Part 28 (1/2)
Instead of food, I eat bitter tears, Instead of date-wine, I drink the waters of misery, For my drink I have bitter waters, Instead of clothes, I am enveloped in sin,[483]--
proceeds to a fervent appeal:
O my G.o.d who art angry with me, accept my prayer, O my G.o.ddess who art wroth with me, accept my appeal, Accept my appeal, may thy liver be at rest!
My lord in mercy and compa.s.sion [look upon me?]
Who guides the span of life against the encroachments (?) of death, accept my prayer!
O my G.o.ddess, look upon me, accept my appeal; May my sins be forgiven,[484] my transgressions be wiped out.
May the ban be loosened, the chain broken, May the seven winds carry off my sighs.
Let me tear away my iniquity, let the birds carry it to heaven, Let the fish take off my misfortune, the stream carry it off.
May the beasts of the field take it away from me, The flowing waters of the stream wash me clean.
Let me be pure like the sheen of gold.
As a ring (?) of precious stone, may I be precious before thee.
Remove my iniquity, save my soul.
Thy [temple] court I will watch, thy image (?) I will set up.[485]
Grant to me that I may see a favorable dream, The dream that I see, let it be favorable, The dream that I see, let it be unfailing, The dream that I see, turn it to a favorable [issue].
The G.o.d Makhir (?), the G.o.d of dreams stand at my head.
Let me enter into E-sagila, the temple of the G.o.ds, the house of life.
Commend me to Marduk, the merciful one, for favor, I will be subservient to thy greatness, I will exalt thy divinity.
There follows a line from which one may further conclude that the psalm is one composed for the royal chief of Babylonia. It is evidently only a ruler who can a.s.sure the deity that
The inhabitants of my city,[486] may they glorify thy power.
We know from the historical texts that previous to a military engagement the kings were particularly desirous of some sign from the deity that might serve to encourage the soldiery. Such a sign was ordinarily a dream. The circ.u.mstances, therefore, seem to point to our psalm being a royal prayer for forgiveness of transgressions, uttered before some impending national crisis, in the hope of securing, with the divine pardon, the protection of the deity who, up to this point in the campaign, must have manifested his displeasure rather than his favor.
More distinct references to national events are found in another royal penitential psalm:[487]
How long, O my mistress, will the mighty foe oppress thy land, In thy great city Erech famine has settled, In E-ulbar, the house of thy oracle, blood is poured out like water, Throughout thy districts he has kindled conflagrations, and poured [fire] over them in columns (?).[488]
O my mistress, I am abundantly yoked to misfortune, O my mistress, thou hast encompa.s.sed me, thou hast brought me into pain, The mighty foe has trodden me down as a reed, I have no judgment, I have no wisdom, Like a 'dry field' I am desolate night and day, I thy servant beseech thee, May thy heart be at rest, thy liver be pacified.
At times specific requests are inserted into these hymns, such as release from physical ills. Sickness being, as any other evil, due to divine anger, the sick man combines with his prayer for forgiveness of the sin of which he is guilty, the hope that his disease, viewed as the result of his sin, may be removed. A hymn addressed to Ishtar of Nineveh by Ashurnasirbal, a king of a.s.syria,[489] is of this character. It begins by an adoration of the G.o.ddess, who is addressed as
The producer, the queen of heaven, the glorious lady, To the one who dwells in E-babbara ... who hath spread my fame, To the queen of the G.o.ds to whom has been entrusted the commands of the great G.o.ds, To the lady of Nineveh ...
To the daughter of Sin, the twin-sister of Shamash, ruling over all kingdoms, Who issues decrees, the G.o.ddess of the universe, To the lady of heaven and earth, who receives prayer, who hearkens to the pet.i.tion, who accepts beseeching, To the merciful G.o.ddess who loves righteousness.
The king calls upon Ishtar to listen to his prayers:
Look upon me, O lady, so that through thy turning towards me the heart of thy servant may become strong.
Ashurnasirbal appeals to the G.o.ddess on the ground of what he has done to promote the glory of the G.o.ddess in his land. He has devoted himself to the service of the G.o.ddess. He has observed the festivals in her honor. He has repaired her shrines. No less than fourteen images of the G.o.ddess were set up by the king. Nay, more, he claims that before his days Ishtar was not properly wors.h.i.+pped.
I was without understanding, and did not pray to thy ladys.h.i.+p, The people of a.s.syria also lacked judgment, and did not approach thy divinity; But thou, O Ishtar, mighty weapon of the great G.o.ds, By thy grace[490] thou didst instruct me, and didst desire me to rule.
The statement that the Ishtar cult was introduced or even reinstated by Ashurnasirbal can hardly be taken literally; but it distinctly points to a movement in the days of the dynasty to which the king belonged, that brought the wors.h.i.+p of the G.o.ddess into great prominence.