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Endpaper 353 It is an image of Enlil that matches the exaltation in the Song of Miriam after the miraculous crossing of the Sea of Reeds: "Who is like thee among the gods, Yahweh? Who is like thee mighty in holiness, awesome in praises, the maker of miracles?" (Exodus 15:11). As far as personal characters were concerned, Enki, the fashioner of Mankind, was more forebearing, less stringent with both gods and mortals. Enlil was stricter, a “law and order" type, uncompromising, unhesitant to mete out punish- ments when punishment was due. Perhaps it was because while Enki managed to get away with sexual promiscuities, Enlil, transgressing just once (when he date-raped a young nurse, in what turned out to be his seduction by her), was sentenced to exile (his banishment was lifted when he married her as his consort Ninlil). He viewed adversely the intermar- riage between Nefilim and the "daughters of Man." When the evils of Mankind became overbearing, he was willing to see it perish by the Deluge. His strictness with other Anun- naki, even his own offspring, was illustrated when his son Nannar (the Moon god Sin) lamented the imminent desolation of his city Ur by the deathly nuclear cloud wafting from the Sinai. Harshly Enlil told him: "Ur was indeed granted King- ship; but an everlasting reign it was not granted." Enlil's character had at the same time another side, a re- warding one. When the people carried out their tasks, when they were forthright and god-fearing, Enlil on his part saw to the needs of all, assured the land's and the people's well- being and prosperity. The Sumerians lovingly called him "Father Enlil" and "Shepherd of the teeming multitudes." A Hymn to Enlil, the All-Beneficent stated that without him "no cities would be built, no settlements founded; no stalls would be built, no sheepfolds erected; no king would be raised, no high priest born." The last statement recalled the fact that it was Enlil who had to approve the choice of kings, and by whom the line of Priesthood extended from the sacred precinct of the "cult center" Nippur. These two characteristics of Enlil—strictness and punish- ment for transgressions, benevolence and protection when merited—are similar to how Yahweh has been pictured in the Bible. Yahweh can bless and Yahweh can accurse, the