A BOOK FROM GOD

A Book of True Prophecy

"No prophecy of Scripture springs from any private interpretation," says 2 Peter 1:20.  Bible prophets did not analyze trends in existing world affairs and then make educated guesses based on their  personal interpretation of these developments.  Neither did they utter vague predictions that could be made to fit just about any future happening.  Let  us consider, as an example, a Bible prophecy that was extraordinarily specific and that predicted just the opposite of what people then living might have expected.

By the seventh century B.C.E., Babylon was the seemingly impregnable capital of the Euphrates River, and the river's waters were used to form a broad, deep moat and a network of canals.  The city was also protected by a massive system of double walls, buttressed by defense  towers.  Babylon's inhabitants no doubt felt very secure.   Yet, in the eighth century B.C.E., even before Babylon rose to the height of its glory, the prophet Isaiah foretold:  "Babylon . . . must become as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.  She will never be inhabited, nor will she reside for generation after generation.  And there the Arab will not pitch his tent, and no shepherds will let their flocks lie down there."  (Isaiah 13:19, 20)  Notice that the prophecy foretold not only that Babylon would be destroyed but that it would become permanently uninhabited.  What a bold prediction to make! Could Isaiah  have written his prophecy after he had  observed a desolate Babylon?  History answers no!

On the night of October 5, 539 B.C.E., Babylon fell to the armies of Medo-Persia under Cyrus the Great.  However, Isaiah's prophecy was not completely fulfilled at that time.  Following the takeover by Cyrus, an inhabited Babylon-although an inferior one-continued for centuries.  In the second century B.C.E., about the time the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah was copied, the Parthians took control of Babylon, which was then viewed as a prize over which surrounding nations fought.  Jewish historian Josephus reported that  "a great number of Jews were living there in the first century B.C.E.  According to The Cambridge  Ancient History, Palmyrene merchants founded a prosperous trading colony in Babylon C.E., Babylon was still not completely desolate; yet, Isaiah's book had been  completed long before then. -1Peter 5:13.

Next time: Conclusion of A Book of True Prophecy

Watchtower, 1998