The Old Testament In the Light of The Historical Records and Legends Part 9

"May Damu, the great enchanter, make his thoughts happy, May the lady who giveth life to the dead, the G.o.ddess Gula, heal him by the pressure of her pure hand, And thou, O gracious Merodach, who lovest the revivification of the dead, With thy pure incantation of life, free him from his sin, and May the man, the son of his G.o.d, be pure, clean, and bright."

In this pa.s.sage the phrase in question is (in Akkadian) _gigallu dumu dingirana_, and (in a.s.syrian) _amelu mar ili-u_. It is a frequent expression in doc.u.ments of this cla.s.s, and always occurs in a similar connection. In some cases, instead of "the man, the son of his G.o.d," the variation "the king, the son of his G.o.d" occurs, and is apparently to be paraphrased in the same way, and understood as "the pious king."

May it not be, then, that "the sons of G.o.d," who saw that the daughters of men were fair (lit. good), and took of them as many wives as they wanted, were those who were regarded as the pious men of the time? For who among the angels would at any time have thought of allying himself with an earthly and mortal spouse, and begetting children-offspring who should turn out to be "mighty men which were of old, men of renown," as verse 4 has it? In this case, the "daughters of men" would be children of common people, not possessing any special piety or other virtue to recommend them, the only thing being that their daughters were fair, and good enough, in the opinion of those "sons of G.o.d," to have as their wives.

It is apparently given as the result of these unions between the pious men and the daughters of the people that wickedness became rife in the earth, and man's imagination continually evil; and this was so to such an extent that the Almighty repented of having created man, and decided to destroy the wicked generation-both man, and beast, and creeping thing, and fowl of the air-dwelling upon the earth-all except Noah, who found favour in the eyes of Yahwah.

Having decided to destroy the life of the world by means of a flood, G.o.d communicated His intention and the reason thereof to the patriarch, and instructed him to build an ark in which he was to save both himself and his family from the impending destruction. The vessel is to be built of gopher-wood, to have rooms in it, and to be pitched within and without with pitch. The dimensions also are specified. Its length was to be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. He was to make the ark "with light" (??? or ???), that is, with windows, and their length or height, apparently, was to be a cubit. The vessel was to have a door, and to be built with three stories, lower, second, and third.

In accordance with G.o.d's covenant with the patriarch, he, his sons, and his sons' wives were to be saved, along with every living thing, male and female of each kind. For all this great mult.i.tude a sufficiency of food was directed to be provided.

Then comes the command (the ark having been duly built, and all the directions followed) to enter into the vessel, and further instructions are given with regard to the creatures that are to be saved, with a slight modification in the numbers, for the clean beasts are to be taken in "by sevens," and all the rest, "the unclean," by pairs. G.o.d then announces that in seven days' time He will cause rain to come upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. "All the fountains of the great deep" were broken up, and the Lord shut up those upon whom He had favour in the ark.

Then, as the rain continued, the waters "prevailed exceedingly" upon the earth, and the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered, the depth of the waters being "fifteen cubits and upwards." Everything was destroyed, "Noah alone remained alive, and those who were with him in the ark."

"And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days."

The "fountains of the deep" and "the windows of heaven" having been stopped, and the "rain from heaven" restrained, the waters abated, leaving the ark high and dry upon the mountains of Ararat; and after the tops of the mountains were seen, Noah looked out of the window that he had made.

He then sent forth a raven and a dove, and the latter, not finding a resting-place, returned to him, to be sent forth again at the end of another week. The dove again returned bearing in her beak an olive-leaf.

Seven days more pa.s.sed, and the dove, having been sent out a third time, returned to him no more. Recognizing that the waters were now all returned into their old channels, and that the land was dry enough for him and his, Noah removed the covering of the vessel, and saw that his supposition was correct, and having received the command to come forth from the ark, which had been his abiding-place for so long, and to send forth the living creatures that were with him, the patriarch obeyed, and, when on dry land, built an altar to Yahwah, and offered burnt offerings thereon of every clean beast and every clean fowl.

"And the Lord smelled a sweet savour (lit. a savour of rest); and the Lord said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.... While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

Then comes, in the ninth chapter, the blessing of G.o.d, with a charge concerning the shedding of blood. He makes also a covenant with Noah, by the sign of the rainbow, declaring that a like calamity shall never again come upon the earth to destroy all life that is upon it.

Such is, in short, the Bible story of the great flood that destroyed, at a remote age of the world, all life upon the earth. It is a narrative circ.u.mstantially told, with day, month, and year all indicated, and it forms a good subject for comparison with the Babylonian account, with which it agrees so closely in all the main points, and from which it differs so much in many essential details.

As in the case of the Babylonian story of the Creation, it has been thought well not only to give a fairly full translation of the Babylonian story of the Flood, but also to indicate under what circ.u.mstances that story appears in the series of tablets in which it is found.

The first to detect the nature of the series of tablets giving the story of the Flood was the late George Smith, who had unrivalled opportunities of making himself thoroughly acquainted with the treasures of the British Museum in the matter of a.s.syrian records. As the story runs, it was whilst searching for the fragments of the Creation-series that he came across a fragment of a tablet mentioning that "the s.h.i.+p rested on the mountain of Ni?ir," and this at once suggested to him that this was a reference to the Flood, as, in fact, it turned out to be. Continued and unremitting research among the treasures of the Department in which he was employed enabled him to bring together a large number of other fragments of the series, leaving, in fact, very little indeed for any future student to do in the way of collecting together texts from the fragments that he had an opportunity of examining. The _Daily Telegraph_ expedition to a.s.syria, which was conducted by Mr. Smith himself, enabled him to add many other fragments to those which he had already recognized in the Oriental Department of the British Museum, and Mr. Ra.s.sam's very successful excavations in the same place have since very considerably increased the list of additions.

The story of the Flood, as known to the Babylonians and a.s.syrians, is one chapter or book of a legend consisting of twelve similar divisions, the first line of the series beginning with the words _a naqba imuru_, "He who saw everything," and to this is added in the colophons, "the legend of Gilgame." The number of fragments extant is large, but the individual tablets are very imperfect, that giving the account of the Flood being by far the most complete, though even that has very regrettable lacunae.

Incomplete as the legend is as a whole, an attempt will nevertheless be made here to give some sort of a connected story, which may be regarded as accurate in all its main details.

The first tablet begins with the words that have been quoted above, "He who saw everything, [who] ... the land." This is followed, it would seem, by a description of the hero, who, apparently, knew "the wisdom of the whole (of the lands?)," and "saw secret and hidden things.... He brought news of before the flood, went a distant road, and (suffered) dire fatigue (?)." All his journeyings and toils were, apparently, inscribed on tablets of stone, and records thus left for future ages.

Gilgame, as we learn in the course of the narrative, was lord or king of _Uruk supuri_, or "Erech the walled," and at the time when the story begins, the fortifications were in a ruinous state, and the treasury (?) of the sanctuary e-anna, the temple of the G.o.ddess Itar, which is mentioned in the legend immediately after, was, we may suppose, empty.

Other details of the desolation of the temple are given, and the ruinous state of the walls of the city are spoken of, together with the decay of their foundations.

No other fragment of Col. I. of the first tablet of the Legend of Gilgame seems to have been recognized, so that the further references to the city are lost. An interesting piece that Mr. G. Smith thought to be part of the third column of this text refers to some misfortune that came upon the city when the people moaned like calves, and the maidens grieved like doves.

"The G.o.ds of Erech the walled Turned to flies, and hummed in the streets; The winged bulls of Erech the walled Turned to mice, and went out through the holes."

The city was, on this occasion, besieged for three years, until at last the G.o.d Bel and the G.o.ddess Itar interested themselves in the state of things. As to who the enemy was who brought the people into such distress, there is no means at present of finding out, but Mr. G. Smith suggested, with at least some show of probability, that they were the Elamites under ?umbaba, who appears later as the opponent of our hero. The indifference of the G.o.ds and the divine bulls that were supposed to protect the city is well expressed in the statement that they respectively turned into flies and mice, buzzing about and active, but doing no good whatever.

After the reference to the state of Erech, the text is exceedingly mutilated, and the sense difficult to gather, but it would seem to have contained a further description of the hero, who, according to Jensen's translation, is described as "two parts G.o.d and the third part man." To all appearance there was none in all his realm like him, and also no consort suitable for him, though he collected to him all the young men and maidens in the land. This was a matter for grief, which the (divine powers ?) heard, and they called upon the G.o.ddess Aruru to make another in his likeness. This being was ea-bani,(7) the mighty one, to all appearance made to be the rival of Gilgame, but if this be the case, he did not fulfil his destiny, for his delight was to remain with the beasts of the field. All his body was covered with hair, and he had long tresses on his head, like those of a woman (recalling Samson's luxuriant locks). Far, too, from being the rival of Gilgame, he became his most devoted friend and companion.

" 'Thou, Aruru, hast created (mankind), Now make thou (one in) his likeness.

The first day let his heart be (formed?), Let him rival (?) and let him overcome (??) Erech.'

Aruru hearing this, Made the likeness of Anu in the midst of her heart.

Aruru washed her hands, She pinched off some clay, she threw it on the ground- (Thus?) ea-bani she made, the warrior, The offspring, the seed, the possession of Ninip.

Covered with hair was all his body, He had tresses like a woman, The amount (?) of his hair grew thick like corn.

He knew not (?) people and land.

Clothed with a garment like the G.o.d Gira.

With the gazelles he eateth the gra.s.s, With the wild beasts he drinketh drink, With the dwellers in the water his heart delighteth.

The hunter, the destroyer, a man, Beside the drinking-place he came across him, The first day, the second day, the third day, beside the drinking-place he came across him.

The hunter saw him, and his (ea-bani's) countenance became stern, (He) and his wild beasts entered his house, (He became an)gry, stern, and he called out."

Apparently he did not like being watched so long by the hunter, and becoming suspicious of his intentions, showed resentment, and tried to drive him away. It may be noted by the way, that this description of ea-bani would answer excellently to the state attributed for a time to Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel.

The hunter has a conversation with his father, who was with him, and the upshot of it is that they decide to communicate to Gilgame an account of the terrible man whom they had seen. It was therefore decided to try to catch or, rather, entice him to Erech by means of a female named Sam?at.

In accordance with the instructions received, therefore, the hunter took with him the woman who was intrusted to him, and they awaited ea-bani in the same place, by the side of the water. After watching for him for two days, they got into communication with him, and the woman asked him why he dwelt with the wild animals, depicting at the same time all the glory of Erech the walled and the n.o.bility of Gilgame, so that he soon allowed himself to be persuaded, and, in the end, went and took up his abode there.

Various things are then narrated, the most important of them being the episode of the Elamite ?umbaba, the same name, though not the same person, as the Kombabos of the Greeks.

Gilgame seems to have gone to a place where there was a forest of cedar-trees, accompanied by ea-bani. Near this place, apparently, there was a splendid palace, the abode (?) of a great queen. Judging from what remains of the text, they ask their way of her, and she it is who seems to tell them how to reach the dominions of the potentate whom they seek.

"A distant road is the place of ?umbaba.

A conflict that he (Gilgame) knoweth not he will meet, A road that he knoweth not he will ride, As long as he goeth and returneth, Until he reach the forest of cedars, Until the mighty ?umbaba he subdueth, And whatever is evil, what ye hate, he shall destroy in the l(and)."

Evidently, from the extent of the record in this place, many adventures befell them, but the fragmentary lines and the numerous lacunae make a connected narrative absolutely impossible, and it is not until we reach the first column of what Mr. G. Smith regarded as the fifth tablet that we get something more satisfactory than this. The hero has apparently come within measurable distance of his goal-

"They stood and looked on the forest, They regarded the height of the cedar, They regarded the depth of the forest, Where ?umbaba walked, striding high (?), The roads prepared, the way made good.

They saw the mountain of the cedar, the dwelling of the G.o.ds, the shrine of the G.o.d Irnini, Before the mountain the cedar raised its luxuriance- Good was its shade, full of delight."

They had still a long way to go, however, and many things, seemingly, to overcome, before they should reach the abode of the dreaded Elamite ruler, but unfortunately, the details of their adventures are so very fragmentary that no connected sense whatever is to be made out. The last line of the tablet referring to this section, mentioning, as it does, the head of ?umbaba, leads the reader to guess the conclusion of the story, whatever the details may have been.

It is with the sixth tablet that we meet, for the first time, almost, with something really satisfactory in the matter of completeness, though even here one is sometimes pulled up sharp by a defective or doubtful pa.s.sage.

Apparently, Gilgame had become, at the time to which this tablet refers, very prosperous, and that, combined with his other attractions, evidently drew upon him the attention of the G.o.ddess Itar-

"Come, Gilgame, be thou the bridegroom, Give thy substance to me as a gift, Be thou my husband, and let me be thy wife.

I will cause to be yoked for thee a chariot of lapis-lazuli and gold, Whose wheels are gold and adamant its poles.

Thou shalt harness thereto the white ones, the great steeds.

Enter into our house mid the scent of the cedar."

At his entering, the people were to kiss his feet, and kings, lords, and princes do him homage, and lastly, he was to have no rival upon the earth.

In the mutilated pa.s.sage that follows, Gilgame answers the G.o.ddess, reproaching her with her treatment of her former lovers or husbands, which seems to have been far from satisfactory. Reference to a "wall of stone,"