. of the north-east end of the Dead Sea. From it Western Palestine is in sight ; but the view to the E. is shut out by the higher edge of the Mishor, and to the S. by the ridge running out from el- Maslubiyeh. Passing westward from Neba along the ridge to its western summit Sidghah, a dis- tance of about 14 mile, the whole of the Jordan Valley opens out to view, and the traveller may see Gilead, Hermon, Tabor, Ebal and Gerizim, Neby Samwil and the Mt. of Olives, Jericho, the Lower Jordan and the Dead Sea as far as En-gedi. Fuller descriptions may be found in Tristram, Land of Moab, p. 325; Bible Places, p. 360; Conder, Heth and ἔν; p. 129 ἢ. ; G. A. Smith, ae 563 ; and Driver on Dt 34. The view may well described as embracing ‘all the land.’ It has been questioned whether all the places mentioned in Dt 34-8 can be seen from any point of the ridge. Those who wish to pursue this inquiry in detail may be referred to an article in PHF St for April 1898, ‘The Prospect from Pisgah,’ by W. F. Birch. The ‘hinder sea’ RV (that is, westward, RVm), ‘utmost sea’ AV, is generally taken to mean the Mediterranean, as in Dt 11*; and this cannot be seen from any point of the Neba range, though one traveller speaks of ‘a faint and dis- tant bluish haze’ in the direction of Mt. Carmel. Birch says, ‘From no mountain on the east side of the Dead Sea is it possible to see the Mediter- ranean near Judah. Higher mountains inter- vene.’ He suggests that ‘the hinder sea’ in this
assage means the Dead Sea, as being behind
foses when he began his survey. But the pas- sage need not ἘΣΤΕ that the Mediterranean is included in the view from Nebo or Pisgah. When rightly translated it runs as follows: ‘And J” showed him all the land—(even) Gilead as far as Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as
NEBUCHADNEZZAR
NEBUSHAZBAN 503
the hinder sea, and the South and the Round [see CICCAR], (even) the plain of Jericho, the city of palm-trees as far as Zoar.’ The writer says that God showed Moses all the land (compare the words of Dt 3%’), and what follows is his deserip- tion of its extent, in which he states quite cor- rectly that Judah extends as far as the hinder sea or Mediterranean.
Moses parted from the people whom he had led to their inheritance before undertaking that last mysterious journey ; and of what he was permitted to see, it may be said, as of his sepulchre, no man knoweth it unto this day. The passage, trans- lated as above, reduces the force of an objection which has been urged. Why should the land of Gilead be shown to Moses after he had already traversed it in the campaigns against Sihon and Og,* and allotted it to the 24 tribes? Jorpine (hae: IV. viii. 48) mentions Nebo as a very high mountain opposite Jericho ; and Eusebius in the Onomasticon puts it 6 Roman miles west of Heshbon. The position seems to have been for- gotten, for until recent times Jebel Attarus, a mountain about 10 miles to the south of the Neba ridge, has been identified with Nebo.
A. T. CHAPMAN.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR.—See NEBUCHADREZZAR.
NEBUCHADREZZAR (7sx77333, afterwards cor- rupted into Nebuchadnezzar, 738372123, NaBouxodo- νοσόρ, Nabuchodonosor).—The Bab. Nabu-kudurri- uzur (Ὁ Nebo, defend the landmark’), the eldest son of Nabopolassar, and founder of the Bab. empire, who reigned from B.C. 604 to 561. A younger brother of his, Nebo-sum-lisir, is men- tioned in a contract-tablet dated in the reign of Nabopolassar. He seems to have been of Kald& or Chaldzean origin, like Merodach-baladan. <Ac- cording to Abydenus (Euseb. Chron. i. 9), he married Amuhia the daughter of the ‘ Median’ (i.e. Manda) king. In B.c. 605 he defeated Pharaoh- necho in a great battle at Carchemish (now Jerablfis) on the Euphrates (Jer 467"), and drove the Egyptians out of W. Asia. Bab. power was now established as far as the frontier of Egypt, and the king of Judah became a Bab. vassal. At this moment Nabopolassar died, and Nebuch. was recalled to Babylon, where he was proclaimed king, B.c. 604. Nebuch. now entered upon an era of wars and building. Of the wars we have hitherto learned but Tittle from the inscriptions, which are filled with accounts of his building operations. Tyre, which had revolted, was be- sieged from the 7th ΤΕΣ of his reign (Jos. c. Ap. i. 21) for 13 years, and apparently captured (but see Ezk 2918; art. BABYLONIA in vol. 1. p. 229, also Expos. Times, 1899, pp. 378, 475, 520). In the 40th year of Nebuch.’s reign (see contract-tablet in RP, new series, iv. 99f.), it was full of Bab. officials. After the investment of Tyre, Nebuch. marched against Jerus., where Jehoiakim had also rebelled (2 K 241). Jehoiakim was put to death (according to Jos. Ant. X. vi. 3), and his son Jehoiachin
laced on the throne. Three months later he was ΠΡ ΕΤΗ and carried captive to Babylonia, his uncle Zedekiah being appointed king in his place. Zedekiah, however, intrigued with Apries of Egypt, and threw off the Bab. yoke. For the third time, accordingly, Nebuch. invaded Judah ; the Egyp. army was forced to retreat (Jer 3758), and Jerus. was closely besieged. At the end of two