Babylon, the Head of Gold

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 14, 1907

Babylon, the Head of Gold

“‘This image’s head was of fine gold’ (verse 32), which Daniel interprets (verse 38), ‘Thou art this head of gold,’ thou, and thy family, and thy representatives. The Babylonian therefore was the first of these kingdoms; and it was fitly represented by the ‘head of fine gold,’ on account of its great riches; and Babylon for the same reason was called by Isaiah (Isa. 14:4) ‘the golden city.’ The Assyrian is usually said to be the first of the four great empires; and the name may be allowed to pass, if it be not taken too strictly. For the Assyrian empire, properly so called, was dissolved before this time; the Babylonian was erected in its stead; but the Babylonians are sometimes called Assyrians in the best classic authors, Herodotus, Xenophon, Strabo, and others, as well as in the Holy Scriptures.”—“Dissertations on the Prophecies,” by Thomas Newton, D. D., London, 1840, page 206.