Sin (mythology)
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Sin was the name of the lunar god in Babylonia and Assyria. He was also known as Nanna, the "illuminer."
The two chief seats of Sin's worship were Ur in the south, and Harran to the north. The cult of Sin spread to other centres, at an early period, and temples to the moon-god are found in all the large cities of Babylonia and Assyria.
He is commonly designated as En-zu, i.e. "lord of wisdom,". This attribute clings to him throughout all periods. During the period (c. 2600-2400 BC) that Ur exercised a large measure of supremacy over the Euphrates valley, Sin was naturally regarded as the head of the pantheon. It is to this period that we must trace such designations of the god as "father of the gods," "chief of the gods," "creator of all things," and the like. We are justified in supposing that the cult of the moon-god was brought into Babylonia by the Semitic nomads from Arabia.
The moon-god is par excellence the god of nomadic peoples. The moon being their guide and protector at night when, during a great part of the year, they undertake their wanderings. This is just as the sun-god is the chief god of an agricultural people. The cult once introduced would tend to persevere, and the development of astrological science culminating in a calendar and in a system of interpretation of the movements and occurrences in the starry heavens would be an important factor in maintaining the position of Sin in the pantheon. The name of Sin's chief sanctuary at Ur was E-gish-shir-gal, "house of the great light". At Harran it was known as E-khul-khul, "house of joys." On seal-cylinders he is represented as an old man with flowing beard with the crescent as his symbol. In the astral-theological system he is represented by the number 30, and the planet Venus and his daughter by the number 15. The number 30 stands obviously in connection with the thirty days as the average extent of his course until he stands again in conjunction with the sun.
The "wisdom" personified by the moon-god is likewise an expression of the science of astrology in which the observation of the moon's phases is so important a factor. The tendency to centralize the powers of the universe leads to the establishment of the doctrine of a triad consisting of Sin, Shamash and Ishtar, personifying the moon, sun and the earth as the life-force.
The God Sin in History
by Joe Guretzki
Orthodox tradition represents Abraham as a member of a Semitic tribe from Ur. The Sumerian gods Enki, An, Enlil, Utu, Nanna, and Inanna would have been known to Abraham also as Ea, Anu, Bel, Shamash, Sin, and Ishtar.
Abraham’s tribe left Ur and travelled to Harran in southeastern Turkey. Harran was a pilgrimage city and centre of the Sin cult. It was while Abraham was at Harran that God is said to have called him to go to a country that he would show him. It was not the moon god Sin who called Abraham; he may have undergone a religious conversion that led him to change his beliefs and location.
Sin was known as "father of the gods, chief of the gods, creator of all things" and so on. This moon-god was also claimed by the nomadic peoples, and was their light and protector at night during their wanderings; agricultural peoples had the sun-god for he made the crops flourish. Those agricultural peoples soon had a solar calendar based on the sky phenomena, to regulate the times of sowing, reaping and so on. The moon, and its movements, was not as adaptable for an agriculture calendar.
The ancient Hebrew's calendar was based on the motions of the moon, and their sky lore and religious practices were so based. They had the seven days of creation, a seven day week of which the seventh day was Saturday, their Sabbath, and they had their 28-day lunar months. The moon is used by and represents the Jews for these reasons: The moon has no light of its own, it merely reflects the light of the sun. So, too, they say, Jews reflect the light of God, not like other people. The moon's light waxes and wanes, unlike the light of the sun. So, too, they say, the light and fortune of the Jews waxed in the times of mythic David and Solomon, and then waned, but it will return to its full brightness with the arrival of the Messiah even if it takes another 5600 years.
Hebrews compare a woman to the moon; she's volatile and impulsive, her see-sawing emotions are often punctuated by bursts of inspired creativity. At times her shiny personality is like the full moon; But similarly she has periods of dysfunctional darkness. The rest of the time she moves between these extremes, so that one finds her in gradual decline or on the way to a painful recovery. Her periods match the moon cycles in length. Compared to her effervescent personality a man' can be said to be staid. The Jews say that for one short period every nineteen years their lives sort of mesh and feel rewarded; their disparate lives seem to merge and they enjoy a period of harmonious living. Jews are determined to incorporate into their lives the surety and continuity of the sun, the man type, grounded in truths. Life is about creativity, constant self reinvention, and about faithfulness and consistency.
The moon god stood in primitive thought for perpetual renewal, immortality, and eternity. Moon worship preceded Sun worship in every primitive society because the moon was a type of Savior for the people who were terrified of the dark of night, and they saw the night as the enemy that the moon conquered. In Talmudic tradition it represents the Messiah, a savior.
The Mesopotamians ascribed very great importance to the moon. It was the moon god who governed the passing of the months through his waxing and waning. The unvarying lunar cycle gave Sin a special connection with order, with wisdom, and with immortality.
In ancient Egypt the god Thoth combined the attributes of the Lord of Wisdom (Sin) and the scribe who wrote the story of reality and time. Eventually his name came to mean Truth and Time, one who civilized man. And so the great metaphor: the moon was seen as always redirecting the light of the sun to the dark side of the world, the god Sin brought enlightenment to a benighted world. Thoth was the one who Reckons the Heavens, the Counter of the Stars and the Measurer of the Earth; echoed in the Jewish Bible about their God.
The sun used the moon to bring light to the world just as God, the Father Sun sent his Son, the Christ or Messiah, to the unenlightened people. The priesthood of the Jews preferred to keep the enlightenment in their own hands so the benefits of leadership could be kept in their control. They did a good job of convincing countless people to listen to the words of the make-believe prophet, Moses. Through literacy, the logos, they attempted a historical redemption for their race.
There are traces within the story of Moses that he was a priest of the Moon God, Chaldean Yaho. The Papyrus of Ani in chapters 2 and 18 Yah, or Iah, is a moon god: "I am the moon-god Iah among the gods; I do not fail." Hebrew yareah (Yahrayach) means "Wanderer"--the moon in all phases.