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MARDUK

(Akk. ^dAMAR.UTU, dMa-ru-du-uk-ku)

The chief deity in the Babylonian pantheon during the 1st millennium b.c.e. Originally little known, he was identified in the early 2nd millennium with the god Asalluḫi, who was the son of Enki/Ea and who was important in the cult of the southern city Eridu. Marduk’s association with the increasingly prominent city of Babylon probably goes back to Hammurabi’s dynasty in the Old Babylonian period. Eventually, Marduk succeeded Enlil, god of Nippur, as the supreme executive in the pantheon, and Marduk’s city, Babylon, replaced Nippur as the most important religious center in Babylonia. The so-called epic of creation, Enuma Elish, celebrates Marduk’s elevation to preeminent status in the pantheon; in the epic, the other gods agree to confer ultimate royal authority on him following his defeat of Tiamat, the goddess of salt water and chaos. Codified in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar I (1125-1104), Enuma Elish apparently formed part of the libretto for the New Year or Akītu Festival.

Scholars dispute the etymology of the name Marduk. Ancient scribes most often wrote the name with Sumerian logographs, ^dAMAR.UTU, but the most commonly suggested Sumerian etymology, “young calf of Šamaš,” is probably erroneous. In Sumerian contexts it is never analyzed as a genitive, while the relation of Marduk to Šamaš is unattested elsewhere. In fact, Marduk, because of his early identification with Asalluḫi, was considered the son of Enki/Ea.

After the time of Nebuchadnezzar I, Marduk remained the chief deity of the Babylonian state and patron of its kings, including those of the Neo-Babylonian dynasty (626-539). It is in this status that the people of the Eastern Mediterranean, including Israel, encountered Marduk. In Jer. 50:2, a mid-6th century oracle, God announces the capture and shaming of Babylon and Marduk (here vocalized mĕrōḏaḵ). Marduk is the divine component in one biblical name, Merodach-baladan II (Isa. 39:1; the parallel in 2 Kgs. 20:12 reads bĕrōʾḏaḵ), a Chaldean sheik who ruled Babylonia for about a decade in the late 8th century. The common assertion that the name of Esther’s cousin, Mordecai, derives from the name Marduk, remains plausible. Marduk appears elsewhere in the OT under the common title bēl, “Lord” (Isa. 46:1; Jer. 50:2; 51:44), his ubiquitous title. It is his temple complex in Babylon, Esagil(a), or its associated temple-tower, Etemenanki, that stands behind the narrative of the tower of Babel in Gen. 11:1-9.

Bibliography. W. G. Lambert, “The Reign of Nebuchadnezzar I: A Turning Point in the History of Ancient Mesopotamian Religion,” in The Seed of Wisdom, ed. W. S. McCullough (Toronto, 1964), 3-13.

David Vanderhooft

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

MARDUK

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)