Babylon

A few days ago we travelled to London to visit the exhibition, Babylon, at the British Museum. It is many years since I last visited the British Museum and I looked forward to seeing what they had gathered to make up the exhibition.

I was fascinated to see, albeit behind glass, some cuneiform etched small cylinders. It was even more fascinating to read that they were used as what are today called time capsules and were buried in the foundations of important buildings. I knew there was at least one of these items there but had not reached the point where I knew they were items containing information for the benefit of future generations who might be digging in that place.

Nebuchadnezzar was the king who ensured Babylon was a great city. He set to and built the most magnificent buildings imaginable. He was justifiably proud of the great city. When buildings were under construction the builders added many bricks on which was inscribed the king's name. Such a brick was displayed in the exhibition. Not only was the king's name there but also some ancient graffiti which was the name in Aramaic of the workman, Zabina.

Nebuchadnezzar's son, Belshazzar, eventually succeeded his father and ruled the city and the lands surrounding it. According to the Bible, he held a great feast when suddenly he saw a frightening vision of a ghostly hand writing on the wall. Daniel had interpreted a dream for his father, so the king sent for him to interpret this ghostly writing. Essentially it said "You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting". Close to the picture of Belshazzar's feast one could see a representation of the ghostly hand writing the message above our heads.

Later, Daniel was brought to Belshazzar because he did not worship his king in line with the law of the Medes and Persians. The punishment was to be thrown into a den of lions. Daniel was thrown to the lions and the king set his seal on the closure stone. He was greatly disturbed that night and returned to the pit. He called out to Daniel who was unharmed. Daniel was released. I saw a picture at the museum which I have reproduced at the head of this blog. It was a massive picture and depicted Daniel in the pit with seven lions before him. His hands were bound but, as well as depicting seven hungry lions, the artist shows a back view of a very calm Daniel, obviously unafraid of these dangerous beasts.

From the gardens of Babylon there was a small clay tablet with cuneiform writing listing all the plants grown there. Other clay tablets provided calculations for designing and buildings a building. There was evidence that the Babylonians worked in numbers based on 60. Whatever counting system we may use the world has in common the basis of 60 for units of time. They too used hours as units of time but an hour changed in length as it followed the changing seasons. This meant that a winter hour was much shorter that a summer hour.

I found it fascinating to see the many artifacts recovered from this great and ancient city referred to in the Bible. So much of the Old Testament is about people whose existence has yet to be proved through the work of archaeologists. Yet here was proof positive of the existence of Babylon. This was the city that God is said to have defeated by confusing their communications and giving the difference of language. This was the city whose ziggurat was the fabled Tower of Babel. It was all laid out for the visitor to see. What a privilege!