Acts ii. 22). NAZARENE (Matt. ii. 23)-an inhabitant | Nazareth" (Mark xvi. 6; Luke xxiv. 19; of Nazareth. One of the names of our Lord; but the adjective is often rendered "of Nazareth." The passage from the prophets to which reference is here made is not known; and the probability is, that the reference is rather to the general current of prophecy respecting the humble and despised condition of Christ. Others supposed it connected with Netzer-a Branch a name given to the coming Messiah in the Old Testament; and they think that Nazarene is only a Greek form of the old Hebrew appellation. The name, as derived from the place of his residence, applied to Jesus may have originally borne no bad or contemptuous meaning; but as Nazareth was a place remote and obscure, of mixed dialect and tainted blood, the term became one of obloquy and scorn. To come out of Nazareth," or to be a Nazarene, rendered one an object of reproach and contempt. (See CHRIST.) (Comp. Isa. liii. 2-12 and John i. 46; vii. 52.) 66 NAZARETH (Matt. xxi. 11)-a village in Galilee, within the territory of Zebulun, from 50 to 70 miles north of Jerusalem, now known as Nassera, or Naserah. It was noted for its wickedness (John i. 46). It occupies an elevated site about midway between mount Tabor and Cana. Jesus spent much of his time here; and hence the title "Jesus of A precipice of 50 feet, which lies about a mile from the village, is regarded as the place to which the people of the town carried Jesus, with the savage intention of casting him down (Luke iv. 29). This spot, selected by monkish tradition as the scene of the furious onset, does not correspond to the narrative. It is too distant from the city. It is indeed a picturesque rock, and overlooks the plain of Esdraelon; but its position does not identify it with that from which the enraged inhabitants would have thrown the Saviour. They led Jesus to the "brow of the hill on which their city was built;" not to a rock 2 miles away. There is no need of great search to ascertain the true locality, for the hill on which the city" stands, in the south-west part of the town, "breaks off in a perpendicular wall, 40 to 50 feet in height." Robinson says that he noticed several other precipices on the western hill around the village." There is a Roman Catholic church here, called the "Church of the Annunciation," erected, as they say, on the spot where Mary the mother of our Lord received the divine message. It is the most magnificent church in the land, except that of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. The traditions of the inhabitants respecting the fountain of Mary, the house of 66 Joseph, and the synagogue where Christ taught, are not worthy of record. One traveller speaks of the streets as narrow and steep; the houses, which are flat-roofed, are about 250 in number; and the inhabitants he estimates at 2,000. The population of the place is variously stated, though the average estimate is 3,000. We subjoin a few sentences from Dr. Wilson: the priest then cut off his hair and burnt it; after which the Nazarite was free from his vow, and might again drink wine, (Num. vi.) Perpetual Nazarites were consecrated as such by their parents from their birth, and continued all their lives in this state, neither drinking wine nor cutting their hair. Such were Samson and John the Baptist (Judg. xiii. 4, 5; Luke i. 15; vii. 33). "When we got to the Walí Nabí Ismail, on Those who made a vow of Nazariteship out the top of the hill over Nazareth, we had on of Palestine, and could not come to the temple all sides of us a most glorious prospect. The when their vow had expired, contented themsphere of observation is here as much enlarged selves with observing the abstinence required as below it is contracted. To the north-west by the law, and cutting off their hair in the of us, overlooking a part of the country con-place where they were. The offerings and siderably wooded, we had the bay of 'Akká sacrifices, prescribed by Moses to be offered at and Haifa, with the clear blue expanse of the the temple by themselves or by others for Mediterranean, or Great Sea of the Hebrews, them, they deferred till a convenient opporspreading itself in the distance beyond. South tunity. Hence Paul, being at Corinth, and of this, and striking to the south-east, we had having made a vow like that of a Nazarite, the whole ridge of Carmel before us, which, had his hair cut off at Cenchrea, but deferred though stripped of much of the glory of its the complete fulfilment of his vow till he came olden forests, still presents striking memorials to Jerusalem (Acts xviii. 18). Why this vow of that 'excellency' for which it was so dis- was made by Paul we know not, unless it tinguished. To the south and south-west of was upon his deliverance from some imminent us, somewhat circular in its form, is seen here, danger, and to conciliate the Jews by complybounded by the picturesque mountains of ing with a very solemn and salutary requireSamaria, the 'great plain,' the battle-field of ment of their ritual. The "charges" (Acts the country both in ancient and modern times, xxi. 24) were for offerings required at the and probably the real or typical site of the completion of the vow. The Nazarites conbattle of Armageddon. To the east and south-stituted a sect or a class by themselves, like the east of us we had the little Hermon, which, though bald on its crown, has considerable vegetation on its shoulders; mount Tabor, standing apart in its own nobility, and, like nature's own pyramid, not commemorative of death, but instinct with life, and clothed with luxuriant verdure to its very summits; and the deep valley of the Jordan and the sea of Tiberias, with the equable hills and mountains of Bashan and Golan on its eastern side. To the north, beyond the plain of el-Battauf, we had the hills and mountains forming the continuation of the Lebanon; and to the north-east, those forming the termination of the AntiLebanon, with Jabel esh-Sheikh, the true Hermon, the chief of all the mountains of the land, moistened with the copious dews which descend from his hoary locks. Many villages, including a considerable number mentioned in Scripture, were distinctly visible." NAZARITES, (Num. vi. 2, &c.) The term is derived from a Hebrew word signifying to separate. A Nazarite-and either man or woman might take the vow-under the ancient law, was one engaged by a vow to abstain from wine and all intoxicating liquors, and every form of vineyard fruit, natural or prepared; to let the hair grow; not to enter any house polluted by having a dead body in it, nor to be present at any funeral. If, by accident, any one should have died in his or her presence, the Nazarite was bound to recommence the whole term of consecration and Nazariteship. This vow generally lasted eight days, sometimes a month, and sometimes during life. When the time of Nazariteship had expired, the person brought an offering to the temple; prophets, and were examples of self-denial and NEAPOLIS-new town (Acts xvi. 11)-a city of Macedonia, on the Egean coast, known in modern times as Napoli. Paul visited it on his way to Philippi. It is represented by the modern Caralla. NEBAIOTH (Isa. lx. 7), or NEBAJOTH (Gen. xxv. 13)-a son of Ishmael, whose descendants are supposed to have settled in Arabia, and to have been the Nabatheans of Greek and Roman history. Their territory was in Northern Arabia, and reached from the Euphrates to the top of the Elanitic Gulf. Petra was its capital. They were probably rich in flocks and herds, and they transported to the west the precious commerce of India. Their opulence and grandeur may have suggested to the prophet the beautiful figure above cited, respecting the gathering of the Gentile nations to the sceptre of the Messiah. NEBO. 1 (Deut. xxxii. 49) One of the summits of the mountains of Abarim, or Pisgah, the peak of which overlooked the whole length and breadth of the promised land (Deut. xxxiv. 1-4). This pinnacle has not been fully identified. (See ZOPHIM.) 2. (Jer. xlviii. 1) A town in the neighbourhood of mount Nebo, the possession of which was contested by the tribe of Reuben and the Moabites (Num. xxxii. 38; Isa. xv. 2; Jer. xlviii. 22). 3. (Isa. xlvi. 1) The name of an idol, supposed to be the planet Mercury, and worshipped by the Assyrians and Babylonians. The name of this god is incorporated into such names as Nebuchadnezzar, Nabopolassar, Nebuzaradan. The name of the Moabite city which was conquered by the Reubenites, and of the mountain in its vicinity, may have been connected with the worship of that divinity. His great temple was at Borsippa, and its ruins are known as the Birs Nimroud. Two statues of Nebo may be seen in the British Museum. (See BABYLON.) Birs Nimroud. ing on to the south, he next took Jerusalem, in the third year of Jehoiakim, and sent Daniel, with other captives and a portion of the temple vessels, as trophies to his capital. The Egyptian sovereign was so broken by his defeat, that he sent no more invading armies into Syria. His father, Nabopolassar, having died, Nebuchadnezzar hastened across the desert with a portion of his troops to Babylon, and safely ascended the throne about B. C. 604. Three years afterwards Jehoiakim revolted, and Phoenicia also rose to arms. Nebuchadnezzar at once invested Tyre; and proceeding to Jerusalem with a portion of his forces, took it without resistance. According to Josephus, he put the king to death, and set Jehoiachin on the throne. The new king soon offended, and Jerusalem was again besieged and taken. The temple was plundered, and the princes and crowds of the population were sent to Babylon none remained save the poorest sort of the people of the land." Zedekiah, who had been placed on the throne, after a vassal-reign of nine years, revolted on the ground of an 66 Egyptian alliance. The result was a fourth siege of two years, the final overthrow of the city, and the depopulation of the country. The principal officers of state were sent to Nebuzaradan at Rabbah, and there put to death by the cruel conqueror. Tyre fell, too, after a blockade of thirteen years. Victories were then won from Egypt; and all the nations-Assyria, Phoenicia, Palestine, and Egypt -bowed to the triumphant arms of Nebuchadnezzar. But the buildings of Nebuchadnezzar were as famous as his battles. He adorned his capital, and fortified it with a great wall, which contained more than 500,000,000 tons of masonry, developed the agricultural resources of the coun NEBUCHADNEZZAR (2 Ki. xxiv. 1), | try, and constructed aqueducts and roads, king of Babylon, was son and successor of Nabopolassar. The name is variously spelled, and probably means the chief favoured by Nebo. Nebuchadnezzar lived about 600 years before the birth of Christ, and shared in the administration of the government about two years before his father's decease. Hence there is some diversity in the chronological references to his reign; some computing it from the time of his association with his father, and others from the time his sole reign commenced (comp. Dan. ii. 1; Jer. xxv. 1). His father, Nabopolassar, having taken Nineveh, Babylon rose at once to pre-eminence. Nebuchadnezzar's first campaign was against Pharaoh-Necho, who had a short time before defeated king Josiah at Megiddo, and, as the fruit of his victory, held all the country from the Euphrates to Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar met and defeated him at Carchemish. March quays and canals. Babylon became a new city under his munificence. His wealth from his wars must have been enormous; and he had myriads of foreign prisoners to press into his service, and carry out his grand architectural designs. The bricks dug out of the extensive ruins bear only one inscription,"Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabopolassar, king of Babylon." Babylon has been for ages a quarry, supplying materials for the building of many towns; and the bricks found in the rubbish of a hundred sites have the same legend. He built a new palace of colossal dimensions, re-erected the temple of Belus and the temple of Merodach at Borsippa, piled up hanging gardens" for his Median wife, constructed an immense reservoir within the city, called the Yapur-Shapu, and another, 141 miles in circumference, at Sippara. It was a proud yet not an unfounded boast which he uttered when, walking in his palace, he said, "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?" (Dan. iv. 29, 30.) Berosus, as quoted by Josephus, confirms it. On the Standard Inscription," Nebuchadnezzar has made a record of his gigantic undertakings. "The double enclosure which Nabopolassar my father had made but not completed, I (for) a branch of the Shimat to the waters of the Yapur-Shapu, the great reservoir of Babylon, opposite to the gate of Nin. "The Ingur-Bel and the Nimiti-Bel, the great double wall of Babylon, I finished. With two long embankments of brick and mortar I built the sides of its ditch. I joined it on with that which my father had made. I strengthened the city. Across the river to the west I built the walls of Babylon with bricks. The Yapur-Shapu, the reservoir of Babylon, by the grace of Merodach, I filled completely full of water. With bricks burnt as hard as stones, and with bricks in huge masses like mountains (?), the Yapur-Shapu, from the gate of Mula as far as Nana, who is the protectress of her votaries, by the grace of his godship (i. e., Merodach), I strengthened. With that which my father had made I joined it. I made the way of Nana, the protectress of her votaries. The great gates of the Ingur-Bel and the Nimiti-Bel, the reservoir of Babylon at the time of the flood (lit., of fulness), inundated them. These gates I raised. Against the waters, their foundations with brick and mortar I built. (Here follows a description of the gates, with various architectural details, and an account of the decorations, hangings, &c.) For the delight of mankind I filled the reservoir. Behold! besides the Ingur-Bel, the impregnable fortification of Babylon, I constructed inside Babylon, on the eastern side of the river, a fortification such as no king had ever made before me-viz., a long rampart, 4,000 ammas square, as an extra defence. I excavated the ditch. With brick and mortar I bound its bed. A long rampart at its head (?) I strongly built. I adorned its gates. The folding-doors and the pillars I plated with copper. Against presumptuous enemies, who were hostile to the men of Babylon, great waters, like the waters of the ocean, I made use of abundantly. Their depths were like the depths of the vast ocean. I did not allow the waters to overflow; but the fulness of their floods I caused to flow, on restraining them with a brick embankment. . . . Thus I completely made strong the defences of Babylon. May it last for ever!"-Rawlinson's Ancient Monarchies, vol. iii., pp. 524, 525. But in the midst of his prosperity a strange calamity befel him. It was in a moment of . 3, 13), calls himself son of Bel-sum-iskun, king of Babylon-perhaps "the chief Chaldean," who held the kingdom for Nebuchadnezzar between the period of his father's death and his return to the capital from his Egyptian expedition, or perhaps the relation who administered the government during the king's insanity. Nergal-sharezer died after a reign of four years, and was succeeded by his son Laborosoarchod, a mere youth, who, after a few months, and in the midst of many accusations, was tortured to death. On his death the conspirators elected to the vacant sovereignty a person called Nabonadius, but called Labynetus by Herodotus-the name being spelled on the monuments Nabu-nahid, or Nabu-induk. Like Nergal-sharezer, his father was a Rab-mag; but he was in no way related to the late dynasty. Yet, as a matter of common policy with usurpers, he married either the widow of Nergal-sharezer or some sister of hers-another daughter of Nebuchadnezzar. But the end of the empire was approaching. A new and strong power had grown into maturity. The Medo-Persian army had become formidable; and Lydia, threatened by it, sought and obtained an alliance with Nabonadius. Nabonadius, know. ing the danger which he had incurred by joining this confederacy, set himself to strengthen the defences of his capital by confining the river flowing through it within walls, and to build the works which Herodotus ascribes to a queen Nitocris. The bricks of some of these embankments bear his name. Probably the queen, bearing the Egyptian name of Nitocris, was a daughter of king Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar was at length restored to married first to the usurper Nergal-sharezer, reason, as he says himself in Dan. iv. 36. He and then to the second usurper Nabonadius, died after a reign of forty-three years, and both of whom, as Rawlinson suggests, "may when he must have been fourscore years of have ruled partly by her right." Years passed age-probably about 561 B.C. He was a true away ere Cyrus drew near. The Babylonian Oriental, not without generosity, but liable to king raised his young son Belshazzar to the fits of sudden rage, as when he sent the three participation of the royal power, as is indicated children to the fiery furnace, and threatened on some cylinders found at Mugheir, on which the magi with immediate execution. His prayer is offered for him. Belshazzar was the ferocity was that of an Eastern despot who son in Hebrew phrase, as being in reality the puts no value on human life; and by a refine-grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Nabonadius ment of cruelty he allowed king Zedekiah to met the army of Cyrus in the field and was witness the death of his two sons before he put routed, and the Persian troops at once marched out his eyes. He was at the same time very on the capital. The defence under Belshazzar pious in his own way; and he is always giving was so well conducted that Cyrus despaired of thanks to Merodach, "the great lord," "the success; and, withdrawing a large portion of senior of the gods," "the most ancient," for his army, resolved on executing a peculiar his successes; and his inscriptions usually end stratagem. He drained away the Euphrates with a supplication for his continued favour which flowed through the city, so as to make it and protection. Nebuchadnezzar was suc-fordable for his army, who could enter by its ceeded by his son Evil-Merodach, who had channel. Then he waited the coming of a reigned only two years when Neriglassar, his festival, when the city should be given up to brother-in-law, husband of his sister, headed a dissipation. The fatal evening came, and the conspiracy against him on account of alleged royal orgies are thus described. "Belshazzar excesses, and put him to death. Evil-Mero- the king made a great feast to a thousand of dach, mindful of his father's intimacy with the his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Jewish captives, showed kindness to Jehoi- Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, comachin, and liberated him from an incarceration manded to bring the golden and silver vessels which had lasted five and thirty years. This which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken Neriglassar, or Nergal-shar-usur Rab-mag, as out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; the name is found on the bricks (Jer. xxxix. that the king, and his princes, his wives, and |