And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
16. upon the beast ] Read, and the beast: he (in his personal advent) and they will act together, against Babylon as well as against the Lamb.
shall hate the whore ] Though she had been the object of their unchaste love, Rev 17:2, and will be of their passionate regret, Rev 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.
naked ] Cf. Isa 47:2-3; Eze 16:37-39.
eat her flesh, and burn her with fire ] 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 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 Rev 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 volcanos 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.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast – Rev 17:3. The ten powers or kingdoms represented by those horns. See the notes on Rev 17:12.
These shall hate the whore – There seems to be some incongruity between this statement and what was previously made. In the former Rev 17:12-14, these ten governments are represented as in alliance with the beast; as giving all their power and strength unto it; and as uniting with it in making war with the Lamb. What is here said must, therefore, refer to some subsequent period, indicating some great change in their feelings and policy. We have seen the evidence of the fulfillment of the former statements. This statement will be accomplished if these same powers, represented by the ten horns, that were formerly in alliance with the papacy, shall become its enemy, and contribute to its final overthrow. That is, it will be accomplished if the nations of Europe, embraced within the limits of those ten kingdoms, shall become hostile to the papacy, and shall combine for its overthrow. Is anything more probable than this? France (see the notes on Rev. 16) has already struck more than one heavy blow on that power; England has been detached from it; many of the states of Italy are weary of it, and are ready to rise up against it; and nothing is more probable than that Spain, Portugal, France, Lombardy, and the papal States themselves, will yet throw off the yoke forever, and put an end to a power that has so long ruled over people. It was with the utmost difficulty, in 1848, that the papal power was sustained, and this was done only by foreign swords; the papacy could not probably be protected in another such outbreak. And this passage leads us to anticipate that the period will come – and that probably not far in the future – when those powers that have for so many ages sustained the papacy will become its determined foes, and will rise in their might and bring it forever to an end.
And shall make her desolate and naked – Strip her of all her power and all her attractiveness. That is, applied to papal Rome, all that is so gorgeous and alluring – her wealth, and pomp, and splendor – shall be taken away, and she will be seen as she is, without anything to dazzle the eye or to blind the mind.
And shall eat her flesh – Shall completely destroy her – as if her flesh were consumed. Perhaps the image is taken from the practice of cannibals eating the flesh of their enemies slain in battle. If so, nothing could give a more impressive idea of the utter destruction of this formidable power, or of the feelings of those by whom its end would be brought about.
And burn her with fire – Another image of total destruction. Perhaps the meaning may be, that after her flesh was eaten, such parts of her as remained would be thrown into the fire and consumed. If this be the meaning, the image is a very impressive one to denote absolute and total destruction. Compare the notes on Rev 18:8.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. And the ten horns which thou sowest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.] Here is a clue to lead us to the right interpretation of the horns of the beast. It is said the TEN horns shall hate the whore; by which is evidently meant, when connected with what follows, that the whole of the ten kingdoms in the interest of the Latin Church shall finally despise her doctrines, be reformed from popery, assist in depriving her of all influence and in exposing her follies, and in the end consign her to utter destruction. From this it follows that no Roman Catholic power which did not exist so late as the Reformation can be numbered among the horns of the beast; the horns must, therefore, be found among the great states of Europe at the commencement of the Reformation. These were exactly ten, viz., France, Spain, England, Scotland, The Empire, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, and Portugal. In these were comprehended most of the minor states not styled monarchies, and which, from their first rise to the period of the Reformation, had been subdued by one or more of the ten grand Roman Catholic powers already named. Consequently, these ten constituted the power and strength of the beast; and each minor state is considered a part of that monarchy under the authority of which it was finally reduced previously to the Reformation.
But it may be asked, How could the empire, which was the revived head of the beast, have been at the same time one of its horns? The answer is as follows: Horns of an animal, in the language of prophecy, represent the powers of which that empire or kingdom symbolized by the animal is composed. Thus the angel, in his interpretation of Daniel’s vision of the ram and he-goat expressly informs us that “the ram with two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.” One of the horns of the ram, therefore, represented the kingdom of Media, and the other the kingdom of Persia; and their union in one animal denoted the united kingdom of Media and Persia, viz., the Medo-Persian empire. In like manner the beast with ten horns denotes that the empire represented by the beast is composed of ten distinct powers, and the ten horns being united in one beast very appropriately show that the monarchies symbolized by these horns are united together to form one empire; for we have already shown, in Clarke’s notes on “Re 13:1“, that a beast is the symbol of an empire. Therefore, as the horns of an animal, agreeably to the angel’s explanation, (and we can have no higher authority,) represent all the powers of which that domination symbolized by the animal is composed, the Roman empire of Germany, as one of those monarchies which gave their power and strength to the Latin empire, must consequently have been A HORN of the beast. But the Germanic empire was not only a LATIN power, but at the same time was acknowledged by all Europe to have precedency of all the others. Therefore, as it is not possible to express these two circumstances by one symbol, it necessarily follows, from the nature of symbolical language, that what has been named the holy Roman empire must have a double representation. Hence the empire, as one of the powers of the Latin monarchy, was a horn of the beast, and in having precedency of all the others was its revived head. See a similar explanation of the tail of the dragon in Clarke’s notes on “Re 12:4“.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast: see Rev 17:3,12.
These shall hate the whore, &c.; the ten kings shall apostatize from the papacy, and be great instruments of God to ruin it. When we see some other kingdoms, now in vassalage to the pope, do as much as hath been done in England, and Scotland, and Sweden, and some other places, we may possibly understand this prophecy better than we yet do.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. upon the beastBut A, B,Vulgate, and Syriac read, “and the beast.”
shall make herdesolatehaving first dismounted her from her seat on the beast(Re 17:3).
nakedstripped of allher gaud (Re 17:4). AsJerusalem used the world power to crucify her Saviour, and then wasdestroyed by that very power, Rome; so the Church, having apostatizedto the world, shall have judgment executed on her first by the worldpower, the beast and his allies; and these afterwards shall havejudgment executed on them by Christ Himself in person. So Israelleaning on Egypt, a broken reed, is pierced by it; and then Egyptitself is punished. So Israel’s whoredom with Assyria and Babylon waspunished by the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. So the Churchwhen it goes a-whoring after the word as if it were thereality, instead of witnessing against its apostasy from God, isfalse to its profession. Being no longer a reality itself, but asham, the Church is rightly judged by that world which for a time hadused the Church to further its own ends, while all the while “hating”Christ’s unworldly religion, but which now no longer wants theChurch’s aid.
eat her fleshGreekplural, “masses of flesh,” that is, “carnalpossessions”; implying the fulness of carnality into which theChurch is sunk. The judgment on the harlot is again and againdescribed (Rev 18:1; Rev 19:5);first by an “angel having great power” (Re18:1), then by “another voice from heaven” (Re18:4-20), then by “a mighty angel” (Re18:21-24). Compare Eze16:37-44, originally said of Israel, but further applicable tothe New Testament Church when fallen into spiritual fornication. Onthe phrase, “eat . . . flesh” for prey upon one’s property,and injure the character and person, compare Psa 14:4;Psa 27:2; Jer 10:25;Mic 3:3. The First Napoleon’sEdict published at Rome in 1809, confiscating the papal dominions andjoining them to France, and later the severance of large portions ofthe Pope’s territory from his sway and the union of them to thedominions of the king of Italy, virtually through Louis Napoleon, area first instalment of the full realization of this prophecy of thewhore’s destruction. “Her flesh” seems to point to hertemporal dignities and resources, as distinguished from “herself”(Greek). How striking a retribution, that having obtained herfirst temporal dominions, the exarchate of Ravenna, the kingdom ofthe LOMBARDs, and thestate of Rome, by recognizing the usurper Pepin as lawful kingof France, she should be stripped of her dominions by another usurperof France, the Napoleonic dynasty!
burn . . . with firethelegal punishment of an abominable fornication.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast,….
Re 17:3 and which are interpreted of ten kings, Re 17:12. The Alexandrian copy, the Complutensian edition, and the Syriac Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, read, “and the beast”; and then the sense is, that the ten kings and states in particular, who have defended antichrist, and the whole empire in general, which has bore up and supported the whore of Rome:
these shall hate the whore; her principles and sentiments, her doctrines, which are doctrines of devils, her wicked practices, her idolatries, adulteries, murders, and thefts; they will repent of their fornications with her, and cease from them; their love will be turned to hatred, and the latter will be greater than ever the former was, like Amnon’s to Tamar; and as it usually is with men towards harlots, when they see their follies, and how they have been deceived and abused by them:
and shall make her desolate; leave her, quit her communion; no more commit fornication with her, or join with her in her idolatrous worship; but come out from that apostate church, and renounce all fellowship with her, and persuade and engage as many as they can influence to do the same:
and naked; strip her of her purple, scarlet colour, gold, pearls, and precious stones; cease to give their power and strength, withhold their taxes and tribute, deprive her of her power and authority, civil and ecclesiastical, in their realms, and take away even her patrimony from her; and not only so, but expose her shame and filthiness, her abominable principles and practices, to all the world; which has been in part done already:
and shall eat her flesh; not literally, but mystically; not out of love, but hatred; they shall take that to themselves, and make use of, which have fattened her, as bishoprics, and other benefices, lands, endowments belonging to abbeys, and monasteries, and other religious houses; an instance and example of which we have in King Henry the Eighth’s time; so some understand this phrase of devouring the substance of others, in Ps 27:2. So the Targumists often interpret “flesh and fatness”; by “riches, goods”, or substance; the phrase in Isa 17:4 “the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean”, is paraphrased, , “the riches of his glory shall be carried away”; and the words in Mic 3:3 who shall also eat the flesh of my people”, c. are rendered, “and they who spoil”
, “the goods”, or “substance of my people, and take away their precious mammon, or money, from them. And again, Zec 11:9 “let the rest eat, everyone the flesh of another”, is in the Targum, “let a man spoil” , “the goods or substance of his neighbour” and in Re 17:16 he shall eat the flesh of the fat; the paraphrase is, “he shall” spoil , “the goods or substance of the rich”.
And burn her with fire: alluding to the law in Le 21:9 which required that the daughter of a priest, that played the whore, should be burnt with fire; and this is to be understood literally of burning the city of Rome, the seat of the whore, with fire; of which see Re 18:8. It has been very near being burnt in times past, as by Alaricus the Goth, Attila the Hun, Genseric the Vandal, and by Totilas, and in later times by Charles the Fifth; and would have been, had they not been dissuaded or diverted from it; and which were so many preludes and warnings of its future fate: and we may learn from hence, that Rome, and the Romish antichrist, will not be destroyed by the Turks, but by the Christians; and by the same states, and kingdoms, and princes, by which the whore of Rome has been supported in her grandeur, power, and authority, who will revolt from Popery, and embrace the pure Gospel of Christ: and this shows, that the ten horns, or kingdoms, into which the Roman empire has been divided, will subsist in this form at the destruction of Rome; wherefore, it has been rightly observed by some, that not one of these kingdoms shall ever be able to rise to universal monarchy. France has been for many years attempting it, but in vain; and we may sit down easy and satisfied, assuring ourselves with the greatest confidence, that all attempts this way will be fruitless; there never will be another universal monarchy on earth but that of Christ’s; see Da 2:37.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
These shall hate the harlot ( ). Future active of . H is resumptive demonstrative pronoun (masculine) referring to the ten horns and the beast (neuter); construction according to sense. The downfall of Rome will come from the sudden change in subject peoples.
Shall make her desolate and naked ( ). Future active of and perfect passive predicate accusative participle of , old verb (from desolate), again in Rev 18:16; Rev 18:19. (naked) is predicate adjective.
Shall eat her flesh ( ). Future middle of the defective verb , to eat. Note plural , portions of flesh (Jas 5:3) as in Ps 27:2; Mic 3:3.
Shall burn her utterly with fire ( ). Future active of , to burn down (perfective use of ). John wrote before the days of Alaric, Genseric, Ricimer, Totila, with their hordes which devastated Rome and the west in the fifth and sixth centuries. “No reader of the Decline and Fall can be at a loss for materials which will at once illustrate and justify the general trend of St. John’s prophecy” (Swete).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Upon the beast [] . Read kai and : “the ten horns – and the beast.”
Desolate [] . Lit., desolated, the verb being in the perfect participle.
Shall eat her flesh. A token of extreme hostility. See Psa 27:2; Mic 3:3. Xenophon, speaking of the hatred between the pure Spartans and the Helots, says that no one of the pure Spartans could conceal his readiness to eat the Helot raw. Notice the plural sarkav flesh, and see on Jas 5:3.
Burn [] . Rev., giving the force of kata down, burn utterly. According to some interpreters the figure is changed from the woman to a city; but this is unnecessary, as the language is probably taken from the punishment of fornication on the part of a priest ‘s daughter (Lev 21:9; compare Lev 20:14).
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And the ten horns which thou sawest,” (kai ta deka kerata he eides) “and the ten horns which thou didst see, or recognize,” representing ten Gentile provinces of the ancient Babylonian and Roman Empire in moral, ethical, and idolatrous conditions of degeneracy.
2) “Upon the beast,” (kai to therion) “is even the beast; constitute the beast the one world antichrist Empire, Rev 12:3; Rev 13:1; Rev 17:3; Rev 17:9; Rev 17:12.
3) “These shall hate the whore,” (houtoi misesousin ten pornen) “these ten horns (even the beast) will hate the harlot; with whom they have religiously consorted in spiritual fornication, on whom she has ridden, Rev 17:1-7; Jer 50:41-42.
4) “And shall make her desolate and naked,” (kai eremomenen poiesousin auten kai gumnen) “and will make (cause her to be) both naked and desolate,” uncover her for what she is, disclose her moral and ethical and religious corruption, as Jehu against Jezebel, 2Ki 19:30-37.
5) “And shall eat her flesh,” (kai tos sarkas autes phagontai) “and they will consume her fleshes,” Eze 16:35-45; as he judged Israel in ancient times because of her fornication and adultery, Jer 3:6-14.
6) “And burn her with fire,” (kai auten katakausousin (en) puri) “and they will consume her with of (in) fire,” Rev 18:5. Her judgment shall be complete and final, as that of Babylon, to rise no more, Lev 21:9; Isa 13:19-22. Spiritual adultery is abominable to God, Jas 4:4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(16) And the ten horns . . .Translate, And the ten horns which thou sawest (not, as in English version, on the beast, but), and the wild beast, these shall hate the harlot. The harlot was seen in splendid apparel riding on the wild beast; now the wild beast, in the day of the seventh head, turns with the ten horns of his power upon her, makes her deserted, strips her of her adornments, consumes the spoilfor this is what is meant by eating her fleshand burns her with fire. The woman in the days of the Evangelist was Rome (Rev. 17:18), but great and resistless as her power seemed, it was doomed; the day would come when other kingdoms would rise who would hate her for her tyranny, envy her splendour, and covet her wealth. Then the great Babylon would fall, like Jezebel of old; the painted cheek, the pencilled eyebrow, and the amorous glance have lost their fascination; those who have pandered to her vices would turn against her, and cast her out to be trampled under foot. So did the Babylon of St. Johns day fallperishing in the blood that she had spilt, or left childless and crownless in her voiceless woe.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16, 17. When the hour of one mind has passed, and the victories of the Lamb have multiplied, a new turn shall come. The ten horns shall begin to hate the whore. Her capital having been destroyed, her power diminished, her deceptions refuted, and her character exposed, she will be made desolate and naked.
Eat her flesh The great body of her wealth and substance, of which the people have been robbed by false pretences, shall be appropriated to feed the poor.
Burn her with fire The penalty of incest, Lev 20:14, and of unchastity in a priest’s daughter, Lev 21:9. In this woman the harlot shall be burnt away and the bride of Christ shall appear in her place.
His will That she should be permitted to fill the measure of her iniquities.
The words of God The prophetic predictions, especially of Daniel 7.
These ten horns, or kingdoms, have a wonderful significance in prophecy. They first appear in the ten toes of Daniel’s image, proceeding from the Roman legs of the image. Then they are verified and enlarged, Dan 7:7, as the ten horns growing from the head of the Roman beast, defined (ver. 33) as ten kings kingdoms to be developed out of the Roman empire. Next we have the ten horns (with the seven heads) of the pagan-Roman dragon. This is repeated in the papal-Roman beast, Rev 13:1, reiterated Rev 17:1, and here, Rev 17:12, the ten horns are expressly defined as ten kings =kingdoms not yet organized, but which will come up from the Roman empire, and, first uniting with the Roman harlot, ultimately destroy her.
Looking into secular history for these ten nations, as emerging from the downfall of the old Rome, we are startled to find the constant tendency of the European nations to a decimal number. This is shown by earlier and later writers, Romish and Protestant. Elliott gives such lists by Jerome, Machiavelli, Bossuet, Mede, Sir Isaac Newton, and Bishop Newton. Elliott himself furnishes a list which seems preferable to any by his predecessors.
It stays within the Western Empire; it is posterior to the disappearance of the imperial power; it is made up of Teutonic governments; it contains a three which (in accordance with Daniel’s prophecy) impeded for awhile the growth of the power of the pope, but were finally abolished and made part of his patrimony. Elliott selects the year A.D. 531, and finds the following ten kingdoms on the platform of the Western Roman Empire: “the Anglo-Saxons; the Franks of Central, Allman Franks of Eastern, and Burgundian Franks of South-eastern France; the Visigoths, the Suevi, the Vandals, the Ostrogoths, in Italy; the Bavarians, and the Lombards still ten in all.” Of these three were nigh and obstructive neighbours to the pope at Rome; namely, the Vandals in Corsica and Sardinia, the Ostrogoths in Central Italy, and the Lombards in Northern Italy. The Vandals and the Ostrogoths were conquered by the Eastern Emperor Justinian, erected into the Greek exarchate of Ravenna, and afterward given to the pope. Lombardy held out until the eighth century, an impediment to the papal power, when it was conquered by Charlemagne and given to the Roman See. These three kingdoms became “the patrimony of Peter.”
Elliott well notes that, in spite of frequent variations of number, ten has been the ever-recurring number of Europe ever since. To this effect he quotes Gibbon, Whiston, and Cunninghame. To these we may add that Schlegel, a convert to Romanism, in his “Philosophy of History,” (re-published by Appleton,) about forty years ago reckoned ten kingdoms as constituting the modern system of Europe.
But apocalyptic thought makes provisions for world-wide extensions as time advances. The local Jerusalem, symbolized as the true Church, becomes universal, and so Babylon, as the anti-Church. The Roman-papal beast expressly includes all the preceding anti-christianities in her descent to perdition. Note Rev 17:11. As the apocalypse draws toward its close its geographical area seems to enlarge from the limits of the Roman empire to the entire surface of our globe. The “nations” of Rev 19:15, and Rev 20:3; Rev 20:8, and “the kings of the earth” of Rev 19:19, must be taken in their widest extension; and it is the whole human race of all ages that finally appears before the throne, Rev 20:11. And we seem easily bridged over this enlarging process by the double meaning (specified in our Introduction) of the word “ten.” From its literal count of the nations of the Roman empire it may emerge into its symbolical universality, and become truly world-wide. In this full sense the people of America are of the ten nations. And all the peoples of both hemispheres are clearly included in “the nations” after the ten is dropped.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Ver. 16. These shall hate ] As base fellows use to hate their harlots when they find them false.
And shall make her desolate ] Shall deny to defend her.
And naked ] By denying her maintenance, and laying her open to the world by their remonstrances. King Henry VIII and the French king, some half a year before their death, were at a point to have utterly rooted the bishop of Rome out of their realms, and to exhort the emperor to do the same, or else to break off from him. The realm of France was ready (upon the pope’s refusal to rebless King Henry IV upon conversion to them) to withdraw utterly from the obedience of his See, and to erect a new patriarch over all the French Church. The then archbishop of Burges was ready to accept it; and but that the pope, in fear thereof, did hasten his benediction, it had been effected, to his utter disgrace and decay. (Spec. Europ.)
And shall eat her flesh ] Be so bitterly bent against her, that they could find in their hearts to tear her with their teeth. SeeJob 19:22Job 19:22 . We read of two notable thieves in the kingdom of Naples (the one called himself Pater noster, and the other Ave Maria) that had slain 116 men at different times and in different places. These two were at length taken and tormented to death by the command of the magistrate, with hot burning pincers, &c., and made to die piecemeal. It were but reason that Christian princes should use like zeal and severity against that grand soul-murderer the pope.
And burn her with fire ] For an old bawd. a It is reported that in Meroe, the priests of Jupiter had so bewitched the people with their superstition, that they would sometimes send to the king of Ethiopia for his head; which was never denied them, till it came to King Erganes, who upon so insolent a demand slew them all, and took away their priesthood. Why is not the same now done to the bridge maker of Rome?
a fig. He who or that which panders to any evil design or vicious practice. D
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rev 17:16 . Rome perishes at the hands of Nero and his ruthless allies a belief loudly echoed in the Talmud. In Sib. Or. iv. 145, 350 f. the East then and thus regains the treasures of which the Oriental provinces had been despoiled. the doom of a Semitic harlot (Eze 23:45 f., Eze 28:17-18 ). But no details of the disaster are given.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
upon. Greek. epi; but the texts read “and”.
shall = will.
her. i.e. the city. Compare Jer 50:32.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rev 17:16. , horns) The mention of the ten horns before the beast teaches, that the prevailing party in this most hostile laying waste of the harlot shall be parts of the horns: for even , of them, Rev 17:17. has reference to the horns rather than to the beast.- [192]) Erasmus edited, , and the editors who usually follow him, follow him here also; although Andreas of Csareia even by himself refutes this reading, which is made up from Latin copies of an inferior character. See App. Crit. Ed. ii. on this passage. This sentence indeed,-And the ten horns which thou sawest, , and [not , upon, as in Engl. Vers.], the beast, these shall hate the whore,-is very plain, comprising, as it does, the horns and the beast by the word , these; and it is most accommodated to that most weighty sense, which it and it alone conveys, namely, that not only the ten horns, but even the beast himself (by which view Protestants are freed from the most invidious suspicion of sounding the trumpet against Rome), are about to hate the whore. It was provided by Divine government, that the Apocalypse should be published at Complutum, in the midst of Spain, before the Reformation, in a very genuine form, especially in the strictures, which attack Rome. And in this passage the Complutensian Edition both exhibits the reading, , and marks it with a point, as a sign of approbation. And almost all the copies agree. The collation of so many MSS. would be useless, if the true reading even of such passages were indefinitely postponed, or at least left in doubt. By this one thing Wolf confirms my opinion in almost all the passages, in which he dissents from me.- , the whore) A question arises, whether the beast, ascending out of the bottomless pit, first carries on war against the two witnesses (comp. Erkl. Offenb. p. 546), or lays waste Babylon. He first, as it seems, destroys Babylon, when the kingdom has as yet scarcely been given to him by the ten horns; then, having left that station, he pours out his whole fury upon the sacred city, and soon afterwards with his followers incurs final destruction. For both upon the ascent of the two witnesses into heaven, when the multitude repented after the earthquake [ch. Rev 11:13], the mystery of GOD is fulfilled: and the ten horns give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of GOD are fulfilled.- , and herself) This is emphatic, in antithesis to the flesh, and the resources of the whore.
[192] So AB Vulg. h Memph. Syr. But Rec. Test, , without good authority.-E.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
the ten: Rev 17:2, Rev 17:10, Rev 17:12
these: The ten horns, which the angel explained of “ten kings” or kingdoms, and which once exalted and supported her ecclesiastical tyranny, will hate, desolate, strip, and devour her. They will be the principal instruments in the destruction of popery and the ruin of Rome itself. Rev 17:1, Rev 17:2, Rev 17:13, Rev 16:12, Isa 13:17, Isa 13:18, Jer 50:41, Jer 50:42
and naked: Rev 18:16, Rev 18:17, Eze 16:37-44, Eze 23:45-49
eat: Job 31:31, Psa 27:2, Dan 7:5
and burn: Rev 18:8, Rev 18:16, Lev 21:9
Reciprocal: Deu 13:15 – destroying it utterly Jos 6:24 – burnt Psa 53:4 – who eat Isa 13:9 – cruel Isa 14:6 – is persecuted Jer 4:30 – in vain Jer 12:9 – the birds Jer 27:7 – until Jer 50:10 – all that Jer 50:38 – A drought Jer 50:45 – hear Jer 51:11 – the Lord hath Jer 51:42 – General Jer 51:56 – the spoiler Lam 1:2 – among Eze 16:25 – and hast made Eze 16:27 – delivered Eze 23:9 – General Eze 23:22 – I will raise Eze 23:26 – strip Eze 31:12 – gone Dan 7:24 – the ten Hos 2:3 – I strip Zec 14:12 – Their flesh Mat 12:25 – Every kingdom Jam 5:3 – and shall Rev 12:3 – ten Rev 13:1 – having Rev 19:2 – judged Rev 19:21 – and all
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 17:16. The ten horns are the kings or kingdoms which are named in the comments at chapter 13:1. Shall hate the whore is literal, for when the kings and people of the smaller units of the Empire come to realize how deeply they have been deceived by her they can have no other feeling toward her. The rest of the verse is a symbolical vision of the resistance that will be put up by these ten kings and their people when they “get their eyes open.”
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 16.
It is declared in verse sixteen that the kings of the empire, represented by the ten horns, hated the Harlot. This is solid proof that the harlot city was not Rome–assuredly the Roman kings did not hate the capital city of the Roman Empire. But they did hate Jerusalem and coordinated their efforts with the emperor to reduce it to the condition here described: make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire. The Lord’s account of the siege of Jerusalem together with the history of Josephus were a graphic fulfillment of these apocalyptic pronouncements on apostate Jerusalem, the faithful city become an harlot.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 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 shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her utterly with fire. What an unexpected result! The woman has been sitting on the beast, reckoning on it as her servant and ally, and guiding it in perfect harmony with its temper and designs. All at once the scene is changed. Defeat has taken place, and what is the effect? The bond which in prosperity had bound the wicked co-labourers together is dissolved, the partners in evil fall out, the one section turns round upon the other, and she who had found ready instruments in the beast and its heads for accomplishing the work to which she had spurred them on sees them, in the hour of common despair, fall upon herself and mercilessly destroy her. The individual expressions do not call for much remark: (1) Desolate is the word corresponding to the wilderness of Rev 17:3,she is to be made truly a wilderness; (2) Flesh is plural in the original, probably because of the many who perish, or of the many possessions that the harlot owns; (3) The thought of thus eating flesh is taken from the Old Testament; when the wicked came upon me … to eat up my flesh (Psa 27:2); who also eat the flesh of my people (Mic 3:3); (4) Shall burn her utterly with fire. The language is most probably taken from the Old Testament, in which to be so burned is the punishment of fornication on the part of a priests daughter (Lev 21:9). The whole is a picture of complete destruction.
To seek historical fulfilment of his in such events as Neros burning Rome will appear to most men, in the simple statement of it, absurd. A great principle is proceeded upon, one often exemplified in the world,that combinations of the wicked for a common crime soon break up, leaving the guilty associates to turn upon and destroy one another. But it is difficult not to think that there was especially one great drama present to the Seers mind, and suggestive of this lessonthat drama which embodied in intensest action all the great forces that move the worldthe drama of the life and death of Jesus. He thought of the alliance that had been made between the Jews and the Romans to crucify the Redeemer, an alliance so soon broken and followed by the destruction of Jerusalem. In that he beheld the type of similar alliances in all future time.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The very kings who helped the harlot so they might share in her power actually hate her because of the power she exercises. God will use them to bring her to destruction when her sins are ripe. (Read Jdg 7:22 ; 1Sa 14:20 ; 2Ch 20:22-25 to see how God can even make nations fight against themselves.) Hendriksen says the reaction of the horns is like that of Judas Iscariot who betrayed his Lord for thirty pieces of silver yet ended up throwing them away in revulsion when he realized what he had done. ( Mat 27:3-5 ) These kings now turn their power over to the beast, which Coffman sees as the eighth beast of verse 11, or the lawless one.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Verse 16
The ten horns; kings, as is explained Revelation 17:12.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
17:16 And the ten {33} horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
(33) The ten kings, as Rev 17:12 . The accomplishment of this fact and event is daily increased in this our age by the singular providence and most mighty government of God. Therefore the facts are propounded in this verse, and the cause of them in the verses following.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The beast and his allies will eventually throw off the harlot and thoroughly destroy her. They will plunder her wealth, expose her corruption, and utterly consume her, as dogs ate Jezebel’s flesh (1Ki 21:23-24; 2Ki 9:30-37; cf. Psa 27:2; Jer 10:25; Mic 3:3; Zep 3:3). They will completely desecrate her, as the Israelites burned the bodies of people who committed detestable fornication (cf. Lev 20:14; Lev 21:9; Jos 7:15; Jos 7:25). This will probably occur in the middle of the Tribulation when Antichrist breaks his covenant with Israel and demands that everyone on earth worship him or die (Dan 9:27; Dan 11:26-38; Mat 24:15; 2Th 2:4; Rev 13:8; Rev 13:15). Satan’s kingdom will divide and turn against itself, the sure sign that it cannot endure (cf. Mar 3:23-26). [Note: Wilcock, p. 165.]