home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
Wrap
Nebuchadnezzar: "The great king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (605 to 562 B.C.). It was he who carried away Judah in the 70-year Babylonian captivity. He figures prominently in the books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the later chapters of Kings and Chronicles. "In 605 he decisively defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish. Jehoiakim, king of Judah, did homage to Babylon but later revolted (2 Kings 24:1). In 597 Jehoiakim rebelled again, and Nebuchadnezzar called out his troops for another western expedition. Jehoiakim died (Jer 22:18-19), and his son Jehoiachin ascended the throne for three months; he was taken as a hostage to Babylon, where he lived and finally was given relative freedom (2 Kings 25:27-30). Ezekiel was among the captives of this expedition. Nebuchadnezzar's chronicle agrees with the biblical account. This discovery gives about the best authenticated date in the OT." (THE NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE, © 1987 Zondervan, pp. 695-97)