[780] Nabu-kudur-ussur, "Nebo protect the crown" (Schrader, ii. 48), or "the youth" (Oppert). The portrait of Nebuchadrezzar--this is the proper spelling, as generally in Jeremiah--is preserved for us on a black cameo which he presented to the god Merodach. It is now in the Berlin Museum, and shows strong but not cruel or ignoble characteristics. It is copied in Riehm's _Handwörterbuch_, ii. 1067. The Jews, as they were fond of doing to their enemies, made insulting puns on his name. Thus in the _Vayyikra Rabba_ (Wünsche, _Bibl. Rabb._) the Three Children are represented as saying to him, "You are Neboo-cad-netser: bark [_nabach_] like a dog; swell like a water-jar [_kad_], and chirp like a cricket [_tsertser_],"--in allusion to his madness. [781] Jer. xlvi. 5 (vi. 25). [782] Jos., _Antt._, X. xi.; Berosus, p. 11. The Chronicler and Josephus show some confusion, caused by the similarity of the names Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin. [783] Dan. i. 6. [784] We might infer from Ezek. xvii. 12 that Nebuchadrezzar actually took Jehoiakim with him to Babylon. [785] Ezek. xvii. 15. [786] Jer. xxxvi. 29, xxv. 9, xxvi. 6. [787] 2 Kings xxiv. 2-4. [788] Grätz thinks that Jeremiah's roll was substantially Jer. xxv. [789] Jos., _Antt._, IX. ix. 1. [790] Jer. li. 59. Ewald, Hitzig, and others take the title to mean "quartermaster" (2 Chron. xxxiv. 8). [791] Jer. xlv. 1-5. [792] Zeph. i. 8; 1 Kings xxii. 26; Jer. xxxvi. 26, A.V., "The son of Hammelech." Comp. xxxviii. 6. _Hammelech_ may be a proper name, or a prince of the blood-royal may be intended. [793] "The 'Book,' now as afterwards, was to be the death-blow of the old regal, aristocratic, sacerdotal exclusiveness. The 'Scribe,' now first rising into importance in the person of Baruch to supply the defects of the living Prophet, was, as the printing-press in later ages, handing on the words of truth, which else might have irretrievably perished" (Stanley). [794] Cheyne, _Jeremiah_, p. 149; Jer. xiv. 1-xv. 9. [795] Nebuchadrezzar occupies a larger space in the Bible than any heathen king, being spoken of in 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. [796] For further details of Jehoiakim see 1 Esdras i. 38: "He bound Joakim and the nobles; _but Zaraces_ his brother he apprehended, and brought him out of Egypt." The allusion is entirely obscure, and probably arises from some corruption of the text. The literal rendering is: "And _Joakim_ bound the nobles; but Zaraces his brother he apprehended, and brought him out of Egypt." Zaraces might be a corruption for Zedekiah, who was Jehoiakim's half-brother. Some think that Zaraces is a corruption for Urijah, and "his brother" a clerical error. [797] Jer. xxxvi. 30, xxii. 19. [798] LXX., καὶ ἐκοιμήθη Ἰωακεὶμ ἐν Γανοζὰν μετὰ τῶν πατέρων ἑαυτοῦ. [799] 2 Chron. xxxvi. 8. [800] _Sanhedrin_, f. 104, 2. For another allusion see _id._ 49, 1; Hershon, _Treasures of the Talmud_, p. 232.