Babylon

Biblical Text

• Origins: Genesis 10:10 records Babel as the place where the kingdom of Nimrod began. In the account of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1–9, the name is connected with the statement that the LORD did "confound the language" (Genesis 11:9).
• Encounter with Judah: In 2 Kings 20:12–19, Hezekiah shows his treasure houses to envoys from Babylon. In response, Isaiah prophesies that those treasures and the king's descendants will be carried away to Babylon.
• Destruction and captivity: According to 2 Kings 24–25 and 2 Chronicles 36, Nebuchadnezzar attacks Jerusalem, carries away the king and the people, and burns the temple. This period is known as the Babylonian Exile.
• Life in exile: Daniel 1–5 recounts the experiences of Daniel and his three friends at the Babylonian court, and chapter 5 describes the feast of Belshazzar. Psalm 137:1–6 is the song of those who wept "by the rivers of Babylon" as they longed for Zion.
• Prophecies of judgment and the return: Isaiah 13–14 and 47 and Jeremiah 50–51 foretell the fall of Babylon. In Ezra 1, the Return from Exile begins with the decree of Cyrus.
• New Testament: In its genealogy, Matthew 1:11–12, 17 uses the time when "they were carried away to Babylon" as a dividing point between eras. 1 Peter 5:13 contains the expression "the church that is at Babylon," and Revelation 14:8 and chapters 17–18 speak of the fall of "that great city" Babylon.

Background

Babylon was the chief city of ancient Babylonia. The major biblical events took place during the Neo-Babylonian Empire in the seventh and sixth centuries BC. This empire fell to Cyrus of Persia in 539 BC. The Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Gaejeong) renders the name "Babel" in Genesis and "Babylon" in the other books, but in Hebrew it is the same word. The name is commonly interpreted as meaning "gate of god" in Akkadian. Genesis uses it in a wordplay that links it to the Hebrew balal ("to confound").

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

In the Old Testament, Babylon appears in a twofold role. On the one hand, it is the instrument God used to discipline Judah; on the other, it is a nation judged for its pride. The New Testament takes up this imagery and uses it as a symbol of the powers that oppose God. Revelation borrows Jeremiah's language concerning Babylon: the "golden cup" of Jeremiah 51:7 reappears in Revelation 17:4, and the act of casting a stone in Jeremiah 51:63–64 is echoed in Revelation 18:20–21.

Interpretation and Debated Issues

• Babylon in 1 Peter: The view that this Babylon is a metaphor for Rome is widely accepted. Others, however, understand it as the actual Babylon in Mesopotamia.
• Babylon in Revelation: Interpretations differ considerably.
• Some hold that it refers to the first-century Roman Empire.
• During the Reformation, some Protestants identified it with the papacy in Rome. The Catholic Church rejects this interpretation, and many Protestants today do not follow it either.
• Some read it as a symbol of the worldly system that opposes God in every age.
• Some dispensationalist interpreters see it as a world system that will appear in the last days or as an actual city that will be rebuilt.
• Traditions outside the text: The story that Nimrod built the Tower of Babel does not appear in the biblical text; it comes from later tradition, such as Josephus. The so-called "Hanging Gardens" likewise do not appear in the Bible.

In the Korean Church

Sermons frequently treat the Babylonian Exile as a story of keeping the faith in a foreign land. A representative text is Daniel 1:8, which states that Daniel "purposed in his heart" that he would not defile himself. Meanwhile, counselors who work with those affected by heretical groups have pointed out that some organizations, such as Shincheonji, teach that established churches are the Babylon of Revelation.