The cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament - The Search For ...

BOOK OF JEREMIAH L. 117
lord' (East India House Inscr. I. 30) and also patfsi
siru "exalted ruler" (ibid, 5). The king likewise desig-
nates him ilu b^nija "god, my begetter". In the Bor-
sippa inscription he is named §ar §ami u irsitiv "king
of Heaven and Earth" (col. II, 26), also ilu ilu "supreme
god" (col. I, 15); lastly Asurbanipal (Smith's Assurb.
105, 63) calls him sar ilt "king of gods".
Just as Sin was the moon -deity, Nergal Mars, Nebo
Mercury, Adar most probably Saturn, Istar or Beltis Venus, 423
so Merodach was the planet Jupiter. From the fact that
he was also simply called Bilu "Bel" := "Lord God"
(Borsip. 1, 16) the circumstance can be explained that
among the Mandaeans Jupiter was worshipped as "Bel"
i. e. Bel-Merodach. Compare the evidence in Theolog.
Studien u. Kritiken 1874 p. 342. Regarding his relation
to Nebo see the note on Is. XLVI. 1 (p. 105).
21. at/ainst the land Merdthaim (D^nnp), advatice against
it, and against the inhabitants of PekSd (Tip? ^^I?'^). I
showed in the first edition of this work (1872) that Pekod
reminded us of the cuneiform race-name Pu-ku-du. This
conjecture has since received considerable support from
the circumstance that this race to which we are referring
must clearly have been a Babylonian one. See the
evidence in Keilinsch. u. Gesch. pp. 108. 111. 113 comp.
also 115. The context manifestly points to Babylonia ; see
verses 23, 28. This combination is confirmed by the
further identification , which Delitzsch shows to be ex-
ceedingly probable (Farad, p. 182), of the land Merathaim,
in the original form Merdthim, with the cuneiform raS,t
marri,ti "the sea-country" i. e. South Babylonia. Comp.
Khorsab. 22 : mat
Btt-Ja-ktn Sa ki-§ad nar mar-ra-ti
"the land Beth-Jakin which is on the shore of the sea-