Nebuzaradan
NEBUZARADAN (nĕb'ū-zar-ā'dăn, Akkad. Nebo has given seed). Nebuchadnezzar’s general when the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem (2Kgs.25.8, 2Kgs.25.11-2Kgs.25.12, 2Kgs.25.20; Jer.52.12ff.). The prophet Jeremiah was made the special charge and responsibility of Nebuzaradan (Jer.39.11-Jer.39.14). Nebuzaradan bore the title “commander of the imperial guard.” After the fall of the city of Jerusalem in 586-85 b.c., Nebuzaradan was commissioned by Nebuchadnezzar to conduct the captives to Babylon. Before the appointment of Gedaliah (Jer.40.5) Nebuzaradan was provisional governor of Palestine for the Babylonians. Nebuzaradan presented the option to Jeremiah to travel with him to Babylon or to remain in his own land (Jer.40.1-Jer.40.6). The prophet chose to remain.
He acted kindly to Jeremiah, entrusting him, together with royal princesses and other innocent people, to Gedaliah, the Jewish noble whom he appointed as governor (Jer 39:13, 14; 41:10; 43:6).
He is called rab tabbāḥîm (2 Kings 25:8, 11, 20; Jer 52:30), a term whose precise meaning cannot as yet be determined from the texts. It was a term given high foreign court officials of Egypt and Babylonia (cf. śar ṭabbāḥîm in Gen 37:36, and rab ṭabbāḥayyā' in Dan 2:14).
Bibliography
J. A. Brinkman, Orientalia, 34 (1965), 249, n. 1.