Nebo
Bible References
- The children of Nebo returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:29; 10:43; Nehemiah 7:33). The name occurs between Bethel and Ai and Lydda, which implies that it was situated in the territory of Benjamin to the northwest of Jerusalem. This is possibly the modern Beit-Nubah, about 12 miles northwest by west of Jerusalem, 8 from Lydda.
- Nebo, which occurs both in Isaiah (Isaiah 46:1), and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 48:1), as the name of a Chaldean god, is a well known deity of the Babylonians and Assyrians. He was the god who presided over learning and letters. His general character corresponds to that of the Egyptian Thoth the Greek Hermes and the Latin Mercury. Astronomically he is identified with the planet nearest the sun. In Babylonia Nebo held a prominent place from an early time. The ancient town of Borsippa was especially under his protection, and the great temple here, the modern Birs-Nimrud, was dedicated to him from a very remote age. He was the tutelar god of the most important Babylonian kings, in whose names the word Nabu or Nebo appears as an element.
Smith's Bible Names Dictionary (1866).