NERGAL (ngegal),(Heb. nare-gal',a great hero), a deity of the Cuthites (2 Kings xvii:3o).
The Rabbinical commentators believe that this idol was in the form of a cock; founding their not very happy conjecture apparently upon the fact that in the Talmud the similar word tarnegol means a cock. The more measured researches of Norberg, Gesenius, and other inquirers into the astrolatry of the Assyrians and Chaldeans, lead to the conclusion that nare-gal' is the same as the Zabian name for the planet Mars. This name of the planet, both among the Zabians and Arabians means ill-luck, misfortune; and it was by no means peculiar to the mytholocy of the West to make it the symbol of bloodshed and war. Amon.g the people firs+ named, the planet Mars was typi fied under .the figure of a man holding in one hand a drawn sword, and in the other a human head just cut off ; and his garments were also red. , which, as well as the ether ideas attached to this idol, were no doubt founded on the reddish hue which the body of the planet presents to the. eye. Among the southern Arabs his temple was painted red ; and they offered to him garments stained with blood, and also a warrior (probably a pris oner), who was cast into a pool.
( neegal-sha-re'zer ). ( Heb. nare-gal shar-eh-tser' , Nergal, prince of fire).
1. A military chieftain under Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. xxxix:3 ).
2. The chief of the magi (Rab-mag) under the same king, and present in the sante expedition (Jer. xxxix :3, 13).
He is generally identified with Neriglissar of profane history, who married Nebuchadnezzar's daughter, and ascended the throne two years after that monarch's death. A palace built by him has been discovered among the ruins of Babylon, and his name found on bricks.
In the Biblical description of the end of the reign of Sennacherib he is said to have been killed by his two sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer (2 Kings xix :37; Is. xxxvii :38). There is little doubt that this name Sharezer is simply the latter part of the name Nergal-sharezer.
The name is given by Abydemus as Nergilos, so that the Old Testament has preserved the latter half of his name and the Greek historian the first half. Abbreviations of names in this manner are common among Assyrians and Babylonians. The Assyrian story of the death of Sennacherib is much more brief in its details, and does not mention the names of his murderers. It is as fol lows: "On the twentieth day of Tebet, Sennach erib, king of Assyria, was killed by his son during an insurrection. . . . From the twentieth day of Tebet to the second day of Adar, the in surrection continued, and on the eighteenth day of Sivan (of the following year) Esarhaddon ascended the throne." It will be observed that in this account the death of Sennacherib is ascribed to the act of one son, and not to two, as in the Old Testament. There has not yet been found any further allusion to the matter in the inscriptions. It is a probable conjecture that the death of the Assyrian king was due to the jealousy felt for his son Esarhaddon, who suc ceeded him (Barnes, Bib. Dict.) A. H. Sayce, Hastings' Bib. Dict., inclines to the belief that the supposed two persons are the same individual. He says : "It is hardly doubt ful that the Nergal-sharezer who, in Jeremiah, occupies a place so near Nebuchadnezzar, is the Nergal-sharezer who subsequently became king of Babylon. Nergal-sharezer was the son of Belsum-iskum, to whom, in• one of his son's in scriptions, is erroneously given the title of king. In B. C. 559 Evil merodach was murdered and Nergal-sharezer seized the throne, which he held for four years." NERI (ne'rt), (Gr. Nnpt, nay-ree'), son of Melchi and father of Salathiel in the genealogy of Christ (Luke iii :27, 28) ; probably the same as NER1AH (which see) (Jer. :59).
(ne-ri'ah), (Hcb. nay-ree-yah% Jah is light). The son of Maaseialt and father of Seraiali and Baruch (Jer. xxxii:12; xxxvi:4; probably identical with NER1 (Luke iii:27, 28), B. C. about 62o.