| Evil-Merodach
- ē-vil-me-rō´dak International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
|
|
| Evil-Merodach
- ē-vil-me-rō´dak;
-mer´ō̇-dak
אויל
מרדך,
'ĕwīl merōdhakh;
Septuagint
Εὐειαλμαρωδέκ,
Eueialmarōdék;
so B in K, but B in Jeremiah, and A and Q in both places much
corrupted): The name of the son and immediate successor of
Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon. The Babylonian form of the name is
Amelu-Marduk,
that is, “man of Marduk.” About 30 contract tablets dated in this reign
have been found. They show that Evil-merodach reigned for two years and
about five months. He is said by Berosus to have conducted his
government in an illegal and improper manner, and to have been slain by
his sister's brother,
Nergal-shar-uṣur,
who then reigned in his stead. Evil-merodach is said in
2Ki_25:27-30
and in the parallel passage in
Jer_52:31-34 to have taken Jehoiachin, king of
Judah, from his prison in Babylon, where he seems to have been confined
for 37 years, to have clothed him with new garments, to have given him a
seat above all the other kings, and to have allowed him to eat at the
king's table all the days of his life. It is an undesigned coincidence,
that may be worthy of mention, that the first dated tablet from this
reign was written on the 26th of Elul, and
Jer_52:31
says that Jehoiachin was freed from prison on the 25th of the same
month.
|
|
|
Taken from: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia by James Orr, M.A., D.D., General Editor |
|