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NERGAL-SHAREZER

(Heb. nērgal šar-ʾeṣer)

Successor to Amel-marduk (OT Evil-merodach) as king of Babylon in 560 b.c.e., ruling until April 556. The earliest known mention of Nergal-sharezer (Akk. Nergal-šarra-uṣur, Classical Neriglissar) occurs in a contract dated in the ninth year of Nebuchadnezzar. Our present evidence suggests that he was a member of a prominent family known for its business activities in northern Babylonia and was well advanced in age when he became king. According to Berossus Babyloniaca, he seized the throne through a coup d’etat which resulted in the assassination of his predecessor. Berossus also claims that Nergal-sharezer was Amel-marduk’s brother-in-law, although no cuneiform text definitely confirming this relationship has yet been produced. Nergal-sharezer seemingly formed an alliance with the šatammu of the Ezida temple in Borsippa, Nabû-šuma-ukin, and requested the hand of the king’s daughter, Gigitum, in marriage before the end of his accession year. He was also long involved with the Ebabbar temple in Sippar and its important personnel, and seemingly interfered in the affairs of the Eanna temple in Uruk by replacing officials with individuals of his own choosing.

Formulaic royal inscriptions indicate that Nergal-sharezer restored the Esagila and Ezida temples in Babylon and Borsippa, repaired a palace on the bank of the Euphrates for his own use, and worked on some of Babylon’s canals. He also conducted a campaign into southeast Anatolia during the third year of his reign, which resulted in the defeat of the state of Pirindu and its ruler, a certain Appuašu. Nergal-sharezer died in 556, probably only two months after returning home from his campaign into Cilicia. He was succeeded by his son Labaši-marduk, who reigned about two months before being dethroned by Nabonidus.

In Jer. 39:3 Nergal-sharezer is connected with the fall of Jerusalem (also Josephus Antiquities) and the release of Jeremiah. There seems to be little, if any, doubt about the connection between the Nergal-šarra-uṣur of the cuneiform sources and the Nergal-sharezer of Jer. 39. The mention of Nergal-sharezer as the prince of Sin-magir in Jer. 39:3, 13 represents, most likely, a misinterpretation or misunderstanding of a title designating a Babylonian administrative official long known from cuneiform temple records in Babylonia.

Bibliography. R. H. Sack, “Nergal-šarra-uṣur, King of Babylon, as Seen in the Cuneiform, Greek, Latin and Hebrew Sources,” ZA 68 (1978): 129-49; Neriglissar, King of Babylon. AOAT 236 (Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1994).

Ronald H. Sack

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

NERGAL-SHAREZER

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)