Nebuchadnezzar

Nebuchadnezzar the King of Jews

He bought his wife a pair of shoes

when the shoes begin to wear

Nebuchadnezzar begin to swear

When the swear begin to stop

Nebuchadnezzar bought a shop

When the shop begin to sell

Nebuchadnezzar bought a bell

When the bell begin to ring

Nebuchadnezzar begin to sing

The above is the nursery rhyme been thought to me during my primary years back in 1978 or 1978 I guess and I do wander who really this Nebuchadnezzar was at that time.Yes because of his funny long name and difficult to pronounce.Till today I still remember this rhyme and I use to sing this rhyme to my kids and they will asked me the same question which I had asked before....Who is Nebuchadnezzar? Well but now I do understand who really Nebuchadnezzar was.Don't you ?
 

King Nebuchadnezzar II was the son of Nabopolassar, who came from the Marduk-worshiping Kaldu tribes living in the extreme southern part of Babylonia. Nabopolassar started the Chaldean period (626-539 B.C.) by restoring Babylonian independence, following the fall of the Assyrian Empire in 605. Nebuchadnezzar was the most famous and important king of the Second Babylonian (or Neo-Babylonian or Chaldean) Empire, which fell to the Persian great king Cyrus the Great in 539 B.C.

Nebuchadnezzar restored old religious monuments and improved canals, as other Babylonian kings had done. He was the first Babylonian king to rule Egypt, and controlled an empire that extended to Lydia, but his best known accomplishment was his palace, a place used for administrative, religious, ceremonial, as well as residential purposes especially the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world.

                                             The Hanging Garden of Babylon

The Hanging Gardens were on a terrace supported by brick arches. Nebuchadnezzar's building projects included surrounding his capital city with a double wall 10-miles long with an elaborate entry called the Ishtar Gate.

Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish in 605. In 597, he captured Jerusalem, deposed King Jehoiakim, and put Zedekiah on the throne, instead. Many leading Hebrew families were exiled at this time.

Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Cimmerians and Scythians and then turned west, again, conquering Western Syria and destroying Jerusalem, including the Temple of Solomon, in 586. He put down a rebellion under Zedekiah, whom he had installed, and exiled more Hebrew families. He took the inhabitants of Jerusalem prisoner and brought them to Babylon, for which reason this period in Biblical history is referred to as the Babylonian captivity.