BUILDING PROJECTS

Besides attaining numerous military victories and expanding the Babylonian Empire in fulfillment of prophecy (compare Jeremiah chaps. 47-49), Nebuchadnezzar engaged in considerable building activity. To satisfy the homesick longings of his Median queen, Nebuchadnezzar reportedly built the Hanging Gardens, rated as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Many of the extant cuneiform inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar tell of his building projects, including his erection of temples, palaces and walls. An excerpt from one of these inscriptions reads:

“Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, the restorer of Esagila and Ezida, son of Nabopolassar am I. As a protection to Esagila, that no powerful enemy and destroyer might take Babylon, that the line of battle might not approach lmgur-Bel, the wall of Babylon, that which no former king had done [I did]; at the enclosure of Babylon I made an enclosure of a strong wall on the east side. I dug a moat, I reached the level of the water. I then saw that the wall which my father had prepared was too small in its construction. I built with bitumen and brick a mighty wall which, like a mountain, could not be moved and connected it with the wall of my father; I laid its foundations on the breast of the under-world; its top I raised up like a mountain. Along this wall to strengthen it I constructed a third and as the base of a protecting wall I laid a foundation of bricks and built it on the breast of the under-world and laid its foundation. The fortifications of Esagila and Babylon I strengthened and established the name of my reign forever.”—Archaeology and the Bible, by George A. Barton, pp. 478, 479.

HIS INSANITY

The foregoing harmonizes with Nebuchadnezzar’s boast made just before he lost his sanity: “Is not this Babylon the Great, that I myself have built for the royal house with the strength of my might and for the dignity of my majesty?” (Dan. 4:30) But when, in fulfillment of his divinely sent dream about the chopped-down tree, his reasoning powers were restored, Nebuchadnezzar had to acknowledge that Jehovah is able to humiliate those walking in pride.—Dan. chap. 4.

VERY RELIGIOUS

The indications are that Nebuchadnezzar was extremely religious, building and beautifying the temples of numerous Babylonian deities. Particularly was he devoted to the worship of Marduk, the chief god of Babylon. To him Nebuchadnezzar gave credit for his military victories. Trophies of war, including the sacred vessels of Jehovah’s temple, appear to have been deposited in the temple of Marduk (Merodach). (Ezra 1:7; 5:14) Says an inscription of Nebuchadnezzar: “For thy glory, O exalted MERODACH a house have I made. . . . May it receive within itself the abundant tribute of the Kings of nations and of all peoples!”

The image of gold set up by Nebuchadnezzar in the plain of Dura was perhaps dedicated to Marduk and designed to promote religious unity in the empire. Enraged over the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to worship this image even after being given a second opportunity, Nebuchadnezzar commanded that they be thrown into a fiery furnace heated seven times hotter than usual. However, when these three Hebrews were delivered by Jehovah’s angel, Nebuchadnezzar was forced to say that “there does not exist another god that is able to deliver like this one.”—Dan. chap. 3.

Nebuchadnezzar also appears to have relied heavily on divination in planning his military moves. Ezekiel’s prophecy, for example, depicts the king of Babylon as employing divination in deciding whether to go against Rabbah of Ammon or against Jerusalem.—Ezek. 21:18-23.

NEBUSHAZBAN

(Neb·u·shazʹban) [O Nebo, deliver me!].

The Rabsaris, chief court official, in the forces of Nebuchadnezzar that destroyed Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E. Nebushazban was one of several princes that directed the release of Jeremiah. (Jer. 39:13, 14) Either Nebushazban is referred to by his title, or else another man was also called Rabsaris in the group that sat down in the Middle Gate after the Babylonians first broke through Jerusalem’s wall.—Jer. 39:2, 3.

NEBUZARADAN

(Neb·uʹzar·adʹan) [Nebo has given offspring].

Chief of the bodyguard and principal figure in Nebuchadnezzar’s forces at the actual destruction of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E. It does not appear that Nebuzaradan was present during the initial siege and breakthrough of Jerusalem, for it was about a month later that he “came to Jerusalem,” after King Zedekiah had been brought to Nebuchadnezzar and blinded.—2 Ki. 25:2-8; Jer. 39:2, 3; 52:6-11.

From outside the city Nebuzaradan directed the Babylonian operations of destroying the city, which began “on the seventh day of the month” (the fifth month, Ab), and which included looting the temple treasures, wrecking the wall, dealing with the captives and-allowing some of the lowly ones to remain. (2 Ki. 25:8-20; Jer. 39:8-10; 43:5, 6; 52:12-26) Three days later, on the tenth day of the month, it appears that Nebuzaradan “came into Jerusalem” (“entered Jerusalem,” RS, JB), and after an inspection put a torch to the house of Jehovah and reduced the city to ashes. (Jer. 52:12, 13) Josephus observed that it was on the very same day, the tenth day of the fifth month, when Solomon’s temple was burned, that the temple rebuilt by Herod was also burned, in 70 C.E.—Wars of the Jews, Book VI, chap. IV, pars. 5, 8; see AB.

Nebuzaradan, under orders from Nebuchadnezzar, released Jeremiah, and spoke to him kindly, letting him choose what he would do, offering to look after him and granting him some supplies. Nebuzaradan was also spokesman for the king of Babylon in appointing Gedaliah governor over those remaining. (2 Ki. 25:22; Jer. 39:11-14; 40:1-7; 41:10) About five years later, 602 B.C.E., Nebuzaradan took other Jews into captivity, apparently those who had fled to surrounding territories.—Jer. 52:30.

NECHO(H)

(Neʹcho[h]).

A pharaoh of Egypt contemporaneous with Judean King Josiah. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Necho was the son of Psammitichus (Psammetichos, Psamtik I) and succeeded his father as ruler of Egypt. Although beginning construction work on a canal linking the Nile with the Red Sea, he did not complete this project. However, he did send a Phoenician fleet on a voyage around Africa. This journey was successfully completed in three years.—Book II, secs. 158, 159; Book IV, sec. 42.

Toward the close of Josiah’s thirty-one-year reign (659-c. 629 B.C.E.) Pharaoh Necho marched through Canaan to fight the “king of Assyria” (the Babylonian conqueror of Assyria, Nabopolassar). At that time Josiah disregarded a divine warning and was mortally wounded while attempting to turn the Egyptian forces back at Megiddo. About three months later Pharaoh Necho took Jehoahaz, Josiah’s successor to the throne, captive and made twenty-five-year-old Eliakim his vassal, changing the new ruler’s name to Jehoiakim. Necho also imposed a heavy fine on the kingdom of Judah. (2 Ki. 23:29-35; 2 Chron. 35:20–36:4) At Carchemish some four years later (625 B.C.E.) Necho’s forces suffered defeat at the hands of the Babylonians under the command of Nebuchadnezzar.—Jer. 46:2.

NECK

The Bible uses the word in a figurative way a number of times. In the Hebrew, one fleeing in defeat was literally said to turn his “neck” to the enemy (compare Joshua 7:8), that is, the back of