Look, here comes a man in a chariot with a team of horses. And he gives back the answer: 'Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground!' – Isaiah 21:9

Today's Scripture Reading (March 30, 2023): Isaiah 21

It happened in 539 B.C.E. Babylon was celebrating a national holiday when Cyrus the Great put into practice a plan designed to defeat the city and, by extension, the Empire. Babylon's walls were believed to be impenetrable, but Cyrus thought the place where the Euphrates River entered the city was the key to the fall of Babylon. The Babylonian government also understood that and used iron bars to secure the city from anyone trying to gain entrance to the city by way of the Euphrates.

But Cyrus had an ambitious plan. He had decided that the only way into the city was by using the Euphrates River. However, Cyrus's strategy involved diverting the river upstream so that his army could enter the city on dry ground. In 539 B.C.E., while the city was celebrating, Cyrus had some of his men divert the river while others took advantage of the lack of water to enter the city. They started in the outskirts of the city and worked inward. The reality was that as the city fell, most of the city's population didn't even realize the danger that had arrived inside the city's walls.

Isaiah talks about the moment that the city falls. At the time of the prophecy, Babylon was still decades away from its peak under Nebuchadnezzar. It would be over a hundred years before the Babylonian exile would become the reality of the Judean people. But Isaiah knew that Nebuchadnezzar's Empire would also fall even before Babylon rose.

John in Revelation takes up the same theme.

With a mighty voice he shouted:

"'Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!'
    She has become a dwelling for demons
and a haunt for every impure spirit,
    a haunt for every unclean bird,
    a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal (Revelation 18:2)

The connection between the two passages is found in the double mention of the fall of Babylon. In Isaiah, it is "Babylon has fallen, has fallen!" In Revelation, it is "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!" One speaks of the literal Babylon and the other of a Babylon that symbolizes the powers of this world. The literal Babylon fell in the sixth century B.C.E,  but the symbol of Babylon will also fall as a sign of all that is wrong with this world. Both Babylons will fail. Babylon fell, and it will fall, spiritually and commercially.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 22