Iraq

Most people familiar with their Bible would associate Iraq with the city of Babylon. The Bible speaks much of Babylon specifically; the name is found 284 times. The literal term Babylon refers to both an empire and a city. The Babylonian Empire was vast. At one time, it spread over a huge area that extended from present day Iraq west to the Mediterranean Sea and Egypt, north into what is now Turkey and south into Saudi Arabia. The city of Babylon was located on the Euphrates River and was active until about 250 AD. During its greatest prominence, the city was about 200 square miles in size and had walls over 300 feet high and 85 feet wide with 100 gates.

There has been some confusion over whether Baghdad and the city of Babylon are one and the same. The site of ancient Babylon is actually about 55 miles south of Baghdad not far from modern-day Karbala, and it is probably the most famous archaeological site in all Iraq. It is said that the first President George Bush had read a book on prophecy and thus ordered that the ancient ruins of Babylon not be attacked even though the Iraqis had parked military equipment there. Today, U.S. troops camp there.

Iraq is also the home of many Bible cities that are not in existence today. The earliest mention of is as the likely location of the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:8 says, “The Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden.” According to this verse, the Garden of Eden would have to be east of Israel, which is the geographical and prophetic center of the world (Ezek. 5:5; 38:12). “Eastward” would refer to a location east of the land of Israel, which is Iraq.

Further evidence for the Garden of Eden being in Iraq is found in Genesis 2:10–14, which describes a river with four tributaries that watered Eden. The Euphrates and the Hiddekel, now called the Tigris, still exist. They originate in present-day Turkey, join together in southern Iraq and run into the Persian Gulf. The Pishon and the Gihon are now dried up. Smithsonian magazine once ran an article that had satellite pictures revealing the former riverbeds of the Pishon and Gihon flowing into the same area as the Tigris and Euphrates. A New York Times article from 1993 also showed a huge former riverbed stretching across Saudi Arabia into Iraq.

The Tower of Babel (Gen. 10 & 11) was in Iraq. After the Flood, Nimrod, who was a grandson of Ham and great-grandson of Noah, “began to be a mighty one on earth” and “was a mighty hunter before the Lord” (Gen. 10:8 & 9). Some believe that this means he was a tyrannical leader who hunted men. His vast kingdom included Babel, which was the precursor to Babylon (Gen. 10:10).

Genesis 11 relates how the single-language people of this area devised to build a city with a tower reaching to the heavens. This Tower of Babel was likely an occult ziggurat with astrological indications. God judged the people for this devilish plan by confusing their language so that they could not understand one another. The name Babel literally means “confusion.”

Ancient Nineveh was near the modern-day city of Mosul. It was a great city located on the banks of the Tigris River in modern-day Iraq. It is also mentioned in Genesis 10 along with other cities built by the mighty Nimrod (Gen 10:11). Nineveh is better known as the wicked city to which God directed Jonah to preach a message of repentance and salvation.

Iraq is the possible location of Ur of the Chaldeans, Abraham’s birthplace, first mentioned in Genesis 11:28. Two Scripture passages place Ur in Mesopotamia (Gen. 24:10 and Acts 7:2-4), which means “the land between the rivers,” referring to the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Many secular and Bible scholars place Ur in southern Mesopotamia, which is present day Iraq. The location is thought to be not far from modern-day Nasiriya, where Pfc. Jessica Lynch was captured.

Most of the mentions of Iraq in the Old Testament involve the conquest of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. The prophet Jeremiah foretold the siege and fall of Jerusalem and the carrying off to Babylon of the Jews. Isaiah also predicts the eventual fall of the Babylonian king and destruction of the empire. The conquest of Jerusalem is described in II Kings 20, 24 & 25; I Chronicles 9:1 and II Chronicles 36.

The stories of Esther and of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego take place during the exile in Babylon. Ezra and Nehemiah recount the return of the Jews to Israel after their 70-year exile. It was in exile in Babylon that Daniel received his great prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah, the rise of Antichrist and the end times. Ezekiel prophesied the restoration of Israel (the vision of the dry bones) and end time events while in exile in Babylon.

Matthew refers to the captivity of the Jews in Babylon in his genealogy of Christ (Matt. 1:11). The land area of Iraq is mentioned in Acts 2:9. People from that area were in the crowd at Pentecost. Stephen also spoke of Abraham coming from there (Acts 7:2) and of the Babylonian captivity (Acts 7:43). Peter referred to Babylon as still having a Jewish population in his day (I Peter 5:13).

John calls a future Babylon “a great city” in Revelation 14:8; 17:18 and several verses in chapter 18. A literal interpretation would require the rebuilding of an actual city of Babylon. Saddam Hussein was seeking to rebuild this great city before the war and his capture. Over 60 million bricks, some bearing Saddam’s name, are in place atop ancient bricks with the name of his hero, Nebuchadnezzar. The Ishtar Gate has been rebuilt, and the famed Hanging Gardens were on the drawing board. There was even a street map of a new Babylon. A July 2006 New York Times article says that U.N. and Iraq administration officials plan to restore Babylon and make it the centerpiece of a new cultural center.

John also speaks of a figurative Babylon in Revelation 17. Babylon was a city, and it was also a mystical religious system including twisted astrology, the mother-child cult, the god of fortresses or force. Much of this drifted over into ancient Israel through Jezebel. As a matter of fact, the word “Easter” is a take-off on “Ishtar,” the name of a pagan goddess.

Religious Babylon is to be destroyed by Antichrist who claims himself God (Rev. 17:16). But the great city of origin has to be rebuilt in order to be destroyed. Evidently there is some unique commercial tie involved as the city goes up in fire and smoke and the earth’s merchants mourn its destruction (Rev. 18:9).

Some believe Babylon is figurative, possibly of Rome. But when John wrote Revelation, Rome was Rome and Babylon was Babylon, so there is no reason to “mystify” these places. Since John already writes about mystery Babylon in Rev. 17, it seems clear that a real city of Babylon will exist in end times.

One element of that Babylonian entity is sorcery or “pharmakeia” (Rev. 18:23). Revelation 9:21 speaks of end time nations as not repenting of their sorceries, which is the same word. The root word means “chemical application,” although it can also be working magic in the mysterious sense.

The chief reason we went into Iraq was weapons of mass destruction. We were told that Saddam had gassed 175,000 Kurds and some Iranians and that he was a threat with his WMDs. Did he have them? Of course he had them. The West had sold huge quantities of Sarin, Tabun, VX and mustard gas, which he used against his enemy, Iran. Incidentally these are just four of about 70 such deadly or harmful chemicals. The world is always on the verge of chemical outrage. Revelation 9:21 says there is no repentance in the end times, meaning no change of mind, so chemical warfare will be a part of end time events.