The son of Nebuchadnezzer who succeeded to the throne in 562 BC and reigned just two years. He appears in the pages of the Old Testament under whose reign King Jehoiachin was released from prison and "he spoke kindly to him, and gave him a seat above the other seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king's table." (2 Ki 25:27-29; Jer 52:31-33).
"Evil" in his name is not an adjective describing his character, for his name in English renders the Hebrew 'ewil merodak for Akkadian Amel-Marduk, "man of Marduk." Although there exist many later legendary, and largely disparaging, accounts of his reign, nothing is known with certainty about him, both in the years before he acceded to the throne or of his activities as king. Serge Frolov summarizes Evil-Merodach's reign in these words:
In sum, Evil-Merodach was one of the most obscure, insignificant, and ephemeral rulers Babylon and the ancient Near East in general have ever known. With no military campaigns or important building projects to his credit and, apart from Jehoiachin's release and exaltation, no substantial policy shifts associated with his name, he left no legacy to speak of. The transitional, and transient, character of Evil-Merodach's reign was further augmented by the fact that his removal ushered in an era of exponentially increasing political discontinuity in Babylon. While his reign was most likely a direct extension of that of his father, Nebuchadnezzar (especially if it was preceded by a period of co-regency), Evil-Merodach's successor, Neriglissar, was not his son, but somebody who was married into the royal family and may have assumed power through a coup d'état. Four years later, in 556 BCE, another coup d'état led by Nabonidus, "a usurper with no hereditary claim to the throne", put a violent end to the dynasty founded by Evil-Merodach's grandfather Nabopolassar." ("Evil-Merodach and the Deuteronomist: The Sociohistorical Setting of Dtr in the Light of 2 Kis 25,27-30," Biblica 88 (2007): 180.).
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