[37] On the close correspondence of the Greek form of the legend with its Babylonian original, see Frazer, "Adonis Attis Osiris," I., pp. 6 ff.
[38] Ed. Bevan in "Texts and Studies," V., 3.
[39] Gen. xii.
[40] Cf. Jeremias, "Old Testament," I., p. (60, II., p. 65). These wore the gods Minâ-ikul-bêli, "What-will-my-lord-eat?", and Minâ-ishti-bêli, "What-will-my-lord-drink?" (cf. King, "Cun. Texts," XXIV., 1908, p. 5); but there is nothing to connect the Hebrew story with them.
[41] Josh, x., 10, 16.
[42] In support of such astral motifs evidence of direct worship of Ishtar is traced in unexpected quarters. Thus the men of Gilead are explained to have chosen the word shibboleth, "ear of grain," as a password for the Ephraemites, not because it was a common word containing the required sibilant, but in honour of the goddess Ishtar, the heavenly Virgin with the ears of corn. And, though the veil was part of the ordinary attire of Hebrew women, a natural act such as that told of Rebecca, who is said to have veiled herself at the approach of Isaac, is held to reflect the Ishtar cult.
[43] Cf. "Seven Tablets of Creation," I., pp. 32 ff.
[44] See especially Gunkell, "Schopfung und Chaos in Urzeit und Endzeit," pp. 16 ff.
[45] Moses, for instance, is peculiarly a deliverer and the inaugurator of a new age in Israel's history; the traditions about him thus bristle with astral motifs. When he is persecuted by Pharaoh in Egypt, Pharaoh is the Dragon; when he is rescued as a babe from the Nile, Pharaoh's daughter is Ishtar, Queen of heaven, and we have a Tammuz-Ishtar motif. When he leads Israel out of Egypt, we have the motif of victory over the Dragon. The crossing of the Red Sea is the cleaving of the Dragon in half, and so too is Joshua's passage of the Jordan. In short, Joshua in his character of deliverer rivals Moses in the number of motifs which are said to cluster round him.
[46] Jeremias (op. cit., II., p. 182) connects the name Goliath with Assyr. galittu, which he renders "sea," hence the dragon Tiamat; but galittu, though applied to the sea, is merely the feminine of the adj. galtu, "terrible."