MERODACH, mer'o-dac (Hebr.
Merodak; Assyr. Marduk or
Maruduk): The god of light of Babylonia who revealed himself in the beneficent appearrance of the sun of the morning
and of spring time.
Long before the time of Hammurabi Merodach was
brought, as son of Ea, into connection with the
cult of healing in Eridu (see
Babylonia, IV., § 2, VII., 2, §§ 3, 10), in the inscriptions is often sent
as a messenger of good by his father, and is by him
recognized as equal in knowledge,
all of which is in
accordance with his nature as a light deity and as
the dispeller of the shadows of night and cold of
winter. After Babylonia had been unified under
Hammurabi, the priests of his temple based their
claim for the rulership of the world by Babylon
upon the alleged creation of the world by Merodach.
To Merodach they applied the story of creation pre-
viously told of Bel of Nippur (see
Babylonia, VII., 1, § 1, 2, § 2), and he became " king of the gods,
king of heaven and earth, lord of lords and king of
kings." His
seven-storied temple in Babylon bore
the name
E-temen-anki,
" House of the foundation
of heaven and earth." His cultus lived on in the
religion of the
Mandæans (q.v.).
It is important for the understanding of the use
of his name in the
Bible to
remember that in the
time when it was written Merodach was called Bel
(from Bel of Nippur). These two names enter as
elements into personal names, as in Belshazzar and
Merodach-baladan. Merodach is also brought into
close connection with Nebo, god of the sister city of
Borsippa
(
Isa. xlvi. 1;
so also in the inscriptions).
A close relationship existed between the New Year's
feast of Merodach and the Purim of the Jews (" the
day of Mordecai,"
II Macc. xv. 36;
H. Winckler,
Altorientalische ForacAungen, iii. 1
sqq., Leipsic,
1895). Indeed, a thoroughgoing influence upon
Biblical conceptions, especially as to the
relations
of God and man, is ascribed by H. Zimmern to the
Babylonian Merodach. Babylonians and Hebrews
were united by a threefold bond of relationship in
speech, ideas, and mythological expression, though
this does not necessarily involve literary dependence.
Moreover, where both peoples have used
material in common, the Biblical narratives are in
comparably higher in religious content than the
Babylonian. Indeed, it may be asked in some
cases whether the Babylonian expressions have not
been influenced toward their best form by Hebrew
thought and personalities. At any rate, the re
ligion
which centered
in Merodach, at least in its
latest phases as shown in the development of the
Maadaeans, conWned the idea of
salvation.
(A. Jeremias.)
Bibliography:
A
full list of literature is given under
Babylonia. Consult Particularly DB, iii. 347, and extra vol.,
p. 545;
A.
Jeremias, in W. H. Loscher, Lexikon der pr<,e
chischen ur.d römischen Mythologic, ii. 2340-72, Leipsic,
1898; H. Gunkel, Bchapfung and Chaos, Göttingen, 1895;
M. Jastrow, Religion of
Babylonia and Assyria, Boston,
1898, and the German ed., Giessen, 1902 sqq.; H. Zim
mern, in Schrader, KAT, ii. 370 sqq.; P. D. Chantepie de
is Saussaye. Lehrbuch der RelvionepeschwAte, i. 294-299,
Tübingen, 1905; F. Martin, in Vigouroux, Dictionnaire,
part xxvi. 997-1001.
