The Pre-Biblical Origins of the Cherubim
(And The Mercy Seat Atop the Ark of the Covenant)
10 Nov. 2001
Updated and Revised through 27 April 2007
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27 April 2007, An _Important_ Update:
This article was first composed in 2001. I realize now that the pre-biblical origins of the Cherubim is a much more "involved" story than I had originally thought. They went through an evolution of forms from circa 2300 B.C. to the 21st century A.D.
In a nutshell: I understand that the Cherubim began life as Lower Mesopotamian deities possessing human forms ca. 2300 B.C. at Eridu in ancient Sumer. Some of them could also assume serpent forms (cf. below, The Adapa and the Southwind myth whose setting is Eridu). However, winged sphinx-like beasts exist in a wall mural guarding datepalm trees at Mari on the Euphrates circa 1779 B.C. also revealing that the Cherubim had animal forms (two different traditions apparently are being fused together, Lower Mesopotamian human forms at Eridu and animal forms from Amorite Mari). By circa 1200 B.C. after the Exodus from Egypt, they had evolved into Canaanite winged Sphinxes with human heads (the Mari sphinxes become Canaanite sphinxes). By Ezekiel's time in the 6th century B.C. they had become human forms with animal features (somewhat similar to Syrian, Assyrian and Chaldean forms). By Christian times, the 2d-5th centuries A.D., they had evolved into Greek Nikes and Roman Victorias, (females with long-flowing gowns and wings). By Renaissance times, the 16th century A.D., they evolved into two divergent forms, long-haired winged angels with long flowing robes and naked little chubby children with wings known today in the 21st century A.D. on Valentines' Day cards as Cherubs.
The Mesopotamian myths do NOT have any knowledge of man being expelled from their city-gardens for an act of rebellion like Genesis' Garden of Eden account. The gods made man to replace themselves as agricultural laborers, it would be foolish to expell man from their city-gardens for the gods would have to care for their gardens themselves.
Where then are the Hebrews getting the notion that a rebellion has occured in a god's garden and the gardener has been removed?
I suspect this is a recasting of the Igigi gods rebellion in the Atrahasis myth. They were "removed" from Enlil's garden at Nippur (and Enki's garden at Eridu), and man was created to replace them. So, yes, there was indeed in the Mesopotamian myths a story about a rebellion of "man" working in a god's garden and being removed from said garden! In fact when the hardwork of the Igigi gods is described it is said: "WHEN THE GODS WERE _"MAN"_ THEY DID GRIEVOUS LABOR." So "MAN" IN THE FORM OF THE IGIGI GODS WAS REMOVED FROM A GOD'S GARDEN FOR AN ACT OF REBELLION. However, the Hebrews have INVERTED the storyline. "MAN" (the Igigi) WELCOMED THIS REMOVAL for now they enjoy an eternal rest from toil as already enjoyed by the Anunnaki gods (Anu, Enlil and Enki). The Hebrews portray the removal of "man" from a god's garden AS PUNISHMENT FOR MAN whereas it was an ACT OF MERCY AND A BLESSING FOR THE IGIGI, ending their grievous labor. Christianity hopes that one day God will allow man _back into_ his garden of Eden, whereas the Igigi would never want to return to the Anunnaki's city-gardens and the grievous toil there! Christianity teaches that when man returns to the Garden of Eden he will once more enjoy God's fellowship and companionship as did Adam and Eve. But the Igigi working in the gods' gardens DID NOT ENJOY FELLOWSHIP with the Anunnaki gods! The Anunnaki ruthlessly exploited the Igigi and ignored night and day for 40 years their pleas for an end of their toil! With the "removal from the gods' gardens" the Igigi NOW ENJOY FELLOWSHIPPING WITH THE ANUNNAKI, for both now are free of toil upon the earth, both can recline on their couches in indolent leisure as both ruthlessly exploit man the agricultural slave having him care for their gardens, and present them the produce to eat in the city temples. An inversion has occured! Man's (the Igigi being called "man") fellowship with a god (Enlil of Nippur and Enki at Eridu) is obtained via removal from the god's garden instead of by remaining as a laborer in a god's garden!
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Some Secular Scholars have noted parallels between the reasons given in Genesis for Adam's lost chance for obtaining immortality and the Adapa and the Southwind Myth which sought to explain how a man called Adapa once-upon-a-time, had a chance to obtain immortality for himself and mankind, but lost-out on this unique opportunity. I understand that the Hebrews took motifs from this story and recast Adapa as Adam. The god who denied Adapa an opportunity to attain immortality, Ea, pronounced aya (Sumerian: Enki) of Eridu, has been transformed by the Hebrews into a Yahweh-Elohim in the Garden of Eden. Neither Adapa or Adam ate the food which would have conferred immortality on them. Ea gave Adapa forbidden knowledge but denied him immortality,Yahweh-Elohim allowed Adam to obtain forbidden knowledge but denied him immortality.
Adapa served his god Ea as a priest, baker and fisherman in Eridu, in Sumer (Lower Mesopotamia, modern Iraq). While fishing one day the South Wind overturned his boat, tossing him in the water. In anger he uttered a curse, breaking the South Wind's wing. Anu who dwelt in heaven orders Adapa's appearance before him to learn how he was able to overpower a lesser god. The sly Ea (Anu's son), warned Adapa not to eat the "bread of death" or drink the "water of death" that Anu would present to him or he would die. When Anu presented him "bread of life" and "water of life," a confused Adapa refused to consume them. Because Adapa had obtained knowledge forbidden man by the gods from Ea (spells and incantations to break the southwind's wing stopping breezes) Anu offered him immortality, concluding if Adapa has a god's forbidden knowledge he might as well have immortality too. Because Adam obtained forbidden knowledge he was denied immortality. Because Adapa OBEYED Ea and REFUSED TO EAT, he lost out on a chance at immortality. Because Adam did NOT OBEY his God AND ATE he lost out on a chance at immortality. The Hebrews are taking the earlier themes and recasting them as a 180 degree about face or contrary argument (in affect "refuting or denying" the Mesopotamian notions), to challenge the Mesopotamian account of why and how man lost out on a chance to obtain immortality. It is interesting to note here that some think of Paradise as being in heaven, not on the earth, as Christ told the thief on the cross "This day you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43) and paradise is but another name for the Garden of Eden. Adapa was "removed" from a heavenly abode by Anu's two guards. We learn from the Sumerian myths and hymns found at Nippur praising Dumuzi as the "man of edin" mulu-edin-na, that three edins existed: a high steppe called an-edin-na; a low steppe, ki-edin-na; and an underworld steppe, arali-edin-na. Radau advances the notion that _all forms_ of edin-na in relation to the Dumuzi hymns found at Nippur are refering exclusively to the underworld, a notion I do not share ( (cf. pp. 2, 29, & 17. Hugo Radau. Sumerian Hymns and Prayers to the god Dumu-zi or Babylonian Lenten Songs from the Temple Library of Nippur. Philadelphia. University of Pennsylvania. 1913).
So, the pre-biblical Cherubim originally were two gods possessing a human form. Below are pictures from cylinder seals showing Ningishzida with serpent-dragon heads erupting from his shoulders, presenting king Gudaea of Lagash (reigned ca. 2100 B.C.) to Enki (Akkadian: Ea) who bestows upon him a pot with two streams of freshwater, for the gods' garden in Lagash. A goddess stands behind Gudaea with hands upraised. Behind her is a walking horned and winged serpent-dragon, the animal that Ningishzida could at will change himself into (whence the reason serpent-dragon heads erupt from his shoulders). That is to say Ningishzida, who on Anu's behalf presented Adapa the bread and water of life CONTRA Ea's (Enki's) warning NOT TO CONSUME the "bread and water of death" OR ADAPA WILL DIE, could assume the form of a heavenly serpent dragon, rather like Satan is portrayed as having the ability to assume human form and is also spoken of as "that old serpent" in the Garden of Eden (Revelation 12:9).
A caveat or warning: There is no mention of a serpent or serpent-dragon in the Adapa and the South Wind Myth account. The serpent "associations" made here in this article are based on my personal research into "other" myths and hymns regarding these protagonists (cf. below for the sources of these epithets or "serpent associations").
Dumuzi bore the Sumerian epithet ama-ushumgal-anna, "[the] mother is a great heavenly serpent-dragon". In one myth he escapes his captors the Ugalla demons who seek to carry him to the underworld, accomplishing his death by asking the sun-god Utu to take away his hands and feet and make him into a serpent. Utu agrees and Dumuzi slithers out of his bonds as a serpent, temporarily escaping his captors. So, Adapa had been urged by three deities, Anu, Ningishzida, and Dumuzi, in heaven, to consume the "bread and water of life." He didn't eat or drink because he remained faithful to Ea's warning it was the food of death. So Ea thwarted the man's chance at immortality by lying to him.
In other myths the Akkadian Ea as the Sumerian Enki bore the Sumerian epithet ushumgal meaning "great serpent-dragon" (Technically, ushum means "serpent,: gal means "great," thus: "great serpent," however specialists tend to render the word as "dragon" or "great dragon" rather than "serpent," Thus "great serpent-dragon" is my preferred rendering) and he is praised for planting a wonderous gigantic fruit-tree in his garden at Eridu. That is to say, Ea as Enki the walking, talking serpent-dragon "tricked" man out of a chance for immortality by telling him NOT TO EAT the "bread of death" or drink the "water of death" or he would surely die. I understand the Hebrews have recast these myths into a serpent associated with a fruit tree in a Garden in Eden, coaxing man (Eve actually and thereby Adam) to eat contra Yahweh's command, telling him "You will not die, your eyes shall be opened and you shall be like a god." Had Adapa eaten the "bread of life" and drunk the "water of life" proffered him by the serpent gods Ningishzida and Dumuzi on Anu's behalf, he would have secured immortality for himself and mankind. He didn't and the Adapa and the Southwind Myth concluded that Adapa was to blame for mankinds' suffering disease, illness and death ever since, just as Adam is blamed as consigning the rest of mankind to disease and death in the New Testament (1 Cor 15:22). Anu ordered Adapa's "removal" from his heavenly abode, which was carried out by his attendants, Ningishzida and Dumuzi. Thus Anu has become Yahweh who ordered Adam's removal for an act of rebellion. Yahweh removes Adam FOR EATING and Anu removes Adapa FOR NOT EATING. I understand that Ningishzida and Dumuzi have become the Cherubim.
Below: A picture from a cylinder seal of Ningishzida (the heavenly horned and winged walking, talking serpent dragaon who offered Adapa immortality) presenting Gudaea king of Lagash (ca. 2100 B.C.) in Sumer to Enki the ushumgal "the great serpent dragon" of Eridu. I understand that Ningishzida is one of several pre-biblical prototypes behind Genesis' Cherubim who drove Adam from Eden, in that he "escorted" Adapa from Anu's heavenly abode after he failed to consume the bread and water of life. Ningishzida is shown on the below seal twice, in animal form as a walking, horned and winged serpent-dragon and again in human form with beard, horned helmet and serpent-dragon heads erupting from his shoulders identical to the four-legged beast on the seal. That is to say, like Christianity's Satan who was called a heavenly serpent-dragon, Ningishzida had the power to assume animal as well as human forms (cf. p. 57 for this illustration in Sir Charles Leonard Woolley. Vor 5000 Jahren. Ausgrabungen von UR. Stuttgart, Deutschland. Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung. 1928. [A German edition of the 1928 English text titled The Sumerians]).
Genesis has God expelling Adam and Eve from the Garden in Eden and then posting the Cherubim to prevent re-entry into the Garden and accessing the Tree of Life. I understand that one of Adam's pre-biblical prototypes is Enkidu of the Epic of Gilgamesh and Eve is Shamhat the priestess-harlot of Uruk. She disrobes at a watering hole in the edin and Enkidu described as a naked hairy man who has no father or mother like Adam (he was created of clay by a deity) mates with her. When he tries to rejoin his animal companions the gazelles they flee from him, rejecting him as their companion. He thereupon agrees to accompany the harlot-priestess to Uruk; womankind has supplanted the animals as naked man's companion, just as a naked Eve supplanted Adam's animal companions in Eden's garden. Shamhat gives Enkidu part of her garments and they both clothe their nakedness and leave edin's watering hole. That is to say the naked man of edin, learned in edin it was wrong to be naked from a naked woman, he did not learn it was wrong to be naked from eating of a tree's fruit! In other words, an outraged god did _not_ expell the naked man and women of edin for covering their nakedness in edin. They left edin of their own freewill. No "cherubim" were stationed to deny the naked man and woman of edin re-entry to edin and its watering hole. We are told that when Enkidu and the gazelles appeared at the watering hole of edin the water was their "heart's DELIGHT," (Hebrew 'eden means "DELIGHT" according to some scholars, others claim "a place well-watered") but Shamhat the city-dweller characterized this location as a place of DESOLATION, bereft of shepherds. It was _not_ presented as a god's city-garden full of fruit-trees, but an arid wilderness with so little grass and herbage that not even shepherds would bother bringing their flocks into it to forge their animals! The Hebrews are recasting the Mesopotamian motifs via series of _inversions_ in order to challenge and deny them!
Eve is cursed by God for persuading Adam to eat forbidden food. Enkidu and Shamhat encounter later a shepherd's camp in the edin and they are offered as a courtesy bread and alcoholic drink. Enkidu BALKS at consuming these items, he has known only the eating of grass and drinking of water with his companions the gazelles! Shamhat steps in and tells Enkidu HE MUST EAT the bread and DRINK the alcolohic beverage set before him because it is the "custom of the land" (to refuse this act of hospitality on the shepherd's part would be a grave insult to one's hosts!). Enkidu subordinates his will to Shamhat's and consumes the bread and drink. We are told that he thereupon "becomes Human" (and a beast no longer), and he is given a change of garments (more befitting a man to wear?) by the Shepherds. Later, Shamhat is cursed by Enkidu, he blaming her for his "loss of innocence" and his his "impending death." He is to die for killing Huwawa the guardian of the Cedar trees. He asks Shamash his patron-god (a sun-god) to carry out his curse on Shamhat, seeking her "subordination to men" who will abuse her in her role as a harlot. However, he is rebuked by his god, being told the harlot has done him "only good," clothing his nakedness with a fine robe, giving him food and drink fit for a god, and introduced him to Gilgamesh his companion-in-arms! Thereupon a chastened Enkidu withdraws his curse and bestows a blessing on the harlot! Enkidu also cursed the Hunter who brought the harlot to edin's watering hole to entrap him with sex and separate him from his animal companions the gazelles. He asks the sun-god to DIMINISH the profits of the Hunter in all that he sets his hand to. Yahweh DIMINISHES the yield of the earth for Adam, instead brambles and thorns will be his reward. I understand that Enkidu's curse for Shamhat and the Hunter was recast by the Hebrews as Yahweh-Elohim cursing Adam and Eve. The Hunter that brought Shamhat to separate Enkidu from his animal companions became Yahweh presenting Eve to Adam. Enkidu's 6 days and 7 nights of copulation with Shamhat ends when he rises from her side to rejoin his animal companions. Perhaps his rising from her "side" was recast as Eve being made of Adam's "side" or "rib" (Hebrew tsela can mean rib, side, stumbling)? The sun-god Shamsah who REFUSED TO CURSE the naked woman of edin who taught the naked man of edin it was wrong to be naked became Yahweh-Elohim who DOES CURSE the naked woman of Eden for persuading Adam to eat food he earlier refused to eat, rather like Enkidu's balking at eating the bread proffered him in the edin's shepherds' camp.
Why are the Hebrews challenging, denying and refuting the Mesopotamian myths? They apparently objected to the notion that man was a "victim" of callous exploitive gods. They _inverted_ or _reversed_ the motifs and concepts and instead portrayed a loving, caring God (Yahweh-Elohim) as the "victim" of an unworthy and rebellious mankind (Adam and Eve).
My research suggests that as many as SEVEN LOCATIONS appearing in Mesopotamian myths are fused together and recast in Genesis' Garden in Eden myth: Three locations were man is made are (1) Eridu, (2) Nippur and (3) Babylon. Enkidu of The Epic of Gilgamesh has been recast as Adam and his "undoing" by Shamhat who has been recast as Eve was at a wateringhole in the steppe (Akkadian: seru, seri, serim; Sumerian: edin, edin-na) near (4) Uruk. Enkidu's (recast as Adam) forbidden access to trees occurs at a Cedar Mountain in the (5) Lebanon. Adapa's (recast as Adam and fused with Enkidu) failure to eat the "bread of life" which would bestow on him and mankind immortality was in (6) Heaven at Anu's abode. The motif of a woman made of a man's side recalls Nin-ti "the lady of the rib" at the island of (7) Dilmun/Tilmun (modern Tell el-Lahm east of Eridu).
Professor Blenkinsopp (of Notre Dame University) on Atrahasis and Gilgamesh motifs in Genesis:
"...just as Genesis 1-11 as a whole corresponds to the structure of the Atrahasis myth, so the garden of Eden story has incorporated many of the themes of the great Gilgamesh poem." (pp. 65-6. "Human Origins, Genesis 1:1-11:26." Joseph Blenkinsopp. The Pentateuch, An Introduction to the First Five Books of the Bible. New York. Doubleday. 1992. ISBN 0-385-41207-X)
Graves and Patai on the Hebrews borrowing the epithets and achievements of the pagan gods and ascribing them to Yahweh:
"The titles and attributes of many other Near Eastern deities were succesively awarded to Yahweh Elohim...Prophets and Psalmists were as careless about the pagan origins of the religious imagery they borrowed, as priests were about the adaptation of heathen sacrifical rites to God's service. The crucial question was: in whose honour these prophecies and hymns should now be sung, or these rites enacted. If in honour of Yahweh Elohim, not Anath, Baal or Tammuz, all was proper and pious." (p. 28. Robert Graves & Raphael Patai. Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis. New York. Greewich House. 1983 reprint of 1963, 1964 edition)
Lambert, has made a very important observation regarding the manner in which Mesopotamian mythographers worked:
"The authors of ancient cosmologies were essentially compilers. Their originality was expressed in new combinations of old themes, and in new twists to old ideas." (p.107, Wilfred G. Lambert, "A New Look at the Babylonian Background of Genesis." Journal of Theological Studies. Vol. 16 [1965]. pp. 287-300. Reprinted in Richard S. Hess & David T. Tsumra. Editors. I Studied Inscriptions From Before the Flood. Winona Lake, Indiana. Eisenbrauns. 1994)
I believe Lambert's observation can be applied to the Hebrews who were combining old themes and putting "new twists" to old ideas. My research indicates that, at times,"reversals" or "inversions"are occurring in the Hebrew transformation and reinterpetation of the Mesopotamian Creation Myths which sought to explain the origins of the Earth and of Mankind and why the gods sought man's demise in a Flood. These "reversals," as I call them, can take the form of different characters, different locations for the settings of the stories, and different morals being drawn about the nature of God and Man's relationship.
It is my understanding that the three great monotheistic faiths of the Western World, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are each employing similar techniques. THEY EACH IN TURN ARE CHALLENGING EARLIER RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND VIEWS REGARDING MAN'S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. The observations by Professors Wenham and Kramer are important here:
Professor Wenham, (Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at the College of St. Paul and St. Mary in Cheltenham, England) has done a brilliant presentation, in my opinion, on explaining what Genesis is _really all about_, in its transformation and reinterpretation of the Ancient Mesopotamian concepts regarding the relationship between man and god. IT IS A POLEMIC, A CHALLENGE OF THE VIEWS held by the Mesopotamians of God's relationship with man, A CHALLENGE OF THE MESOPOTAMIAN VIEWS ON HOW MAN CAME TO BE MADE AND WHY HIS DEMISE WAS SOUGHT IN A FLOOD: THIS 'CHALLENGE' IS IN FACT _A DENIAL OR REFUTAL_ OF MESOPOTAMIAN BELIEFS.
Wenham (Emphasis mine in capitals and italics):
"Though Genesis shares many of the theological presuppositions of the ancient world, most of the stories found in these chapters are BEST READ AS PRESENTING AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW TO THOSE GENERALLY ACCEPTED IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST. Genesis 1-11 is a tract for the times challenging ancient assumptions about the nature of God, the world and mankind. (p. xlv) An understanding of ancient oriental mythology is essential if we are to appreciate the points Genesis 1-11 was making then (p. xlvi)...It is my conviction that many of our problems are caused by misunderstanding the original intentions of Genesis...many of the individual episodes in Genesis 1-11 may be seen to have a distinctly POLEMICAL THRUSTpolemical thrust in their own right, particularly AGAINST THE RELIGIOUS IDEAS ASSOCIATED MOST CLOSELY WITH MESOPOTAMIA (p. xlviii)...Viewed with respect to its negatives, Genesis 1:1-2-3 is A POLEMIC AGAINST THE MYTHICO-RELIGIOUS CONCEPTS OF THE ANCIENT ORIENT...the seventh day is not a day of ill omen as in Mesopotamia, but a day of blessing and sanctity on which normal work is laid aside. In contradicting the usual ideas of its times, Genesis 1 is also setting out a positive alternative (p. 37)...We have noted that the overall structure of the material in Genesis 1-11 finds its closest parallels in the Sumerian flood story and the Sumerian king list and in the Atrahasis Epic, all dated to 1600 B.C. or earlier (p. xliv)...This is not to say that the writer of Genesis had ever heard or read the Gilgamesh Epic: these traditions were part of the intellectual furniture of that time in the Near East, just as most people today have some idea of Darwin's Origin of the Species, though they have never read it." (p. xlviii. Gordon J. Wenham. Genesis 1-15. Waco, Texas. Word Incorporated. Word Biblical Commentary. 1987)
Over time, the "original" recast of the Mesopotamian myth, Adapa and the Southwind circa 2100 B.C. was forgotten ( I suspect Terah and Abraham ca. 2100 B.C. were responsible for the _recasting_ of these myths, _in order to deny, refute and challenge_ the Mesopotamian portrayal of how man came, once-upon-a-time to lose-out on an opportunity to acquire immortality because of trickery and deceit from a serpent deity, Enki). By the time the Exodus had occurred ca. 1540 B.C. and ca. 1260 B.C. (I understand two Exodus events were conflated into one), the Egyptian winged sphinxes with human heads had become the Cherubim, Yahweh's Mercy seat atop the Ark of the Covenant being a transformed Winged Sphinx throne aping somewhat the thrones of the Pharaohs, Phoenicians and Canaanites.
Finally, one other important note needs to be made: The Mesopotamians had no concept of a god expelling man from his city-garden. The senior gods, the Anunna or Anunnaki (Enki of Eridu and Enlil of NIppur) had made man to replace the lesser gods, the Igigi, who complained of their grievous toil in the gods' city-gardens, they having to dig canals and irrigation ditches and constantly dredge the canals of sediments to allow freshwater to reach the irrigated gardens of the gods. If man was expelled from the gods' city-gardens the gods would have to hoe the gardens themselves, a task they abhorbed, hence the reason they had made man in the first place to relieve themselves of such grievous toil. The Hebrews by portraying an enraged Yahweh-Elohim as EXPELLING man from his garden for rebellion are _refuting_ the Mesopotamian understanding of why man was made. The gods NEEDED MAN to care for their city-gardens to give them rest from toil and to feed them the garden produce in temples. Yahweh does NOT NEED MAN to plant, harvest and present food for his sustenance like the Mesopotamian gods. Yahweh does NOT NEED MAN to work in his garden to achieve His Sabbath Rest (from agricultural toil). Yet Yahweh demands to be fed twice a day like a Mesopotamian god at Mount Sinai in the Tabernacle Tent and later at the Temple in Jerusalem. Genesis portrays Yahewh's Garden in Eden as "idyllic," no grievous, burdensome toil faces Adam, another refutation of Mesopotamian beliefs that work in a god's city-garden was A BACK-BREAKING HELL. The Mesopotamian gods ruthlessly exploited man whereas Yahweh loves man and does not exploit him. The Igigi gods threatened rebellion against Enlil and Enki and were REMOVED from a god's garden for this act of rebellion. Man was created to replace them. Man would now serve both the Anunna and Iggi gods. Why did the Igigi rebel? They had been given NO REST from the toil imposed upon them by the Anunna gods. They had complained of this for 40 years at Nippur. When man is created we are informed that the noisey clamor or complaining of the Igigi is transferred to man. Man's constant noise disturbs Enlil who can get no rest by day or sleep by night. He decides to instigate a world flood to destroy man, to thereby get his rest from the noise. With man's demise on the seventh day of the Flood ALL the gods REST, for man's noise no longer disturbs them. That is to say, man's noise was that of the Igigi: He wanted a REST FROM GOD-IMPOSED TOIL as enjoyed by the gods. They refused him ANY REST and instead sought his destruction with a flood. Unlike the Mesopotamian gods, Yahweh cares about man and provides him a SHABBAT/SABBATH (which reoccurs every seventh day) to rest on. Instead of ALL THE GODS RESTING ON A SEBUTI DAY after man's demise (Se-bu-ti in Akkadian meaning "seventh" cf. p. 57 line 206 and p. 196 under shapattu or "fifteenth day." W. G. Lambert & A. R. Millard. Atra-Hasis, The Babylonian Story of the Flood. Winona Lake, Indiana. Eisenbrauns. 1999 reprint of 1969 edition by Oxford University Press), one God (Yahweh) rests on a seventh day, after CREATING A WORLD and MAN vs. the Gods DESTROYING A WORLD and Man. Now, dear reader, you know WHY the Hebrews REFUTED, DENIED, and CHALLENGED the Mesopotamian myths regarding why man was made, placed in a god's garden and why his demise was sought in a flood. The Hebrew Shabbat (Sabbath) is then -for me- a recast of the SEVENTH DAY (the se-bu-ti day) of the Flood, when all the gods rested because man's noise no longer disturbed them, he being destroyed except for those on the great boat built by one man, Ziusudra of Shuruppak who was warned by Enki to save the "seed of man and animals" as the gods intended man's and animal kind's destruction with a flood. Ziusudra was recast as Noah.
So, dear reader, it is _my understanding_ that the Hebrews have challenged _point by point_ the Mesopotamian understanding of why, where, when and how man came to be made, placed in a god's garden, denied immortality and then his demise sought in a flood. Also challenged by the Hebrews is the Mesopotamian understanding that "all" the gods and goddesses rested on a "seventh" day, a se-bu-ti day having achieved their rest from man's noise by annihilating him. Yahweh LOVES man vs. the Mesopotamian gods DESPISING man and seeking to destroy him with a flood when he cries out to them for a "REST" from the god-imposed back-breaking toil in their city-gardens which are surrounded by the uncultivated plain or steppe called in Sumerian edin or edin-na (said term being later succeeded by the Akkadian seru, seri, or serim).
The Mesopotamian myths understood man had been created to work in a god's city-garden at Nippur (Enlil) while another has the event at Eridu (Enki's city-garden). The Hebrews, AGAIN, ARE REFUTING this concept, for they have Yahweh's garden in the midst of a wilderness, unassociated with a city. Man, in Genesis, lives in cities AFTER the expulsion from the Garden in Eden (the first city being built by Cain). Adam enjoys the companionship of wild animals with no fear of harm. Then Eve is presented to Adam and becomes a more fit companion. It is my understanding that Genesis' imagery of a God's garden being in a wilderness rather than associated with a city, is preserving somewhat Enkidu's meeting of Shamat at a wateringhole in the wilderness (Akkadian seru, Sumerian edin). Enkidu is naked, his compaions are wild animals, he is "undone" by a naked Shamhat. I understand Enkidu is one of several prototypes of Adam and Shamhat has been recast as Eve. The wateringhole in the wilderness frequented by naked man and his animal companions has been recast as the Garden in Eden in the midst of a wilderness.
Scholars are divided on the origins of the word eden (Hebrew: `eden). It has been translated to mean 'delight'. Some have suggested it is derived from Aramaic `dn meaning 'a place well-watered' or 'abundant in water'.
Tsumura on Eden's 'contested' etymology:
"Etymology of `eden. In light of the new information from Fekheriyeh, Millard, Greenfield, and others have recently suggested that the term `eden means 'a place well-watered place'. This fits the context of Geneis 2 very well. There are three theoretically possible explanations for the etymology of the Hebrew `eden:
(a) Sumerian Loanword directly into West Semitic. The Sumerian edin 'plain', has been suggested as its origin. But since Sumerian presumably has no phoneme /`/, it is not likely that the Sumerian edin was borrowed directly into Canaanite as `eden or the like. Also, the meaning 'plain, steppe', or uncultivated land does not fit the context of Genesis well.
(b) Sumerian Loanword via Akkadian into West Semitic. It has been suggested that the Sumerian edin was borrowed through Akkadian edinu. While this has been a common view for the etymology, Hebrew `eden cannot be a loanword from or via Akkadian edinu, since Akkadian has no phoneme /`/ either..."
(c) Common West Semitic. The root *`dn, which appears in the Fekheriyeh Inscription, in a Ugaritic text, in the divine epithet h`dn in Old South Arabic, as well as in the Arabic verb `adana, probably has the literal meaning 'to make abundant in water supply'. Hence, the Hebrew `eden probably means 'a place where there is an abundant water supply' (cf. Gen 13:10). The term *`eden (plural `adanim in Psalm 36:9), which means 'pleasure, luxury', has the same etymology as Eden, though the Massoretic Text seems to distinguish `eden from *`eden."
(pp. 40-41. David Toshio Tsumura. "Genesis and Ancient Near Eastern Stories of Creation and Flood: An Introduction." pp. 27-57, in Richard S. Hess & David T. Tsumra. Editors. I Studied Inscriptions From Before the Flood. Winona Lake, Indiana. Eisenbrauns. 1994)
Wallace on Eden's 'contested' etymology:
"Two explanations have been proposed for the origin of the name `eden, "Eden": (a) that it derives from the Akkadian word edinu, "plain, steppe," which in turn is a loan word from Sumerian eden; (b) that is is connected with the West Semitic stem `dn occurring in several languages, having to do with "luxury, abundance, delight, or lushness"...However, several objections have been raised. First, Genesis 2-3 refers to Eden in terms of a fertile garden or oasis. The transference to this meaning from a Sumerian word for "plain" or "steppe" is obscure. Secondly, while the word eden is common in Sumerian, the Akkadian equivalent edinu is attested only once...The usual Akkadian equivalent to Sumerian eden is seru. From available evidence it seems that edinu was an extremely rare word in Akkadian and it is not a likely candidate for further borrowing into biblical Hebrew. The craft of a narrator or scribe in adopting such a word would be lost to nearly all hearers or readers."
(p. 281. Vol. 2. Howard N. Wallace. "Eden, Garden of." David Noel Freedman. Editor. The Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York. Doubleday. 1992)
In the Mesopotamian myths (The Eridu Genesis Myth) man wanders naked in an uncultivated wilderness plain or steppe (Akkadian: seru and sometimes edinu, Sumerian: edin or edin-na) with wild animals for companions. It is my understanding that Hebrew `eden is recalling the Sumerian edin. But, as I have noted before, the Hebrews are _denying and refuting_ the Mesopotamian myths. At Ebla (Tell Mardikh) in Syria the Old Babylonian edin (ca. 2000-1500 B.C., OB Nippur Lu 823) is rendered eden (Early Dynastic IIIb, 3000-2500 B.C. Ebla Sign List 55), meaning a "steppe or plain". I suspect that the Hebrews took the Syrian eden and added a phoneme /`/ to it rendering eden as `eden causing the semi-arid, desertlike steppe to become a "well-watered delightful place". Why? _The Hebrews are refuting Mesopotamian beliefs!_ The gods despised man. In the Eridu Genesis myth naked man is a wild animal, his companions are not the gods, but wild animals naked like himself. The gods do not give man any fruits from their city-gardens to eat, man must fend for himself, HE EATS GRASS and laps water like the other beasts. The Hebrews apparently objected to this portrayal of man. Edin (Syrian Ebla's eden) is a place of desolation, wild animals roam it, brigands, cut-throats and murdering outcasts like Cain from civilized society also inhabit it. Dumuzi was slain by demons in the edin at his sheepfold. Edin/Eden is not an idyllic place for man in the Mesopotamian myths. I suspect that the Hebrews, in refuting all this, added the phoneme /`/ to the Syrian eden rendering it into a new `eden, a place of "abundance and lushness, delightful and well-watered". God loves man, he would not place man in a desertlike wilderness to eat grass like a beast and abandon him! In the Mesopotamian understanding the uncultivated edin is where shepherds graze their flocks (like Dumuzi). The "good life" is in the cities (not the edin) built according to the myths by the gods for thier habitation _before_ man's creation. The Hebrews' ancestors are portrayed as wandering shepherds, living in tents, as such their habitation would the edin. Perhaps these "shepherds-of-edin" were offended by the Mesopotamian myths concocted by "city-dwellers", glorifying city-life over shepherding in the edin? Thus the shepherds of edin concocted a counter-argument, glorifying life in the edin and denigrating city-life? Cain the murderer builds the world's first city and man descends into corruption and sin. So the Hebrews' shepherding ancestors are refuting, denying and challenging the Mesopotamian world view regarding primitive naked man's life in the uncultivated edin being a curse.That is to say, the Hebrew shepherds are glorifying their own life style as against that of life in cities glorified by the city-dwelling Mesopotamians.
What better way to refute man's presence, in the beginning, as in an uncultivated semi-arid plain or steppe called the eden/edin with wild animals for companions, than to portray his presence with non-threatening wild animals as being in a 'well-watered' place of 'delight' an `eden where exists a god's garden? That is to say, in the Mesopotamian myths naked man and his wild animal companions who do him no harm are associated with the uncultivated steppe or plain called edin/seru, whereas in Genesis naked man and his wild-animal companions live together with no fear in a state of bliss in a god's "delightful-well-watered-garden"! The Mesopotamian myths do not portray naked man enjoying the company of wild animals in their city-gardens (which were never called edin or seru), this relationship exists _only_ in the uncultivated steppe/plain known as the edin or seru. The god's city-gardens are off-limits for foraging by wild animals!
Enkidu, the naked wildman who's companions are wild animals, roams the uncultivated steppe (Akkadian: seru, Sumerian: edin). It is stated however that Enkidu's delight is to enjoy the water of this steppe with his animal companions. So, in a sense, those scholars who argue that the Hebrew `eden means either "delight" or a "place well-watered" would appear to have this imagery attested "somewhat" in the description of the uncultivated edin/seru being a place possessing wild animals who "delight" with a naked man (Enkidu) in a "well-watered" location (a wateringhole) found in this wilderness. As noted by earlier scholars Genesis' `eden appears not to be located in a city as a god's city-garden, instead is appears to be a well-watered oasis in the midst of a semi-arid wilderness, which aligns somewhat with the Sumerian uncultivated steppe or plain called edin. Pritchard on the motifs of "delight" and "water" associated with naked man and his animal companions in the uncultivated steppe (emphasis mine in CAPITALS):
"The wild beasts came to the watering place to drink.
The creeping creatures came, their heart DELIGHTING IN WATER.
But as for him, Enkidu, born in the hills-
With the gazelles he feeds on grass,
With the wild beasts he drinks at the watering place,
With the creeping creatures his heart DELIGHTS IN WATER-"
(p. 44. "The Epic of Gilgamesh." James B. Pritchard. Editor. The Ancient Near East, An Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton University Press. 1958. Library of Congress Card 58-10052. Paperback)
At this watering hole, for several days, patiently waits Shamhat the Harlot, brought by the Hunter from Uruk to ensnare Enkidu with sex. He has been told by Gilgamesh that after having had sex with the Harlot Enkidu's animal companions will flee from him, Enkidu will thereupon seek companionship with womankind and forevermore be alienated from the wild animals. Upon seeing Enkidu at the wateringhole she disrobes at the Hunter's urging and Enkidu upon gazing at her voluptuous nakedness is consumed with desire and sleeps with her for six days and seven nights. When he attempts to join his animal friends they flee. A rejected Enkidu returns to the Harlot, she says to him "You are like a god, why roam with animals, leave this 'place of desolation' berift of shepherds, come with me to Uruk and meet Gilgamesh." He agrees, and the Harlot divides her garments covering her and Enkidu's nakedness. He puts his hand in hers and she leads him "like a mother" from the steppe. At a shepherd's camp he is offered bread and alcoholic drink. He balks at consuming this for he has known only the eating of grass and drinking of water with his animal companions. The Harlot tells Enkidu "Eat the bread, drink the alcoholic drink, for it is the custom of the land." Submitting to her words he eats the bread and consumes the alcoholic drink. He is thereupon declared to be HUMAN (and like a beast no longer). He anoints his hair and puts on a change of clothes befitting a man and departs with Shamhat for Uruk. I understand Adam's eating forbidden food at Eve's urging is a recast of the Harlot urging Enkidu to eat bread and to drink an alcoholic drink. In the "original" Mesopotamian myth a god was NOT outraged at a naked man's consumption of forbidden food (food grown in the gods' city-gardens is not for wild animals to forage upon). A god was NOT outraged when man clothed himself after eating forbidden food. Realizing he is to die for killing Huwawa the guardian of the cedar mountain and accessing forbidden cedar trees, Enkidu curses the Hunter and Harlot, blaming them for robbing him of his innocence and virtue and separating him from his animal friends, setting off a chain reaction of events culminating in Huwawa's death. He asks the sun-god to carry out his curse. He wants a "diminishing" of profit for the hunter and the abusement by man of the Harlot. An outraged sun-god rebuffs the request telling Enkidu: "How dare you curse my harlot, she did you good, gave you food fit for a god, wine fit for a king, clothed your nakedness with a noble garment, gave you Gilgamesh for a companion!" A chastened Enkidu withdraws his curse and replaces it with a blessing. So, in the "original" myth a god did NOT curse the woman who introduced a naked man to forbidden food, NOR did this god curse man for acquiring clothing to cover his nakedness. The Hebrews have recast Enkidu's curse for the Hunter and Harlot into Yahweh's curse for Adam and Eve. Adam's crop yields will be DIMINISHED (as the Hunter was to have his profits DIMINISHED), Enkidu's DESIRE for the Harlot being his "undoing" (he subordinating his will to hers) becomes Eve's DESIRE for her husband being her "undoing" for now she will be subject to her man who will rule over her. The wateringhole where wild animals and a naked man had THEIR DELIGHT IN WATER, in the midst of a "place of desolation, berift of shepherds" becomes Genesis' `eden, associated with DELIGHT and a PLACE WELL-WATERED.
For over a hundred years various Liberal Scholars have suggested the Sumerian word edin meaning the uncultivated semi-arid desert-like plain or steppe about the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is what lies behind Genesis' Eden. I am in agreement with this assessment. Every Sumerian city had its god's city-garden made possible by canals and irrigation ditches radiating from these two streams. In myths said rivers and canals being dug-out originally by the Igigi gods before man's creation. The gods according to these myths had also planted city-gardens before man's creation, to provide food for themselves, as they dwelt in the cities of Akkad and Sumer (Lower Mesopotamia, today's Iraq).
I understand that the Hebrews in recasting the Mesopotamian motifs, have taken the many city-gardens (each belonging to a local god or goddess) of Akkad and Sumer, each city and its city-garden being "surrounded by" an uncultivated edin, the plain/steppe between the Tigris and Euphrates, and fused them into _one_ Garden in Eden.
Whereas the Mesopotamian myths understand a god's garden is almost always associated with the city the god dwells in, Genesis refutes and denies this by having the first city built by Cain after the expulsion from the Garden in Eden. That is to say, the Garden in Eden is not associated with a city-garden belonging to a god, instead it lies all by itself in the edin, the uncultivated semi-arid wilderness (variously described as a steppe or plain). Please note my preference in using the term "Garden _in_ Eden" rather than "Garden _of_Eden." I do not understand the Garden's name to be Eden. I understand Eden is a semi-arid region through which flows a river that waters a god's garden:
Genesis 2:8 TANAKH (Emphasis mine):
"The LORD God planted a garden _in_ Eden, in the east, and placed there the man whom He had formed."
(TANAKH, The Holy Scriptures. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Jewish Publication Society. 1988 [5748 since the Creation])
In recasting the Mesopotamian myths in order to refute them the Hebrews have given "new twists to old ideas or motifs." The Garden in Eden is a recast of Eridu and Nippur where man was made to serve in a god's garden replacing the Igigi gods as laborers. It also fuses Anu's heavenly abode with a Lebanese Cedar Mountain sacred to the gods, and a watering hole in the uncultivated steppe land (Akkadian seru, Sumerian edin or edin-na) near Uruk where a naked Enkidu is "undone" by a naked Shamhat. The Edenic Serpent is a recast of Enki (Ea), Anu, Ningishzida and Dumuzi. The Cherubim are recasts of Ningishzida, Dumuzi and Huwawa. Adam is a recast of Adapa and Enkidu. Shamhat has been recast as Eve. The "bread of life" and the "bread of death" have been recast as "tree fruits." A man's forbidden access to trees is the cedars guarded by Huwawa, accessed by Enkidu, who's death is ordered by Enlil. Yahweh-Elohim is a recast of Anu (An) in heaven, Enlil (Ellil) of Nippur, Enki (Ea) of Eridu, the Hunter of Uruk, and Shamash (Utu) the sun-god who at Uruk refused to curse Shamhat at Enkidu's request. In recasting these Mesopotamian motifs the Hebrews are _denying, challenging, and refuting_ the Mesopotamian concepts regarding how man came to created, his purpose in life, why he is not immortal, why his demise was sought in a flood, and how a seventh day of rest for the gods came about.
Below is the earlier, original account (10 Nov. 2001 to 02 Aug. 2006) of the pre-biblical origins of the Cherubim as Winged Sphinxes:
Genesis opens with the story of God's having planted a garden in the East in a place called Eden. He evidently places two trees within this garden, one is "the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil", the other is "the Tree of Life". God then stations the Cherubim to deny access to the latter tree by man. This brief article, employing a Secular Humanist and Anthropological point of view, will explore the Ancient Near Eastern motifs and concepts possibly lying behind Genesis' portrayal of the Cherubim and their possible existence in ancient art forms.
Not generally known to the public at large is that Cherubim have been determined not to be angels with human forms and wings. Nor is the public aware of the pre-biblical origins of Cherubim. This brief article attempts to address these issues.
Many today envision Cherubs to be naked little children with halos and wings, frequently seen on Valentine's Day cards. These representations arose in Renaissance times, and are based on still earlier representations found in Roman art forms.
The Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, writing during the 1st century A.D.stated that in his day no one knew what a Cherub looked like. This is a remarkable statement on his part, he claimed to be of a priestly lineage, well-educated in Jewish Torah and traditions, and if anybody would have known what a Cherub would look like, it ought to have been Josephus !
Josephus on the cherubim:
"He also dedicated for the most secret place, whose breadth was twenty cubits, and length the same, two cherubims of solid gold...but nobody can tell, or even conjecture, what was the shape of these cherubims." (Antiquities 8.3.3. William Whiston, translator. The Life and Works of Flavius Josephus. New York. Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Ca. 1970)
This is a most remarkable admission on Josephus' part in light of Ezekiel's very detailed description of a Cherub (Ez 1:1-25). Josephus makes mention of Ezekiel (Antiquities 10.5.1), so he should have been aware of Ezekiel's description of the Cherubim, yet he avers that no one knows their shape or form ! Ezekiel portrayed the Cherub as having a human-like body, with four arms, hands, and legs, but with some remarkable non-human features- that is, the head had four faces, a calf, an eagle, a lion and a human. It possessed two legs whose feet were cloven like a bull's. It had four wings and was accompanied by a spinning wheel capable of flight. Four Cherubim, each with its wheel were under a firmanent supporting the throne of God and evidently provided locomotion for the throne.
I have been unsuccessful in finding "an exact" representation of Ezekiel's Cherubim in any Ancient Near Eastern art form, be it a painting, statue, seal, jewelry or bas-relief. There are however some forms that can be said to "somewhat" reflect Ezekiel's imagery. Mesopotamian art knows of gods or genii with human forms, with four wings, multiheaded, and with cloven bull's feet. Evidently Ezekiel's vision of the Cherubim is unique to him. Please click here for a picture of Ezekiel's cherub and its "possible" Ancient Near Eastern prototypes from the 9th-7th centuries B.C.
The Renaissance Italian artist, Masaccio (ca. 1424-1426 A.D.) rendered a flying Cherub in human form with two wings and bearing a sword, driving a naked Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden in a wall mural on one of Florence's churches.
Christianity "began" in the 1st century A.D., by the 4th it became the "official" state sponsored religion of the Roman Empire. Understandably, Christians in their art desired to portray cherubim. Not knowing their form, as noted by Josephus, they settled upon a form very familiar to the Roman world, winged Victories, called Nikes in Greek art. These were women with wings, frequently shown holding a victor's wreath or a shield on which they inscribed a victory over the enemy. In Roman art they appeared frequently partially clad, in long flowing robes, the torso being exposed to reveal breasts. Christian modesty required a fully clothed body, so cherubim as a species of angel, were fully clothed. Today many Christians visualize the Cherubim as either naked children with wings (so-called "Cupids") or mature adult angels fully clothed with wings and long flowing gowns, based on Greek and Roman Nikes and Victories (Latin: Victoria).
In the 19th century A.D. it was quite common for artists to render the Mercy Seat atop of the Ark of the Covenant as consisting of two angels with human features, bowing towards each other with extended wings, God being envisioned by the artists as seated above the wings of his angels. One can still see this artistic rendering today in many books on the Bible.
A related spin-off to the 19th century A.D. artist renderings of the Mercy Seat on the Ark of the Covenant, is that of some 20th century artists, who have transformed the two bowing angels into Egyptian goddesses, who in a kneeling position, extend their wings toward each other; God being envisioned as sitting within the coverlet of their extended wings. This is no doubt influenced by representations of Pharaoh, "a Living God," who is sometimes portrayed as embraced by the covering wings of said goddesses/genii.
Contrary to all of the above representations of Cherubim is modern Secular Humanist scholarship's understanding that these beings are not human-like angels or Egyptian genii at all, but four-legged beasts.
Archaeologists have unearthed objects in Phoenicia and Canaan from the period of the Late Bronze Age (1540-1200 B.C.) showing kings and rulers seated on thrones whose side arms consist of winged four-legged beasts, possessing a lion's body and a human head. They are known in Egyptian art as Sphinxes. Today's scholars thus understand that the Mercy Seat was a winged Sphinx throne modeled after Late Bronze Age thrones found in Phoenicia and Canaan.
The late Professor Albright on the Cherubim :
"Today we think of a cherub as a tiny winged boy, following the tradition of Renaissance artists. This conception was directly borrowed from pictures of Graeco-Roman "loves" or Erotes, familiar to us from excavations of Pompeii. The actual appearance of the cherubim of the Old Testament was actually forgotten before the time of Christ, and Josephus (first century
