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The command was established in the garden of God
The Asman (fruit) they ate, they broke in two,
Its stalk the (?) destroyed.
The sweet juice which injures the body.
Great is their sin. Themselves they exalted.
To Merodach their Redeemer He appointed their fate."
The "garden of God" is spoken of in Ezekiel 28: where the prophet speaks of one
"full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God. . . .
thine heart was lifted up. . . .".
The fifth tablet presents several striking agreements with the Scripture record of
creation:--
"He made pleasant the positions of the great gods
The constellations He arranged them, the double stars he fixed
He ordained the year, he appointed the Zodiac signs over it.
The twelve months of constellations by threes he fixed
From the day when the year commenced to its close.
He established the position of the crossing stars and for the seasons their bounds.
Not to make fault or error of any kind
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The Illuminator he caused to shine to rule the night,
He appointed him to establish the night until the coming forth of the day
(Saying) Each month without fail by thy disk keep watch.
At the beginning of the month or the rising of the night
Horns shine forth to announce the night.
On the seventh day to a disk it fills up.
Open thou and cause the rays of thy face to shine
At that time the Sun on the horizon of heaven at thy coming."
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In this account the stars come first, which accords with the scriptural description of the
people, "Astrologers", etc. The sun, moon and stars were created "for signs and for
seasons, and for days and years", and this is evidently believed in this tablet. The path of
the sun through the heavens was carefully mapped out. There were twelve stations,
subdivided into four groups, divided from each other by fixed points. The words
"crossing stars" in the tablet are the rendering of the cuneiform Nibiri. Nibiru really
means a "ferry boat", and Merodach is called Ilu Nibiru, "the god of the ferryboat". The
Nibiri means the constellations which mark the points where the sun passes from one
division of the year to the other. The "Zodiac signs" of the third line are in the cuneiform
Mizrata umazzir. With this compare Job 38: 32, "Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth
in his seasons?" (margin, "the twelve signs"). "The rising of the night" is in cuneiform
Lillate, in Hebrew Lillith, "the twilight".
The sixth tablet is very much mutilated, but sufficient is decipherable to show that it
refers to the work of the sixth day (Gen. 1: 24, 25):--