OF BABYLONIAN CONCEPTIONS ON JEWISH THOUGHT. 309 



Kegai'ding the story of Cain and Abel, Professor Sayce 

 {Exp. Times, August, 1910) says that, Yahweh being the 

 God of the West Semitic Bedouins, their best offering would 

 be Abel's, the younger brother's, the firstlings of their flocks. 

 The elder brother, resembling the Babylonian master, would 

 offer the first fruits of his produce. 



The Sabbath apparently was of Babylonian origin. The 

 Semitic word sabbatu (sabbath) was derived from sar, a heart, 

 and bat, to cease or rest. In the sacred calendar of the months 

 Nisan, etc., now in the British Museum, we read, " the seventh 

 is a resting-day to Merodach and Zarpenit, a holy day — n 

 Shepherd of mighty nations changes not his clothes — must not 

 make a washing — must not offer sacrifice — the King must not 

 dri\'e in his chariot — must not eat flesh cooked at the hre, 

 medicine for sickness one must not apply." G. Smith (Ed. Sayce) 

 says, " the antiquity of this text is evident, not only from the 

 fact that it has been translated from an Accadian original, but 

 also from the word rendered prince, which literally means a 

 shepherd, and takes us back to the early times when the 

 Accadian monarchs still remembered that their predecessors 

 had been only shepherd chieftains." 



The second part of my subject is an attempt to answer the 

 question " How did these similarities between Babylonian and 

 Hebrew writings occur ? " It seems clear from what has been 

 said already that the Babylonian traditions were the earlier : 

 and therefore that they could not have been derived from the 

 Hebrew. On the other hand, there are indications that the 

 Hebrew were not directly copied from Babylonian writings : 

 as is shown by the monotheism of the Hebrew, and polytheism 

 of the Babylonian writings : also the difference in the order of 

 creation in the two accounts precludes direct copying. But the 

 similarities show a common influence : and even in the doctrine 

 of monotheism, the Hebrew seems to have laid the coping stone to 

 a conception, which the Babylonians had been searching after. 



There seem to have been three ways in which Babylonian 

 traditions might have reached the Hebrew people : (1) through 

 Abraham. He is said to have come from Ur of the Chaldees, a 

 Babylonian city, sacred to the Moon God. From there he went to 

 Haran, also sacred to the Moon God, and from Haran he came to 

 Canaan. It is quite possible that Babylonian traditions may 

 have begun their Jewish development in the time of Abraham, 

 and that they may have lingered, and been altered during the 

 Egyptian sojourn, and also among the Israelities left in Canaan, 

 according to the belief above mentioned. 



