for the deity to be just; it was
sufficient that some god felt himself to be offended, whether through
the omission of certain rights or through an error in the performance of
rites or what not. The two facts which presented themselves with
overpowering force to the penitent were the anger of the deity and the
necessity of appeasing that anger. Beyond this conclusion the
Babylonians and Assyrians did not go, but this reasoning also sufficed
to bring the conviction home to him that his misfortunes were the result
of some offence. The man afflicted was a sinner, and the corollary to
this position was that misfortunes come in consequence of sin. Through
the evils alone which overtook one, it became clear to an individual
that he had sinned against the deity. Within this circle of ideas the
penitential psalms of Babylonia move. They do not pass wholly outside of
the general Semitic view that sin is a 'missing of the mark,'--a
failure, whether voluntary or involuntary, to comply with what was
demanded by the deity under whose protection one stood. But one became
conscious of having 'missed the mark' only when evil in some
form--disease, ill luck, deluge, drought, defeat, destruction, storms,
pecuniary losses, family discords, the death of dear ones--came to
remind the individual or the nation of the necessity of securing the
favor of the deity again. Still within this sphere there were great
possibilities of ethical progress, and some of the Babylonian psalms
breathe a spirit and are couched in a diction that have prompted a
comparison with the Biblical psalms.[467] Thrown, as the sinner felt
himself to be, upon the mercy of the angry deity, it mattered little
what had called forth this wrath or whether the deity was conceived as
acting in accordance with just ideas. The thought that would engage the
entire attention of the penitent would be the appeasement of his god. To
effect this, he would not stop short at exaggerating his own guilt. He
would manifest a contrition of spirit that would not be the less sincere
for being, perhaps, out of proportion to the character of his sin when
judged by our standards.

Corresponding to the humiliation of mind to which he would be brought,
his longing to be reconciled to the offended deity would be intensified.
He would address this deity in terms of strong endearment, magnify his
or her powers, as the case may be, and belittle himself and his own
worth. The result of such a mental disc