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"Silver, gold, glitter of precious stones, bronze, sycamore wood, cedar wood, what
thing soever's name is precious, a large abundance, the produce of mountains, the fulness
of seas, a rich present, a splendid gift to my city of Babylon, into his presence I
bore. . . . The gate of Hilibu, the gate of gladness, and the gate of Egida (see above)
(and) Esagilla, I had them made brilliant as the sun. . . . the choicest of my cedars
which from Lebanon the noble forest I brought, for the roofing of Ekua, the sanctuary of
his lordship I selected. . . . for the making of Esagilla daily I besought the King of the
gods, the lord of lords."
Table Case G. contains several barrel-shaped cylinders which record some of the
wonderful building operations of this remarkable man. The completion of the great wall
and of the moat of Babylon are minutely described. We give a few extracts, which,
together with the records of the magnificent temple and palaces, may help us to
understand Nebuchadnezzar's pride of heart when he said:--
"Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might
of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" (Dan. 4: 30).
"Imbugel and Nimittibel, the great rampart of Babylon, which Nabopolassar, King of
Babylon, the father that begat me, had made and not finished the work of them; whose
moat he had dug, and two strong entrenchments with gypsum and much brick had
constructed along its border. . . . the ramparts of Babylon, I finished. . . . that shaft of
battle to Imbugel, the wall of Babylon, might not reach, what no King before me had
done; for four thousand cubits of ground on the banks of Babylon, from afar,
unapproached, a mighty rampart at the ford of the sun-rising, Babylon, I threw around.
Its moat I dug, and the bank of it with bitumen and brick I bound together, and a mighty
rampart on the marge of it mountain high I built. . . . that foes might not present the
face, the bounds of Babylon might not approach, great water like the volume of the sea
the land I carried around, and the crossing of them was like the great sea, of the briny
flood. An outburst of that within them not to suffer to befall, with a bank of earth I
entrenched them, and walls of kiln-brick I threw around them. The bulwark skilfully did
I strengthen, and the city of Babylon I made a fortress."
Here for the time we must leave the records of this head of Gentile power. We have
several items of interest to mention that are too important to crowd into this article. We
hope to deal with these in the future.
Sidelights on the Scriptures.
The Tower of Babel.
pp. 130-131
The Babylonian and Assyrian Room.
In our last set of notes we were reviewing some of the accounts which have been
preserved to us of the great architectural operations of Nebuchadnezzar. Not only did
Nebuchadnezzar devote himself to the erection of new buildings, and of the fortifications
of Babylon, but he also repaired the temples of the gods which had fallen into ruins. One
of these reconstructions is of very great interest to Bible students, and that is the shrine of
the god Nebo at Borsippa. In this department is a series of barrel-shaped cylinders, one