Page 9 - The Minor Prophets - Student textbook

Study Section 2: Babylon, Persia, Edom, Moab

2.1 Connect

Have you heard the story about the feast where a hand started writing on the wall
informing the Babylonians that they were going to be conquered that night? We have all
heard the stories of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel was thrown in a
lion’s den and Shadrach and his friends were cast into a fiery furnace. These Bible stories
occurred in foreign nations that had conquered Israel and Judah. But to fully understand
these and other stories, we really need to understand some information about these great
empires that controlled the vast amount of land in the Middle East during the time that the prophets
wrote. Also, as we read through the Minor Prophets, we will hear them talking about impending
judgment coming from God to these foreign powers. So let’s learn some more about them so we can
better understand the Minor Prophets.

2.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to trace the history of Babylonia, Persia, Edom, and Moab as
they relate to Israel from 900 BCE to around 400 BCE.

2. The student should be able to carefully describe the Babylonian empire and how it treated
those whom it brought under subjugation.

3. The student should be able to carefully describe the Persian empire and how it treated those whom
it brought under subjugation.

4. The student should be able to describe how Edom and Moab interfaced with Israel and God’s
response to their actions.

2.3 Babylonia (851 BCE– 536 BCE)

https://www.gotquestions.org/Babylonian-empire.html

Babylon rose from a Mesopotamian
city on the Euphrates River to become
a powerful city-state and later the
capital city and namesake of one of
the greatest empires in history. The city was
located on the eastern side of the Fertile Crescent
about 55 miles south of modern Baghdad.
Babylon’s history intersected the biblical timeline
early and often. The influence of Babylonia on
Israel and on world history is profound.

The Bible’s first mention of Babylon comes
in Genesis 10. This chapter is referred to as the table of nations as it traces the descendants
of Noah’s three sons. In the genealogy of Ham, “Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a

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