The Babylonian Empire by A. T. J.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 20, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 32.

The Babylonian Empire.

By A. T. J.

WE have seen how the destruction of the Assyrian Empire was accomplished, and how that empire was divided among the three allied powers,—Media, Babylonia, and Egypt, and their kings, Cyaxeres, Nabopolassar, and Necho. The marriage of Nebuchadnezzar, the son of the king of Babylon, to Amyitis, the daughter of the king of Media, firmly bound and faithfully maintained the alliance between these two powers.

But there was nothing of this kind to favor the king of Egypt. Necho was not left very long to enjoy the portion that pertained to him in the partition of the empire. As we have related, this triple alliance was formed and the invasion of Assyria was begun about the year 610 B. C. The march to Nineveh, the siege, and the settlement of the division of the empire, seem to have occupied about two years. Thus for three full years, to B. C. 607, Necho was left undisturbed in his possessions from the Euphrates, westward. In the year 607 B. C., Nabopolassar associated Nebuchadnezzar with himself, as king, on the Babylonian throne. Then it was decided to add the possessions of Necho to the Babylonian dominions. Accordingly, the same year Nebuchadnezzar marched out of Babylon against Necho. At the crossing of the Euphrates at Carchemish, he found the Egyptian army drawn up to meet him. A great battle was fought, which was utterly disastrous to the Egyptians, who "fled away" in confusion.

"Nebuchadnezzar closely pursued his adversary as far as the frontier of Egypt; but having learned, whilst before Pelusium, that his father was dead (604), he retraced his steps to take possession of a throne that, so recently established, might be shaken by a change of kings. Under these circumstances, says Berosus, the Babylonian historian, he put the affairs of Egypt, Syria, and the adjacent countries, in order; and leaving in charge of his trusted generals the numerous prisoners he had taken, as well as the command of the garrisons left in the conquered provinces, he departed with a small escort, crossed the desert by forced marches, and thus arrived speedily at Babylon, where the chief of the caste of the Chaldeans resigned into his hands the government he had administered since the death of Nabopolassar."

Then says the graphic writer of the Kings:— "The king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land; for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the River Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt." 2 Kings 24:7.

With reference to the Babylonian Empire, as an empire, it may fairly be said that Nebuchadnezzar was its real founder, for all the conquests that were ever made by the Babylonians after the establishment of their independence upon the destruction of the Assyrian Empire, were made by Nebuchadnezzar, even while his father lived. Yet, because of the establishment of that independence by Nabopolassar, the history of that kingdom which grew into the Babylonian Empire, properly enough begins with him. However, when the Assyrian Empire fell, and the allied kings made the division of its territory, Nabopolassar did not date the beginning of his reign from the year of that division, 610 B. C.; but he dated it from the year that Bel-zakir-iskun, king of Assyria, bestowed upon him the title of "King of Babylon," as his reward for bringing again into subjection that revolted province. So that the beginning of the history of the kingdom of Babylon of the Bible and of Nebuchadnezzar is in the year 625 before Christ.

And thus we are brought to the establishment of the kingdom of Babylon of the Bible, and to the accession of Nebuchadnezzar as ruler of that kingdom.

Just here another most important personage comes into notice. In that same expedition against Necho, which we have already sketched, Nebuchadnezzar besieged, at Jerusalem, Jehoiakim, whom Necho had made king of Judah. 2 Kings 23:34; 24:1; Dan. 1:1. Nebuchadnezzar took the city, and "Jehoiakim became his servant." Nebuchadnezzar also took "part of the vessels of the house of God," and "certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes," and had them carried to Babylon in 607 B. C. Among the captives that were carried to Babylon from this expedition was DANIEL, who was soon raised by the Lord to the dignity of a prophet of God; and by the king to that of ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon; and upon the illustration of whose sublime prophecies we are now to enter.

Of the prophecies of Daniel, the Son of God said, "Whoso readeth, let him understand." Matt. 24:15.

In the very first verse of the book of Daniel, is introduced Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Then it is related how he took Jerusalem and carried some of the people captive to Babylon, and how that certain ones of these who were "well favored" were chosen, whom they might teach the learning of the Chaldeans. In the first verse of the second chapter it is said that "Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him;" and in verse twenty-eight, same chapter, we find Daniel declaring to the king that "There is a God in Heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days."

That which troubled the king, in connection with his dream, was that he could not recall what he had seen. And of all the real or reputed "wise men" of Babylon, none but Daniel, and he only by being shown it in a night vision, could bring it again to his mind. But when Daniel related the dream, the description was so accurate that Nebuchadnezzar immediately recognized it to the full. Daniel said:—

"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. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. 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. 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." Dan. 2:33-35.

As we have seen, Daniel had told the king that, in this, God was making known to this king what shall be "in the latter days." He therefore immediately proceeded to tell the king the meaning of all this. He said:—

"This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings; for the God of Heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 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." Verses 36-38.

There is a passage in Jeremiah that corresponds with this and explains it somewhat more fully:—

"In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Thus saith the Lord to me: Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck, and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah; and command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your masters: I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him." Jer. 27:1-6.

When Nebuchadnezzar first took Jerusalem, in his expedition against Necho, Jehoiakim served him three years and then he turned and rebelled against him. Nebuchadnezzar returned and again besieged the city, took it, and bound Jehoiakim in fetters and carried him to Babylon, and made Jehoiachin king in his stead. Jehoiachin soon rebelled, and Nebuchadnezzar was compelled to again come against Jerusalem. This time he stripped the temple of the Lord of all its gold and all its treasures, and carried away to Babylon Jehoiachin and all his court, and 10,000 of the people, leaving only "the poorest sort of the people of the land," and made Zedekiah king in Jerusalem. Zedekiah served the king of Babylon eight years and then rebelled. In the ninth year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar again laid siege to Jerusalem. After a siege of a year and a half the city was taken, and the temple and all the great men's houses were burned with fire, the walls of Jerusalem were broken down "round about," and Zedekiah, with many more of the people, was carried to Babylon, and Gedaliah was made governor over the very few poor people that were left in the land. In about two months came Ishmael, and ten men with him, and murdered Gedaliah, "And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldees." See 2 Kings 24 and 25; 2 Chron. 36; Jer. 32.

Uaphrahet, the Pharaoh-hophra of Jer. 44:30, was at this time king of Egypt. He received ambassadors from Zedekiah, and sent an army to help him in his rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar (Eze. 17:15, 17; Jer. 37:1-10; 39:1-10). Uaphrahet was defeated, however, but he had done enough to incur the severe displeasure of the king of Babylon, and then when he received and harbored the murderers of Gedaliah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had made governor, his insolence could be borne no longer, and Nebuchadnezzar desolated Egypt.

"The haughty king of Babylon was not yet satisfied; he aspired to the conquest of Phoenicia, coveting its immense riches. For a long time, too, the grand utterances of the prophets had announced to the people of Tyre, now in the sixth century of their supremacy over other cities, the misfortunes impending over them. 'Behold,' said Ezekiel, 'I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people. He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field, and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee. And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.' Eze. 26:7-9."

"The Tyrians resisted for a long time, with the constancy and obstinacy they had already shown against Sargon, and the siege of their city lasted thirteen years. But at last Tyre was carried by assault, by the king of Babylon in person (574), who treated the Tyrians as he had the Jews, and carried into Chaldea the most distinguished families of the country. The colonies Tyre then possessed on the northern coast of Africa and in Spain, such as Carthage, not yet independent, and Gades (now Cadiz), recognized the suzerainty of the conqueror of the mother country. Tyre once taken, Nebuchadnezzar, before returning to Babylon, attacked the people of Idumea, Moab, and Ammon, who had associated themselves with the last Jewish attempt at revolt, and compelled them to submission. He made also a campaign in Arabia, passed victoriously through Hedjaz, and Nedjid, and penetrated as far as the Sabean kingdom of Yemen. These wars, predicted by the prophets, terminated the series of Chaldean conquests in Western Asia." —Ancient History of the East, book 4, chap. 5, sec. 3, par. 5, 6.

(To be concluded next week.)