God has revealed in His law the principles that underlie all true prosperity both of nations and of individuals. “This is your wisdom and your understanding,” Moses declared to the Israelites of the law of God. “It is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life.”Deuteronomy 4:6; 32:47. The blessings thus assured to Israel are, on the same conditions and in the same degree, assured to every nation and every individual under the broad heavens.
(Ed 174.1) 2 I
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The power exercised by every ruler on the earth is Heaven-imparted; and upon his use of the power thus bestowed, his success depends. To each the word of the divine Watcher is, “I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me.”Isaiah 45:5. And to each the words spoken to Nebuchadnezzar of old are the lesson of life: “Break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility.”Daniel 4:27.
(Ed 174.2)
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To understand these things,—to understand that “righteousness exalteth a nation;”(Proverbs 14:34) that “the throne is established by righteousness”(Proverbs 16:12) and “upholden by mercy” (Proverbs 20:28); to recognize the outworking of these principles in the manifestation of His power who “removeth kings, and setteth up kings” (Daniel 2:21),—this is to understand the philosophy of history.
(Ed 175.1)
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In the word of God only is this clearly set forth. Here it is shown that the strength of nations, as of individuals, is not found in the opportunities or facilities that appear to make them invincible; it is not found in their boasted greatness. It is measured by the fidelity with which they fulfill God’s purpose.
(Ed 175.2)
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An illustration of this truth is found in the history of ancient Babylon. To Nebuchadnezzar the king the true object of national government was represented under the figure of a great tree, whose height “reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: the leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all;” under its shadow the beasts of the field dwelt, and among its branches the birds of the air had their habitation. Daniel 4:11, 12. This representation shows the character of a government that fulfills God’s purpose—a government that protects and upbuilds the nation.
(Ed 175.3)
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God exalted Babylon that it might fulfill this purpose. Prosperity attended the nation until it reached a height of wealth and power that has never since been equaled—fitly represented in the Scriptures by the inspired symbol, a “head of gold.”Daniel 2:38.
(Ed 175.4)
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But the king failed of recognizing the power that had exalted him. Nebuchadnezzar in the pride of his heart said: “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?”Daniel 4:30.
(Ed 175.5)
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Instead of being a protector of men, Babylon became a proud and cruel oppressor. The words of Inspiration picturing the cruelty and greed of rulers in Israel reveal the secret of Babylon’s fall and of the fall of many another kingdom since the world began: “Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.”Ezekiel 34:3, 4.
(Ed 176.1)
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To the ruler of Babylon came the sentence of the divine Watcher: O king, “to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.”Daniel 4:31.
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“Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, Sit on the ground: there is no throne.... Sit thou silent, And get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; For thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.”Isaiah 47:1-5.
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“O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, Thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness,”Jeremiah 51:13.
(Ed 176.4)
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“Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, The beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, Shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.”Isaiah 13:19.
(Ed 176.5)
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Every nation that has come upon the stage of action has been permitted to occupy its place on the earth, that it might be seen whether it would fulfill the purpose of “the Watcher and the Holy One.”Daniel 4:13. Prophecy has traced the rise and fall of the world’s great empires—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. With each of these, as with nations of less power, history repeated itself. Each had its period of test, each failed, its glory faded, its power departed, and its place was occupied by another.
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