Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Revelation 17:16

ἐν πυρί. Tisch[614] omits ἐν with אB2P

[614] Tischendorf: eighth edition; where the text aud notes differ the latter are cited.

16. καὶ τὸ θηρίον. He (in his personal advent) and they will act together against Babylon as well as the Lamb.

μισήσουσιν τὴν πόρνην. If the interpreters who include the horns among the kings of the earth are right, she had been the object of their unchaste love, and will be of their passionate regret, Revelation 18:9. Nero’s treatment of his mistress or wife Poppaea cannot be alluded to, but is a good illustration of the image, and vindication of its consistency with vicious human nature.

γυμνήν. Cf. Isaiah 47:2-3; Ezekiel 16:37-39.

τὰς σάρκας αὐτῆς φάγονται, καὶ αὐτὴν κατακαύσουσιν ἐν πυρί. Cf. Micah 3:2; Genesis 38:24; Judges 15:6; i.e. shall plunder and burn Rome. The threat was symbolised and almost fulfilled in the burning of the Capitol by the partisans of Vitellius, and the storming of Rome by those of Vespasian: it received a more complete fulfilment in the repeated disasters of the fifth century. The sack of Rome by Constable Bourbon and the Germans was a less striking fulfilment: but the real and final one is no doubt still to come.

We should naturally understand from these words, that the judgement on Babylon described in the next chapter will be executed by the “kings of the earth,” the ten States among which the Roman Empire is partitioned. But it is almost as remarkable as the view of Hippolytus noted on Revelation 17:12, that St Benedict is recorded (S. Greg. Dial. II. 15) to have said, “Rome will not be destroyed by the nations, but be overthrown by thunderstorms, whirlwinds and earthquakes.” We know what he did not, that Rome stands, like Pompeii, on volcanic soil, within a few miles of volcanoes that, though not active now, were so to the verge of historical times, and may be again. This book does not tell us positively how Babylon will fall, and no one has the right to pretend to say: but it is at least suggestive to know that it might fall by a convulsion which unbelievers would think quite “natural,” while believers would see its place in the scheme of providence.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Revelation 17:16

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