The language used of himself by Cyrus reminds us sometimes of the inspired words in which he is spoken of in the prophecies of Isaiah. When he says that he “governed in justice and righteousness,” and that Merodach “beheld with joy the deeds of his vicegerent, who was righteous in hand and heart,” we cannot help thinking of God’s declaration that He had “raised him up in righteousness,” (Isa. xlv. 13). When he says that “Merodach, who in his ministry raises the dead to life, who benefits all men in difficulty and prayer, has in goodness drawn nigh to him, has made strong his name,” we almost fancy we hear an echo of the words of Scripture: “For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel Mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name; I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known Me. I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside Me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me” (Isa. xlv. 4, 5). The title given to Merodach—“the god who raises the dead to life”—is a remarkable one, but it was a title which was applied to the god as early as the Accadian epoch. In the religious hymns of the Accadians, Merodach plays the part of a mediator and intercessor; if the gods are angry, it is Merodach who intercedes for man. Mankind, in fact, are his especial care; he was supposed to heal their diseases and to raise them after death to life. Whether there was any reference here to the doctrine of the resurrection is doubtful: more probably nothing further was meant than that the spirit of the dead man, through the help of Merodach, was allowed to drink of “the waters of life,” that bubbled up in Hades beneath the golden throne of the spirits of earth, and so to ascend to the Accadian heaven, “the land of the silver sky,” where the heroes lay reclined among the gods on couches, feasting at banquets which knew no end. Merodach was originally the Sun-god, and when Babylonia passed into the hands of the Semites he still continued to be worshipped, as the interceding god who hears prayers and “raises the dead to life.” But he was now more specially honoured as Bel or Baal, “lord” a title which properly belonged to an older deity, but which came in time to be almost confined to Merodach, alone. When Bel and Nebo are mentioned together in the Bible (Isa. xlvi. 1), it is Merodach, the tutelary divinity of Babylon, that is meant, Nebo, “the prophet,” to whom peculiar honour was paid at Babylon after the rise of the dynasty of Nebuchadrezzar, being usually associated with him.