Some info on Shammash, the great six, the sheshach.
Jer 25:26 And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which [are] upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. Jer 51:41 How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations! Rev 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
(Rome) Food for ThoughtShamash was the common Akkadian name of the sun-god and god of justice in Babylonia and Assyria, corresponding to Sumerian Utu.Contents [hide]1 History and meaning 2 Shamash in Judaism History and meaningThe name simply means "sun". Both in early and in late inscriptions Sha-mash is designated as the "offspring of Nannar," i.e. of the moon-god, and since, in an enumeration of the pantheon, Sin generally takes precedence of Shamash, it is in relationship, presumably, to the moon-god that the sun-god appears as the dependent power. Such a supposition would accord with the prominence acquired by the moon in the calendar and in astrological calculations, as well as with the fact that the moon-cult belongs to the nomadic and therefore earlier stage of civilization, whereas the sun-god rises to full importance only after the agricultural stage has been reached. The two chief centres of sun-worship in Babylonia were Sippar, represented by the mounds at Abu Habba, and Larsa, represented by the modern Senkerah. At both places the chief sanctuary bore the name E-barra (or E-babbara) "the shining house" – a direct allusion to the brilliancy of the sun-god. Of the two temples, that at Sippara was the more famous, but temples to Shamash were erected in all large centres – such as Babylon, Ur, Mari, Nippur and Nineveh. Another reference to Shamash is the Babylonian epic Gilgamesh. When Gilgamesh and Enkidu travel to slay Humbaba, each morning they pray and make libation to shamash in the direction of the rising sun for safe travels.The attribute most commonly associated with Shamash is justice. Just as the sun disperses darkness, so Shamash brings wrong and injustice to light. Hammurabi attributes to Shamash the inspiration that led him to gather the existing laws and legal procedures into a code, and in the design accompanying the code the king represents himself in an attitude of adoration before Shamash as the embodiment of the idea of justice. Several centuries before Hammurabi, Ur-Engur of the Ur dynasty (c. 2600 BC) declared that he rendered decisions "according to the just laws of Shamash." Mesopotamian limestone cylinder seal and impression: worship of Shamash, (Louvre)It was a logical consequence of this conception of the sun-god that he was regarded also as the one who released the sufferer from the grasp of the demons. The sick man, therefore, appeals to Shamash as the god who can be depended upon to help those who are suffering unjustly. This aspect of the sun-god is vividly brought out in the hymns addressed to him, which are, therefore, among the finest productions in the entire realm of Babylonian literature. It is evident from the material at our disposal that the Shamash cults at Sippar and Larsa so overshadowed local sun-deities elsewhere as to lead to an absorption of the minor deities by the predominating one. In the systematized pantheon these minor sun-gods become attendants that do his service. Such are Bunene, spoken of as his chariot driver, whose consort is Atgi-makh, Kettu ("justice") and Mesharu ("right"), who are introduced as servitors of Shamash. Other sun-deities, as Ninurta and Nergal, the patron deities of important centres, retained their independent existence as certain phases of the sun, Ninib becoming the sun-god of the morning and of the spring time, and Nergal the sun-god of the noon and of the summer solstice, while Shamash was viewed as the sun-god in general.Together with Sin and Ishtar, Shamash forms a second triad by the side of Anu, Enlil and Ea. The three powers, Sin, Shamash and Ishtar, symbolized the three great forces of nature, the sun, the moon and the life-giving force of the earth. At times, instead of Ishtar, we find Adad, the storm-god, associated with Sin and Shamash, and it may be that these two sets of triads represent the doctrines of two different schools of theological thought in Babylonia which were subsequently harmonized by the recognition of a group consisting of all four deities.The consort of Shamash was known as Aya. She, however, is rarely mentioned in the inscriptions except in combination with Shamash.This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. Shamash in JudaismSee also: Gabbai In Mishnaic Hebrew the verb-root for "to serve" is שמש, and the noun-form "servant" is pronounced shamash. The Hanukkah menorah has an extra light, called the shamash, which is used to light the eight proper lights. The shamash is set off from the other lights, so as not to be mistaken for one of their number.In Yiddish, a shammesh or shammess is an attendant, caretaker, custodian, or synagogue janitor. The slang term "shamus" for a private detective derives from this usage.[1]The Hebrew words which express the concept of "servant" are entirely unrelated to the Akkadian theophoric name "Shamash" but are loanwords from the ancient Egyptian "sh-m-s" which originally meant "follower" in either a religious or a military sense.This is the glyph used to represent the Egyptian word for follower - shemes (Gardiner Signlist code T18).This article reminds me of a verse in Isaiah pertaining to Satan: The Bet Din Shammash. Communal and synagogal officer whose duties to some extent correspond with those of the verger and beadle. In Talmudical times he was called "ḥazzan"; and then it was also a part of his duties to assist in reciting some of the prayers (see Jew. Encyc. vi. 284-285, s.v. Ḥazzan). But early in the Middle Ages the term "shammash" was already in vogue; and Rashi almost always renders it for the Talmudical "ḥazzan."Functions.In the quasi-autonomous Jewish communities of the Middle Ages the shammash was an officer ofconsiderable power and responsibility. "He assessed the members according to their means . . . and . . . was a sort of permanent under-secretary-of-state, who governed while the parnas was supposed to rule" (Jacobs, "Jewish Year Book" for 5658 [1897-98], p. 262, London, 1897). He was the overseer of the synagogue and the executor of the sentences of the Jewish tribunal ("bet din"), in which capacity he also inflicted corporal punishment on those whom the Jewish court condemned to that penalty. In some localities it was part of his duty to announce every Saturday the results of lawsuits and to inform the community concerning properties which were to be sold. He acted also as the public crier, and, ascending to a high roof on Friday afternoon, notified the community, with a blast of the trumpet thrice repeated at long intervals, that work must cease. In later periods a wooden mallet was substituted for the shofar or trumpet, and notice was given by rapping on the gates that it was time to prepare for attendance at the synagogue. The shammash also made announcements in the edifice itself, sometimes interrupting the prayers to do so. He carried invitations to private festivities, and reminded members of the congregation of their duties, such as leaving their boots at home on the eve of the Day of Atonement and observing certain mourning rites on the Ninth of Ab in case it fell on the Sabbath.Schul- and Stadt- Shammash.In the large communities and in the Jewish cities which developed in Poland in the sixteenth and following centuries it naturally became impossible for the shammash to perform all the duties which were originally connected with his office in the small communities of the Middle Ages; and many of them devolved upon subordinates or upon special shammashim, while other services were relegated to men who no longer bore the title of shammash. Every synagogue in the Slavonic countries usually has a shammash, who is merely an overseer and is assisted by an "unter-shammash," the latter acting as janitor of the building and performing such manual labor as sweeping the floors, cleaning the candle-sticks, etc. The synagogal shammash and his assistant have charge also of the "baḥurim" and "perushim," i.e., the unmarried and the married Talmudical students who make the synagogue their home; and the influence of the shammash is exerted to procure "days" for the former, that is, to find seven households in each of which the poor student may be fed on one day in the week. A large community, however, has besides the "schul-shammash," whose duties and privileges are confined to his own synagogue, one or more "stadt-shammashim" or city shammashim, who are under the immediate jurisdiction of the rabbi and the Ḳahal, or of the representatives and leaders of the entire communal organization. The city shammash usually acts as shammash of the chief place of worship, and in very large communities, where there are often as many as eight or ten city shammashim, each of them in turn fulfils this duty for a certain time.The Bet Din Shammash.The Schulklopfer (one who calls the congregation to the synagogue by rapping on the gates with a wooden mallet), who is now disappearing even from the most backward communities, and who is only a memory in the larger cities of eastern Europe, and the "better" (inviter), who goes from house to house inviting the occupants to a marriage or a "berit milah," are two of the functionaries upon whom have devolved some of the duties of the shammash, but who have not inherited his title. There remains, however, the "bet din shammash," or shammash of the Jewish court of dayyanim, who is the "sheliaḥ bet din" (messenger of the court) of Talmudical times, and whose office probably always had a separate existence, except in very small communities. There is also the shammash of the Ḥebra Ḳaddisha (burial society), whose duties are analogous to those of a sexton.In the United States every Orthodox synagogue has its shammash, who performs most of the duties of the "schul-shammash" of the Old World. He is as a rule better paid than his confrère in Europe, and often has much influence in congregational matters. The office of bet din shammash is found to-day only in the large Jewish centers where rabbis establish a bet din on their own account. As there are no separate communal organizations forming municipalities in the United States, the office of city shammash does not exist in that country.In modern Jewish Reform temples the sexton performs all the duties of the original shammash which remain under the new arrangements.The term "shammash" is applied also to the candle by means of which the Ḥanukkah lights are lighted and which has a defined position in every well-constructed Ḥanukkah lamp.