Babylon is a very popular system of governance referenced throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. It comes out as a clear antagonist to another equally popular system in the Bible called Jerusalem. Nearly all the prophets in the Bible make reference to the two in different contexts. This system that transcends generations calls for an indulgence in the scriptures, that would lead to a better understanding of its symbolism, meaning, and the direct or otherwise impact it poses on our lives.
Genesis 2:8-9 NKJV
“The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
Genesis 2:15-17 NKJV
“Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
The above verses form the outline on which the system is built. Man was created after everything else and thus had a lot to catch up with. What he is presented with is a support system that would bring him up to speed in terms of wisdom and knowledge that he would rely on for his dominion. The Garden; the trees and their fruits-food are the outstanding items mentioned in the verses. While they are popularly taken in their literal meaning, deeper scrutiny of the scriptures brings out their metaphoric meaning which was to inform the newly created man in the navigation of the rest of God’s creation.
Understanding what is referred to as food in these verses demystifies the true nature of the garden and the trees therein.
Matthew 4:3-4 NKJV
“Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
John 6:27 NKJV
“ Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”
John 6: 32-35 NKJV
Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”
In Matthew 4:4, meaningful food is depicted as the Word of God personified in Jesus in John 6:27-35. Put differently, food is the wisdom from God that Man was to rely on. This wisdom was to be accessed through the metaphoric trees except the prohibited one of knowledge of good and evil. What then do the trees represent? I would encourage reading the whole of Ezekiel chapter 31 to get the whole picture. However, I will put some extracts here for the purposes of this discourse.
Ezekiel 31: 8-9 NKJV
The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it; The fir trees were not like its boughs, And the chestnut trees were not like its branches; No tree in the garden of God was like it in beauty. I made it beautiful with a multitude of branches, So that all the trees of Eden envied it, That were in the garden of God.’”
Ezekiel 31:13-14 NKJV
“‘On its ruin will remain all the birds of the heavens, And all the beasts of the field will come to its branches—So that no trees by the waters may ever again exalt themselves for their height, nor set their tops among the thick boughs, that no tree which drinks water may ever be high enough to reach up to them. ‘For they have all been delivered to death, To the depths of the earth, Among the children of men who go down to the Pit.’”
Ezekiel 31:15-16 NKJV
“Thus says the Lord God: ‘In the day when it went down to hell, I caused mourning. I covered the deep because of it. I restrained its rivers, and the great waters were held back. I caused Lebanon to mourn for it, and all the trees of the field wilted because of it. I made the nations shake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to hell together with those who descend into the Pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the depths of the earth.”
Ezekiel 31:18 NKJV
“To which of the trees in Eden will you then be likened in glory and greatness? Yet you shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the depths of the earth; you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude,’ says the Lord God.”
From the foregoing, the trees in Eden represent some spiritual entities with one specific standout one attracting God’s judgment. Let’s dive further into scripture to find out the identity of the errant tree.
Ezekiel 28:12-17 NKJV
“Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.“By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones. “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you.”
Isaiah 14:12-13 NKJV
“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north.”
The prohibited tree of knowledge of good and evil, the one with the corrupted wisdom that Adam was not to take counsel from was none other than Lucifer. It is now clear from which source Adam was to gain wisdom; the tree of life-the Word of God. Consumption of corrupted wisdom from the tree of knowledge of good and evil would lead to death. This led to the alternative system of wisdom gaining a foothold in mankind against the will of God. Ultimately, it led to the destruction of the world in Noah’s flood after evil increased.
At this point, it is important to note that all wisdom came by the Word of God. There is nothing that the devil created. Evil is begotten when the wisdom is exercised against the will of God. The corrupted wisdom in the Tree of knowledge of good and evil; Lucifer, was a manipulation of God’s word, yielding a will against God. Simply put, it’s trying to use God’s word against him/his will. It is Sorcery. This brings us to another character in the Bible who tries to re-establish the corrupted system after the Noah’s flood; Nimrod.
Genesis 10:8-12 NKJV
“ Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.” And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city).
Although the meaning of the phrase “Mighty hunter” can be debatable, and more often than not it’s either ignored or misunderstood, we can derive it from the context of the above verses and the subsequent chapter in the Bible. A hunter captures, controls, enslaves, or in the worst-case scenario kills to achieve his goals. It is clear that through his “hunting”, he managed to build kingdoms that transcend generations albeit in different forms, and carry notable significance throughout the Bible. Clearly, what he was hunting were not just mere animals, but humans. The only way of enslaving and controlling humans without physically locking them up is through sorcery. This is the use of the corrupted wisdom from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the manipulation of God’s word against his will. The mighty hunter was a sorcerer.
Ezekiel 28:2-10 NKJV
“Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Because your heart is liftedup, And you say, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods, In the midst of the seas,’ Yet you are a man, and not a god, Though you set your heart as the heart of a god (Behold, you are wiser than Daniel! There is no secret that can be hidden from you! With your wisdom and your understanding You have gained riches for yourself, And gathered gold and silver into your treasuries; By your great wisdom in trade you have increased your riches, And your heart is lifted up because of your riches),” ‘Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Because you have set your heart as the heart of a god, Behold, therefore, I will bring strangers against you,
The most terrible of the nations; And they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, And defile your splendor. They shall throw you down into the Pit, And you shall die the death of the slain In the midst of the seas. “Will you still say before him who slays you,
‘I am a god’? But you shall be a man, and not a god, In the hand of him who slays you. You shall die the death of the uncircumcised By the hand of aliens; For I have spoken,” says the Lord God.’ ”
The pinnacle of Nimrod’s sorcery and rebellion against God came when he commissioned the building of the tower of Babel. Although the tower had a physical presence as a symbol, its spiritual significance was to reconstruct/ re-establish the fallen tree ( of knowledge of good and evil- Lucifer) into an infallible spiritual structure that could overturn God’s will.
Genesis 11:1-9 NKJV
Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
The above verses in Genesis chapter eleven introduce an interesting language/speech aspect in the building of the tower of Babel. It is noticeable that the major concern in the project is the language/speech which would make the project unstoppable. And indeed, an attack on the language/speech brings the project to a halt. What is it in the language/speech that is so potent that necessitated its confusion?
Language in these verses is deeper than just verbal pronouncements used for human communication. Before wisdom is verbally expressed in human utterances, it is first perceived in the spirit. Man having been spiritually separated from God meant that the wisdom download in his spirit was from the alternative source. Through Nimrod’s sorcery, men were possessed by evil spirits informing their ways towards the ultimate goal of the re-establishment of Lucifer; the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The language confusion was an altering of how wisdom from this source was perceived in an individual’s spirit, its revelation in the mind, and the resultant utterance/speech that could not be universally understood.
From the origin of Babylon and the powers behind the scenes, it is clear what its agenda is and has been all along. As Lucifer; the tree of knowledge of good and evil, seeks to capture power through the back door, God has a plan of making his wisdom available to mankind through the tree of life. It is after the events of Babel that he sets apart Abraham as part of his larger plan of mankind’s redemption. His meeting with Melchizedek, the king of Salem gives us a glimpse into the expectations of the kingdom’s derivative; Jerusalem. While Babylon is a system of confusion, Jerusalem is one of peace.
Matthew 11:12 NKJV
“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.”
The Babylonian system of governance through sorcery has been a dominant force in the world and has ruled the world in various forms at different times. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Roman etc have all had the Babylonian system deeply entrenched in their DNA with the roots going back to the tree of knowledge of good and evil though under different principalities. All these are spiritual kingdoms that playout in the physical realm
Daniel 10:20-21 NKJV
“ Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of Truth. (No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince.”
Matthew 4:8-10 NKJV
“ Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
The image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel chapter two best illustrates the transcendence of this system of sorcery. It is worth noting that the image with the head of fine gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet partly of iron and clay, are all parts of the same body illustrating how the manifestations of the system have mutated and morphed over time.
Daniel 2:31-35 NKJV
“You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”
At its final stages of manifestation represented by the feet and toes of partly iron, partly clay, there comes an alien kingdom that crashes it bringing the whole system tumbling down. As Daniel explains in successive verses in the interpretation, it is a kingdom set up by God that shall never be destroyed. He sends his only begotten son through whom believers would conquer the system of sorcery. Through him, God’s kingdom is established on earth which no powers of darkness can resist.
Luke 17:20-21 NKJV
“Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
Matthew 4:17 NKJV
“ From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Mark 1:15 NKJV
“and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
Colossians 1:13 NKJV
“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,”
Prophets in the Bible have talked about the eventual judgment of Babylon with the Book of Revelation detailing its gruesome destruction. While much of what we can conceive about it is what we physically see and experience in this realm, a lot of its nature is in the spiritual which most people are blind to. It’s a system of sorcery whose agenda has always been one; rebuilding the tower of Babel, re-establishing the tree of knowledge of good and evil as the dominant and sole source of human wisdom. They have put human systems under different orders under the guise of esoteric knowledge which ultimately converge at the intended point; The tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Through his Love, God has offered humankind freedom from the murderous system’s shackles. Grace has been extended to humankind back to the tree of life from whom Adam was to consume. Through faith in the tree of life personified in Jesus, we have been set free from the dark system of sorcery.
John 8:36 NKJV
“ Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
John 14:6 NKJV
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Amen