Friday, October 06, 2006

Iraq is Babylon of Jeremiah 50-51

That is what this blog is about. Jeremiah 50-51 is a prophecy against Babylon. Not the ancient city, which no longer exists, but against "the land of the Chaldeans" (Jer 50:9). It is a prophecy against "Chaldea" (Jer 50:10). It is against "the king of Babylon and his land" (Jer 50:18). It is against "the land of Merathaim... and against the inhabitants of Pekod..." (Jer 50:21). It is against the "cities, and... all (the) environs" (Jer 50:32) of the land of Chaldea -- modern day Iraq.

C. Marvin Pate and J. Daniel Hays say no, Iraq is not the Babylon of the "end-times", in their 2003 book, "Iraq; Babylon of the End-Times?" by Baker Books, because they claim the prophecy refers narrowly and only to the capital city of Babylonia, and its destruction by Antiochus I c. 270s B.C.E. (pg 37).

However, the words of the prophecy themselves define the prophecy as relating to the "land" of the Chaldeans, and their "cities" -- not just one city -- and "all... environs" of the Chaldeans. "Her cities [plural] have become an object of horror, a parched land and a desert, a land in which no man lives..." (Jer 51:43). It is not just talking about the one-time capital city of Nebuchadnezzar's empire, it is referring to the "whole land" (Jer 51:47).

This blog is going to explore the explicit decrees of destruction against the land of Babylon, and how the current U.S.-led occupation of Iraq has begun to fulfill those decrees, and what we can expect to happen in sequence if this current conflict is the literal fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy.

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