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And God continued and revealed to Abraham the course of Israel's history and the history of the whole world: The heifer of three years indicates the dominion of Babylon, the she-goat of three years stands for the empire of the Greeks, the ram of three years for the Medo-Persian power, the rule of Ishmael is represented by the ram, and Israel is the innocent dove.
But vigor of administration fell away under his successors; and Babylon, after a dominion short when compared with the long sway of Nineveh, was conquered by Cyrus, the Medo-Persian king, in 538 B.C. The last king was Nabonetus. THE CITY OF BABYLON. Babylon was a city of the highest antiquity.
It is obvious enough why he styled himself "By the Grace of God, King of the Huns and Goths," and it seems far from difficult to see why he added the names of the Medes and the Danes. His armies had been engaged in warfare against the Persian kingdom of the Sassanidæ, and it is certain that he meditated the invasion and overthrow of the Medo-Persian power.
The first beast signifies the Babylonian Empire, corresponding to the head of the image in Nebuchadnezzar's vision; the second, the Medo-Persian, corresponding to the breast and arms of silver; the third, the Grecian, corresponding to the belly and thighs of brass. The description of these beasts shows that in one sense they are successive and in another sense simultaneous.
This is the explanation given of that part of the image represented by the breast and arms of silver. This refers to the Medo-Persian empire, which, under Cyrus the Great, captured Babylon 538 B.C. and terminated the Chaldean empire. The Persian kingdom was in certain respects inferior to the Chaldean, just as silver is inferior to gold.
No doubt the frame of mind of most of them is well expressed by the Psalmist: "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea we wept when we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in the midst thereof we hanged up our harps." The Medo-Persian period began with the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, who brought the Jews under his rule.
The mighty prowess of the Medo-Persian, the power that held all the world in subjection and awe. The Grecian polish. The Roman legal acumen, and martial perfection. All these things seemed combined in this one notable man. And added to all this, there was his resistless attractiveness, his beauty of face, his grace of form, his wondrous voice, his regal air "all the world wondered after him."
He had been honoured and trusted through all the changes in the kingdom, and, when the Medo-Persian conquest came, the new monarch naturally found in him, as a foreigner, a more reliable minister than in native officials.
Rumors of the all conquering Cyrus, the Medo-Persian king, made Babylon tremble with fear, and Israel thrill with excited expectation. In the ethical and spiritual religion of the advancing Persians, the Jews might look for a bond of sympathy.
The Babylonian Empire rose to supremacy and was the dominating power when Judah went into captivity. She was the most splendid kingdom the world had ever seen. The Persian power conquered Media and the greater part of Assyria and the Medo-Persian Empire under Cyrus conquered Babylon and held almost universal sway at the time of the restoration. The Decree of Cyrus.
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