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martyrs of Jesus. Her destruction is brought about by the ten horns which the beast
carried, who are ten kings who reign for the brief hour of the Beast's dominion.
Chapter 18: follows with a further description of the character and fall of Babylon.
again an angel cries, "Babylon the great is fallen, and is become the habitation of
demons, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every hateful and unclean bird".
As chapter 17: tells of the kings of the earth, so 18: links all nations and kings in the
participation in Babylon's impure vintage. Jeremiah's command to Seraiah is taken up
and amplified:--
"A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea saying,
Thus with violence shall the great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no
more at all. And the voice of harpers and musicians, and of pipers and trumpeters shall
be heard no more at all in thee, and no craftsman of whatever craft he be shall be found
any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; and
the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom
and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee; for thy merchants were the great
men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found
the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth."
Let us note these closing words; they may be a figure of speech, they may, however,
be very awfully true. All the blood! not only of prophets, saints and martyrs, but every
murder and every execution, every war and every assassination, all traceable back to the
system of iniquity and the father of lies, who, to thwart the purpose of the Most High,
made his seat at Babylon. Not only is the influence and the judgment of Babylon
world-wide in its effect (the very heavens resound with Hallelujahs at her downfall),
heaven itself can hold the glorious Son of God no longer. He rides forth to conquer and
to rule, and the reign of peace and righteousness follows swiftly on the destruction of that
city which symbolized the dread authority of the prince of darkness.
We must now return to the book of Genesis, to learn somewhat more of the
beginnings of Babel. Although the division of the earth among the sons of Noah comes
before the record of the building of the tower of Babel, the scattering that took place at
the confusion of tongues was the cause of the division recorded in chapter 10: There in
chapter 10: 5, 20 and 31, the descendants of Japheth, Ham, and Shem are divided
according to their tongues. This therefore must have come after the record of chapter 11:,
for there we read, "The whole earth was of one language and one speech" ("one lip, and
one in words"). The idea that the tower of Babel was built "to reach unto heaven" is not
scriptural. The words are more correctly rendered, "Whose top with the heavens", and
far more likely denote a tower like the ancient temples of Denderah and Esneh which
have the signs of the zodiac represented on them. What possible object there could have
been to build such a tower with the Zodiac thereon we must reserve for the series entitles,
Sidelights on the Scriptures, as the subject is too vast altogether for this article. Suffice it
to say that it meditated a direct attack upon the primeval witness given by God to man,
and pictured for his memory in the heavens. The builders also desired to make a name.
This too was an intrusion into the purpose of God. That which could not be obtained by
such means was promised by God to Abraham, "I will make of thee a great nation, and
make thy name great". Seeing that the imagination of man's heart is evil, the greater the