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From Babylon to New Jerusalem
by
A T Jones
Part One
The origin of Babylon
(All the emphasis has been added by the Protestors)
Section 1
THE Babylon of the Bible reaches from almost the beginning of the Bible to almost the end of it.
In principle, in spirit,
and in development,
it is the same Babylon all the way
through.
What on the surface appears to be two Babylons, is strictly and truly the same Babylon repeating itself: two manifestations of the same Babylon. Thus the Babylon that stands out apparent, whether anciently or at the last, is only a product: a product of the forces that are back of all, and that are the real Babylon. And that which produces the open Babylon is the working of the spiritual and intellectual forces of the natural world. There is the spring of all that ever appears openly as Babylon: there, in these forces and their working is the real Babylon.
It must ever be borne in mind that the very first word in the permanent divine inscription that is expressive of ultimate Babylon, is MYSTERY. That characteristic is strictly hers all the way from the original to the ultimate Babylon: under that telling word, Babylon must ever be studied.
Let us start with the origin of Babylon:
"And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed eastward, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar: and they dwelt there. And they said Come, let us build a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven: And let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad on the face of the earth." Genesis 11:1-4.
The first element, in this enterprise that developed Babylon, is pride -- Let us make us a name. And this characteristic goes with her all the way: it is she. And when the truth of her is plainly told, it is that she is "the most proud," "O thou most proud" and "how much she hath glorified herself." Jeremiah 50:31, 32; Revelation 18:7.
And it is a supremely selfish and exclusive pride: "I am and none else beside me." Isaiah 47:8, 10. And this pride manifests itself especially against the Lord: "She hath been proud against the Lord." Jeremiah 50:29.
And this feature was in it at the beginning. An inscription found deep in the ruins of old Babylon on the Euphrates telling of the building of the Tower and of the confusion of tongues, says: "Babylon corruptly to sin went, and small and great mingled on the mound. Violently they fronted against Him."
The second feature manifested in this beginning is centralization: "Lest we be scattered abroad." And this centralization was for domination. Though this particular effort at centralization and domination was frustrated by the confusion of their tongues and scattering them abroad, yet there remained the pride and the spirit and the ambition for centralization and domination: and so it was at Babel that there was established the first kingship and kingly power of State, Kingdom and Empire.
"Nimrod began to be a mighty one" or was the first mighty one -- "in the earth... And the beginning of the kingdom was Babel, and Erech and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar."
Genesis 10:8, 10.
And this was still in the same spirit of "pride against the Lord" and of "violently fronting against Him." Before him no ruler bore or claimed the title or dignity of king; but only of "viceroy" of the god, that was held to be the king. This clearly indicated the time when God was known as King and the true Ruler. And this time was so recent that even idolatrous men had not gotten so far from God that any one could be bold enough to claim the dignity and wear the title of king. But Nimrod was just the bold man to do this, and was the first man in the world to do it.
The name Nimrod signifies, "rebellion, supercilious contempt," or "the extremely impious rebel." He asserted his authority over religion along with all other things, and compelled all within the dominion to be of the idolatrous religion which he dictated.
The word that "he was a mighty hunter before the Lord," implies that he was a hunter of men, a persecutor: pursuing and compelling men to submit to his authority as ruler and to his religion as to God. And so Spurrell's translation renders the passage, "He was an over-bearing tyrant in Jehovah's sight."
He was the first one to establish the centralized power of an organized government, kingdom, or State. After the Flood, in the peopling of the earth all the government that there was outside of the parental was individual -- self-government. There was Society, but not the State. And the earth was free to all, there were no territorial lines. But there was a falling away from God, to idolatry and loss of self-control and to violence and domination.
"With the setting up of Nimrod's kingdom, the entire world entered a new historical phase. His reign introduced to the world a new system of relations between the governor and the governed. The authority of former rulers had rested upon the feeling of kindred, and the ascendancy of the chief was an image of parental control. Nimrod, on the contrary, was a sovereign of territory, and of men just as far as they were its inhabitants: and irrespective of personal ties. Hitherto there had been tribes -- enlarged families -- Society: now there was a nation, a political community -- the State. The political and social history of the world henceforth are distinct, if not divergent."
The cities and territory of Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh were "the beginning of kingdom;" and he extended it to empire, covering the greater part of the whole Mesopotamian plain. For "out of the land he went forth into Assyria and builded Nineveh, and Rehoboth-Ir, and Calah and Resen between Nineveh and Calah."
Genesis 10:11 margin, and ASV.
Thus Nimrod at Babel was the founder of the State, of kingdom, of world-dominion and empire.
When Nimrod passed away and his empire fell, this was only to give place for other men to repeat the story of kingdom and empire, in Ur, Accad, Elam, Egypt and Assyria to the great Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar in which the idea of world-pride and world-empire and world-power and world-glory was perfected. Daniel 4.
And it was still the same in spirit and in practice: for it was "the hammer of the whole earth" that "smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke," so that it was "the terrible of the nations." Jeremiah 50:23; Isaiah 14: 6; Ezekiel 30:11.
And it was all of this still in religion, and still against the Lord. Daniel 3.
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