On Friday November 1, 2024, twelve USAF Boeing B-52 Stratofortress long-range bombers took off from North Dakota’s Minot Air Force Base. Their flightpath would take them to the State of Qatar (Dawlat Qaṭar) on the Arabian Gulf. Just after 02:00 hours on Saturday morning November 2, 2024, the aerial convoy landing at al-Udeid Air Base, the U.S.’s biggest airbase in the Middle East, and host to the forward HQ of U.S. Armed Forces Central Command (CENTCOM). The American bombers taxied and then parked, only a few miles’ drive from the world administrative HQ of Hamas – whose main financier is also Qatar. Politics makes for strange bedfellows, and nowhere is this more true than in the Byzantine mosaic known as the Arabic-speaking Middle East.
Just across the Gulf from Qatar lies the modern Republic of Iraq (Jumhūriyyat al-ʿIrāq) – modern home to two ancient biblical empires: in the north of the country, Assyria; and in the center and south, Babylon. Babylon plays one of the most powerful roles of any nation in the prophetic Scriptures.
- The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan. Now Cush fathered Nimrod. He became a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before YHVH; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before YHVH.” And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city (Genesis 10:6-12)
The original inhabitants of Babylon (modern Iraq) were Hamitic, not Semitic. Their forefather was Nimrod, a personal name meaning ‘Let us rebel.’ Nimrod was the founder of the city called ‘Babel.’ When ‘Nimrod’ was later transliterated into Greek, it became ‘Babylon,’ and that is the name used today.
By the rivers of Babylon, Jamaica
The famous reggae rock star, Bob Marley, proclaimed in his song ‘Exodus:’ “We know where we’re going, We know where we’re from, We leaving Babylon, We goin to our Father’s Land.” For Bob and his band (the Wailers), as well as for the whole Replacement Theology movement known as ‘Rastafaris,’ Babylon represents the corrupt world system, both physical and spiritual. It is especially a symbol of white European Christian colonialist and imperialist power which Rastafarians see as having oppressed Blacks over the centuries. Rastas believe that they are the original ancient Israelites spoken of in the Holy Scriptures. For Rastas, Jesus was not Jewish: he was a Black African; they see the ‘white Jesus’ as a false god. According to ‘kosher’ Rastafarian theology, ‘Zion’ is actually a reference to Ethiopian Africa, ‘the ancestral homeland of all Black people.’ The crowning of Emperor Haile Selassie I in 1930 is considered a defining messianic moment for the movement, who view this Ethiopian king as a direct descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican-American political leader, was the creator of ‘Pan-Africanism’ or the ‘Back to Africa’ movement, out of which were born the reggae-related Rastafaris. Garvey drew narrative themes from the Bible, re-interpreting them along the way. He was the one responsible for morphing biblical Babylon into a new (actually racist) definition: white Christianity.
What is the biblical view of Babylon, and what can be said about its spiritual dimensions? Let’s look back to the world-famous story of the ‘writing on the wall’ – the inscription written by a disembodied hand on the wall of King Belshazzar’s palace in Babylon (see Daniel 5) in 539 B.C.. Daniel the prophet spoke those words out as: “Menē, Menē, Tekēl, Upharsin.” The divinely inspired interpretation was also given to him: ‘Menē’ – God has carefully numbered the kingdom of Babylon and decided to put an end to it. ‘Tekēl’ – King Belshazzar himself has been weighed on the scales and found deficient by the God of Jacob. ‘Perēs’ – Belshazzar’s kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians. What was it that God ‘found deficient’ in Belshazzar’s kingdom? The Scriptures give us detailed answers.
The sins of Babylon on which the God of Jacob focused
Isaiah and Jeremiah speak directly about the sins for which YHVH judged Babylon. Most of these evils revolve around their treatment of the Jewish people and their land, although other sins listed are more international in scope.
- Isaiah 13 – Babylon’s pride, arrogance
- Isaiah 14 – Babylon was the oppressor and captor of the House of Jacob
- Isaiah 47 – Babylon did not show mercy to the Jewish people
- Isaiah 48 – Babylon was wicked to God’s servant Jacob
- Jeremiah 25 – Babylon did grievous wrong against the Jewish people
- Jeremiah 50 – Babylon gnawed on the bones of Israel
- Jeremiah 50 – YHVH will plead His legal case against Babylon
- Jeremiah 50 – God’s punishment and time of vengeance is coming against Babylon
- Jeremiah 50 – God’s plans and purposes against Babylon will be accomplished as
- payback for Babylon’s destruction of Solomon’s Temple
- Jeremiah 50 – Babylon’s arrogance against YHVH
- Jeremiah 51 – Babylon’s judgment for what it did to Israel has reached to the heavens
Here are some scripture portions which also develop this theme:
- “YHVH has brought about our vindication; Come and let’s recount in Zion the work of YHVH our God! Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! YHVH has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His plan is against Babylon to destroy it; For it is the vengeance of YHVH, vengeance for His Temple. Lift up a signal flag against the walls of Babylon; Post a strong guard! Station sentries! Set up an ambush! For YHVH has both planned and performed what He spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon” (Jeremiah 51:10-12)
- “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me. He has set me down like an empty vessel. He has swallowed me like a monster, He has filled his stomach with my delicacies; He has washed me away. May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,” the inhabitant of Zion will say. “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,” Jerusalem will say. Therefore this is what YHVH says: “Behold, I am going to plead your case and take vengeance for you. And I will dry up her sea and make her fountain dry. Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and hissing, without inhabitants. They will roar together like young lions, They will growl like lions’ cubs. When they become heated up, I will serve them their banquet and make them drunk, so that they may rejoice in triumph, and may sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake up,” declares YHVH. “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams together with male goats” (Jeremiah 51:33-40)
- Then heaven and earth and everything that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, because the destroyers will come to her from the north,” declares YHVH. Indeed, Babylon is to fall for the slain of Israel, as the slain of all the earth have also fallen for Babylon (Jeremiah 51:48-49)
When Babylon meets the Jewish threshing sledge of YHVH
The God of Jacob proclaims a special role to the people of Israel in Babylon’s coming judgment, as the prophets declare:
- Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored. Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish. You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them. Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent. For I am YHVH your God who takes hold of your right hand, who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you. Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you people of Israel. I will help you, declares YHVH . . . Behold, I turned you into a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges. You will thresh the mountains and pulverize them, and make the hills like chaff. You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the storm will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the Lord. You will boast in the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 41:11-16)
- The portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of everything, and of the tribe of His inheritance – YHVH of armies is His name. He says [to Israel], “You are My war-club, My weapon of war; And with you I shatter nations, and with you I destroy kingdoms. With you I shatter the horse and his rider, and with you I shatter the chariot and its rider, and with you I shatter man and woman, and with you I shatter the old man and youth, and with you I shatter the young man and virgin. And with you I shatter the shepherd and his flock, and with you I shatter the farmer and his team, and with you I shatter governors and officials. But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes,” declares YHVH (Jeremiah 51:19-24)
The power behind the throne
The Scriptures tell us that a spirit lies behind the superpower of Babylon – an energized demonic power like unto the Prince of Persia in Daniel 10:13-20. “Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of YHVH, intoxicating all the earth. The nations have drunk of her wine. Therefore the nations are going insane” (Jeremiah 51:7). This theme is repeated a handful of times in the Book of Revelation, and the Rastafaris borrowed and distorted this theme as they developed their Replacement Theology use of term ‘Babylon.’ Here is how John the Revelator describes ‘the power behind the throne’ – the spiritual root of Babylon:
- And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.” (Revelation 14:8)
- Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of sexual immorality, and those who live on the earth became drunk with the wine of her sexual immorality.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls, holding in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her sexual immorality, and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery: “Babylon the Great, the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth” (Revelation 17:1-5)
- And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird . . . And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of sexual immorality and lived luxuriously with her, will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke of her burning” (Revelation 18:2, 9)
- And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo any more – cargo of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; every kind of citron wood, every article of ivory, and every article made from very valuable wood, bronze, iron, and marble; cinnamon, spice, incense, perfume, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, and cargo of horses, carriages, slaves, and the souls of men (Revelation 18:11-13)
The operating spirit behind Babylon branches out into various areas of sin, not limited to anti-Semitism: idolatry; the worship of materialism and luxurious narcissism; sexual immorality and prostitution; spiritual uncleanness and abominations; the buying and selling of men’s and women’s souls.
In light of the above . . .
- The God of Jacob stresses that all nations, including superpowers, are judged – past, present and future – by their heart attitude toward the Jewish people and their treatment of the Jewish homeland. This was not only true 2,700 years ago; it is just as true in our day. As Iran, Iraqi Hezbollah, Lebanese Hezbollah, the Yemenite Houthis, Gazan Hamas and Islamic Jihad all aim their guns, rockets, missiles and drones at the Jewish state, at its armies and at its citizens, and as voters in the United States of America (a superpower if there ever was one) get ready to cast their electoral ballots, let us keep God’s heart, priorities and strategies regarding the Jewish people and their homeland in mind in all that we do and pray!
Blinksmanship
There is a word for when two opposing forces, whether military or political, get close to the edge in their conflict – brinksmanship. Part of that dynamic sometimes involves ‘blinksmanship’ – who blinks first. The Islamic Republic of Iran has been targeting Israel since 1982, and slowly constructing a constricting belt of fire with nations opposed to Israel’s existence. The jihadi terrorist juntas of Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen and Kata’eb Hezbollah in Iraq (ancient Babylon) – all are being armed, financially supported and given military strategic help in order to destroy the Jewish state. Iran’s firing the largest drone strike in history against Israel on April 13, 2024, and the largest ballistic missile attack in world history against Israel on October 1, 2024, were clear signals that its Shi’ite jihadi plans for genocide against the Jews would do Haman proud. In response, IAF jets attacked over 20 military sites in Iran on October 26, 2024, connected to rocket, missile and drone development; rocket fuel; anti-aircraft batteries, etc.
IRGC chief Hossein Salami warned Israel on Thursday, October 24, 2024: “You cannot win this conflict. We will destroy you.” On Monday, October 28, 2024 Khamenei ordered Iran’s Supreme National Security Council to prepare to strike Israel. Ali Fadavi, deputy commander of IRGC, declared on Thursday, October 31, 2024, that retaliation was inevitable. “Iran’s response to the Zionist aggression is definite. We have never left an aggression unanswered in 40 years. We are capable of destroying all that the Zionists possess with one operation.” In a video released Saturday, November 2, 2024, on Iranian state media, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared: “The enemies, whether the Zionist regime or the United States of America, will definitely receive a crushing response to what they are doing against Iran. the Iranian people and the Axis of Resistance.” General Mohammad Ali Naini, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesman, also stated on Saturday that Iran’s response “will be wise, powerful and beyond the enemy’s comprehension.”
When all else fails, try bringing in Babylon
Iran’s threats to attack Israel again have raised awareness and preparedness in Israel. Two unidentified Israeli intelligence sources suggest the strong possibility that Iran is preparing to attack Israel from Iraqi territory soon by transferring a large number of drones and ballistic missiles into the territory of what was once Ancient Babylon – possibly before the US presidential election on November 5, 2024. Unnamed officials apparently tell the outlet that satellites have monitored Tehran doing just that.
Such an attack from pro-Iran militias in Iraq could be an attempt by Tehran to lower the risk of another Israeli attack on Iranian strategic targets. Tehran’s proxy groups Hamas, Hezbollah (both Lebanese and Iraqi) as well as Yemenite Houthis might join in such an invasion. In a Saturday, November 2, 2024 interview in the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, Haidar al-Lami, a member of Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba’s politburo – a pro-Iranian jihadi terrorist militia based in Iraq, stated that his organization was “fully coordinated with Iran to organize the timing and location of this response . . . The Islamic Republic has the right to target the Zionist entity from anywhere within Iraq.”
The U.S. has passed messages to Iran over the past few days via Swiss intermediaries: “We told the Iranians: We won’t be able to hold Israel back, and we won’t be able to make sure that the next attack will be calibrated and targeted as the previous one,” an unnamed US official was quoted as saying.
How should we then pray?
- Pray for the God of Jacob to grant revelatory diplomatic and war strategies to Israel’s leadership, as did Elisha in his day (2 Kings 6:8-13)
- Pray for the annulling of Iranian war strategies and counter-attacks, and for the blocking and frustration of jihadi plans against Israel, the apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8)
- Pray for the physical rescue of the approximately 44 to 50 living Israeli hostages (including babies) kidnapped by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP/PLO. At this moment some of these hostages are being tortured, raped and starved (this based on testimonies of recently released hostages). Sadly, over 100 of all Israeli hostages are dead; Hamas is holding on to their corpses as cold storage bargaining chips
- Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth
Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.
In Messiah Yeshua,
Avner Boskey
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