Look at the land of the Babylonians, this people that is now of no account! The Assyrians have made it a place for desert creatures; they raised up their siege towers, they stripped its fortresses bare and turned it into a ruin. – Isaiah 23:13

 

Today's Scripture Reading (April 1, 2023): Isaiah 23

Chaldea, a small nation located at the southernmost end of Babylonia, existed from the late tenth century until the middle of the sixth century B.C.E. It is thought to be the birthplace of Abraham during the region's prehistory. Thus, it is an area of significance to the people of Israel. The language spoken in Chaldea is part of the Semitic group of languages, a distinct language family that includes Hebrew. The most common of the Semitic languages is Arabic. 

As Isaiah prophecies against Tyre, he directs attention to the land of Babylon. But Babylon is an insertion of the translators; the actual word that Isaiah uses is "Chaldeans." Isaiah's word choice is a reminder of a couple of things. The most obvious is that while prophesying about the demise of Babylon, Isaiah notes that Babylon has yet to rise. The Babylon Empire of Nebuchadnezzar, which would dominate the world stage and destroy Jerusalem and Solomon's temple, is more commonly referred to as the Neo-Babylonian or New Babylonian Empire. But it also goes by another name, the Chaldean Empire. The reason for the last name goes back to the identity of Nabopolassar, the father of Nebuchadnezzar II. Nabopolassar doesn't go into his heritage and calls himself "the son of a nobody." But contemporary documents call him the King of the Sea. The problem with the title is that Babylon has no border with any sea-like body of water except in the extreme south, in Chaldea, where the nation pushes up against the inlet we know today as the Sea of Kuwait, part of the Persian Gulf. If this is true, Nabopolassar and his son, Nebuchadnezzar, were Chaldeans.

Isaiah asks his readers to look to the Chaldeans, a people of no importance until some Assyrian official gathers them together and exiles them to Babylon in the north. At that time, the idea was launched of possibly overthrowing their occupiers and finally returning to their homes by the Sea of Kuwait.

The dream was fulfilled by Nabopolassar, the "King of the Sea" and the "Son of a Nobody." Babylon and the Chaldeans were a people of unimportance, until they weren't, in the hands of some Chaldeans who likely only wanted to return home.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 24