Between the Testaments (Introduction 2)

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Between the Testaments (Introduction 2)

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Introduction 2

Babylon and Persia

Intro: Last week we looked at the Kingdom period, followed by the Assyrian empire. Remember the chain of events started when the Nation went to Samuel and said make us like other nations, having a king to rule over us. And this single event started the slide toward the nation being split, the Northern portion dispersed around the world. The Nation of Assyria was able to come in and take the Northern kingdom, but was stopped short before it was able to take the Southern Kingdom.

As Assyria was weakening, Babylon and Persia were gaining strength. Finally in about 612, the capitol of Assyria, Nineveh was defeated. The Tigris river ran through the city, and according to some sources, the river was damned up, and the army went in to the city through the river bed. Other accounts record the river was damned up, and then the dam was broken down, and the rushing water broke through the wall allowing the city to be breached. Either way, this was effectively the end of the Assyrian empire as it was known.

But as usually, another is ready to step up and take it’s place. The overthrow of Assyria was a joint effort. You can read about it in Nahum some and Isaiah 13 & 14, but records indicate it was a coalition of Babylon, Mede, Persian, and Egypt that was able to finally defeat Assyria. And the one of them to take the drivers seat after this was Babylon.

  1. Babylon,

    1. The Nation,

      1. An Old Nation,

        1. Even tho, it only came to prominence of power during and after the Assyrian empire. Babylon had been around for a very long time.

        2. It got it’s name form it’s capitol city,

          • but it was also called “Shiner” in Genesis 10:10; 11:2 and Isaiah 11:11

          • It would also be known as the land of the Chaldean, Jeremiah 24:4 and Ezekiel 12:13

        3. The City it’s self was established by Nimrod, not long after the flood, Genesis 10:8-10

          • It was located by the Euphrates River, a fact that will come into play at it’s defeat.

      2. Leaders,

        1. Nebuchadnezzar was not the first ruler, But he was the most important.

          • Nabopolassar was the fist leader, the one that threw off the yoke of the Assyrians, he ruled form 625-606 before Nebuchadnezzar took control..

    2. The invasion of Israel,

      1. Three sieges,

        1. the first came around 606 B.C. When Nebuchadnezzar took the best of the Israelite.

          • He carried them away back to Babylon to re-educate them.

          • The Assyrians wanted to destroy the heritage of the people they took over, and dispersed them to other areas. Babylon, wanted to assimilate them. Teaching them the ways of the Chaldean.

          • So He carried the young princes such as Daniel, Shadrack, Mneshack and Abednego, in order to train them to be good Babylonian servants.

        2. The second siege came as the Jewish people rebelled against Babylonian rule, and this time they took men like Ezekiel.

        3. The third time they came in, it was to break the spirits of any who were left, which were the weak, old and poorest, which were deemed as no threat to the empire.

          • Nebuchadnezzar set up a “puppet leader” King Zedekiah, to rule over the ruins of Israel. He was made to swear an allegiance to the Babylonian empire. II Chronicles 36:10-12.

      2. Recorded Biblical History of Babylon,

        1. Obviously there is a great deal recorded about this time in Israel,

          • Nahum, Isaiah 11 & 13, II Kings 24 & 24 Daniel as well as other places,

        2. The Social Cruelty of Babylon was perhaps neater than that of Assyria, but it was just as cruel.

          • We need to remember, this was a forging invader in Jerusalem, bent on destroying the Nationality identity and replacing it with their own Idea.

            • They allowed the Jewish people to set up their own colony’s, but they were still under,

              • Jeremiah sent letters to the captives, Jeremiah 29.

            • People who were opposed to this were dealt with in a very sever manner.

        3. As I already mentioned, they destroyed Jerusalem, as well as many other walled cities,

        4. Displaced and separated families.

        5. King Zedekiah- had his eyes plucked out and imprisoned after he was forced to watch his sons, and government officials put to death,

          • See II Kings 25:4-7 & Jeremiah 39:1-7

      3. God would only allow them to go so far,

        1. God showed His awesome strength, and power during this time,

          • Daniel 2:37&38 & 47 “Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.38And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. ”…. “The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a reveler of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.”

          • Daniel 3:28&29 “Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.29Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. ”

          • Daniel 4:17 “This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. ”

          • Daniel 4:25&26 “That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.26And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. ”

          • Daniel 4:37 (The Lord punished Him by letting him be as a beast form the field, but when he came back to his right mind… “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. ”

            • How quickly we can slide back if we are not careful.

      4. God Prophesied During Babylon,

        1. Some of the greatest Prophecies:

          • Daniel 2 Gives us the statue of the Kingdoms,- Gold head, Silver arms, Brass mid rift, Iron legs, Clay feet, Stone not cut by man.

          • Daniel 7, The Lion (Babylon), Bear (Medo-Persian), Leopard (Grecian), 10 Horns, (Divided kingdom)

          • Daniel 8, the ram, the goat,

          • Daniel 9 the 69 weeks Prophecy

        2. Daniel 5 gives us a very fast filled prophecy,

          • Belshazzar, the grand-son of Nebuchadnezzar sit and thought everything was fine,

          • and then the hand written on the wall.

          • Chapter 5 concludes saying in the night Belshazzar was slain, and Darius the Media took the kingdom.

            • How quickly things can change.

            • Outside the impenetrable city, Cyrus dug a trench that diverted the Euphrates river, allowing the river to dry, and then marched under the wall.

    3. This brings us to the Next Empire,

  2. The Mede Persian Empire,

    1. The Last of the Old Testament Empires (as recorded in the bible)

      1. Split Kingdom,

        1. We wont go into a lot of what the prophecies were about the Mede Persian Empires, we have looked at a lot of that in the previous studies.

          • But I will say, during the first years, it was co-regent that controlled,

            • Darius and Cyrus.

        2. Both were somewhat kind to the Jewish people who were in captivity.

        3. It was Cyrus that decreed to allow the Jews go back to Jerusalem to rebuild.

          • See Isaiah 44:28; 45:1; Ezra 1:1-4, 2; 2Chronicles 36:22-23

      2. The Temple Rebuilding Begins,

        1. Nehemiah begins the rebuilding process, but with all things God wants us to to do, there is opposition.

          • The building stops,

        2. But eventually Ezra continues the process, restoring temple worship.