We are publishing another article by Valentin Katasonov, Doctor of Economics, scientist, publicist writer, from the series "How Nations and States Perish", based on a study of the works of St. Nicholas of Serbia. This time it's about Babylon.
Now we will talk about the fate of Babylon, to which St. Nicholas of Serbia also devotes a lot of attention in the works "War and the Bible", "The Word about the Law" and others.
Babylon is both a city, a state and an empire. By the way, it is spoken about not only in the Old Testament, but also in the New Testament (in the last book called "Apocalypse" or "Revelations from John"). Philologists and historians say that in translation from ancient languages, Babylon means "the gate of God" (or "the gate of the gods"). Babylon is not only a true story, but also a symbol. Moreover, a symbol that is present in our life today.
First, it is a symbol of theomachism associated with the Tower of Babel, which Nimrod, the son of Kush and the grandson of Ham, tried to build (as we are told by the Book of Genesis). Nimrod is a king whose dominions were "Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Halne in the land of Shinar" (Gen. 10:10). This was the time of early Babylon. The goal of the tower project was to be on a par with God or even above Him. And also to insure against a repetition of the global flood (Nimrod naively believed that in the event of a flood he would be able to escape on his "skyscraper"). As you know, the Tower of Babel was destroyed, and the area, where construction was in full swing, fell into desolation for a long time.
Nimrod. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Secondly, Babylon is a symbol of mixing people, crowds. Nimrod gathered tower builders from all cities and towns. It was, in modern terms, the “construction of the century”, in which, as historians believe, most of the then humanity was involved. After the destruction of the tower, its builders were scattered across the face of the earth. Communities of people who spoke different languages were formed, the very peoples appeared, about whose fate St. Nicholas of Serbia speaks.
Thirdly, it is a symbol of wealth and glory. This symbol dates back to late Babylon. After the destruction of the tower, Babylon was for a long time a backwater, a distant province. But in the II - I millennium BC. it gradually turns into a large city, around which the Babylonian kingdom (Babylonia) appears. This is no longer just a kingdom, it is the greatest empire of its time. The highest upsurge in the economic and cultural life of Babylon is associated with the era of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (VI century BC).
Fourth, it is a symbol of the fact that "nothing is eternal under the moon" (as the wise Solomon said). After the aforementioned king Nebuchadnezzar II, a rapid decline in the glory and wealth of the city and kingdom began. By the beginning of the new era, only ruins remained from the capital of Babylonia. The place became deserted. And later (in modern times) historians and archaeologists could not even pinpoint exactly where Babylon was.
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The destinies of Babylon are well documented in the book of the prophet Daniel. According to the Bible, Daniel possessed the gift of God to understand and interpret dreams, which made him famous at the court of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, and after the fall of Babylon - at the court of the Persian kings Cyrus and Darius. Incidentally, in his prophecies Daniel speaks of Babylon as an empire. At the same time, he interprets world history as a successive replacement of one great empire by another. The decline of late Babylon began right before the eyes of the prophet Daniel. This happened after Babylonia was conquered by the Persians in 538 BC.
Chapters 2 and 7 of Daniel are considered the most prophetic. In chapter 2 we read the prophet's interpretation of the dream seen by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar:
31 You, king, had such a vision: behold, some big image; This idol was huge, it stood before you in extreme brilliance, and its appearance was terrible.
32 This image had a head of pure gold, his breast and his hands of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, 33 his legs are iron, his feet are partly iron, partly made of clay.
34 You saw him, until the stone was cut off from the mountain without the help of hands, you struck the image, his iron and clay feet, and broke them.
35 Then everything was shattered together: iron, clay, copper, silver and gold became like dust in the threshing floors of summer, and the wind carried them away, and a trace was not left of them; but the stone that broke the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
36 Here is a dream! Let us tell before the king and his meaning.
It tells the story of the earthly history of mankind, starting with King Nebuchadnezzar, through the change of world empires. Empires passed from one people to another. In the book of the prophet Daniel, an idea is formulated, which has already been called the theory of "transmission of the empire". Its essence is that in fact there is only one empire in the world. It can only change its capitals, names, geographical boundaries and the peoples that make up its composition. Each so-called new empire is in fact the successor to the previous one, absorbing the legacy of the previous ones and adding something of its own, new. However, the "broadcast of the empire" can hardly be classified as a scientific theory. It is rather an intuitive perception of history. Back in the middle of the century before last, the Russian poet F. Tyutchev wrote in his work “Russia and the West”: “The empire does not die. It is transmitted."
King Nebuchadnezzar. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Most Christian interpreters of the Book of Daniel believe that the first empire to be symbolized by gold was Babylonian. However, here it is difficult to interpret the image of gold in any other way, since Daniel directly says to Nebuchadnezzar: You are the head of gold!
37 You, king, king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given kingdom, power, power and glory, 38 And all the sons of men, wherever they lived, He put the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air into your hands and made you ruler over all of them. You are the head of gold!
Duration of the first (Babylonian) empire: 605-538 BC (only 67 years old). Formally, the term of the first "golden" empire is very modest, it roughly corresponds to the life span of a person. But it must be borne in mind that the Babylonian Empire, in which the prophet Daniel found himself by the will of fate, had very deep historical roots. But the prophet is talking about the empire, not the kingdom.
Second Empire (silver) - Persian, more precisely Medo-Persian. The beginning of the empire was laid by King Cyrus, who liberated the Jewish people from Babylonian captivity and even assisted in the restoration of the Jerusalem temple. Throughout the existence of the empire, the Achaemenid dynasty ruled there: 550 - 331 BC. (only 219 years old). Babylonia became part of the Achaemenid empire as an autonomous kingdom.
Third Empire (copper) - Greek. Dating: 331-146 BC (only 185 years old). In history textbooks, this period of history is often referred to as the era of Hellenism. Approximately four decades of the era - the campaigns of the Greco-Macedonian army of Alexander the Great, the short period of the existence of his world power and its disintegration into a number of Hellenistic states. About a century more - the flourishing of the Greek-Eastern statehood, economy and culture, while maintaining the independence of the Hellenistic states. In 197 B. C. the Romans defeated Macedonia at the Battle of Kinoskephala. After that, the Romans began to constantly interfere in the internal affairs of the Greeks, supporting the oligarchic layers against democracy. In 146 B. C. all Greece came under the rule of Rome.
Formally, the Hellenistic period of Greek history lasted for more than a century. But this was already the time of the decline of the Greek statehood. With the establishment of the Roman Empire in 27 BC. Greece was turned into the Roman province of Achaia (except for Athens, which was nominally considered a free city).
The fourth empire, symbolized by iron, is the Roman Empire. Iron symbolizes the fortress of the Roman Empire. The fourth empire (kingdom) will not be just a symbol of strength and eternity. It will force (iron) to "crush and crush" other nations and states. Expanding its boundaries and influence in the world. The beginning of the fourth kingdom was determined in 146 BC. as the date of the destruction of Carthage by Rome. After that, Rome became the absolute ruler of the world. Some commentators define the end of the fourth empire as A. D. 476. It turns out that in total it lasted 622 years. However, this is an understanding of the Roman Empire in the narrow (political and legal) sense.
In a broad (spiritual and eschatological) sense, the Roman Empire is the last in the history of mankind. It will exist until the end of earthly history. Here we come to the formula of Elder Philotheus. At the beginning of the 16th century, he said that two Romes had fallen, the third was standing, and the fourth would not be. The first Rome is understood as the Roman Empire in the narrow sense of the word (as we noted above). Second Rome - Byzantium. Third Rome - Moscow (Russia, Russian kingdom).
Photo: www.globallookpress.com
But here I will put an end to and return to Nicholas Serbsky, his reflections on the fate of Babylon. He focuses on Babylon as an empire during the time of King Nebuchadnezzar. As always, he does not just give a description of history, but draws conclusions of a moral and spiritual nature and projects the history of (Babylon) onto the life of Europe and other countries in the twentieth century. Nicholas of Serbia quotes the great prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah (end of the 6th century BC) who predicted that the flourishing and rich Babylonia (as it was during their lifetime), its capital and people will disappear from the face of the earth. The country will turn into a desert. Indeed, as we said above, Babylonia was conquered by the Persians. Gradually, the empire came to complete desolation, the people disappeared from the pages of history, and Babylon itself was buried under the sands.
In his work "The Word about the Law" (Chapter XVI. The Moral Law Determines the Fates of Nations ") the saint writes:
“Why did ancient Babylon disappear? Because, according to the words of the prophet Ezekiel, the Lord said that he would be weaker than other kingdoms, and would no longer ascend over the nations (Ezek. 29:15) or, according to the prophet Jeremiah, he ascended against the Lord … rebelled against the Lord … (Jer. 50:24, 29). In addition, Babylon disappeared because of her lies, because of her false idols, beasts and owls, which she continues to worship. And the prophet Isaiah said: And Babylon, the beauty of the kingdoms, the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God, like Sodom and Gomorrah (Isa. 13:19). What was predicted happened. The worship of idols and the depravity of people were the reason that a powerful people with a high, rich culture turned to dust.
"The Bible and War" (chapter XX "Fulfillment of the prophetic words about wars"):
“Prophecies about Babylon. Since you have robbed many nations, then all the other nations will rob you too … Woe to him who builds a city on blood and builds fortresses by untruth! (Hab. 8: 8,12). Babylon was a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, intoxicating the whole earth; the nations drank wine from it and went mad. Suddenly Babylon fell and was shattered (Jer. 51: 7-8). The peoples who drank the wine of European "culture" also went mad. Thus says the Lord about Babylon: You are with Me - the hammer, the weapon of war; With you I have smitten the nations, and with you I have destroyed kingdoms (Jer. 51:20). Behold, I am against you, pride, says the Lord God of hosts; for thy day has come, the time of thy visiting (Jer. 50:31). A sword against the Chaldeans, says the Lord, and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her princes, and against her wise ones; sword on the charms, and they will go mad; a sword on his soldiers, and they will fear;a sword on his horses and on his chariots, and on all the peoples of different tribes among him, and they will be like women; the sword on his treasures, and they will be plundered … for this is the land of images (Jer. 50: 35-38). Behold, I will raise up and bring to Babylon a gathering of great nations from the land of the north, and they will set themselves up against it, and it will be taken (Jer. 50: 9). And indeed, the Medes and Persians took up arms against the proud Babylon together and captured it. And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God, like Sodom and Gomorrah, will never settle, and there will be no inhabitants in it for generations; An Arab will not pitch his tent, and the shepherds and their flocks will not rest there. But the beasts of the desert will dwell in it, and the houses will be filled with owls … and the shaggy ones will gallop there (Isa. 13: 19-21). All this came true literally. It is known that now caravans are in a hurry to quickly pass that place,where Babylon once stood, because people do not dare to spend the night there because of all sorts of ghosts."
