Nebuchadnezzar

3 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

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


          bottles of wine; used especially for display

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  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.
     

From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]:

  Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadrezzar, tears and groans of judgment