Cuneiform Studies

Week and Sabbath    More Sabbath Cuneiform Texts from Erech, Uruk or Warka

koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Visiting Professor

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

28 November  2011

            There are about 30 plus Sabbath texts from Erech or Warka. All of them have the same format. There is a register at the top consisting of four lines and underlined. The ruler's name is mentioned, the name of the month and the ruler's year of reign. Then there are four or more vertical lines all the way down the text. The first three are for numbers but normally only one or two are taken up by numbers. The last column at the right side is reserved for a listing of all the days in the month plus a note as to what offering was to be brought or what quality the day would have.

           The first scholars publishing these texts were convinced that they are sabbath texts and the reason for this conclusion was that some of them had a clear 7, 14, 21, 28 high day or holy day marked in the explanation column at the right end. In modern times, this "sabbath genre" has been changed into "administrative texts" so that no one really knows about them.

           A. Clay, who published no less than six of these texts in 1920 from Yale Babylonian Collection, mentioned that there are actually 23 of the same kind. I am in correspondence with dr. Benjamen Foster, who is the caretaker of these collections and he took it upon himself to see if I can have some photos of these texts that were not published. At this point, we are still waiting for a reaction.

           What we notice so far from these "Sabbath Texts", is that they date from the year 13 of Nabonidus in 542 BCE to the 6th year of Cambyses in 522 BCE. After ten years away from Babylon, Nabonidus returned to Babylon in 543 BCE. He was away due to religious reasons. Before he left Babylon, ten years before, he favored Sin the moongod more than others but he still assigned other gods their functions. But after returning, Nabonidus was uncompromising by promoting the moongod Sin as the head of the pantheon. He replaced other gods with Sin and even credited to the moongod the honor that belonged to Marduk in the past, namely the building of the great temple of the Esagila in Babylon and Nabu's temple Ezida in Borsippa (H. Saggs, Babylonians [Berkley, University of California, 2000], 171). From this year in 543 BCE, Nabonidus said that all other gods are following the command of Sin. He addressed Sin as the "king of the gods" and even "god of gods" and refer to him as if he is the "father and creator" of the other gods. He felt that it was Sin who called him to kingship and even the worldwide dominion of Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal of the Assyrians, he said was by Sin, the moongod. It is during this time of Nabonidus' religious forfeiting, that the "Sabbath Texts" originated.

           When Babylon fell in 539 BCE and Gobryas took over as Darius the Mede, these "Sabbath Texts" continued under Cyrus who took over from Darius in 538 BCE. They also continued under Cambyses who ruled between 528-522 BCE. The last use of these "Sabbath Texts" it seems, was the year of the death of Cambyses.

           The other 15 texts still at Yale Babylonian Museum may change this picture but we will have to see.

           These texts are all from a city just south of Babylon, Erech, Uruk or Warka. That Israelites could have lived there is clear. Some of these texts have Hebrew/Phoenician script on them. They have West-Semitic seals on them. And now we find the phenomenon of Sabbath reverence here on some of these "Sabbath Texts".

           The Museums of the world are sharing the texts from Erech or Warka. The Hearst Museum of the University of California houses a Sabbath text. A number of them are in the Yale Babylonian Museum. Many unpublished ones are there. We counted at least 15 more wanting to be published. Babylonian Inscriptions in the Collection of J. B. Nies also house Sabbath texts. Below we have listed it as NBC. The Louvre in Paris (listed as AO texts below) also house some of these Sabbath texts.

Listed below are the days in the month calendar that has a note on the far right saying it is a special or holy day of the month. All days offerings were brought.

HMA 9-02548      Nabonidus                        Month Nisan 4, 18, 23

YBC 7490             Nabonidus Year 13         Month Kislev 4, 5, 7, 8,                                                                           14

NBC 1195             Cyrus                                4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 14, 21,                                                                          27

AO 6857                Cyrus Year 9                    Month Sivan 6, 7, 9, 13,                                                                          21

YBC 3970             Cyrus Year 7                    Month Elul 7, 21, 26, 27

YBC 3974            Cyrus Year 5                    Month Kislev 6, 7, 8, 9,                                                                           10, 14, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23,                                                                           26, 27, 28, 29

AO 6859                Cambyses Year 1             Month Ab 6, 13,

YBC 3961             Cambyses Year 1             Month Hebet 6, 13,

YBC 3971             Cambyses Year 3             Month Hebet 6, 14, 21, 27

YBC 3963             Cambyses Year 5             Month Tammuz 5, 7, 9,                                                                           10, 11, 14, 15, 21

AO 6860                Cambyses Year 5             Month Hebet 7, 14, 21, 28,                                                                          30

YBC 3972             Cambyses Year 5             Month Nisan 7, 14, 21, 28

AO 6858                Cambyses Year 6             Month Iyyar 6, 13, 27

AO 6861                Cambyses Year 6             Month Sivan 7, 14, 21, 28,                                                                           29

YBC 3967             Cambyses Year 6             Month Nisan 7, 14, 21, 28

Some observations:

1. The receipts are not for an Israelite temple.

2. They are receipts for sheep and cows received for the temple to be for offerings.

3. The days these "gifts" or "offerings" were brought indicate that certain days, as pointed out above, were special.

4. One cannot miss the regularity of seven and the emphasis on the seventh day in some of these texts. Even if other days are important the same phrase is used rhythmic sometimes for 7, 14, 21, and 28.

5. The critic can easily complain that not all texts used a uniform 7, 14, 21. 28 cycle as important or special days. That is true, but the presence of a number of texts having this cycle, raises eyebrows. Why? The Israelites were still near Babylon probably in Erech or Warka at this time and by now the third of fourth generation Israelites were living there. They were the scribes. They were in the higher structures of society.

6. Jewish influence in the Babylonian society may account for these "Sabbath texts".

7. There was an earlier Sabbath text from the library of Ashurbanipal in 650 BCE at Niniveh which was found by G. Smith, published as line drawing by H. Rawlinson in volume IV of his series, translated the next year by A. Sayce into English and honored to be a "Sabbath text" by many scholars including T. Pinches, G. Barton and Thureau Dangin.

8. Did the Hebrews copied their concept of Sabbath from the Assyrians or Babylonians? Many scholars opted for that position but until it can be proven that there were not a single Hebrew with a Hebrew or Mosaic tradition in Babylon or Assyria since 723 BCE and later, it is not possible to say that Babylon influenced the Hebrews. Furthermore, it has to be proven that it was common practice to make the seventh day very special in ancient Babylon or Assyria before 723 BCE, the year the Israelites arrived at Ashur and Niniveh.

Jews who lived in Assyria since 723 BCE and Babylon since 605 BCE also influenced the Babylonian culture and one can see Mosaic elements like seventh-day Sabbath keeping in these cuneiform texts