Commentari biblici

Analysis Of The Chapter

This chapter Revelation 18 may be regarded as a still further "explanatory episode" (compare analysis to chapter 17), designed to show the effect of pouring out the seventh vial Revelation 16:17-21 on the formidable anti-Christian power so often referred to. The description in this chapter is that of a rich merchant-city reduced to desolation, and is but carrying out the general idea under a different form. The chapter comprises the following points:

(1) Another angel is seen descending from heaven, having great power, and making proclamation that Babylon the great is fallen, and is become utterly desolate, Revelation 18:1-3.

(2) a warning voice is heard from heaven, calling on the people of God to come out of her, and to be partakers neither of her sins nor her plagues. Her torment and sorrow would be proportionate to her pride and luxury; and her plagues would come upon her suddenly; death, and mourning, and famine, and consumption by fire, Revelation 18:4-8.

(3) lamentation over her fall - by those especially who had been connected with her; who had been corrupted by her; who had been profited by her, Revelation 18:9-19;

(a) By kings, Revelation 18:9-10. They had lived deliciously with her, and they would lament her.

(b) By merchants, Revelation 18:11-17. They had trafficked with her, but now that traffic was to cease, and no man would buy of her. Their business, so far as she was concerned, was at an end. All that she had accumulated was now to be destroyed; all her gathered riches were to be consumed; all the traffic in those things by which she had been enriched was to be ended; and the city that was more than all others enriched by these things, as if clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, was to be destroyed forever.

(c) By ship-masters and seamen, Revelation 18:17-19. They had been made rich by this traffic, but now all was ended; the smoke of her burning is seen to ascend, and they stand afar off and weep.

(4) rejoicing over her fall, Revelation 18:20. Heaven is called upon to rejoice, and the holy apostles and prophets, for their blood is avenged, and persecution ceases in the earth.

(5) the final destruction of the city, Revelation 18:21-24. A mighty angel takes up a stone and casts it into the sea as an emblem of the destruction that is to come upon it. The voice of harpers, and musicians, and pipers would be heard no more in it; and no craftsmen would lye there, and the sound of the millstone would be heard no more, and the light of a candle would shine no more there, and the voice of the bridegroom and bride would be heard no more.

And after these things - After the vision referred to in the previous chapter.

I saw another angel come down from heaven - Different from the one that had last appeared, and therefore coming to make a new communication to him. It is not unusual in this book that different communications should be entrusted to different angels. Compare Revelation 14:6, Revelation 14:8-9, Revelation 14:15, Revelation 14:17-18.

Having great power - That is, he was one of the higher rank or order of angels.

And the earth was lightened with his glory - The usual representation respecting the heavenly beings. Compare Exodus 24:16; Matthew 17:2; Luke 2:9; Acts 9:3. This would, of course, add greatly to the magnificence of the scene.

And he cried mightily - Literally, "he cried with a strong great voice." See Revelation 10:3.

Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen - See the notes on Revelation 14:8. The proclamation here is substantially the same as in that place, and no doubt the same thing is referred to.

And is become the habitation of devils - Of demons - in allusion to the common opinion that the demons inhabited abandoned cities, old ruins, and deserts. See the notes on Matthew 12:43-45. The language here is taken from the description of Babylon in Isaiah 13:20-22; and for a full illustration of the meaning, see the notes on that passage.

And the hold of every foul spirit - φυλακὴ phulakē. A watch-post, station, haunt of such spirits - That is, they, as it were, kept guard there; were stationed there; haunted the place.

And a cage of every unclean and hateful bird - That is, they would resort there, and abide there as in a cage. The word translated "cage" is the same which is rendered "hold" - φυλακὴ phulakē. In Isaiah 13:21, it is said, "and owls shall dwell there"; and in Isaiah 14:23, it is said that it would be a "possession for the bittern." The idea is that of utter desolation; and the meaning here is, that spiritual Babylon - papal Rome Revelation 14:8 - will be reduced to a state of utter desolation resembling that of the real Babylon. It is not necessary to suppose this of the city of Rome itself - for that is not the object of the representation. It is the papacy, represented under the image of the city, and having its seat there. That is to be destroyed as utterly as was Babylon of old; that will become as odious, and loathsome, and detestable as the literal Babylon, the abode of monsters is.

For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication - See the notes on Revelation 14:8. This is given as a reason why this utter ruin had come upon her. She had beguiled and corrupted the nations of the earth, leading them into estrangement from God, and into pollution and sin. See the notes on Revelation 9:20-21.

And the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her - Spiritual adultery; that is, she has been the means of seducing them from God and leading them into sinful practices.

And the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies - The word rendered "abundance" here, means commonly "power." It might here denote influence, though it may also mean number, quantity, wealth. Compare Revelation 3:8, where the same word is used. The word rendered "delicacies" - στρῆνους strēnous - occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It properly means rudeness, insolence, pride; and hence "revel, riot, luxury." It may be rendered here properly as "luxury," or "proud voluptuousness"; and the reference is to such luxuries as are found commonly in a great, a frivolous, and a splendid city. These, of course, give rise to much traffic, and furnish employment to many merchants and sailors, who thus procure a livelihood, or become wealthy as the result of such traffic. Babylon - or papal Rome - is here represented under the image of such a luxurious city; and of course, when she falls, they who have thus been dependent on her, and who have been enriched by her, have occasion for mourning and lamentation. It is not necessary to expect to find a literal fulfillment of this, for it is emblematic and symbolical. The image of a great, rich, splendid, proud and luxurious city having been employed to denote that anti-Christian power, all that is said in this chapter follows, of course, on its fall. The general idea is, that she was doomed to utter desolation, and that all who were connected with her, far and near, would be involved in her ruin.

And I heard another voice from heaven - He does not say whether this was the voice of an angel, but the idea seems rather to be that it is the voice of God.

Come out of her, my people - The reasons for this, as immediately stated, are two:

(a) that they might not participate in her sins; and,

(b) that they might not be involved in the ruin that would come upon her.

The language seems to be derived from such passages in the Old Testament as the following: "Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing," Isaiah 48:20. "Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity," Jeremiah 51:6. "My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord," Jeremiah 51:45. Compare Jeremiah 50:8.

That ye be not partakers of her sins - For the meaning of this expression, see the notes on 1 Timothy 5:22. It is implied here that by remaining in Babylon they would lend their sanction to its sins by their presence, and would, in all probability, become contaminated by the influence around them. This is an universal truth in regard to iniquity, and hence it is the duty of those who would be pure to come out from the world, and to separate themselves from all the associations of evil.

And that ye receive not of her plagues - Of the punishment that was to come upon her - as they must certainly do if they remained in her. The judgment of God that was to come upon the guilty city would make no discrimination among those who were found there; and if they would escape these woes they must make their escape from her. As applicable to papal Rome, in view of her impending ruin, this means:

(a) that there might be found in her some who were the true people of God;

(b) that it was their duty to separate wholly from her - a command that will not only justify the Reformation, but which would have made a longer continuance in communion with the papacy, when her wickedness was fully seen, an act of guilt before God;

(c) that they who remain in such a communion cannot but be regarded as partaking of her sin; and,

(d) that if they remain, they must expect to be involved in the calamities that will come upon her. There never was any duty plainer than that of withdrawing from papal Rome; there never has been any act attended with more happy consequences than that by which the Protestant world separated itself forever from the sins and the plagues of the papacy.

For her sins have reached unto heaven - So in Jeremiah 51:9, speaking of Babylon, it is said, "For her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies." The meaning is not that the sins of this mystical Babylon were like a mass or pile so high as to reach to heaven, but that it had become so prominent as to attract the attention of God. Compare Genesis 4:10, "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." See also Genesis 18:20.

And God hath remembered her iniquities - He had seemed to forget them, or not to notice them, but now he acted as if they had come to his recollection. See the notes on Revelation 16:19.

Reward her even as she rewarded you - It is not said to whom this command is addressed, but it would seem to be to those who had been persecuted and wronged. Applied to mystical Babylon - papal Rome - it would seem to be a call on the nations that had been so long under her sway, and among whom, from time to time, so much blood had been shed by her, to arise now in their might, and to inflict deserved vengeance. See the notes on Revelation 17:16-17.

And double unto her double according to her works - That is, bring upon her double the amount of calamity which she has brought upon others; take ample vengeance upon her. Compare for similar language, Isaiah 40:2, "She hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." "For your shame ye shall have double," Isaiah 61:7.

In the cup which she hath filled - To bring wrath on others. See the notes at Revelation 14:8.

Fill to her double - Let her drink abundantly of the wine of the wrath of God - double what she has dealt out to others. That is, either let the quantity administered to her be doubled, or let the ingredients in the cup be doubled in intensity.

How much she hath glorified herself - Been proud, boastful, arrogant. This was true of ancient Babylon, that she was proud and haughty; and it has been no less true of mystical Babylon - papal Rome.

And lived deliciously - By as much as she has lived in luxury and dissoluteness, so let her suffer now. The word used here and rendered "lived deliciously" - ἐστρηνίασεν estrēniasen - is derived from the noun - στρῆνος strēnos - which is used in Revelation 18:3, and rendered "delicacies." See the notes on that verse. It means properly, "to live strenuously, rudely," as in English, "to live hard"; and then to revel, to live in luxury, riot, dissoluteness. No one can doubt the propriety of this as descriptive of ancient Babylon, and as little can its propriety be doubted as applied to papal Rome.

So much torment and sorrow give her - Let her punishment correspond with her sins. This is expressing substantially the same idea which occurs in the previous verse.

For she saith in her heart - This is the estimate which she forms of herself.

I sit a queen - Indicative of pride, and of an asserted claim to rule.

And am no widow - Am not in the condition of a widow - a state of depression, sorrow, and mourning. All this indicates security and self-confidence, a description in every way applicable to papal Rome.

And shall see no sorrow - This is indicative of a state where there was nothing feared, notwithstanding all the indications which existed of approaching calamity. In this state we may expect to find papal Rome, even when its last judgments are about to come upon it; in this state it has usually been; in this state it is now, notwithstanding all the indications that are abroad in the world that its power is waning, and that the period of its fall approaches.