Merodach-Baladan

In Bible versions:

Merodach-Baladan: NET AVS NIV TEV
Merodach-baladan: NRSV NASB

son of Baladan; king of Babylon in Hezekiah's time

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bitter contrition, without judgment

Hebrew

Strongs #01255: Ndalb Kdarb B@ro'dak Bal'adan

Berodach-baladan = "worshipper of Baal"

1) king of Babylon in the days of Hezekiah

1255 Bro'dak Bal'adan ber-o-dak' bal-ad-awn'

a variation of 4757; Berodak-Baladan, a Babylonian
king:-Berodach-baladan.Birliy.
see HEBREW for 04757

Strongs #04757: Ndalb Kdarm M@ro'dak Bal'adan

Merodach-baladan = "Marduk has given a son"

1) king of Babylon in the days of king Hezekiah of Judah

4757 Mro'dak Bal'adan mer-o-dak' bal-aw-dawn'

of foreign derivation; Merodak-Baladan, a Babylonian
king:-Merodach-baladan. Compare 4781.
see HEBREW for 04781

Merodach-baladan [EBD]

Merodach has given a son, (Isa. 39:1), "the hereditary chief of the Chaldeans, a small tribe at that time settled in the marshes at the mouth of the Euphrates, but in consequence of his conquest of Babylon afterwards, they became the dominant caste in Babylonia itself." One bearing this name sent ambassadors to Hezekiah (B.C. 721). He is also called Berodach-baladan (2 Kings 20:12; 2 Chr. 20:31). (See HEZEKIAH.)

Merodach-baladan [NAVE]

MERODACH-BALADAN, called Berodach-baladan, king of Persia. Sends congratulatory letters and a present to Hezekiah, 2 Kin. 20:12; Isa. 39:1.

MERODACH-BALADAN [ISBE]

MERODACH-BALADAN - me-ro'-dak-bal'-a-dan, mer'-o-dak-b. (mero'dhakh bal'adhan; Marodach Baladan): The son of Baladan, is mentioned in Isa 39:1, as a king of Babylon who sent an embassy to Hezekiah, king of Judah, apparently shortly after the latter's illness, in order to congratulate him on his recovery of health, and to make with him an offensive and defensive alliance. This Merodach-baladan was a king of the Chaldeans of the house of Yakin, and was the most dangerous and inveterate foe of Sargon and his son Sennacherib, kings of Assyria, with whom he long and bitterly contested the possession of Babylon and the surrounding provinces. Merodach-Baladan seems to have seized Babylon immediately after the death of Shalmaneser in 721 BC; and it was not till the 12th year of his reign that Sargon succeeded in ousting him. From that time down to the 8th campaign of Sennacherib, Sargon and his son pursued with relentless animosity Merodach-Baladan and his family until at last his son Nabushumishkun was captured and the whole family of Merodach-Baladan was apparently destroyed. According to the monuments, therefore, it was from a worldly point of view good politics for Hezekiah and his western allies to come to an understanding with Merodach-Baladan and the Arameans, Elamites, and others, who were confederated with him. From a strategical point of view, the weakness of the allied powers consisted in the fact that the Arabian desert lay between the eastern and western members of the confederacy, so that the Assyrian kings were able to attack their enemies when they pleased and to defeat them in detail.

R. Dick Wilson