The Glory of His Name
Assyrian and Hebrew hymns are alike, in that both exalt the name of deity. For both the name of the god is great and glorious and to be feared. It is known in all the earth and is not to be forgotten. There seems to have been an element of mystery, possibly due to magic, attached to the name of the Assyrian deity.
Flood watering the harvest, knows anyone thy name.
—Hymn to Nergal No. 6.
And in this connection it is well to notice that Ishtar announces herself by several names:
My first name is I am Ishtar
My second name is Lady of the countries.
—Hymn to Ishtar No. 4.
Great and terrible is the name of the Assyrian and Hebrew deity.
The lord Ninib I am, at the naming of my name may be prostrated the lofty powers.
—Hymn to Ninib No. 5.
Exceeding great is thy name, Marduk mighty one.
—Hymn to Marduk No. 1.
Asshur, glorious one, whose name arouses fear,
—Hymn to Asshur.
Let them praise thy name great and terrible.
—Psalm 99:3.
Known in Judah is God, in Israel great is his name.
—Psalm 76:2.
Lord whose name is glorious, recorder of the world.
—Hymn to Enlil.
Not to us. Not to us, but to thy name give glory.
—Psalm 115:1.
Thy name is altogether good in the mouths of the peoples.
—Hymn to Marduk No. 13.
Thy name is spread abroad, in the mouths of men, O protecting god.
—Hymn to Ishtar No. 1.
Whose name is brilliant in all the earth, that is my glory.
—Hymn to Ishtar No. 5.
As thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth.
—Psalm 48:11.
Yahwe, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth.
—Psalm 8:2.
Not only universal, but also eternal, is the fame of Assyrian and Hebrew deity:
Therefore may the fame of Asshur not be forgotten, may men remember Essharra.
—Hymn to Asshur.
Yahwe thy name is forever,
Yahwe thy remembrance to generation and generation.
—Psalm 135:13.
It may be significant also, that, while the name of the Assyrian and the Hebrew deity is great and glorious and terrible, universally known and never to be forgotten, it is said only of the Hebrew deity, that his name is holy:
For in Him doth our heart rejoice,
For in His Holy Name do we trust.
—Psalm 33:21.
Bless my soul Yahwe, and all that is within me His Holy name.
—Psalm 103:1.
While both Assyrian and Hebrew hymns exalt the name of the deity, there is no passage in any Assyrian hymn, revealing such enthusiasm on the part of an individual, for the name of the god as Psalm 145:1b:
I will exalt thee, my god, O king,
And I will bless thy name for ever
Every day will I bless thee,
And I will praise thy name for ever and aye,
Nor is there any passage in an Assyrian hymn calling upon universal nature, sun, moon and stars, mountains, and hills, rain and snow, all living creatures, all men and women, old and young, kings and nations, to praise the name of God, as Psalm 148:13:
Let them praise the name of Yahwe
For his name alone is exalted.
Chapter XI
THE SUPREME GOD IN HIS DWELLING PLACE
The Assyrians are known to readers of the Old Testament as worshippers of the hosts of heaven, and while their hymns represent them as adoring also the Atmospheric Gods, and furthermore finding Deity not only in the heights above, but also in the depths beneath, nevertheless their reverent gaze was most frequently turned skyward. Their gods were mainly gods of heaven, and were associated, at times almost to the point of identification, with the heavenly bodies. Thus the God Shamash bears the name of Sun, and is unmistakably and very closely associated with the solar orb:
The mighty mountains has thy glory covered;
Thy brilliancy fills and overwhelms the countries;
Thou marchest regularly across the heavens.
—Hymn to Shamash No. 7.
Likewise Nusku is a solar deity:
Strong fire god who surveys the tops of the mountains,
Mighty fire god, illuminator of the darkness.
—Hymn to Nusku No. 1.
Also Marduk:
Lofty in form, Marduk, shining sun god, bright torch,
Who by his rising illumines the (darkness), makes brilliant ( ).
—Hymn to Marduk No. 1.
The moon has its very worthy representative among the gods in the person of the great God Sin:
Thou that brightenest the night,
That givest light to all nations,
Bright is thy light in heaven;
Thy brightness fills the whole earth.
—Hymn to Sin No. 1.
Thou that from the base of heaven to the height of heaven dost march in glory;
Opening the door of heaven, and granting light to all men.
—Hymn to Sin No. 5.
The evening star, the star which shines preëminent in the heavens is represented by two glorious goddesses, Ishtar and Sarpanitum:
Light of heaven which flames like fire over the earth art thou.
—Hymn to Ishtar No. 6.
In the heavens in the evening when I take my stand,
—Hymn to Ishtar No. 4.
She that flameth in the horizon of heaven.
—Hymn to Ishtar No. 6.
Who art adorned with the brilliancy of sparkling stones, ornament of heaven.
—Hymn to Ishtar No. 6.
Ishtar who opens the bolt of the pure heavens, that is my glory.
—Hymn to Ishtar No. 6.
Sarpanitum, shining star, dwelling in Endul,
Who crossest the heavens, who passest over the earth,
Sarpanitum, whose station is lofty,
Brilliant is my lady, lofty and high.
—Hymn to Sarpanitum.
Just as Shamash, Sin, and Ishtar are so closely associated with sun, moon, and evening star, so Ramman, in the two hymns written in his honor, is almost identified with the thunderstorm.
Yahwe is not identified, nor closely associated, in the Hebrew hymns, with any of the heavenly bodies, not even with the sun, but he, like the Assyrian deities, dwells in heaven, and his glory, as is theirs, is that of the stars. Of Yahwe it might have been said, as of Nergal and Ishtar:
Thou treadest in the high heavens, lofty is thy place.
—Hymn to Nergal No. 1.
Thy seat is in the high heavens, in the midst of the bright heavens,
—Hymn to Ishtar No. 2.
But our God is in the heavens,
Everything that he pleaseth, he doeth.
—Psalm 115:3.
The heavens are Yahwe’s heavens.
—Psalm 115:16.
Yahwe is in his holy temple;
Yahwe, in the heavens is his throne.
—Psalm 11:4.
Yahwe was not identified with sun, moon or stars. No more was he identified with the thunderstorm. ’Tis true, in Psalm 29 the thunder is described as the voice of Yahwe, but while the tempest rages below, Yahwe sits exalted in heaven, the mighty God, who gives strength to his people, and blesses them with peace. It is the glory of the Hebrew religion, that its God has been released from all identification with nature’s forces and is lord in his universe. So he controls also the winds:
Who bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries.
—Psalm 135:7.
To him that rideth in the ancient heavens.
—Psalm 68:34.
Who maketh clouds his chariot,
Who walketh upon the wings of the wind.
—Psalm 104:3.
As gods of heaven, both the Assyrian deities and Yahwe are revered as lofty, exalted beings. Marduk is addressed as the one
“who alone art lofty.”
—Hymn to Marduk No. 1.
In heaven thou art lofty, on earth thou art king, clever adviser of the gods.
—Hymn to Marduk No. 1.
To Ninib it is said:
In Ekur, the house of festivals, is thy head exalted
Ninib, king, son of Bel, who himself is exalted.
—Hymn to Ninib No. 1.
And for Asshur the wish is expressed:
May the memory of Asshur be praised, his divinity be exalted,
So that the exaltation of Asshur, the lord of lords, the warrior, may shine.
—Hymn to Asshur.
Similarly Yahwe is exalted:
But thou art high for ever, O Yahwe.
—Psalm 92:9.
That they may know that thou alone art Yahwe
The most high over all the earth.
—Psalm 83:19.
Yahwe’s exaltation above the earth brings with it also exaltation over all nations:
Yahwe in Zion is great,
And High is He above all nations.
—Psalm 99:2.
High over all nations is Yahwe;
Over the heaven is his glory.
—Psalm 113:4.
So also Marduk’s exaltation has its significance for men:
High art thou in heaven:
All people thou see’st.
Great art thou upon earth:
Their omens thou see’st.
—Hymn to Marduk No. 1.
Yahwe’s exaltation seems to be not only above the earth, but he is also highly exalted in the heavens:
His majesty is above earth and heaven.
—Psalm 148:13.
Thou whose majesty is placed above the heavens.
—Psalm 8:2.
Before the exalted heavens’ God, the Assyrian worshipper is reverent:
O lord thy divinity is full of awe
Like the far off heaven and the broad ocean.
—Hymn to Sin No. 5.
and as Heaven’s God, Yahwe is to be praised:
Praise Yahwe from the Heavens;
Praise Him in the heights.
—Psalm 148:1.
The Assyrian religion, in contrast to the Hebrew religion, finds God in the lower world, and glorifies the deity of the lower world:
Thou art great in Hades, there is none like thee.
—Hymn to Nergal No. 1.
Warrior, lord of the under world.
—Hymn to Nergal No. 4.
She, who is goddess of heaven and earth is also goddess of the deep:
Lady of Egurra, ruler of the deep,
Who inhabitest the deep, lady of heaven and earth.
—Hymn to Damkina.
The Hebrew hymns have only the negative statements regarding Yahwe’s prestige in the lower world:
The dead praise not Yahwe,
Neither any that go down to silence
—Psalm 115:17.
and the assertion of Psalm 139:8 that Yahwe the omnipresent is present also in Sheol.