other nations], wave the hand [beckoning them to the assault upon Babylon’s gates], that they may come into the entrances of the nobles [capture the entrances to the walled city and control it]. I myself [Jehovah, even though using worldly commanders] have issued the command to my sanctified ones [as in Israel the Jewish warriors were sanctified, and even pagan nations began a military campaign with religious ceremonies]. I have also called my mighty ones for expressing my anger, my eminently exultant ones [exultant at the grand distinction of overturning Babylon, who made so many nations drink the cup of her anger].”—Isa. 13:2, 3; Joel 3:9.

“Listen!” says the prophet Isaiah, as if hearing the movement of international affairs just prior to 539 B.C.E. “A crowd in the mountains, something like a numerous people! Listen! The uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathered together! Jehovah of armies [whose temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon] is mustering the army of war. They are coming from the land far away [from far outside the Babylonian Empire], from the extremity of the heavens [from places under the extreme parts of the heavens], Jehovah and the weapons of his denunciation [Cyrus’ armies as Jehovah’s instrument to enforce his judgment against Babylon], to wreck all the earth [all the land of Babylon as a world power].”—Isa. 13:4, 5.

Isaiah boldly continues: “Howl, you people [Babylonians], for the day of Jehovah is near! [His vengeance for Jerusalem’s desolation is near (becoming more evident after Cyrus subdued Lydia)]. As a despoiling from the Almighty it will come. That is why all hands themselves will drop down, and the whole heart itself of mortal man will melt [Cyrus’ armies chased the Babylonians into their walled cities, King Nabonidus taking refuge in Borsippa]. And people have become disturbed. Convulsions and birth pains themselves grab hold [as they drink the cup of defeat which they have made the nations swallow]; like a woman that is giving birth they have labor pains. They look at each other in amazement [so quick and unbelievable is their subjugation]. Their [proud] faces are inflamed faces [red with embarrassment].”—Isa. 13:6-8.

“Look! The day of Jehovah itself is coming, cruel [as Babylon had been] both with fury and with burning anger, in order to make the land an object of astonishment, and that it may annihilate the land’s sinners out of it [Babylon had sinned against Jehovah’s temple]. For the very stars of the heavens and their constellations of Kesil will not flash forth their light [it was to be a dark day, yes, a dark night for Babylon. The blackness of her situation as a world power would be appalling]; the sun will actually grow dark at its going forth, and the moon itself will not cause its light to shine [it was actually in the night of October 5-6, 539 B.C.E., that Babylon fell to her conquerors]. And I shall certainly bring home its own badness upon the productive land [repaying Babylon in kind, as she deserved], and their own error upon the wicked themselves. And I shall actually cause the pride of the presumptuous ones to cease [Babylon presumed against God’s sovereignty and exulted over destroying his typical kingdom. She thought she was strong enough to rule the earth forever], and the haughtiness of the tyrants I shall abase [her rulers and military officers had acted haughtily like tyrants toward Jehovah’s exiled people]. I shall make mortal man rarer than refined gold, and earthling man rarer than the gold of Ophir [now even one haughty, presumptuous Babylonian tyrant would become hard to find, as rare as refined gold at that time, even rarer than the prized gold of Ophir]. That is why I shall cause heaven itself to become agitated [the heavens over Babylon, which the demonized imagination of the Babylonians filled with false gods like Merodach (Marduk), would not be able to help those who trusted in them], and the earth will rock out of its place at the fury of Jehovah of armies and at the day of his burning anger [the earth of the Babylonian Empire was moved out of its place as the Third World Power and became merely a province of the Persian Empire].”—Isa. 13:9-13.

A CRUEL DAY FOR BABYLON

While the captive Jews would be merely spectators, waiting for God to deliver them as promised, Isaiah describes how Babylon would be utterly without help: “And it must occur that, like a gazelle chased away and like a flock without anyone to collect them together, they will turn, each one to his own people; and they will flee, each one to his own land [all Babylon’s foreign supporters would forsake her and flee, with a view to setting up new relationships with the conquering world power]. Every one that is found [who sticks to Babylon and upholds her domination] will be pierced through, and every one that is caught in the sweep will fall by the sword [it would be a clean sweep of Babylon’s hangers-on]; and their very children will be dashed to pieces before their eyes [thus the family lineage and family name would be wiped out]. Their houses will be pillaged [their wealth would go to the conquerors], and their own wives will be raped [not by their own husbands, but by soldiers, their wives would bear children not bearing the family name].”—Isa. 13:14-16; Ps. 137:8, 9.

God named beforehand the very ones he would use as leaders in overthrowing Babylon: “Here I am arousing against them the Medesb [this would include the Persians (See Isaiah 21:2-9.)], who account silver itself as nothing and who, as respects gold, take no delight in it [the Medes and Persians were not after silver and gold, but conquest, to overthrow Babylon as the Third World Power; so they could not be bought off]. And their bowsc will dash even young men to pieces [the Persian bows were made of metal and could dash their young men to pieces]. And the fruitage of the belly they will not pity; for sons their eye will not feel sorry [they would be bent on destroying the enemy, the fruit of Babylonian bellies].”—Isa. 13:17, 18.

What was to be the result of Jehovah’s arousing the bow-bearing Medes against the Babylonians? Jehovah’s decree declares: “And Babylon, the decoration of kingdoms, the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans, must become as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah [utter desolation as by fire and sulphur (Gen. 19:23-25)]. She will never be inhabited, nor will she reside for generation after generation. And there the Arab will not pitch his tent, and no shepherds will let their flocks lie down there [they will fear it like a haunted place]. And there the haunters of waterless regions will certainly lie down, and their houses must be filled with eagle owls. And there the ostriches must reside, and goat-shaped demons themselves will go skipping about there. And jackals must howl in her dwelling towers, and the big snake [not the “Sirrush,” the dragon representing Babylon’s god Marduk, but a literal snake inhabiting the desolate place] will be in the palaces of exquisite delight. And the season for her is near to come, and her days themselves will not be postponed.”—Isa. 13:19-22.

Such desolation would be one of the features of the vengeance of Jehovah God upon that world-dominating center of false religion, enemy of God from its inception in the days of Nimrod. Though centuries would pass after Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians in 539 B.C.E. before this desolation would overtake her, it would come inescapably.

As the time for the end of the seventy-year captivity of the Jews drew near, Babylon’s fall drew even nearer, so the Jews who had faith in Jehovah God and who desired to see his true worship established did not worry or try to run ahead of God by causing a revolt and trying to free themselves from Babylon’s captivity. Today there is a Greater Babylond that is nearing its fall and horrifying desolation, but those who read God’s Word and have seen the fulfillment of many of his purposes exactly on time know that the Greater Babylon will likewise fall to her complete desolation in the very near future, and that it is not their duty to use any force of arms or fleshly weapons to accomplish it, but that it will be done by Jehovah and his invisible heavenly forces, to his own honor. Babylon the Great will be desolated forever, just as was ancient Babylon, which is now nothing more than a desolate ruin. Then pure worship will fill the earth, and the rule of Jesus Christ, the Greater Cyrus, will mean complete liberation for all who delight in his kingdom. Further discussions of Isaiah’s and Jeremiah’s prophecies on Babylon will appear in succeeding issues.—Rev. 18:21.

Labdanum—Gift Fit for a Ruler

● This was one of the fine products that Jacob told his sons to take as a gift to one who was a ruler in Egypt second only to Pharaoh. (Gen. 43:11) Sometimes mistaken for myrrh, labdanum is an aromatic gum, the product of a beautiful-flowered, bushy little plant known as the rockrose. The shrub’s large flowers resemble the wild rose. Labdanum is the gum that exudes from the leaves and stems of the little shrubs. It is soft, dark brown or black and has a delicately scented, fragrant odor and bitter taste. It is used in perfumes and, at one time, was also used extensively in medicine.—Gen. 37:25.