Page 84 - Advanced Biblical Backgrounds Revised

Nabonidus (556–539) was considered to have had an interesting character; unpredictable and difficult
to discern. Though himself a worshiper of Babylonian gods, he is known for his attempt to strip off
power from the temple priests and gather it for himself. This paralyzed his relationship with some of the
priestly lines and probably cost him some influence. He also weakened his rule and influence in the
kingdom by spending almost a decade in Arabia during the latter days of his tenure. “It now appears
that he was trying to gain control of trade routes with South Arabia to compensate for those lost to the
Medo-Persians farther north. During those years, he made his son Belshazzar the ruler of Babylon.
Belshazzar is remembered as the king who saw the handwriting on the wall and had Daniel provide the
explanation for it.” 116

In the same period, Cyrus established himself as King of Persia, heavily concerned with expanding his
kingdom. Altogether, the indifference, incompetence, and extravagance of the kings of the weakening
Babylonian empire made it easy for Cyrus to conquer and take over the empire in 539 BCE

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 and families of gods. Daniel provided 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, he 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 rains, and of Sin as the moon god and illuminator of the night.

The astral deities—the sun, moon, and Venus—served as the 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 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

116 Vos, H. F. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible manners & customs: how the people of the Bible really lived (p.
306). Nashville, TN: T. Nelson Publishers.

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