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. CYRUS' PERMISSION FOR THE RETURN TO JERUSALEM.

1. Inscriptions of Nabuna'id.

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!1

Belshazzar is here said to be the son of Nabuna'id, whereas in Dan. 511, 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..

tom.

.the king entered the in the lower sea revolt

Bel came out; the feast of Akiti (Sept.-Oct.), according to the cus...the gods of Marad, Zagaga, and the gods of Kish, Bêltis, 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 (Sept.-Oct.) 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 Archeology, VII, 157, f.

peace to all of Babylon. He appointed Gobryas his satrap, and also prefects in Babylon. From Kisleu (Nov.-Dec.) unto Adar (Feb.-March), the gods of Akkad, whom Nabuna'id had brought to Babylon, returned to their cities. In the month Marcheswan, on the night of the 11th, Gobryas unto...

...the

son of the king was killed. From the 27th of Adar to the 3rd of Nisan there was lamentation in Akkad. All the people bowed their heads. On the 4th day Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, went to Eshapakalama.1

4. Bearing of This Account on the Book of Daniel.

This interesting text here becomes too broken for connected translation. It is clear that the document means to state that Nabuna'id was king of Babylon when it was captured, and not Belshazzar, as stated in Daniel 5:30. It states, also, that Cyrus captured Babylon and not Darius the Mede, as in Dan. 5:31. It is true that Gobryas took Babylon first, and occupied it about two weeks before Cyrus arrived. He was, however, Cyrus's officer and was acting in his name. Critical scholars, who believe that Daniel was written 168-165 B. C., find in these statements a confirmation of their views. They think its author lived so far from the events that he confused their exact order. Those who defend the traditional date of Daniel think that Gobryas is meant by Darius the Mede, and see in the exalted position which Belshazzar held, as crown prince and commander of the army, sufficient ground for the Biblical statement that he was king. By such interpretations they harmonize this chronicle with the Bible.

Dr. Theophilus G. Pinches has recently published2 some extracts from two tablets from Erech which are in the possession of an Englishman, Mr. Harding Smith, which throw some additional light on these points. It was customary for Babylonians in confirming a contract to swear by the name of the reigning king, and one of these tablets contains a contract, dated in the 12th year of Nabuna'id, in which a man bound himself by the oath of Nabuna'id, King of Babylon, and of Belshazzar, the king's son. As Belshazzar is here associated with the king, he must have been but slightly lower in rank and power than the king himself.

This is confirmed by a tablet at Yale, recently published by Prof. Clay. The text contains the interpretation of a dream for the King Nabuna'id and for his son Belshazzar. It is dated in the seventh year of the reign of Nabuna'id.

1 From Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, VII, 162, f., and Clay, Light on the Old Testament from Babel, 374, f.

2 See Expository Times, Vol. XXVI, 297–299 (April, 1915).

Babylonian Texts from the Yale Collection, No. 39.

The other tablet quoted by Pinches shows that in the fourth year of Cambyses (i. e., 524 B. c.), Gobryas was still governor of Babylon. If he is the man who in Daniel is called Darius the Mede, he exercised the powers of governor in Babylon for a considerable number of years.

5. Inscription of Cyrus.

The following is an inscription of Cyrus. The lines are much broken at the beginning, but it reads as follows:1

.begat (?) him.....

. to Ur

[the four] regions of the world. ..great coward was established as ruler over the land.. ..a similar one he set over them; like Esagila he made... and the rest of the cities a rule not suitable for them... .he planned daily and in enmity he caused the established sacrifice to cease. He appointed .he established within the city. The worship of Marduk, king of the gods. ....he wrought hostility against his city daily.... .his [people] all of them he destroyed through servitude, without rest. On account of their lamentation the lord of the gods was exceedingly angry and [left] their territory; the gods who dwelt among them left their dwellings. In anger because he brought [them] into Babylon, Marduk... to return to all the dwellings, their habitations, which were overthrown. The people of Sumer and Akkad, who were like corpses, he brought back and..

...granted them a return. Through all lands he made his way, he looked, he sought a righteous prince, a being whom he loved, whom he took by the hand. Cyrus, King of Anshan, he called by name and designated him to rule over all the lands. The land of Qutu, all the Scythian hordes, he made to submit to his feet. The black-headed people (i. e., the Babylonians), whom he caused his hand to capture, in faithfulness and righteousness he sought. Marduk, the great lord, looked joyfully upon the return of his people, his kindly deeds and upright heart. To his city, Babylon, he commanded him to go; he caused him to take the road to Babylon, going as a friend and companion at his side. His numerous army, the number of which was, like the waters of a river, unknown, marched at his side girded with their weapons. He caused him to enter Babylon without war or battle. He preserved his city, Babylon, from tribulation; he filled his (Cyrus's) hand with Nabuna'id, the king who did not fear him. All the people of Babylon, all of Sumer and Akkad, the princes and governors, prostrated themselves under him and kissed his feet. They rejoiced in his sovereignty; their faces shone. The lord, who by his power makes the dead to live, who from destruction and injustice had saved them, altogether they blessed him in joy; they revered his name.

I am Cyrus, king of the world, the great king, the mighty king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters of the world, son of Cambyses, the great king, king of Anshan, grandson of Cyrus, the great king, king of Anshan, great-grandson of Teispes, the great king, king of Anshan; an everlasting seed of royalty, whose government Bel and Nabu love, whose reign in the goodness of their hearts they desire. When I entered in peace into Babylon, with joy and rejoicing I took up my lordly dwelling in the royal palace, Marduk, the great lord, moved the understanding heart of the people of Babylon to me, while I daily sought his worship. My numerous troops dwelt peacefully in Babylon; in all Sumer and Akkad no terrorizer did I permit. In Babylon and all its cities in peace I looked about. The people of Babylon [I released] from 1 From Rawlinson's Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, V, 35.

an unsuitable yoke. Their dwellings-their decay I repaired; their ruins I cleared away. Marduk, the great lord, rejoiced at these deeds and graciously blessed me, Cyrus, the king who worships him, and Cambyses, my son, and all my troops, while we in peace joyfully praised before him his exalted divinity. All the kings who dwell in palaces, from all quarters of the world, from the upper sea to the lower sea, who live [in palaces], all the kings of the Westland who live in tents, brought me their heavy tribute in Babylon and kissed my feet. From..... to Ashur and Susa, Agade, Eshnunak, Zamban, Meturnu, Deri, to the border of Gutium, the cities [beyond] the Tigris, whose sites had been founded of old,-the gods who dwelt in them I returned to their places, and caused them to settle in their eternal shrines. All their people I assembled and returned them to their dwellings. And the gods of Sumer and Akkad, whom Nabuna'id, to the anger of the lord of the gods, had brought into Babylon, at the command of Marduk, the great lord, I caused in peace to dwell in their abodes, the dwellings in which their hearts delighted. May all the gods, whom I have returned to their cities, pray before Marduk and Nabu for the prolonging of my days, may they speak a kind word for me and say to Marduk, lord of the gods, "May Cyrus the king, who fears thee, and Cambyses, his son, their.. caused all to dwell in peace"..

6. Bearing on the Capture of Babylon and the Return of the Jews. This inscription confirms the statement of the chronicle already quoted that Cyrus conquered the city of Babylon without a blow. The most important feature of it for the student of the Bible is, however, its revelation of the reversal of the Assyrian policy of transportation. That policy had been inaugurated by Tiglathpileser IV more than two hundred years before. In accordance with it the kingdom of Israel had first been stripped of its more prominent inhabitants who had been carried captive to distant lands, and then the kingdom of Judah. Cyrus determined to attach his subjects to himself by gratitude instead of terror, so he permitted, as he says here, those who had been transported to return to their several countries and rebuild their temples. It was in consequence of this general policy that the Jews were permitted to return from Babylonia and rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. This is referred to in Ezra, chapter 1. It is there implied that Cyrus made a special proclamation concerning the temple at Jerusalem. Some scholars infer from the above inscription of Cyrus, that the book of Ezra (chapter 1) has freely interpreted the general policy of Cyrus as a special permission granted to the Jews. It may be, however, as others have held, that a special edict was issued in favor of each individual nation in order that this general policy might be carried out without opposition.

In any event, the inscription confirms the statement of Ezra that Cyrus permitted the Jews to return.