The Supreme God in His Sanctuary
Although the Assyrian deities and Yahwe are gods of heaven, yet they take up their abode in earthly sanctuaries:
Who hast taken up his exalted habitation among living creatures
—Hymn to Sin No. 5.
For Yahwe hath chosen Zion,
He hath desired it for his habitation.
—Psalm 132:13.
In Salem also is his tabernacle
And his dwelling place in Zion
—Psalm 76:3.
Bel thy dwelling is Babylon, Borsippa is thy crown.
—Hymn to Marduk No. 12.
Lord of Izida, shadow of Borsippa, director of Isagila.
—Hymn to Nebo No. 1.
Virgin. Virgin in the temple of my riches am I.
—Hymn to Ishtar No. 5.
The sanctuary itself is venerated by Assyrian and Hebrew:
Thy house Ezida is a house incomparable.
—Hymn to Nebo No. 2.
How lovely are thy tabernacles O Yahwe of hosts.
—Psalm 84:2.
Honor and majesty are before Him;
Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
—Psalm 96:6.
There is nothing in the Hebrew hymns to indicate that Yahwe has more than one sanctuary. This is due of course to the fact that the Hebrew hymns are preserved in a collection, whose editors recognized only Jerusalem as a legitimate place of worship. On the other hand the Assyrian gods have usually several sanctuaries:
The sovereign of sanctuaries all of them.
—Hymn to Marduk No. 13.
Ishtar, who in all sanctuaries was magnified am I.
—Hymn to Ishtar No. 5.
It is curious that the god should be addressed as the founder of cities and sanctuaries:
Founder of the cities, renewer of the sanctuaries.
—Hymn to Nusku No. 3.
Founder of sanctuaries, proclaimer of their names.
—Hymn to Sin No. 5.
Apparently the Assyrian sanctuaries were thought to be as old as the world itself, for the erection and naming of the sanctuaries is mentioned in connection with the creation of the earth:
Creator of the land, founder of sanctuaries, proclaimer of their names.
—Hymn to Sin No. 7.
But of Yahwe it is said:
Doth build up Jerusalem Yahwe;
The dispersed of Israel he gathereth together.
—Psalm 147:2.
It is not forgotten in the Assyrian hymns, that the deity gives joy to city and temple:
O Marduk the mighty who causest Itura to rejoice.
Lord of Isagila, help of Babylon, lover of Izida.
—Hymn to Marduk No. 8.
The processional hymn to Marduk opens with the line:
O lord on thine entrance into thy house may thy house rejoice in thee.
—Hymn to Marduk No. 13.
Hebrew temple worship must also have been joyful, when the worshippers obeyed the exhortation, Psalm 100:2: “Serve Yahwe with gladness”; when they praised him “with trumpet sound,” “with psaltery and harp,” “with timbrel and dance,” “with stringed instruments” and “pipe” “with loud cymbals” and “high sounding cymbals,” Psalm 150. Distinctive of the Hebrew hymns is, as we would expect, the great prominence given to the praise of Yahwe in the temple:
Praise, O Jerusalem, Yahwe;
Praise thy God, O Zion.
—Psalm 147:12.
Blessed be Yahwe from Zion,
Who dwelleth at Jerusalem.
—Psalm 135:21.
Not only do Assyrian and Hebrew deity dwell in earthly sanctuaries, but their sanctuaries seem to have been alike situated on holy mountains:
Great and to be praised exceedingly
Is the city of our God.
His holy mountain, beautiful of situation,
Is the joy of the whole earth.
Mount Zion, on the sides of the North,
Is the city of a great King.
—Psalm 48:2f.
Another reference to the holy mountain is found in Psalm 87:1
Its foundation is in the holy mountains.
To be compared with the last two selections is the couplet from a hymn to Bel:
Great mountain of Enlil Imkharkag whose peak reaches to heaven,
Whose foundation is laid in the glittering deep.
This couplet describes a temple of Bel which resembles a mountain. The name Great Mountain was also applied to Bel himself. Possibly the line of development was thus. The god dwells in the holy mountain. For that reason, the temple is built to resemble a mountain, and the name mountain passes over from the temple to the deity. At any rate, it is interesting to note that Yahwe also dwells in the holy mountain and was likewise called rock:
Rock of our salvation.
—Psalm 95:1.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
My tower, I shall not be greatly moved.
—Psalm 62:3.
It is natural to pass from the sanctuary to the physical representation of the deity. This in the Assyrian hymns is frequently crass:
Prince of shining face and flaming mouth raging fire god.
—Hymn to Nergal No. 5.
Of gigantic size with terrible limbs,
Raging demons to right and left of him.
—Hymn to Nergal No. 5.
Mighty in form, lofty in stature, and powerful for the exercise of his lordship.
—Hymn to Marduk No. 1.
In a number of passages, the god takes the still crasser form of an animal. In Sin No. 5, line 19, it is the form of a horse:
O hastening steed, sturdy one, whose knees do not grow weary,
Who dost open the road for the gods, thy brothers.
In other passages, it is a bull or steer:
O strong young bull with huge horns, perfect in limbs,
with beard of lapis-lazuli color, full of glory and perfection.
—Hymn to Sin No. 5.
Great steer mighty lord, destroyer of the hostile land.
—Hymn to Nergal No. 4.
Powerful one great strong steer.
—Hymn to Nergal No. 6.
Thou who bearest horns who art clothed with glory.
—Hymn to Nergal No. 8.
A crouching ox art thou, bull that dost institute destruction.
—Hymn to Enlil.
Warrior who as a steer stands firm at one’s side,
Warrior who resembles a wild ox with great horns.
—Hymn to Ninib No. 5.
In the hymns proper, there is no such crass representation of Yahwe, but it is well to recall that Yahwe was not only represented by bull images at Bethel and Dan, but is referred to as the “Bull of Jacob.”
How he sware unto Yahwe,
And vowed to the Bull of Jacob.
—Psalm 132:2.
It is a stage higher in refinement, when the god is not represented as a naked demon, nor as a powerful animal, however majestic in its strength, but as a clothed being. Such a representation of the deity we have both in the Assyrian and the Hebrew hymns:
Father Nannar who dost go forth in the robe of majesty chief of the gods.
—Hymn to Sin No. 5.
Robed in splendor, clothed in terror.
—Hymn to Nergal No. 2.
Chief of the great gods, clothed in grandeur and splendor.
—Hymn to Nergal No. 5.
Who art clothed with terror, who art full of glory.
—Hymn to Ninib No. 1.
The mighty one among the gods with brilliancy clothed am I.
—Hymn to Ninib No. 3.
Strongest of the goddesses whose clothing is the light.
—Hymn to Sarpanitum.
From out of such imagery as that cited in so many passages has come these two chaste references to Yahwe as clothed:
Yahwe is King: he is clothed with majesty
Clothed is Yahwe he hath girded himself with strength.
—Psalm 93:1.
My God thou art exceeding great,
With honor and majesty thou art clothed,
Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment.
—Psalm 104:1.
There is but one instance in the Assyrian Hymns, when the beauty of the god is the delight of the worshipper. This is somewhat akin to the feeling of the mystic:
Fruit which hath created itself, of lofty form beautiful to look upon, in whose being one cannot sufficiently state oneself. —Hymn to Sin No. 5.
There are no parallels to this among the biblical hymns but there are parallels among other psalms:
That I may dwell in the house of Yahwe
All the days of my life
To behold the beauty of Yahwe.
—Psalm 27:4.
As for me I shall behold thy face in righteousness;
I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with (beholding) thy form.
—Psalm 17:15.
So have I looked upon thee in the sanctuary
To see thy power and thy glory.
—Psalm 63:3.
Homage was paid to the Assyrian deities by the bringing of offerings to their temples, and this fact of the offering of sacrifices, finds a place in the hymns:
Father Enlil with song majestically we come:
The presents of the ground are offered to thee as gifts of sacrifice
O lord of Sumer figs to thy dwelling we bring;
To give life to the ground thou dost exist.
—Hymn to Enlil.
A special distinction of Marduk’s is that:
Among all gods who dwell in sanctuaries, sacrifice of every kind is brought into his sanctuary.
—Hymn to Marduk No. 7.
The sacrifice, and especially the offering of wine, would favorably affect the disposition of the god:
On the festal day when he takes his seat in joy,
When on equality with Anu and Bel sesame wine made him genial.
—Hymn to Ninib No. 4.
On the other hand, the favorable disposition of the deity is manifested by his acceptance of the offering, and the proof of the magnanimity of the god finds its due place in the hymn:
Thou eatest, drinkest their pure wine, noble beer from the cask
When they pour the noble beer for thee, thou acceptest it.
—Hymn to Shamash No. 7.
It is curious that, just as the gods for whom the temples were built, were addressed as the builders of the temples, so the gods to whom sacrifices were offered, were addressed as those who maintained the offering of sacrifices. Doubtless the sacrifices of the temples had come to be regarded as in themselves absolutely essential to the established order, and the gods, as the givers of the earth’s products, became thus the patrons of the sacrifices.
Thou givest the bread of sacrifice, the daily sacrifices.
—Marduk No. II, col. III:1.2.
Protector of the offerings for the gods, renewer of the temple cities.
—Hymn to Marduk No. 3.
Who dost build dwellings and establishest offerings.
—Hymn to Sin No. 7.
Protector of the sacrificial gifts of all the Igigi.
—Nusku No. 3.
Nusku as the fire god is particularly essential to the offering of sacrifices:
Without thee is no banquet held in the temple;
Without thee the gods smell no incense.
—Hymn to Nusku No. 3.
The bestower of incense who burns the freewill offering for the gods.
—Hymn to Nusku No. 2.
It is surely very significant that all this is absent from the Hebrew hymns. There is but one single reference to a sacrifice.
Give to Yahwe the glory due to his name;
Bring an offering and come into His courts.
—Psalm 96:8.
What the Hebrews in their hymns bring to Yahwe is an offering of praise for:
His praise endureth forever.
—Psalm 111:10.
and the individual devoutly says:
I will praise Yahwe while I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
—Psalm 146:2.
and a temple congregation says:
But we will bless Yahwe
From now and for evermore.
—Psalm 115:18.
Sacrifice had its place, and on that great day of Yahwe’s final triumph, the kindreds of the peoples are called upon to bring an offering (Psalm 96:8), but this seems to be only incidental to their acknowledgment in Yahwe’s temple of his universal lordship. I am assuming that the glory and strength of Psalm 96:7:
Give to Yahwe ye kindreds of the peoples;
Give to Yahwe glory and strength
are to be understood in the spiritual rather than the material sense, as elsewhere the hymns only call for spiritual homage to Yahwe:
Worship Yahwe in holy garments;
Tremble before Him all the earth.
—Psalm 96:9.
Come let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before Yahwe our maker.
—Psalm 95:6.
Exalt ye Yahwe our God,
And worship at his footstool.
—Psalm 99:5.
The praise of Yahwe my mouth shall speak,
And all flesh shall bless his holy name.
—Psalm 145:21.
The Hebrew hymn does not praise Yahwe as the one who establishes sacrifice, nor as the God who accepts sacrifice. Although sacrifices continued to be offered in the temple, the hymn, as a hymn, transcends all formalism. The hymn is the expression of enthusiasm for Yahwe, the exalted and great God whom all the earth is to acknowledge, and conversely, it may perhaps be said that only such a magnificent conception of deity as the Hebrews had could produce such hymns.
Chapter XII
THE SUPREME GOD AS CREATOR
The ordinary person is very likely to limit the thought of God as creator to the monotheistic religions. However the religious imagination is by no means controlled by logical reasoning. The problem of creation, in some form or other, has its fascination even for the primitive mind, and the conception of God as creator is not foreign to the religious thinking of polytheistic religions. Accordingly, although the Assyrian deities never completely succeeded in emancipating themselves from close association with heavenly bodies and atmospheric forces, yet some of them did win for themselves the significant title of creator:
O Lord of heaven who created the earth.
—Hymn to Ninib No. 4.
Creator of the land, founder of sanctuaries, proclaimer of names.
—Hymn to Sin No. 7.
Creator of the totality of heaven and earth, art thou O Shamash.
—Hymn to Shamash No. 6.
Creator of the upper universe, builder of the mountains,
Creator of the gods, begetter of the goddesses.
—Hymn to Asshur.
In the preceding couplet one might expect instead of “builder of the mountains,” “builder of the earth,” but the second line would seem to suggest that the mountains were the abodes of the gods, and therefore the creation of mountains and gods is associated together. The following couplet, while not affirming explicitly the act of creation by deity, seems nevertheless to presuppose it:
Heaven and earth are thine;
The space of heaven and earth is thine.
—Hymn to Marduk No. 6.
Turning to the Hebrew hymns, there is a great variety of passages, in which Yahwe is referred to as creator:
Let all the earth fear Yahwe;
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him,
For he spake and it was done,
He commanded and it stood fast.
—Psalm 33:8f.
To him that spread forth the earth above the waters.
—Psalm 136:6.
To him that by understanding made the heavens.
—Psalm 136:5.
To him that made great lights,
The sun to rule by day,
The moon and stars to rule by night.
—Psalm 136:7-9.
When I behold thy heavens,
The work of thy fingers,
The moon and the stars,
Which thou hast ordained.
—Psalm 8:4.
By the word of Yahwe were the heavens made,
And by the breath of his mouth all their host.
—Psalm 33:6.
The sun, moon and stars, the highest heaven and the waters above the heavens are called upon to praise Yahwe their creator:
Let them praise the name of Yahwe,
For he commanded, and they were created.
—Psalm 148:5.
He is also the creator of the sea:
He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap;
He layeth up the deeps in storehouses.
—Psalm 33:7.
Here may be inserted the only reference in an Assyrian hymn to the creation of the sea:
Thou didst bind the wide sea.
Beside this should be placed the somewhat similar statement in Psalm 104:9:
Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over,
That they turn not again to cover the earth.
Once Yahwe is praised as the creator of the sea and the land:
The sea is his and he made it,
And his hand formed the dry land.
—Psalm 95:5.
Twice Yahwe is referred to as “maker of heaven and earth”:
Yahwe bless thee out of Zion,
Maker of Heaven and Earth.
—Psalm 134:3.
Blessed are ye of Yahwe,
Maker of heaven and earth.
—Psalm 115:15.
In Psalm 33:6-9, the creation of the heavens, the sea, the earth are referred to in order and Psalm 104:2-9 treats of the creation of the heavens, the earth and the sea, singling out that which is especially marvelous in the creation of each. As for the heavens, it is that the beams of heaven’s chambers are laid upon the waters of the heavenly ocean. As for the earth, it is that its foundations are so surely fixed that it is immovable; and as for the sea, it is that its unruly waters should be imprisoned within their bounds and restrained from overflowing the earth.
The Assyrian deity is also credited with the creation of gods and goddesses:
Creator of the gods, begetter of the goddesses.
—Hymn to Asshur.
This creation is probably to be understood in the physical sense, for which there are many parallels in polytheistic religions, but no parallel in the Hebrew hymns. On the other hand the phraseology of the following passages:
King and rulers thou namest,
Since to create gods and kings rests with thee.
—Hymn to Bel No. 3.
Through the mouth may it be proclaimed;
Without interruption may the ear hear it,
That I Asshur have named you to lordship
Over land and men
—Hymn to Asshur.
is entirely similar to Hebrew usage. Here the creation of God and King is equivalent to nomination or appointment. Similarly Yahwe appoints a king over Zion:
Yet I have set my king
Upon my holy hill of Zion.
I will tell of the decree:
Yahwe said to me Thou art my son;
This day have I begotten thee.
—Psalm 2:6f.
and in Psalm 82:6, although it is not said that Yahwe creates or begets the gods, yet it seems to be his fiat, his decree that calls them into being:
I said, gods shall ye be
And sons of the Most High all of you.
It is also his decree that destroys them:
Nevertheless as men shall ye die,
And as one of the princes shall ye fall.
It is a question of secondary importance whether the Elohim is here to be interpreted as actually gods, or judges. In either case, there is the similarity in Assyrian and Hebrew usage.
Finally the creation of mankind is ascribed to the Assyrian deity, and by this is apparently meant the creation of the entire human family:
At thy command created was mankind.
—Hymn to Bel No. 3.
The creator of all mankind.
—Hymn to Marduk No. 14.
Heroine Ishtar, creator of mankind.
—Hymn to Ishtar No. 3.
The Hebrew hymnists also believed that Yahwe created mankind, and they marvelled at the perfection of man’s body:
For I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
—Psalm 139:14.
They marvelled also at his supreme place in the universe:
For thou hast caused him to lack little of the gods;
With glory and honor thou hast crowned him.
—Psalm 8:6.
It is significant, however, that Hebrew hymnal enthusiasm is not so much stirred by the thought of Yahwe as the creator of mankind, as it is by the thought of him as the creator of the Hebrew nation:
Let Israel rejoice in its maker,
Let the sons of Zion be joyful in their King.
—Psalm 149:2.
Come, let us worship and bow down,
Let us kneel before Yahwe our maker,
For he is our god, and we are
His people and the sheep of his pasture.
—Psalm 95:6f.
This conviction, that Yahwe was the creator of their nation, was in no small degree both cause and result of the powerful national and religious enthusiasm of the Hebrews, and of that mighty religious experience, which finds so full and so free expression in the Hebrew hymns.