Bible History and Iraq
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Going straight to the Cross
The focus on the Middle East provides opportunity
to brush upon on your history ... and prophecy.
Bible History and Iraq
by Doug Couch
About the size of California, Iraq is home to more
than 24 million people, 97% Muslim and 3%
"Christian," 80% of whom are Arabs and 20% are
Kurds. Two great river systems, the Tigris (550
miles long) and Euphrates (800 miles long), join
to form the Shatt al Arab River about 100 miles
north of the Persian Gulf into which it empties.
The ancient Greeks called the land between these
two river systems, Mesopotamia, meaning "land
between the rivers."
Iraq was once home to the world's greatest
civilizations including the Sumerians (2800-2000
BC), the Assyrians (1850-612 BC) and the
Babylonians (626-539 BC). The Sumerians invented
irrigation technology by using water from the
higher Euphrates River that drained across the
river valleys into the Tigris River. Through a
series of canals, dikes, and reservoirs, ancient
Mesopotamia became a "Fertile Crescent" with
agricultural yields per acre which exceed anything
we can reproduce in the Western world with
cultivation, irrigation, and fertilization. This
allowed these nations to become wealthy and
powerful.
Genesis 11 also records the beginnings of ancient
tribes which lived in the Mesopotamian River
valleys including Nimrud, Accad, Assur, and Calah
(Gen. 11:10-11). The remains of a dozen royal
Sumerian and Assyrian palaces exist today up and
down the Tigris River including Tiglath-Pilezer's
palace (called Pul in 2 Kings 15:19 & 1 Chronicles
5:26) and Sargon's palace near modern Khorsabad.
Nineveh was once the capital of the Assyrian
Empire. Located on the Tigris and Khosr rivers, it
had broad streets, parks, gardens, and a system of
canals and aqueducts that transported clean
drinking water 30 miles into the city. The
warnings of the prophet Jonah were unheeded, and
it fell in 612 B.C. Today, near the remains of
Nineveh is a mound that for centuries (according
to Jewish, Islamic, and Christian sources) is the
tomb of the prophet Jonah. Across the Tigris River
from Nineveh's ruins is the modern city of Mosul
with 570,000 people.
Babylon was once the capital city of the
Babylonian Empire. Located on the Euphrates River
about 55 miles SW of Baghdad, the city was
geometrically designed with streets at right
angles, canals, bridges, an underwater tunnel, and
an artificial mountain (the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon). An impenetrable wall surrounded the city
that was wide enough for chariot races. Navy
vessels patrolled the moat that protected the
walls. Nebuchadnezzar expanded and beautified the
city and had his name inscribed on every brick of
every wall and building. Saddam Hussein rebuilt
some of the ruins of ancient Babylon and had his
name inscribed on the newer bricks.
Today much of what was Babylon lies in marshy
land. Erosion from the brick mortar of ancient
walls poisons the soil with nitrites. Irrigation
through the centuries brought salt into the soil,
rendering it sterile. Nomads avoid the city
fearing their sheep may be poisoned.
Isaiah's words have been literally fulfilled:
"And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of
the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God
overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be
inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from
generation to generation: neither shall the
Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the
shepherds make their fold there" (Isaiah 13:19-
20).
__________
Doug has worked with the White Bluff, Tenn.,
congregation since 1995.
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