Showing posts with label King Nebuchadnezzar II. Show all posts
Showing posts with label King Nebuchadnezzar II. Show all posts

Monday 19 December 2011

Ancient Texts Tell Tales of War, Bar Tabs

A trove of newly translated texts from the ancient Middle East are revealing accounts of war, the building of pyramidlike structures called ziggurats and even the people's use of beer tabs at local taverns.
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Among the finds is a haunting, albeit partly lost, inscription in the words of King Nebuchadnezzar II, a ruler of Babylon who built a great ziggurat — massive pyramidlike towers built in ancient Mesopotamia — dedicated to the god Marduk about 2,500 years ago.

The inscription was carved onto a stele, a stone slab used for engraving. It includes a drawing of the ziggurat and King Nebuchadnezzar II himself.

Some scholars have argued that the structure inspired the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. In the inscription, Nebuchadnezzar talks about how he got people from all over the world to build the Marduk tower and a second ziggurat at Borsippa.
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One section deals with his conquest of the city of Babylon, defeating a king named Marduk-nadin-ahhe.

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> Ancient Texts Tell Tales of War, Bar Tabs

Monday 7 February 2011

Egypt in the picture

Egypt had also been a mighty power in the Middle East. The period of its greatness was about 1600 BC, when the armies of the conquering Pharaohs pressed southwards into the Sudan, westwards along the north African coast, and northwards through the land of Canaan (later Israel) and into Syria.
The land invaded by Nebuchadnezzar who overran Israel, sacked Jerusalem and burnt its temple, and carried thousands away captive to Babylon is now back in the picture with an opposite wealth. For 2500 years Egypt has remained, as Ezekiel prophesied it would, "a lowly kingdom", always dominated by others. But Egypt and the Egyptians did not disappear. They still exist, and though many claim that they have even recovered a measure of independence in recent times, thanks to massive financial support from the U.S.A. and Saudi Arabia, not many people got something from this economic funding.  Lots of the people have not enough to eat and no work. There were no prospects but now thousands have put their hope in a new peaceful revolution.

Egypt has been one of the United States' closest allies in the region but this governments’ reign now looks increasingly likely to fail.  This crisis follows the toppling of the Tunisian president a few weeks ago who fled the country after widespread protests forced him from office. Surely we see distress of nations and the sea and waves roaring. The sea and waves are symbolic of people raging against each other.

George W. Bush had previously pushed Hosni  Mubarak for democratic reforms but the head of state has perhaps promised a lot to his people and to the outside world, but kept 'his country' good in chains.

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, with 600,000 members, stands for the re-establishment of the Islamic Empire (Caliphate), the takeover, spiritually or otherwise, of the entire world, and jihad and martyrdom. It has front organizations in the UK, France, and the United States. The danger exist that they are going to exploit the situation and the figure like Mohammed ElBaradei in order to hijack the Egyptian revolution at a later stage. We may not forget that that ever since the Brotherhood was founded over 80 years ago, it has engaged in political terrorism, assassinating Prime Minister Mahmoud al-Nuqrashi Pasha in 1948, trying to kill President Abdul Nasser several years later, supports Hamas, and more.
The Egyptians should well be aware what it could implicate if the Moslim Brotherhood comes into the governement. A leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt told the Arabic-language Iranian news network Al-Alam on Monday that he would like to see the Egyptian people prepare for war against Israel.

No casualties yet recorded by our brothers and sisters in Egypt. Our brothers and sisters seek seeing "(God's) righteousness" and find it important to try to develop a love of God's character, which means that we want to be worthy Christians showing our love for God His creation, our neighbours, and our love in God's Kingdom because righteousness will be glorified there.

We know that there is a fascinating prophecy in Isaiah 19 that speaks of God setting Egyptian against Egyptian. (Isaiah 19:2,4) As with all prophecies this has both a latter and future fulfilment. As we see Egyptian being set against Egyptian we see a latter day fulfilment now. In verse 4 of that chapter it speaks of a “fierce king” ruling over them. In fact Daniel 8:23 speaks of this fierce king. He is none other than the king of the north who will invade Egypt.

In the gospel of Luke, Jesus describes the nations (multitudes) rising up against nations (multitudes). This month we got reverberations from the mass protests in Tunisia and Egypt to be felt around the Arab world. Is it the woe of the multitude of people? US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the Middle East is facing a "perfect storm" of unrest and nations must embrace democratic change. Democracy (Liberty or freedom of the people from monarchies)  is one of the froglike spirits spoken of in Revelation 16 which gather all nations to battle. Brother Andy Walton agrees with Hilary Clinton:" We can see before our eyes how this spirit of people power will indeed bring war and conflict.... – the status quo is simply not sustainable. There is a day in which God will judge the earth by that man who he has appointed – even Jesus Christ."