The Assyrian and Hebrew Hymns of Praise

by Charles Gordon Cumming

To give omens do I arise, do I arise in perfection,

Beside my father Sin to give omens do I arise in perfection,

Beside my brother Shamash to give omens do I arise in perfection.

—Hymn to Ishtar No. 5.

If one seeks advice, demands a suitable decision, so toward Marduk is his attention.

—Hymn to Marduk No. 1.

Kindly is thy thoughtfulness, thou impartest careful counsel.

—Hymn to Marduk No. 2.

One must remark here the complete absence from the biblical hymns of any reference to Yahwe as the giver of oracles. When one remembers how frequently, in the historical narratives, resort is had to the deity for disclosure of the future, its absence from the hymns seems significant. The hymns are curiously silent about Yahwe as the counsellor of men, although testimony is given in the non-hymnal psalms to the attainment of spiritual insight in the temple.

For the author of Psalm 19:8-15, wisdom and knowledge are stored up in the law. There may have been a certain reaction against seeking guidance of the deity because of Assyrian magical practises, but the fact is that the hymns are less concerned with God’s plans for the individual than they are with his eternal plan for his people.