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Text Excerpt
ומי סליק נבוכד נצר לירושלים? והכתיב: ״ויעלו אתו אל מלך בבל רבלתה״, ואמר רבי אבהו: זו אנטוכיא! רב חסדא ורב יצחק בר אבודימי, חד אמר: דמות דיוקנו היתה חקוקה לו על מרכבתו, וחד אמר: אימה יתירה היתה לו ממנו ודומה כמי שעומד לפניו.
The Talmud asks: And did Nebuchadnezzar ascend to Jerusalem? But isn’t it written with regard to Zedekiah: “And they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylonia, to Riblah” (II Kings 25:6), and R' Abbahu says: This place called Riblah is a reference to Antioch. Apparently, Nebuchadnezzar was in Antioch, not in Jerusalem. Rav Ḥisda and Rav Yitzḥak bar Avudimi resolved this apparent contradiction. One says: An image of Nebuchadnezzar’s likeness was engraved on Nebuzaradan’s chariot, and he regarded that image as though Nebuchadnezzar were actually there. And one says: Nebuzaradan was in extreme fear of Nebuchadnezzar, and it was as though Nebuzaradan was always standing before Nebuchadnezzar. That is an example of the honor of a servant to his master mentioned in the verse.
אמר רבא: טעון תלת מאה כודנייתא נרגא דפרזלא דשליט בפרזלא שדר ליה נבוכדנצר לנבוזראדן. כולהו בלעתינהו חד דשא דירושלם, שנאמר: ״פתוחיה יחד בכשיל וכילפת יהלמון״. בעי למיהדר, אמר: מסתפינא דלא ליעבדו בי כי היכי דעבדו בסנחריב.
§ The Talmud proceeds to discuss the role of Nebuzaradan in the destruction of the Temple. Rava says: Nebuchadnezzar sent to Nebuzaradan 300 mules laden with iron axes that cut iron. All of them were incapacitated in the attempt to breach one gate of Jerusalem, as it is stated: “And now they pound its carved work together with hatchet and with hammers” (Psalms 74:6). Nebuzaradan sought to return to Babylonia and said: I am afraid. I want to ensure that they will not do to me just as they did to Sennacherib, whose downfall was in Jerusalem.
נפקא קלא ואמר: ״שוור בר שוור, נבוזראדן, שוור דמטא זימנא דמקדשא חריב והיכלא מיקלי״. פש ליה חד נרגא. אתא מחייה בקופא, ואיפתח, שנאמר: ״יודע כמביא למעלה בסבך עץ קרדמות״.
A bat kol emerged and said: Leaper, son of a leaper; Nebuzaradan, take the leap, as the time has arrived for the Temple to be destroyed and the Sanctuary to burn. One ax remained for him to use. He went and struck the gate with the dull end of the ax and it opened, as it is stated: “He became known as the wielder of axes upward in a thicket of trees” (Psalms 74:5). At the appropriate time the gate was breached as though the ax were cutting trees.