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| The Sumerian Goddess Ishtar in The Land of No Return |
There are a list of topics I have tried to get to, and in
each case someone has waited patiently. This is one, and so I will share what I
have found.
It was back in July when an Elder asked me the following
question:
Is it true that Lehi
quotes Shakespeare?
The implication is important. Certainly the ramifications
are clear enough to our brothers and sisters who see this verse as an obvious
faux pas (misstep) on the part of Joseph Smith. Put simply, if Joseph Smith invented
The Book of Mormon from his own imagination, and if while searching for things
to say he used a line straight out of Shakespeare, then the citation would be “proof”
Joseph Smith invented The Book of Mormon.
But in all fairness, let’s table the converse proposition,
namely, If the passage in question is
not a quote from Shakespeare but rather some aspect of the ancient world that
was unknown at the time of the publication of The Book of Mormon, then we have
yet another proof of the authenticity and genuineness of The Book of Mormon.
So let’s see what the issue is. I will quote the relevant
passage from The Book of Mormon:
Awake! And arise from the
dust,
and hear the words of a
trembling parent,
whose limbs ye must soon
lay down in the cold and silent grave
from whence no
traveler can return;
a few more days and I go
the way of all the earth.
(2 Nephi 1:14)
To grunt and sweat under
a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death-
The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns- puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
But that the dread of something after death-
The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns- puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
(Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1, lines 1770-1775)
Now, let me introduce one
other challenge. In 1826 a certain scholar by the name of Josiah Priest
published a book entitled “The Wonders of Nature and Providence, Displayed”. Some
detractors note that Josiah Priest quotes Shakespeare and actually misquotes
Shakespeare, but the misquoted passage more closely resembles what Lehi said.
The quote from Josiah Priest that is often cited is “from whence no traveller returns.”
Herein is one piece of advice: Always check the source:
I then requested him to
leave me,
as my time was short,
and I had some
preparation to make
before I went hence to
“that bourne from
whence no traveller returns.”
(Josiah Priest, “The Wonders of Nature and Providence, Displayed”, 1826, p.
550)
The focus has long been
on Lehi saying “from whence no traveller can return.” However, in Shakespeare,
and indeed in all the quotes of this passage from Hamlet, the key words are “that
bourne from whence no traveller can return.” (“Bourne” or “bourn” means “destination”.)
While we are on the point
of quoting similar passages, let us examine two that often get overlooked:
Are not my days few?
cease then, and let me
alone,
that I may take comfort a
little.
Before I go whence I
shall not return,
even to the land of
darkness
and the shadow of death.
(Job 10:21-22)
When a few years are
come,
then I shall go the
way
whence I shall not
return.
(Job 16:22)
What is particularly notable
in the passages from Job is that not only do the words “whence” and “return”
appear, but the expressions “(my) days few” and "go the way" appear. Notice how Lehi says “a few more
days and I go the way (of all the earth)”. This is a pretty open and shut case:
Lehi quoted Job. This is logical since Job was one of the most studied of
ancient prophets precisely because he suffered so much during his life, and
remained faithful. Job is quoted by other prophets, such as David who actually
quotes with some modification the same passages Lehi did:
Behold, thou hast made my
days
as an handbreadth;
and mine age is as
nothing before thee:
verily every man at his
best state
is altogether vanity.
Selah.
O spare me,
that I may recover
strength,
before I go hence,
and be no more.
(Psalm 39:5,13)
In this passage David
makes reference to having few days left, “days as an handbreadth” and going
hence to “be no more”, i.e. “shall not return”.
There is, however, a little more to share. The peoples of the ancient
Middle East had curious descriptive names for the afterworld.
Among the Sumerians, from 911-612 BC, on clay tablets the
following term is attested, “Kurnugia” or ‘the Land of No Return’. http://cdli.ox.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=descent_ishtar_netherworld
In the Sumerian poem dated to 911-612 BC, the Goddess
Ishtar, having decided to descend from Heaven to Earth, now decides to descend
from Earth to the Underworld of the dead. Note the following passage, the
introductory stanza “The Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld”:
To Kurnugi, (‘To the Land
of No Return’),
Ishtar daughter of Sin was [determined] to go;
The daughter of Sin was determined to go
To the dark house, dwelling of Erkalla's god,
To the house which those who enter cannot leave,
On the road where travelling is one-way only,
To the house where those who enter are deprived of light,
Where dust is their food, clay their bread.
They see no light, they dwell in darkness,
They are clothed like birds, with feathers.
Over the door and the bolt, dust has settled.
Ishtar daughter of Sin was [determined] to go;
The daughter of Sin was determined to go
To the dark house, dwelling of Erkalla's god,
To the house which those who enter cannot leave,
On the road where travelling is one-way only,
To the house where those who enter are deprived of light,
Where dust is their food, clay their bread.
They see no light, they dwell in darkness,
They are clothed like birds, with feathers.
Over the door and the bolt, dust has settled.
Addressed her words to the keeper of the gate,
"Here gatekeeper, open your gate for me,
Open your gate for me to come in!
"Here gatekeeper, open your gate for me,
Open your gate for me to come in!
Notice the Sumerians also used the imagery of “dwelling in
darkness” and “no light” as Job did, and travelers are on a “one-way road” to “the
Land of No Return”.
There are more texts from the period just prior to Lehi's putative departure from Jerusalem, texts that are dedicated
to the God Tammuz (or Dumuzi/d). In the lament “In the Desert by the Early
Grass” the realm of the dead is referred to both as “The Far-off Land” and “The
Land of No Return”. Here is an excerpt of a mother offering to travel with her
son (who has died) to the underworld:
If it be required, thou lad,
let me walk with thee
the road of no return.
She goes, she goes
toward the breast of the mountains,
the day waning, the day waning,
toward the mountains, still bright,
to him who lies in blood and water,
the sleeping lord,
to him who knows no healing lustrations,
to the road making an end
of the one who walks it,
to the traces of the kings,
to the grange of the anointed ones.
What is very interesting about the passage from the text
describing the God Tammuz is that is "the road of no return" and the reference to "day waning", i.e., not much time or many days left until the end. However, even more relevant is that fact that some Israelites adopted the worship of
Tammuz at the time that Lehi was in Jerusalem, as seen in The Book of Ezekiel in The Bible:
Then he brought me to the door
of the gate of the LORD’s house
which was toward the north;
and, behold, there sat women
weeping for Tammuz.
(Ezekiel
8:14)
It is noteworthy that Ezekiel was born in 622 B.C. and died
in 570 B.C. He was a contemporary of Lehi, and hence Ezekiel’s prophecy of the
sticks of Judah and Joseph are quoted in The Book of Mormon: Another Testament
of Jesus Christ, 2 Nephi 3:12.
Thus not only does Lehi’s passage on death bear strong
influence from Job, Lehi’s passage reveals common expressions used in the
Middle East, and not just in that region, in that region just prior to 600 B.C., (“The Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld” and “In the Desert by the Early
Grass”).
Textual detective work is fun, to say the least. As to the implications of the passages I
will leave readers to ponder the significance independently.
However the reader feels inclined to lean, though, I would ask one thing only: that we
remember that the citations are “actually textual”.
Nota Bene: I owe a debt of gratitude to Leah Whitehead Craig whose
well researched thesis proved invaluable in referencing Sumerian texts from the
region of Palestine in the decades just prior to Lehi’s departure from
Jerusalem. (http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1116&context=stu_hon_theses)
