Chapter 15. — Prophecies in Relation To Nineveh, Babylon, and Tyre.

CHAPTER 15. — PROPHECIES IN RELATION TO

NINEVEH, BABYLON, AND TYRE.

BESIDES the prophecies concerning the Jewish nation, some of which we have briefly noticed, the Old Testament records many striking predictions in relation to several of the neighboring nations and cities, which have been fulfilled in a very exact and impressive manner. Our limits will not allow us to enter into a particular discussion of these prophecies, but we would refer those who wish to examine them particularly to the writings of Bishop Newton and the Rev. Alexander Keith.

We will, however, make a few remarks in reference to Nineveh, Babylon, and Tyre.

Nineveh was the ancient capital of Assyria, and was at one time “an exceeding great city, three days’ journey” in circuit, and numbering more than six hundred thousand souls (Jonah 3:3). It was in a prosperous condition up to the period at which it comes under the notice of prophecy, Nahum is the prophet who utters the prediction concerning this city, and Diodorus Siculus is the principal historian who records the fulfillment. The prophet, while yet the hum of business and the noise of revelry and dissipation were heard in the streets and halls of this wicked and voluptuous metropolis, lifted up his voice and pronounced its coming doom. He declared that, suddenly and unexpectedly, the city should be overtaken with a complete and final overthrow. Amid the drunkenness and debauchery of the king, his courtiers, and his soldiers, they were to be defeated and despoiled of their wealth. With flood and flame, their proud capital was to be totally and irretrievably ruined. The prophet’s words are: “The Lord will make an utter end of the place. Affliction shall not rise up the second time; she is empty, void, and waste: the Lord will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. How is she become a desolation — a place for beasts to lie down in!”

In a little over one century from the announcement of the approaching ruin by the inspired prophet, all that he had spoken came to pass — that is, the calamities threatened were realized — the judgment came as it had been foretold. But it had also been foretold that this judgment should never be removed; and there, upon that devoted spot, it rests to this day! In the second century, Lucian searched for the spot where Nineveh once stood, but he found no vestige of it remaining, and declared that “none could tell where it was once situated.” And till recently none could point to the ground pressed by the footsteps of Jonah, as he preached repentance to the Ninevites. Let the proud skeptic, before he scoffs at the prophecies of the Bible, account for the standing miracle we here behold! When that rich metropolis of the first great empire of earth was yet standing in all its greatness and glory, who but Omniscience could have foreseen that so soon it would perish and be blotted out forever? How true are the predictions of Heaven! Where God has made a record by the pen of prophecy, neither the mutations of earth nor the ravages of time can efface the changeless impress!

Babylon, the renowned metropolis of Chaldea, figures largely in prophetic scripture. Mr. Richard Watson remarks that “the reasons why prophecies, so numerous and particular, were recorded concerning Babylon, appear to have been:

1. That Babylon was the great oppressor of the Jews.

2. That it was the type of all the powerful persecuting enemies of the Church of God, especially of Rome, and in its fate they may read their own.

3. That the accomplishment of prophecy, in the destruction of so eminent an empire, might give a solemn testimony to the truth of the Scriptures to the whole earth, and to all ages.”

To transcribe all the prophetic scriptures relating to Babylon, would require more space than our plan will allow for the whole subject. All we propose is, a glance at the nature of the Christian evidence derived from this source. The most numerous and important predictions under this head are furnished us by the Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. The words of the former, so far as the taking of Babylon by Cyrus and the releasing of the Jews from captivity are concerned, have already been noticed. We now call attention to the predictions concerning the complete destruction of Babylon, and the utter desolation by which the place it once occupied with so much pride and pomp was to be cursed. In the words of Jeremiah, it was foretold, at a time when Babylon was in all its pride and greatness, that Babylon should “be desolate forever… Every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant…Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing, without an inhabitant… Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby… The wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein; and it shall be no more inhabited forever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. As God overthrew

Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighbor cities thereof, saith the Lord, so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.” Jeremiah 50., 51.

The Prophet Isaiah speaks as follows: “Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces.” Isaiah 13.

The fact is unquestionable that these predictions were uttered, and recorded in the sacred writings of the Jews, while Babylon was yet in its greatest strength and prosperity. According to the chronology of Horne, Isaiah commenced his prophetic career more than eight hundred years before Christ; Jeremiah more than six hundred years before Christ; and Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar and the Jews carried captive six hundred and six years before Christ — while Jeremiah was exercising the prophetic office. But the Jews had been seventy years in their captivity before they were delivered by Cyrus; hence it is evident that Isaiah must have delivered his predictions concerning the downfall of Babylon at least two centuries before these calamities commenced; and Jeremiah must have delivered his predictions on the subject about a century before the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, for he died, as is supposed, in Egypt, in a year or two after the commencement of the captivity, having exercised his prophetic office more than forty years.

The evidence, then, is complete, that while Babylon was yet the most wealthy and prosperous city the world had ever seen, and all the surrounding country unparalleled in fertility, and while the powerful and haughty monarch, peacefully occupying his throne of grandeur, was boastfully exclaiming, “Is not this great Babylon which I have built by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?” — while this scene was transpiring in that “wonder of the world,” the metropolis of this great empire — it was even then recorded upon the prophetic page of Isaiah: “Babylon is fallen, is fallen!”

That the fulfillment of these prophecies is wonderfully exact and striking, cannot be denied. Historians and travelers who have described the fate of Babylon, and portrayed the astounding desolation and ruin which for ages past have reigned throughout all that once prosperous country, have been unable to perform this task in more truthful or graphic language than that furnished by the inspired prophets three thousand years ago, when the Euphrates flowed through the most fertile plains upon earth, and that majestic city — the mistress of the nations — sat upon her banks. What philosopher or politician, gazing then upon Babylon — with her sixty miles of circumference, inclosed by a wall eighty-seven feet thick and three hundred and fifty feet high — with her Temple of Belus, the most magnificent structure the world ever saw — with her wonderful hanging-gardens, and her two hundred and fifty imposing towers, some of them looking down upon the city from an altitude of more than six hundred feet, and casting their shade far upon the surrounding plain — what philosopher, politician, or “wise man of the East,” under such circumstances, by any human foresight or sagacity, could have predicted the ruin and desolation which have long brooded over that ill-fated region? In describing the district where Babylon once stood, Mignan says: “Our path lay through the great mass of ruined heaps on the site of ‘shrunken Babylon;’ and I am perfectly incapable of conveying an adequate idea of the dreary, lonely nakedness that appeared before us.” Porter testifies that “a silence profound as the grave reigns throughout the ruins. Babylon is now a silent scene — a sublime solitude.” Rauwolf, in the sixteenth century, says: “The eye wanders over a barren desert, in which the ruins are nearly the only indication that it ever has been inhabited.” Keppel remarks. “It is impossible to behold the scene and not be reminded how exactly the predictions of Isaiah and Jeremiah have been fulfilled.” The place is also full of “doleful creatures.” The lion has his lair among the ruins and caverns; the hyena, the jackal, the owl, and the bat, are there in great numbers. Mignan adds: “Venomous reptiles are very numerous throughout the ruins…On pacing over the loose stones and fragments of brick-work which lay scattered through the immense fabric, and surveying the sublimity of the ruins, I naturally recurred to the time when these walls stood proudly in their original splendor; when the halls were the scenes of festive magnificence, and when they resounded to the voices of those whom death has long since swept from the earth. This very pile was once the seat of luxury and vice, now abandoned to decay, and exhibiting a melancholy instance of the retribution of Heaven. It stands alone. The solitary habitation of the goat-herd marks not the forsaken site.” Frederick, speaking of the ruins of Babylon, says: “Neither of the wall nor of the ditch has been seen the least vestige by any modern traveler. Within twenty-one miles distance along the Euphrates, and twelve miles across it in breadth, I was unable to perceive any thing that could admit of my imagining that either a wall or ditch had existed within this extensive area.” Keppel adds: “The divine predictions against Babylon have been so totally fulfilled in the appearance of the ruins, that I am disposed to give the fullest signification to the words of Jeremiah: ‘The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken.’”

Porter describes his emotions, on looking upon the scene, in the following language:

“The whole view was particularly solemn. The majestic stream of the Euphrates, wandering in solitude like a pilgrim monarch through the silent ruins of his devastated kingdom, still appeared a noble river, under all the disadvantages of its desert-tracked course. Its banks were hoary with reeds, and the gray osier willows were yet there on which the captives of Israel hung up their harps, and, while Jerusalem was not, refused to be comforted. But how is the rest of the scene changed since then! At that time those broken hills were palaces — those long, undulating mounds, streets — this vast solitude, filled with the busy subjects of the proud daughter of the East; now, wasted with misery, her habitations are not to be found, and, for herself, the worm is spread over her.”

We will conclude our remarks, in reference to Babylon, by a quotation from the Rev. Alexander Keith:

“Has not every purpose of the Lord been performed against Babylon? What mortal shall give a negative answer to the questions subjoined by the author of these very prophecies? — ’Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? And there is no God beside me — declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.’ The records of the human race, it has been said with truth, do not present a contrast more striking than that between the primeval magnificence of Babylon and its long desolation. How few spots are there on earth of which we have so clear and faithful a picture as prophecy gave of fallen Babylon, when no spot on earth resembled it less than its present desolate, solitary site! Or could any prophecies respecting any single place be more precise, or wonderful, or numerous, or true, or more gradually accomplished through many generations?”

Tyre was another ancient city, once famed for its wealth and commercial importance. During its days of prosperity it was no less remarkable for its luxury, pride, and wickedness, of almost every description, than for its opulence and commercial advantages. As a just punishment for the abominations of its inhabitants, the prophets had predicted its overthrow. In these predictions there are several remarkable specifications which have been fulfilled with great exactness. To some of these we will call attention. First. It was foretold that Tyre should be destroyed by “Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon.” And we have the testimony of Josephus, that this Chaldean king, with his armies, besieged Tyre for thirteen years. He demolished the strong walls of the city, put to the sword the inhabitants who failed to escape in their vessels, plundered the city of its immense treasure, and left it a desolate ruin.

Secondly. It was foretold that, after an interval of seventy years, the city should be restored, and the inhabitants should return to their merchandise and their gain; and again, that it should be destroyed the second time, and that after this the people would turn away from their idolatry to the worship of the true God. Again, it was foretold that the city should be at length so totally destroyed as to become “like the top of a rock — a place to spread nets upon;” and that it should “be built no more.” After the destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, it was rebuilt on an island a short distance from the site of the old city. It was predicted that this second city should be consumed by fire. This overthrow of the second or insular Tyre was the work of Alexander the Great. It required him a seven months’ siege and immense labor to take the city. Using the rubbish and the dilapidated materials of the old city, he built a causeway from the main land to the island, so that his forces could pass over and bring their engines of war to play upon the walls of the city. Alexander exercised great cruelty toward such as fell into his hands in the taking of Tyre. Eight thousand he put to the sword, two thousand he crucified, and thirty thousand he sold for slaves.

The taking of the city by Nebuchadnezzar is foretold by Ezekiel. Ezekiel 26:7-12. The seventy years of desolation that were to intervene before the restoration of the city were foretold by Isaiah and Jeremiah. Isaiah 23. 15-18; Jeremiah 25:11, 12.

The taking of the insular city by Alexander was predicted by Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah. Isaiah 23. 6; Ezekiel 27:32; Zechariah 9:3, 4.

That all these prophecies were fulfilled with great exactitude, is testified by the histories of Josephus, Diodorus Siculus, and Quintus Curtius. But the point which we wish more particularly to note is, the prediction that Tyre should be finally destroyed, and so utterly blotted out as to become “like the top of a rock,” and “should be built no more.” Ezekiel says: “And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea.” Ezekiel 26:4, 5. Again, in the fourteenth verse, he repeats: “And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more.” Again: I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more.” Verse 21.

In reference to these prophecies, there is a seeming discrepancy — Tyre is to “be no more,” and yet it is still to be “like the top of a rock — a place to spread nets upon.” But how exactly is this explained by the event of the fulfillment! for the old part of the city has never been rebuilt — “thou shalt be built no more;” but where the insular city stood there are a few miserable inhabitants who subsist mainly by fishing, and “spread their nets” to dry “upon the rock.”

Who can fail to notice the exact accomplishment of the distinct items in these prophecies? Alexander, in the taking of Tyre, formed a “mound from the continent to the island, and the ruins of old Tyre afforded ready materials for the purpose. The soil and rubbish were gathered and heaped; and the mighty conqueror, who afterward failed in raising again any of the ruins of Babylon, cast those of Tyre into the sea, and scraped her very dust from her. Volney said, in his “Ruins,” that “the whole village of Tyre contains only fifty or sixty poor families, who live obscurely on the produce of their little ground and a trifling fishery.” With this description agrees that of travelers generally. Bruce says: “Tyre is a rock whereon fishers dry their nets.”

Cotovicus visited Syria in 1598. He testifies that “Tyre appears to be utterly ruined, so that it has ceased to be any longer a city, and only some inconsiderable vestiges of her former ruins are now visible. If you except a few arches and baths, and some ruined walls and collapsed towers, and mere rubbish, there is now nothing of Tyre to be discerned.” Maundrell says: “On the north side it has all old, ungarrisoned Turkish castle, besides which you see nothing but a mere Babel of broken walls, pillars, vaults, etc., there being not so much as one entire house left; its present inhabitants only a few poor wretches, harboring themselves in the vaults, and subsisting chiefly on fishing, who seem to be preserved in this place by Divine Providence, as a visible argument how God has fulfilled his word concerning Tyre, that it should be ‘as the top of a rock — a place for fishers to dry their nets on.’”

That we may see the conclusive force of the argument from prophecy, so far as the fate of Tyre, Babylon, Nineveh, and other ancient cities, is concerned, it is only necessary for us to reflect that the predictions concerning any one city can be applied to it alone. If the prophets were not divinely inspired, but announced their predictions by mere human sagacity or guess, how happens it that they were never in error, that their guess was never wrong, and their sagacity never at fault? Why is it that the predictions concerning Babylon were not met in the case of Tyre, and those relating to Tyre in the case of Babylon? As Dr. Nelson has sensibly remarked: “Suppose it had been said of some other city besides Babylon, that it should become pools of water, and never more inhabited; may not our curiosity be somewhat excited when we notice that, of the thousand proud and wicked cities around, the prophet did not happen to write these things of any, Babylon excepted? And had they been written of any other one city, town, or village, that was or has been upon the face of the earth, we know of none where their truth could be seen. These, and the other particulars we have noticed, came to pass many centuries after these books of prophecy were written. May we not inquire, with some degree of wonder: Suppose some writer of the Old Testament had happened to conjecture and write concerning Damascus, Sidon, Jerusalem, Jericho, Nineveh, or any city, town, or village, except Tyre, that the soil on which it stood should be scraped, away, and fishermen’s nets rest upon its nakedness, who could point to its accomplishment? On the broad surface of the earth, or along the protracted shores of the ocean, the prophet was surely fortunate to hit upon the only spot where these things did happen. Long and dreadful calamities were threatened to Jerusalem; but suppose it had been said that owls and tigers should inhabit pleasant palaces there, how many thousands now would clap their hands, rejoicing that such a conjecture was ever made! Suppose some one, two thousand years ago, had ventured to guess that the time would come when a shepherd would be afraid to drive his flock where Palmyra of the desert then stood, or through Athens, Ephesus, or Rome — name any spot you please, but one — and where would his reputation stand?”

Another thing to be considered in regard to these predictions concerning particular cities is, that the events foretold are often the most improbable that, according to human reason and foresight, could well be imagined. How strangely improbable was it that the great Nineveh should be so wiped froth existence that none could tell where once she stood! How astonishing that the mighty Babylon should be doomed; the fee-simple and uncontested heritage of “doleful creatures,” ravenous beasts, and poisonous reptiles; and that those rich and fertile plains should be consigned to remediless and perpetual sterility! And how marvelous that the wealthy and magnificent Tyre, at that time the mistress of the ocean and the greatest commercial emporium of the world, and so favorably situated for a perpetual career of wealth, prosperity, and importance, should so soon become a desolation, and the very “dust be scraped” from where she stood and cast into the sea! Though more than two thousand years have passed since the prophetic word was uttered, yet to this day the curious traveler, as he looks upon the spot where ancient Tyre once rose in so much magnificence and grandeur, may behold in the “fishermens’ nets” whitening “upon the top of the rock” the “finger of God” pointing to the