NAZARITE reasons:-its was a provincial dialect; lying remote from the capital, its inhabitants spoke a NATIONS, DISPERSION OF. Under this strange tongue, which was rough, harsh, and unor some similar designation, it has been the pre-couth, having peculiar combinations of words, and words also peculiar to themselves; its popu lation was impure, being made up not only of provincial Jews, but also of heathens of several sorts, Egyptians, Arabians, Phoenicians; its people were in an especial manner given to be seditious, which quality of character they not rarely displayed in the capital itself on occasion of the public festivals; whence may be seen the point of the accusation made against Paul, as ringleader of the sect of Nazarenes' (Acts xxiv. 5). As Galilee was a despised part of Palestine, so was Nazareth a despised part of Galilee, being a small, obscure, if not mean place. Accordingly its inhabitants were held in little consideration by other Galileans, and, of course, by those Jews who dwelt in Judæa. Hence the name Nazarene came to bear with it a bad odour, and was nearly synonymous with a low, ignorant, and uncultured, if not un-Jewish person (Kuinoel, in Matt. ii. 23). It became accordingly a contemptuous designation and a term of reproach, and as such, as well as a mere epithet of description, it is used in the New Testament. valent opinion that the outspreading, which is the entire subject of Genesis, ch. x., and the scattering narrated in ch. xi. 1-9, refer to the same event, the latter being included in the former description, and being a statement of the manner in which the separation was effected. From this opinion, however, we dissent. An unbiassed reading of the text appears most plainly to mark the distinctness, in time and character, of the two narratives. The first was universal, regulated, orderly, quiet, and progressive: the second, local, embracing only a part of mankind, sudden, turbulent, and attended with marks of the Divine displeasure. NAZARENE that Bartholomew (son of Tholmai) is no more than a surname [BARTHOLOMEW]. The former is introduced and entitled in these words: Shem, and Ham, and Japheth;-these are the three sons of Noah; and from them was the whole earth overspread.' After the mention of the sons of Japheth, it is added, From these the isles of the nations were dispersed, in their lands, each to its language, to their families, in their nations.' A formula somewhat differing is annexed to the descendants of Ham: These are the sons of Ham, [according] to their families, to their tongues, in their lands, in their nations.' The same phrase follows the enumeration of the house of Shem: and the whole concludes with, These are the families of the sons of Noah, [according] to their generations, in their nations; ard from these the nations were dispersed in the earth after the Flood' (Gen. ix. 19; x. 5, 20, 31, 32). The second relation begins in the manner which often, in the Hebrew Scriptures, introduces a new subject. We shall present it in a literality even servile, that the reader may gain the most prompt apprehension of the meaning. And it was all the earth (but with perfect propriety it might be rendered the whole land, country, region, or district): lip one and words one [i. e. the same, similar]. And it was in their going forwards that they discovered a plain in the country Shinar; and they fixed [their abode] there.' Then comes the narrative of their resolving to build a lofty tower which should serve as a signal-point for their rallying and remaining united. The defeating of this purpose is expressed in the anthropomorphism which is characteristic of the earliest Scriptures, and was adapted to the infantile condition of mankind. And Jehovah scattered them from thence upon the face of the whole earth [or land], and they ceased to build the city' (ch. xi. 2-9). " NAVIGATION. [SHIP.] NAZARENE', an epithet constituting a part of one of the names given to our Lord. From the number of times that the epithet is employed, it appears that it became at the very first an appellation of our Lord, and was hence applied to designate his followers. Considering that the name was derived from the place where Jesus resided during the greater part of his life, we see no reason to think that at first it bore with it, in its application to him or his followers, anything of an offensive nature. Such a designation was in this case natural and proper. In process of time, however, other influences came into operation. Nazareth was in Galilee, a part of Palestine which was held in disesteem for several 609 NAZARITE. This word is derived from a Hebrew word, which signifies to 'separate one'sself;' and as such separation from ordinary life to religious purposes must be by abstinence of some kind, so it denotes to refrain from anything. Hence the import of the term Nazariteone, that is, who, by certain acts of self-denial, consecrated himself in a peculiar manner to the service, worship, and honour of God. We are here, it is clear, in the midst of a sphere of ideas totally dissimilar to the genius of the Christian system; a sphere of ideas in which the outward predominates, in which self-mortification is held pleasing to God, and in which man's highest service is not enjoyment with gratitude, but privation with pain. It may be questioned, if at least so much of this set of notions as supposes the Deity to be gratified and conciliated by the privations of his creatures, is in harmony with the ideas of God which the books of Moses exhibit, or had their origin in the law he promulgated. The manner in which he speaks on the subject (Num. vi. 1-21) would seem to imply that he was not introducing a new law, but regulating an old custom; for his words take for granted, that the subject was generally and well known, and that all that was needed was such directions as should bring existing observances into accordance with the Mosaic ritual. 6 The law of the Nazarite, which may be found in Num. vi., is, in effect, as follows:-male and female might assume the vow; on doing so a person was understood to separate himself unto the Lord; this separation consisted in abstinence from wine and all intoxicating liquors, and from everything made therefrom: From vinegar of wine, and vinegar of strong drink; neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes or dried; he was to eat nothing of the vine-tree, from the kernels even to the husks.' Nor was a razor to come upon his head all the time of his vow; he was to be holy, and let the locks of the hair of his head grow.' With special care was he 6 NAZARITE NAZARETH drink wine.' to avoid touching any dead body whatever. Be- | a wave-offering.' 'After that the Nazarite may ing holy unto the Lord, he was not to make himself unclean by touching the corpse even of a relative. Should he happen to do so, he was then to shave his head and offer a sin-offering and a burntoffering; thus making an atonement for himself, 'for that he sinned by the dead.' A lamb also, of the first year, was to be offered as a trespassoffering. On the termination of the period of the vow the Nazarite himself was brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, there to offer a burnt-offering, a sin-offering, a peaceoffering, and a meat and a drink-offering. The Nazarite also shaved his head at the door of the tabernacle, and put the hair grown during the time of separation into the fire which was under the sacrifice of the peace-offerings. And the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them in the hands of the Nazarite after the hair of his separation is shaven; and the priest shall wave them for 610 There are not wanting individual instances which serve to illustrate this vow, and to show that the law in the case went into operation. Hannah, Samson's mother, became a Nazarite that she might have a son. Samson himself was a Nazarite from the time of his birth (Judg. xiii.). From the language employed by Samson, as well as from the tenor of the law in this case, the retention of the hair seems to have been one essential feature in the vow. It is, therefore, somewhat singular that any case should have been considered as the Nazaritic vow in which the shaving of the head is put forth as the chief particular. St. Paul is supposed to have been under this vow, when (Acts xviii. 18) he is said to have shorn his head in Cenchrea, for he had a vow' (see also Acts xxi. 24). The head was not shaven till the vow was performed, when a person had not a vow. NAZARETH, a town in Galilee, in which the 262. parents of Jesus were resident, and where in consequence he lived till the commencement of his ministry. It derives all its historical importance from this circumstance, for it is not even named in the Old Testament or by Josephus: which suffices to show that it could not have been a place of any consideration, and was probably no more than a village. Nazareth is situated about six miles W.N.W. from Mount Tabor, on the western side of a narrow oblong basin, or depressed valley, about a mile long by a quarter of a mile broad. The buildings stand on the lower part of the slope of the western hill, which rises steep and high above them. It is now a small, but more than usually well-built place, containing about three thousand inhabitants, of whom two-thirds are Christians. [Nazareth.] The flat-roofed houses are built of stone, and are mostly two stories high. The environs are planted with luxuriantly-growing fig-trees, olive-trees, and vines, and the crops of corn are scarcely equalled throughout the length and breadth of Canaan. All the spots which could be supposed to be in any way connected with the history of Christ are, of course, pointed out by the monks and local guides, but on authority too precarious to deserve any credit, and with circumstances too puerile for reverence. It is enough to know that the Lord dwelt here; that for thirty years he trod this spot of earth, and that his eyes were familiar with the objects spread around. In the southwest part of the town is a small Maronite church, under a precipice of the hill, which here breaks off in a perpendicular wall forty or fifty feet in NEBAIOTH height. Dr. Robinson noticed several such precipices in the western hill around the village, and with very good reason concludes that one of these, probably the one just indicated, may well have been the spot whither the Jews led Jesus, unto the brow of the hill whereon the city was built, that they might cast him down headlong' (Luke iv. 28-30); and not the precipice, two miles from the village, overlooking the plain of Esdraelon, which monkish tradition indicates to the traveller as the Mount of Precipitation.' NEAPOLIS, a maritime city of Macedonia, near the borders of Thrace, now called Napoli. Paul landed here on his first journey into Europe (Acts xvi. 11). • NEBALOTH, or NEBAJOTH, the first-born son of Ishmael (Gen. xxv. 13; 1 Chron. i. 29), and the prince or sheikh of one of the twelve Ishmaelitish tribes, which, as well as the territory they occupied, continued to bear his name in after times (Gen. xxv. 16; comp. ch. xvii. 20). One of Esau's wives, Mahalath, otherwise called Bashemath, is expressly designated as the sister of Nebaioth' (Gen. xxviii. 9; xxxvi. 3); and by a singular coincidence the land of Esau, or Edom, was ultimately possessed by the posterity of Nebaioth. In common with the other Ishinaelites, they first settled in the wilderness 'before' (i. e. to the east of) their brethren, the other descendants of Abraham; by which we are probably to understand the great desert lying to the east and south-east of Palestine (Gen. xxv. 18; xxi. 21; xvi. 12; and see the article ARABIA). From va rious references in Scripture it is evident that the tribe of Nebaioth for ages followed the nomadic life of shepherds. The successful invasion of Western Asia, first by the Assyrians and afterwards by the Chaldæans, could not but affect the condition of the tribes in Northern Arabia, though we possess no record of the special results. The propliet Isaiah, after his obscure oracle regarding Dumah (ch. xxi. 11, 12), introduces a 'judgment upon Arabia,' i. e. Desert Arabia, which some suppose to have been fulfilled by Sennacherib, while others think it refers to the later events that are foretold by Jeremiah (ch. xlix. 28-33) as befalling Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor,' in consequence of the ravages of Nebuchadnezzar. Be this as it may, we know that when the latter carried the Jews captive to Babylon, the Edomites made themselves masters of a great part of the south of Palestine [IDUMEA], while either then or at a later period they themselves were supplanted in the southern part of their own territory by the Nabathæans, though doubtless this general designation included a variety of Arab races who took their common name from the progenitor of the largest or most influential tribe, Nebaioth, the first born of Ishmael. The territory occupied by the Nabathæans in its widest sense included the whole of Northern Arabia from the Euphrates to the Elanitic Gulf of the Red Sea; but more strictly taken it denoted (at least in later times) only a portion of the southern part of that vast region. We first hear of the Nabathæans in history in the reign of Antigonus, who succeeded Alexander the Great in Babylon, and died in the year B.C. 301. He sent two expeditions against them. but both were unsuccessful. The Nabatha s were as yet essen NEBAIOTH 611 tially a pastoral people, though they were ikewise engaged in commerce, which they afterwards prosecuted to a great extent, and thereby acquired great riches and renown. It was in this way that they gradually became more fixed in their habits; and living in towns and villages they were at length united under a regular monarchical government, constituting the kingdom of Arabia, or more strictly Arabia Petræa, the name being derived not, as some suppose, from the rocky nature of the country, but from the chief city Petra. The common name of the kings of Arabia Petræa was either Aretas or Obodas. Even in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes (about B.C. 166), we read in 2 Mace. v. 8, of an Aretas, king of the Arabians; and from that period downwards they came frequently into contact both with the Jews and Romans, as may be seen in the books of the Maccabees and the writings of Josephus. Long before the kingdom of Arabia was actually conquered by the Romans, its sovereigns were de pendent on the Roman power. An expedition was sent thither by Augustus, under Ælius Gallus, governor of Egypt, and a personal friend of the geographer Strabo, who has left us an account of it. After various obstacles, he at last reached Albus Pagus, the emporium of the Nabathæans, and the port of Petra, which was probably at or near Elath. Another friend of Strabo, the Stoic philosopher Athenodorus, had spent some time in Petra, and related to him with admiration how the inhabitants lived in entire harmony and union under excellent laws. The kingdom was hereditary; or at least the king was always one of the royal family, and had a prime minister or vizier, who was styled the king's brother. Another Arabian king of the name of Aretas is the one mentioned by St. Paul (2 Cor. ii. 32; comp. Acts vii. 24, 25; Joseph. Antiq. xviii. 5. 1). We find that a former Aretas had been invited to assume the sovereignty by the inhabitants of Damascus: and now, during the weak reign of Caligula, the same city is seized by another Aretas, and governed through an ethnarch, as related by Paul. The kingdom of Arabia Petræa maintained its nominal independence till about A.D. 105, in the reign of the Emperor Trajan, when it was subdued by Cornelius Palma, governor of Syria, and annexed to the vast empire of Rome. | The Nabathæans had, as we have seen, early applied themselves to commerce, especially as carriers of the products of Arabia, India, and the far-distant East, which, as we learn from Strabo, were transported on camels from the above-mentioned Leuke Komé to Petra, and thence to Rhinocoloura (el-Arish) and elsewhere. • But under the Roman dominion the trade of these regious appears to have widely extended itself, and to have flourished in still greater prosperity; probably from the circumstance that the lawless rapacity of the adjacent nomadic hordes was now kept in check by the Roman power, and particu larly by the garrisons which were everywhere established for this specific purpose. The country, too, was now rendered more accessible, and the passage of merchants and caravans more practicable, by military ways. But as the power of Rome fell into decay, the Arabs of the desert would seem again to have acquired the ascend 612 NEBUCHADNEZZAR ancy. They plundered the cities, but did not ! From 2 Kings xxiii. 29, and 2 Chron. XXXV. destroy them; and hence those regions are still 20, we gather that in the reign of Josiah (B.C. full of uninhabited, yet stately and often splendid, 610), Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, having ruins, of ancient wealth, and taste, and greatness. approached by sea the coast of Syria, made a Even Petra, the rich and impregnable metropolis, friendly application to King Josiah to be allowed was subjected to the same fate; and now exists, a passage through his territories to the dominions in its almost inaccessible loneliness, only to ex- of the Assyrian monarch, with whom he was cite the curiosity of the scholar, and the wonder then at war 2 Chron. xxxv. 20, 21). The design of the traveller, by the singularity of its site, its of Pharaoh-Necho was to seize upon Carchemish ruins, and its fortunes.' Circesium or Cercus um), a strong post on the In the course of the fourth century this region Euphrates; but Josiah, who was tributary to the came to be included under the general name of Babylonian monarch, opposed his progress at 'Palestine. It became the diocese of a metro- Megiddo, where he was defeated and mortally politan, whose seat was at Petra, and who was wounded [JOSIAH]. Necho marched upon Jeruafterwards placed under the patriarch of Jerusalem, when the Jews became tributary to the king salem. With the Mohammedan conquest in the of Egypt. Upon this, Nebuchadnezzar, king of seventh century its commercial prosperity disap- Babylon (2 Kings xxiv. 1; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 6, peared. Lying between the three rival empires where this monarch's name is for the first time of Arabia, Egypt, and Syria, it lost its ancient introduced), invaded Judah, retook Carchemish. independence; the course of trade was diverted with the territory which had been wrested from into new channels; its great routes were aban-him by Necho, seized upon Jehoiakim, the vassal doned; and at length the entire country was of Pharaoh-Necho, and reduced him to submission quietly yielded up to the Bedawees of the sur. (B.C 607). Jehoiachim was at first loaded with rounding wilderness, whose descendants still chains, in order to be led captive to Babylon, claim it as their domain. During the twelfth but was eventually restored by Nebuchadnezzar century it was partially occupied by the Crusa- to his throne, on condition of paying an annual ders, who gave it the name of Arabia Tertia, or tribute. Nebuchadnezzar carried off part of the Syria Sobal. From that period it remained un- ornaments of the Temple, together with several visited by Europeans, and had almost disappeared hostages of distinguished rank, among whom from their maps, until it was partially explored, were the youths Daniel and his three friends first by Seetzen in 1807, and more fully by Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael (Dan. i.). These Burckhardt in 1812; and now the wonders of were educated at court in the language and the Wady Mûsa are familiarly known to all. sciences of the Chaldæans, where they subsequently filled offices of distinction. The sacred vessels were transferred by Nebuchadnezzar to his temple at Babylon (Isa. xxxix.; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 6, 7) [BABYLON]. 1. NE BO, a Chaldæan idol mentioned in Isa. xlvi. 1, and supposed to have been the symbol of the planet Mercury, the celestial scribe and interpreter of the gods, answering to the Hermes and Anubis of the Egyptians. He was likewise worshipped by the Sabians in Arabia. The divine worship paid to this idol by the Chaldæans and Assyrians is attested by many compound proper names of which it forms part, as Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, Nebuhashban; besides others mentioned in classical writers,- Nabonedus, Nabonassar, Naburianus, Nabonabus, Nabopolassar. After the conquest of Judæa, Nebuchadnezzar turned his attention towards the Egyptians, whom he drove out of Syria, taking possession of all the land between the Euphrates and the river (21) Kings xxiv. 7): which some suppose to mean the Nile, but others a small river in the desert, which was reckoned the boundary between Palestine and Egypt. NEBUCHADNEZZAR 2. NEBO, the name of a mountain on the confines of Moab (Deut. xxxii. 49; xxxiv. 1), and of a town near it (Num. xxxii. 3, 38; Isa. xv. 2). Since the time of Seetzen and Burckhardt, Mount Nebo has been usually identified with Mount Attarus, east of the Dead Sea. 3. NEBO, a town in the tribe of Judah (Ezra ii. 29); or more fully, in order to distinguish it from the preceding, 'the other Nebo' (Neh. vii. 33). NEBUCHADNEZʼZAR (Kings, Chronicles, and Daniel; Jer. xxvii.; xxviii; xxxiv. 1; xxxix. 1; Ezek. xxvi. 7 ; and Ezra v. 12; written also Nebuchadrezzar, generally in Jeremiah, and in Ezek. xxx. 18) was the name of the Chaldæan monarch of Babylon by whom Judah was conquered, and the Jews led into their seventy years' captivity. The name of this monarch has been commonly explained to signify the treasure of Nebo, but according to some it signifies Nebo the prince of gods. The only notices which we have of this monarch in the canonical writings are found in the books of Kings, Chronicles, Daniel, and Ezra, and in the allusions of the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The fate of Jerusalem was now rapidly approaching its consummation. After three years of fidelity, Jehoiachim renounced his allegiance to Babylon, and renewed his alliance with Necho, when Nebuchadnezzar sent incursions of Ammonites, Moabites, and Syrians, together with Chaldæans, to harass him. At length, in the eleventh year of his reign, he was made prisoner, and slain (Jer. xxii.) [JEHOAKIM]. He was succeeded by his son Jehoiachin, who, after three months' reign, surrendered himself with his family to: Nebuchadnezzar, who had come in person to be- ! siege Jerusalem, in the eighth year of his reign (2 Kings xxiv. 10-12) [JEHOIACHIN]. Upon this occasion all the most distinguished inhabitants, including the artificers, were led captive [CAPTIVITIES]. Among the captives, who amounted to no less than 50,000, were Ezekiel (Ezek. i. 1) and Mordecai [ESTHER]. The golden vessels of Solomon were now removed, with the royal treasures, and Mattaniah, the brother of Jehoiachin, placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar, who gave him the name of Zedekiah, and Dound him by an oath not to enter into an alliance with Egypt. Zedekiah, however, in the ninth year of his reign, formed an alliance with Pha NECHO 613 " eat grass as an ox, until he learned that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.' The sentence was immediately fulfilled, and Nebuchadnezzar continued in this melancholy state during the predicted period, at the end of which he was restored to the use of his understanding (ver. 36). We have no account in Scripture of any of the actions of this monarch's life after the period of his recovery, but the first year of the reign of his successor Evil-merodach is represented as having taken place in the thirty-seventh year of Jehoiachin, answering to B.C. 562 (2 Kings xxv. 27). | The difficulties attending the nature of the disease and recovery of Nebuchadnezzar have not escaped the notice of commentators in ancient as well as modern times. Origen supposed that the account of Nebuchadnezzar's metamorphosis was merely a representation of the fall of Lucifer. Bodin maintains that Nebuchadnezzar underwent an actual metamorphosis of soul and body, a similar instance of which is given by Cluvier on the testimony of an eye-witness. Tertullian confines the transformation to the body only, but without loss of reason, of which kind of metamorphosis St. Augustine reports some instances said to have taken place in Italy, to which he himself attaches little credit; but Gaspard Peucer asserts that the transformation of men into wolves was very common in Livonia. Some Jewish Rabbins have asserted that the soul of Nebuchadnezzar, by a real transmigration, changed places with that of an ox; while others have supposed not a real, but an apparent or docetic change, of which there is a case recorded in the life of St. Macarius, the parents of a young woman having been persuaded that their daughter had been transformed into a mare. The most generally received opinion, however, is, that Nebuchadnezzar laboured under that species of hypochondriacal monomania which leads the patient to fancy himself changed into an animal or other substance, the habits of which he adopts. To this disease of the imagination physicians have given the name of Lycanthropy, Zoanthropy, or Insania Canina [DISEASES OF THE JEWS]. NEBUSHAS'BAN (Jer. xxxix. 13), a follower of Nebu; the name of one of the Babylonian officers sent by Nebuzar-adan to take Jeremiah out of prison. NEBUCHADNEZZAR raoh-Hophra, the successor of Necho. Hophra, | coming to the assistance of Zedekiah, was driven back into Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, who finally captured Jerusalem in the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign (B.C. 588) [ZEDEKIAH). The Temple, and the whole city, with its towers and walls, were all razed to the ground by Nebuzaradan, Nebuchadnezzar's lieutenant, and the principal remaining inhabitants put to death by Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. Jeremiah was, however, spared, and Gedaliah appointed governor. He was shortly after murdered by Ishmael, a member of the royal family, who was himself soon obliged to take refuge among the Ammonites. Many of the remaining Jews fled into Egypt, accompanied by Jeremiah; those who remained were soon after expatriated by Nebuchadnezzar, who depopulated the whole country. He next undertook the siege of Tyre, and after its destruction proceeded to Egypt, now distracted by internal commotions, and devastated or made himself master of the whole country from Migdol to Syene (according to the reading of the Seventy, Ezek. xxix. 10; xxx. 6), transferring many of the inhabitants to the territory beyond the Euphrates. We have referred to the captivity of the prophet Daniel, and have to turn to the book which bears his name for the history of this prophet, who, from an exile, was destined to become the great protector of his nation. In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel, who was found superior in wisdom to the Chaldæan magi, was enabled not only to interpret, but to reveal a dream of Nebuchadnezzar's, the very subject of which that monarch had forgotten [DREAMS]. This was the dream of the statue consisting of four different metals, which Daniel interpreted of four successive monarchies, the last of which was to be the reign of the Messiah. Daniel was elevated to be first minister of state, and his three friends were made governors of provinces. The history of these events (Dan. ii. 4, 8, 9) is written in the Chaldee language, together with the narrative which immediately follows (ch. iii.), of the golden statue erected by Nebuchadnezzar in the plain of Dura, for refusing to worship which, Daniel's three friends were thrown into a furnace, but miraculously preserved. The fourth chapter, also written in Chaldee, contains the singular history of the judgment inflicted on Nebuchadnezzar as a punishinent for his pride, and which is narrated in the form of a royal proclamation from the monarch himself, giving an account to his people of his affliction and recovery. This affliction had been, by the monarch's account, predicted by Daniel a year before, in the interpretation of his fearful dream of the tree in the midst of the earth. While walking in his palace, and admiring his magnificent works, he uttered, in the plenitude of his pride, the remarkable words recorded in ver. 30, 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 ? He had scarce uttered the words, when a voice from heaven proclaimed to him that his kingdom was departed from him; that he should be for seven times (generally supposed to mean years, although some reduce the period to fourteen months) driven from the habitations of men to dwell among the beasts of the field, and made to i NEBUZAR-ADAN (1 Kings xxv. 8; Jer. xxxix. 9; xl. 1; lii. 12, &c.). Nebu is the Lord,' according to the Hebrew; or, according to the Persian, Nebu is wise.' The name of the captain of Nebuchadnezzar's guard, by whom the ruin of Jerusalem was completed. NECHO, an Egyptian king, son and successor (according to Herodotus, ii. 159) of Psammetichus, and contemporary of the Jewish king Josias (B.C. 610). The wars and success of Necho, in Syria, are recorded by sacred as well as profane writers. Studious of military renown, and the furtherance of commerce, Necho, on ascending the throne of Egypt, applied himself to reorganize the army, and to equip a powerful fleet. In order to promote his purposes, he courted the Greeks, to whose troops he gave a post next to his Egyptians. He fitted out a fleet in the Mediterranean, and another in the Red Sea. Having engaged some expert Phoenician sailors, he sent them on a voyage of discovery along the coast of |