Isaiah 13:19

The glory of kingdoms. It was not until a century after the time of Isaiah that, under the Chaldean dynasty, Babylon reached the peak of fame and achieved universal renown for its splendor and beauty.

Sodom. See on Gen. 19:24. Jeremiah, who saw Babylon at the height of its power, also predicted that its overthrow would be like that of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jer. 50:40). Its destruction would be absolute — it would never be rebuilt (Jer. 51:64). Such is also to be the fate of mystical Babylon at the end of the world (Rev. 18:21). During the lifetime of Isaiah the city of Babylon was utterly destroyed by Sennacherib (see on v. 17), yet it was soon rebuilt by Sennacherib’s son, Esarhaddon. Later, when Nebuchadnezzar became king of Babylon, he made it one of the most beautiful cities of the ancient world. Upon capturing Babylon in 539 the Medes and Persians did not destroy the city, but made it their capital. Half a century later, when the city rebelled, Xerxes partly destroyed it. Thenceforth it was never completely restored and lost its former pre-eminence. However, it became, in a partly ruined state, a capital of Alexander the Great after he took it in 331. This prophecy of Isaiah was therefore not fulfilled till some centuries after his death.

Not until the reign of Seleucus Nicator (312-280 B.C.) over the eastern division of Alexander’s empire (see on Dan. 7:6) did Babylon lose its place of importance. About 305 this king established a new capital on the Tigris 34 mi. (54 km.) north-northeast of Babylon, on the site of Opis, and named it Seleucia, after himself. The materials and part of the population of the new city were taken from Babylon, whose pre-eminence was thus permanently destroyed. Yet Babylon continued to be of some importance for perhaps two centuries more. By the time of Strabo, about 20 B.C. or a little later, the greater part of the city had become a vast desolation (Strabo xvi. 1. 5), though still inhabited. In the reign of Trajan (A.D. 98-117) it was a complete ruin.