One of the seven wonders of the world is the infamous Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The significance of these gardens are quite different between unbeliever and believer, as well as Jew and Gentile. For most, they might appear to be glorious, beautiful, and once full of life in the ancient world. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, however, can be seen as something quite symbolic. Babylon was a powerful empire that threatened all around it and God used Babylon as punishment on Israel because they lived in constant rebellion. Babylon was the epitome of a pagan nation, as they bowed to false idols, treated people as if they were not human, and dominated the ancient world without mercy. Like its gardens, it once flourished. It was powerful, and as far as cities go, it was beautiful. This is where Israel spent years upon years in exile. It was not beautiful to them, but a prison. Some took on the lifestyle of Babylonians, others wished deeply for their true home. The glory and power of Babylon could not stand against Yahweh, and He destroyed it. What was once a flourishing nation now sits in ruins in the Middle East.

I chose this topic because of my love for the Old Testament and prophetic books in Scripture, and I love to make the difficult passages more tangible and understandable for others. The goal was to create a smaller version of the empire with a focus on the Gardens, but design it in a way that death and destruction is almost crawling up into it.