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Archæology and Rimmon.
pp. 179, 180
During one of our series of Bibles Lectures given in the Provinces, we were asked
whether there was any archæological reference to Rimmon. We do not remember our
questioner's name, but we trust this short notice will be seen by him.
Naaman's reference to the house of Rimmon indicates that this god was worshipped in
Syria (II Kings 5: 18). Among the archæological references to Rimmon is a prayer in use
at the time of Assur-bani-pal, where Assur the national god is associated with others such
as Ishtar, Nebo Merodach and Rimmon. The lines concerning Rimmon read:--
"To Rimmon the minister of heaven and earth, the Lord of the wind and the lightning
of heaven" (K100 line 12).
Sayce in his Hibbert Lecture 1887 says:--
"The Kings of Edom seem to have had a predilection for assuming the names of the
divinities they worshipped. We have among them Hadad . . . . . titles of the supreme Baal
in Syria, whose attributes caused the Assyrians to identify him with their own Rimmon."
"And King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad, the son of Tabrimon" (I Kings 15: 18).
Rimmon, moreover, was mourned for as was Tammuz:--
"There sat women weeping for Tammuz" (Ezek. 8: 14).
Both names, Hadad and Rimmon, occur together in association with national
mourning in Zech. 12: 10, 11: "They shall mourn . . . . . as the mourning of
Hadadrimmon."
Tablet W. A. 1: 2: 49, 30 gives Rimmon an Accadian appellation: Uta-edina-guba =
"the everglowing sun of the desert", and further, the name Rimmon is spoken of in
Babylonian and Assyrian inscriptions as Ramanu or Ramman. References to Hadad,
Tammuz, Adonis and the Descent of Ishtar, together with the above, will open up the way
to a fuller knowledge of the subject. However, it is not of sufficient general interest to
warrant an extended examination in these pages, but we trust what has been mentioned
above will be of service.