Page 80 - Biblical Backgrounds

The religion of Babylonia

The Hebrew people who grew up reciting the Shema (Deut. 6:4) found themselves in a heavily
polytheistic land. Babylonians worshiped a long list of families of gods. Daniel provides a picture of the
situation in Babylon when he responded to Nebuchadnezzar: “But … be it known to you, O king, that we
will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Howard F. Vos describes the
families and categories of Babylonian gods as follows:

Anu, the sky god, from whom the institution of kingship originally descended, stood at the head
of the family of gods. In time, his consort became Ishtar, goddess of love (fertility) and war.
Anu’s son Enlil gradually replaced Anu as king of the gods. The national god of Sumer was
considered the possessor of the Tablet of Destiny, which decreed the fates of men and gods.
Babylonians worshiped Ea, another of the major gods, as lord of the deep on which the world
rested. They regarded him as the instructor of men in arts and crafts. At least one early myth
makes Marduk the son of Ea, but his origins are obscure.

In any case, Marduk came to assume the central place in the Babylonian pantheon long before
Nebuchadnezzar’s day. He had been enthroned as the patron god of the city of Babylon and
gradually assimilated the functions of other gods: for example, of Shamash as god of justice, of
Adad as god of rain, and of Sin as the moon god and illuminator of the night.

The astral deities—the sun, moon, and Venus—served as a second group of gods. The populace
regarded Sin or Nanna, whose main centers of worship were Ur and Haran, as the greatest.
Because he served as controller of the night and of the lunar calendar, with the crescent moon
as his symbol, they considered his activities important to mankind.

The Babylonians worshiped Ishtar as the goddess of war and the goddess of sexual love and
procreation. She revealed herself to human beings as the morning star and evening star, that is,
as the planet Venus. They often associated Adad, the weather god, with Shamash (sun god) and
Ishtar. They described him as the lord of abundance, the controller of the floodgates of heaven
and earth, with lightning and thunder as his representations. They worshiped Nergal, a much-
feared god, as the god of pestilence and the underworld. By Nebuchadnezzar’s day, Marduk,
who received the title Bel, “Lord,” and Ishtar, often called Belit, “Lady,” stood out above the
others. 108

The worship of these gods was mainly through symbols and images. Astrologers linked the gods with
heavenly bodies. They represented them as follows: Mercury (Nebo), Venus (Ishtar), Mars (Nergal),
Jupiter (Marduk), Saturn (Ninib), the moon (Sin), and the sun (Shamash).

The official religion probably did not significantly affect the general public. To be sure, Babylonians
watched the great public processions of the gods and participated in the religious festivals, but they did
not seem to have had access to the temples. 109 Individuals freely worshipped personal gods or

108 Vos, H. F. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible manners & customs: how the people of the Bible really lived (pp.
309–310). Nashville, TN: T. Nelson Publishers.
109 Ibid

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