Once, according to
some, there was dispute over whether Babylon existed. Whether this is
true or not Unger an expert admitted, “reams of what has been
subsequently proved by archaeology to be sheer nonsense were written
by scholars who viewed the Bible as legend, myth or at best
unreliable history.” (Archaeology and the Old Testament
1954). Certainly the role of Belshazzar as the last ruler of
Babylon was disputed. The dispute over Babylon today is about what
the Iraqis might want to do with it.
Paul Schemm of
Associated Press reports,
BABYLON, Iraq - A U.S.-funded program to restore the ruins of Iraq's ancient city of Babylon is threatened by a dispute among Iraqi officials over whether the priority should be preserving the site or making money off it.
A search finds no corroborating story in English,
all references to the events come back to the one AP report. However,
the story has some points of interest.
There are two things to
be noted. Firstly, the Iraqi's dispute is between international style
commercialism and idealism of antiquities that belong to the ivory
halls of wealthy academia. Secondly they are only in dispute because
of US money.
If left to themselves the Iraqi's would no doubt
not be capable of doing anything much at the site of Babylon.
Why
do the Americans want to spend money so far from home?
The site is filled with overgrown hillocks hiding the estimated 95 percent of the city that remains unexcavated — which archaeologists hope could eventually be uncovered.
But for that to happen, they argue, the slow and meticulous work needs to be done to train Iraqis in conservation and draw up a preservation plan that can be used to drum up international funds and get the site UNESCO World Heritage status.
A $700,000, two-year project to do that, funded by the U.S. State Department and carried out by the New York-based World Monuments Fund, began last year and if it succeeds, the Babylon project could be a model for saving other ancient sites in this country that witnessed the birth of urban civilization.
"I'm optimistic because what is happening in Babylon is the proper and scientific step and, God willing, the work in Babylon will open up new horizons," said Qais Hussein Rashid, head of Iraq's impoverished antiquities department.
The answer as to why the Americans are spending
money is that it is for a preservation plan. Iraqi's cannot afford it
themselves. The head of antiquities is speaking of a 'proper and
scientific step', so where is the idea coming from that the money be
used so that Babylon becomes a tourist site?
It seems
that the Babylon project is not going to be a good model (thought it
might be bad model). It might all be for a reason.
Babel is
notorious as the place of confusion of language, so that people do
not understand each other. Clearly the US intent has been lost, and
the locals are not communicating in the same language. This once
again proves the influence of Babel.
The confusion extends to
some others. A blog post on the issue,
Personally, I would like to see the preservation of the old city. The ancient city of Babylon has a rich historical tradition that must be preserved for future generations. However, as a student of ancient history, I would like to see the ancient ruins open to tourists. I would love to visit the ruins of ancient Babylon. If I knew that the journey to the ancient ruins would be safe, I would go to Iraq this summer and visit what has been called “the center of ancient civilization.”
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
It is highly unlikely that opening a fragile
site to tourists, with banks of toilets, bus parking, disabled and
wheelchair access to all parts, gifts shops and all, would preserve
it. But this is from a Professor of the Old Testament. I note also
that the Old Testament is a book readily available in English to
Americans, and many claim to read it.
Why is this professor
not aware of what is said about Babylon in the Old Testament?
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, 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-cats shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of ferrets; and ostriches shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And jackals shall howl in their castles, and wild-dogs in the pleasant palaces; (Isaiah 13:19-22)
Shall people go to a tourist site, or if they go shall they see,
"overgrown hillocks hiding the estimated 95 percent of the city that remains unexcavated",
which fulfills the prophecy in the book of Isaiah.
Even the part that is excavated is being destroyed. It is to God's
honour that it will never be inhabited. Saddam who rebuilt from 1983
merely hid the old city further, but when he sought to build his
palace there he was prevented from doing so by the events in 2003,
(which nobody to this day understands) and he lost his nation. In the
end his work contributed to further destruction of the site.
Why
is the US spending money on Babylon to restore and preserve it, when
it is written it shall never be inhabited?
It is fine for
some in Iraq to ignore this prophecy, it's not in their book, but
their history has fulfilled it.
Interestingly, according to
the AP article, despite $700,000US being spent, no plan of
preservation of Babylon is likely due to a dispute: a confusion of
language. Based on Isaiah, I suspect that in the near future the
world will have better things to do than excavate Babylon. The world
will once again leave it for the animals.
It is to be noted that Isaiah wrote the prophecy of Babylon being left for the animals and never being inhabited at the latest approx 700BCE. We have a copy of a scroll Isaiah dating from soon after the time when Babylon finally, after 550 years, became desolate (approx 140BCE, when the Parthian Empire took over the region). At that point it was possible the city could be revived, there were people calling themselves Babylonians and they even had the honour of being the seat of a Bishop of the Church of the East. But over 2,000 years have passed and the city has not been inhabited. Shall Iraq now build structures to be inhabited for people to work in, even if they be only for tourists?
As to tourists, the Professor of Old Testament
puts the issue plainly. He wrote he would go there, "If I
knew that the journey to the ancient ruins would be safe".
Clearly, Babylon as a tourist site it not going to happen anytime
soon, not with Iran as a neighbour, and inciter of violence in the
streets of Iraq. Iraqis have many greater things to do than excavate
Babylon.
History tells of how Babylon's great walls and
defences were breached, and the city was captured by Persia. Persia
is Iran. One can only feel that, though history may not repeat
exactly, future events may be a reasonable facsimile.
For more on Babylon Daniel the prophet
Over all of history the servants of God have known the signs of the times: their times. They have seen the direction of events toward the Kingdom of God on earth replacing the kingdoms, republics and democracies of humans.
We were asked what early documents establish that Rosh of Ezekiel 38 is Russia. The answer is in 2 parts, as we explain the trajectory from fulfilled prophecy in history to prophecy yet to be fulfilled.
The Revelation 12 Sign
There is much written about the sun, moon and planets aligning on in September 2017. We have many reasons for suspecting that 2017 will be a prophetically significant year, and the time of the Jewish feast of Sukkot could be more significant than any other time, but we need to understand the scripture before we consider the stars.
An article prompted by National DNA day April 25 celebrating the understanding of DNA.
