Bible Dictionary
NEBUCHADNEZZAR
NEBUCHADNEZZAR
(ac. “Nabu-kudurri-usur”: “May Nebo defend the borders!”).
Another possible transcription is Nebuchadrezzar. Son of Nabopolassar and king of Babylon. His father successfully led a Chaldean rebellion against Assyria, and founded (in 625 BC) the New Babylonian Empire.
The Uman-mandá, allies of Nabopolassar, took over Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, in the year 612. The new rulers of the Assyrian territories had, since then, the power of Egypt in check. Pharaoh Necho II, enthroned in 609 BC, invaded Palestine (2 Kings 23:9; 2 Chron. 35:20), defeating Josiah, king of Judah, who wanted to oppose him, and killing him in battle. of Megiddo (in the year 608).
Necho returned from Egypt shortly afterward with a large army, in order to extend his dominions beyond the Euphrates. Nabopolassar sent his son, Nebuchadnezzar, to confront the Egyptians, who were crushed (in 605 BC) at the battle of Carchemish.
Nebuchadnezzar rejected them as far as Egypt, and subdued the countries that he passed through (2 Kings 24:7; Jer. 46:2), from the Euphrates to the river of Egypt. Upon hearing of his father’s death, he left his generals to finish the war in the west, and hurried to Babylon, where he was made king in 605 BC. (Against Apion, 1:9).
The OT writers, especially Jeremiah and Ezekiel, his contemporaries, mention Nebuchadnezzar. The book of Ezekiel gives important teachings about his reign. The inscriptions on bricks, and the testimonies of the Babylonian historian Berossus, a priest who lived in the 3rd century BC, complete the documentary picture.
After paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar for three years, Judah rebelled against him (2 Kings 24:1). The king of Babylon returned to the land of Judah, crushed the revolt, had King Jehoiakim put in chains, ordered his son Jehoiakim, the crown prince, deported to Babylon, and established Zedekiah, Jehoiakim’s brother, as regent (2 Chron. 36: 6, 10). (See JOACIM, JOACHIM, ZEDEKIAH).
For eight years, Zedekiah remained submissive, but in the ninth year, with the promise of an Egyptian army, he rebelled (Jer. 37:5). In the year 586, Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem, burned the Temple, and deported all the notables of the country (2 Kings 24:25; 2 Chron. 36:5-21; Jer. 39; 52).
At this time (586-573 BC) the king of Babylon besieged Tire (Ez. 29:18; Against Apion 1:21; Ant. 10:11, 1). In the twenty-third year of his reign (582) he fought against Coleosyria, Moab, and Ammon, deporting many hundreds of Jews (Jer. 52:30; Ant. 10:9, 7). In the thirty-seventh year of his reign (about 567), Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt (cf. Ez. 29:19).
It is likely that Nebuchadnezzar undertook further expeditions, but no documents are known about this. His policy consisted of deporting the defeated, dispersing them throughout the various regions of his empire. Thus having a large workforce, he carried out important works.
From the inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar himself it can be seen that he attributed more importance to his constructions than to his military victories, which are relegated to the background. In the inscription of the House of India are found the following words of Nebuchadnezzar: “Since the time when Merodach created me for sovereignty, when Nebo his true son entrusted his subjects to me, I have loved as life itself the erection of his abode; and I have made no more glorious city than Babylon and Borsipa” (col. VII, lines 26-32).
Among other of these numerous works we can mention the great wall of Babylon and the magnificent royal palace; he restored the great temple of Marduk in Babylon, that of Nebo in Borsipa, and a large number of other sanctuaries.
He is said to have made the hanging gardens of Babylon for Queen Amitis, his Median wife, who was longing in the plain of Babylon for the mountains of her country (Against Apion 1:9; Ant. 10:11, 1). It is said that he built, near Sipara, for irrigation, an immense artificial lake that measured more than 225 km in perimeter and 55 m. deep.
He made a network of canals that covered the entire country, building docks and jetties in the Persian Gulf. All of this contributed to pride dominating him, for which he was punished, falling victim to lycanthropy (a mental disorder in which the affected person imagines that he is an animal).
Nebuchadnezzar was “seven times” deprived of reason, eating grass like an ox (Dan. 4). Then he came to his senses; Having reigned more than 43 years, he died in 562 BC. He succeeded his son Evil-merodach.
Nebuchadnezzar and archeology.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon has been the subject of systematic excavations carried out from 1899 to 1917 by Robert Koldowey and the Deutsche Orientgesellschaft (cf. Koldowey, “Das Wiedererstehende Babylon”, 4th ed., 1925).
In these excavations, which to date have been the only ones with a truly scientific methodology, the imposing Ishtar Gate was discovered, which crossed the passage of the double wall; It was decorated with enameled bricks representing a whole series of bulls and dragons (cf. R. Koldowey, “Das IschtarTor in Babylon”, 1918).
Nebuchadnezzar’s throne room was similarly decorated with magnificent geometric borders on enamelled bricks. The king’s own ziggurat was in the temple precinct. According to Herodotus, it had eight floors, but only the first remains.
Thus, archeology perfectly illustrates the Babylon described by the Word of God, and, together with the inscriptions, documents the character of that Nebuchadnezzar who said, in a fit of arrogance; “Is not this the great Babylon that I built for a royal house by the might of my power, and for the glory of my majesty?”
BETHEL
is the name of a Canaanite city in the ancient region of Samaria, located in the center of the land of Canaan, northwest of Ai on the road to Shechem, 30 kilometers south of Shiloh and about 16 kilometers north of Jerusalem.
Bethel is the second most mentioned city in the Bible. Some identify it with the Palestinian village of Beitin and others with the Israeli settlement of Beit El.
Bethel was the place where Abraham built his altar when he first arrived in Canaan (Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:3). And at Bethel Jacob saw a vision of a ladder whose top touched heaven and the angels ascended and descended (Genesis 28:10-19).
For this reason Jacob was afraid, and said, “How terrible is this place! It is nothing other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven »and he called Bethel the place that was known as «Light» (Genesis 35-15).
Bethel was also a sanctuary in the days of the prophet Samuel, who judged the people there (1 Samuel 7:16; 1 Samuel 10:3). And it was the place where Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, was buried.
Bethel was the birthplace of Hiel, who sought to rebuild the city of Jericho (1 Kings 16:34).
When Bethel did not yet belong to the people of Israel, Joshua had to battle against the king of Bethel and other kings and defeated them (Joshua 12-16).
When the people of Israel had taken possession of the promised land, in the division by tribes it was assigned to the Tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18-22), but in later times it belonged to the Tribe of Judah (2 Chronicles 13:19).
It was one of the places where the Ark of the Covenant remained, a symbol of the presence of God.
In Bethel the prophet Samuel judged the people.
Then the prophet Elisha went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up the road, some boys came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him: “Go up, bald man; Come up, bald! When he looked back and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the forest and tore to pieces forty-two boys” (2 Kings 2:23).
After the division of the kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam I, king of Israel, had a golden calf raised at Bethel (1 Kings 21:29) which was destroyed by Josiah, king of Judah, many years later (2 Kings 23:15). .
Bethel was also a place where some of the Babylonian exiles who returned to Israel in 537 BC gathered. (Ezra 2:28).
The prophet Hosea, a century before Jeremiah, refers to Bethel by another name: “Bet-Aven” (Hosea 4:15; Hosea 5:8; Hosea 10:5-8), which means ‘House of Iniquity’, ‘House of Nothingness’, ‘House of Vanity’, ‘House of Nullity’, that is, of idols.
In Amos 7: 12-13 the priest Amaziah tells the prophet Amos that he flee to Judah and no longer prophesy in Bethel because it is the king’s sanctuary, and the head of the kingdom.
The prophet Jeremiah states that “the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel” (Jeremiah 48:13), because of their idolatry and, specifically, the worship of the golden calf.
PUTEOLI
(lat.: “small fountains”).
Two days after arriving in Rhegium, the ship carrying Paul arrived at Puteoli, which was then an important maritime city.
The apostle found Christians there, and enjoyed their hospitality (Acts 28:13).
It was located on the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples, near the site of present-day Pouzzoles.
The entire surrounding region is volcanic, and the Solfatare crater rises behind the city.
PUT
Name of a nation related to the Egyptians and neighbors of their country (Gen. 10:6).
Put is mentioned with Egypt and other African countries, especially Libya (Nah. 3:9) and Lud (Ez. 27:10; Is. 66:19 in the LXX. Put appears between Cush and Lud in Jer. 46:9; Ez. 30:5).
In the LXX he is translated as Libyans in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Josephus also identifies it with Libya (Ant. 1:6, 2), but in Nah. 3.9 is distinguished from the Libyans.
Current opinion is divided between Somalia, Eastern Arabia and Southern Arabia (Perfume Coast).
PURPLE
A coloring substance that is extracted from various species of mollusks. The ancient Tyrians used two types of them: the “Murex trunculus”, from which the bluish purple was extracted, and the “Murex brandaris”, which gave the red.
The ink of its coloring matter varies in color depending on the region in which it is fished.
Piles of murex shells, artificially opened, have been discovered in Minet el-Beida, port of ancient Ugarit (Ras Shamra), which gives evidence of the great antiquity of the use of this purple dye (see UGARIT).
Due to its high price, only the rich and magistrates wore purple (Est. 8:15, cf. the exaltation of Mordecai, v. 2, Pr. 31:22; Dan. 5:7; 1 Mac. 10 :20, 62, 64; 2 Mac. 4:38; cf. v 31; Luke 16:19; Rev. 17:4).
The rulers adorned themselves in purple, even those of Midian (Judg. 8:26). Jesus was mocked with a purple robe (Mark 15:17).
Great use had been made of purple-dyed fabrics for the Tabernacle (Ex. 25:4; 26:1, 31, 36) and for the high priest’s vestments (Ex. 28:5, 6, 15, 33; 39: 29). The Jews gave symbolic value to purple (Wars 5:5, 4).
PURIM
(Heb., plural of “luck”).
Haman cast lots to determine a day of good omen for the destruction of the Jews.
As Haman’s designs were undone, the liberation of the Jews was marked by an annual festival (Est. 3:7; 9:24-32) on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar.
This festival is not mentioned by name in the NT, although there are exegetes who assume that it is the one referred to in Jn. 5:1.
This festival continues to be celebrated within Judaism: the book of Esther is read, and curses are pronounced on Haman and his wife, blessings are pronounced on Mordecai and the eunuch Harbonah (Est. 1:10; 7: 9).
PURIFICATION, PURITY
In the Mosaic Law four ways to purify oneself from contamination were indicated:
(a) Purification of contamination contracted by touching a dead person (Num. 19; cf. Num. 5:2, 3),
(b) Purification from impurity due to bodily emissions (Lev. 15; cf. Num. 5:2, 3).
(c) Purification of the woman in labor (Lev. 12:1-8; Luke 2:21-24).
(d) Purification of the leper (Lev. 14).
To this, the scribes and Pharisees added many other purifications, such as washing hands before eating, washing vessels and dishes, showing great zeal in these things, while inside they were full of extortion and iniquity (Mark 7: 2-8).
In Christianity the necessary purification extends:
to the heart (Acts 15:9; James 4:8),
to the soul (1 Pet. 1:22), and
to the conscience through the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:14).
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BETHEL
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