THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
viously told of Bel of Nippur (see Babylonia, VII., 1, § 1, 2, § 2), and he became " king of the gods, king of heaven and earth, lord of lords and king of kings." His seven-storied temple in Babylon bore the name E-temen-anki, " House of the foundation of heaven and earth." His cultus lived on in the religion of the Mandeeans (q.v.).
It is important for the understanding of the use of his name in the Bible to remember that in the time when it was written Merodach was called Bel (from Bel of Nippur). These two names enter as elements into personal names, as in Belshazzar and Merodach-baladan. Merodach is also brought into close connection with Nebo, god of the sister city of Borsippa (Isa. xlvi. 1; so also in the inscriptions). A close relationship existed between the New Year's feast of Merodach and the Purim of the Jews (" the day of Mordecai," II Mace. xv. 36; H. Winckler, Altorientalische Forschungen, iii. 1 sqq., Leipsic, 1895). Indeed, a thoroughgoing influence upon Biblical conceptions, especially as to the relations of God and man, is ascribed by H. Zimmern to the Babylonian Merodach. Babylonians and Hebrews were united by a threefold bond of relationship in speech, ideas, and mythological expression, though this does not necessarily involve literary dependence. Moreover, where both peoples have used material in common, the Biblical narratives are incomparably higher in religious content than the Babylonian. Indeed, it may be asked in some cases whether the Babylonian expressions have not been influenced toward their best form by Hebrew thought and personalities. At any rate, the religion which centered in Merodach, at least in its latest phases as shown in the development of the Mandseans, contained the idea of salvation.
(A. Jeebmias.)
Bibliography: A full list of literature is given under Babylonia. Consult particularly DB, iii. 347, and extra vol., p. 545; A. Jeremias, in W. H. Loscher, Lexikon der griechischen und rbmischen Mythologie, ii. 2340-72, Leipsic, 1896; H. Gunkel, Schopfung und Chaos, Gottingen, 1895; M. Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Boston, 1898, and the German ed., Giessen, 1902 sqq.; H. Zimmern, in Sehrader, KAT, ii. 370 sqq.; P. D. Chantepie de la Saussaye, Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte, i. 294-299, Tubingen, 1905; F. Martin, in Vigouroux, Dictionnaire, part xxvi. 997-1001.
MERODACH-BALADAN: The Babylonian king mentioned in Isa. xxxix. as sending an embassy to Hezekiah, in the parallel passage, II Kings xx. 12- 19, appearing either by mistake or change of consonants as Berodach-baladan. He was the second of the name on the throne of Babylon, the first being a member of the Kasshite dynasty and ruling 1129-17 B.C. The sources of information about him, outside of Biblical sources and the Ptolemaic Canon, are the cuneiform inscriptions, particularly the king-lists, the inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon and Sennacherib, and two inscriptions of Merodach-baladan himself. The mention in the inscriptions involves the period 729-700 B.C. as that of his activity. Variations in the way in which he is mentioned in the inscriptions of Sennacherib, as compared with those of Tiglath-Pileser and Sargon, were supposed to indicate that two persons of the name were referred to, but recent research has made it more probable that all the passages deal
with the same man. The Biblical narrative calls him " son of Baladan," possibly through a misunderstanding of the relation of the two elements in his name; Tiglath-Pileser and Sargon call him " son of Yakin "; he speaks of himself as a descendant of Erba-Marduk (an early king of Babylon) but does not give his father's name. He was king of Bit- Yakin, one of the Chaldean states on the lower course of the Tigris and Euphrates, but became a vassal of Tiglath-Pileser in 729. In 722 he utilized the confused condition of affairs to make himself king of Babylon, after forming an anti- Assyrian alliance with Elam, succeeding in 721 in his effort and holding the position till 709, when he was driven out by Sargon and his paternal kingdom ravaged. After the death of Sargon, Merodach-baladan renewed his activity against Babylon and in 703 [704] once more sat on the throne of that city, only to be driven out within a year by Sennacherib and compelled to hide in the marshes near the sea. In 701- 700 he again attempted to make headway against the Assyrian, but the vigorous measures of Sennacherib foiled his efforts. After that he disappears from the Assyrian annals.
There is no reason to doubt the historicity of the Old-Testament account of the embassy sent to Hezekiah, though the purpose was doubtless not that of sympathy and congratulation, but rather to involve the Judean king in an anti-Assyrian league. The time when this took place is not definitely indicated in the Biblical narrative, and has been variously placed by students, with the probabilities in favor of the time 721-709 when Merodach-baladan was first king of Babylon [more probably in 704 when Merodach-baladan was again king of Babylon, about fifteen years before the death of Hezekiah ; Isa. xxxviii. 5, xxxix. 1]. (See Assyria, VI., 3, §§ 11-12; and Babylonia, VI., 7, § 1.)
(R. KRAETZSCHMAHf.) Bibliography: Sehrader, KAT, pp. 72-73, 79-80 et passim; idem, KB, vols, ii.— iii.; idem, in E. C. A. Riehm, Handwbrterbuch des biblischen Altertums, pp. 997-998, Leipsic, 1894; the pertinent sections in the works on the history mentioned under Assyria, especially those of Rogers, Hommel, and Tiele; H. Winckler, Die Keilschrifttexte Sargons, i., pp. xv. sqq., xxxi. sqq., Leipsic, 1889; idem, Untersuchungen zur altorientalischen Geschichte, pp. 54 sqq., ib. 1889; idem, Alttestamentliche Untersuchungen, pp. 138 sqq., ib. 1892; J. F. McCurdy, History, Prophecy and the Monuments, §§ 340, 621, 637-638, 660-672, 3 vols., New York, 1894-1901; F.Martin, in Vigouroux, Dictionnaire, part xxvi. 1001-04; the later commentaries on II Kings and Isaiah; DB, iii. 347; EB, iii. 3037-38.
MERRIAM, ALEXANDER ROSS: Congregationalist; b. at Goshen, N. Y., Jan. 20, 1849. He was educated at Yale College (A.B., 1872), and after teaching at the Hartford High School for two years (1872-74) he entered Andover Theological Seminary, from which he was graduated in 1877. He was pastor of Payson Congregational Church, Easthampton, Mass., from 1877 to 1884, when he accepted a call to the pastorate of the First Congregational Church, Grand Rapids, Mich., which pulpit he filled until 1891. Retiring from the ministry on account of ill-health, he then resided at Brattleboro, Vt., for two years, and since 1893 has been professor of homiletics, pastoral care, and sociology at Hartford Theological Seminary.