The Literal Babylon

By Arno Froese
Midnight Call Ministries, Columbia, South Carolina

Genesis 10.10 names Nimrod, the son of Cush, the founder of Babel, “in the land of Shinar,” which later became known as the city of Babylon, in what is now Iraq. Nimrod’s name means rebellious, revolt, indignation, even disgraceful, displaying the rebellious heart of man without God.

In Genesis 11, the people of Babylon, who had the concept of self-redemption, built a city and a tower to accomplish unity, fame and prosperity. They cried out, “Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto Heaven” Genesis 11.4. Neither Nimrod nor any other strong personality is mentioned in Genesis 11. The people were in charge, as is evident from the repeated use of the word us in verse four.

Uniformity apparently was the key to the city’s initial success. Even the building material, brick for stone and slime for mortar expresses the unifying of Babel. Stones come in different sizes and forms; therefore, they must have been difficult to work with. The slime they used may have been similar to our asphalt. Such mortar made separation almost impossible.

The Lord’s reaction to the tower-builders is found in Genesis 11.6-8: “So the Lord scattered them.” From that point on, nothing is recorded in the Bible about Babylon until the end of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel when Babylon assumes prominence with the ascension of King Nebuchadnezzar. This king’s rulership marks the beginning of Gentile world dominion and the golden age of Babylonia.

The prophet Daniel summarizes the significance of Babylon and its role in the Gentile world dominion. A classic example of this is Nebuchadnezzar’s image in the book of Daniel. World history, the present and the future are revealed in this image in Daniel 2.32-33,37-38: The Scripture explains, “Thou, O king, art a king of kings…thou art this head of gold.” The golden head signifies Nebuchadnezzar’s superiority over any other Gentile empire.

The end of the city is predicted in Jeremiah 51.37: “Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing, without an inhabitant.” Isaiah also predicted the complete demise of the once beautiful Babylon: “Babylon, the glory of the kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency…shall never be inhabited…her time is near to come and her days shall not be prolonged,” Isaiah 13.19-22.

The city of Babylon had no promise of perpetual existence. Cyrus the Persian crossed the Tigris River in 547 B.C. and conquered the kingdom of Lydia. He then turned his armies southward, conquering the outlying cities of Babylonia on his way to the capital. The city of Babylon fell in one night to Cyrus in 539 B.C. and ceased to be a world power from that time.

Persian governors ruled the city for the next 60 years, including Xerxes, Ahasuerus of Esther 1.1, who represented his father, Darius the Great in the city. When Xerxes himself became ruler of Persia, the inhabitants of Babylon rebelled against the Persian government. Xerxes responded in 482 B.C. by destroying the fortifications of the city. Over time, the city of Babylon became an uninhabited mound of ruins, just as the prophets predicted. The literal city of Babylon, which no longer exists, is not to be confused with Mystery Babylon in Revelation 17. See the article, “The Figurative Babylon” also by Arno Froese. However, some expositors believe Babylon will be rebuilt under the antiChrist and then finally destroyed at the end of the Tribulation.