He ruled over a great kingdom reaching from India to Ethiopia. It is listed as being one hundred and twenty seven provinces. The one hundred and twenty were added to the seven when he conquered Babylon. The original seven are seen in Esther 1:14. The seven princes or governors who ruled over them are named. These men had easy access to the king as his advisers. The fact that in the day of this king there was one ruling over such a vast area of the earth. Involving so many different languages, all under one king with the nation of the Medes and Persians in power, shows us that the peoples of that time were not isolated. Therefore we can better understand that Paul was not stretching a point when he said that the gospel had been preached to every creature which is under heaven. Col. 1:23 Obviously the people of the earth heard the gospel in his day, of this his statement is quite positive. The gospel went to all the earth and the ends of the World. Rom. 10:18 Hope, to the whole world. Col.1:5-6.
A we go through this book we will try to emphasis as many of the symbols and attempt to identify their meaning as we can. From the very beginning it is interesting to note that the number one hundred twenty seven is the number of the provinces over which he ruled, and that they are divided into two sections. One hundred twenty and seven. Both are significant numbers relating to the end of the age.
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One hundred and twenty provinces with one hundred twenty satraps or governors ruling over them. The children of Israel in captivity, but in the midst of it all Daniel, the one faithful to his belief, saw the hand of the Lord exalt him in the kingdom. He was one of three presidents and of the three he was the first. Dan. 6:2.
The name Babylon means mixture, confusion. It illustrates a method used by the enemy to be victorious. Confuse, divide and conqueror. Babylon is both historic and prophetic. The confusion of man made doctrines and ideas propagated in the church of today will result in captivity to Babylon. The false church depicted in the book of Revelation. She is one of the great mysteries found in the Bible. Her falsehood is revealed in the book of Revelation. She is the mother of all that is sinful and unclean. Rev. 17:5 She is destined to be destroyed in the end of the age. Rev. 14:8 Thus we see the climax of wickedness.
The one hundred twenty years in the days of Noah depict the end of all flesh. Gen. 6:3 Now, as then there is a point of no return where the inhabitants of the earth reach the peak of unrighteousness. Imagine, the Spirit of the Lord dealt faithfully with the people in Noahís day for that extended period of time. Certainly ample warning was given them of a coming destruction such as had never happened before. So obnoxious were the actions of that generation that the Lord was sorry and grieved that He had made man and determined to destroy humanity from off the face of the earth. Gen. 6:6-7 Babylon (the nation) as well as Babylon (the false church) filled with wickedness and pride are recipients of the wrath of the Lord. Rev. 18:8-19 A person in our day who is unable to see what amounts to preliminary signs of the end of the age is both blind and chooses to ignore the fact that even scientist are warning of impending disasters.