1 The word that Yahweh spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

BABYLON.

The name of an ancient city and power, of which the city was the throne or seat of government. The meaning of the name is confusion, and came to be applied to the city

"because Yahweh did there confound the language of all the earth."—(Gen. 11:9.)

It was one of the four cities which constituted the beginning of "the kingdom of men, " under Nimrod, a mighty one in the earth.—(chap. 10:8.) Hence, the kingdom of Babylon is very ancient, and has figured on the page of history, sacred and profane, in some form or other, from that time to the present; and will continue so to do, until its image shall be smitten upon the feet by the stone, and abolished from the earth.

Babylon appears in the Scriptures as the antagonist of Jerusalem, Israel, Judah, the Holy Land, and the saints; and, consequently, the enemy of God. It is styled by the prophets

"the destroyer of Yahweh's heritage, a land full of graven images, and mad upon idols; a golden cup from which all the nations have drunk, and become, therefore, madly intoxicated."—(Jer. 50:11, 38; 51:7, 11.)

Two important points are exhibited in the testimony of Jeremiah against Babylon: first, that Babylon is to be broken in pieces by Israel; and, second, that when Babylon is finally judged, Israel and Judah shall be repentant, seeking Yahweh their God with their faces Zionward, fully determined to join themselves to him in a perpetual covenant;

"and the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none, and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found."—(See Jer. 51:19, 20–25; 50:4, 5.)

Hence, the full and final judgment of Babylon, and the redemption of Israel and Judah, are contemporary events.

Now, Babylon, in the days of Belshazzar, and subsequently, was germinantly judged through Cyrus, at the head of the nations of the north and east, and his Persian and Macedonian successors; but, in all that time, Israel and Judah were without independence and power, and eating their "defiled bread among the Gentiles," and have not been pardoned to this day. It follows, therefore, that there still remains judgment for Babylon.

But it is objected that the ancient city of Nimrod and Nebuchadnezzar exists no more. That is true. But if the old Queen City of the kingdom of men has perished, the kingdom itself, which is also Babylon, exists, and glories in another metropolis, which, with great complacency, says, in the style of her predecessor,

"I shall be a mistress of kingdoms to the aion."—(Isaiah 47:5, 7.) "I sit an unwidowed queen, and shall see no sorrow."—(Rev. 18:7.)

It is unquestionable that "the kingdom of men" exists, and that this is the kingdom of confusion, or Babylon; and that it rejoices in a city it styles "eternal." This is a civil and ecclesiastical polity, and its history shows that it is the destroyer of God's heritage, Israel and the saints, Jerusalem, and the Holy Land.

The destroyer exists till Israel and Judah are repentant and pardoned; and is to be broken by them as Yahweh's battle-axe and weapons of war. It is styled Babylon, and, therefore, Babylon doth now certainly exist, and must be identified by its analogy to the ancient one. Babylon, ancient and modern, is a land full of graven images, and mad upon idols; it is the enemy of the saints, and the oppressor of the Jews. By these characteristics it may be defined, and the land of its dominion identified.

Greek and Latin Christendom is the kingdom of Babylon in its modern form, and constitutes "the Great City" of the Apocalypse (chap. 16:19) which is subdivided into tenths.—(chap. 11:13.) In Daniel, its symbol is the Fourth Beast, or Dragon, with iron teeth and claws of brass. This is the fourth dynastic symbol of the kingdom of Babylon, in which the Greek and Latin elements are combined. The territory over which the Scarlet Beast, with its eighth head and ten horns, bearing the Harlot, exercises dominion, is the land of "Babylon the Great.—(Rev. 18:5.)

Babylon, then, contemporary with Israel's repentance, pardon, and redemption, is the polity, civil and ecclesiastical, which is maintained in power by the ten kingdoms of Roman Europe, and the Imperial Eighth Head. The ecclesiastical element of the polity, as represented by a Drunken Harlot, and the civil, by the Eight-Headed and Ten-Horned Beast that carries her.

The inscription on her forehead does not designate the material city Rome, exclusively, but the spiritual system of which that is the centre, and which pervades the countries of the Heads and Horns. Hence the Babylonish Woman is said to "sit upon many waters," and upon the Beast, which is explained as signifying "where" she sits, and of her "having a kingdom over the kings of the earth," or Ten Horns.—(17:1, 3, 15, 18.)

Bro Thomas - A Bible Dictionary

The Christadelphian, Nov 1872

11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;

Ancient Babylon.

She was the destroyer of Jerusalem, the temple, and the kingdom of Judah

O ye destroyers of mine heritage - Jer 50: 11

Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.

The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say. - Jer 51: 34, 35

Modern babylon.

"I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus."—(Rev. 17:6.)

"Ye saints are the temple of God."—1 Cor. 3:16.

"O heaven, and holy apostles and prophets, God hath punished your condemnation by her." "And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth."—Rev. 18:20, 24.

Bro Thomas - A Bible Dictionary

The Christadelphian, Nov 1872

17 Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

'...though God brought Nebuchadnezzar upon Jerusalem and Judah, Nebuchadnezzar was none the less a thief and a robber—a beast of prey let loose for a purpose, the accomplishment of which was no credit to him.

Nebuchadnezzar had no more idea he was doing a divine work than Titus had 600 years later. He was doing a divine work, notwithstanding, as we have seen. The fact, however, has to be taken with certain qualifications. Though he was doing a divine work, it was no merit in him, but the reverse. He was a mere tool so far as he was concerned—that is, so far as his aims and objects were concerned, he acted the part of a robber and a murderer, and his real objects are recognised when the time came for dealing with Babylon according to her deserts.

'...though God overrules the movements of men for the accomplishment of His own purposes, there is no interference with the moral freedom of men, and no interference with their moral relation to the acts they perform. God may use the wicked as His sword, yet are they none the less wicked, and accountable for the deeds they perform. These deeds are divine in their bearing upon those against whom they operate, but so far as those who perform them are concerned, the character of the deed is determinable by the motive which prompts them.

Ways of Providence Ch 22.

23 How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

Its interior was laid out in streets of great breadth and regularity - the houses well-built but not close to one another - leaving ground enough between for a year's tillage. The Euphrates went through the city, and was lined with magnificent wharves on each side.

The population was immense, and comprised people from every country, for Babylon had been the conqueror of all kingdoms, and was the centre of all traffic and the headquarters of everything honorable and important in the earth. Behold the picture, then, of this wealthy, populous and powerful city; and consider Daniel - one old man in the midst of this busy mass of human life. How did God look upon one and upon the other? We know, for He has told us.

Of Babylon he saith,

"I am against thee, . thou most proud... Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge have perverted thee and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and there is none beside me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee... Desolation shall come upon thee suddenly... Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing without inhabitant" (Jer. 50:31; Isa. 47:10; Jer. 51:37).

To Daniel he said,

.. . man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee... thou shalt stand in thy lot at the end of the days" (Dan. 10:19; 12:13).

Here, then, Babylon with its busy thriving population was nothing in the divine estimation, while Daniel was –greatly beloved." Here is a study for us which we may find to yield lessons of comfort in our own situation when human glory spreads and vaunts itself so much, and nothing is so contemned as the hope which God has given us concerning Israel.

Seasons 2.45

40 As Elohim overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith Yahweh; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.

Ancient babylon

Babylon shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. As Elohim overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighbour cities thereof, saith Yahweh; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.—(Jer. 50: 38, 40.)

Modern babylon

The voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsmen of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee, &c., and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee.—(Rev. 18:22, 23.)

The Christadelphian, Dec 1872