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

310 THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS AND THE 0. T.
likiSuma Arad-I'a ana namsi bllSuma
maliSu ina mi' kima illi limsi
liddi maskiSuma libil tS,mtum tabu lu sa-pu zumursu
"The man before whom thou hast gone is covered (Ifte. Impf.
HDD) i° ^^^ body with leprosy,
Leprous-skin has destroyed the beauty of his flesh
Arad-Ea, take him , bring him to the place of washing,
His leprosy let him in water wash-clean (Prec. Kal i^DQ) like snow,
Let him shed (Prec. HHi) ^i^ leprous-skin, let the sea carry it
away (Precat. ^2")), fair may his body appear" (sapii
comp. Heb. HDif)-
T T
The following lines refer to the garments which are to be renewed for
the hero to serve for his return-journey (comp. Levit. XIII. 52 foil.).
The success of the cleansing is stated in the lines 237 foil. :
malisu ina mi' kima illi imsi
iddi ma§kiiuma ubil tSmtum tabu issapi zumurSu.
His leprosy in water like snow be washed clean,
shed his leprous-skin, the sea carried it away, fair appeared
(Nifal) his body.
Vol. I p. 273 line 12 from above. From an article by Di*. Hayes
Ward in Hebraica for January 1886 we may conclude that there is some
reason to expect that the Sipar of Anunit is to be identified with An-
bar, a ruined site of very considerable extent about a mile from the
present bed of the Euphrates. "It is a double city" says the writer
"and the principal or apparently older city is surrounded by walls from
30 to 50 feet high ... To the East of this city and its wall is ano-
ther on a lower level, separated from the first by what seems to have
been a canal or moat." It is possible that this is the actual Sepharvaim
or Double-Sipar of Scripture. A fragment of a tablet obtained
by Dr. Ward exhibits a portion of the Sumirian column of a bilingual
inscription read by Mr. Pinches as follows
Sipar D. P. (? Anunit)
Sipar idina D. P.
Sipar uldua D. P.
Sipar utu D. P.
which leads us to infer that there were not two but four districts or
cities called Sipar, the last being the Sippara of Sama§ (Sumirian utu
= Sama§) identified by Mr. Rassam with Abu Habba. Sipar idina
(Sipar of the plain; see Vol. I pp. 26. 27) will prove of some impor-
tance as a clue to the geographical position of Eden discussed in Prof.
Delitzsch's interesting monograph on the Site of Paradise.
Haldvy in Zeitsch. fiir Assyr. 1887 p. 401 combines Qll-IDD with
D'"I3D ^^ Ezek. XLVII. 16 situated between Hamath and Damascus
;