Archaelogical Discoveries Related to Nebuchadnezzar II
Cuneiform inscriptions record the boastful words of the famous Babylonian king, which appear to be strikingly similar to things recorded by Daniel.
The St. Louis Art Museum has in its collection a fascinating historical artifact from ancient Babylon. It’s a foundation cylinder, written by Nebuchadnezzar II, recording the building projects he wished to be remembered for. Since this is the same Nebuchadnezzar mentioned in the book of Daniel, a few years ago, I decided to search for an English translation of this cylinder. When I finally discovered one, I was struck by how similar it is to some of the boastful words we find on the lips of Nebuchadnezzar as recorded by Daniel—particularly when he says, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” (Dan 4:30).
Here’s a selection from the English translation:
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the great, the majestic, the favorite of Marduk, the governor, the eminent, the cherished of Nebo, the governor without weakness...the majestic, the pious, the loved of the great gods, the son of Nabopolassar…it is I. When the great master, Marduk, called me and commanded me to govern the country [and] to restore the temples, I obeyed my master Marduk. I built the great walls...of Babylon…I restored Etemenanki the Tower of Babylon...the temple of Nebo at Harari, the temple of Ramman at Kumari, the temple of Nineanna in the city of Babylon…May the intelligent reader consider my constructions stated on the stele and give thanks to the gods. O Lugal-Marad…regard happily and favorably the work of my hands. Accord me long life, numerous posterity, firm throne and long reign. Confound rebels, break their weapons, destroy entirely all enemy countries, annihilate them all. Remember my works and speak in my favor before Marduk, the king of the heavens and the earth.
When I first read the words of this cylinder, I was curious about Nebuchadnezzar’s reference to “Etemenanki.” After looking it up, I discovered that it was an ancient ziggurat in Babylon that had fallen into disrepair in Nebuchadnezzar’s time. According to Wikipedia, this particular ziggurat “had a complex history of successive constructions, destruction and reconstruction.” Nebuchadnezzar also refers to Etemenanki in another inscription known as The Tower of Bable Stele. “I built its structure with bitumen and baked brick throughout,1 and completed it, raising its top to the heaven.” In his book, Babylonian Life and History (1883), E.A. Wallis Budge indicates that the name Etemenanki literally means, “the House of the Foundation Stone of Heaven and Earth.”
Nebuchadnezzar’s father, Nabopolassar, also referred to Etemenanki in a foundation cylinder of his own: “Before my day Etemenanki, the ziggurat of Babylon, was very weak and badly buckled. To ground its bottom…[and] to make its top reach to the heavens…I [commissioned a] vast workforce with Nebuchadnezzar, my firstborn son…[and] made it an object fitting for wonder, just as it was in former times.” Thus, the restoration of this ancient ziggurat appears to have been a joint project between father and son which spanned the reigns of both kings.
In another inscription cited by E.A. Wallis Budge, we find a fascinating prayer of Nebuchadnezzar: “May the house I have made endure…to all eternity, O Marduk…May my posterity rule over men forever and ever.” If you think about it, in this petition, Nebuchadnezzar is essentially longing for the very thing that God had already promised to David. When David wished to build a house for God, God responded through the prophet Nathan saying:
Would you build me a house to dwell in?…In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”…Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever (2 Sam 7:5-13).
After building the Jerusalem temple, Solomon was recorded as saying, “Now the LORD has fulfilled his promise that he made. For I have risen in the place of David my father…and I have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel” (1 Kgs 8:20). But since Solomon’s temple was later destroyed by the Babylonians, it seems clear that his interpretation of God’s promise to his father was slightly off track. The first promise God made was that he would build a house for David (2 Sam 7:11), but he went on to say that David’s son would also end up building the house (2 Sam 7:13) and that his throne would be established forever (2 Sam 7:16). The author to the Hebrews specifically applied that prophecy to Jesus (cf. Heb 1:5), since he is both David’s son and David’s Lord,2 which is why he was able to fulfill both aspects of the mysterious promise.
I find it fascinating that the “Tower of Babylon,” was called Etemanaki, meaning “the House of the Foundation Stone of Heaven and Earth,” particularly in light of the oracle against Babylon that we find in Jeremiah 51:26, “No stone shall be taken from you for a corner and no stone for a foundation.” It’s also interesting to compare this with the substance of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream recorded in Daniel 2. According to Daniel, his dream of a great statue composed of four metals represented four successive kingdoms that were destined to be destroyed by a “stone cut by no human hand” (Dan 2:31-45).
In the king’s dream, the stone that destroyed the idol grew to become a great mountain that filled the whole earth (2:35), and according to Daniel, this signified the kingdom that God himself would establish in days of that fourth and final kingdom, which commentators specifically relate to the Roman Empire. “In the days of those kings,” Daniel revealed to the king, “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever” (2:44).
In the end, Etemenanki was not the true Foundation Stone of Heaven and Earth, and though he prayed for it, Nebuchadnezzar’s dynasty would not stand forever. No, the only sure foundation is the one laid by Yahweh himself, the precious cornerstone (Is 28:16), and rock of stumbling (Is 8:14); the stone that the builders rejected (Ps 118:22-23), and the very rock from which Israel was hewn (Dt. 32:18, Is 51:1). The only everlasting dynasty is the one promised to David (2 Sam 7:11-13). This is the house and throne that will stand forever, and which will never be destroyed (2 Sam 7:16).
Shane Rosenthal is the founder and host of The Humble Skeptic podcast and the author of Is Faith Blind? (due in 2024). Shane was one of the creators of the White Horse Inn radio broadcast, which he also hosted from 2019-2021, and has written numerous articles for various sites and publications, including TableTalk, Logia, Core Christianity, and others.
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Cf., Gen 11:3
Cf. Ps. 110:1, Mt 22:44, Mk 12:36, Lk 20:42, Acts, 2:34, Heb 1:8-9.
Thank you! Harari may be a reading mistake. I think it should be Haran near Urfa, in South Amatolya (i.e. Northern Mesopotamia aka ancient Shinnaar). It is where Abraham's father Terach had settled, the city being named after his other son Haran. It became a center of worship well into the days of Nabonid, the last of Nebukadnezzar's successors of the Neonabylonian Empire.