With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
2. with whom the kings, &c.] Isa 23:17.
the inhabiters &c.] Jer 51:7.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication – Spiritual adultery. The meaning is, that papal Rome, unfaithful to God, and idolatrous and corrupt, had seduced the rulers of the earth, and led them into the same kind of unfaithfulness, idolatry, and corruption. Compare Jer 3:8-9; Jer 5:7; Jer 13:27; Jer 23:14; Eze 16:32; Eze 23:37; Heb 2:2; Heb 4:2. How true this is in history need not be stated. All the princes and kings of Europe in the dark ages, and for many centuries were, and not a few of them are now, entirely under the influence of papal Rome.
And the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication – The alluring cup which, as an harlot, she had extended to them. See this image explained in the notes on Rev 14:8. There it is said that Babylon – referring to the same thing – had made them drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication; that is, of the cup that led to wrath or punishment. Here it is said that the harlot had made them drunk with the wine of her fornication; that is, they had been, as it were, intoxicated by the alluring cup held out to them. What could better describe the influence of Rome on the people of the world, in making them, under these delusions, incapable of sober judgment, and in completely fascinating and controlling all their powers?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.] What an awful picture this is of the state of the religion of the world in subjection to this whore! Kings have committed spiritual fornication with her, and their subjects have drunk deep, dreadfully deep, into the doctrine of her abominable errors.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication; with which great whore several princes of the world have committed spiritual fornication, receiving her idolatrous worship, yielding to her authority, and following her example.
And the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with, the wine of her fornication; and not the kings only of the earth, but the generality of the people, have been influenced with a mad heat, and with the wine of her fornication, that is, with that wine by which she enticed them to commit idolatry with her. By this wine are meant honours, riches, preferments, pleasure, the gaudery of her worship, the magnificence of the apostolic see, their pretended antiquity, unity; in short, whatsoever specious arguments papists use to entice persons into the idolatrous communion of their church.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. drunk withGreek,“owing to.” It cannot be pagan Rome, but papal Rome, if aparticular seat of error be meant, but I incline to think that thejudgment (Re 18:2) and thespiritual fornication (Re 18:3),though finding their culmination in Rome, are not restricted to it,but comprise the whole apostate Church, Roman, Greek, and evenProtestant, so far as it has been seduced from its “first love”(Re 2:4) to Christ, the heavenlyBridegroom, and given its affections to worldly pomps and idols. Thewoman (Re 12:1) is thecongregation of God in its purity under the Old and New Testament,and appears again as the Bride of the Lamb, the transfigured Churchprepared for the marriage feast. The woman, the invisible Church, islatent in the apostate Church, and is the Church militant; the Brideis the Church triumphant.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,…. These are the ten kings, who being of the same mind, and of one religion, the Popish religion, gave their power, strength, and kingdom to the beast, Re 17:12 and have been enticed by the whore of Rome to commit spiritual fornication with her; that is, idolatry, to worship, as that church enjoins, idols of gold, silver, brass, and wood, the images of the virgin Mary, and other saints; hence this whore appears to be no mean strumpet, but one of great note, and in much vogue, being sought after and made use of by the great men of the earth;
and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication; that is, the inhabitants of the Roman empire, or earthly minded men, mere carnal persons, have been drawn into idolatrous practices by the allurements of the church of Rome; such as riches, honours, pleasures, lying miracles, and great pretensions to devotion and religion; whereby they have been intoxicated as men with wine, and have been filled with a blind zeal for that church, and the false doctrines and worship of it, and with madness and fury against the true professors of religion.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The kings of the earth ( ). Repeated in Rev 1:5; Rev 6:15; Rev 17:18; Rev 18:3; Rev 18:9; Rev 19:19; Rev 21:24 and “the kings of the inhabited earth” (16:14) either for human rulers in general or the vassal kings absorbed by the Roman Empire.
Committed fornication (). First aorist active indicative of . “In purchasing the favour of Rome by accepting her suzerainty and with it her vices and idolatries” (Swete).
Were made drunken (). First aorist passive indicative of , old verb (from ), as in Lu 12:45, here only in the Apocalypse. Cf. Isa 51:7 and in Re 14:8. See 18:3.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Have committed fornication. The figure of a harlot committing fornication with kings and peoples occurs frequently in the prophets, representing the defection of God ‘s Church and its attachment to others. See Isa 1:21; Jer 2:20; Jer 3:1, 6, 8; Eze 16:15, 16, 28, 31, 35, 41; Eze 23:5, 1 9, 44; Hos 2:5; Hos 3:3; Hos 4:1 4. The word is applied to heathen cities in three places only : to Tyre, Isa 23:15, 16, 17; to Nineveh, Nah 3:4; and here.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “With whom the kings of the earth,” (meth’ hes hoi baseleis tes ges) “with whom the royal rulers (kings) of the land,” have been in immoral, unethical, and corrupt religious collusion, Rev 18:3.
2) “Have committed fornication,” (eporneusan) “have practiced fornication,” committed fornication repeatedly, as a pattern of life, in idolatrous and heathen worship, Rev 18:3; Rev 18:9. As Babylon, the first one world Gentile heathen fornicating Empire defied God, and as The Roman Empire embraced her heathen worship forms with a Christian veneer, so shall this final beast and whore Empire be a corrupt religious one.
3) “And the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk,” (kai emethusthesan hoi katoikountes ten gen) and those dwelling on the earth became drunk,” inebriated, befuddled, and unstable in their corrupt religious judgment, Jer 51:7; Rev 14:8; They even teach that by communion in their worship one may drink the literal blood and eat the literal flesh of Jesus, acquiring and retaining saving grace thereby. Such teaching and practice is spiritual fornication, demon worship, condemned in the scriptures, 1Co 10:20-21; Heb 13:10; 1Co 11:1-2.
4) “With the wine of her fornication,” (ek tou oinou tes porneias autes) “from (out of) the wine of her fornication,” influenced by the wine-deceiving perversions and practices of the great harlot; and she shall be made to drink of the dregs of judgment, in the cup in the hand of the Lord, (which cup he gave to the church) which Romanism and her Protestant offspring have perverted, teaching that by the ceremony of the cup sins may be remitted, grace conferred or acquired to make one safe from hell. Psa 75:8; Luk 22:28-30; 1Co 11:23-29; Heb 13:10.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Ver. 2. With whom the kings ] As submitting their sceptres to his keys; and becoming his feudatories.
And the inhabiters of the earth ] So that she is not a noble whore only, but a common strumpet, prostituting herself to the meanest for their money, as in the pardon office.
Have been made drunk ] Hence it is so difficult to convert idolaters: there is no dealing with a man that is drunk. “Whoredom and wine take away the heart,” Hos 4:11 .
Of her fornication ] Both spiritual and corporal. Sixtus Quintus lupanar utriusque Veneris Romae condidit (saith Agrippa) et decessit tabidus voluptate.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rev 17:2 . Tyre’s commercial intercourse with the nations (Isa 23:17 ) and Assyria’s political intrigues, by which her statecraft fascinated and seduced other states (Nah 3:4 ) are both described by the same figure. Local and national cults, as a rule, were left undisturbed by the Romans; and indeed Oriental superstitions often reacted powerfully on Rome itself. But fresh conquests meant the extension of Rome’s intoxicating and godless suzerainty.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
earth. App-129.
have. Omit.
the inhabiters, &c. The texts rend “they that inhabit the earth were made drunken”, &c.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rev 17:2. , with whom) Tyre committed fornication with the kingdoms of the earth: Isa 23:17-18. Comp. Rev 18:23.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rev 17:13, Rev 17:17, Rev 14:8, Rev 18:3, Rev 18:9, Rev 18:23, Jer 51:7
Reciprocal: Deu 31:16 – and go a Jdg 18:24 – what have Job 21:7 – mighty Job 24:22 – draweth Pro 5:3 – the lips Pro 23:28 – increaseth Isa 23:17 – shall commit Jer 4:30 – in vain Dan 3:2 – sent Hos 1:2 – for Nah 3:19 – upon Hab 2:15 – unto 1Th 1:9 – the living Rev 2:22 – and them Rev 9:21 – nor of their fornication Rev 17:16 – the ten Rev 18:6 – the cup Rev 19:2 – judged Rev 20:3 – should deceive
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 17:2. The kings of the earth means the rulers over the various divisions of the political empire, such as the ones named at Rev 13:1. In their devotion to the spiritual harlot they were guilty of fornication. The inhabitants of the earth refers to the subjects under these kings who submitted to their adulterous ruling. Wine of her fornication. In literal practice we find “wine and women” often associated, hence they are so considered in the symbolic vision that John saw.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 2.
The reference in Rev 17:2 to the harlot’s fornication with the kings, and the wine of her fornication making drunk the inhabitants of the land were symbols of the extensions of Jerusalem’s affiliations with foreign people, and the passion to be like the nations around them, as Israel demanded in 1Sa 8:5. These affiliations so enamored the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem as to be characterized in the symbolism of being drunk with. the wine of her fornication.
The apocalypse was consistently that of apostate Jerusalem. It described the iniquities of Israel from their national sin of demanding a king to be as other nations under Samuel, the course that carried them into exile; and that in the visions of Revelation brought their city and their national existence to destruction.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 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 earth, all who belong to the world in its evil sense, have been betrayed by the harlot. The description is again unlimited.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Babylon was charged with committing whoredom in the former verse; in this the persons are declared whom she committed whoredom with, viz. with kings, and the inhabitants of the earth; that is, with all sorts of persons, small and great, rich and poor.
Where note, That she is, 1. A catholic whore, common and shameless; she refuses none that will be lewd with her.
2. A politic whore; she first draws kings and princes to commit fornication with her, and then other inhabitants; well knowing how fast the example of superiors is commonly followed by inferiors: and whereas she is said to make them drunk with the wine of her fornication, the Spirit of God seems to intimate that idolatry is like unto wine; a sensual sort of worship, and therefore alluring: making persons drunk, therefore intoxicating.
Wine is sweet, but proves deceitful; idolatry is pleasing to man’s corrupt nature, but brings wrath and judgment upon the sinner.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
The kings of the earth were materialistic and irreligious because they were drunk on her power.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Verse 2
Fornication; representing the sin of idolatry.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
The "kings of the earth" are world leaders who personify kingdoms (Rev 16:14; et al.). They committed immorality (fornication) with Babylon by uniting with the system she symbolizes.
"Religious compromise necessitated in this kind of association is totally incompatible with the worship of the one true God, and so amounts to spiritual prostitution." [Note: Thomas, Revelation 8-22, p. 284.]
This system made all earth-dwellers, not just kings, "drunk." That is, it had a controlling influence on them. When people reject the truth, they will believe lies (cf. 2Th 2:10-11). Obviously this harlot is different from the woman in chapter 12 and the bride in chapters 19, 21, and 22.