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

126 THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS AND THE 0. T.
the name Meshach ('^K'''p) as = Mi-§a-Aku i. e. «who is
like Aku ?" seems to me open to objection, because, in the
first place, the true Babylonian form would be Mannu-
ki-Aku (see Assyr.-Babylon. Keilinsch. 171 No. 6) and, in
the second place, the corresponding Babylonian designation
would certainly not be a mere translation of the corresponding
Hebrew (i. e., in this case, of the name bNC£^"'P). We
should have to deal with genuine Babylonian names, for
which the Hebrew ones were to be exchanged, as is clearly
shown by the other bestowments of names.
Abednego (1J^ "l?I{) stands, as we have long known, for
Id? "QV. "servant of Nebo". The conjecture has been
confirmed by a bilingual (Assyrio- Aramaic) inscription
(HI Rawl. 46 col. I, 82), in which the name [1]3il3i/ occurs
430 as one that actually existed among the Assyrians. Other
instances have been found of Babylonian names com-
pounded with ^Di;, as Ab-du-mi-lik ]':'013I/; also we have
an Ab-du-uh-mu-nu ]0mDJ? (Oppert-M^nant docum.
jurid. 271), the latter apparently meaning "servant of Ham-
m6n", the former being certainly identical with the 1'?0131?
that appears in the Insc, of Citium 2, 3. The latter name
we also meet with on a Babylonian seal (Journal Asiatique
1855, 2 p. 422 in Levy, Phoniz. Studien (Dictionary) p. 35).
— 11. "1^7? name of an official, having some such
meaning as 'overseer'. This obscure word may possibly
be explained as identical with the Assyrian massaru
(ma-as-sa-ru) "guardian", root "IJIJ; V Rawl. 32, 29
massar b^bi "guardian of the gate". The insertion of
a liquid after the removal of the duplication would not be
unusual in Aramaic (Del.) ; comp. note on Is. VI. 1, p. 73.
II. 2. ^K^X conjurer (one who employs conjurations)
= Assyr. a-si-pu (II Rawl. 32, 11 e. f. 38, 12 e. f.) ;