, that was pretty short. But we’ve come back to some interesting imagery that brings our mind to Genesis 1. We have the establishment of the heavens which are designated to different gods. Like in the Bible, the stars are for some genuine purposes.
- Let’s continue to tablet 6. I think we’ll manage to get through most of this here. Next up is the creation of mankind.
### Tablet 6 of *Enuma Elish*
- When Marduk hears the words of the gods,
His heart prompts (him) to fashion artful works.
Opening his mouth, he addresses Ea
To impart the plan he had conceived in his heart:
"Blood I will mass and cause bones to be.
I will establish a savage, 'man' shall be his name.
Verily, savage-man I will create.
He shall be charged with the service of the gods
That they might be at ease!
The ways of the gods I will artfully alter.
Though alike revered, into two (groups) they
shall be divided."
Ea answered him, speaking a word to him,
Giving him another plan for the relief of the gods:
"Let but one of their brothers be handed over;
He alone shall perish that mankind may be fashioned.
Let the great gods be here in Assembly,
Let the guilty be handed over that they may endure."
Marduk summoned the great gods to Assembly;
Presiding graciously, he issues instructions.
To his utterance the gods pay heed.
The king addresses a word to the Anunnaki:
"If your former statement was true,
- Do (now) the truth on oath by me declare!
Who was it that contrived the uprising,
And made Tiamat rebel, and joined battle?
Let him be handed over who contrived the uprising.
His guilt I will make him bear. You shall dwell in
peace
The Igigi, the great gods, replied to him,
To …, counselor of the gods, their
lord:
"It was Kingu who contrived the uprising,
And made Tiamat rebel, and joined battle."
They bound him, holding him before Ea.
They imposed on him his guilt and severed his blood
(vessels).
Out of his blood they fashioned mankind.
He imposed the service and let free the gods.
After Ea, the wise, had created mankind,
Had imposed upon it the service of the gods—
That work was beyond comprehension;
As artfully planned by Marduk, did Nudimmud create
it—
Marduk, the king of the gods divided
All the Anunnaki above and below.
- He assigned (them) to Anu to guard his instructions.
Three hundred in the heavens he stationed as a guard.
In like manner the ways of the earth he defined.
In heaven and on earth six hundred (thus) he settled.
After he had ordered all the instructions,
To the Anunnaki of heaven and earth had allotted their
portions,
The Anunnaki opened their mouths
And said to Marduk, their lord:
"Now, O lord, thou who hast caused our deliverance,
What shall be our homage to thee ?
Let us build a shrine whose name shall be called
'Lo, a chamber for our nightly rest'; let us repose in itl
Let us build a throne, a recess for his abode!96
On the day that we arrive we shall repose in it”
When Marduk heard this,
Brighdy glowed his features, like the day:
"Construct Babylon, whose building you have
requested,
Let its brickwork be fashioned. You shall name it 'The
Sanctuary.'"
The Anunnaki applied the implement;
For one whole year they molded bricks.
When the second year arrived,
- They raised high the head" of Esagila equaling Apsu.
Having built a stage-tower as high as Apsu,
They set up in it an abode for Marduk, Enlil, (and) Ea
In their presence he was seated in grandeur.
To the base of Esharra its horns look down.
After they had achieved the building of Esagila,
All the Anunnaki erected their shrines.
The three hundred Igigi all of them gathered,
The lord being on the lofty dais which they had built
as his abode,
The gods, his fathers, at his banquet he seated:
"This is Babylon, the place that is your home!’
Make merry in its precincts, occupy its broad [places].'
The great gods took their seats,
They set up festive drink, sat down to a banquet.
After they had made merry within it,
In Esagila, the splendid, had performed their rites,
The norms had been fixed (and) all [their] portents,
All the gods apportioned the stations of heaven and
earth.10"
The fifty great gods took their seats.
The seven gods of destiny set up the three hundred [in
heaven].
Enlil raised the bow, his weapon, and laid (it) before
them.
- The gods, his fathers, saw the net he had made.
When they beheld the bow, how skillful its shape,
His fathers praised the work he had wrought
Raising (it), Anu spoke up in the Assembly of the gods,
As he kissed the bow: "This is my daughter!"
He named the names of the bow as follows:
"Longwood is the first, the second is Accurate;
Its third name is Bow-Star, in heaven I have made
it shine."
"Most exalted be the Son, our avenger;
Let his sovereignty be surpassing, having no rival.
May he shepherd the black-headed ones, his creatures.
To the end of days, without forgetting, let them acclaim
his ways.
May he establish for his fathers the great
food-offerings; (no)
Their support they shall furnish, shall tend their sanctuaries.
- May he cause incense to be smelled,... their spells,
Make a likeness on earth of what he has wrought in heaven.
May he order the black-headed to revere him,
May the subjects ever bear in mind to speak of their god,
And may they at his word pay heed to the goddess.
May food-offerings be borne for their gods and goddesses.
Without fail let them support their gods!
Their lands let them improve, build their shrines,
Let the black-headed wait on their gods.
As for us, by however many names we pronounce, he is
our god!
Let us then proclaim his fifty names:
'He whose ways are glorious, whose deeds are likewise,
( 1 ) MARDUK, as Anu, his father, called him from his
birth;
Who provides grazing and drinking places, enriches
their stalls,
Who with the flood-storm, his weapon, vanquished the
detractors,
(And) who the gods, his fathers, rescued from distress.
Truly, the Son of the Sun, most radiant of gods is he.
In his brilliant light may they walk forever!
On the people he brought forth, endowed
with life,
The service of the gods he imposed that these may have
ease.
- Creation, destruction, deliverance, grace—
Shall be by his command. They shall look up to him!
(2) MARUKKA verily is the god, creator of all,
Who gladdens the heart of the Anunnaki, appeases the
Igigi·
- You know what? We’re going to stop right there. It really does go through fifty names, all with some great honors attached to them.
- Through the last of tablet 6 and through tablet 7, it goes through these names which display Marduk’s greatness, repeating the story we’ve just read or telling how great he is in other ways, sustaining the land and the people and how much they just love to serve him. I mean, of course they do…who doesn’t love to be slave labor to the gods?
- Anyway, I wanted to read this whole thing, or at least most of it, because I’ve heard in many other podcasts and things about these parallels to this literature, but no one just reads the dang thing, and for one thing, it’s kind of interesting the imagery it has and the way it presents the information. In some respects, it sounds very similar to the biblical text in presentation and language, and in other glaringly obvious ways, it’s so very different. So now that you’ve heard it and can have a chance to consider it a bit, you can be a little more prepared to understand how these things are both similar and useful, but also how we actually can in a great sense suggest that the Bible remains unique, unparalleled literature. *Enuma Elish* is like a midday soap opera compared to reading the Bible. But it is actually kind of entertaining reading. I liked Marduk’s steeds that he hooked up to his cloud chariot. It didn’t specifically say they were horses, but I’m going to go with the idea that they are. Four horses, going into battle, hmm. Yes.
- I’ll leave you for the moment to ponder over some of these parallels that you see. I’ll likely bring some of them up in future episodes as we’re talking about the Bible. Before I go, though, I want to bring to mind what I was talking about in the last episode, about how to read myth. Leaving aside the question of revelation and the Bible vs pagan literature, would we read this story as history? No, because to us we see it as a cleverly-crafted story to prop up the king and power of Babylon. It’s hard for us to read it as anything *but* that. Would the ancient person have seen it that way? Maybe…but we are probably asking the wrong question or looking at it from the wrong angle. Or at least an inappropriate angle. It’s hard to get into that ancient mindset, isn’t it? Really, how do we do it?
- The point is…we don’t need to take this story seriously in the sense that an ancient resident of Babylon would. So that’s kind of a relief, isn’t it? We can, mentally, accept that they would have accepted this story as “real” in some sense, kind of like how we can respect anyone today with a different belief. It’s not impossible to respect that, and we should.
- As Bible students, our task now is to see how the biblical authors were interacting with this story. That’s what matters to us in a practical sense. Even if we think this is just a silly, made up story, well, the Israelites were genuinely afraid of the god Marduk. Did they have a reason to be? In a sense, no, of course, because they had sovereign God on their side, but they were in the same spot all of humanity has been in for all of time—there is a battle being waged for finding truth and staying away from lies, and the Bible presents this very real reality that we should probably take seriously ourselves—not in needing to find where Marduk himself is hiding out these days, but in realizing that there are sides and that we want to be allegiant to the right one.
- If you want further conversation about the things that stand out to you or if you’ve got questions that you’d like me to look into, please feel free to contact me through email at
[email protected] or find me on Facebook. Thanks again to Wintergatan for the music. Next week we’re going to do another review! We’ll be talking about Graham Hancock and his show, Ancient Apocalypse and his book Fingerprints of the Gods. So I hope you’ll join me then! See ya later!
