Nebuchadnezzar's transformation was not a complete change from man to animal. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, he appeared as an ox from his head to his navel and as a lion from his navel to his feet. His mind was altered and his speech was taken from him, but his body remained partly human. The punishment was public, unmistakable, and deeply humiliating for the most powerful king on earth.
For the first forty days he roamed among wild beasts, eating herbs like cattle. Then for forty days his heart returned to human awareness, and he wept for his sins. Another forty days he spent hiding in caves. A final forty days passed among the animals again. Daniel prayed for him throughout the ordeal, and because of Daniel's intercession, the seven years of punishment prophesied were reduced to seven months.
When God restored Nebuchadnezzar to his throne, the king changed. He appointed seven judges to share his power, one for each year that had been decreed against him. He stopped eating meat and bread and drinking wine, living instead on herbs and seeds according to Daniel's counsel. He tried to make Daniel an heir alongside his own sons, but Daniel refused. "Far be it from me to leave the inheritance of my fathers for an inheritance of the uncircumcised," he said.
After Nebuchadnezzar's death, his son Evil-Merodach freed Jehoiachin, the exiled king of Judah, from prison and raised his throne above every other king in Babylon. Evil-Merodach did this partly from justice and partly from fear. His father had put him in prison alongside Jehoiachin, and the two had shared a cell. But Evil-Merodach feared his father might somehow rise from the grave, so Jehoiachin advised him to cut the corpse into 300 pieces and feed them to 300 vultures. "Your father will not rise," Jehoiachin told him, "until those vultures return every piece of flesh."
LXVI. (1) Nebuchadnezzar was not very much changed
in his being from other men; but only in his appearance,
in his mind, and in his language. He appeared to men like
an ox as far as his navel (or stomach), and from his navel
to his feet like a lion. He ate the herbs at first which
other men eat, to show that he chewed his food like an ox,
and became at last like a lion, in that he killed all the
wicked. Many people went out to see him, but Daniel did
not, because, during the time of his change, he was praying
for him, so that the seven years became seven months.
For forty days he roamed about among the wild beasts, and
for the next forty days his heart became like that of any
other man, and he wept on account of his sins. Again, for
forty days he wandered about in caves, and for yet another
206 [LXVI. 2
forty days he roamed among the wild beasts until the seven
months were completed.
(2) When, however, the Lord restored him to his former
position he no longer reigned alone, but appointed seven
judges, one for each year until the expiration of the seven
years. And during this time, while he was repenting for
his sins, he neither ate meat nor bread, nor drank any wine,
but his food consisted of herbs and seed, according to
Daniel's counsel. When, after the seven years of his
punishment, he sat once more on the throne of his kingdom,
he wished to make Daniel an heir among his sons, but
Daniel said, ' Far be it from me to leave the inheritance
of my fathers for that of the uncircumcised.'
(3) On the death of Nebuchadnezzar the Great, his son
of the same name succeeded him. He built a temple to
Bel in Babylon, and completed the city of Babylon. He
surrounded it with the river, so that the enemy could not
prevail against it. He increased the city and the temple of
Bel tenfold, and added glory and honour, and in fifteen
days (?) the building was complete.
(4) The king then, having placed a huge stone upon a
mountain, planted a garden upon it, which was raised to a
great height so as to enable his wife to gaze upon Media,
the land of her birth, for she longed to behold it. This
was the king who besieged Tyre for three years and ten
months. When Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nebuchad-
nezzar the Great, died. Evil Merodach reigned in his stead.
(5) Now, in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of
Jehoiachin, King of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the
twelfth month. Evil Merodach, King of Babylon, in the first
year of his reign, rescued Jehoiachin, King of Judah, from
prison, and raised his throne above that of any other king
in Babylon, and, changing his prison garments, he main-
tained him as long as he lived. He did this because
Nebuchadnezzar the Great did not keep his faith with him,
for Evil Merodach was really his eldest son; but he made
Nebuchadnezzar the Younger king, because he had humbled
the wicked. They slandered him to his father, who
Lxvii. ij 207
placed him (Evil Merodach) in prison together with
Jehoiachin, where they remained together until the death
of Nebuchadnezzar, his brother, after whom he reigned.
(6) ' I fear my father Nebuchadnezzar,' he said, ' lest he
rise from his grave, for just as he was changed back from an
animal to a man, so in the same manner he may rise up
from death to life.' But Jehoiachin advised him to take
the corpse out of the grave, and, cutting it into 300 pieces,
to give it to 300 vultures, and he said to him, ' Thy father
will not rise up until these vultures have brought back the
flesh of thy father, which they have eaten.' Evil Merodach
had three sons, whose names were Eegosar ("iDTjn), Lebuzer-
Dukh C^-n "iT-np), and Nabar ("i^^^, who was Belshazzar,
with whom the Chaldean kingdom came to an end.
[Here commences the book of Joseph ben Gorion, with
the exception of the first two pages, which contain an
enumeration of the families and ancient kings, which I
have written above in its proper place in the Book of the
Generations.]
