19. before her beloved temple has set up.
This inscription is quoted here for two reasons: 1. It was erected “for the life of Hammurapi,” who is supposed by many to be the Amraphel of Gen. 14:1. Amraphel is supposed to be a corruption of Hammurapi, thus Amrapi. The final l of Amraphel is a difficulty. While many Assyriologists, from Schrader onward, have recognized the equivalence, it is now seriously questioned by Jensen and Eduard Meyer, and absolutely rejected by Bezold. It must be said that, if Amraphel is intended for Hammurapi, the name had undergone corruption before it was placed in the Biblical record.[422] 2. In this inscription Hammurapi is called “king of MAR-TU,” or the Westland, a name by which the Babylonians often designated Syria and Palestine. MAR-TU simply means “sunset,” but was used like the Arabic magrib as the designation of a region. There is no reason to doubt that here it designates Syria and Palestine, so that, if Amraphel is Hammurapi, this is confirmatory of his connection with the West.
7. Kudur-Mabug.
The following inscription[423] has also often been brought into the discussion of Genesis 14:
1. To Nannar,
2. his king,
3. Kudur-Mabug,
4. “Father” of the Westland (MAR-TU),
5. son of Simti-shilkhak,
6. when Nannar