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nebuchadnezzarmore about nebuchadnezzar

nebuchadnezzar


  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Easton's  1897  Bible  Dictionary  [easton]: 
 
  Nebuchadnezzar 
  in  the  Babylonian  orthography  Nabu-kudur-uzur,  which  means 
  "Nebo,  protect  the  crown!"  or  the  "frontiers."  In  an  inscription 
  he  styles  himself  "Nebo's  favourite."  He  was  the  son  and 
  successor  of  Nabopolassar  who  delivered  Babylon  from  its 
  dependence  on  Assyria  and  laid  Nineveh  in  ruins.  He  was  the 
  greatest  and  most  powerful  of  all  the  Babylonian  kings.  He 
  married  the  daughter  of  Cyaxares  and  thus  the  Median  and 
  Babylonian  dynasties  were  united. 
 
  Necho  II.,  the  king  of  Egypt,  gained  a  victory  over  the 
  Assyrians  at  Carchemish.  (See  {JOSIAH};  {MEGIDDO}.)  This  secured  to  Egypt  the  possession  of  the  Syrian 
  provinces  of  Assyria,  including  Palestine.  The  remaining 
  provinces  of  the  Assyrian  empire  were  divided  between  Babylonia 
  and  Media.  But  Nabopolassar  was  ambitious  of  reconquering  from 
  Necho  the  western  provinces  of  Syria,  and  for  this  purpose  he 
  sent  his  son  with  a  powerful  army  westward  (Dan.  1:1).  The 
  Egyptians  met  him  at  Carchemish,  where  a  furious  battle  was 
  fought,  resulting  in  the  complete  rout  of  the  Egyptians,  who 
  were  driven  back  (Jer.  46:2-12),  and  Syria  and  Phoenicia  brought 
  under  the  sway  of  Babylon  (B.C.  606).  From  that  time  "the  king 
  of  Egypt  came  not  again  any  more  out  of  his  land"  (2  Kings 
  24:7).  Nebuchadnezzar  also  subdued  the  whole  of  Palestine,  and 
  took  Jerusalem,  carrying  away  captive  a  great  multitude  of  the 
  Jews,  among  whom  were  Daniel  and  his  companions  (Dan.  1:1,  2; 
  Jer.  27:19;  40:1). 
 
  Three  years  after  this  Jehoiakim,  who  had  reigned  in 
  Jerusalem  as  a  Babylonian  vassal,  rebelled  against  the 
  oppressor,  trusting  to  help  from  Egypt  (2  Kings  24:1).  This  led 
  Nebuchadnezzar  to  march  an  army  again  to  the  conquest  of 
  Jerusalem,  which  at  once  yielded  to  him  (B.C.  598).  A  third  time 
  he  came  against  it  and  deposed  Jehoiachin,  whom  he  carried  into 
  Babylon,  with  a  large  portion  of  the  population  of  the  city,  and 
  the  sacred  vessels  of  the  temple,  placing  Zedekiah  on  the  throne 
  of  Judah  in  his  stead.  He  also  heedless  of  the  warnings  of  the 
  prophet,  entered  into  an  alliance  with  Egypt,  and  rebelled 
  against  Babylon.  This  brought  about  the  final  siege  of  the  city, 
  which  was  at  length  taken  and  utterly  destroyed  (B.C.  586). 
  Zedekiah  was  taken  captive,  and  had  his  eyes  put  out  by  order  of 
  the  king  of  Babylon,  who  made  him  a  prisoner  for  the  remainder 
  of  his  life. 
 
  An  onyx  cameo,  now  in  the  museum  of  Florence,  bears  on  it  an 
  arrow-headed  inscription,  which  is  certainly  ancient  and 
  genuine.  The  helmeted  profile  is  said  Schrader  to  be  genuine 
  also  but  it  is  more  probable  that  it  is  the  portrait  of  a 
  usurper  in  the  time  of  Darius  (Hystaspes),  called  Nidinta-Bel, 
  who  took  the  name  of  "Nebuchadrezzar."  The  inscription  has  been 
  thus  translated:,  "In  honour  of  Merodach,  his  lord, 
  Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  Babylon,  in  his  lifetime  had  this  made." 
 
  A  clay  tablet,  now  in  the  British  Museum,  bears  the  following 
  inscription,  the  only  one  as  yet  found  which  refers  to  his  wars: 
  "In  the  thirty-seventh  year  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  the 
  country  of  Babylon,  he  went  to  Egypt  [Misr]  to  make  war.  Amasis, 
  king  of  Egypt,  collected  [his  army],  and  marched  and  spread 
  abroad."  Thus  were  fulfilled  the  words  of  the  prophet  (Jer. 
  46:13-26;  Ezek.  29:2-20).  Having  completed  the  subjugation  of 
  Phoenicia,  and  inflicted  chastisement  on  Egypt,  Nebuchadnezzar 
  now  set  himself  to  rebuild  and  adorn  the  city  of  Babylon  (Dan. 
  4:30),  and  to  add  to  the  greatness  and  prosperity  of  his  kingdom 
  by  constructing  canals  and  aqueducts  and  reservoirs  surpassing 
  in  grandeur  and  magnificence  everything  of  the  kind  mentioned  in 
  history  (Dan.  2:37).  He  is  represented  as  a  "king  of  kings," 
  ruling  over  a  vast  kingdom  of  many  provinces,  with  a  long  list 
  of  officers  and  rulers  under  him  "princes,  governors, 
  captains,"  etc  (3:2,  3,  27).  He  may  indeed,  be  said  to  have 
  created  the  mighty  empire  over  which  he  ruled. 
 
  "Modern  research  has  shown  that  Nebuchadnezzar  was  the 
  greatest  monarch  that  Babylon,  or  perhaps  the  East  generally, 
  ever  produced.  He  must  have  possessed  an  enormous  command  of 
  human  labour,  nine-tenths  of  Babylon  itself  and 
  nineteen-twentieths  of  all  the  other  ruins  that  in  almost 
  countless  profusion  cover  the  land,  are  composed  of  bricks 
  stamped  with  his  name  He  appears  to  have  built  or  restored 
  almost  every  city  and  temple  in  the  whole  country.  His 
  inscriptions  give  an  elaborate  account  of  the  immense  works 
  which  he  constructed  in  and  about  Babylon  itself  abundantly 
  illustrating  the  boast,  'Is  not  this  great  Babylon  which  I  have 
  build?'"  Rawlinson  Hist.  Illustrations. 
 
  After  the  incident  of  the  "burning  fiery  furnace"  (Dan.  3) 
  into  which  the  three  Hebrew  confessors  were  cast,  Nebuchadnezzar 
  was  afflicted  with  some  peculiar  mental  aberration  as  a 
  punishment  for  his  pride  and  vanity,  probably  the  form  of 
  madness  known  as  lycanthropy  (i.e,  "the  change  of  a  man  into  a 
  wolf").  A  remarkable  confirmation  of  the  Scripture  narrative  is 
  afforded  by  the  recent  discovery  of  a  bronze  door-step,  which 
  bears  an  inscription  to  the  effect  that  it  was  presented  by 
  Nebuchadnezzar  to  the  great  temple  at  Borsippa  as  a  votive 
  offering  on  account  of  his  recovery  from  a  terrible  illness. 
  (See  {DANIEL}.) 
 
  He  survived  his  recovery  for  some  years,  and  died  B.C.  562,  in 
  the  eighty-third  or  eighty-fourth  year  of  his  age,  after  a  reign 
  of  forty-three  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
  Evil-merodach,  who  after  a  reign  of  two  years,  was  succeeded  by 
  Neriglissar  (559-555),  who  was  succeeded  by  Nabonadius 
  (555-538),  at  the  close  of  whose  reign  (less  than  a  quarter  of  a 
  century  after  the  death  of  Nebuchadnezzar)  Babylon  fell  under 
  Cyrus  at  the  head  of  the  combined  armies  of  Media  and  Persia. 
 
  "I  have  examined,"  says  Sir  H.  Rawlinson  "the  bricks 
  belonging  perhaps  to  a  hundred  different  towns  and  cities  in  the 
  neighbourhood  of  Baghdad,  and  I  never  found  any  other  legend 
  than  that  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  son  of  Nabopolassar  king  of 
  Babylon."  Nine-tenths  of  all  the  bricks  amid  the  ruins  of 
  Babylon  are  stamped  with  his  name 
 
 
  From  Hitchcock's  Bible  Names  Dictionary  (late  1800's)  [hitchcock]: 
 
  Nebuchadnezzar,  Nebuchadrezzar,  tears  and  groans  of  judgment 
 




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