In the beginning of the seventh century B.C., two great powers with their respective allies were contestants for the domination of the civilised world. They were Egypt and Babylon. The contest came to a climax when the armies of Egypt marched out (“Egypt riseth up as the Nile” was how the prophet Jeremiah described it, 46:8 RV) and crossed the territory between the river Nile and the river Euphrates. In the course of this military expedition, Josiah, king of Judah, considered it his duty to interfere, and battled with the Egyptians at Megiddo. But he was defeated and slain.
In 605 B.C. the Egyptian forces under Pharaoh-necho met the Babylonian military might led by Nebuchadnezzar. They engaged in battle at Carchemish on the river Euphrates. The Babylonians gained an overwhelming victory. The might of Egypt was destroyed for ever, and the Babylonian power under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar reigned supreme over the civilised world. The prophet Jeremiah narrates concerning these things: “The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles; against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh-necho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah... They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed” (46:1,2, 17). This dramatic event in the history of the world is succinctly described in a Scriptural statement: “And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt” (2 Kings 24:7).
It was not long before all the other kingdoms of the Middle East were conquered by Nebuchadnezzar—Ammon, Moab, Edom, Tyre, Philistia, and Judah. In his fury he destroyed the beautiful temple in Jerusalem, and broke down the city walls. All these conquered nations became subject peoples of the Babylonian empire. This empire—revealed to Nebuchadnezzar by the prophet Daniel as the head of gold of the image of the king’s dream—was powerful and wealthy. It was centred in the man Nebuchadnezzar, all powerful in his domain as Daniel’s words to Belshazzar made clear: “O thou king, The Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: and for the majesty that He gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down” (Daniel 5:18,19).
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Author: E. A. Lyons
Keywords: Satan, Lucifer, King of Babylon, Devil, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadrezzar
Bible reference(s): Isaiah 14:4-19
Source: “The Fall of Lucifer, Son of the Morning,” The Testimony, Vol. 48, No. 576, December 1978, pp. 407-9.
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