HOLINESS OF THE NUMBER SEVEN
Innumerable are the evidences of this opinion which are found on the tablets. Two or three instances may suffice here:
THE SONG OF THE SEVEN SPIRITS [Footnote: "Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch.," vol. ii. 2 p. 58.]
1 They are seven! they are seven! 2 In the depths of ocean they are seven! 3 In the heights of heaven they are seven! 4 In the ocean stream in a Palace they were born. 5 Male they are not: female they are not! 6 Wives they have not! Children are not born to them! 7 Rule they have not! Government they know not! 8 Prayers they hear not! 9 They are seven, and they are seven! Twice over they are seven!
This wild chant touches one of the deepest chords of their religious feeling. They held that seven evil spirits at once might enter into a man: there are frequent allusions to them, and to their expulsion, on the tablets. One runs thus:
1 The god (…) shall stand by his bedside: 2 Those seven evil spirits he shall root out, and shall expel them from his body. 3 And those seven shall never return to the sick man again!
But sometimes this belief attained the grandeur of epic poetry. There is a fine tale on one of the tablets [Footnote 2: "Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia," vol. iv. pl. 5.] of the seven evil spirits assaulting heaven, and the gods alarmed standing upon the defensive, no doubt successfully, but unluckily the conclusion of the story is broken off.