Babylon = Assyria

In the OT, “Babylon” and “Assyria” are sometimes used interchangeably of the same political power:

  • The two powers spoke essentially the same language. The cultures, religions, economics, and ambitions of these two cities were practically identical.
  • In the time of Isaiah, Assyria conquered Babylon, and then in the time of Zedekiah Babylon destroyed Assyria.
  • Sennacherib had captured and subjugated Babylon. “King of Babylon” = one of titles of kings of Assyria. Names are switched in Ezr 6:22; Lam 5:6; Zep 10:10,11; Isa 14:4,25; Mic 5:5; 4:10. Cp 2Ch 33:11; Amo 5:27 with Act 7:43.
  • Nahum read Isa 47 as prophecy of Assyria, not Babylon. He was Isaiah’s contemporary: cp Nah 3:5,4,16 with Isa 47:2,3,9,15; Nah 1:15 with Isa 52:7; Nah 1:13 with Isa 47:6; Zep 2:13,15 with Isa 47:8; and Zep 2:14,15 with Isa 13:21,22.
  • Nahum also alludes to the “whoredoms, witchcraft, etc” of “Babylon” (Nah 3:4,5,16 = Isa 47:3,9,15) when his subject is still the end of Nineveh.
  • In the reign of Josiah, Pharaoh-necho went against “the king of Assyria” at Carchemish (2Ki 23:29) — actually Nabopolassar, the father of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
  • Stephen interchanged “Damascus” and “Babylon” in Act 7:43.
  • In Isa 13:19 and often in Isa 14, “Babylon” is represented as the supreme world-power, exercising a cruel tyranny over many nations and esp over Israel. But in Isaiah’s day, Babylon was either a conquered state of the Assyrian empire or was making sporadic attempts at rebellion from the Assyrian yoke. Thus the “Babylon” here must be “Nineveh/Assyria”.
  • The kings of Assyria took special pride in their domination of Babylon. Sargon records as one of his royal titles: “Viceroy of the gods of Babylon”. Tiglath-pileser proudly called himself “King of Babylon”.

Babylon in prophecy

The first great rebel against God, after the Flood, was Nimrod, “a mighty one” and “a mighty hunter”. Nimrod (the name in the Heb means “rebel”) was prob responsible for the building of the tower of Babel (Gen 11) — the first great symbol of man’s pride and worship of self. In fact, the building of Babel, in Shinar, and the building of Nineveh, in Assyria, are both attributed to this “great” (?) man.

Gen 14 gives a brief but interesting account of a confederacy of four kings from the east which attacked five kings in the land of Canaan, in the days of Abram — ie approx 2000 BC. The four kings were headed in Gen 14:1 by Amraphael of Shinar, which is the land of Babylon. (Some think “Amraphael” is simply another name for Hammurabi, the almost-legendary ruler of early Babylon, who promulgated civilization’s first great law code.) This army defeated its enemies and carried away spoils and captives, among which was Abram’s nephew Lot, but Abram and his servants mounted a daring raid to recover his nephew and other captives.

The kingdom of Assyria established a dominance over the ancient city of Babylon during much of the period from 850 to 700 BC. But in the 7th century BC Babylon began to rise again, and finally the tables were turned and she came to surpass Assyria as the dominant power in the whole of the Middle East. This empire is called by historians the Neo-Babylonian Empire. In a series of campaigns, King Nabopolassar and his son Nebuchadnezzar pushed back the Assyrians to the west and north and controlled the heartland of Mesopotamia. In 612 BC the Babylonians, aided by the Medes and the Scythians, destroyed the Assyrian capital of Nineveh (cp Nah 3). The retreating Assyrian army, bolstered by the armies of its former enemy Egypt, tried repeatedly to stem the tide, but in vain. In 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar, now at the head of the Babylonian forces, won a decisive victory at Carchemish on the northern Euphrates.

Judah, the southern Israelite kingdom with its capital at Jerusalem, now fell under the sway of Nebuchadnezzar (2Ki 24:1; 2Ch 36:1-10). From 605 to 586 BC Jewish kings continued to reign as “puppets” of the Babylonian overlord. But when the last, Zedekiah, attempted to reassert Jewish independence, Jerusalem was besieged and crushed by the Babylonians, assisted by legions from the neighboring Arab nations of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Syria, and the Philistines (2Ki 25:1-8; 2Ch 36:11-17; cp Jer 47-49). The city fell, the glorious Temple of Solomon — which had seen the very Presence of the Almighty — was left in ruins, some of the Jews were enslaved and carried away to Babylon, and others were scattered to the four winds (2Ki 25:9-17; 2Ch 36:17-20).

Babylon continued as the dominant power in the area, and as the oppressor and “treader-down” of Israel, until 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Medes and Persians of Cyrus. But the city itself was not destroyed; it became one of Cyrus’ capitals, and he appropriated to himself the coveted title “King of Babylon”. More than 200 years later, it was still a trading center of great importance when visited by Alexander the Great (IBD 1:246).

In fact, the city of Babylon was never really destroyed, but rather fell victim to a sort of benign neglect — sinking bit by bit, century by century, further into decay. There were, however, both Jews and Christians living in Babylon in NT times and beyond (cp 1Pe 5:13 and Josephus, Ant 15:2:2 and 18:9:5-9). A Jewish traveler of the 12th century reported, for example, that there existed an active synagogue within a mile of the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar’s temple of Marduk [M. Allen, “Benjamin of Tudela, Itinerary of”, Jewish Quarterly Review 17 (1905), 514-530]. It is historically confirmed that, from its beginnings, Babylon has never totally ceased to exist. This simple fact has tremendous impact on the interpretations of certain Bible prophecies.

Such prophecies speak of the fall of Babylon as one of the great events of the Last Days, and an event seemingly associated with the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of God’s Kingdom on the earth again. To a certain extent, some prophecies (such as Jer 50 and 51) have already been fulfilled with the defeat of Babylon by Cyrus in 539 BC. Sometimes it is even proposed that Cyrus himself, as the conqueror of Babylon, was AN “Anointed One”, or “Christ”, sent by God to destroy evil Babylon (cp Isa 44:28; 45:1; Dan 6:28). There is certainly some merit in this idea. Cyrus’ conquest of Babylon did fulfill Bible prophecy. However, certain of the relevant prophecies may have a further fulfillment, since the NT prophecy about the fall of Babylon necessitates another fall of the city — a fall that is demonstrably yet future.

Some of the relevant OT prophecies are discussed in light of possible further fulfillment, and the Rev passages are examined for the best interpretation possible:

(1) Isa 13: “The burden of Babylon” (v 1): Babylon will be destroyed by God’s “sanctified ones” (v 3) in “the day of the Lord”: “it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty” (v 6): “Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonian’s pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there” (vv 19,20).
It is true that, as v 17 states, God would stir up the Medes against Babylon. But history confirms that even after its defeat at the hands of Cyrus, Babylon continued to exist and to be inhabited. And so the precise prediction of vv 19, 20 has not been fulfilled as yet! Is it not likely, then, that the Medo-Persian conquest of Babylon, in the 6th century BC, was only an initial (and not a complete) fulfillment of this prophecy? And if so, that complete fulfillment yet remains for the last days.
(2) Isa 14 continues in the same vein: At the time when Babylon falls, and when a taunt is taken up against the king of Babylon (vv 4,12) — at that very time — Israel will be especially blessed by God: “The Lord will have compassion on Jacob; once again he will choose Israel and will settle them in their own land. Aliens will join them and unite with the house of Jacob. Nations will take them and bring them to their own place. And the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants in the Lord’s land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors. On the day the Lord gives you relief from suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage…” (vv 1-3). It is true that the defeat of Babylon by the Medes and Persians led, after another few years, to the return of some Jews to Jerusalem. No doubt the return and rebuilding under Ezra and Nehemiah and Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest was A fulfillment of this and similar prophecies. But is it the ONLY, or even the FOREMOST, fulfillment? Or does a greater fulfillment await us in the Last Days? Notice the language: “they will… rule over their oppressors” (v 2) — that was not at all true of the Israel of Ezra’s day, who continued subservient to successive regimes of Persians and Greeks and Romans long centuries after Babylon’s defeat. And again, in v 3, “the Lord gives you relief from suffering… and… bondage” may point to more than the limited and temporary OT restoration of Israel.
(3) Isa 47 and 48 picture a fall of Babylon: “The Lord… will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans” (Isa 48:14). At the same time the Lord will deliver His people who have been held captive there: “Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians! Announce this with shouts of joy and proclaim it. Send it out to the ends of the earth; say, ‘The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.’ They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and water gushed out” (Isa 48:19,20). Fulfilled in the days of Nehemiah? Surely. Totally fulfilled then? Maybe not. Because a last-days (and miraculous) deliverance and return of Jewish believers — who will have evidently been carried into captivity by the Babylonian invaders — is alluded to in Isa 11:1-16; 19:23-25; 27:12,13; 35:1-10; 43:1-7; 52:1-10; and elsewhere.
(4) Jer 50 and 51 is the most detailed prophecy of the fall of Babylon. And again, this passage was certainly fulfilled in 539 BC. But a number of verses suggest a future fulfillment: ” ‘In those days, at that time,’ declares the Lord, ‘the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the Lord their God. They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten’ ” (Jer 50:4,5). When in the past has Israel bound itself in a perpetual covenant to the Lord at Jerusalem, a covenant that cannot and will not be broken? Never. So these verses have yet to be fulfilled.
” ‘But I will bring Israel back to their own pasture and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan; his appetite will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead. In those days, at that time,’ declares the Lord, ‘search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare’ ” (Jer 50:19,20).
Israel will experience true forgiveness only when they accept Jesus as their Messiah. That event is yet future.
“Like a lion coming up from Jordan’s thickets to a rich pastureland, I will chase Babylon from its land in an instant. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? Who is like me and who can challenge me? And who is that shepherd who will stand before me?” (Jer 50:44). Only by a real stretch may such words be applied to Cyrus, the Old Testament conqueror of Babylon. But they are quite appropriate to Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Gen 49:9,10; Rev 5:5; 10:3), the Good Shepherd (Isa 40:11; John 10:11), and the One “like God”!
(5) Rev: The Apostle John wrote Revelation at least 600 years after the fall of the original city — so plainly there will be another fall of Babylon at the time of Christ’s coming (which is of course the main theme of Rev). Since the days of Luther, a common interpretation of Revelation has been to see in “Babylon” a mystical, or hidden, name for Rome. Thus the fall of “Babylon” is interpreted as the ultimate overthrow of the Apostate Church system centered in Rome. Roman Catholicism is demonstrably a corrupt system that, along with all other equally wicked systems, deserves to be, and will be, destroyed by Christ at his coming. But is that the best way to interpret “Babylon” in Revelation? It was the drying-up of the Euphrates River that led to the fall of ancient Babylon — this is suggested in Jer 50:38; 51:36 and confirmed by secular history: After the waters of the river were secretly diverted in the dead of night, enemy troops made their way along the empty river-channel right into the heart of the city, and Babylon fell. In Revelation, surely there is again a geographical and a cause-and-effect connection between the drying-up of the Euphrates River and the fall of Babylon in the Last Days (cp Rev 16:12 with Rev 16:17-21; 14:8)
Consider that the Euphrates River and the historical Babylon were connected geographically. The drying-up of the one led, in the past, to the fall of the other. And there is only one “Babylon” through which the Euphrates River flows! So the case is strengthened for a more literal interpretation of the Babylon of Revelation — ie that it applies to the real city being rebuilt today, and to the nation occupying the ancient territory of Babylonia. And so the last chapters of Rev picture the defeat of a vicious and depraved Babylon, the hateful and cunning enemy of God’s people — coinciding with the complete victory of a spiritually renewed Jerusalem. The age-old conflict between the two cities — the one standing for sin and rebellion from practically the beginning of time, and the other standing for peace and righteousness — will come at last to a soul-satisfying conclusion. “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird… for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes” (Rev 18:2,5). “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem… It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal” (Rev 21:10,11).

The modern-day Iraq of Saddam Hussein occupies the same territory as the OT Neo-Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar. And the links between Saddam’s Iraq and Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon are even more pronounced, since for some time the government of Iraq has been involved in a massive archaeological reconstruction of ancient Babylon. The modern restoration of Babylon began in 1978 and was, at least until the gulf war began, scheduled for completion in 1994. There is no information about damage to the project from allied bombing of Iraq; but ancient Babylon, 40 miles of so south of Baghdad, is not known to be near any major strategic sites and so may have been spared.

As of February 1990, over 60 million bricks had been laid in the reconstruction of Nebuchadnezzar’s city. Despite the objections of archaeologists, Saddam Hussein has insisted on rebuilding directly over the most ancient ruins. His reconstruction includes the Southern Palace of Nebuchadnezzar, a Greek theater, many temples, Nebuchadnezzar’s Throne Room, and a model of the famed Ishtar Gate. He plans also to rebuild the legendary Hanging Gardens and several artificial hills, including one to be called “The Tower of Babel”. Why such infatuation with an idea? It has been said: “President Hussein’s decision to rebuild Nebuchadnezzar’s Palace… is the centerpiece of a campaign to strengthen Iraq’s nationalism by appealing to history… Mr. Hussein’s campaign also serves subtler ends; it justified Iraq’s costly war with Iran as the continuation of Mesopotamia’s ancient feud with Persia. And it portrayed Saddam Hussein as successor to Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon’s mightiest ruler” (Paul Lewis in the New York Times, April 19, 1989). And Saddam himself has referred to: “Nebuchadnezzar, the national hero who was able to defeat the enemies of our nation in the land of Canaan [Palestine, or Israel] and to take them as prisoners of war to Babylon. What we need now is to increase awareness in this regard” (quoted in the Babylonian International Festival brochure for September 22, 1987).

And so a rebuilt Babylon is Saddam’s way of conjuring up the magic of Arab unity and greatness, and authenticating his call for the Arab nations to help him accomplish what his hero Nebuchadnezzar accomplished before him: i.e. the destruction of a Jewish Jerusalem.

“The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up… The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air… God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath” (Rev 16:12,17,19).

Babylon, Last Days revival

“With a mighty voice he shouted: ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’ ” (Rev 18:2).

The whole prophetic narrative of the Bible is in many ways a tale of two cities: Babylon and Jerusalem. There are times when Babylon masquerades as Zion — a false city of God with a false Messiah leading her. And there are times when Zion in her apostasy has appeared as Babylon. But in the final conflict of the last days, these two cities will be literally pitted against each other. Zion will briefly succumb under the might and pride of Babylon, to rise again in eternal glory. It was in Babylon where Nimrod first built the tower of Babel, the first organized rebellion against God; and it was there that God first entered into open judgment of flesh and humanity en masse. And it is here likewise that His purpose with sin and His true people will likewise be fulfilled. Babylon was also called Su-anna, “the holy city”. Yet “the holy city” is Jerusalem, thus making Babylon a fake Zion. Herodotus says the city was square, just as new Jerusalem.

Unfulfilled Prophecies: “Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians’ pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah” (Isa 13:19). And yet Babylon was never suddenly overthrown like Sodom and Gomorrah in their fiery destruction. It was conquered by the Medes and Persians and fell into decline, but it was not violently destroyed. Likewise: “The Lord will have compassion on Jacob; once again he will choose Israel and settle them in their own land… They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors… On the day the Lord gives you relief from suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ended!… All the lands are at rest and at peace; they break into singing” (Isa 14:1-4,7).

When Babylon is ultimately destroyed, Israel will finally be at Peace and will dwell in safety. Israel has been a nation since 1948, but not for one day has the nation of Israel known real peace or ease. It has never been able to claim all the lands God promised the Israelites, and Israel’s Arab neighbors have been a constant threat and danger.

There is the assumption by many that all the OT prophecies about ‘Babylon’ were fulfilled in the overrunning of Babylon by the Medes. However, there are many details of those prophecies which did not have a total fulfillment, and thus what the Medes did as but a partial, incipient fulfillment of what is going to come in the last days. This also requires that ‘Babylon’ be understood as literal Babylon — for it was against her that the prophecies were uttered in the first place. And quite clearly, the prophecies of Revelation against ‘Babylon’ are extensions of those of the Old Testament. We therefore are encouraged to see the ‘Babylon’ of Rev as the Babylon of the prophets — ie literal Babylon.

Unfulfilled details, which require a latter day fulfillment:

  • Literal Babylon decayed due to the ravages of time, whereas Babylon was to fall “suddenly” in her prime (Jer 51:8; Rev 18: “one hour”). This must be future in its fulfillment. Rev. 18:22; 14:8 both speak of “Babylon is fallen” as applying to a latter day scenario. And yet these words come directly from Isa 21:9 and Jer 51:8, prophecies about literal Babylon being destroyed suddenly — a destruction which is clearly future, seeing the city was never so suddenly destroyed in the past. The suddenness of the destruction is a keynote of these prophecies.
  • It is not true that Babylon has been uninhabited “forever”. “The city of Babylon has never ceased to exist. Although its name was changed on two occasions, it has never been totally unpopulated. Hillah presently has 250,000 citizens and was built almost entirely of bricks from the parts of the old city of Babylon” (Joseph Chambers, A Palace For The Antichrist 146). Note too that the Babylonian Talmud was written by Jews living in Babylon in the 6th century AD. 1 Pet 5:13 implies there was even an ecclesia there in the first century.
  • “For the Lord will have mercy upon Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the people shall take them [the Babylonians], and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors” (Isa 14:1,2). This passage has never been fulfilled yet. It will be in the last days; and at this time, as Is. 14 goes on to detail, Babylon [literal Babylon, in the context] will fall.

Other prophecies about the sudden destruction of literal Babylon — which can only be latter day in their application — are also the basis for the words of Rev about latter day Babylon. Consider: (a) “Thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me: I shall not sit a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children” (Isa 47:8), compared with: “How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously…for she hath said in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow” (Rev 18:7). (b) “But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood” (Isa 47:9), compared with: “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning” (Rev 18:8). (c) “Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up” (Isa 47:13), compared with: “For by thy sorceries…” (Rev 18:23).

The Babylon of Rev is the Babylon of Jeremiah and Isaiah, literal Babylon, which awaits her full punishment. This conclusion is strengthened once it is appreciated how the harlot Babylon of Rev 17, loud, gaudy, decked with jewelry and painted face, is replete with reference to Semiramis, the goddess / mother of Nimrod, and one of the patron gods of literal Babylon.

The antichrist is a mimic of the true Christ; his kingdom is a parody of God’s Kingdom. And the King of Babylon claiming “I am and none else beside me” are the very words of Yahweh — the King of Babylon is clearly to be identified with the man of sin, who sits as God in God’s temple (2Th 2). But the similarities run deeper. The Babylonian epic of creation is a parody of the Genesis account; the flood has its counterpart in the epic of Gilgamesh; and the Code of Hammurabi, an early ruler of Babylon, was clearly an anti-law of Moses. And Saddam Hussein’s supporters greet him as the Messiah of the Arab world (Chambers 45). Now Saddam may pass off the scene, but the point is that a similar charismatic leader could arise and be the antichrist.

The accounts of the latter day invasion of Israel all feature a single charismatic individual, who will be destroyed personally by the Lord Jesus at His coming. This is Paul’s “man of sin”, Daniel’s aggressive king of fierce countenance, Ezekiel’s Gog, the chief prince. It is also the person referred to by Micah: “And this man [Messiah] shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land” (Mic 5:1,2). The Lord Jesus will save His people in the latter days from an “Assyrian”. It has been shown that Assyria and Babylon are used almost interchangeably in Scripture. Gog was a Jew who apostatized and went to live in Assyria / Babylonia, according to 1Ch 5. This is why he has the appearance of spirituality; and he may even be an Arab Christian. 2Th 2 describes him as “the son of perdition”, exactly the phrase used about Judas, the false disciple of Jesus. Notice how Tariq Aziz [Iraqi foreign minister at the time of writing] and other leading members of the Iraqi cabinet are in fact Arab Christians, not Muslims.

(Adapted from LD, by DH)