Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 41:1 (Mar 1998)
Article: Do The Prophets Teach That Babylonia Will Be Rebuilt In The "Eschaton"?
Author: Homer Heater, Jr.

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JETS 41:1 (March 1998) p. 23

Do The Prophets Teach That Babylonia
Will Be Rebuilt In The Eschaton?

Homer Heater, Jr.*

* Homer Heater is president of Capital Bible Seminary and Washington Bible College, 6511 Princess Garden Parkway, Lanham, MD 20706–3599.

Dispensationalists have traditionally argued that “Babylon” in Revelation 14 and chaps. 17–18 is a symbol indicating some form of reestablished Rome.1 In recent days a renewed interest has been shown in the idea that the ancient empire of Babylonia and city of Babylon will be rebuilt.2 This conclusion comes from a reading of the prophets—Isaiah and Jeremiah in particular—in a manner that requires the rebuilding of the city and empire of Babylonia in the eschaton.

My approach to this question is from three different perspectives: (1) to study the context of the oracles against the nations (OAN) found in Isaiah 13–23 and, in particular, the way the critical thirteenth chapter fits into the Sitz im Leben of the eighth century during which Isaiah was prophesying; (2) to study the language of destruction found in this same unit and relate it to the treaty curses found in the ancient Near East and to the rest of the OT; and (3) to examine Jeremiah’s prophecies against Babylon containing much of the same language as that of Isaiah.

I. Isaiah 13 In Its Eighth-Century Context

The presence of an oracle against Babylon in the first part of Isaiah must be explained by those who argue that such references originated in a sixth-century prophecy (chaps. 40–66). G. B. Gray is an example of those who deny the chapter to the eighth-century Isaiah since he believes it is a product of the exile or a little earlier:

Clearly, then, the oracle of Babylon is no earlier than the Exile: it is probably later, for 14:1–4a(22f.) is post-exilic rather than exilic.… We may then attribute the oracle in its present form to a post-exilic editor who wrote 14:1–4a to connect two poems (13:2–22 and 14:4b–21).3

JETS 41:1 (March 1998) p. 24

In more recent times some scholars have begun to view the oracles (Isaiah 13–...

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