Babylon and the Day of the Lord

Babylon’s Beginning

In the beginning…isn’t this where all good stories start? But ours is more than a story, it is THE story, history…His-story…the one God Himself is writing.

It started in the beginning as God creates order out of chaos.

But it doesn’t take long for the pinnacle of His creation to be led astray, attempting to define for themselves their own pattern of life.

The first ELEVEN CHAPTERS of GENESIS trace the idea of Babylon, its culmination with the TOWER of BABEL.

Babylon appears a total of 261 times in the OT (bbl - babel) and is translated:

Babylonia 5 x’s

Babylonians 3 x’s

Babel 2 x’s

Babylon 251 x’s

Here, BABEL lays the foundation for what we find later in Scripture, and an idea that is pertinent to the very last book of Scripture.

BABYLON RUNS THROUGHOUT!

When we get to chapter 11, we see mankind united in their efforts to make a “name” for themselves, and they’re using “brick…and…mortar” to do so. (Gen.11:3-4 “And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.””)

So, more than just a foundation for a tower is being laid here. It’s the foundation for the archetype of what Babylon represents: a united effort from mankind to rebel against its Creator in order to pursue his own path, redefining good/evil, right/wrong. Even their efforts to remain in Babel is a rejection of God’s command when He first makes Adam and Eve. If Babel is instructive concerning mankind, then surely God’s response is instructive as well, and here’s the truth: God DOES NOT ALLOW Babel to ultimately succeed. So too we can take comfort in knowing that Babylon does not WIN THE DAY. It will be judged and held accountable. This is KEY, especially when we are struggling to find hope in the midst of suffering. This hope, that God will make things right is one of the things that fuels what we call the Psalms of Imprecation — when God’s people cry out for deliverance from their enemies.

Ps.7:1-2 “O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.”

Ps.35:1-3 “Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me! Take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help! Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers! Say to my soul, “I am your salvation!””

Ps.55:9-11 “Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues; for I see violence and strife in the city. Day and night they go around it on its walls, and iniquity and trouble are within it; ruin is in its midst; oppression and fraud do not depart from its marketplace.”

Ps.83:16-18 “Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O Lord. Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace, that they may know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.”

Ps.137 “By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy! Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!” O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!”

Babel was just the Baby Brother

Well, Babylon is judged, the languages confused, the effort to unite and reject God’s call to “fill the earth” (Gen.1:28) was thwarted, and God proves to still be sovereign over His creation. So, does Babylon go away? No, its head appears again at the end of Genesis.

While the first 11 chapters of Genesis deal with GOD and His WORLD, the last part of Genesis deals with GOD and His RELATIONSHIP with ABRAHAM and His family. There’s a lot going on, so we won’t get bogged down in all of it because we’re looking for Babylon.

Well, Abraham’s family is preserved through the efforts of Joseph who finds himself in Egypt because his brothers sold him into slavery. But, when a famine hits the land, one that Joseph, p.s., saw coming because of Pharaoh’s dream, he is able to bring his family to Egypt to preserve them from the famine.

Things go well…at first. Then, this happens: Exodus 1:8-14 “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.”

Not only is there this word connection with Babel — MORTAR and BRICK — but there is also redefining of good and a rebellious pursuit of their own desires. The king of Egypt instructs the Hebrew midwives to kill Hebrew males when they’re born.

So, through a series of plagues, God judges Egypt, which has proven itself to be the NEW BABYLON. The culmination of this judgment comes in two...waves…pun intended.

First, the death of the firstborn in Egypt by the DESTROYER, and Israel is ONLY preserved through the blood of the perfect Passover Lamb (see the crazy parallels that run throughout Scripture! — see Ex.12:23 “For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.”)

And second, the events on the seashore as the Lord deals the final blow to Egypt at the Red Sea (Ex.14:28 “The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.” and Ex.14:30-31 “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”)

What happens here is a foreshadowing of what is proclaimed by the prophets as the Day of the Lord, a day when God confronts the collective evil of humanity to finally liberate His people from sin altogether while asserting His rule over all He has made. As God is victorious over Egypt and His people are liberated, they sing a song of praise. I want to point out a couple of things in this song:

Ex.15:1 “Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.” It may not seem like much more than a retelling, BUT…it’s not the last time we see God cast someone into some type of “body of water…or fire” in an act of judgment.

But, in case we’re not yet convinced, consider Ex.15:3 “The Lord is a man of war (or warrior); the Lord is his name.” Ahh, now we are getting somewhere, because we see the Lord vividly portrayed as a warrior in Rev.19:11-16 “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Want one more? Notice the conclusion of Moses’ song: Ex.15:17-18 “You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. The Lord will reign forever and ever.”” We’ll get there, don’t worry, but this is the declaration fleshed out in Rev.21, the word promised through the prophet Isa.65:17 ““For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.” (see also Isa.2 and Zeph.3.). Just look at Rev.21:1-3 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”

All right, one more thing to say about Babylon...

Beware of Becoming Babylon!

As God blesses Israel and she grows, she begins to trust her wealth, treat people unjustly, become apathetic in her commitment to God, and turn to idolatrous ways! While Israel certainly flirts with cycles of rebellion throughout her history, let us give attention to one particular king and how his reign lays the groundwork for Israel eventually suffering defeat at the hands of literal Babylon.

There were promising beginnings for Solomon. After David charges him to follow the commands of YHWH, he leads in building the Temple and even asks God for “an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil.” God’s reply? I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.” We get the glimpse of Solomon’s love for the LORD in 1 Kgs.1-3.

Things don’t stay that way, however (see 1 Kgs.4-10). He marries Pharaoh’s daughter and takes Gezer, a Canaanite city, as the dowry…a city that pharaoh had burned and cleared, and his acceptance seems to be a sort of stamp of approval on what Pharaoh had done. Furthermore, it is through forced labor that Solomon builds the temple (in seven years) and his own palace (FOURTEEN YEARS!), the very thing that Israel was delivered from. And…get this…do you know how much gold Solomon imports every year? Twenty-five tons according to the CSB. That’s a lot of gold. That’s 666 talents of gold each year. Now the temptation may be to shrug that off and say, “No big deal.” Yet, how many of us would bicker over whether or not debit cards were the mark of the beast or if you should get an I.D. microchip implant?! I digress. Even if you don’t think there’s much to the numerical value of the gold he receives, it breaks the law of God (Deut.17:16-17 “Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.”)

Finally, there is outright rebellion in Israel, and Solomon seems to lead the charge. He accumulates for himself 700 wives and 300 (remember Lamech in Genesis 4 — the first person recorded as having multiple wives who also boasts about his wickedness?) concubines through a series of political alliances and foreign marriages. He gives allegiance to the false gods Asherah, Milcom, Chemosh, and Molech, until finally Israel splits into and sees itself slowly picked off until they are exiled over the next 250 years. In 2008’s Dark Knight Batman movie, Harvey Dent, Gotham City’s District Attorney who ends up becoming the villain “Two Face,” says, “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” Whenever we forsake God and pursue a path of rebellion where we try to define for ourselves what is good and right, we inevitably live long enough to see ourselves become the villain!

Before all is said and done, much of Israel’s ways mimic Babylon, leading to their exile at actual Babylon’s hands. From there…check out the book of Daniel. Babylon gives way to Medo-Persia which gives way to the Greeks which gives way to the Romans, and so on the story of humanity goes. So what is our takeaway?

You can bet on Babylon. So long as we wait for the Lord’s return, “Babylon” will wage war the people of God. Expect it!

Beware of becoming Babylon. When we reject God’s ways, when we turn from God’s will, when we embrace the world’s values and systems, we’re flirting with a harlot named Babylon.

The Day of the Lord is coming…God will not let His good creation sit under sin’s dominion forever. Let this truth strengthen our resolve to flee from Babylon to Christ our shelter.