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HOUSMAIL HM068
2 December 2000 THE FALL OF BABYLON “The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the
son of Amoz saw ..... (Isaiah 13:1) And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendour
and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew
them. It will never be inhabited or dwelt in for all generations; no Arab will
pitch his tent there, no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there. But
wild beasts will lie down there, and its houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ostriches will dwell, and there satyrs will dance. Hyenas will cry in its
towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its
days will not be prolonged., (Isaiah 13:19-22) “When the LORD has given you rest from your pain
and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, you will take
up this taunt against the king of Babylon: "How the oppressor has ceased,
the insolent fury ceased!..... (Isaiah 14:3-4) "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star,
son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!
You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will
set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far north; I
will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most
High.' But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the Pit.” (Isaiah 14:12-15) Noted in passing -- the common “Christian MYTH” that this chapter
is about the Devil, is simply NOT true! It is ALL about Babylon! Read it carefully.
The Devil is not mentioned at all! The
prophet Jeremiah also wrote in similar vein when he predicted the spectacular
rise of Babylon as a World Empire under Nebuchadnezzar. He spoke of its conquest
of many nations, including the kingdom of Judah, and he predicted its judgement
and destruction 70 years later. “Then after seventy years are completed, I will
punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their
iniquity, says the LORD, making the land an everlasting waste. I will bring upon
that land all the words which I have uttered against it, everything written in
this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.” (Jeremiah 25:12-13) (also read Jeremiah 50 & 51) THE
ANCIENT CITY Babylon
is very ancient. It was the capital of southern Mesopotamia from the early second
millennium BC. It became the capital of the Chaldean/Babylonian Empire during
the 7th and 6th centuries BC, when it reached the heights of its splendour during
the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. In its
day Nebuchadnezzar's city was the largest in the world, covering about 2,500 acres.
The Euphrates River (which has since shifted its course) flowed through it. There
were a large number of idol temples. Along the Euphrates, were warehouses, and
quays for trading vessels. History tells us that Babylon was an important centre
for trade. The streets were laid out on a grid, with the main axis parallel to
the river. A central feature was the paved Processional Way, leading to the Ishtar
Gate, which was adorned with enamelled bulls and dragons. To the West of the Ishtar
Gate, were two palace complexes covering about 40 acres. The city was enclosed
on both sides of the Euphrates, by thick double wall, reinforced by a ditch. An
outer triple rampart, 18km long, met the Euphrates south and north of the city.
The inner and outer defences enclosed irrigated land and a network of canals.
The Hanging Gardens, a huge man-made terraced garden, was regarded as one of the
Seven Wonders of the World. [Source - http://members.nbci.com/ashurbanipal/BabylonianArticle_1.htm] (As at December 2000) THE
PROPHECIES FULFILLED The
beginning of the fulfilment of these remarkable prophecies is recorded in Daniel
Ch. 5. Belshazzar made a great feast, during which he sent for the vessels captured
from the temple in Jerusalem. He and the nobles of Babylon drank from the vessels,
praising their own idol “gods” and mocking the God of Israel. (Cf. Isaiah 14:12-14 above) Then
a hand appeared out of nowhere, writing on the wall in a language unknown to the
Babylonians. The prophet Daniel gave the dreaded interpretation -- “Because you have
lifted up yourself against the God of Heaven ..... God has numbered the days of
your kingdom and brought it to an end; you have been weighed in the balances and
found wanting; your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians." (Daniel 5:23, 26-28) And
the story goes on to say -- “THAT VERY NIGHT Belshazzar the Chaldean king
was slain. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom.” (Daniel 5:30-31) From
that night on, the mighty BABYLONIAN EMPIRE was gone for ever, NEVER TO RISE AGAIN.
(although the city itself still existed for many centuries after that, under the
dominion of successive captors.) However, eventually it also disappeared completely
beneath the desert sands. In the 19th century, the site of the "lost city"
was known to some pioneer archaeologists, but it had not been excavated and verified.
All that remained visible were a number of mounds, indicating the presence of
“something” beneath the surface. The
disappearance of the city was so complete that it became popular for Bible Critics
to claim that the lack of visible evidence supporting the Bible stories about
Babylon, meant that the Bible was unreliable! And that Isaiah and Jeremiah could
not be believed! Then
at the end of the 19th century and early in the 20th, Babylon was excavated by
the German archaeologist, Robert Koldewey, and discovered to be all that the Bible
said. Christians were greatly excited. They were still talking about it 40 years
later! Yes the Bible was true! Fulfilled prophecy about Babylon was part of the
“proof”! The critics were put to flight! Isaiah and Jeremiah were reliable after
all when they said Babylon would be TOTALLY destroyed! The archaeologists had
provided the visible “evidence”. In the
1980s some quite extensive restoration of several important archaeological features
of the city was undertaken by Saddam Hussein. Nevertheless, the vast majority
of the site is still no more than a gigantic field of ruins bearing silent testimony
to the accuracy and finality of the words of the Old Testament prophets. Ancient
Babylon is gone for ever and will never rise again! "When you come
to Babylon, see that you read all these words, and say, 'O LORD, thou hast said
concerning this place that thou wilt cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in
it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate for ever.' When you finish
reading this book, bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates,
and say, 'Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the evil that I
am bringing upon her.'" (Jeremiah 51:61-64) But
the present condition of the ruins of Babylon is much, much more than evidence
of the past existence and ultimate fall of a once mighty empire. It
also stands as a visible witness to the reliability of Isaiah and Jeremiah when
they speak of the identity of the Messiah, and the certainty of the still future
Kingdom of God. Allon APPENDIX Quotations
from the historians and archaeologists. I can
remember, when I was a teenager back in the 1940s, that preachers would deliver
lectures on the reliability of Bible Prophecy. Prime examples were taken from
the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, quoting the complete destruction of Babylon
as a PROOF of the truth of the Bible. I can remember reading books on the subject
of archaeology which said the same thing. Just
lately books and articles on Biblical archaeology, which contain the information
shown in this appendix, seem to be hard to find. I have been searching for books
and articles which haven't lost sight of the Biblical emphasis, described above,
but they appear to be few and far between! Almost everything I have found so far,
is INFECTED with
the popular futurist philosophy which predicts that ancient Babylon is about to
rise again as a world Empire. Alas, I think it most likely that we are seeing
another variation on the theme of "The
Emperor's New Clothes Syndrome"! (AKA Hans Christian
Andersen!) I am
indebted to Russell Rankin (1) for the quotes below,
which describe just a few of the things you could, once upon a time, hear and/or
read EVERYWHERE! (1) You can ask Russell to E-mail a copy of his booklet
in MS WORD format - 1903
- H. V. Hilprecht [Clark
Research Professor of Assyriology and Scientific Director of the Babylonian Expedition,
University of Pennsylvania]: *
"Nothing reminds
the traveller of the old Assyrian civilisation but formless heaps and conical
mounds. The solitude and utter devastation which characterize Babylonia in her
present aspect are even more impressive and appalling..... The whole country from
'Aqarquf to Qorna looks like
'as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah' (Isaiah
13:19, Jeremiah 50:40) *
The innumerable canals
...... are completely 'dried up'--'a drought is upon the waters of Babylon' (Jeremiah. 50:38) ..... *
'Her cities are a desolation,
a dry land, and a wilderness' (Jeremiah 51:43). *
The soil is parched and the ground is covered with fine sand, sometimes
sparingly clad with 'arid and serim, qubbar, and tarfa, and other low
shrubs and plants of the desert.. *
'The sea is come up upon
Babylon: she is covered with the multitudes of the waves thereof' (Jeremiah 51:42), says the Old Testament
seer, in his terse and graphic description of the future state of the unfortunate
country. In the autumn and winter Babylonia is a 'desert of sand,' but during
the spring and summer she is almost a continuous marsh, a veritable 'desert of
the sea' (Isaiah 21:1) *
"Restlessly shifting
nomads in the north and ignorant dwellers in the south have become the legitimate
heirs of Asshur and Babel. What contrast between ancient civilisation and modern
degradation! Nineveh and Babylon seemed completely to have vanished from the earth.
Hundreds of years were necessary to revive the interest in their history and to
determine merely their sites, while the exploration of their principal ruins,
the deciphering of their inscriptions, and the restoration of their literature
and art were achieved only in the course of the nineteenth century. The road was
long, the process slow, and many persons and circumstances combined to bring about
the final result." [Explorations
In Bible Lands During The 19th Century, 1903, Hermann V. Hilprecht,
A. J. Holman and Company] 1883
- Hormuzd Rassam [companion of Layard and
excavator of Babylon site, 1850-1851, a paper read before the American Institute
of Christian Philosophy, October 25, 1883]: *
"Babylon ..... is
now a heap of rubbish, where the wild beast of the desert still lie and the owl
makes his abode! .... In Babylon itself there was no regular structure discovered,
as the whole place was so thoroughly destroyed that if it was not from the account
we read of it in the Bible and ancient history, no one could credit the possibility
of such a magnificent city ever existed there. The whole place seems to have been
destroyed by an earthquake or some other overthrow..... *
Whenever I visit the
ruins of Babylon I always wonder whether the grand description given to us by
ancient historians of the size and magnificence of the capital of Chaldee was
not mostly fabricated, or, at all events, greatly exaggerated; but when I remember
the Prophets have foretold about the utter annihilation of the Babylonian monarchy,
it makes me realize the awful visitation of God's wrath upon the wicked and rebellious
nations who follow their evil devices and forget their heavenly benefactor! [NOTE - Rassam's report was of what he saw in 1850-51. The city
of Babylon was not unearthed until 1899. Rassam did not realize he was standing
on 15 to 70 feet of desert sand which had hidden the entire city from his view.
He only saw mounds and depressions on which were scattered debris indicating a
once existing city. Most of that debris was from a later period than Nebuchadnezzar's
Babylon, even later than any period of an inhabited Babylon. Only a few tantalizing
remains convinced him he was at the site of Babylon.] 1914
- Robert Koldewey [German architect; excavator
of the city of Babylon sponsored by the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft]: *
".... When we gaze
to-day over the wide area of ruins we are involuntarily reminded of the words
of the prophet Jeremiah (50:39): 'Therefore the wild beasts of the desert, with the wild beasts
of the islands, shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein; and it shall
be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to
generation.'" [The
Excavations At Babylon, Robert Koldewey, 1914, translated from German by Agnes
S. James, pub. by Macmillan and Co., Limited, St. Martin's Street, London, UK.] 1979
- Dr. Joan Oates, - Fellow and Tutor and
Director of Studies in Archeology and Oriental Studies
at Girton College. *
"Today, despite
the restoration of its major buildings, its desolation remains complete; once
the centre of the world it now serves as a moving reminder of the impermanence
of life, along its once busy river, a quiet picnicker's haven." [Babylon,
Dr. Joan Oates, 1979, pub. by Thames and Hudson, Ltd., London,UK.,
Library of Congress card number 78-557197] *
"How did Isaiah
know that the Arabs would not make use of the ruins of Babylon for shelter? Many
explorers and excavators of recent years report that it is impossible to get Arabs
to remain on the site of this ancient city overnight. Captain Mignan was accompanied by six Arabs completely armed, but
he 'could not induce them to remain toward night, from apprehension of evil spirits.
It is impossible to eradicate this idea from the minds of these people."
[Refer Isaiah 13:20] [Prophecy
Speaks - Page 49 - a Seventh day Adventist Publication] |