Bible Word of the Day
Babel, Babylon, Babylonia (Kingdom of Babylon)
Meaning
Babel is the Hebrew name for Babylon and the word Babylonia refers to all the territory once conquered and ruled by Babylon. The city of Babylon, whose most famous ruler in the Bible is king Nebuchadnezzar is located between fifty and sixty miles south of the city of Baghdad in modern Iraq. In our modern history a dictator named Saddam Hussain thought himself a reincarnation of King Nebuchadnezzar and began rebuilding the city. Today the nation of Iraq has plans to make the city a major cultural center for tourist. During Bible times the city-state was a major political and economic power in Mesopotamia and it played a significant role in Jewish and Biblical history. The Southern Kingdom of Judah was taken captive into Babylon for disobeying God. Moreover Babylon was not only significant in some of the prophecies of Daniel, but the Bible tells us the city will play a significant role near the end of the church age. According to the Bible the city will become the seat of power of the Anti-Christ during the Tribulation period.
Babylon was the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which arose in the seventh century B.C. It was eventually overthrown by the Medio-Persian Empire. The Bible tells us the city was founded by Nimrod and it was the location of the Tower of Babel where God confused the languages of the people. Many scholars believe the Tower was a ziggurat. Which is a Mesopotamian temple structure which was either square or circular in shape with a staircase wrapped around the outside of the structure. The Babylonians believed that the ziggurat helped them connect heaven and earth together, which also fits well with the Biblical text and God’s reasons for confounding the languages of men. Babylonia was located in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The Babylonian Empire at its height covered most of the Middle East. And it stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea and north from the Black Sea to Egypt in the south. Some of the most famous kings of Babylon included Sargon, Hammurabi, Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar the most powerful and prominent Babylonian king.
“Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.’ They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.’ But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. ‘Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.’ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.” (Book of Genesis 11:1-9)