Nebuchadnezzar II, also spelled Nebuchadrezzar II, was the second Neo-Babylonian emperor, ruling from the death of his father Nabopolassar in 605 BC to his own death in 562 BC1. He was the eldest son of Nabopolassar, the founder of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Nebuchadnezzar II is known for his military might, the splendor of his capital, Babylon, and his important part in Jewish history. His name, from the Akkadian Nabu-kudurri-uṣur, means “O Nabu, watch over my heir”2. Nebuchadnezzar II is typically regarded as the empire's greatest king. He is found more than ninety times in the Old Testament3. Nebuchadnezzar II captured Jerusalem in 597 and recaptured it in 587/586, and deported prominent citizens to Babylon. He devoted time and energy to restoring Babylon, by paving roads, rebuilding temples, and digging canals4. He is credited with building the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar II died in 561 BC, and was succeeded by his son Evil-merodach.
Nebuchadnezzar and Jerusalem
According to the Rabbis
In Rabbinical Literature, Nebuchadnezzar is referred to as the "wicked one" ("ha-rasha'"; Meg. 11a; Ḥag. 13b; Pes. 118a). He was believed to be a son or descendant of the Queen of Sheba by her marriage with Solomon ("Alphabet Ben Sira," ed. Venice, 21b; comp. Brüll's "Jahrb." ix. 9), and a son-in-law of Sennacherib (Targ. to Isa. x. 32; Lam. R., Introduction, 23, says "a grandson"), with whom he took part in the expedition of the Assyrians against Hezekiah, being one of the few who were not destroyed by the angels before Jerusalem (Sanh. 95b). Nebuchadnezzar came to the throne in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim of Judah, whom he subjugated and, seven years later, killed after that king had rebelled. Nebuchadnezzar did not on this occasion go to Jerusalem but received the Great Sanhedrin of Jerusalem at Daphne, a suburb of Antioch, informing that body that it was not his intention to destroy the Temple, but that the rebellious Jehoiakim must be delivered to him, which was done (Seder 'Olam R. xxv.; Midr. 'Eser Galuyyot, ed. Grünhut, "Sefer ha-Liḳḳuṭim," iii.; Lev. R. xix.; comp. Jehoiakim in Rabbinical Literature).
Nabuchadnezzar Breaking Covenants
According to Josephus ("Ant." x. 6, § 3), the King of Judah voluntarily received Nebuchadnezzar and his army in the city. However, Nebuchadnezzar treacherously broke the compact between them and massacred the king together with the strongest and most beautiful inhabitants of Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar then carried away into captivity 5,000 Judeans and 7,000 of the other tribes, including all the nobles and scholars of the city (Josephus, l.c.; Seder 'Olam R. l.c.; Midr. 'Eser Galuyyot, l.c.). When he celebrated his triumph in Babylon and told his subjects how he had made Jehoiachin king in the place of his rebellious father Jehoiakim, they reminded him of the proverb: "A poor dog has no good progeny." Nebuchadnezzar then returned to Daphne, where he received the Great Sanhedrin and told it that he desired to take King Jehoiachin to Babylon. When it delivered the king to him, Jehoiachin was cast into prison for life (Lev. R. xix. 6; comp. Seder 'Olam R. l.c.; Yer. Sheḳ. vi. 49a; and Jehoiachin in Rabbinical Literature). The King of Babylon again showed how little sacred an oath was to him, for, although he had pledged his word that he would not harm the city, he carried captive to Babylon a large number of the inhabitants (Josephus, l.c. x. 7, § 1) together with the Ark of the Covenant (Seder 'Olam R. l.c.).
Nebuchadnezzar was afraid to obey the command to destroy the house of his master, remembering the defeat Sennacherib had suffered in a similar attempt. Nebuchadnezzar asked the advice of different oracles, all of whom warned him not to undertake the expedition against Jerusalem (Lam. R. l.c.). Furthermore, the Ammonites and the Moabites, Israel's "wicked neighbors," gave inducements to Nebuchadnezzar to come by saying that the Prophets announced Judah's downfall.
They allayed the king's fear lest God might send the same fate upon him that He had upon Sennacherib, by saying that God had now abandoned Israel, and that there were left among the people no pious ones able to turn away God's anger (Sanh. 96b). Nebuchadnezzar decided on his expedition against Jerusalem only after God showed him how He had bound the hands of Michael, Israel's guardian angel (Midr. Ekah Zuṭa, p. 70); and even then Nebuchadnezzar did not lead the expedition himself, but gave it into the hands of Nebuzar-adan (Pesiḳ. R. 26 [ed. Friedmann, p. 130b]; Sanh. 96b, above; comp. Eccl. R. on Eccl. x. 7, to the effect that Nebuchadnezzar, seated on a horse which was led by Michael, entered the Holy of Holies).
At Daphne, from which place Nebuchadnezzar followed the operations before the walls of Jerusalem, he received the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem with great honors, asking the members to read and explain to him the Torah. Sitting on seats of honor, they began their explanations. When, however, they came to the section on the dispensation from vows (Num. xxx. 2 et seq.), the king cried out in anger: "I believe it was you who released King Zedekiah from his oath to me." He then commanded that the scholars leave their seats and sit on the ground (Lam. R. ii. 10; Ned. 65a; comp. Zedekiah in Rabbinical Literature; "Chronicles of Jerahmeel," x. 10: "the great Sanhedrin . . . who were slain by Nebuchadnezzar"). Zedekiah, the captive king, was also brought to Daphne, where Nebuchadnezzar took him to task, saying that, according to divine and human law, Zedekiah had merited death since he had sworn falsely by the name of God, and had rebelled against his suzerain (Pesiḳ. R. l.c. [ed. Friedmann, p. 131a]).
A Cruel King to The Jews
Nebuchadnezzar was a king who was merciless towards the conquered people. He did not allow the exiles on their way to Babylon to stop even for a moment, fearing that they would pray during the respite granted them and that God would be willing to help them as soon as they repented. Nebuchadnezzar did not feel safe until the exiles reached the Euphrates, the boundary line of Babylon.
He made a great feast on board his ship while the princes of Judah lay chained and naked by the river. In order to increase their misery, he had rolls of the Torah torn and made into sacks, which, filled with sand, he gave to the captive princes to carry. Nebuchadnezzar ordered the singers of the Temple to add their music to his feast, but they preferred to bite off their fingers or even be killed rather than to play their sacred music in honor of the Babylonian idols. Nebuchadnezzar drove the captives before him, entirely without clothing, until the inhabitants of Bari induced him to clothe them. Even after the heavily burdened Jews finally reached Babylonia, they had no rest from the tyrant, who massacred thousands of youths whose beauty had inflamed the passion of the Babylonian women.
Nebuchadnezzar carried to Babylon, together with the Jews, cedar-trees which he had taken from Lebanon and millstones which he made the captive youths bear. Even the Jews who had sought refuge from the Babylonians in Ammon and Moab or in Egypt did not escape Nebuchadnezzar, who, on conquering Egypt, carried all the Jews in that country, including Baruch and Jeremiah, to Babylonia. Nebuchadnezzar was equally victorious in his expedition against Tyre, whose king, Hiram, his stepfather, he dethroned and put to a painful death. Nebuchadnezzar was a cosmocrat, ruling all the earth, and he subdued the world of animals also, his charger being a lion, on whose neck a snake hung quietly. He considered himself to be a god and spoke of making a cloud in order to enthrone himself like God on high.
Becoming an animal and repentance
During Nebuchadnezzar's reign, the Jews were in a sad state, and even Daniel and his three friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who were pages at court, were often in peril of their lives. This was especially the case when the king tried to force the three pages to worship the idol at Durah, and they, upon their refusal to do so, were thrown into the fiery furnace.
However, the miracle performed on their behalf induced Nebuchadnezzar to praise God. Yet this did not prevent him from massacring all the 600,000 Jews who had obeyed his command and worshiped the idol and whom he reproached for not following the example of the three pious men and trusting in God.
God changed Nebuchadnezzar into an animal as far as his appearance, intellect, and language were concerned. He appeared to the people with his upper half as an ox and the lower half as a lion, and as such, he killed many villains. Daniel's prayers changed the seven years of punishment decreed for Nebuchadnezzar to seven months. After the king had lamented his sins for forty days, lived in the caves for another forty-day period, and was herded for the same length of time with the beasts of the forest, God took mercy upon him and allowed him to return to his throne.
He repented and did penance for the next seven years, subsisting, on the advice of Daniel, on vegetable food. The affairs of the government he gave into the hands of seven judges, who held office for one year each. At the expiration of this period, he wished to make Daniel one of his heirs, but the latter refused with the words: "Far be it from me to exchange the heritage of my fathers for that of one uncircumcised."
Citations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebuchadnezzar_II
[2] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nebuchadnezzar-II
[3] https://www.britannica.com/summary/Nebuchadnezzar-II
[4] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/babylon-restoration-king-nebuchadrezzar-empire
