Yet, that is what happened with ancient Babylon.

How would you respond if someone told you that a major capital-such as Beijing, Moscow, or Washington, D.C.-would become an uninhabited ruin? You would rightly be skeptical. Noted archaeologist Nelson Glueck once said: “I have excavated for thirty years with a Bible in one hand and a trowel in the other, and in matters of historical perspective I have never found the Bible to be in error.” The book Mesopotamian Astrology tells us that at just one site in ancient Babylon, archaeologists found “32 liver models, all inscribed” with omens. Why the liver? The Babylonians used this organ in quest of omens. The king “looked into the liver,” the Bible says.

For example, at Ezekiel 21:21, we read that the king of Babylon resorted to divination in order to determine whether to attack Jerusalem. History also shows that ancient Babylon was an extremely religious city, rife with astrology and divination. The cuneiform inscription on one cylinder included a prayer by Babylonian King Nabonidus for “Bel-sar-ussur, my eldest son.” Later findings confirmed that Belshazzar had “acted as regent for more than half his father’s reign,” states the New Bible Dictionary, “during which time he was to all intents and purposes king.” Was the Bible wrong? Archaeologists have uncovered a number of clay cylinders in the ruins of Ur in Mesopotamia. ( Daniel 5:1) However, some secular sources have stated in the past that Belshazzar, though powerful, was never king. The Bible book of Daniel tells us that a man by the name of Belshazzar once ruled as king in Babylon.

Babylon map