NABUZARDAN. — A general of Nebuchadnezzar (Babylonian Nabû-zêr-iddinam = “Nabû has given me a shoot”; Heb. Nêbhûzar'âdihân) entrusted with the task of restoring, after the capture of the “ever-rebellious city” in 586 BC, under Gedaliah, a Judea finally at peace.
Little is known about N. from cuneiform sources. There are, however, some letters from one of his servants, and N. is listed in the “court calendar” of Nebuchadnezzar, published by Unger, among the amêlu mašennim, high dignitaries of the court and the Empire, in the first place. There he is designated with the title amêlu rab nuṭṭinnum, “prefect of bakers (and cooks).” More is known from the biblical pericopes Jer. 39, 1-14; 52, 1-30, of which 2 Kings 24, 18–25, 21 is an abridged reference. Here he appears as rabû tabbâhûn, “prefect of butchers”; according to the context and sound Hebrew lexicography, the sense is “prefect of the bodyguard,” “prefect of the praetorians.” Arriving in Jerusalem a month after the capture, he systematically and economically destroyed all the bases of Jewish power. Objects of intrinsic value or at least as metal were dismantled, collected, cut into portable pieces, and sent to Babylon. It was then that his soldiers demolished the walls (at least to deprive them of any defensive value; at the time of Mecca there were the ruins) and set fire to the palaces, the royal residence, and even the Temple of Yahweh, whose furnishings had first been removed.
N., by order of Nebuchadnezzar, freed Jeremiah, but carried out a very strict purge of the people, certainly based on denunciations by deserters, which may have been the cause of the disturbances under Gedaliah and the flight of the people to Egypt. Jer. 52, 24-27 lists the persons sought as “criminals,” including the two high priests, all of whom were taken to Riblah and cruelly executed after Nebuchadnezzar’s sentence. The deserters themselves were deported, along with the rest of the skilled workers and prominent men, and even part of the farming population. Only the poorest people, vine-growers and farmers, were left, so as not to leave a harmful void in the land for Babylon’s treasury.