The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia

394 The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia

husband Kingu, who thereby became the acknowledged ruler of
the world. The victory of Merodach over the powers of darkness
transferred to him the mystic tablets; from henceforth he was
the Bel who had made, and who directed, the existing universe;
and once each year, at the New Year's festival, he sat enthroned
[429] above the mercy-seat in his temple at Babylon, declaring the
destinies of the coming year. But before the tablets were given
to Bel-Merodach of Babylon, they had belonged to the older Bel
of Nippur and Dur-ili; and a myth told how Zu, the storm-bird,
had stolen them while Bel was“pouring forth the pure water and
mounting his throne”at the beginning of day.“I will take,”he
had said,“the divine tablets of destiny, even I; the laws^326 of
all the gods will I decree; my throne will I establish and issue
my commands, and direct all the angels (of heaven).”The thief
flew with his spoil to Mount Sâbu; and Anu called in vain upon
his brother gods to pursue and smite him, and recover the stolen
treasure. It was only at last by the help of stratagem that the nest
of Zu was found, and the tablets restored to Bel.
A myth of more transparent meaning is that which told of
the ravages wrought in land after land by Urra, the Pestilence.
The description of the plague-god reminds us of that angel of
pestilence whom David saw with his hand stretched forth over
Jerusalem. No moral considerations moved him; just and unjust,
the sinner and the innocent, were alike involved in a common
destruction. Babylon was the first to be smitten, then Erech; and
Merodach and Istar mourned vainly over the ruin of their people.
Then Isum, the angel-messenger of Urra, was sent on a longer
mission. The pestilence spread over the whole civilised world;
Syria and Assyria, Elamite and Bedâwin, Kurd and Akkadian
equally suffered. The vineyards of Amanus and the Lebanon
were rooted up, and those who cultivated them perished from
the earth. For“unnumbered years”the scourge lasted, for Urra

(^326) Terêti, the Heb.thôrâh. The laws which the gods have to obey are meant.