Doing Business in Babylon | H. Dennis Tolley | 2013

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What does it mean to be "in the world, but not of the world?" The line between Zion and Babylon is fuzzy, and only we know which city we truly belong to.

This speech was given on May 13, 2003.

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"Several years ago I visited an isolated oasis deep in the Gobi Desert in China. Some 80 miles from the nearest town, the oasis was in a small canyon that had been occupied by a handful of Buddhist monks for hundreds of years. In this incredibly isolated spot, the monks could avoid the temptations of the world and focus only on Buddhist teachings. In Latter-day Saint terms, these monks were trying to flee Babylon.

Most of us have elected not to dwell in total isolation but to live in the civilized world. This decision requires us to interact daily with the world and to face the challenge of doing business in Babylon even as we attempt to follow the Lord’s command to “go . . . out . . . from Babylon, from the midst of wickedness” (D&C 133:14).

Babylon the Great

In the scriptures the Lord uses the words Babylon and Zion to refer to two archetypes of our temporal existence.1 Babylon represents the world, and Zion represents the pure in heart. But how did Babylon become the name for the archetypal rival to Zion?

The city of Babylon predates Abraham. Located in modern-day southern Iraq, it was a thriving commercial center for more than 17 centuries. At its height it was the capital of a vast empire covering much of the Middle East. In about the fourth century B.C., the splendor and wealth of the city began to fade until, in about the second century A.D., Babylon ceased to exist. By ceased to exist, I mean it disappeared. Only piles of rubble and ruin remained. Until the last century, knowledge of the actual city was preserved only in the Bible and in a few references made by ancient historians.

In its prime, Babylon had two features that were, at different times, counted among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—the Hanging Gardens and the city’s great exterior walls.2 The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were described as a series of arches arranged in a theater-like manner and ascending to the height of a seven-story building. This construction included 16-foot-long stone beams to bear the weight of the different tiers and a hydraulic system to pump water to the top of the structure, from whence it coursed through the gardens. The stone beams and parts of what scholars believe to be the hydraulic pump system were discovered about 100 years ago.3

The ancient historian Herodotus noted that the walls of Babylon were 335 feet high and 85 feet wide. The walls surrounded an approximately square city with a circumference of about 56 miles, according to Herodotus.4 One could fit BYU, Mapleton, Benjamin, Pleasant Grove, Geneva Steel, and everything in between within the walls described by Herodotus. One could drive two full-sized Hummers side-by-side atop the wall.

Scholars today believe that the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar was a walled city the size of New York5 with a population of 250,000 or more.6 Scaling down Herodotus’ dimensions, modern archaeologists say the walls were actually about five stories tall (about 50 feet)7 and about 90 feet thick at the base,8 while the inner city covered an area of about 2,100 acres.9

Herodotus also described the great temple Etemenanki, translated as “The House of the Foundations of Heaven and Earth,” which many feel was the Tower of Babel.10 “The sanctuary of the deity, on the top floor, had doors inlaid with ivory and beams lined with gold.”11 From the rubble heap representing the probable site of this great tower, the local residents have been removing the best brick for several centuries to build dams and more modern buildings. Even so, the rubble heap currently is a mound of broken brick and debris approximately seven stories high.12 Evidence suggests that the tower was approximately 30 stories tall and could be seen from 60 miles away.13

The Babylonian Legacy..."