has nev£r yet happened. True, the magni ficence of former centuries is gone, but there still exists a small city on the site of old Babylon, -— called Hillah, with a few thous and inhabitants dwelling there. When the judgment of the 18th chapter of Revelation is visited on this area, then will be fulfilled completely the Word of God.” (The Elev enth Hour, Arthur I. Brown, p. 121). “ Babylon never was destroyed in any terrible fashion. Rather was it a gradual falling into decay. Alexander promised to take away its ruins, but failed. And so it has gone on. It is not now uninhabited. Hillah, on the site of ancient Babylon, has thousands of inhabitants.” (Seeing the “ Revelation,” W. F. Roadhouse, p. 146). But there are others who say just as definitely that Hillah is not on the site of ancient Babylon: “The Scripture prophecies regarding Babylon have been fulfilled . . . Jeremiah (51:37, cf. 50:26) said that it should become heaps, and mounds are all that remain of it now. They commence about 3'% miles above the village of Hillah, and extend northward slightly above 3 miles, by 2 from east to west, lying chiefly on the eastern side of the river.” {Dictionary of the Bible, John Davis, article op Babylon.) “About five miles above Hillah, on the oppo site bank of the Euphrates, occur a series of artificial mounds of enormous size, which have been recognized in all ages as probably indicating the site of the capital of southern Mesopotamia.” {Biblical C y c l o p a e d i a , M ’Clintock and Strong, article on Babylon.) Why is Hillah located on the site of ancient Babylon by some, but by others located several miles south of the ruins? It would seem that the archaeologist should have the final word in this debate. A brief study of both the ancient history and the archaeology of Babylon re veals the source of the contradiction. According to Herod otus, the city was laid out in a great square with sides about fourteen miles in length. The area enclosed would be 196 square miles, or several times the area of Lon don. The circuit of the city would be fifty-six miles Ctesias, another ancient authority, gives the city a cir cuit of forty-two miles. However, the actual ruins of Babylon present a city of much smaller size. Doctor Ira M. Price summarizes the verdict of archaeology about the size of the cify in these words:
as large as some historians tell us (and their figures do not agree), then it may well have included the site of the present village of Hillah. (See the diagram of the ruins of Babylon and the surrounding territory in the Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Cyclopaedia, by M ’Clintock and Strong, article on Babylon.) However, if the actual ruins known by archaeologists today indi cate the size of the city, then Hillah is several miles south of the ancient site. Even if the ancient city had the enormous extent ascribed to it by some, it is evident that the “ inner city” was the real heart of Babylon. It is in this more limited area that the ruins of the great struc tures are found. These ruins are desolate and without inhabitants just as predicted by the prophets. Most writers see an exact fulfillment of Scripture in the present con ditions at the site of Babylon: “ Daniel spent a long life in Babylon, and his book contains much historical informa tion which bears the strictest scrutiny, al though the critics are still busy breaking their hammers on it. The same Prophets who depict in most glowing terms its glory, are also most definite and emphatic in predict ing its utter ruin, and that at a time when the fulfilment of their predictions must have seemed as improbable and incredible as to us appear Macaulay’s picture of the native of New Zealand among the ruins of London. Yet the terms of the predictions and the facts of history most strikingly agree.” {New Bib lical Guide, Urquhart, Vol. 8, p. 264.) “ The Scripture prophecies regarding Baby lon have been fulfilled.” {Dictionary of the Bible, John Davis, article on Babylon.) “ ‘It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation’ ^ litera lly fulfilled. ‘Neither shall the Ara bian pitch tent there’ — not only shall it not be a permanent residence, but not even a temporary resting-place. The Arabs, through dread of evil spirits, and believing the ghost of Nimrod to haunt it, will not pass the night there. ‘Neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.’ The region was once most fertile; but owing to the Euphrates being now no longer kept within its former channels, it has become a stagnant marsh, unfit for flocks; and on the wastes of its ru ins, bricks and cement, no grass grows.” {Critical and Experimental Commentary, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on Isa. 13:20.) The argument that Hillah is on the site of Babylon, and that therefore the prophecy of its being uninhabited has not been fulfilled, is seen to be far-fetched. It assumes what archaeology disproves — a city of greater size than any mod ern city today. It further assumes that Hillah is on part of the site of that ancient city. (d) This argument is based upon Jer. 51:26: “ And they .shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate forever, saith the Lord.” It is said that the ruins of Babylon have been used for building purposes in the neighboring towns for centuries and that therefore this prophecy must be ful filled in the destruction of a future Babylon. But the evident meaning of the verse is that the stones were not to be uséd to rebuild Babylon itself — “ thou shalt be desolate forever.” Babylon was not rebuilt with her own stones but was rather 27
“The fabulous story of Herodotus that its wall was fifty-three miles in circumference has been discredited by fourteen years of excavations carried on by the Germans (1899- 1913). Its veritable wall line, ruins of part of which are plainly visible, was probably no more than eleven miles in circumference.” {The Monuments of the Old Testament, p 376.)
No traces or ruins of city walls, the extent of those suggested by either Herodotus or Ctesias, have been found. It may be that the larger city included the suburbs and surrounding towns. Contract-tablets have been discovered which speak of certain districts or cities, within Babylon. Ancient authorities declare that as much as nine-tenths of the area of the city consisted of parks, gardens, or chards and farms. (M ’Clintock and Strong Cyclopaedia, Article on Babylon.) It appears that if the ancient city of Babylon was MARCH, 1962
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker