Between Elective Autocracy and Democracy: Formalizing Biblical Constitutional Theory BARUCH HALPERN I. Near Eastern myth, from Egypt to Mesopotamia, is of one mind on the issue of kingship. It holds that kingship was, in the words of the Mes- opotamian myth, lowered from heaven, where it began before the dawn of time. Kingship was the natural order of the cosmos, and of humanity as well. But kingship among the gods was won, not inherited: it had an eti- ology. Thus, in the simple plot of the Enuma Elish, theogony reaches the rowdy descendants of Apsu and Tiamat. Apsu determines to kill the unruly brood. But the children preempt their father—who becomes the subterranean waters. To avenge her husband, Tiamat recruits an army, with a general, and challenges the gods to send out a champion against her. 1 After two such saviors return in defeat, the gods send for Marduk. Marduk is elevated to kingship over the gods. Should he return with his shield from combat with Tiamat, his kingship will be confirmed. So, endowed with the power of creation by fiat—of stars on the ecliptic with its implications of regulating times (four stars, four quarters of heaven) —Marduk challenges Tiamat in single combat. He routs her, opens her mouth with “an evil wind” and fires an arrow down her gullet into her heart. Tristan employs a like technique to slay a dragon in medieval epic. Disposing of Tiamat’s minions, Marduk divides her body “like a shell- fish”: her nether half is the bowl of the earth, initially the terrestrial waters; her upper half the dome of the sky. Between the two halves are the pillars of this biosphere, the regulation of which by a few central gods ensues. 1. The relationship between Deborah and Baraq in Judges 4 is almost an inversion of this topos, although it is Sisera who is specially slain, like the dragon Tiamat. editorial note: ???