The Will of the gods

The Assyrians thought that every action of the king and every thing that was done with regard to him in his personal life and in military affairs was believed to be ordained and controlled by the gods. In Rituals of War by Zainab Bahrani, queries are written out that show this belief in the way the oracles treated the gods. Questions such as should the king take a medication, or should he use a certain battle strategy in his attack on another kingdom etc. show this explicitly. The king was very scared that he would do something that the god hadn’t wanted and cause harm for everyone. Therefore, this practice of making sure that every possible question was asked was their way of ensuring that they were truly following the desire of the god. However, the belief that the gods were in control over every action and decision made life less worrisome. The people had a reason for everything that happened, and the king could be confident that their decision was approved simply because it was the decision he made, so it must be that the gods had wanted it.

If the people, especially the king, believed that every thing they did was the derivative of the will of the god, then it seems as though they could have lived in a way that reflected this in a reckless manner. However, for fear of the gods, they were very reverent and did everything they could to make sure that they were following the god’s will. This was a very obedient faith that was all that they knew. It seems that the king was perceived to be extremely confident and sure of himself in the view of the people, but behind the scenes he was in constant fear, which is why the queries are repetitive and seemingly over-detailed. However, as Bahrani explains, it is actually very informative to the attitudes of the people and the fear that they had of making the wrong decisions and upsetting the gods. Therefore, they were able to live in a balance of confidence and insecurity provided by the gods: fear of mistakes, but confidence that the decisions followed the will of the god.