A new and remarkable part of the fourth great section of the Apocalypse here opens, but one full of melancholy. We cannot enlarge upon it now before we have determined the meaning of ‘Babylon.' Let it be enough to say that under the name of that city we shall find represented the degenerate Church o... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:1. One of the seven angels that had the seven bowls speaks to the Seer, saying, COME HITHER, I WILL SHOW THEE THE JUDGMENT OF THE GREAT HARLOT THAT SITTETH UPON MANY WATERS. The judgment spoken of, as appears by the word used in the original, is judgment executed, not in process of exe... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:2. WITH WHOM THE KINGS OF THE EARTH COMMITTED FORNICATION. ‘Kings' are the representatives of all authority; and ‘the earth' is the guilty world. AND THEY THAT DWELL UPON THE EARTH WERE MADE DRUNKEN WITH THE WINE OF HER FORNICATION. Not the kings only but all ‘the inhabiters of the e... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:3. AND HE CARRIED ME AWAY IN SPIRIT INTO A WILDERNESS. The expression ‘he carried me away in spirit' is found only here and at chap. Revelation 21:10, where the vision of the New Jerusalem is introduced. It denotes spiritual ecstasy, not bodily removal; but it may be intended to do thi... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:4. AND THE WOMAN WAS ARRAYED IN PURPLE AND SCARLET, AND GILDED WITH GOLD AND PRECIOUS ATONE AND PEARLS. In these words we have a general description of the woman's royal magnificence (comp chap. Revelation 18:16). ‘Arrayed' is more than adorned. She has not merely ornaments of gold and... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:5. AND UPON HER FOREHEAD A NAME WRITTEN, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. The word ‘mystery' may be understood either as a part of the name, or as an intimation of the writer that the name is to be understood symbolically. The... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:6. The description of the ungovernable fierceness of the woman's spirit is continued. She drinks, and makes herself drunk with the blood of the saints and of the martyrs of Jesus (comp, chap. Revelation 18:24). Having finished his description the Seer adds, AND WHEN I SAW HER I WONDERE... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:7. The angel proceeds to explain what St. John had seen, taking the two parts of the vision in inverted order; first, the beast (Revelation 17:8-14), and secondly, the woman (Revelation 17:15-18).... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:8. THE BEAST THAT THOU SAWEST WAS, AND IS NOT, AND IS ABOUT TO ASCEND OUT OF THE ABYSS, AND TO GO INTO PERDITION. Whatever may be the difficulty of interpreting these words, one thing is clear, that they contain no reference to Nero or any supposed rising of his from the grave. We saw... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:10. AND THEY ARE SEVEN KINGS. The heads are seven kings (not personal kings, comp. on chap. Revelation 13:2) or powers, the world-power being thus again regarded in the sevenfoldness of its unity. Every attempt to understand by these ‘kings' Roman Emperors or Procurators, or Roman form... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:11. AND THE BEAST THAT WAS AND IS NOT IS HIMSELF ALSO AN EIGHTH, AND IS OF THE SEVEN; AND HE GOETH INTO PERDITION. What is here said is said not of a new ‘head' but of ‘the beast,' and this beast is to be identified with that of Revelation 17:8. With a slight exception the description... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:12. The ‘heads' have been explained: we come next to the horns. These horns are all connected with the seventh head; they are gathered together upon it, and are a substitute for it (see on chap. Revelation 13:1). They are now explained to be TEN KINGS, _i.e_ not personal kings, but kin... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:13. THESE HAVE ONE MIND, AND THEY GIVE THEIR POWER AND AUTHORITY UNTO THE BEAST. So had it been with the second beast (chap. Revelation 13:12), and so with the harlot (chap. Revelation 17:3; Revelation 17:7). The brute power of the world could of itself effect nothing were it not serve... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:14. In this verse the war of the ten kings with the Lamb is described, but it is unnecessary to dwell upon it. It may he noticed that the statement of the last half of the verse is not that of the Authorised Version, that the Lamb shall overcome because they that are with Him are calle... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:15. The fourfold designation of those who constitute the WATERS spoken of in this verse is a clear proof that the harlot exercises her sway over the _whole world,_ in travesty of Him ‘who sitteth upon the flood,' who ‘sitteth King for ever' (Psalms 29:10).... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:16. AND THE TEN HORNS WHICH THOU SAWEST AND THE BEAST. The ten horns and the beast are mentioned in combination because the latter is the essence of the former, and the former are the expression of the latter. THESE SHALL HATE THE HARLOT, AND SHALL MAKE HER DESOLATE AND NAKED, AND SHA... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:17. FOR GOD GAVE IT INTO THEIR HEARTS TO DO HIS MIND, AND TO BE OF ONE MIND, AND TO GIVE THEIR KINGDOM UNTO THE BEAST. This ‘giving' of authority to the beast we have already met with in Revelation 17:13; and in Revelation 17:12 it has been intimated that the ten kings held their autho... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:18. AND THE WOMAN WHICH THOU SAWEST IS THE GREAT CITY WHICH HATH A KINGDOM OVER THE KINGS OF THE EARTH. That Rome may be here present to the mind of St. John it would be difficult to deny. We have seen that Rome may have been thought of in Revelation 17:9. But that we are to confine ou... [ Continue Reading ]