TODAY WE discuss the fall of Babylon. It wasn’t just divine punishment for the hubris of King Belshazzar; this was a smackdown in the spirit realm.
Interestingly, the target of God’s wrath wasn’t Marduk, city-god of Babylon and head of the Mesopotamian pantheon, it was the moon-god, Sîn. Belshazzar’s father, Nabonidus, was the king of Babylon in 539 B.C., but he’d been living at Teima, an oasis in Arabia that was a center of the moon-god cult. Nabonidus was from Harran, another major center of moon-god worship, and his mother was a priestess in the temple of Sîn there.
Nabonidus had been pushing to replace Marduk in the top spot in the pantheon at Babylon with Sîn, and there is good historical and archaeological evidence to believe that Belshazzar’s drunken feast — with the sacred utensils that had been taken by Nebuchadnezzar from the Temple in Jerusalem in 587 or 586 B.C. — was the fall /akitu/ festival, held every year in honor of the moon-god.
It also coincided with Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, arguably the most important annual festival establish by God at Sinai — the mountain named for the moon-god.
In short, the writing on the wall was God’s judgment on Babylon, of course, but more importantly it was a clear message to the fallen entity who was worshiped as the moon-god. The night of Belshazzar’s feast was the last night of freedom for Babylon, a kingdom founded and ruled by worshipers of the moon-god.
Here is the link to the paper “Belshazzar’s Feast and the Cult of the Moon God Sîn” by Al Wolters (link opens PDF document).
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Hello Derek,
This is John Pence, I work offshore internationally and in the Gulf of Mexico when I am not abroad. I am an HSE Oil and Gas Professional from Louisiana. I am looking for a print based bible study that you produce. I have been watching Skywatch TV and am 1/2 way through the ” Great Inception” I also have the DVD collection of the Branson Conference from last year. Anyhow, I would like the print version of a good bible study that you produce opposed to the media- you tube version because of the band width issues I have out here, I am on a Jackup boat as I write this mail 90 miles off the coast of Louisiana. I am often unable to listen to you tube programs. Do you offer this? Also, I enjoy your better half’s books I am waiting on the “Realms of Fire” tell her the main character Charles is way to romantic- (Ha Ha) Thanks, I await your reply, God Bless John
John: Thank you for your note! We are honored.
You make an excellent suggestion. We don’t have a print version of our study now, but producing one is great idea. We’ll work on that for 2019. At our current pace, we shoild finish the Old Testament sometime in the spring.
And Sharon says thank you! She says Charles has a lot of me in him, but she balances out the emotional stuff with Paul (Lord Aubrey), whose usual reaction to a problem is to punch it.
The worship of Sin….was sin.
Bravo, Derek & Sharon!
I have learned so much that l talk with my family about what everything you said and were l hear l have enjoyed thank God for you l can’t buy your book but l ask God to bless you