The Assyrian Empire + The New Babylonian Empire ~ Part 1

I'm kind of cheating with this post since I should have posted it last week. But it's actually here, so your welcome. :) Today, I will be writing about the Assyrian and New Babylonian Empires. The next history post will be Part 2 about the New Babylonian Empire.

The Assyrians are also from the Fertile Crescent area as you can see from the map to the left. Assur was the original capital that the empire was named after. Nineveh is the capital city of this empire. When this city fell, the empire fell as well.

Nineveh was also mentioned in the book of Jonah. God told Jonah to preach to the people of Nineveh to repent. There were many wicked things in Nineveh, but there were also many young children in the city. After a long journey, Jonah eventually preached to the city and the people repented. Then, of course, the wickedness returned to the city (not that it ever went anywhere in the first place) and the empire fell.

Tiglath-pileser I, one of the greatest Assyrian conquerors, established his empire in circa 1100 BC. The kingdom of Israel (Northern Israel) fell in 721 BC to the kings Shalmaneser V and Sargon II. Twenty years later, Sennacherib had a great fiasco when he tried to conquer the kingdom of Judah (Southern Israel). The Assyrians surrounded Jerusalem which was quickly running out of supplies. The prophet, Isaiah, told Hezekiah to trust in the Lord that all will be okay. The next morning, God sent His angel to kill 185,000 of Sennacherib's troops. Sennacherib quickly left after that incident.

The Assyrians were very cruel and wicked people and were known for taking Jews out of Israel to mix them with the pagans. This was the beginning of the people known as the Samaritans which the pure-blooded Israelites despised. Despite this reputation, they made one lasting contribution. Assyria's last great monarch, Ashurbanipal, built the world's first great library with cuneiform clay tablets. The Epic of Gilgamesh was found in this library. I feel like I've mentioned this piece of literature the most on my blog.

The Neo-Babylonian Empire is next in line. The Chaldeans (aka Babylonians), Medes (we'll see them later in history), and Scythians joined forces to conquer the Assyrian Empire in 600 BC. Nabopolassar led the attack and like any other empire builder, his kingdom ended up on top of all of his allies' kingdoms.

His son's name was Nebuchadnezzar, a frequent character in the book of Daniel. In 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar (I'm getting really tired of typing these long and complicated names) conquered the kingdom of Judah. Daniel was from this kingdom and he was carried away to serve in the king's court. Most people believe that Daniel must have been part of the nobility in Judah because of his position in Babylon.

In the king's court, Daniel and his friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) refused to eat the meat sacrificed to the idols of Babylon (their chief god was Marduk) and instead asked to only eat vegetables for ten days. At the end of those days, they were all much more physically fit than the rest of their peers. I'm glad that doesn't happen on a regular basis nowadays.

In the next chapter, Nebuchadnezzar has a troubling dream. For some reason, kings always have troubling dreams in the Bible. He decided to call his magicians and sorcerers, and he told them to tell him his dream and interpret it. Unlike some people say, Nebuchadnezzar actually knew what his dream was; he just wanted to test the magicians and sorcerers.

Of course, they couldn't tell him, so he got angry, and sentenced all of his "wise men" to death. Daniel and his friends happened to be included in this group. When Daniel heard about this, he told the king's servant to bring him to the king. As all of us should do, Daniel gave glory to God for his gift: the ability to interpret the dream.

Nebuchadnezzar's dream was about a statue with many different materials for each body part as in the picture to the left. It represents empires that grow weaker as time goes on.

What the picture doesn't show is that there was a stone that destroyed the statue. The stone represents Jesus and His second coming. Daniel 2:44 says, "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever."

This means that God's kingdom will be everlasting and that He is sovereign over all of history past and future (and present too). But there is something really special about God's kingdom. When we think about a kingdom, we think of it in a physical sense preoccupied with the things of earth. We may think about a dictator or military conqueror as its leader.

Matthew 6:33 says, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." The kingdom of God is not a physical thing; it's a spiritual thing. It's salvation in Jesus Christ. When we accept God's gift of salvation through Jesus' death on the cross, we become part of God's kingdom and even better, part of His family. We don't have to be outcasts living in the darkness of our sin, we can be His sons and daughters living in the righteousness of His light.

None of the empires that came before matters. In fact, nothing on earth matters. One day, God will destroy the earth and all that will be left is what is eternal: separation from Him in hell or an eternity spent with Him in heaven. We can either make the decision to live for Him while He has us here on earth or we can live for ourselves. The results for living for ourselves are not good at all. But living for Christ is living for something that matters more than anything else we know. It's your decision.