The ruins of
Nineveh lie buried beneath the sands of modern-day Mosul, a silent testament to
the fragility of human power and the temporal nature of powerful empires. This reminds
me of Ozymandias by Shelley,
“And
on the pedestal these words appear:
"My
name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look
on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing
beside remains. Round the decay
Of
that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The
lone and level sands stretch far away.”[1]
The Assyrian
Empire, the one-time undisputed superpower of the ancient Near East, collapsed
with stunning speed. For the biblical prophets, however, this was no historical
accident. It was the judgement of God, a divine act. While the world often
attributes the fall of nations to economic collapse or military defeat, the
Scriptures offer a different underlying cause; empires fall when they become
full of themselves and fall into pride in their own strength and abilities.
The Assyrians,
for example, were proud of their conquests and their victories. Every empire
is. We read in Zephaniah 2:15 about Nineveh, “15 This is the exultant city that
lived securely, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is no one else.” What
a desolation she has become, a lair for wild beasts! Everyone who passes by her
hisses and shakes his fist.” Zephaniah captures the heart of Assyria's fatal arrogance.
What does the statement, “I am” mean? In the book of Isaiah, this almost exact
phrasing, “I am, and there is no other,” is the exclusive claim of the Lord God
(Isa. 45:5-6). Only he can claim to be the one who is above all others. By
placing this divine claim in the mouth of Nineveh, Zephaniah is not just
accusing them of idolatry; he is accusing them of Luciferian pride. They aren't
merely boasting; they are actively usurping the sovereignty of the Lord Creator.
The Assyrians thought they were gods, indeed, they are placing themselves in
the position of THE God. Assyria had become proud of its evil, confident of its
victories, enamoured with its own glory. They worshipped themselves.
Every empire
becomes like this just before it starts to fall and decline. It becomes proud,
arrogant, boastful, and overconfident. This overconfidence is part of what
leads to its fall. Not simply because they become sloppy in battle, though this
often does happen. But because as we learn in the prophets, pride provokes the living
God to judgment. Empires do not merely fall as a natural consequence of bad
decision-making, God intervenes in their destiny. God actively “cuts down” the
towering tree (Ezekiel 31:10-11) because He “opposes the proud” (James 4:6). Empires
that lean into their pride face divine resistance to their own strength and prosperity.
The reason
this hubris causes an empire to fall is because pride causes people, leaders
and nations, to trust in their own abilities and strengths. As Ezekiel notes
about the heart of the Assyrians, “10 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because
it towered high and set its top among the clouds, and its heart was proud of
its height,…” (Eze. 31:10). The
Babylonian Empire learned this lesson too when King Nebuchadnezzar looked at
his kingdom and boasted, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built...?”
Immediately, his reason departed and he was driven into the fields to eat grass
(Dan. 4:30-33). God will not share His glory with a human ruler or a human
kingdom. Many people refuse to learn this lesson.
This pride
also leads these powers to think they can do whatever they want. They think
they are like God, so why should they not act however they want? Is that not what
it means to “be like God”? This is part of what causes them to fall into
foolish and evil behaviours, specifically things like extreme cruelty,
violence, and the oppression of the vulnerable (see Nahum 3:1, "Woe to the
city of blood"). Empires that think they are God will believe they can
dehumanize their enemies and treat them however they like. They, of course, set
the standards and terms, right? Their fall is judgment for how they
treated others, not just how they thought about themselves. But these
two things are intricately connected. Pride of position leads to evil action.
This is why
every empire falls, because they all fall into these same patterns of strength,
pride in their own strength, believing they can act like God as the judge and
executioner of all according to their will, and that their cruelty is
justified, therefore they can act as they will and not be held to the same
account as the nations they vent their fury on. God looks at this, sees a nation,
or people, who have sought to usurp his place, and he removes his favour from
them, and humiliation and collapse results. From the natural you would look at
this and see a corrupted empire, seeking to enforce its will on people and
failing. In the spiritual you see the same results of pride that have been
recorded since time immemorial.
The warning
of Zephaniah and Ezekiel is not confined to the dust of ancient Mesopotamia.
Every superpower, from Rome to Britain to the contemporary global powers like
the USA, faces the same temptations and falls into the same patterns. The
United States is one example of this today. How often have its leaders condemned
other nations for invading others and dealing violence, and then turned around
and argued its own invasions and violence were thoroughly justified? Like other
world powers it often fails to live by its own moral code. This is because of
the same pride that other world powers, like Britain, France, and others, have
fallen into. This is the consistent pattern. When a nation begins to rely on
its military prowess, its economic strength, or its technological advancement
as its ultimate security, it has already begun the slide toward ruin. God giveth
and God taketh away.
We live in an
age of unprecedented human achievement. Yet, the greatest danger facing any
modern empire is not a rival nation or a shifting economy; it is the
existential risk of believing the lie, “I am, and there is no one else.”
Nor, should the nations that oppose corrupted empires be confused with always
being the good guys. They might be just as wicked in many ways, and if they
walk forward in pride they will fall into the exact same errors.
This is as
true of individuals as it is of empires. Behind every abusive man is the same
sort of pattern of pride. Behind every abusive woman is the same thing.
Wherever we have authority we must never forget that it is a delegated
authority that will ultimately be judged by the Lord God. We are never the
ultimate authority. Even if you were to rise to the highest place in the world you
would still not be the ultimate authority. God is the only one who can rightly claim,
“I am, and there is no one else!” All else who fall into the lie of believing
they can claim this will bring his ire.
Repent, he is
merciful to the repentant who will humble themselves. But the proud, they are
in trouble.
List of
References
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