Bible Encyclopedias
Samgar-Nebo

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

sam - gar - nē´bo ( נבו סמגר , ṣamgar nebhō , a Babylonian name): An officer of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who, according to the Massoretic Text of Jeremiah 39:3 , took his seat with other nobles in the middle gate of Jerusalem after the Chaldean army had taken the city. Schrader (COT , ii, 109) holds that the name is a Hebraized form of the Assyrian Sumgirnabu ("be gracious, Nebo"), but Giesebrecht (Comm. , 211) conjectures for Samgar a corruption of Sar-mag (Sar -magh ), equivalent to Rab-mag (rab -magh ), which implies virtual dittography. The number of variant readings exhibited by the Septuagint seems to confirm the belief that the text is corrupt. Nebo (nabu ) is there joined with the following Sarsechim to agree with Nebushazban of Jeremiah 39:13 . If the name Samgar-nebo is correct, the first Nergal-sharezer "should perhaps be dropped; we would then read: "Samgar-nebo the Sarsechim, Nebushazban the Rab-saris (compare Jeremiah 39:13 ) and Nergal-sharezer the Rab-mag" (Sayce). See RAB-MAG; RAB-SARIS .