The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and BabyloniaPinches, Theophilus G. (Theophilus Goldridge)
Religion
The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia
Pinches, Theophilus G. (Theophilus Goldridge)
Bible. Old Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Plate II. Fragments of tablets (duplicates), giving the words for the
different fasts, festivals, etc., of the Babylonians and Assyrians. Line 4
of the small piece, and 16 of the large one, have the words _ûm nûh
libbi_, "day of rest of the heart," explained by _sapattum_ (from the
Sumerian _sa-bat_, "heart-rest"), generally regarded as the original of
the Hebrew _Sabbath_. _Sapattum_, however, was the 15th day of the month.
The nearest approaches to Sabbaths were the 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th, and
19th, which were called _u-hul-gallu_ or _ûmu limnu_, "the evil day" (the
19th being a _week of weeks_, from the 1st day of the preceding month),
because it was unlawful to do certain things on those days.
The fifth tablet of the Babylonian story of the Creation is a mere
fragment, but is of considerable interest and importance. It describes, in
poetical language, in the style with which the reader has now become
fairly familiar, the creation and ordering, by Merodach, of the heavenly
bodies, as the ancient Babylonians conceived them to have taken place. The
text of the first few stanzas is as follows—
“He built firmly the stations of the great gods—
Stars their likeness—he set up the Lumaši,
He designated the year, he outlined the (heavenly) forms.
He set for the twelve months three stars each.
From the day when the year begins, ... for signs.
He founded the station of Nîbiru, to make known their limits,
That none might err, nor go astray.
The station of Bêl and Aa he placed with himself,
Then he opened the great gates on both sides,
Bolts he fixed on the left and on the right,
In its centre (?) then he set the zenith (?).
Nannaru (the moon) he caused to shine, ruling the night,
So he set him as a creature of the night, to make known the days,
Monthly, without failing, he provided him with a crown,
At the beginning of the month then, dawning in the land,
The horns shine forth to make known the seasons (?),
On the 7th day crown (perfect)ing (?).
The [Sa]bbath shalt thou then fall in with, half-monthly,
When the sun (is) in the base of the heavens, at thy [approach?].
...... hath caused to be cut off and
... nearing the path of the sun.
[The ...]th [day] shalt thou then fall in with, the sun shall
change (?)...
...... the sign seeking its path.
... cause to approach and give the judgment.
........................ to injure (?)
........................... one.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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