Evil Merodach

Evil Mero´dach, son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who, on his accession to the throne (B.C. 562), released the captive king of Judah, Jehoiachin, from prison, treated him with kindness and distinction, and set his throne above the thrones of the other conquered kings who were detained at Babylon (2Ki 25:27; Jer 52:31-34) [CHALDEANS]. A Jewish tradition (noticed by Jerome on Isa 14:29) ascribes this kindness to a personal friendship which Evil-merodach had contracted with the Jewish king, when he was himself consigned to prison by Nebuchadnezzar, who, on recovering from his seven years’ monomania, took offence at some part of the conduct of his son, by whom the government had in the meantime been administered. But this story was probably invented to account for the fact.

The son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, B. C. 561. His friendly treatment of Jehoiachin the captive king of Judah, in releasing him from prison and variously distinguishing him above other captives, is mentioned to his praise, 2Ki 25:27 ; Jer 52:31- 34. His reign and life were cut short by a conspiracy, headed by Neriglissar his sister’s husband, who succeeded him.\par

E’vil-mero’dach. (the fool of Merodach). 2Ki 25:27. The son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar. He reigned, but a short time, having ascended the throne on the death of Nebuchadnezzar in B.C. 561, and being himself succeeded by Neriglissar in B.C. 559. He was murdered by Neriglissar.

Son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar. During the latter’s exclusion from men among beasts, Evil Merodach administered the government. On Nebuchadnezzar’s resuming it at the end of seven years, he heard of his son’s misconduct and that Evil Merodach had exulted in his father’s calamity. He therefore cast Evil Merodach into prison, where the prince met Jehoiachin or Jeconiah, and became his friend. When Evil Merodach mounted the throne therefore he brought him out of prison, changed his prison garments, and set his throne above the throne of the kings with him in Babylon, and "Jehoiachin did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life" (Jer 52:31-34). After a two-year reign, 561-559 B.C., he was murdered by Neriglissar (Nergal Sharezer), a Babylonian noble (married to his sister), who seized the crown. Evil Merodach was guilty of lawless government, according to Berosus, possibly because of his showing greater lenity than his father.

(Hebrews Evil’ Merodak’, מְרֹדִךְ אְֵויל; Sept. Εὐιαλμαρωδέκ, Οὐλαιμαδάχαρ), son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who, on his accession to the throne (B.C. 561), released the captive king of Judah, Jehoiachin, from prison, after 37 years of incarceration, treated him with kindness and distinction, and set his throne above the other conquered kings who were detained at Babylon (2Ki 25:27; Jer 52:31-34). SEE CHALDAEAN. A Jewish tradition (noticed by Jerome on Isa 14:29) ascribes this kindness to a personal friendship which Evil- merodach had contracted with the Jewish king when he was himself consigned to prison by Nebuchadnezzar, who, on recovering from his seven years’ monomania, took offense at some part of the conduct of his son, by whom the government had in the mean time been administered. This story was probably invented to account for the fact. His name is variously written by other ancient authors (Εὐειλμαράδουκος by Berosus, in Josephus, Apion 1:20; Εὐιλμαλουροῦχος by Megasthenes and Abydenus, in Euseb. Chron. Armen. page 128; Α᾿βιλμαρώδαχος by Josephus, Ant. 10:11, 2). Hales identifies him with the king of Babylon who formed a powerful confederacy against the Medes, which was broken up, and the king slain by Cyrus, then acting for his uncle Cyaxares. But this rests on the authority of Xenophon’s Cyropaedia, the historical value of which he estimates far too highly. SEE CYRUS. He is doubtless the same as the Ilvoradam of Ptolemy’s "Canon," who reigned but a short time, having ascended the throne on the death of Nebuchadnezzar in B.C. 561, and being himself succeeded by Neriglissar in B.C. 559. SEE BABYLON.

He thus appears to have reigned but two years, which is the time assigns ed to him by Abydenus (Fr. 9) and Berosus (Fr. 14). At the end of this brief space Evil-merodach was murdered by Neriglissar SEE NERGAL- SHAREZER, a Babylonian noble married to his sister, who then seized the crown. The other ancient authorities assign him different lengths of reign. According to Berosus, Evil-merodach provoked his fate by lawless government and intemperance. Perhaps the departure from the policy of his father, and the substitution of mild for severe measures, may have been viewed in this light.

The latter half of the name Evil-merodach is that of a Babylonian god MERODACH SEE MERODACH (q.v.). Two modes of explaining the former part of it have been attempted. Since evil, as a Hebrew word, means "foolish," Sinconis proposes to consider it the derivative of אול, in the Arabic signification of "to be first," affording the sense of "prince of Merodach." This rests on the assumption that the Babylonian language was of Syro-Arabian origin. Gesemmius, on the other hand, who does not admit that origin, believes that some Indo-Germanic word, of similar sound, but reputable sense, is concealed under evil, and that the Hebrews made some slight perversion in its form to produce a word of contemptuous signification in Hebrew, just as is assumed in the case of Beelzebul.

Evil-merodach (ç’vil-me-rô’dak), Merodach’s fool. But perhaps some name of Persian or Assyrian origin underlies this. The son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar. He reigned two years, 561-559 b.c., and was murdered by Nergal-sharezer or Neriglissar, who had married his sister, and who seized his crown. He treated Jehoiachin with kindness: and possibly his mildness of rule may have given opportunity to the treason which cut him off. 2Ki 25:27-30; Jer 52:31-34. But some authorities report him to have been luxurious and intemperate.

By: Emil G. Hirsch, Robert W. Rogers, Max Schloessinger

Son of Nebuchadnezzar, and third ruler of the New Babylonian empire; reigned from 561 to 560 B.C. His name in Babylonian is "Amil-Marduk" or "Avel-Marduk"= "man," or "servant, of Marduk." No personal or historical inscriptions of his reign have been discovered, and there are only two sources of information concerning him—the Hebrew Scriptures and Berosus. According to the Bible (Jer. lii. 31; II Kings xxv. 27 et seq.), he released in the year of his accession, the imprisoned king Jehoiachin, invited him to his table, clothed him with royal raiment, and elevated him above all other captive kings that were in Babylon. Tiele, Cheyne, and Hommel are of the opinion that perhaps Neriglissar, Evil-merodach's brother-in-law, who is praised for his benevolence, was instrumental in the freeing of the Judean king. Grätz, on the other hand, conjectures the influence of the Jewish eunuchs (referring to Jer. xxxix. 7 and Daniel).

Berosus, however, says that Evil-merodach ruled "unjustly and lewdly." Possibly his treatment of the exiled king was held by the priestly, or national, party to have been unlawful; or it may be that the memory of some injury rankled in the mind of the priestly writer, or writers, of his history (Winckler, "Gesch. Babyloniens und Assyriens," p. 314). Evilmerodach was unable to counteract the danger arising from Median immigration. The party opposed to him soon succeeded in dethroning him, and he was assassinated by order of Neriglissar, who succeeded him.

Bibliography:

Tiele, Babylonisch-Assyrische Gesch. ii. 457;

Hommel, Gesch. Babyloniens und Assyriens, p. 772;

Murdter-Delitzsch, Gesch. Babyloniens und Assyriens, p. 251;

Grätz, Gesch. ii. 5;

Rogers, Hist. of Bab. ii. 354, 355.

EVIL-MERODACH, the Amel-Marduk of the Babylonians, son and successor of Nebuchadrezzar on the throne of Babylon (2Ki 25:27-30), promoted Jehoiachin in the 37th year of his captivity. He reigned b.c. 562–560. Berosus describes him as reigning lawlessly and without restraint, and he was put to death by his brother-in-law Neriglissar, who succeeded him.

C. H. W. Johns.

ē-vil-me-rō´dak; -mer´ō̇-dak אויל מרדך, ’ĕwı̄l m^erōdhakh; Septuagint Εὐειαλμαρωδέκ, Eueialmarōdék; so B in K, but B in Jeremiah, and A and Q in both places much corrupted): The name of the son and immediate successor of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon. The Babylonian form of the name is Amelu-Marduk, that is, “man of Marduk.” About 30 contract tablets dated in this reign have been found. They show that Evil-merodach reigned for two years and about five months. He is said by Berosus to have conducted his government in an illegal and improper manner, and to have been slain by his sister’s brother, Nergal-shar-uṣur, who then reigned in his stead. Evil-merodach is said in 2Ki 25:27-30 and in the parallel passage in Jer 52:31-34 to have taken Jehoiachin, king of Judah, from his prison in Babylon, where he seems to have been confined for 37 years, to have clothed him with new garments, to have given him a seat above all the other kings, and to have allowed him to eat at the king’s table all the days of his life. It is an undesigned coincidence, that may be worthy of mention, that the first dated tablet from this reign was written on the 26th of Elul, and Jer 52:31 says that Jehoiachin was freed from prison on the 25th of the same month.