Early
Biblical history
In the Bible, Babylon and the country of Babylonia are not always clearly
distinguished, in most cases the same word being used for both. In some passages
the land of Babylonia is called Shinar, while in the post-exilic literature it
is called the land of the Chaldeans.
In
the Book of _Genesis , Babylonia is described as the land in which are
located Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh (Gen. x. 10), which are declared to
have formed the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom. In this land was located the
_Tower of Babel_ (Gen. xi. 1-9); and here also was the seat of Amraphel's
dominion (Gen. xiv. 1, 9).
In the historical books Babylonia is frequently referred to (there are no
fewer than thirty-one allusions in the _Books of Kings_ ), though the lack of a
clear distinction between the city and the country is sometimes puzzling.
Allusions to it are confined to the points of contact between the Israelites and
the various Babylonian kings, especially Merodach-baladan (Berodach-baladan of
II Kings xx. 12; compare Isa. xxxix. 1) and _Nebuchadrezzar_ . In Chron., Ez.,
and Neh. the interest is transferred to Cyrus (see, for
example, Ez. v. 13), though the retrospect still deals with the conquests of
_Nebuchadnezzar_ , and
_Artaxerxes_ is mentioned once (Neh. xiii. 6).
In the poetical literature of Israel, Babylonia plays an insignificant part
(see Ps. lxxxvii. 4, and especially Ps. cxxxvii.), but it fills a very large
place in the Prophets. The Book of Isaiah resounds with the "burden of
Babylon" (xiii. 1), though at that time it still seemed a "far country" (xxxix.
3).
In the number and importance of its references to Babylonian life and
history, the Book of Jeremiah stands preeminent in the Hebrew literature. So
numerous and so important are the allusions to events in the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar that within recent times Jeremiah has become a valuable source in
reconstructing Babylonian history. The inscriptions of Nebuchadrezzar are almost
exclusively devoted to building operations; and but for the Book of Jeremiah,
ittle would be known of his campaign against Jerusalem.
