Babylon, which was eventually the capital of the Chaldean kingdom, was undoubtedly the grandest city ever built by man. Its founders took advantage of the huge spur of tertiary rock, which projects itself from the long inclined plain of the Syrian desert into the alluvial basin of Mesopotamia, and on this vantage-ground it stood, exactly crossing the line of traffic between the Mediterranean coast and the Iranian mountains. It was also on that point where the Euphrates changes from a vast expanse into a navigable river, and where there was an abundance of alluvial clay out of which to make bricks.
Nimrod
The founder of Babylon was Nimrod, also the founder of the Assyrian monarchy (Gen. 10), and the original strength of both kingdoms consisted of four cities each (Gen. 10:10-1210And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, 12And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city. (Genesis 10:10‑12)). Babylon occupies a large place in the Word of God, and is there viewed as the representative of man in his pride, glory, power and idolatry. It was out of Egypt that Israel was redeemed, but it was into Babylon the people were sent for their sins; they were slaves in the one and captives in the other. The historical connection of Babylon with the national history of Israel, and of the mystical city with the professing church (Rev. 17-18), are subjects of very great importance, the former of which is largely developed in the Old Testament Scriptures. “The times of the Gentiles” took their rise from the downfall of Judah and the ascendancy of Babylon.
Historical and Figurative
Historical Babylon as the dominant power on the earth, acting in proud independence, has crumbled into dust — “For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel and set them in their own land, and ... thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the scepter of the rulers” (Isa. 14:1-51For the Lord will have mercy on 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. 2And the people shall take them, 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. 3And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, 4That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! 5The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. (Isaiah 14:1‑5)). Thus restored, Israel in the day of her gladness, celebrates the doom of Babylon. Religious Babylon, the mystical city of Revelation is no less doomed to judgment, and the church thus celebrates the event — ”Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are His judgments: for He hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication” (Rev. 19:1-21And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God: 2For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. (Revelation 19:1‑2)).
Power and Conquest
Nimrod’s love of power and conquest, together with his self-will and independence of God, stamped their features on Babylon’s after history. All this culminated in Nebuchadnezzar, “the head of gold,” who, proudly surveying the magnificent city, exclaimed, “Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty” (Dan. 4:3030The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty? (Daniel 4:30)). Alas! Alas! God has doomed all flesh, and the glory of man to wither as the grass. When Israel sank behind the clouds of wickedness and idolatry, there arose Babylon — the “golden city”; when the church became a ruined corporate testimony, then the mystical Babylon arose. But Israel will rise and shine, and Babylon will sink to rise no more; the church too will shine through the everlasting ages, while the mystical Babylon will sink into gloom and darkness.
Nebuchadnezzar
Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar attained its highest degree of magnificence, size and strength. When the Babylonians, aided by the Medes, threw off the yoke of Assyria (circa 612 B.C.), the new and vigorous kingdom spread her wings, and extended her power over the known kingdoms of the east. Egypt, her southern rival, was completely overthrown, followed by the subjugation of Judah. Then, on the destruction of Jerusalem, the divine center of earthly government, Babylon found her power all victorious, and an absolute monarchy founded on the plains of Shinar.
Babylon stood in a large plain, and formed a square of about fifty-six miles. The Euphrates flowed through the center of the city from north to south, spanned by a wonderfully built bridge, on one side of which stood the magnificent Temple of Belus, of enormous dimensions, containing numerous images of pure gold, and which was plundered by the famous Persian king Xerxes. On the other side of the bridge stood the grand palace of Nebuchadnezzar, likely the largest and most magnificent ever built. The hanging gardens, one of “the seven wonders of the world,” were truly a work of art. They were constructed as terraces, and rose to the height of the walls. Every kind of fruit, flower tree, and vegetable, were grown to perfection in these gardens, and must have immensely delighted Nebuchadnezzar’s Median Consort Amyte, on whose account they were built, in order to remind her of her own country’s beautiful gardens and forests. The walls of the city are said to have been about 335 feet high, and about 87 feet broad, thus allowing abundant space for chariots to run on the top of the walls, and even to turn at any point they choose. There were also 100 gates of solid brass, and enormously strong, twenty-five on each side of the city, besides numerous other gates inside, and all of brass and of great strength. From each gate to the other opposite there was a straight street the whole length or breadth of the city. These in turn were intersected, until there were 676 squares in all.
The Overthrow
The capture of the city by Cyrus is detailed in the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah. The ancient historians who describe the overthrow of Babylon are neither as exact nor reliable as the Hebrew prophets already named. The cities Babylon and Nineveh — the respective capitals of the Chaldean and Assyrian monarchies — are doomed in the prophetic word to perpetual desolation. This actually took place, for we are told that “Babylon, the glory of kingdoms ... shall never be inhabited ... neither shall the Arabian pitch his tent there ... but wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures” (Isa. 13:19-2119And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. 21But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. (Isaiah 13:19‑21)). [So completely was the city obliterated that later historians who did not accept the Biblical accounts of Babylon began at one point to doubt that she had ever even existed. It was not until the middle of the 19th century that serious archaeological research was able to discover the site and recover some artifacts.
The site of this ancient city lies in present-day Iraq, about fifty miles south of Baghdad. At one point Saddam Hussein harbored a grandiose scheme to rebuild the city, but was deposed and eventually executed before he could do such a thing.] How blessed it is to turn from the ruin of human greatness, to that which cannot be moved! “Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Heb. 12:2828Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: (Hebrews 12:28)).
Walter Scott (adapted)