The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament; - The Search For ...

NUMBERS XXXIV. DEVT. III. IV. XVI. XXL XXMI. 147
mi-nu-ta la i-su-u (minut from inanS, HJiD "to divide"
*to number"), MIS is rather to be considered as an ideo-
gram; comp. Haupt no. 436.
XXI. 12. p^Qy nail (of the finger) occurs in the cognate
languages {.sh f^/C,C \ "^P^) as well as in Assyrian. In
the latter the word assumes the form su-pur (III Rawl.
48 no. 1— 4). This is not a case of quid pro quo , as Is
shown at the present day by the impressions of nails clearly
visible on the tablets. These impressions were made by
the persons who were present or who took part in the trans-
actions with which the document was concerned.
XXXII. 7. rSyp years. In Hebrew, as is well known, leo
the masculine form of the plural W}U} is that which usually
occurs. So also in Aramaic and Arabic. We should
therefore expect also in Assyrian this masculine form of
the plural. But in Assyrian the form of the plural is
always feminine. We read It as sanat e. g. Tigl.-Pil. I
col. VI, 97 (sanS,-ti)—sing, sattu, constr. st. sanat.
10. IrjC^ pK*>*3 as the apple of his eye. It is worthy of
remark that the Assyrians also call the "apple of the eye"
the "little man" viz. nisit a new feminine formation from
nis "man". We meet with it in the Standard-inscription
of Asurnasirhabal line 1, in which the king styles himself
as ni-sit Bil u Adar "apple of the eye to Bel and Adar"
i. e. object of their protection. Also in Sargon's cylinder-
inscription I Rawl. 36. 1, in which the king designates
himself still more distinctly ni-sit inlA-nuv uDa-kan
"pupils of the eyes of Anu and Dagon" (for the remainder
of the opening of this inscription see the remarks on Isaiah
XLI. 25).*
* According to Fr. Delitzsch iu Zeitschrift fiir kirchliche Wissen-
10*