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Nebuchadnezzar
NEBUCHADNEZZAR, NEBUCHADREZZAR (nĕb'ū-kăd-nĕz'êr, nĕb'ū-kăd-rĕz'êr). The great king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire who reigned from 605 to 562 b.c. It was he who carried away Judah in the seventy-year Babylonian captivity. He figures prominently in the books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the later chapters of Kings and Chronicles. Until recently, not many of Nebuchadnezzar’s historical records had been found, though his building inscriptions are numerous. Now the publication by Wiseman of Nebuchadnezzar’s chronicle fills in some of the gaps.
The name Nebuchadnezzar means “Nebo protect the boundary.” The form Nebuchadrezzar is probably a minor variant. Cf. the variations Tiglath-Pilneser (
Nebuchadnezzar’s father, Nabopolassar, seems to have been a general appointed by the Assyrian king. However, in the later years of Assyria he rebelled and established himself as king of Babylon in 626 b.c. The rebellion increased and finally Nabopolassar with the Medes and Scythians conquered Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, in 612. The Medes and Babylonians divided the Assyrian Empire, and a treaty was probably sealed by the marriage of the Median princess to the Babylonian prince, Nebuchadnezzar. In 607 the crown prince Nebuchadnezzar joined his father in the battle against the remnants of the Assyrian power and their allies, the Egyptians. In 605, when his father was in his last illness, he decisively defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish. At this time Nebuchadnezzar took over all Syria and Palestine. Apparently Jehoiakim, king of Judah, who had been vassal to Egypt, quickly did homage to Babylon and gave hostages (
Nebuchadnezzar installed Jehoiachin’s uncle as puppet king, taking heavy tribute from Jerusalem. Ezekiel was among the captives of that expedition. Nebuchadnezzar’s chronicle agrees with the biblical account, telling how (in 597 b.c.) he “encamped against the city of Judah and on the second day of the month Adar [Mar. 15/16] he seized the city and captured the king. He appointed there a king of his own choice, received its heavy tribute and sent them to Babylon” (D. Wiseman, Chronicles of the Chaldean Kings, 1956, p. 73). This discovery gives about the best authenticated date in the OT.
In later years the Chronicle tells of repeated expeditions of Nebuchadnezzar toward the west to collect tribute and keep the satellite kingdoms in line. Unfortunately, the present tablets do not go beyond 593, so they give no record of the final and brutal devastation of Jerusalem in 586 when Zedekiah revolted. The historical gap extends to 556 except for a brief account of a campaign to southern Asia Minor by Neriglissar in 557.
Nebuchadnezzar is celebrated by the historians of antiquity for the splendor of his building operations as well as for the brilliance of his military exploits. Koldewey’s excavations in Babylon illustrate the histories. Still impressive are the remains of the Ishtar Gate and the processional street lined with façades of enameled brick bearing pictures of griffins (fabled monsters with eagle head and wings and lion body). The temple of Esagila was famous, as were also the ziggurat, or temple tower, and the hanging gardens. These were regarded by the Greeks as one of the wonders of the world, though nothing certain of them has been excavated. According to legend, they were built for Nebuchadnezzar’s wife, the Median princess Amytis, who was homesick for her mountains. Parrot, in a study of the ziggurat, reconstructs it as a pyramidal tower, 298 feet (93 m.) square and rising in seven stages to a height of 300 feet (94 m.).
Historical records are brief and could hardly be expected to mention the incidents of Nebuchadnezzar’s life detailed by Daniel. But there is nothing false about the dream of the vision of
As to the madness of Nebuchadnezzar in
Of the death of Nebuchadnezzar we have no knowledge. He was succeeded by his son Evil-Merodach (Amil-Marduk), then by his son-in-law Nergal-Sharezer (Neriglissar), for brief reigns. Nabonidus, who followed after the short reign of Labashi-Marduk, was perhaps related. There is some evidence that Nabonidus’s mother was the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar by a second wife, Nitocris. With the passing of the brilliant Nebuchadnezzar, however, the Neo-Babylonian Empire soon crumbled and fell an easy prey to the Persians under Cyrus.——RLH
NEBUCHADNEZZAR nĕb’ ə kəd nĕz ər (נְבֻכַדְנֶאצַּ֖ר, possibly Aram. [or dissimulated] form from Akkad. Nabū-kudurri-usūr—“[the god] Nabu has protected my inheritance.” So Gr. Ναβουχοδονοσόρ. The Akkad. is closely transliterated by Heb. נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּ֥ר as NEBUCHADREZZAR). King of Babylon, 605-562 b.c.
Sources.
In addition to
Family.
Nebuchadnezzar was the eldest son of Nabopolassar, founder of the Chaldean or Neo-Babylonian dynasty of Babylon. He married Nitocris whose daughter may have married a son Nabonidus, who eventually succeeded him on the throne. He also married Amytis (Amuhia), daughter of Astyages, king of the Medes, possibly as part of the ratification of a political alliance. He had at least three sons, Amēl-Marduk (Evil-Merodach) who immediately succeeded him, Marduk-šum-uṩur and Marduk-šum-lišir. His brother was Nabu-šuma-lišir.
History.
Crown prince Nebuchadnezzar personally led the Babylonian army in the place of his aging father into the northeastern mountains in 607 b.c. and again, two years later, when the Babylonians revenged their defeat by the Egyptians at Kimuḫu through the capture of Carchemish after bloody hand-to-hand fighting in the city in late spring 605 b.c. He pursued the stragglers as far as Hamath so that “not a single man escaped to his own country.” “At that time,” he recorded, “he conquered the whole area of Hatti” (i.e. Syro-Pal.), and penetrated to the Egyp. border to prevent further encroachment from that source (
In 589 Zedekiah rebelled, once again trusting in Egyp. promises of aid. The countryside throughout Judah was ravaged, Lachish sacked, and Tyre besieged for what was to be thirteen years (c. 587-574 b.c.;
Religion.
In his inscrs. Nebuchadnezzar invokes the major Babylonian pantheon and recorded his devotion to the gods Marduk, Nabu, Shamash, Sin, Gula and Adad among others. At the principal shrines he furnished regular offerings of meat, fish, grain and drink. Like his predecessors he claims to have had an image of his royal figure set up in the “plain of Dura” as a reminder of his power and responsibilities (cf.
Building.
Nebuchadnezzar’s boast as a citybuilder and planner is not hollow (
Bibliography
S. H. Langdon, Die neubabylonischen Königsinschriften (1912), 18-45; D. J. Wiseman, Chronicles of Chaldaean Kings (626-556 b.c.) in the British Museum (1956), 18, 37; 64-75; A. Malamat, “A New Record of Nebuchadrezzar’s Palestinian Campaigns,” IEJ, VI (1956), 246-256.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
neb-u-kad-nez’-ar, -rez’-ar: Nebuchadnezzar, the second king of Babylon of that name, is best known as the king who conquered Judah, destroyed Jerusalem, and carried the people of the Jews captive to Babylon. Of all the heathen monarchs mentioned by name in the Scriptures, Nebuchadnezzar is the most prominent and the most important. The prophecies of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, and the last chapters of Kings and Chronicles centered about his life, and he stands preeminent, along with the Pharaohs of the oppression and the exodus, among the foes of the kingdom of God. The documents which have been discovered in Babylon and elsewhere within the last 75 years have added much to our knowledge of this monarch, and have in general confirmed the Biblical accounts concerning him.
1. His Name:
His name is found in two forms in the Bible, Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadrezzar. In the Septuagint he is called Nabouchodonosor, and in the Vulgate (Jerome’s Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) Nabuchodonosor. This latter form is found also in the King James Version Apocrypha throughout and in the Revised Version (British and American) 1 Esdras, Ad Esther and Baruch, but not Judith or Tobit. This change from "r" to "n" which is found in the two writings of the name in the Hebrew and the Aramaic of the Scriptures is a not uncommon one in the Semitic languages, as in Burnaburiyash and Burraburiyash, Ben-hadad and Bar-hadad (see Brockelmann’s Comparative Grammar, 136, 173, 220). It is possible, however, that the form Nebuchadnezzar is the Aramaic translation of the Babylonian Nebuchadrezzar. If we take the name to be compounded of Nabu-kudurri-usur in the sense "O Nebo, protect thy servant," then Nabu-kedina-usur would be the best translation possible in Aramaic. Such translations of proper names are common in the old versions of the Scriptures and elsewhere. For example, in WAI, V, 44, we find 4 columns of proper names of persons giving the Sumerian originals and the Semitic translations of the same; compare Bar-hadad in Aramaic for Hebrew Ben-hadad. In early Aramaic the "S" had not yet become "T" (see Cooke, Text-Book of North-Sem Inscriptions, 188 f); so that for anyone who thought that kudurru meant "servant," Nebuchadnezzar would be a perfect translation into Aramaic of Nebuchadrezzar.
2. Family:
The father of Nebuchadnezzar was Nabopolassar, probably a Chaldean prince. His mother is not known by name. The classical historians mention two wives: Amytis, the daughter of Astyages, and Nitocris, the mother of Nabunaid. The monuments mention three sons: Evil-merodach who succeeded him, Marduk-shum-utsur, and Marduk-nadin-achi. A younger brother of Nebuchadnezzar, called Nabu-shum-lishir, is mentioned on a building-inscription tablet from the time of Nabopolassar.
3. Sources of Information:
The sources of our information as to the life of Nebuchadnezzar are about 500 contract tablets dated according to the days, months and years of his reign of 43 years; about 30 building and honorific inscriptions; one historical inscription; and in the books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Kings. Later sources are Chronicles, Ezra, and the fragments of Berosus, Menander, Megasthenes, Abydenus, and Alexander Polyhistor, largely as cited by Josephus and Eusebius.
4. Political History:
From these sources we learn that Nebuchadnezzar succeeded his father on the throne of Babylon in 604 BC, and reigned till 561 BC. He probably commanded the armies of Babylon from 609. BC. At any rate, he was at the head of the army which defeated Pharaoh-necoh at Carchemish on the Euphrates in 605 BC (see
5. Buildings, etc.:
The monuments justify the boast of Nebuchadnezzar "Is not this great Babylon that I have built?" (
6. Religion, etc.:
The inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar show that he was a very religious man, probably excelling all who had preceded him in the building of temples, in the institution of offerings, and the observance of all the ceremonies connected with the worship of the gods. His larger inscriptions usually contain two hymns and always close with a prayer. Mention is frequently made of the offerings of precious metals, stones and woods, of game, fish, wine, fruit, grain, and other objects acceptable to the gods. It is worthy of note that these offerings differ in character and apparently in purpose from those in use among the Jews. For example, no mention is made in any one of Nebuchadnezzar’s inscriptions of the pouring out or sprinkling of blood, nor is any reference made to atonement, or to sin.
7. Madness:
No reference is made in any of these inscriptions to Nebuchadnezzar’s insanity. But aside from the fact that we could scarcely expect a man to publish his own calamity, especially madness, it should be noted that according to Langdon we have but three inscriptions of his written in the period from 580 to 561 BC. If his madness lasted for 7 years, it may have occurred between 580 and 567 BC, or it may have occurred between the Egyptian campaign of 567 BC and his death in 561 BC. But, as it is more likely that the "7 times" mentioned in Da may have been months, the illness may have been in any year after 580 BC, or even before that for all we know.
8. Miracles, etc.:
No mention is made on the monuments
(1) of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar recorded in
(2) of the image of gold that he set up, or
(3) of the fiery furnace from which the three children were delivered (
As to (1), it may be said, however, that a belief in dreams was so universal among all the ancient peoples, that a single instance of this kind may not have been considered as worthy of special mention. The annals of Ashur-banipal and Nubu-naid and Xerxes give a number of instances of the importance attached to dreams and their interpretation. It is almost certain that Nebuchadnezzar also believed in them. That the dream recorded in Da is not mentioned on the monuments seems less remarkable than that no dream of his is recorded.
As to (2) we know that Nebuchadnezzar made an image of his royal person (salam sharrutiya, Langdon, XIX, B, col. x, 6; compare the image of the royal person of Nabopolassar, id, p. 51), and it is certain that the images of the gods were made of wood (id, p. 155), that the images of Nebo and Marduk were conveyed in a bark in the New Year’s procession (id, pp. 157, 159, 163, 165) and that there were images of the gods in all the temples (id, passim); and that Nebuchadnezzar worshipped before these images. That Nebuchadnezzar should have made an image of gold and put it up in the Plain of Dura is entirely in harmony with what we know of his other "pious deeds."
(3) As to "the fiery furnace," it is known that Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, says that his own brother, Shamash-shumukin, was burned in a similar furnace.
The failure of Nebuchadnezzar to mention any of the particular persons or events recorded in Da does not disprove their historicity, any more than his failure to mention the battle of Carchemish, or the siege of Tyre and Jerusalem, disproves them. The fact is, we have no real historical inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, except one fragment of a few broken lines found in Egypt.
LITERATURE.
T.G. Pinches, The New Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia; Stephen Langdon, Building Inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. See also, Rogers, History of Babylonia and Assyria; and McCurdy, History, Prophecy and the Monuments, III.
R. Dick Wilson