Lucifer & Mystery Babylon

LUCIFER and MYSTERY BABYLON

7/22/2018 

Background On Lucifer

The word Lucifer only occurs once in scripture and it is found in the KJV of Isaiah 14:12.  The KJV is practically the only translation containing the word “Lucifer”.

It is a Latin name that is considered to be originally translated as such by Jerome.  The scholars translating the King James Version did not use original texts but translations done largely by Jerome.

Jerome has been accused of mistranslating the Hebrew metaphoric phrase, "Day star, son of the Dawn," as "Lucifer” in his work, the Latin Vulgate. However, Jerome was not in error.  At the time of Jerome, the word “Lucifer” actually meant the planet Venus as a morning star.  Over a span of centuries a transformation among commentators and Bible teachers took place. Lucifer the morning star became a disobedient angel, cast out of heaven to rule eternally in hell. Theologians, writers, and poets interwove the myth with the doctrine of the Fall, and in Christian tradition Lucifer is now the same as Satan or the Devil.

According to a member of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati:

In the original Hebrew text, the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah is not about a fallen angel, but about a fallen Babylonian king, who during his lifetime had persecuted the children of Israel. It contains no mention of Satan, either by name or reference. The Hebrew scholar could only speculate that some early Christian scribes, writing in the Latin tongue used by the Church, had decided for themselves that they wanted the story to be about a fallen angel, a creature not even mentioned in the original Hebrew text, and to whom they gave the name "Lucifer."

In Roman astronomy, Lucifer was the name given to the morning star or the planet Venus. The morning star appears in the heavens just before dawn, heralding the rising of the sun. The name derives from the Latin term lucem ferre, bringer, or bearer, of light." In the Hebrew text the expression used to describe the so-called Babylonian king before his death is Helal, son of Shahar, which can best be translated as "Day star, son of the Dawn."

The Hebrew of Isaiah 14:12 reads: "heleyl, ben shachar" which can be literally translated as "shining one, son of dawn." This phrase means, again literally, the planet Venus when it appears as a morning star. In the Septuagint, a 3rd century BC translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek, it is translated as "heosphoros" which also means Venus as a morning star, although some LXX versions, such as Brenton’s still use the word, “Lucifer”.

The Babylonian Connection

As mentioned above, the use of Lucifer in Isaiah 14 is not an inserted prophecy about Satan or the devil but rather is about some type of disgraced Babylonian king.  The context of Isaiah 14 is clearly about the captivity of Israel by a type of Babylon, the ultimate fall of this so-called Babylonian king, and the recompense the people of Israel (and the world) will receive at the end of their captivity.

A now deceased blogger and writer, R.A. Coombes, spent most of his final years writing about and insisting that the USA, and particularly New York City, is the Mystery, Babylon of the Revelation.  He has inspired many later book writers and wannabe Bible teachers to follow the same scenario.  

It is admitted that America is infested with modern Babylonians as is Europe, Israel, and many other countries.  Mystery Babylon is a relatively modern depiction of the ancient Nebuchadnezzar Babylon, even after his full awakening to the God of Daniel as the one true God.  Like the ancient Babylon, the relatively modern one desires to conquer the world and setup a one world government; the banking system creates fiat money and then takes it from the citizens via usury; the corporations deliver flawed goods, with wealth intake as their primary goal meaning they will smash economies, destroy countries, and leave workers jobless in the pursuit of their ambitions.

Isaiah

It is estimated that Isaiah began writing his prophetic work around the 740s BC which would have been before the conquest of Israel (the northern 10 tribes) that began around 721 BC.  Although mostly ignored by the majority of commentators, Isaiah and several of the other prophets give specific and separate prophecies to either Israel or Judah or both. 

Within the book of Isaiah, Judah appears in 26 different verses, Israel in 87 verses, and Jacob in 49 different verses.  Although some prophecies were directed to Judah, the majority were concentrated to northern Israel.  Chapter 14 is a prophecy to the northern people of Israel, also known as the people of Jacob or Ephraim.

In past articles it has been related that the Israelites were deported to an area between the Black and Caspian Seas.  Ezekiel was sent by God to be a prophet and missionary to the Israelites at their deportation area.  At some point many of the deported Israelites migrated through the Caucasus mountains into the western and northern areas of Europe and received the name Caucasians.  It has been surmised that Russian people, who were earlier called the Russ, came from the northern parts of Europe and thus would also be descendants of the Israelites.  It was the Jewish Bolsheviks who killed millions of native Russians and created the Soviet Union.  The native Russians are actually Caucasians.

Although Isaiah’s writing began prior to the conquest of Israel by Assyria around 721 BC, chapter 14 appears to prophecy about the future restoration of the Israelites after they had been deported by the Assyrians.

EDITOR’S NOTE:  The Bible contains many literal facts, statements, and comments but reading the entirety as if it were exactly literal will lead to confusion and misunderstanding, particularly with prophecy.  Scripture uses many symbolic and metaphoric words to express a concept or an idea, but a literal interpretation will lead to a misinterpretation.  As an example, a statement by Jesus found in Luke 24:44 says, “…..that everything written about Me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled”.  Although Jesus stated a literal comment, can anyone find literal statements written about Jesus in the books of the Law?  No, but many symbolic and metaphoric descriptions can be found.

With that said lets tackle Isaiah 14. 

It is my belief that chapter 14 deals with the final destruction of Mystery, Babylon that results with the redemption and restoration of the people descended from the northern 10 tribes of Israel.  There are other prophetic scriptures dealing with the restoration of all people, but this particular chapter specifically speaks of the people of Jacob/Israel.

Verse 14:1 declares “The LORD will certainly have compassion on Jacob; he will again choose Israel as his special people and restore them to their land.  Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family of Jacob”.  The Lord first showed his mercy on the people of Jacob by initially offering the Gospel of the Kingdom to Judah and Benjamin through the work of Jesus Christ who was a descendant of Judah.  The apostles then took the Gospel to the gentiles (i.e. nations) who were descendants of the northern 10 tribes of Israel.  The church was then bestowed upon the Europeans (i.e. descendants of Israel).

The descendants of Israel in both Europe, the USA, Russia, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other places (along with the entire world) will soon receive a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit in preparation for the return of Jesus Christ, Who will rule the world with the elect of the Most High God as His representatives.

The next to last phrase of verse 1 NET is, “restore them to their land” whereas the wording in the KJV is, “set them in their own land” which has a somewhat different meaning.  “Restore their land” can mean that confiscated or stolen land will be returned to them as on a Jubilee year, whereas “set them” implies they will be moved to another location.

The final sentence, “Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family of Jacob” indicates that all people will be restored on an equal basis as the Israelites.

Verse 2 does not imply the Israelites will make servants of the foreigners but will “rule over the ones oppressing them” as a literal translation reads (i.e. They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them.). 

Lucifer or The King of Babylon

Verse 3 enlarges and emphasizes verse 2 with, “When the LORD gives you relief from your suffering and anxiety, and from the hard labor which you were made to perform”.  The people can then answer their former Babylonian oppressors with a taunt, “Look how the oppressor has met his end! Hostility has ceased!”  The king of Babylon is another metaphoric phrase that applies to all the Babylonians, because there is not one ruler but many.

Verses 5-8 is an accurate description of the Babylonian rulers:  the club of the wicked has been broken; nations have been struck down; the rulers ruled over nations; they oppressed nations without restraint; now the entire earth is quiet and at rest; nature has been revived.

The downfall of the Babylonian rulers is metaphorically described in verses 9-12.  The Hebrew word Sheol, which is the Hebrew abode of the dead (simply the grave) is ready and waiting for them.  The former rulers/leader may feel as if they might as well be dead.  The downfall of Mystery, Babylon causes all the former kings/rulers/leaders of the nations to depart from their positions of power (rise from their thrones).  The former rulers say to the citizens, “You have become just like us,” when in fact, they (rulers) have become like the former people who were ruled by Babylon.

Verse 11 exclaims their splendor has been put to death, as well as their luxurious lifestyle (i.e. the sound of your stringed instruments).  A further list of metaphoric descriptions concerning their plight:  You lie on a bed of maggots; there is a blanket of worms over you. 

Then we come to the KJV “Lucifer” found in verse 12.  The Babylonian rulers considered themselves equal to some type of mythic god or some bright shining light resembling the planet Venus.  They were considered world conquerors at one time but now they have been cut down to the ground.

Verses 13-14 continues the “like god” narrative having the rulers metaphorically stating: they will ascend into the sky; they will be enthroned above the star of El (i.e. any god); they will rule on the mountain of assembly (i.e. Zaphon, the Canaanite version of Olympus; the "mountain of assembly" where the gods met); they will climb to the tops of clouds; they will make themselves like the Creator God.  However, their arrogance was/will be shattered because they will be sent to Sheol or the bottomless pit.

When the power and authority of the rulers/leaders is taken from them, normal people will think to themselves:  did you really shake the earth?; did you actually make kingdoms tremble?; did you turn the world into a desert?; you actually ruined cities?; you refused to release prisoners?

Verse 18 says that traditional ancient kings were buried in splendor but the rulers will be metaphorically:  thrown from their graves; lie with the slain that were killed with a sword; they will be thrown into a mass grave like a mangled corpse.

Their children (probably their associates and like-minded people) will be executed (or removed from any semblance of power and authority to avoid having the Babylonian system reoccur.  The last phrase of verse 21 seems to claim that Babylonians instituted or desired large cities which could possibly be deconstructed in the future. 

The Babylonian system will be blotted out forever:  her people will be metaphorically destroyed; the system will be like a wilderness with wild animals and stagnant water; it will be swept away as a broom sweeps.

Summary

Only the southern nation of Judah was conquered and deported by ancient Babylon.  Prior to Judah’s capture, the northern nation of Israel had already been conquered and deported to their Black Sea destination by Assyria well before Babylon went to war with Assyria.  Isaiah 14 primarily discusses Israel and does not mention Judah. 

The king of Babylon would not be an actual king of ancient Babylon but could only be applied to the recent Mystery, Babylon as it concerned Israel (i.e. the descendants of ancient northern Israel).

Several verses specifically describe the entire earth and not a certain section of territory when it speaks of the people of the world and cities of the world.

Henry Neufeld (a Christian who comments on Biblical sticky issues) had this to say:

"this passage is often related to Satan, and a similar thought is expressed in Luke 10:18 by Jesus, that was not its first meaning. It's primary meaning is given in Isaiah 14:4 which says that when Israel is restored they will "take up this taunt against the king of Babylon . . ." Verse 12 is a part of this taunt song. This passage refers first to the fall of that earthly king...

Luke 10:18 NET So he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

In a recent post by Dr. Jones called The Power Of Mystery which can be read at The Power of Mystery Babylon , (i.e. I added “Babylon” to the title) he states that the people of the world have been blinded by God.  They are unable to see and understand the things of God apart from salvation through the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.  Mystery, Babylon is invisible to the eye and mind.  It can only be seen and understood through spiritual eyes and minds.

Blind, unspiritual commentators believe that Isaiah was prophetically discussing the restoration of Israel and then suddenly he interjects a passage about the fall of Satan because of the Latin Vulgate word “Lucifer” which was endorsed by the KJV.  This particular blinded interpretation continues.

In Luke 10 the seventy sent by Jesus had returned and they reported that demons and spirits were subject to them.  In reply, Jesus said he saw “Satan fall from heaven.”  i.e. The power of Satan had been greatly impaired because the demons under Satan’s authority were subject to the word of the disciples, apostles, and any saint of the Kingdom of God.

Luke 10:17-18 NET Then the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!" (18) So he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.