Babylonians

Babylon's Conquest of Judah

Babylon (also called Chaldea, after the dynasty that ruled it) rose to dominate the ancient Near East after defeating Assyria, and under King Nebuchadnezzar besieged and eventually destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC, burning Solomon's Temple to the ground and deporting much of Judah's population (2 Kings 25:1-21) — the judgment the prophets, especially Jeremiah, had long warned was coming for the nation's persistent covenant unfaithfulness. Jeremiah nonetheless promised the exile would last a defined seventy years before restoration (Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10), a promise later fulfilled almost to the letter when Persia's Cyrus permitted the exiles' return.

Babylon in Daniel

The book of Daniel is set almost entirely within Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian court, following Daniel and his three companions as Jewish exiles serving a foreign, pagan empire while maintaining faithfulness to God — most memorably when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to worship a golden image, and emerge unharmed alongside a mysterious fourth figure 'like a son of the gods' (Daniel 3:19-27). Daniel's own repeated interpretation of Babylonian kings' dreams (Daniel 2, 4) presents Babylon's power, however dominant it appeared, as entirely subject to the sovereignty of Israel's God even at the height of Judah's exile and apparent defeat.

Scripture references

• 2 Kings 25:1-21 — Nebuchadnezzar destroys Jerusalem and the Temple
• Jeremiah 25:11-12 — The seventy-year exile prophesied
• Daniel 3 — Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace

Further reading

• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Babylonia