BABYLON THE GREAT

 

I was so eager to once again start studying the return of the Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem 70 years after their captivity began, as predicted by Jeremiah in his book, 25:11,12; 29:10. I got as far as the first chapter of Ezra before I was overcome with emotion. 

 

Behind the fulfilment of this prophecy was a Persian king that Jehovah prepared who conquered Babylonians by the name of Cyrus. It is suggested by historians that when Cyrus conquered Babylon that he found Daniel there in his governmental capacity,  and that Daniel  pointed out to him the prophecy of Isaiah that was given 140 years before the fall of Jerusalem, that the Lord would raise up a mighty king who would free the Jewish captives in Babylon and allow them to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the holy city. Isaiah even named Cyrus by name.....210 years before he even appeared in Babylon. Astonishing isn't it? It certainly was to Cyrus because he sent out the proclamation amongst the Jews in Babylon that ‘the Lord God of heaven….had charged [him] to build him a house at Jerusalem’ (Ezra 1:2) and asked who among all of God’s people wanted to return. He actually offered freedom to anyone who wanted it.

 

Now this is the most astonishing bit. Approximately 50,000 people chose to return to Jerusalem while MOST chose not to return having been absorbed into the Babylonian way of life. It tells you where their heart was, does it not? Scripturally, Babylon is a symbol of worldly wickedness. The opulence and extravagance and decadence of this ancient city at the peak of its grandeur is hard to describe. A historian, Will Durant, wrote that ‘even Alexander the Great who was not above dying of drinking, was shocked by the morals of Babylon’ (Our Oriental Heritage, The Story of Civilization, vol 1, p 244). Enrichment G in the Old Testament Student Manual will give you an overview of this city that will amaze you. 

 

As I read this first chapter of Ezra, I couldn’t help but think how easy it is to become caught in the world’s web of wickedness. It reminded me of Alma who said: “Come ye out from the wicked, be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things” (Alma 5:57). It made me reflect on how much of the world is in me and to what extent am I entangled in its’ web. If I was in Babylon at the time of Cyrus, I hope that I would have been one of the returned eager to re-build His temple that I might worship Him, the one and only true and living God, the God of Israel, the God of my heart.  

 

I lift, I lift,

Above the reach of the world below;

To Thee in praise I sing,

My God that I adore. 

 

 

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Guiding Them Home by Yongsung Kim)