“The great dog; that is, lion, one of the chief gods of the” “Assyrians and Babylonians (2 Kings 17:30), the god of war and” hunting. He is connected with Cutha as its tutelary deity.
“Nergal, protect the king! (1.) One of the “princes of the king” of Babylon who accompanied him in his last expedition against “Jerusalem” (Jer. 39:3, 13).” “(2.) Another of the “princes,” who bore the title of “Rabmag.” He was one of those who were sent to release Jeremiah from “prison (Jer. 39:13) by “the captain of the guard.” He was a” Babylonian grandee of high rank. From profane history and the “inscriptions, we are led to conclude that he was the Neriglissar” “who murdered Evil-merodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, and” succeeded him on the throne of Babylon (B.C. 559-556). He was “married to a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar. The ruins of a palace,” “the only one on the right bank of the Euphrates, bear” inscriptions denoting that it was built by this king. He was “succeeded by his son, a mere boy, who was murdered after a reign” “of some nine months by a conspiracy of the nobles, one of whom,” “Nabonadius, ascended the vacant throne, and reigned for a period” “of seventeen years (B.C. 555-538), at the close of which period” “Babylon was taken by Cyrus. Belshazzar, who comes into notice in” “connection with the taking of Babylon, was by some supposed to” “have been the same as Nabonadius, who was called” “Nebuchadnezzar’s son (Dan. 5:11, 18, 22), because he had married” his daughter. But it is known from the inscriptions that “Nabonadius had a son called Belshazzar, who may have been his” father’s associate on the throne at the time of the fall of “Babylon, and who therefore would be the grandson of” “Nebuchadnezzar. The Jews had only one word, usually rendered” “father, to represent also such a relationship as that of” “grandfather or “great-grandfather.”

Definition of Nergal: “the great man; the hero”

Posted by webmaster on Sunday, August 27th, 2017 @ 3:54PM
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