Are the Deeds of Babylon Better Than Those of Zion?” 4 Ezra and the Delayed Punishment of Rome

CHAPTER TWO

“ARE THE DEEDS OF BABYLON BETTER THAN THOSE OF ZION?” 4 EZRA AND THE DELAYED PUNISHMENT OF ROME

The punishment which God inflicted upon Judah in 587 B.C. with the sack of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the deportation of the population to Babylon was not to be final. It lasted for a time and the Jews were restored to their land where they rebuilt both Jerusalem and the temple. Nor was the felicity enjoyed by the Babylonians destined to last. Jeremiah (30–31) details how the Lord will act on behalf of Israel when he hears their cries for mercy. Then he will break the bonds of foreign servitude and bring his people back. The book of Isaiah is replete with such assurances. The final third of the book (Isa 40–66) is devoted to the theme of Babylon’s punishment and Israel’s redemp- tion. At one point (Isa 44.21–28), God informs his people that he has swept away Israel’s sins like a cloud, thus opening the way for their return, and promises that Jerusalem will be rebuilt with a new founda- tion for the temple. Isaiah also lays out the requirements for obtaining the Lord’s for- giveness and his promised aid. Israel must put aside injustice against the hungry and the afflicted. If Israel learns to practice justice, then the Lord will rebuild the ruins of Jerusalem (Isa 58.9–14). Not only would Judah be restored, but it would be exalted above the heads of the nations. Isaiah promises that once Israel returns to its land, the nations will flock to join the house of Jacob. The nations will become slaves of Israel, who will take captive its captors and rule over its oppressors (Isa 14.1–2). The return of Israel’s fortunes is necessarily connected quite closely with the comeuppance of its oppressor. The punishment of Babylon will not be a temporary state of affairs executed with a view toward correction, as it was for Israel. Rather it will be complete and perma- nent. Jeremiah (25.11–14) records God’s promise that Israel will suffer its oppression for seventy years, after which Babylon will be cast down from its position. The king and his people will be punished for their 40 chapter two iniquity by entering into servitude for other great kings and nations, just repayment for their treatment of their neighbors. In a long dia- tribe against Babylon Jeremiah (50–51) declares that Babylon’s chas- tisement will proceed from its sins against the Lord, who will have vengeance for his temple.1 Isaiah offers many strong denunciations of Babylon threatening it with annihilation. In one prophecy Isaiah (13; cf. 14.22–23) foretells a fate akin to that of Sodom and Gomorrah: Babylon will be desolate, the haunt of wild beasts.2 One of the most pathetic pictures of chastised Babylon portrays the great city in the terrible position of a female war captive, subjected to servitude with her clothes torn off (Isa 47). The instrument of Babylon’s humiliation will be the Persian king Cyrus, the Lord’s anointed (Isa 44.28; 45.1–7). The book of Daniel (5) also offers a view of Babylon’s last days. Once King Belshazzar had a feast for his nobles. When he had drunk too much wine he called for the vessels plundered from the temple by his father to be brought out for service. Suddenly a disembodied hand appeared and wrote on the wall: MENE MENE TEKEL UPARSIN. Belshazzar was forced to call upon Daniel, the exiled Israelite turned courtier, to interpret this sign. Daniel’s answer: God has numbered the days of Belshazzar’s kingdom and brought it to an end. He has been weighed on the scale and found wanting. The kingdom would be divided between the Medes and the Persians. That very night saw the death of Belshazzar and the kingdom fell to Darius the Mede. Daniel (9.2) cited the testimony of Jeremiah that Zion would be desolate for seventy years. The Persian overthrow of Babylon culminated, from the Jewish per- spective, in the restoration of the exiles to their land and the rebuild- ing of Jerusalem and its temple. This restoration was accomplished

1 Jer 51.11: “Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the Lord, vengeance for his temple” (NRSV: used for biblical quotations throughout the present study unless otherwise noted). 2 Isa 13.19–22: “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. It will never be inhabited or lived in for all generations; Arabs will not pitch their tents there, shepherds will not make their flocks lie down there. But wild animals will lie down there, and its houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will live, and there goat-demons will dance. Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand, and its days will not be prolonged.”