Most Christian’s believe that, according to Scripture, Christ was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem of Judea and from that this was a fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14. Fewer people are aware that this was not the first prophecy in Scripture that pointed to the supernatural birth of a man through a woman. In Genesis 3:15, God told the serpent that deceived Eve that He would “put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” By referring to the seed as ‘her seed’, it was understood that the one who would destroy the work of the serpent would be born without the involvement of man.
From studying ancient documents, Alexander Hislop, in his classic work “The Two Babylons” (1858), demonstrated that, after Noah’s flood, mankind was well aware of this prophecy and used it in ancient Babylon in the creation of idolatry and false worship. The originator of idolatry, he said, was Cush, the father of Nimrod, who is traditionally considered to be the builder of the Tower of Babel.
Also of note, according to Hislop, “While overlaid with idolatry, the recognition of a Trinity was universal in all the ancient nations of the world, proving how deep-rooted in the human race was the primeval doctrine on this subject, which comes out so distinctly in Genesis.” This knowledge of ancient man is in full agreement with Paul’s opening chapter of Romans where he wrote, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.” (Romans 1:21-23).
He also quotes another ancient writer (Hyginus) that noted: “For many ages men lived under Jove (Jehovah?), without cities and without laws and all speaking one language.”
Hislop says that it was Semiramis, Nimrod’s wife, who originated goddess worship. She claimed to have given birth to a son, Tammuz (see Ezekiel 8:14), who was supposedly conceived by a sun beam. When he was violently killed, she claimed that he was the seed of the woman. This teaching propelled the practice of the worship of the mother and the child found in so many of the pagan religions of the ancient world.
Just as the mother and child were worshipped in Babylon as Semiramis and Tammuz, in Egypt they were worshipped under the names Isis and Osiris; in Phoenicia, Ashtoreth and Baal; in India, Isi and Iswara; in Asia, Cybele and Deoius: in Pagan Rome, Fortuna and Jupiter; and in Greece as Irene and Plutus. Jesuit missionaries were shocked to find this practice when first evangelizing Tibet, China and Japan. While there are many that discredit this book, it is well documented for its time. If what he details is true, it seems to confirm one thing, and provide possible confirmation for a second also.
First, it confirms that in the earliest times, the world knew God, rejected Him and instead went into idolatry; so that they were without excuse, just as Romans 1 declares. The second has to do with the ‘coincidence’ of finding the same worship practices of the mother and the child that commenced in Babylon and in so many other ancient religions throughout the world, though always under different names. If my understanding of Hislop’s book is correct, this would provide confirmation that God did indeed come down to see the tower of Babel, confuse the people’s languages and scatter the people, as it says in Genesis 11:1-9? Imagine that.
For God’s glory and His alone,
Pastor Terry.