Interesting Article on Eblaite Deities

[hukkana]

rsc.byu.edu/archived/temple-antiquity-ancient-records-and-modern-perspectives/temple-and-other-sacred-places

Although the author's speculation on the feminine nature of Kura seems to have been proven false, I still find some of the points here interesting, especially the point on Irmu and Sišeru.

it may be helpful to discuss the god dir-mu in Materiali epigrafici di Ebla (hereafter MEE) 1, n. 1008, and in the personal name i-ti-ir-mu, “With me is Irmu,” in MEE 1, n. 1494. Who is this god whose name is written ir-mu? The answer is probably supplied by Habakkuk 1:16:

‘al-kēn yĕzabbēah leh ermô

wī qatt ēr lemikmartô

kî bahēmmāh šāmēn helqô

ûma’akalo bĕrī’āh

Therefore he sacrifices to his Net,

and burns incense to his Dargnet,

for by these his livelihood is rich,

and his food succulent.

Commentators [4] who seek to explain this passage find the statement “He sacrifices to his Net” puzzling because they do not recognize that hermo the divinized Net; in other words, biblical hermô supplies the initial consonant of Eblaite dir-mu/hirmu/ “Net,” and i-ti-ir-mu/’ittī-hirmu/ “With me is Net.” This may be employed as an example of mutual elucidation: the divine status of dir-mu helps interpret Habakkuk 1:16 hermô as “his Net,” which in turn furnishes the initial consonant of dir-mu.

One gains a further insight into the Canaanite concept of divinity when examining TM.75.G.2238 obv. XII 27–31, 2 u d u dAMA-ra dsi4-šè-lu/sišeru/ “two sheep (in the month) AMA-ra for Sišeru.” Identification of the deity sišeru does not come readily, but comparison with the biblical šāšēr, “red dye, vermilion” (Jeremiah 22:14; Ezekiel 23:14), may prove suggestive. Since vermilion in antiquity was gained from the dried bodies of the females of a scale insect, kermes ilices, which lives on certain oaks on the shores of the Mediterranean and adjacent parts of the Near East, [5] sišeru may have been the divinized kermes ilices. The enormous shipments of multi-colored garments registered in the administrative and economic tablets point to the importance of dyes in the textile operations of Ebla, and since Canaanite red or purple robes were famous in antiquity, the divinization of this source of prosperity becomes comprehensible. Just as the Chaldaean invader offered sacrifices to his Net because it rendered his life prosperous (Habbakuk 1:16), so the Eblaites brought sheep to be sacrificed to sišeru in return for the luxury that this deity provided. One might also direct attention to the deity witnessed in the personal name išx-gi-bù-du/yiśgi-pūtu/ “Lofty is Royal Purple” [6] where put is identified with Ugar. pwt, “red, purple dye.” [7]

And then there's this part

Moving beyond these four cultic texts, we can learn more about sacred constructions from those administrative and economic texts which mention toponyms whose first component is the Sumerian é, read bēt, “house, temple,” in Eblaite. Thus é šu-muKI (MEE 1, n. 1671) seems to signify “Temple of the Name,” and bespeaks the local veneration of the divinized Name that corresponds to the veneration manifest in the personal names tù-bí-šum, “My good is the Name” (MEE 1, n. 722, 760), and iš-má-šum, “The Name hears” (MEE 1, n. 5088). The toponym é-ba-rí-umKI (MEE 2, 40 rev. IV 10), “Temple of the Creator,” reveals the belief in a Creator god that has its counterpart in ba-ra-gúKI (MEE 1, n. 1671), “The Voice has created,” and the PN ib-tá-ra-gú (MEE 2, 7 obv: XIV 14), “The Voice has created for itself.” A similar reverence for the Creator is manifested by the place name é-mu-rí-iqKI (TM.75.G.1444), “The Temple of the Greener,” where the form mu-rí-iq is analyzed as the hiphil participle of the root wrq, “to be green,” hence “the one who makes green.” That this was the function of the Creator may be inferred from Genesis 1:30, “And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has breath of life in it—(I give) every green plant (kol yereq ‘ēśeb) for food” (cf. Gen. 9:3).