An Overview of Babylon's Role in the Bible: Part 1

Isaiah 13 consists entirely of a prophecy against Babylon, the capital city for the Babylonian Empire. Whenever a prophecy is given against a capital, we can assume that the entire empire or kingdom is under judgment.

Before we study this prophecy, I would like to do an overview on Babylonia (Babylon), looking particular at the important role she plays in scripture, as well as at some of her history.

Let's start in the book of Beginnings, Genesis. Read Genesis 10:8-12. Nimrod, we see here, not only ruled in Babylon, he also built Nineveh of Assyria. Babylon was called "Babel" in Genesis 11 because of what happened there. (Babel in Hebrew means "confuse" or "confound.") Read Genesis 11:1-8

No one knows for certain where the Tower of Babel was or exactly what it looked like, but historians believe that it could have been made in the shape of a Babylonian Temple Tower or "ziggurat."

Babylonia was also called "Chaldea" in the Bible and Babylonians were called "Chaldeans." The next mention we have of the Chaldeans in scripture is in regards to Abraham and his family, in this case, his father Terah. Read Genesis 11:27-32.

The city of Ur was in what would later become known was the "old" Babylonian empire. When exactly Abraham left is not known, but it is believed to be around approx. 1900 BC, before this area became known as Babylonia.

There from Haran, Abraham at God's command, travels into Canaan. Read Genesis 12:1-5.

When we talk about the Babylonian Empire we need to understand that we are talking about an empire that began as an Amorite dynasty founded in 1850 BC (it wasn't called "Babylonia", it is believed until about 1750 BC, under Hammurabi who made Babylon his capital) and lasted until 539 BC, when it was taken by Cyrus of Persia. The Babylonian empire, therefore, lasted about 1200 years, reaching its zenith under King Nebuchadnezzar from 605-562 BC.

As a side note, you may have heard of the "Law of Hammurabi" in school. These are some of the oldest sets of laws from the ancient world. Hammurabi is often described as the first great leader in Babylonian history. These laws would have been written using cuneiform, the earliest form of writing.

Babylon isn't mentioned again in the Bible until 2 Kings 20. Chronologically, the events described here occur after the prophecy given in Isaiah 13. The events in 2 Kings 20 occur during the time of King Hezekiah of Judah. (Let's review the Judah kings mentioned in Isaiah: Uzziah (Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.)

Read 2 Kings 20:12-19. This story is repeated in Isaiah 39. This is when Judah is told, through Isaiah, that she will be taken into captivity by Babylon, just as Israel was taken into captivity by Israel.

My father, Dr. Charles Sanders, taught an extensive course on Bible history and kindly gave me permission to use his notes for this study:

"Between 609 and 605, Judah fell under Egyptian control. The Babylonians, however, were expanding too rapidly for Egypt to contain, and during the reign of Jehoiakim the tiny nation of Judah would totally lose its independence to Babylon and finally disappear into the Babylonian Empire.

Pharaoh Necho of Egypt, exercising his newly established control of Judah after the death of Josiah, replaced the legitimate king, Jehoahaz, with his brother Eliakim, changing his name to Jehoiakim. The intent of Necho was to have a puppet king loyal to Egypt to provide a buffer between Egypt and Babylon expansion. Egypt also levied heavy taxes on Judah and the "people of the land" (II Kings 23:34-35).

Jehoiakim launched an unwise building campaign, including a new palace built with forced labor and scarce resources. Jeremiah was an outspoken opponent of Jehoiakim's reckless behavior that seemed more intent on self-interest than on leading the nation at a crucial time in Judah's history (Jeremiah 22:13-19).

In 605 BC, the Egyptians tried to help the Assyrians in Northern Syria to retake Haran. They had an outpost at Carchemish near Haran on the upper reaches of the Euphrates. Nebuchadnezzar drove the Egyptians from Carchemish and them south toward Palestine (Jeremiah 46:2-12). After a brief delay in which Nebuchadnezzar took the reigns of power as king of Babylon at the death of Nabopolasser, he continued his southern march.

By 604 BC, the Babylonians reached Philistine territory. Jehoiakim declared allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar as a matter of expediency, thus placing Judah under the control of the Babylonians.

The Babylonians pressed south into Egypt, and by 601 BC Nebuchadnezzar was engaged in fierce fighting with Necho. However, Nebuchadnezzar was unable to subdue Egypt and finally returned to Babylon at the end of the year. Jehoiakim, encouraged by this apparent Babylonian retreat, and expecting help from Egypt, withdrew his allegiance from the Babylonians (II kings 24:1). It was a disastrous miscalculation.

In 598 BC Jehoiakim suddenly died, possibly being assassinated (Jeremiah 22:18-23, 36:30).
Jehoiachin (Joachin) in 598 BC took the throne of Judah at the age of eighteen. Within three months he surrendered Jerusalem to the Babylonians, as Jeremiah has advised Jehoiakim to do. Jehoiachin was deposed and taken prisoner to Babylon, along with several thousand of the leading citizens (Jeremiah 29:2). This was the first of two major deportations of Israelites to Babylon that comprised the Exile.
After removing Jehoiachin from the throne of Judah, the Babylonians replaced him with Zedekiah, Jehoiachin's uncle. Zedekiah was a vacillating leader. Zedekiah ruled from 597-587 and was the last king of Judah. " (End of my father's notes.)

To be continued...

Sources
H.D.M. Spence and Joseph S. Exell (editors). The Pulpit Commentary Volume 10: Isaiah
Editors. Compton's Interactive Bible (software)
Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford (notes). The Student Bible. NIV Version
Dr. Charles Sanders. Unpublished Bible Study Notes