by
Damien F. Mackey
“Merodach is most certainly at the head of the Babylonian pantheon, and is so far exalted above the other gods as to give an almost monotheistic character to some passages in the inscriptions”.
C. Boutflower
Introduction
We considered in a recent series
of articles that the kingdom of neo-Assyria - newly revised to co-ordinate with
the mission to Nineveh of the prophet Jonah - may have been influenced at the
time by Hebrew monotheism and by certain canonical formulæ of Mosaïc Law.
Here we briefly consider a
possibly similar monotheistic influence upon king Nebuchednezzar.
“Monotheistic Tendency”
of Nebuchednezzar II
Charles Boutflower has advanced a
strong argument in his In and Around the Book of Daniel for evidence
of a trend towards a Marduk (Merodach) form of monotheism to be found in
various inscriptions of the Chaldean potentate, Nebuchednezzar II ‘the Great’.
He writes: https://archive.org/stream/inaroundbookofda00boutuoft/inaroundbookofda00boutuoft_djvu.t
According, then, to this authority, No. 15 is the
latest of the inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar, and the Merodach tendency noticed
by Langdon is of necessity a monotheistic tendency, for Merodach, who, as we
have seen, is always foremost of the gods, appears in some passages of this
inscription to stand alone. Now it is just in these monotheistic passages,
these “inserted prayers” and “changes of text,” that we seem to see the work of
the real Nebuchadnezzar. Thus, immediately after the introductory passage,
which describes the position occupied by the king with reference to Merodach
and Nebo, there follows a hymn to those divinities, col. i. 23 to ii. 39,
extracted from inscriptions 19 …. But in the middle of this hymn we meet with a
prayer addressed to Merodach alone : col. i. 51 to ii. 11, and this prayer, be
it noted, is an entirely original addition, not found in any previous inscription.
Jastrow remarks with reference to it, “The conception of Merodach rises to a
height of spiritual aspiration, which comes to us as a surprise in a religion
that remained steeped in polytheism, and that was associated with practices and
rites of a much lower order of thought.” 2
This remarkable prayer runs thus
“To
Merodach my lord I prayed,
I
addressed my supplication.
He
had regard to the utterance of my heart,
I
spake unto him:
‘Everlasting
prince,
Lord
of all that is,
for
the king whom thou lovest,
whose
name thou proclaimest,
who
is pleasing to thee :
direct
him aright,
lead
him in the right path !
I am
a prince obedient unto thee,
the
creature of thy hands,
thou
hast created me,
and
hast appointed me to the lordship of multitudes of people.
According
to thy mercy, Lord, which thou bestowest upon
all
of them,
cause
them to love thy exalted lordship :
cause
the fear of thy godhead to abide in my heart !
Grant
what to thee is pleasing,
for
thou makest my life’.” ….
And a similar exaltation of the god, Sîn, in the
case of king Nabonidus, is a central feature of Paul-Alain Beaulieu’s book, The
Reign of Nabonidus, King of Babylon, 556-539 B.C. (1989).
Beaulieu has interpreted Nabonidus’s exaltation of
the moon god, Sîn, as “an outright usurpation of Marduk’s prerogatives”.
Sîn is the ilu/ilani sa ilani, “the
god(s) of the gods.”
However, considering my revised view that Nebuchednezzar II, Nabonidus, is actually
just the one Chaldean king:
www.academia.edu/.../Does_King_Nabonidus_Reflect_Daniel_s_Nebuchednezzar_
(and that Belshazzar, the son of Nabonidus, was the “King Belshazzzar” of
Daniel 5, who succeeded his father Nebuchadnezzar), then “Nabonidus’s
exaltation of the moon god, Sin” would simply equate, presumably, with
Nebuchednezzar’s similar exaltation of Marduk.
And this indeed appears to be the case from the next section from C.
Boutflower’s book, according to which Sin fuses with Marduk (Merodach), “Sin is
Merodach …”:
Sin is Merodach the illuminator of the night.
Boutflower
writes:
… not only was there a tendency towards monotheism
in the Babylonian religion… but … Nebuchadnezzar himself became increasingly
monotheistic in his later years, a circumstance which might well be expected in
view of the great miracles recorded in the Book of Daniel. Daniel, as we have
seen, when interpreting the king's earlier dream, given in chap, ii., was able
to reveal to
him "the God of heaven" as the real
Enlil, "the Great Mountain," and "Lord of the wind" ; and
the monarch on that occasion was so far impressed by the discovery and
interpretation of his forgotten dream that he freely acknowledged Daniel's God
to be "the God of gods and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of
secrets," thus putting Jehovah in the place of both Merodach and Nebo.
Later on, in chaps, iii. and iv., he acknowledges
the God of the Jews as " the Most High " and " the Most High
God." I am now in a position to show that there were two ways in which he
could do this without turning his back on, or abjuring, the Babylonian religion.
When Merodach became the Enlil, the other gods, as
we have seen, bestowed on him their names and attributes. This fable of Babylonian
mythology tended in the direction of monotheism, and paved the way for the
identification of the other deities with Merodach, and for regarding them as so
many manifestations of Merodach. This appears most clearly in a tablet known as
the
Monotheistic Tablet, from which the following is an
extract :
"Ninib is Merodach of the garden (?).
Nergal is Merodach of war.
Zagaga is Merodach of battle.
Enlil is Merodach of lordship and dominion.
Nebo is Merodach of trading.
Sin is Merodach the illuminator of the night.
Shamash is Merodach of righteousness.
Bimmon is Merodach of rain." 2
….
Despite all of this, it would probably be going
too far to suggest that the Chaldean king ever became a pure monotheist in the
mould of a Daniel. Still, the religious reform implemented during this period
of Chaldean dominance is certainly most idiosyncratic and confronting.
King Nebuchednezzar II, Nabonidus, in addressing the
deity as “Lord of all that is”, and “the god(s) of the gods”, could be mistaken
for a moment as a Jewish Yahwist addressing the God of Israel.
Daniel 9:4-7
‘Lord,
the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love
him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been
wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We
have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our
kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land. Lord, you are
righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the people of Judah and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the
countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you’.
