These extracts from the inscriptions of Ashurbanipal show that during the reign of Manasseh he was active in reducing the rebellions of Phoenician cities, some of which, as Tyre and Accho, were at the doors of Palestine. No doubt Manasseh continued to pay him tribute and so was not molested. The name of Ashurbanipal is preserved in Ezra 4 : 10 in the corrupt form of Osnappar. 15. Necho of Egypt, 609-593 B. C.

Year 16, fourth month of the first season, day 16, under the majesty of Horus: Wise-hearted; king of Upper and Lower Egypt; Favorite of the two goddesses: Triumphant; Golden Horus: Beloved-of-the-Gods; Uhemibre; Son of Ra, of his body, his beloved: Necho, living forever, beloved of Apis, son of Osiris.1

(An account of the interment of an Apis bull then follows.)

The above is the beginning of an inscription of Pharaoh Necho, whose defeat of King Josiah, of Judah, is recorded in 2 Kings 23: 29, f. He became over-lord of Judah for four years and placed Jehoiakim on the Judæan throne (2 Kings 23:34). Necho was himself defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates by Nebuchadrezzar, of Babylon, in 604 B. C., and as he retreated to Egypt Nebuchadrezzar pursued him through Palestine. The book of Jeremiah speaks of this defeat and vividly describes the pursuit which followed. (Cf. Jer. 46:2, f.)

16. Nebuchadrezzar II, 604–562 B. C.

Many inscriptions of Nebuchadrezzar are known, but most of them relate to buildings. The following extracts are those which best illustrate the Bible.

In exalted trust in him (Marduk) distant countries, remote mountains from the upper sea (Mediterranean) to the lower sea (Persian Gulf), steep paths, blockaded roads, where the step is impeded, [where] was no footing, difficult roads, desert paths, I traversed, and the disobedient I destroyed; I captured the enemies, established justice in the lands; the people I exalted; the bad and evil I separated from the people."

Reference to the Lebanon

From the upper sea to the lower sea,. [which] Marduk, my lord, had entrusted to me, in [all] lands, the totality [of dwelling-places] I [exalted] the city of Babylon to the first place. I caused his name to be reverenced among the cities; the shrines of Nabu and Marduk, my lords, I made them recognize, continually..........At that time the Lebanon mountain, the mountain [of cedar), the proud forest of Marduk, the odor of whose cedars is good..

1 From Breasted's Ancient Records, Egypt, IV, 498.

..my god, Marduk, the

Translated from Rawlinson's Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, I, 33, col. ii, line 12, ff.

king to the palace of the princes....

ment.

of heaven and earth shone as adornAs a foreign enemy had taken possession of (the mountain) and seized its riches, its people had fled and taken refuge at a distance. In the power of Nabu and Marduk, my lords, I drew up [my soldiers, for battle] in mount Lebanon. Its enemy I dislodged above and below and made glad the heart of the land. I collected its scattered people and returned them to their place. I did what no former king had done; I cleft high mountains, stones of the mountain I quarried, I opened passes. I made a straight road for the cedars. Mighty cedars they were, tall and strong, of wonderful beauty, whose dark appearance was remarkable,-the mighty products of mount Lebanon.. .I made the people of mount Lebanon to lie down in abundance; I permitted no adversary to possess it. That none might do harm I set up my royal image forever.1

A Building Inscription

Nebuchadrezzar, 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 ImgurBel, 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.

O Marduk, lord of the gods, my divine creator, may my deeds find favor before thee; may they endure forever! Eternal life, satisfied with posterity, a secure throne, and a long reign grant as thy gift. Thou art indeed my deliverer and my help, O Marduk, I by thy faithful word which does not change-may my weapons advance, be sharp and be stronger than the weapon of the foe!2

Nebuchadrezzar was the king who destroyed Jerusalem and carried the more prominent of the people of Judah captive. (See 2 Kings 24 and 25.) His inscriptions give no account of these events. In the first of the quotations made above he covers all his conquests by one general reference. In the second quotation he gives a more detailed account of his conquest of the Lebanon, because that inscription was carved on the rocks at the side of one of the deep valleys of the Lebanon. The third inscription, relating to the building of Babylon, has been strikingly confirmed by Koldewey's excavation of Babylon, by which the massive walls and extensive temples were uncovered. It also gives us a background for Daniel 4: 29,

1 Translated from Pognon, Les inscriptions babyloniennes du Wadi Brissa, Pl. xiii, f., and Recueil de traveaux relatifs à la philologie et à l'archeologie egyptiennes et assyriennes, XXVIII, 57. See also Langdon, Neubabylonischen Königsinschriften, 174, ff.

Translated from the Zeitschrift für Assyriologie, I, 337, f.

See Part I, Chapter II, p. 46, f.

where Nebuchadrezzar is said to have walked upon1 the royal palace and said: "Is not this great Babylon which I have built?"

17. Evil-Merodach, 562-560 B. C.

Nebuchadrezzar was succeeded by his son, Amil-Marduk, whom the Bible (2 Kings 25:27) calls Evil-Merodach. The only inscription of his that has been found is the following, inscribed on an alabaster vase found at Susa, whither the Elamites had at some time carried it as booty:2

Palace of Amil-Marduk, King of Babylon, son of Nebuchadrezzar, King of Babylon.

This is the king who released Jehoiachin, King of Judah, from prison after his thirty-six years in confinement and treated him kindly.

1 This is the reading of the margin in R. V., and correctly translates the original. He was not walking "in" the palace, but upon its flat roof, from which he could see the great city. From de Morgan's Délégation en Perse, Vol. XIV, p. 60.

NOTE ON THE LAND OF THE QUEEN OF SHEBA.-This region, which lay in South Arabia, was explored during the nineteenth century by a number of travelers. Three of these, Thomas J. Arnaud in 1843, Joseph Halévy in 1869, and Eduard Glaser who made four expeditions between 1882 and 1894, brought back from South Arabia many inscriptions, several of which were made by rulers of Saba, the Biblical Sheba, whose queen is said to have visited Solomon (1 Kings 10: 1–13). As none of these relate to that queen, it has not seemed fitting to include one of them. The inscriptions, however, show that two important kingdoms existed there, Saba and Main. Main is thought by some to be related to the Biblical Midianites. The Greek version of Job makes Job's friend, Zophar, king of Main. The kingdom of Saba lasted until 115 B. C. It established strong colonies in Africa. In 115 B. C. one colony overthrew the mother-country and established the kingdom of Saba and Raidhan, which lasted till about 300 A. D. After that Saba became apparently unimportant, but various Semitic kingdoms succeeded one another in Africa, including the present-day Abyssinian kingdom. The Abyssinian king claims descent from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE END OF THE BABYLONIAN EXILE

INSCRIPTIONS OF NABUNA'ID; THEIR BEARING ON BIBLICAL Statements Regarding BELSHAZZAR. ACCOUNT OF THE CAPTURE OF BABYLON BEARING ON THE BOOK OF DANIEL. INSCRIPTION OF CYRUS BEARING ON THE CAPTURE OF BABYLON. PERMISSION For the Return to JERUSALEM.

1. Inscriptions of Nabuna'id.

CYRUS'

Several inscriptions of this king, who ruled 555-538 B. C., are known, but only a brief extract of one of them is given here, as the major part of the material has no bearing on the Bible.

Nabuna'id, King of Babylon, the restorer of Esagila and Ezida, the worshiper of the great gods am I. .O Sin, lord of the gods of heaven and earth, god of the gods,.. as for me, Nabuna'id, King of Babylon, save me from sinning against thy great divinity. A life of many days grant as thy gift. As for Belshazzar, the firstborn son, proceeding from my loins, place in his heart fear of thy great divinity; let him not turn to sinning; let him be satisfied with fulness of life!

Belshazzar is here said to be the son of Nabuna'id, whereas in Dan. 5 11, 18 Nebuchadrezzar is called his father. Nabuna'id, as the Babylonian documents show, was not a descendant of Nebuchadrezzar, but a usurper of another family. Some scholars hold that this shows the book of Daniel to be in error, while others hold that "father" in Dan. 5 : 11, 18 is equivalent to "ancestor," and think Belshazzar may have been descended from Nebuchadrezzar on his mother's side.

The Nabuna'id-Cyrus Chronicle

This chronicle is known only from a tablet which is somewhat broken. The following extract will show the nature of its contents:

In the 9th year Nabuna'id was at Tema. The son of the king, the princes, and soldiers were in Akkad. The king did not come to Babylon in Nisan, Nebo did not go to Babylon. Bel did not go out. The festival sacrifice was omitted. They offered sacrifices in Esagila and Ezida on account of Babylon and Borsippa, that the land might prosper. On the 5th of the month, Nisan 1 From Rawlinson's Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, V, 68, No. 1.

the mother of the king, died in Dur-karashu on the bank of the Euphrates above Sippar. The son of the king and the soldiers mourned three days. In the month Sivan there was mourning for the king's mother in Akkad.

In the month Nisan Cyrus, King of Persia, mustered his soldiers, and crossed the Tigris below Arbela and in the month Iyyar went to the land of... its king he killed, he took his possessions. His own governor (?) he placed in it ..afterward his governor (?) and a king (?) were there.1

2. Bearing on Biblical Statements Regarding Belshazzar. Similar chronicles are given by the tablet for other years. It is stated each time what Nabuna'id was doing; where the king's son (Belshazzar) was, and what Cyrus was doing. Cyrus, who overthrew the Median king in 553 B. C., was occupied for several years in subjugating other lands before he attacked Babylon. He overthrew Croesus, King of Lydia, in 546. It would seem that it was well known in Babylonia what he was doing each year. Those scholars who believe that Isaiah 40-55 is the work of a prophet who lived during the Babylonian Exile, claim that this chronicle explains how that prophet could refer in Isa. 44: 28; 45:1 to Cyrus as a well-known figure. They see the exercise of the prophetic gift of the prophet in the faith which he had that Cyrus would release Israel from captivity. Those who believe that the whole of the book of Isaiah is the work of the son of Amoz, see in these verses pure prediction of the rise of Cyrus as well as of the release of the Jews.

3. Account of the Capture of Babylon.

From the chronicle just quoted we have the following statement for the 17th year of the reign of Nabuna'id:

Nebo to go forth from Borsippa. temple of Edurkalama. In the month..

the king entered the in the lower sea a revolt

Bel came out; the feast of Akiti (Sept.-Oct.), according to the custom. ....the gods of Marad, Zagaga, and the gods of Kish, Beltis, and the gods of Harsagkalama entered Babylon. Unto the end of Elul (Aug.-Sept.) the gods of Borsippa, Cutha, and Sippar did not enter. In the month Tammuz (June-July) Cyrus, when he made battle in Opis, on the banks of the river Zalzallat, with the soldiers of Akkad, conquered the inhabitants of Akkad. When they assembled the people were killed. On the 14th Sippar was taken without a battle. Nabuna'id fled. On the 16th Gobryas, governor of the land of Gutium, and the soldiers of Cyrus entered Babylon without a battle. Later Nabuna'id was captured because he remained in Babylon. To the end of the month the shield-bearers of the land of Gutium assembled at the gates of Esagila. No weapon of any kind was taken into Esagila or the temples; nor was the standard raised. On the third day of Marcheswan (Oct.-Nov.) Cyrus entered Babylon. The walls (?) were broken down before him. Cyrus proclaimed

1 From Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, VII, 157, f.