Studies in the Prophecies
“Babylon the Great”—No. 3
It was in the reign of Manasseh, the thirteenth king of Judah (B. C. 677), that Jerusalem first fell under the power of Babylon. Manasseh profited by the severe discipline administered, “and when he was in distress, he besought Jehovah his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And he prayed unto him; and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah he was God.” Amon, the son of Manasseh, succeeded his father in the throne, “and he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, . . . and he humbled not himself before Jehovah, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but this same Amon trespassed more and more.” He was put to death by conspirators, after a reign of only two years, who were in turn put to death by the people, and Josiah, the son of Amon, was made king. “In the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images. . . . And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were found in Israel to serve, even to serve Jehovah their God. All his days they departed not from following Jehovah, the God of their fathers.” After the death of Josiah, Jehoahaz his son came to the throne, and reigned three months. Then the king of Egypt deposed him, and “made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. . . . Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah his God. Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also carried off the vessels of the house of Jehovah to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.” The prophet Daniel records this event in these words: “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God; and he carried them into the land of Shinar to the house of his god: and he brought the vessels into the treasure-house of his god.” This was in fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah (Isa. 39:6) already quoted, and also of the words of Jeremiah: “Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Because ye have not heard my words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith Jehovah, and I will send unto Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about; . . . and this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” This brings us to the Babylonish captivity and to the prophecies of the book of Daniel. In his interpretation of the dream of the great image, Daniel spoke as follows concerning the greatness of Babylon: “Thou, O king, art king of kings, unto whom the God of heaven hath given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory; and wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens hath he given into thy hand, and hath made thee to rule over them all: thou art the head of gold.” In his interpretation of the dream of the tree, Daniel again described the greatness of Babylon: “The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth; whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was food for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the birds of the heavens had their habitation: it is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong; for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion unto the end of the earth.” But in spite of his clear view of the power and glory of Babylon, Daniel foresaw her downfall. To Nebuchadnezzar he said, “After thee shall arise another kingdom.” Other prophets, especially Isaiah and Jeremiah, had foretold the utter overthrow of Babylon: “Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall shepherds make their flocks to lie down there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and ostriches shall dwell there, and wild goats shall dance there. And wolves shall cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.” “And I will rise up against them, saith Jehovah of hosts, and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son’s son, saith Jehovah. I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith Jehovah of hosts.” “Chaldea shall be a prey: all that prey upon her shall be satisfied, saith Jehovah. Because ye are glad, because ye rejoice, O ye that plunder my heritage, because ye are wanton as a heifer that treadeth out the grain, and neigh as strong horses; your mother shall be utterly put to shame; she that bare you shall be confounded: behold, she shall be the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. Because of the wrath of Jehovah she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all ye that bend the bow; shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against Jehovah. Shout against her round about: she hath submitted herself; her bulwarks are fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of Jehovah: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her.” “A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of graven images, and they are mad over idols. Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wolves shall dwell there, and the ostriches shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited forever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, saith Jehovah, so shall no man dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn therein.” “Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry. And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant. They shall roar together like young lions; they shall howl as lions’ whelps. When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith Jehovah. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats. How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth seized! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! The sea is come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof. Her cities are become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.” These prophecies have been fulfilled to the letter. “The extraordinary accuracy of these descriptions has been frequently noticed, scarcely a traveler from the time of Pietro della Valle to the present day having failed to be struck by it.”5But there is more involved in these prophecies and in our study of them than the mere question of the downfall of Babylon in Chaldea. We have already seen that the kingdom of Babylon represents the effort of the great rebel leader to establish a kingdom of absolute and irresponsible authority. From this standpoint the prophecies concerning Babylon must be considered. When they are all brought together and studied in this way, it will be seen that they forecast the utter failure of the effort to establish a rival to the kingdom of God, and predict the complete destruction of Satan and his kingdom. This will be developed in future articles.