The Rise and Fall of Babylon

With my device in my hand and my thinking cap on, I am on route to trace down memory lane to this ancient city Babylon which stood on the plain of Shinar. This ancient city with its expensive structure sat on rich histories that now fill the pages of history books, helping us to see the world from the beginning to its end. Ecclesiastes 3:15- “That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.”  Babylon is defined by modern dictionary as, “a city devoted to materialism and sensual pleasure”. Throughout this paper, you will see its definition come to life as this city did fulfil these words.

Growing up I heard the term ‘Babylon’ being used but, never really understood what it meant. Its term was used in such a careless manner but, now I understand it has a lot of significance. Babylon is derived from the term Babel and was founded by a man who goes by the name, Nimrod of Genesis 10, who developed the world’s first organized system of idolatry; which God condemned. That was the then known Babylon!

Babylon through the book of Daniel, its rise and its fall transpire under various Kings of whom I will cover in this summary.  Its rise develops in the affairs in the government of Assyria, two revolts between Media, Babylon, and Egypt first in 625BC and then in 612BC. Note the last revolt was completely successful bringing an alliance between these three nation – the daughter of the King of Media (Amyitis) and son of Nabopolassar (Nebuchadnezzar). Nabopolassar and his son Nebuchadnezzar II are generally credited with creating the ‘Golden Age of Babylon’ at a time when the arts, city life, and commerce flourished. Nebuchadnezzar II defeated the Egyptians and their allies, the Assyrians, at Carchemish; subdued Palestine and the region of Syria and by consolidating his power, controlled all the trade routes across Mesopotamia from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. Remaining true to the vision of his inaugural address, the great king spent the tolls he collected and the taxes he gathered in creating a city which, he hoped would be recognized as a wonder of the world. This known city was a treat to God’s people and in 607 BC this scripture literally was being fulfilled and it reads thus. Daniel 1:1-4 states:-

1. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.
2. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.
3. And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes;
4. children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.

This was the fulfilment of the seventy years captivity in 607BC, stemming from this time to the return of the exiles through Cyrus in 536BC. Under the reign of Babylon, throughout the book of Daniel; from Chapter 1, is depicting the beginning of their downfall. God had chosen the Israelites to be a goodly people; though they were highly favoured, they despised his laws and hence reaped their retribution under these kings. Daniel and his friends were taken off to Babylon and thus they were subjected to their training. Thus it was Chronicled, that while they were there in 604 BC, Nebuchadnezzar in his second year; “dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled and his sleep brake from him.” This he could not recall, neither his magicians, astrologers, sorcerers and Chaldeans. They tried to make something up in order to get around the king but, he was wise to discern their evil demise and he resisted it. In chapter two where these events are transpiring, Nebuchadnezzar receive this dream in which Daniel and his companions were able to interpret. The interpretation read as follows:-

1. Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
2. This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
3. his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
4. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
5. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

36. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
Ellen White comments on these verses stating:-

1. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
2. 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. Thou art this head of gold.
3. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
4. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
5. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
6. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
7. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
8. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
9. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

Ruin Through Rejection
Prophecy has traced the rise and fall of the world’s great empires—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. With each of these, as with nations of less power, history repeated itself. Each had its period of test, each failed, its glory faded, its power departed, and its place was occupied by another.
While the nations rejected God’s principles, and in this rejection wrought their own ruin, it was still manifest that the divine, overruling purpose was working through all their movements. Ed 177

Thus we see from these verses and quote that God begins to warn Nebuchadnezzar about the fearful judgment which should befall his empire if they would not turn from the evils of their doings. Though he highlighted Daniel’s great success, he then however, failed to correct his ways and thus fulfilled the dream of chapter two; with the golden image. This showing he never really repented.

We move forward in chapter three of Daniel. Daniel and his companions were brought to a place where they had to take their stance while faced with Nebuchadnezzar giving orders to the persons in his realm to worship the image he set up. For those who defied his orders were to be punished. In order to appease him, most persons complied; except for Daniel and his three friends who stood for God. When the order was given for those who “hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

Therefore, at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.” However, these youths stood for God and God stood for them. This was manifested in Nebuchadnezzar seeing Christ in the midst of that fire and he confessed Christ. In these youths we can see being illustrated clear principles of which they stood for. They were obeying God and God was revealing himself to them in rescuing them from the hands of those who seek their hurt.

Through a theophany with God, Nebuchadnezzar was able to write his testimony in chapter four of this book speaking of his encounter. Another vision was illustrated to Nebuchadnezzar but, he refused to follow through and as a result received another judgment; though in the end he repented and was saved from retribution. That was the end of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign and the kingdom was now in the hands of Nabonidus and young Belshazzar who never knew how to rule his own spirit much less to rule a kingdom. The quick destruction that took place under his rule shows how inexperienced he was in being a ruler.

This kingdom was then captured by the Medes and Persians. Cyrus was on his way to overthrow Babylon in 539BC. He waited for the arrival of a festival that the whole population were engaged in. This festival had greater pomp and splendour than usual. With this type of festival Belshazzar abandoned himself to the delights of the season. He in doing this never learnt the lesson that God taught his father and as a result of that, a fearful judgment befalls him. It is chronicled in chapter 5 of Daniel showing the handwriting on the wall that came as a warning to the king. He called for his magicians, astrologers, etc. to interpret but, they could not.

Daniel was then being called to interpret the handwriting on the wall, from which a fearful judgment fell upon that doomed city. As a result of the feasting, Cyrus was able to take that city and besieged it in 538 BC. Thus, Babylon received its demise owing to the exhibition of its splendour, pomp and pride. Babylon’s fatal downfall depicts what will be the fate of those nations who do not regard the requirements of God. God does care for nations but, when the people and rulers do not regard his laws, we will see the end there of which is judgment falling on that land.