nebuchadnezzar Summary and Overview

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 T0002116; MEGIDDO T0002463.) This secured to Egypt the possession of the Syrian provinces of Assyria, including Israel. 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 Israel, 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 T0000969.) 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 Henry 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.

NEBUCHADNEZ'ZAR (may Nebo protect the crown!). or, more correctly,

In the monuments Nabu-juduri-utsur, the middle syllable being the same as Kudur or Chedor-laomer. Explained by Gesenius "the prince favored by Nebo"; Oppert, "Nebo, kadr ("power"), and zar ("prince")"; Rawlinson, "Nebo his protector (participle from naatsar "protect") against misfortune" (kidor "trouble".) His father Nabo-polassar having overthrown Nineveh, Babylon became supreme. Married his father's Median ally, Cyaxares' daughter, Amuhia, at the time of their alliance against Assyria 625 B.C. (Abydenus in Eusebius, Chronicles Can., i. 9). Possibly is the Labynetus (Herodotus i. 74) who led the Babylonian force under Cyaxares in his Lydian war and whose interposition at the eclipse (610 B.C.) concluded the campaign. Sent by Nabopolassar to punish Pharaoh Necho, the conqueror of Josiah at Megiddo. Defeated Necho at Carchemish (605 B.C.) and wrested from him all the territory from Euphrates to Egypt (Jeremiah 46:2; Jeremiah 46:12; 2 Kings 24:7) which he had held for three years, so that "he came not again any more out of his land." Became master of Coelo-Syria, Phoenicia, and Israel. Took Jerusalem in the third year of Jehoiakim, and "carried into the land of Shinar, to the house of his god (Merodach), part of the vessels of the house of God" (Daniel 1:1-2; 2 Chronicles 36:6). Daniel and the three children of the royal seed were at that time taken to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar mounted the throne 604 B.C., having rapidly re-crossed the desert with his light troops and reached Babylon before any disturbance could take place. He brought with him Jehovah's vessels and the Jewish captives. The fourth year of Jehoiakim coincided with the first of Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 25:1). In the earlier part of the (year Nebuchadnezzar smote Necho at Carchemish, Jeremiah 46:2). The deportation from Jerusalem was shortly before, namely, in the end of Jehoiakim's third year; with it begins the Babylonian captivity, 605 B.C. (Jeremiah 29:1-10). Jehoiakim after three years of vassalage revolted, in reliance on Egypt (2 Kings 24:1). Nebuchadnezzar sent bands of Chaldees, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites against him (2 Kings 24:2). Next, Phoenicia revolted. Then in person Nebuchadnezzar marched against Tyre. In the seventh year of his reign he marched thence against Jerusalem; it surrendered, and Jehoiakim fell, probably in battle. Josephus says Nebuchadnezzar put him to death (Ant. 10:6 section 3). (See JEHOIAKIM.) Jehoiakim after a three months' reign was carried away to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar with the princes, warriors, and craftsmen, and the palace treasures, and Solomon's gold vessels cut in pieces, at his third advance against Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:8-16). Tyre fell 585 B.C., after a 13 years' siege. Meantime Zedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar's sworn vassal, in treaty with Pharaoh Hophra (Apries) revolted (Ezekiel 17:15). Nebuchadnezzar besieged him 588-586 B.C., and in spite of a temporary raising of the siege through Hophra (Jeremiah 37:5-8) took and destroyed Jerusalem after an 18 months' siege (2 Kings 25). Zedekiah's eyes were put out after he had seen his sons slain first at Riblah, where Nebuchadnezzar "gave judgment upon him," and was kept a prisoner in Babylon the rest of his life. (See GEDALIAH; NEBUZARADAN; JERUSALEM.) Phoenicia submitted to him (Ezekiel 26-28; Josephus, Ap. 1:21), and Egypt was punished (Jeremiah 46:13-26; Ezekiel 29:2-10, Josephus, Ant. 10:9, section 7). Nebuchadnezzar is most celebrated for his buildings: the temple of Bel Merodach at Babylon (the Kasr), built with his Syrian spoils (Josephus, Ant. 10:11, section 1); the fortifications of Babylon, three lines of walls 80 ft. broad, 300 ft. high, enclosing 130 square miles; a new palace near his father's which he finished in 15 days, attached to it were his "hanging gardens," a square 400 ft. on each side and 75 ft. high, supported on arched galleries increasing in height from the base to the summit; in these were chambers, one containing the engines for raising the water to the mound; immense stones imitated the surface of the Median mountain, to remind his wife of her native land. The standard inscription ("I completely made strong the defenses of Babylon, may it last forever ... the city which I have glorified," etc.) accords with Berosus' statement, and nine-tenths of the bricks in situ are stamped with Nebuchadnezzar's name. Daniel (Daniel 4:30) also records his boast, "is not this great Babylon which I have built by the might of my power and for the honour of my majesty?" Sir H. Rawlinson (Inscr. Assyr. and Babyl., 76-77) states that the bricks of 100 different towns about Bagdad all bear the one inscription, "Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabopolassar, king of Babylon." Abydenus states Nebuchadnezzar made the nahr malcha, "royal river," a branch from the Euphrates, and the Acracanus; also the reservoir above the city Sippara, 90 miles round and 120 ft. deep, with sluices to irrigate the low land; also a quay on the Persian gulf, and the city Teredon on the Arabian border. The network of irrigation by canals between the Tigris and Euphrates, and on the right bank of the Euphrates to the stony desert, was his work; also the canal still traceable from Hit at the Euphrates, framing 400 miles S.E. to the bay of Grane in the Persian gulf. His system of irrigation made Babylonia a garden, enriching at once the people and himself. The long list of various officers in Daniel 3:1-3; Daniel 3:27, also of diviners forming a hierarchy (Daniel 2:48), shows the extent of the organization of the empire, so that the emblem of so vast a polity is "a tree ... the height reaching unto heaven, and the sight to the end of all the earth ... in which was meat for all, under which the beasts ... had shadow and the fowls dwelt in the boughs and all flesh was fed of it" (Daniel 4:10-12). In Daniel 2:37 he is called "king of kings," i.e. of the various kingdoms wheresoever he turned his arms, Egypt, Nineveh, Arabia, Phoenicia, Tyre. Isaiah's patriotism was shown in counseling resistance to Assyria; Jeremiah's (Jeremiah 27) in urging submission to Babylon as the only safety; for God promised Judah's deliverance from the former, but "gave all the lands into Nebuchadnezzar's hands, and the beasts of the field also, to serve him and his son and his son's son." The kingdom originally given to Adam (Genesis 1:28; Genesis 2:19-20), forfeited by sin, God temporarily delegated to Nebuchadnezzar, the "head of gold," the first of the four great world powers (Daniel 2 and Daniel 7). As Nebuchadnezzar and the other three abused the trust, for self not, for God, the Son of Man, the Fifth, to whom of right it belongs, shall wrest it from them and restore to man his lost inheritance, ruling with the saints for God's glory and man's blessedness (Psalm 8:4-6; Revelation 11:15-18; Daniel 2:34-35; Daniel 2:44-45; Daniel 7:13-27). Nebuchadnezzar was punished with the form of insanity called lycanthropy (fancying himself to be a beast and living in their haunts) for pride generated by his great conquest and buildings (Daniel 4). When man would be as God, like Adam and Nebuchadnezzar he sinks from lordship over creation to the brute level and loses his true manhood, which is likeness to God (Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:19; Genesis 3:5; Psalm 49:6; Psalm 49:10-12; Psalm 82:6-7); a key to the symbolism which represents the mighty world kingdoms as "beasts" (Daniel 7). Angel "watchers" demand that every mortal be humbled whosoever would obscure God's glory. Abydenus (268 B.C.) states: "Nebuchadnezzar having ascended upon his palace roof predicted the Persian conquest of Babylon (which he knew from Daniel 2:39), praying that the conqueror might be borne where there is no path of men and where the wild beasts graze"; a corruption of the true story and confirming it. The panorama of the world's glory that overcame Nebuchadnezzar through the lust of the eye, as he stood on his palace roof, Satan tried upon Jesus in vain (Matthew 4:8-10). In the standard inscription Nebuchadnezzar says, "for four years in Babylon buildings for the honour of my kingdom I did not lay out. In the worship of Merodach my lord I did not sing his praises, I did not furnish his altar with victims, nor clear out the canals" (Rawlinson, Herodotus, ii. 586). It was "while the word was in the king's mouth there fell a voice from heaven ... thy kingdom is departed from thee" (compare Herod, Acts 12:19-20). His nobles cooperated in his being "driven from men" (Daniel 4:33); these same "counselors and lords sought unto him," weary of anarchy after the "seven times," i.e. a complete sacred cycle of time, a week of years, had passed over him, and with the glimmer of reason left he "lifted up his eyes unto heaven," instead of beast like turning his eyes downward (compare Jonah 2:1-2; Jonah 2:4), and turned to Him that smote him (Isaiah 9:13), and "honoured Him" whom before he had robbed of His due honour. Psalm 116:12; Psalm 116:14; Mark 5:15; Mark 5:18-19; compare on the spiritual lesson Job 33:17-18; 1 Samuel 2:8; Proverbs 16:18. Messiah's kingdom alone will be the "tree" under whose shadow all nations, and even the dumb creatures, shall dwell in blissful harmony (Ezekiel 17:23; Matthew 13:32; Isaiah 11:6-9). Nitocris was probably his second queen, an Egyptian (for this ancient name was revived about this time, as the Egyptian monuments prove), for he lived 60 years after his marriage to his first queen Amuhia (625 B.C.). Herodotus ascribes to Nitocris many of the works assigned by Berosus to Nebuchadnezzar. On his recovery, according to the standard inscription, which confirms Scripture, he added "wonders" in old age to those of his earlier reign. He died 561 B.C., 83 or 84 years old, after reigning 43 years. Devotion to the gods, especially Bel Merodach, from whom he named his son and successor Evil Merodach, and the desire to rest his fame on his great works and the arts of peace rather than his warlike deeds, are his favorable characteristics in the monuments. Pride, violence and fury, and cruel sternness, were Nebuchadnezzar's faults (Daniel 2:12; Daniel 3:19; 2 Kings 25:7; 2 Kings 24:8). Not to Daniel but to Nebuchadnezzar, the first representative head of the world power who overcame the theocracy, the dreams were given announcing its doom. The dream was the appropriate form for one outside the kingdom of God, as Nebuchadnezzar and Pharaoh (Genesis 41). But an Israelite must interpret it; and Nebuchadnezzar worshipped Daniel, an earnest of the future prostration of the world power before Christ and the church (Revelation 3:9; 1 Corinthians 14:25; Philemon 2:10; 1 Corinthians 6:2; Luke 19:17). The image set up by Nebuchadnezzar represented himself the head of the first world power, of whom Daniel had said "thou art this head of gold." Daniel was regarded by Nebuchadnezzar as divine, and so was not asked to worship it (Daniel 2:46). The 60 cubits' height includes together the image, 27 cubits (40 1/2 ft.), and the pedestal, 33 cubits (50 ft.). Herodotus, i. 183, similarly mentions Belus' image in the temple at Babylon as 40 ft. high. Oppert found in the Dura (Dowair) plain the pedestal of what must have been a colossal statue. Nebuchadnezzar is the forerunner of antichrist, to whose "image" whosoever will not offer worship shall be killed (Revelation 13:14).