Egypt, Babylon and Canaan

PROPHECIES ABOUT EGYPT AND BABYLON
We know from the documented histories of ancient Egypt and Babylon that they did not survive even though they both had seasons of great glory and power. All that is left of them is the decaying evidence of their architecture, a few artifacts, and histories recorded on stone. What God wants his people to learn from the natural history and Biblical record of these once powerful nations is that they are parables for religion in general and for Judaism and Christianity in particular. Yes they were great and did have much influence on the world stage, but they will not last.

The Bible has much to say about these ancient religions from a spiritual perspective. Perhaps the most telling scriptures are these prophecies that deal with judgement beginning with Isaiah 19:1-22:

1 The oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
2 “So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians; And they will each fight against his brother and each against his neighbor, City against city and kingdom against kingdom.
3 “Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them; And I will confound their strategy, So that they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead And to mediums and spiritists. 4 “Moreover, I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel master, And a mighty king will rule over them,” declares the Lord GOD of hosts. 5 The waters from the sea will dry up, And the river will be parched and dry. 6 The canals will emit a stench, The streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up; The reeds and rushes will rot away. 7 The bulrushes by the Nile, by the edge of the Nile And all the sown fields by the Nile Will become dry, be driven away, and be no more.
COMMENTARY: These are all poetic images of Old/First Covenant drying up and withering away as formerly religious people become New Covenant disciples.
8 And the fishermen will lament, And all those who cast a line into the Nile will mourn, And those who spread nets on the waters will pine away. 9 Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax And the weavers of white cloth will be utterly dejected. 10 And the pillars of Egypt will be crushed; All the hired laborers will be grieved in soul.
COMMENTARY: These are poetic images of the decline of commercial religion. All the religious leaders who earn income from religion will lose their jobs.
11 The princes of Zoan are mere fools; The advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become stupid. How can you men say to Pharaoh, “I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings “? 12 Well then, where are your wise men? Please let them tell you, And let them understand what the LORD of hosts Has purposed against Egypt.
COMMENTARY: Here God shames religious leaders who are wise in their own eyes.
13 The princes of Zoan have acted foolishly, The princes of Memphis are deluded; Those who are the cornerstone of her tribes Have led Egypt astray. 14 The LORD has mixed within her a spirit of distortion; They have led Egypt astray in all that it does, As a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
COMMENTARY: See Religion is Deception and The Law is a Stumbling Block.
15 There will be no work for Egypt Which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do. 16 In that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in dread because * of the waving of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which He is going to wave over them. 17 The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in dread of it, because * of the purpose of the LORD of hosts which He is purposing against them. 18 In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and swearing allegiance to the LORD of hosts; one will be called the City of Destruction. 19 In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD near its border. 20 It will become a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because * of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will deliver them.
COMMENTARY: This is poetic language about the demise of Old/First Covenant religion led by false prophets who are displaced by New Covenant disciples who speak truth.
21 Thus the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the LORD and perform it. 22 The LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to them and will heal them.

COMMENTARY: This is a poetic picture of what happens when many who were formerly religious become New Covenant disciples. This transformation occurs when religious people hear God’s spoken voice. At first, his voice strikes them with conviction of sin. And then, because God calls religion a sickness of the heart, he miraculously heals their hearts with the power of his spoken voice.

When this happens they are considered to be healed and a blessing to everyone in the earth. After they are healed, they are no longer Egyptians or Assyrians but true, spiritual Israel, the work of God’s hands and not the work of men’s religious efforts.

Jeremiah 51: Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon, against the inhabitants of Chalde’a; 2 and I will send to Babylon winnowers, and they shall winnow her, and they shall empty her land, when they come against her from every side on the day of trouble.

COMMENTARY: See True Prophets.

3 Let not the archer bend his bow, and let him not stand up in his coat of mail. Spare not her young men; utterly destroy all her host. 4 They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chalde’ans, and wounded in her streets. 5 For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the LORD of hosts; but the land of the Chalde’ans is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. 6 “Flee from the midst of Babylon, let every man save his life! Be not cut off in her punishment, for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance, the requital he is rendering her.

COMMENTARY: This is a call for religious people to come out of religion.

7 Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD’s hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine, therefore the nations went mad.

COMMENTARY: See Toxicity.

8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail for her! Take balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed. 9 We would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed. Forsake her, and let us go each to his own country; for her judgment has reached up to heaven and has been lifted up even to the skies. 10 The LORD has brought forth our vindication; come, let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God. 11 “Sharpen the arrows! Take up the shields! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for his temple. 12 Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon; make the watch strong; set up watchmen; prepare the ambushes; for the LORD has both planned and done what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon. 13 O you who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, the thread of your life is cut. 14 The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself: Surely I will fill you with men, as many as locusts, and they shall raise the shout of victory over you. 15 “It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.

COMMENTARY: See Model Warriors, True Prophets and Religion is Injustice, Slavery, Oppression and Affliction for understanding of why God wants to destroy Babylon and to discover who he sends to carry out the destruction.

16 When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses. 17 Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. 18 They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish.

COMMENTARY: Compared to New Covenant disciples who understand God Mysteries and Biblical Symbols, Signs, Types, Copies, Shadows and Patterns, religious people are stupid. They think they understand God’s Written Word, but they do not hear his God’s Spoken Voice.

Goldsmiths are religious leaders who fashion religious idolatry.

19 Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name. 20 “You are my hammer and weapon of war: with you I break nations in pieces; with you I destroy kingdoms; 21 with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider; with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer; 22 with you I break in pieces man and woman; with you I break in pieces the old man and the youth; with you I break in pieces the young man and the maiden; 23 with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; with you I break in pieces the farmer and his team; with you I break in pieces governors and commanders. 24 “I will requite Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chalde’a before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, says the LORD.

COMMENTARY: God uses Model Warriors (i.e.True Prophets) to tear down and destroy Religious Enemies and displace the Religious Kingdoms of False Prophets.

25 “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, says the LORD, which destroys the whole earth; I will stretch out my hand against you, and roll you down from the crags, and make you a burnt mountain. 26 No stone shall be taken from you for a corner and no stone for a foundation, but you shall be a perpetual waste, says the LORD.

COMMENTARY: God symbolically calls Babylon a high mountain whose religion destroys people.

27 “Set up a standard on the earth, blow the trumpet among the nations; prepare the nations for war against her, summon against her the kingdoms, Ar’arat, Minni, and Ash’kenaz; appoint a marshal against her, bring up horses like bristling locusts. 28 Prepare the nations for war against her, the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies, and every land under their dominion. 29 The land trembles and writhes in pain, for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. 30 The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting, they remain in their strongholds; their strength has failed, they have become women; her dwellings are on fire, her bars are broken. 31 One runner runs to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every side; 32 the fords have been seized, the bulwarks are burned with fire, and the soldiers are in panic. 33 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come.” 34 “Nebuchadrez’zar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me like a monster; he has filled his belly with my delicacies, he has rinsed me out.

COMMENTARY: This prophecy parallels the destruction of Babylon in Revelation.

35 The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon,” let the inhabitant of Zion say. “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chalde’a,” let Jerusalem say. 36 Therefore thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will plead your cause and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea and make her fountain dry; 37 and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, the haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing, without inhabitant. 38 “They shall roar together like lions; they shall growl like lions’ whelps. 39 While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast and make them drunk, till they swoon away and sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, says the LORD.

COMMENTARY: This prophecy parallels the destruction of Babylon in Revelation.

40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and he-goats. 41 “How Babylon is taken, the praise of the whole earth seized! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations! 42 The sea has come up on Babylon; she is covered with its tumultuous waves. 43 Her cities have become a horror, a land of drought and a desert, a land in which no one dwells, and through which no son of man passes. 44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed. The nations shall no longer flow to him; the wall of Babylon has fallen. 45 “Go out of the midst of her, my people! Let every man save his life from the fierce anger of the LORD! 46 Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful at the report heard in the land, when a report comes in one year and afterward a report in another year, and violence is in the land, and ruler is against ruler.

COMMENTARY: This call to come out of Babylon parallels the exhortation in Revelation 18.

47 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming when I will punish the images of Babylon; her whole land shall be put to shame, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. 48 Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north, says the LORD. 49 Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth. 50 “You that have escaped from the sword, go, stand not still! Remember the LORD from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind: 51 ‘We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach; dishonor has covered our face, for aliens have come into the holy places of the LORD’s house.’ 52 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will execute judgment upon her images, and through all her land the wounded shall groan. 53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify her strong height, yet destroyers would come from me upon her, says the LORD. 54 “Hark! a cry from Babylon! The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chalde’ans! 55 For the LORD is laying Babylon waste, and stilling her mighty voice. Their waves roar like many waters, the noise of their voice is raised; 56 for a destroyer has come upon her, upon Babylon; her warriors are taken, their bows are broken in pieces; for the LORD is a God of recompense, he will surely requite. 57 I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors, her commanders, and her warriors; they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts. 58 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: The broad wall of Babylon shall be leveled to the ground and her high gates shall be burned with fire. The peoples labor for nought, and the nations weary themselves only for fire.” 59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Serai’ah the son of Neri’ah, son of Mahsei’ah, when he went with Zedeki’ah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Serai’ah was the quartermaster. 60 Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Serai’ah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, 62 and say, ‘O LORD, thou hast said concerning this place that thou wilt cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate for ever.’ 63 When you finish reading this book, bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphra’tes, 64 and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the evil that I am bringing upon her.'” Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

COMMENTARY: God will take vengeance on religion for all the Injustice, Slavery, Oppression and Affliction it has imposed on his people.

Revelation 18 is perhaps the best known prophecy about Babylon. It anticipates God’s messengers (i.e. angles, messiahs) speaking words of warning and woe to religious people.

1 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory.
COMMENTARY: Translation from the original Greek text wrongly implies that only one angel came from heaven. In truth, God sends many messiahs to speak words of warning to religious people. The earth (i.e. world) of religion is enlightened with God’s words (i.e. glory) spoken by them.
2 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.
COMMENTARY: All the angels/messiahs cry out to the religious people saying,in effect, that the fall of religion is imminent. They speak the truth which is that religion is the domain of demons, unclean preachers and unclean spirits.
3 “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.”
COMMENTARY: Nations in the bible are not ancient political entities. Nations are symbolic references to religious entities.
Biblical references to drunkenness, wine and immorality symbolize the power of religious pride. Biblical references to kings is God’s way of saying that religious leaders function as kings in their religious communities. God considers the relationship of religious leaders with their followers to be immoral, adulterous acts because religious people listen to their voices rather than to God’s spoken voice.
Religious leaders actively participate in commercial religion. Many have become materially rich, but the symbolism of wealth here is to spiritual pride earned by religious leaders who have follower who listen to them for religious teaching. In God’s view, listening to the teaching of a religious leader is symbolized as sensuality. Both speakers and hearers are excited by the relationship. Such excitement should be reserved for God and his people.
4 I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues;
5 for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
6 “Pay her back even as she has paid, and giveback to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her.
COMMENTARY:
7 “To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, ‘I SIT as A QUEEN AND I AM NOT A WIDOW, and will never see mourning.’
8 “For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.
9 “And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning,
10 standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’
11 “And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes anymore –
12 cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, and every kind of citron wood and every article of ivory and every article made from very costly wood and bronze and iron and marble,
13 and cinnamon and spice and incense and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat and cattle and sheep, and cargoes of horses and chariots and slaves and human lives.
COMMENTARY:
14 “The fruit you long for has gone from you, and all things that were luxurious and splendid have passed away from you and men will no longer find them.
COMMENTARY:
15 “The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning,
16 saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls;
17 for in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste!’ And every ship master and every passenger and sailor, and as many as make their living by the sea, stood at a distance,
18 and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What city is like the great city?’
COMMENTARY:
19 “And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste!’
COMMENTARY:
20 “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her.”
COMMENTARY:
21 Then a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer.
COMMENTARY:
22 “And the sound of harpists and musicians and flute-players and trumpeters will not be heard in you any longer; and no craftsman of any craft will be found in you any longer; and the sound of a mill will not be heard in you any longer;
COMMENTARY:
23 and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.
24 “And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.”

 

We know from recorded natural history that prophecies about Egypt and Babylon have already been fulfilled in natural terms. These two great powers no longer have the influence on the world stage that they once had. But, we must keep in mind that these are symbolic representations of the demise of the two great religions — not about natural history.

These rambling diatribes against Egypt and Babylon anticipate the end of the two religions that had the most influence on Israel and, ultimately, Judaism and Christianity. With these prophecies in mind, we can begin to understand why God was, and is, so intent on tearing down the temple systems that evolved under this influence. Slowly, but surely, this is being accomplished in these modern times as he calls his people out of bondage to religion one person at a time.

STUDY NOTE: See Tabernacles, Temples, Altars, High Places and Pilgrimages for further insight on the reasons why the temple system needed to be destroyed.

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