nebuchadnezzar

2 definitions found

nebuchadnezzar - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  Nebuchadnezzar
      n 1: (Old Testament) king of Chaldea who captured and destroyed
           Jerusalem and exiled the Israelites to Babylonia (630?-562
           BC) [syn: Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar II,
           Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuchadrezzar II]
      2: a very large wine bottle holding the equivalent of 20 normal
         bottles of wine; used especially for display

nebuchadnezzar - Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary :

  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.