And it fell out accordingly. But his obstinate heart led him on to that wretched end, which, his neglect of God, and his Infidelity, and Perjury had provided for him. For his own works were guarded by the Walls of Jerusalem, whereas theirs within lay open to his Batteries. But by reason of the train that followed him and his every one leading with him those whom he loved best he was easily traced and pursued.
For whom God had forsaken, no man regarded. Herein was that marvellous Prophesie of Esekiel fulfilled: I will bring him to Babylon, and he shall not see it, Esek. Thus in the eleventh, and last year of Zedechias, which was the eighteenth of Nebuchadnezzar, the Chaldeans entred Page 13 Jerusalem by force, where sparing neither Sex nor Age, they put all to the Sword that they found therein. The nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzars Raign it was, when destroying utterly the great and mighty City of Jerusalem, he exceedingly enriched himself with the spoils of it, and the Temple, and by that dreadfull Example terrified all those that should dare to resist him.
Thus Nebuchadnezzar made his Army serve a great service, against Tyrus, wherein every head was made bald, and every shoulder was made bare, yet had he no wages, nor his Army, Esek.
The Kingdom of Egypt was the mark which he chiefly aimed at. And herein the Decree of God concurred as in all prosperous enterprises with reason of State. For the people of Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Hazor, and other adjoyning Regions, whom God for their sins had condemned to fall under the Babylonian Yoke, were such, as regarding onely their own gain, had, some of them, like Ravens, followed the Chaldean Army, to feed upon the carcasses that fell by the cruelty thereof.
Such, or the like Policy, the Moabjtes also did exercise, whose Pride, and Wrath were made frustrate by God, and their dissimulation condemned, as not doing aright, Jer. Of this expedition, and the Victorious issue thereof, the three great Prophets, Isay, Jeremy, and Esekiel have written so plainly, that its altogether needless to seek after any other authority to confirm the same.
For Esekiel tells us cleerly, that Egypt should be given to Nebuchadnezzar as wages for his great service which he had done against Tyre, Esek. Art thou better than populous Noe, that was situate amongst the Rivers, that had the waters round about it; whose Rampire was the Sea, and her wall was from the Sea.
He too was an evil king and had the gall, even in his already weakened position, to rebel against King Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonian king must have been incredulous—for the third time, he amassed forces to descend on Jerusalem.
Jeremiah the prophet warned Zedekiah of the punishment coming on Judah from the hand of God. He repeatedly warned the king to surrender to the Babylonians in order to spare his life, the lives of the people, and Jerusalem itself.
Zedekiah, though, was stubborn. He was an ineffective king. He secretly desired to remain in contact with Jeremiah to find out the will of God, yet he was too scared of appearing weak before his people by giving in to the Babylonians. Thus, Zedekiah was belligerent against God and against the Babylonians. The Babylonians left Jerusalem, and as Jeremiah had prophesied, throttled the Egyptian army before returning to Jerusalem to continue the siege Jeremiah He would have died in the chamber were it not for his rescue by Ebed-melech the Ethiopian.
There has since been an amazing archaeological attestation to two of these evil princes who desired to kill Jeremiah. It was a year and a half from the time that the Babylonians arrived in Jerusalem to the time that the siege was finished.
Starvation had taken its toll on the inhabitants. The walls were finally broken through, and Zedekiah and the royal family attempted escape—only to be caught by the Babylonians and carted off to King Nebuchadnezzar. The last thing Zedekiah witnessed was the slaughtering of his sons, and then his eyes were burned out—an ignominious end for a pathetic king. There is archaeological attestation to a number of the biblical names of Babylonian princes described at this defeat of Jerusalem.
One of these princes was named Nergalsharezer Jeremiah Archaeology has revealed evidence of this prince, who was actually the son-in-law of King Nebuchadnezzar. He is known in Akkadian as Nergal-sar-usur more commonly as Neriglissar. Another is Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard verse 9. The Babylonians treated the Prophet Jeremiah favorably. King Nebuchadnezzar ii himself had heard of this man, and personally gave orders for the above-mentioned captain Nebuzaradan to treat him well.
As such, Jeremiah was set free with a reward. The king of Babylon established Gedaliah as governor over the cities of Judah, within which only the destitute were allowed to stay. Judah was thoroughly crushed. A rogue Jew named Ishmael, who had some royal genealogy, gathered 10 men of dubious character and killed the Babylonian-appointed governor Gedaliah along with dozens of other Jews.
Ishmael and his men then rounded up hordes of Jews and began herding them toward the land of the Ammonites, with whom Ishmael had an allegiance. Ishmael and his men fled, however, when the captain Johanan and his forces arrived to free the captive Jews.
Johanan began to govern the beleaguered Jews. Jeremiah prophesied that the Jews who would flee to Egypt would again face death at the hands of a Babylonian invasion.
True to form, archaeology has revealed a Babylonian invasion into Egypt that occurred around b. The story picks up again with the Jews who were taken to Babylon. The young Daniel and his three friends were part of the first wave, taken during the reign of Jehoiakim.
The book of Daniel describes how Daniel and his friends were separated along with other captives for their wisdom and cunning in knowledge and science.
These captives were chosen to learn the Chaldean language and to serve King Nebuchadnezzar. This was an incredible prophetic dream, illustrating the progression of four successive world-ruling kingdoms, beginning with Babylon and ending in our day with the coming of the Messiah.
They refused to bow down before a great statute that the king had set up, so Nebuchadnezzar commanded that they be thrown into a fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar hastily decreed that anyone who spoke against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego would face death.
The third, Mushallim-Marduk—possibly Mishael also known as Meshach—same verse. The similarities are too close to overlook. King Nebuchadnezzar later had another dream—this time of a mighty tree that was cut down and whose stump dwelt with the beasts of the field for seven years Daniel 4.
Daniel explained that this dream meant Nebuchadnezzar would lose his position reigning over Babylon and would become insane, living for seven years as one of the beasts of the field. Daniel implored the king to humble himself, if only to postpone this punishment. Yet within only 12 months, Nebuchadnezzar was mid-sentence glorifying his own accomplishments when a voice from heaven spoke and condemned Nebuchadnezzar to his fate.
Not much is known about his later years. We see that from b. From b. And from b. Could this have been the time that Nebuchadnezzar was mentally unfit to rule? This would have been around b. Babylonian records show a very interesting correlation to this account. Babylonian King Evil-merodach is also attested to through archaeology by the native name Awel Marduk.
King Belshazzar is described in Daniel 5 as the last king of Babylon, killed when the city fell to the Persian Empire. A hand subsequently appeared in midair, writing strange words on the wall. The Bible is the only known document that mentions him. Every real historian knew that King Nabonidus was the final king of Babylon, and that he was not killed by the Persians, but rather taken prisoner. Other historical documents clearly supported this. Here, it seemed, was an irreconcilable difference between the Bible and ancient history.
In , British Consul John Taylor was excavating an ancient ziggurat, or temple, located in the area of ancient Ur, an area ruled by Babylon. There, he discovered what became known as the Nabonidus Cylinders. In actual fact, Nabonidus had been spending a great deal of time in northwest Arabia, and had evidently left his son Belshazzar to rule as king over Babylon proper.
Why the third? Surely it was because Belshazzar himself was only the second in command—third was the best he could give! And so, in only one night, Babylon fell to the emerging Medo-Persian Empire in b. The way in which Babylon was taken—its leaders in a drunken stupor and its gates literally left open for the invaders—happened just as the Prophet Isaiah had prophesied nearly years earlier.
You can read more about that incredible invasion here. Babylon subsequently became part of the Persian Empire, the city now administered by King Darius, who himself continued a close working relationship with the Prophet Daniel. Under the benevolent leadership of King Cyrus, captive Babylonians were allowed to live freely, continuing Babylonian society, culture and worship just as before.
This is attested to, famously, by the Cyrus Cylinder. These freedoms given to the Babylonians parallel directly what Cyrus offered to the Jews, allowing them freedom to return from captivity to the land of Judah and rebuild the temple.
From this point on, the Babylonians largely fade from view. I laid its foundation on the breast of the netherworld, and I built its top as high as a mountain. Following a long-established Mesopotamian practice, clay cylinders were inscribed in cuneiform script baked to ensure their survival into the distant future, and deliberately buried in the foundations of buildings as they were being built or restored.
The inner city of Babylon was guarded by further fortification walls. Cylinders such as this were made to be buried, and their text was intended primarily for the gods. Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded. As part of the Met's Open Access policy , you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more. Title: Cuneiform cylinder: inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II describing the construction of the outer city wall of Babylon. Period: Neo-Babylonian.
0コメント