“Go Ye Forth of Babylon”

D. Kelly Ogden, Andrew C. Skinner

“Go ye forth of Babylon”—in one of our hymns we sing about the importance of bidding Babylon farewell; on the eve of Babylon’s destruction we have a new exodus, a type of the old. Doctrine and Covenants 133:14 certainly refers to a spiritual exodus, but could it also be referring to a physical exodus? Unlikely. Our God wants us to flee from the spiritual wickedness around us but not isolate ourselves physically from the rest of humankind. We have to stay among them to show them the way, to be a light to all people. Ralph Waldo Emerson made an interesting observation: “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” 56

Verse by Verse: The Book of Mormon: Vol. 1

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