Are Bible Prophecies Vague and Contemporary? — Babylon
History records how Babylon took the Jews into captivity. Yet, about 40 years before this happened Jeremiah foretold it. Isaiah predicted it some 150 years before it happened. He also foretold that the Jews would return from captivity. So did Jeremiah, saying that they would be restored to their land after 70 years. — Isaiah 39:6, 7; 44:26; Jeremiah 25:8–12; 29:10.
This return was made possible by the overthrow of Babylon by the Medes and Persians in 539 B.C.E. It was foretold by Isaiah nearly 200 years before it happened, and by Jeremiah about 50 years before it occurred. Jeremiah said that the Babylonian soldiers would put up no fight. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah foretold that Babylon’s protecting waters, the river Euphrates, “must be dried up.” Isaiah even gave the name of the conquering Persian general, Cyrus, and said that before him “the gates [of Babylon] will not be shut.” — Jeremiah 50:38; 51:11, 30; Isaiah 13:17–19; 44:27; 45:1.
The Greek historian Herodotus explained that Cyrus actually diverted the flow of the Euphrates and “the river sank to such an extent that the natural bed of the stream became fordable.” Thus, enemy soldiers marched along the riverbed and entered the city through gates that had been carelessly left open. In one single night, “Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms” met its sudden and catastrophic end. (Isaiah 13:19)
“Had the Babylonians been apprised of what Cyrus was about,” Herodotus continued, “they would have made fast all the street-gates which [were] upon the river . . . But, as it was, the Persians came upon them by surprise and so took the city.”
Actually, the Babylonians were involved in drunken revelry, as the Bible explains, and as Herodotus confirms. (Daniel 5:1–4, 30) Both Isaiah and Jeremiah foretold that Babylon would eventually become uninhabited ruins. And that is what happened. Today Babylon is a desolate heap of mounds. — Isaiah 13:20–22; Jeremiah 51:37, 41–43.
Cyrus also restored the Jews to their homeland. Why would he do such a thing? The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary explains,
“Cyrus, according to Josephus, heard of this prophecy of Isaiah delivered so long before; hence he was induced to do that which was so contrary to Oriental policy, to aid in restoring the captive Jews and rebuilding their temple and city.”
Indeed, over two centuries before, Jehovah had foretold of Cyrus: “All that I delight in he will completely carry out.” (Isaiah 44:28) True to prophecy, after 70 years Cyrus returned the captives to their homeland, in 537 B.C.E. (Ezra 1:1–4) An ancient Persian inscription, called the Cyrus Cylinder, has been found that clearly states the policy of Cyrus to return captives to their homelands.
“As to the inhabitants of Babylon,” Cyrus is recorded as having said, “I (also) gathered all their (former) inhabitants and returned (to them) their habitations.”
Isaiah made a further startling prediction regarding Babylon: “She will never be inhabited.” (Isaiah 13:19, 20) To predict permanent desolation for the magnificent capitol at the very heart of Mesopotamian civilization was bold indeed. You would normally expect that such a city would be rebuilt if ruined. Yet, after its catastrophic fall and subsequent desolation, this ancient city would never again serve as a permanent residence for anyone.
It is awesome to contemplate the magnitude of Isaiah’s prophecy! What he foretold would be the equivalent of predicting the exact manner in which a modern capital city, such as Washington DC, Moscow, Beijing or London, would be destroyed 200 years from now and then emphatically stating that it would never again be inhabited.
In fact, Babylon today is, not a sprawling, vibrant metropolis, but desolate ruins despite the tremendous efforts of Alexander the Great and Saddam Hussein to restore her to her former glory. As Smithsonian magazine reports, this ancient site “is flat, hot, deserted and dusty.”
Now, from a rational, unbiased, objective perspective, how do you explain Isaiah’s ability to specifically and accurately predict events hundreds of years in advance?
