Part 2 (1/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: MERODACH AND TIAMAT.
[_To face p. 25._
Sculpture from the Palace of a.s.sur-n.a.z.ir-pel, King of a.s.syria. Now in the British Museum. Damaged by fire. Supposed to represent the defeat of Tiamat by Merodach.]
CHAPTER III
THE DEEP
The second verse of Genesis states, ”And the earth was without form and void [_i. e._ waste and empty] and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” The word _tehom_, here translated _deep_, has been used to support the theory that the Hebrews derived their Creation story from one which, when exiles in Babylon, they heard from their conquerors. If this theory were substantiated, it would have such an important bearing upon the subject of the att.i.tude of the inspired writers towards the objects of nature, that a little s.p.a.ce must be spared for its examination.
The purpose of the first chapter of Genesis is to tell us that--
”In the beginning G.o.d created the heaven and the earth.”
From it we learn that the universe and all the parts that make it up--all the different forms of energy, all the different forms of matter--are neither deities themselves, nor their embodiments and expressions, nor the work of conflicting deities. From it we learn that the universe is not self-existent, nor even (as the pantheist thinks of it) the expression of one vague, impersonal and unconscious, but all-pervading influence. It was not self-made; it did not exist from all eternity. It is not G.o.d, for G.o.d made it.
But the problem of its origin has exercised the minds of many nations beside the Hebrews, and an especial interest attaches to the solution arrived at by those nations who were near neighbours of the Hebrews and came of the same great Semitic stock.
From the nature of the case, accounts of the origin of the world cannot proceed from experience, or be the result of scientific experiment. They cannot form items of history, or arise from tradition. There are only two possible sources for them; one, Divine revelation; the other, the invention of men.
The account current amongst the Babylonians has been preserved to us by the Syrian writer Damascius, who gives it as follows:--
”But the Babylonians, like the rest of the Barbarians, pa.s.s over in silence the one principle of the Universe, and they const.i.tute two, Tavthe and Apason, making Apason the husband of Tavthe, and denominating her ”the mother of the G.o.ds.” And from these proceeds an only-begotten son, Mumis, which, I conceive, is no other than the intelligible world proceeding from the two principles. From them also another progeny is derived, Lakhe and Lakhos; and again a third, Kissare and a.s.soros, from which last three others proceed, Anos and Illinos and Aos. And of Aos and Dakhe is born a son called Belos, who, they say, is the fabricator of the world.”[26:1]
The actual story, thus summarized by Damascius, was discovered by Mr.
George Smith, in the form of a long epic poem, on a series of tablets, brought from the royal library of Kouyunjik, or Nineveh, and he published them in 1875, in his book on _The Chaldean Account of Genesis_. None of the tablets were perfect; and of some only very small portions remain. But portions of other copies of the poem have been discovered in other localities, and it has been found possible to piece together satisfactorily a considerable section, so that a fair idea of the general scope of the poem has been given to us.
It opens with the introduction of a being, Tiamtu--the Tavthe of the account of Damascius,--who is regarded as the primeval mother of all things.
”When on high the heavens were unnamed, Beneath the earth bore not a name: The primeval ocean was their producer; Mummu Tiamtu was she who begot the whole of them.
Their waters in one united themselves, and The plains were not outlined, marshes were not to be seen.
When none of the G.o.ds had come forth, They bore no name, the fates (had not been determined) There were produced the G.o.ds (all of them).”[27:1]
The genealogy of the G.o.ds follows, and after a gap in the story, Tiamat, or Tiamtu, is represented as preparing for battle, ”She who created everything . . . produced giant serpents.” She chose one of the G.o.ds, Kingu, to be her husband and the general of her forces, and delivered to him the tablets of fate.
The second tablet shows the G.o.d Anar, angered at the threatening att.i.tude of Tiamat, and sending his son Anu to speak soothingly to her and calm her rage. But first Anu and then another G.o.d turned back baffled, and finally Merodach, the son of Ea, was asked to become the champion of the G.o.ds. Merodach gladly consented, but made good terms for himself. The G.o.ds were to a.s.sist him in every possible way by entrusting all their powers to him, and were to acknowledge him as first and chief of all. The G.o.ds in their extremity were nothing loth. They feasted Merodach and, when swollen with wine, endued him with all magical powers, and hailed him--
”Merodach, thou art he who is our avenger, (Over) the whole universe have we given thee the kingdom.”[28:1]
At first the sight of his terrible enemy caused even Merodach to falter, but plucking up courage he advanced to meet her, caught her in his net, and, forcing an evil wind into her open mouth--
”He made the evil wind enter so that she could not close her lips.
The violence of the winds tortured her stomach, and her heart was prostrated and her mouth was twisted.
He swung the club, he shattered her stomach; he cut out her entrails; he over-mastered (her) heart; he bound her and ended her life.
He threw down her corpse; he stood upon it.”[28:2]