Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? Babylon was represented in the great image by the head of gold, and Daniel recognized the importance of Nebuchadnezzar: Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. and also for the innocent blood which he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and the LORD would not forgive. Why should this city, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, 'Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Ruins of the great palace built by the Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th century BC. For this reason my loins are full of anguish; Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor. Now it came about in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, camped against it and built a siege wall all around it. Now these are the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city. The message which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. How then will one answer the messengers of the nation?That the Lord has founded Zion,And the afflicted of His people will seek refuge in it.. and say, Just so shall Babylon sink down and not rise again because of the calamity that I am going to bring upon her; and they will become exhausted. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. So the kings scribes were called at that time in the third month (that is, the month Sivan), on the twenty-third day; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, the satraps, the governors and the princes of the provinces which extended from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to every province according to its script, and to every people according to their language as well as to the Jews according to their script and their language. The downfall of the Assyrian Empire, marked by these events, paved the way for the rise in power of Media which was in alliance with Nebuchadnezzar during most of his reign. He did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done. "He who dwells in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence; but he who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will have his own life as booty. Media as a separate kingdom had matched the rise of the Babylonian Empire. No nation so set against God escapes judgment (Isaiah 47). Daniel: The John Walvoord Prophecy Commentary by Walvoord & Dyer. The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth., standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! Babel was the foundation of Babylon. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. They said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." I shall mention Rahab and Babylon among those who know Me;Behold, Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia:This one was born there.. You will not be united with them in burial. For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled. The fall of the Babylonian Empire came suddenly when the Medes and the Persians overran the city of Babylon in a night attack in 539 b.c. Because she encompassed such evil, she will be the dwelling place for demons, unclean spirits and birds, and every unclean and detestable beast (Revelation 18:2). "Those who see you will gaze at you, They will ponder over you, saying, 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms, Who made the world like a wilderness And overthrew its cities, Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?' More insights from your Bible study - Get Started with Logos Bible Software for Free! Then the king of Babylon made his uncle Mattaniah king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah. But he will be broken without human agency. Revelation 18 almost reads like a news report of the breakdown of civilisation. The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the LORD as male servants and female servants; and they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors. "I will also strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence. And the angel said to me, Why do you wonder? Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials So the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign. Babylon the Great, commonly known as the Whore of Babylon, refers to a symbolic female figure and place of evil mentioned in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a bronze capital was on it; the height of the capital was three cubits, with a network and pomegranates on the capital all around, all of bronze. These searched among their ancestral registration, but they could not be located; therefore they were considered unclean and excluded from the priesthood. And the afflicted of His people will seek refuge in it.. These searched among their ancestral registration, but they could not be located; therefore they were considered unclean and excluded from the priesthood. Two sets of walls inner and outer protected the city and, according to standards of the day, rendered it safe from attack from without. Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles, youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for serving in the king's court; and he ordered him to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. Therefore the Lord brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon. They would cut off feet, lips, and noses. Get our Question of the Week delivered right to your inbox! At the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon with the valuable articles of the house of the Lord, and he made his kinsman Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem. Cult and temple prostitutes were common. Much of Jeremiahs ministry was to his own generation as he predicted the downfall of Jerusalem and the victory of the Babylonian armies. Her final appearance in the narrative comes in Revelation 17. The number of the men of the people of Israel: These are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city. The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all the princes of Judah in Riblah. Although the physical kingdom of Babylon has ceased, it lives on in a figurative sense in the end times. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. So Jeremiah wrote in a single scroll all the calamity which would come upon Babylon, that is, all these words which have been written concerning Babylon. What I have heard from the LORD of hosts, The God of Israel, I make known to you. who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. With great deference, Daniel then gave the interpretation. But he and his army had no wages from Tyre for the labor that he had performed against it." Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord,Intoxicating all the earth.The nations have drunk of her wine;Therefore the nations are going mad. You will not be united with them in burial,Because you have ruined your country,You have slain your people.May the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever. God has supremacy over all nationsMan may try to usurp control, and God allows certain events for His purposes, yet our sovereign God has and will always reign supreme. The story of the Tower of Babel in the Bible (Genesis 11: 1-9) never mentions Babylon specifically but only references "the city and the tower". "If it pleases the king, let a royal edict be issued by him and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti may no longer come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is more worthy than she. In those days and at that time, declares the Lord, the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons of Judah as well; they will go along weeping as they go, and it will be the Lord their God they will seek. The whole assembly numbered 42,360, besides their male and female servants who numbered 7,337; and they had 200 singing men and women. The whore of Babylon has influence over culture and over people. Belshazzar the king held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand. Wood engraving, published in 1886. The satanic power behind Babylon addressed as Lucifer, son of the morning (14:12) is portrayed both in his original rebellion against God and in his ultimate judgment. 'Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare. The sons of Israel did things secretly which were not right against the LORD their God. Tiglath-pileser became king of Babylon and later in 689 b.c. In 729 b.c. and all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the earth which are upon the face of the ground, and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived. The couriers went out impelled by the king's command while the decree was issued at the citadel in Susa; and while the king and Haman sat down to drink, the city of Susa was in confusion. They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the bronze vessels which were used in temple service. Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials So the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign. Another massive prophecy against Babylon is found in Isaiah 47. Then the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon and the rest of the people, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away into exile. babylon the great the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth. Then the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. The number of the men of the people of Israel: the sons of Parosh, 2,172; the sons of Shephatiah, 372; the sons of Arah, 775; the sons of Pahath-moab of the sons of Jeshua and Joab, 2,812; the sons of Elam, 1,254; the sons of Zattu, 945; the sons of Zaccai, 760; the sons of Bani, 642; the sons of Bebai, 623; the sons of Azgad, 1,222; the sons of Adonikam, 666; the sons of Bigvai, 2,056; the sons of Adin, 454; the sons of Ater of Hezekiah, 98; the sons of Bezai, 323; the sons of Jorah, 112; the sons of Hashum, 223; the sons of Gibbar, 95; the men of Bethlehem, 123; the men of Netophah, 56; the men of Anathoth, 128; the sons of Azmaveth, 42; the sons of Kiriath-arim, Chephirah and Beeroth, 743; the sons of Ramah and Geba, 621; the men of Michmas, 122; the men of Bethel and Ai, 223; the sons of Nebo, 52; the sons of Magbish, 156; the sons of the other Elam, 1,254; the sons of Harim, 320; the sons of Lod, Hadid and Ono, 725; the men of Jericho, 345; the sons of Senaah, 3,630. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. So he led Jehoiachin away into exile to Babylon; also the king's mother and the king's wives and his officials and the leading men of the land, he led away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. All rights reserved. 17:3, 6-7). A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered! Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. With the help of the Medes, Nineveh was destroyed in 612 b.c. read more. Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes at Riblah; the king of Babylon also slew all the nobles of Judah. Behold, the land of the Chaldeans--this is the people which was not; Assyria appointed it for desert creatures--they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, they made it a ruin. (Daniel 5). The etymology of the name Babel in the Bible means "confused" (Gen 11:9) and throughout the Bible, Babylon was a symbol of the confusion caused by godlessness. Imagine what the Israelite captives felt as they marched down the streets of Babylon and through the Ishtar Gate. The fall of Babylon came as the kingdom of Judah's prophesied 70 years of national captivity was ending (Jeremiah 25:11-12). O you who dwell by many waters,Abundant in treasures,Your end has come,The measure of your end. Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus says the Lord: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the Lords house will now shortly be brought again from Babylon; for they are prophesying a lie to you. And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste!, The message which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now on the tenth day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who was in the service of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth If I do not remember you, If I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him and bound him with bronze chains to take him to Babylon. In the Old Testament, Babylon was responsible for the destruction of the Temple in . So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two. And will bring them all down as fugitives. Who brings forth the chariot and the horse, The army and the mighty man (They will lie down together and not rise again; They have been quenched and extinguished like a wick): And it came about in the days of Amraphel king of, against Chedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of, It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land, Then it will happen on that day that the Lord, Will again recover the second time with His hand. Thus says the LORD, Who makes a way through the sea And a path through the mighty waters, read more. For behold, I am going to arouse and bring up against Babylon. Sometimes the term is used in reference to the political power of Babylon which obviously fell in one night when the Medes and the Persians took control of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also brought some of the articles of the house of the LORD to Babylon and put them in his temple at Babylon. After the Medes had captured Asshur in 614 b.c. How the faithful city has become a harlot. The Babylonian exile was a period in the history of ancient Israel. The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. Of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and he was called by their name. Letters were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to seize their possessions as plunder. Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials. The old Akkadian period (2360-2180 b.c.) Then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death. How then will one answer the messengers of the nation? 'You will be fuel for the fire; your blood will be in the midst of the land You will not be remembered, for I, the LORD, have spoken.'". They were taught the language spoken in Babylon. Learn Religions. "I will hurl you and your mother who bore you into another country where you were not born, and there you will die. Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death. Babylon, the symbol of religious confusion, was to appear again in the apostate church of Revelation 17, and its political power was to be revived in the final form of the Roman Empire as depicted in Revelation 18. So Judah was led away into exile from its land. At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon went up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege. - And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying; and he cried with a strong voice, saying. Then the heads of fathers' households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose, even everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem. All the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king and of his officers, he brought them all to Babylon. read more. youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for serving in the kings court; and he ordered him to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. When Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 b.c., he was succeeded by his son Amel-Marduk who was assassinated only two years later. In the year that King Ahaz died this oracle came: Do not rejoice, O Philistia, all of you. For through the anger of the Lord this came about in Jerusalem and Judah until He cast them out from His presence. And Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it. Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold (606-561 BC, kingdom of Babylon). A kingdom will take over the world at the end of the world. The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god. The city had become a spirit. One of the earliest mentions of Babylon is in the 'Book of Genesis' as the 'city in which the Tower of Babel was built.' According to the Biblical account, humans who wanted to reach God in the heavens built this tower. Copyright 2002-2023 Got Questions Ministries. Babel, Babylon. The captain of the guard also took away the firepans and the basins, what was fine gold and what was fine silver. He carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, just as the LORD had said. The city also included great parks and gardens, some of which, such as the hanging gardens described by Diodorus, were outstanding wonders in the ancient world. And go forth from the land of the Chaldeans; Be also like male goats at the head of the flock. Southern Palace, Babylon, Iraq. Debated is the conclusion that the city itself will have a physical revival to become the capital of the world at the end of the age. And I will make what he has swallowed come out of his mouth; And the nations will no longer stream to him. Within the walls the city was laid out in square blocks with beautiful houses lining the streets usually three and four stories in height. And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. At that time Berodach-baladan a son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. Sometimes it is used in a religious sense, for Babylon has been the fountain of many of the pagan religions which have competed with Judaism and Christian faith ever since. At the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon with the valuable articles of the house of the Lord, and he made his kinsman Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem. So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son became king in his place. Babylon is an example for us to learn how notto live. In chapter 44 Jeremiah sends a message to the Jews in Egypt in which he predicts that their attempt to escape the power of Babylon would only result in their own destruction. And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans' pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced. All those about them encouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with goods, with cattle and with valuables, aside from all that was given as a freewill offering. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. And. All the temple servants and the sons of Solomon's servants were 392. "But you have been cast out of your tomb Like a rejected branch, Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword, Who go down to the stones of the pit Like a trampled corpse. Mystery Babylon is described as being clothed in purple and red. Babylon was indeed like the lion, the king of beasts, and had eagles wings like the king of birds. After the downfall of Assyria, Babylon became Nebuchadnezzar's capital. Now, then, hear this, you sensual one,Who dwells securely,Who says in your heart,I am, and there is no one besides me.I will not sit as a widow,Nor know loss of children. But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day:Loss of children and widowhood.They will come on you in full measureIn spite of your many sorceries,In spite of the great power of your spells. Behold, the land of the Chaldeansthis is the people which was not; Assyria appointed it for desert creaturesthey erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, they made it a ruin. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the, For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, declares the, For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the. Just a few short decades after Nebuchadnezzar's death, Babylon was taken by the Persian conqueror Cyrus II, who reduced the city to just another outpost in his vast, Iran-based empire. read more. They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the pans and all the bronze vessels which were used in temple service. And make a signpost; make it at the head of the way to the city. Letters were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to seize their possessions as plunder. How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations! But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived. The mountain is the Lord, and He will set up a kingdom that will eclipse all others, and which will never end. She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. read more. Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. This "strong voice" is characteristic of the heavenly utterances (cf. Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Because of the iniquity of their fathers. So He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord which He had spoken through His servants the prophets. They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; "Rise up, captains, oil the shields," For thus the Lord says to me, "Go, station the lookout, let him report what he sees. Apart from a reference to a Babylonish garment in Joshua 7:21, there is no Biblical reference to Babylon after Genesis 11 until the great prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel unfolded Gods plan for the ancient city. and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery. He burned the house of the Lord, the kings house and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every large house he burned with fire. Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. All the men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand, all strong and fit for war, and these the king of Babylon brought into exile to Babylon. And it will be in the day when the Lord gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved, that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say,How the oppressor has ceased,And how fury has ceased! He is the author "Hope for Hurting Singles: A Christian Guide to Overcoming Life's Challenges.". They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the bronze vessels which were used in temple service.