=11. Obadiah was the fourth prophet=, whose prophecies seem to have been delivered about B. C. 587, or during the captivity of Judah and soon after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. He appears as specially commissioned to foretell the punishment of the Edomites for their pride and insulting rejoicing at the destruction of Jerusalem and the distress of the Jews. According to Josephus, this warning received its fulfilment about five years after the prophecy. ASSYRIAN KINGS OF THE CAPTIVITY. =12. Of the kings of Assyria and Babylon= during the captivities the first mentioned in Scripture is Tiglath-pileser, of whom and his successors we have already spoken, pages 159, 160. These kings were active only in the captivities of Israel. Nebuchadnezzar was connected with the captivities of Judah. NEBUCHADNEZZAR. =Nebuchadnezzar= began to reign B. C. 604. During his reign of forty-three years Babylon rose to its highest splendor and remained a magnificent city until his death in B. C. 562. His madness, spoken of by Daniel, is not distinctly stated in Assyrian history, but an inscription, now in the East India House at London, gives an account of the various works of Nebuchadnezzar, and abruptly says that his heart was hardened against the Chaldæan astrologers. “He would grant no benefactions for religious purposes. He intermitted the worship of Merodach, and put an end to the sacrifice of victims. _He labored under the effects of enchantment._” This last sentence seems to accord with the statement of Daniel (chapters 1‒4). The record referred to was found in the ruins on the Tigris. =13. The son and successor= of Nebuchadnezzar was Evil-merodach, B. C. 561. He released the captive king of Judah, Jehoiachin, and treated him as a prince and with special favor. His sister’s husband, Neriglissar, succeeded him B. C. 559. He is mentioned in 2 Kings 25:27; Jer. 52:31. =14. This Neriglissar=, or, as the monuments present it, Nergal-Sharezer, held the throne only three years, and was followed by his son, a minor, who perished in a conspiracy of the nobles after a reign of only nine months. One of these nobles, Nabonidus by name, ascended the throne and held it till the city was captured by Cyrus. It was his son, Belshazzar, who, as eldest son, reigned with his father when Babylon was taken, his father having entrusted him with the care of the city while he, with the main part of the army, was engaged with Cyrus, eight miles off at Borsippa. =15. Cyrus did not assume the rule= of Babylon immediately as its titular king. He was supreme over all Asia from India to the Bosphorus, but, for some reason, a Median prince was established for a time as nominal king, although Cyrus retained all the power. That prince was Darius, the son of Cyaxares, a childless man of sixty-two years of age. When, two years after his appointment, he died, Cyrus assumed the power and became king of Babylon.[106]