In the views taken of the relationship between the gods and men, no notable advances were made when once the ethical spirit was infused into the religious beliefs. The problem of good and evil was solved in a simple fashion. By the side of the great gods there existed a large, almost infinite number of spirits and demons, who were generally held responsible for the evils affecting mankind.[1594] These demons and spirits were in many cases gods 'fallen from grace,'—minor local deities who, unable to maintain themselves in the face of the growing popularity of the great gods, sank to an inferior position as messengers, forced to do the will of their masters and who could be controlled by the latter. But the intercession of the priests was essential to obtaining divine help against the mischievous workings of the spirits. Even the kings, though originally standing very close to the gods, could not dispense with the services of the priests, and by virtue of their conspicuous position had to exercise greater precautions than the masses not to offend the gods, by errors of commission or omission in the cult. The priests held the secret that could secure freedom from ills and promote the comparative well-being of rulers and subjects. They alone knew what incantations to use for each case that was brought before them, in what way the sacrifices were to be brought, when the deity should be approached, and why divine anger had manifested itself. The intellectual leadership thus acquired by the priests, in addition to their control of religious affairs, was an additional factor in maintaining orthodox standards of belief when once they had become fixed. In the doctrines of life after death, this influence of the priesthood is distinctly seen. The popular notions were systematized, but the priests, true to their rule as conservators, did not pass beyond primitive conceptions. Some weak attempts at a philosophical view of the problem of death are attempted in the Gilgamesh epic as finally put together under the influence of the Babylonian schools of thought,[1595] but the leaders shared with the people the sense of hopelessness when picturing the life in the great hollow Aralû. It is in the hymns and prayers, rather than in the cosmology and eschatology, that the spiritual aspirations of the priests (and to a limited degree of the masses) manifest themselves. In these productions, whether existing independently or incorporated into incantation rituals, we see the religion of Babylonia at its best. A strong emphasis is placed upon the doctrine that misfortunes and ills come as a punishment for sins of commission or omission. It is true that no distinction is drawn between ceremonial errors and real misdeeds, but the sense of guilt is aroused by the priests in the minds of those who come to the temples, seeking relief from the attacks of the evil spirits, or the bewitchment of sorcerers.
It is in this doctrine of guilt, as revealed through the magical texts, that we must seek both for the starting-point of the development of an ethical system (so far as such a system existed among the Babylonians), and also for the limitations of this system. The aim of the priests to observe the right ceremonies, to pronounce the right words in order to accomplish their aim, reacted on rulers and subjects, and led them to make the pleasure of the gods the goal of life. With fear of the gods, upon which stress is always laid,[1596] there is thus associated an equally strong love[1597] of the divine powers. Obedience to the gods is primarily inculcated as a means of securing their protection and blessing; but the fear of the gods, we are told, is the cause of joy;[1598] and the Babylonians passed far beyond the stage of making the satisfaction of one's own desires the standard of right and wrong. A penitential psalm declares[1599] that what is pleasing to oneself may be sinful in the eyes of a god.
The kings pride themselves upon being the promoters of justice. Even the Assyrian rulers, who impress one while conducting their wars as bereft of all softer emotions, declare that their highest aim is to spread plenty and happiness.[1600] Sennacherib calls himself a king who 'loves righteousness,'[1601] and he, as well as his predecessors and successors, busies himself with actually restoring the rights of those of his subjects who have been wrongfully deprived of their possessions.
The standard of private morality was high both in Babylonia and Assyria. The legal and commercial tablets reveal that proper consideration was given to the treatment of woman—a most satisfactory index of ethical conditions.[1602] She could hold property and dispose of it. Before the courts, her status did not differ materially from that of the male population. The husband could not divorce his wife without sufficient cause, and children owed obedience to the mother as well as to the father.[1603] Polygamy, as a matter of course, prevailed, but it is an error to suppose that polygamy is inconsistent with high ideals of family life, even though it does not lead to the highest ideals.
Hatred, lying, cheating, using false measures, removing boundaries, adultery, insincerity are denounced in the incantation texts,[1604] and in accord with this standard, we see in the records of lawsuits and agreements between parties[1605] clear indications of the stringent laws that prevailed in order to protect citizens against infringement of their rights. It comes as a surprise, but also as a welcome testimony to the efficacy of justice in Assyria, to find Ashurbanabal emphasizing the fact that he established ordinances so that the strong should do no harm to the weak.[1606]
The institution of slavery flourished in Babylonia and Assyria throughout all periods of their history,[1607] but there were various grades of slaves. Some classes differed but little from that of servants, indentured for a longer or shorter period for certain services. The temple slaves appear to have largely belonged to this class. Mild treatment of slaves is enjoined and was the rule. The slaves are often the confidential agents of their masters who attend to the business affairs of the latter. We find slaves holding property in their own right. Contracts entered into by them are legal and binding. Injuries inflicted upon them by their masters are punished, and they are protected against losses and mishaps encountered while in service. While we have no evidence to show that the laws of Assyria were on a lower ethical plane than those of Babylonia, still, as the pupils and imitators of the Babylonians in almost everything pertaining to culture and religion, the general tone of life in Assyria was hardly as high as in the south. The warlike spirit of the rulers is but a symptom of the fiercer character of the people.
The tendency towards monotheism in the religion of Babylonia and Assyria has been referred to. We must remember that it was only a tendency. No decided steps in this direction were ever taken. Both in the south and in the north, this tendency is but the expression of the preëminent rank accorded to Marduk and Ashur, respectively. The independent existence of two heads in the combined pantheon was sufficient to prevent the infusion of an ethical spirit into this monotheistic tendency; and unless a monotheistic conception of the universe is interpreted in an ethical sense, monotheism (or monolatry) has no great superiority, either religiously or philosophically, over polytheism.
From the standpoint of religious doctrine, accordingly, the religion of Babylonia and Assyria does not occupy a unique position. In this respect, the Egyptian religion reaches a higher level. For all that, the influence exerted by the religion that developed in the Euphrates Valley was profound and lasting. We have had occasion in various chapters of this work to point out the close analogies existing between the thoughts, tradition, and practices of the Hebrews and the Babylonians.[1608] A proper study of the Hebrew religion is closely bound up with an investigation of the religious antiquities of Babylonia; and as our knowledge of these antiquities increases, it will be found that not only are Hebrews and Babylonians equipped with many common possessions when starting out upon their intellectual careers, but that, at different times and in diverse ways, the stimulus to religious advance came to the Hebrews from the ancient centers of thought and worship in the Euphrates Valley. This influence was particularly strong during the period of Jewish history known as Babylonian exile. The finishing touches to the structure of Judaism—given on Babylonian soil[1609]—reveal the Babylonian trademark. Ezekiel, in many respects the most characteristic Jewish figure of the exile, is steeped in Babylonian theology and mysticism; and the profound influence of Ezekiel is recognized by modern scholarship in the religious spirit that characterizes the Jews upon the reorganization of their commonwealth.
It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that what Babylonia gave to others was always the best she had to offer. Degrading tendencies, too, found an entrance into post-exilic Judaism through Babylonian influence. Close contact of Jews with Babylonians served to make the former more accessible to the popular beliefs in incantations and in the power of demons than they would otherwise have been. Not that the Jews (as little as any other people) were ever entirely free from superstitious practices; but, living in an atmosphere charged, so to speak, with magic and astrology, it was inevitable that even the best among them should be infected by customs that they daily witnessed. In the Babylonian Talmud, the references to evil spirits are numerous. Specific incantations are introduced, and an elaborate system of angelology and demonology forms a feature of Talmudical Judaism in which, by the side of Persian influences,[1610] we may detect equally strong traces of Babylonian ideas. In the upper strata of the ruins of Nippur, hundreds of clay bowls were found, inscribed with Jewish inscriptions, in the Aramaic dialect that was spoken by the Babylonian Jews.[1611] Similar bowls were found elsewhere in the mounds of the Euphrates Valley.[1612] These bowls indicate the presence of Jews in various parts of the country.[1613] Placed in the graves as a protection for the dead against evil spirits, the inscriptions contain formulas of denunciation against the demons that constitute a striking parallel to the incantation texts of ancient Babylonia. Some of the demons are identical with those occurring in these texts, and by the side of the inscriptions, there are illustrations[1614] and magical designs to which parallels exist on the Babylonian tablets.
This custom of endeavoring to secure protection for the dead through the power of the curses and propitiatory phrases inscribed on bowls continued in vogue as late as the ninth century at the least, and perhaps considerably later. There are indications also that Babylonian ideas found an entrance into the Jewish Kabbala,—the strange mystic system of the middle ages, the sources of which are to be sought in the apocalyptic chapters of Ezekiel and Daniel.