And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft [he be,] shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
22. the voice of harpers &c.] Isa 14:11, of Babylon, Eze 26:13, of Tyre, are certainly parallels: compare also Isa 24:8, which is as similar as the passages of Jeremiah referred to on the following passage, and apparently, like them, spoken of the unfaithful Jerusalem.
the sound of a millstone &c.] Jer 25:10.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And the voice of harpers – Those who play on the harp. This was usually accompanied with singing. The idea, in this verse and the following, is substantially the same as in the previous parts of the chapter, that the mystical Babylon – papal Rome – would be brought to utter desolation. This thought is here exhibited under another form – that all which constituted festivity, joy, and amusement, and all that indicated thrift and prosperity, would disappear. Of course, in a great and fun city, there would be all kinds of music; and when it is said that this would be heard there no more it is a most striking image of utter desolation.
And musicians – Musicians in general; but perhaps here singers, as distinguished from those who played on instruments.
And of pipers – Those who played on pipes or flutes. See the 1Co 14:7 note; Mat 11:17 note.
And trumpeters – Trumpets were common instruments of music, employed on festival occasions, in war, and in worship. Only the principal instruments of music are mentioned here, as representatives of the rest. The general idea is, that the sound of music, as an indication of festivity and joy, would cease.
Shall be heard no more at all in thee – It would become utterly and permanently desolate.
And no craftsman, of whatsoever craft – That is, artificers of all kinds would cease to ply their trades there. The word used here – technites – would include all artisans or mechanics, all who were engaged in any kind of trade or craft. The meaning here is, that all these would disappear, an image, of course, of utter decay.
And the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more – Taylor (Frag. to Calmet, Dictionary vol. iv. p. 346) supposes that this may refer not so much to the rattle of the mill as to the voice of singing, which usually accompanied grinding. The sound of a mill is cheerful, and indicates prosperity; its ceasing is an image of decline.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 22. The voice of harpers, &c.] This seems to indicate not only a total destruction of influence, &c., but also of being. It seems as if this city was to be swallowed up by an earthquake, or burnt up by fire from heaven.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And the voice of harpers, &c., shall be heard no more at all in thee; all these seem to me but the expression of an utter ruin and desolation, by various phrases and expressions; they should have no more occasion of mirth, nor any more business done in their city. If any will understand these expressions, of their organs, and other musical instruments used in worship, and of spiritual craftsmen, I shall not contradict it; but I think it more proper to understand the words more largely.
For thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived: though thou hast had a trade with great men, and by thy enchanted cups of the wine of thy fornication hast intoxicated many in all nations, yet thou shalt use that trade no more; the nations shall be deceived no more by thee; here shall be an end of thee. And one thing that brings thee to thy ruin, shall be thy seducing others to idolatry, so as they have seemed to reasonable men to be bewitched by thee.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
22. pipersflute players.”Musicians,” painters and sculptors, have desecrated theirart to lend fascination to the sensuous worship of corruptChristendom.
craftsmanartisan.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers and trumpeters,…. Which were for mirth, delight, and pleasure:
shall be heard no more at all in thee: the words seem to be taken from Isa 24:8 and may not only regard the loss of every thing that was delightful and pleasant to the ear in private houses, at festivals, and nuptials, and the like, but the ceasing of church music; there will be no more bells, nor organs, or any other instruments of music; no more chanters, and sub-chanters, choristers, singing men and boys:
and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be shall be, found any more in thee; which are very useful and necessary in cities and societies; it is threatened to Judah, that the cunning artificer should be taken from her, Isa 3:3 and it is reckoned as a considerable part of the distress of the captivity that the carpenters and smiths were away from Jerusalem, Jer 24:1 and this judgment may fall on Rome for her worshipping idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, the works of men’s hands, artificers and craftsmen, and who are employed in making other trinkets and wares for antichrist:
and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; to grind corn with, see Jer 25:10 there will be a famine at the time that Rome is besieged, Re 18:8 and after it is destroyed, there will be no corn to grind, nor inhabitants to eat it, and so no use of the millstone; this is said in opposition to her luxurious and delicious living, Re 18:3 and this may also refer to feasts and rich entertainments, for which spices were ground and prepared by an hand mill m in the house; and so may signify here that there would be no more of such entertainments and rich living; with which sense agrees what follows. This clause is wanting in the Syriac and Ethiopic versions.
m Schindler. Lex. Pentaglott. in Voce , Col. 1712.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The voice (). Cf. Eze 26:13. Or “sound” as in 1Co 14:8 with (trumpet). For this song of judgment see Jer 25:10.
Of harpers (). Old word (from , harp, and , singer) as in 14:2.
Of minstrels (). Old word (from , music), here only in N.T., one playing on musical instruments.
Of flute-players (). Old word (from , to play on a flute, Mt 11:17, , flute, 1Co 14:7), in N.T. only here and Mt 9:23.
Of trumpeters (). Late form for the earlier (from ), here only in N.T.
Shall be heard no more at all ( ). First aorist passive subjunctive of with the double negative as below, with (sound of the millstone), and as in verse 21 with and again with (craftsman). This old word is from , art, as here in some MSS. (“of whatsoever craft,” ). occurs also in this sense in Acts 19:24; Acts 19:38; and in Heb 11:10 of God as the Architect. There is power in this four-fold sonorous repetition of and the subjunctive with two more examples in verse 23.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Harpers. See on ch. Rev 14:2.
Musicians [] Only here in the New Testament. There seems to be no special reason for changing the rendering to minstrels, as Rev. The term music had a much wider signification among the Greeks than that which we attach to it. “The primitive education at Athens consisted of two branches : gymnastics for the body, music for the mind. Music comprehended from the beginning everything appertaining to the province of the nine Muses; not merely learning the use of the lyre or how to bear part in a chorus, but also the hearing, learning, and repeating of poetical compositions, as wel as the practice of exact and elegant pronunciation – which latter accomplishment, in a language like the Greek, with long words, measured syllables, and great diversity of accentuation between one word and another, must have been far more difficult to acquire than it is in any modern European language. As the range of ideas enlarged, so the words music and musical teachers acquired an expanded meanings so as to comprehend matter of instruction at once ampler and more diversified. During the middle of the fifth century B. C. at Athens, there came thus to be found among the musical teachers men of the most distinguished abilities and eminence, masters of all the learning and accomplishments of the age, teaching what was known of Astronomy, Geography, and Physics, and capable of holding dialectical discussions with their pupils upon all the various problems then afloat among intellectual men” (Grote, “History of Greece,” 6, ch. 67).
Pipers [] . Rev., flute – players. Only here and Mt 9:23. The female flute – players, usually dissolute characters, were indispensable attendants at the Greek banquets. Plato makes Eryximachus in “the Symposium,” say : “I move that the flute – girl who has just made her appearance, be told to go away and play to herself, or, if she likes, to the women who are within. Today let us have conversation instead” (” Symposium, “176). Again, Socrates says :” The talk about the poets seems to me like a commonplace entertainment to which a vulgar company have recourse; who, because they are not able to converse and amuse one another, while they are drinking, with the sound of their own voices and conversation, by reason of their stupidity, raise the price of flute – girls in the market, hiring for a great sum the voice of a flute instead of their own breath, to be the medium of intercourse among them “(Protagoras,” 347). Compare Isa 24:8; Eze 26:13.
Millstone. Compare Jer 25:10; Mt 24:41.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And the voice of,” (kai phone) “And (not even) a sound,”
a) “Harpers,” (kitharodon) “of harpers,” of the music of harpers,” not even a sound,
b) “And musicians,” (kai mousikon) “And of musicians,” not even a sound,
c) “And of pipers,” (kai auleton) “And of flutists,” and all kinds of pipe music, not a sound,
d) “And trumpeters,” (kai salpiston) “And of trumpeters,” not even a sound,
2) “Shall be heard no more at all in thee,” (ou me akousthe en soi eti) “Shall not by any means be found in thee (Babylon) any longer,” or any more, Eze 26:13.
3) “And the sound of a millstone,” (kai phone mulou) “And the sound of a millstone (grinding meal or flour),” to feed the people, for the city is zero population, depopulated by the judgment, Rev 18:10.
4) “Shall be heard no more at all in thee,” (ou me akousthe en soi eit) “Shall be no longer heard in thee at all,” Jer 25:10.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(22, 23) And the voice of harpers . . .Better, the sound, . . The sounds of mirth and triumph, &c., cease: the sound of harpers, and musicians, and flute-players, and trumpeters, shall not be heard in thee ANY MORE: the power of wealth has gone; her own right hand has forgotten her cunning: every craftsman of every craft shall not be found in thee ANY MORE: the sound of grinding the corn is at an end: the sound of millstone shall not be heard in thee ANY MORE: the cheerful lamps of home and feast are extinguished: light of lamp shall not shine in thee ANY MORE: the sounds of domestic joy are silenced: voice of bridegroom and of bride shall not be heard in thee ANY MORE. The words are an echo of earlier prophecy: I destroy from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. It was thus Jeremiah warned Jerusalem of her coming doom (Jer. 25:10). Now the same judgments are pronounced against the foe of the true Jerusalem.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. The three silences of music, of manufacture, and of sustenance. Harpers, on the chords; musicians, vocalists; pipers, flute-players; trumpeters, with rousing martial music.
Craftsman craft he be Literally, the artisan of every art.
Sound Greek, voice of the personified millstone.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And the sound (voice) of harpists and minstrels and flute-players and trumpeters will no more at all be heard in you, and no craftsman of whatever craft will be found any more at all in you, and the sound of the millstone will be heard no more at all in you, and the light of a lamp shall shine no more at all in you, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in you, for your merchants were the princes of the earth, for with your sorcery were all the nations deceived.’
Some of these ideas come from Eze 26:13 combined with Jer 25:10. The idea is that normal life will have ceased. Instead of the joy of music there will be silence. Instead of the intricacies of the designer and craftsman there will be emptiness. Instead of honest toil there will be a void. Instead of light there will be darkness. Instead of the happy voices of bridegroom and bride there will be misery. It is possible that we are to see in the mention of bridegroom and bride a gentle pointer to the heavenly Bridegroom and His bride of the next chapter. In contrast with that joy, here there is only judgment. And why should all this be? Because she led astray the princes of the earth with her false religion and she deceived the nations with her occult practises.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be , shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
Ver. 22. And the voice of harpers, &c. ] Thine organs and sackbuts, thy chanting and churchmusic, shall cease.
And the sound of a millstone ] Anciently they used handmills, which did make a great noise in the cities, as Diodate here noteth.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rev 18:22 . “minstrels or musicians” ( 1Ma 9:41 ); the occurrence of the generic term among the specific is certainly awkward and would favour the rendering “singers” (Bengel, Holtzm.) in almost any other book than this. On these musical epithets see Friedlnder, iii. 238 f.; the impulses to instrumental music at Rome during this period came mainly from Alexandria. For coins stamped with Nero as harpist see Suet. Nero , xxv. , the daily accompaniment of Oriental life. The sound of the mill meant habitation, but in the desolation of Rome no more pleasant stir of mirth or business would be heard (Isa 47:5 ). The fanatic Jesus, son of Ananus, who howled during the siege of Jerusalem and for four years previously (Jos. Bell . vi. 5, 3) “woe to Jerusalem,” denounced upon her “a voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the temple a voice against bridegrooms and brides, and a voice against the whole people”.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
any more = no more, as above.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rev 18:22. [206] ) of musicians, that is, singers: for these are the chief [part of musicians]. , LXX. , Gen 31:27; Eze 26:13.-, craftsman) Nowhere do the arts of painting, sculpture, etc., together with music, flourish more than at Rome: as the Topographies and Itineraries show; for instance, Keysslers, Part i. Ep. 49, etc.
[206] Ver. 21. , thus) This word is a proof that this prophecy is not yet fulfilled.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
voice
Cf. Isa 24:8 contra, Rev 14:1-3.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the voice: Isa 24:8, Isa 24:9, Jer 7:34, Jer 16:9, Jer 25:10, Jer 33:11, Eze 26:13
Reciprocal: Deu 24:6 – shall take Job 3:7 – solitary Psa 137:2 – we hanged Isa 23:1 – for it is Isa 23:12 – Thou shalt Jer 48:33 – joy Jer 49:33 – a dwelling Jer 51:55 – destroyed Lam 5:14 – the young Dan 6:18 – and passed Hos 2:11 – cause Amo 6:5 – to the Zec 6:8 – quieted Rev 14:2 – harpers Rev 18:21 – and shall Rev 18:23 – the voice
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 18:22-24. The destruction spoken of is enlarged on in strains of touching eloquence, but it is unnecessary to dwell on the particulars. They include everything belonging either to the business or to the joy of life. It may only be observed that following the word for in Rev 18:23 we have a threefold description of the sins by which judgment had been brought upon the city.
The words of Rev 18:24, And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slaughtered upon the earth, are important as confirming the interpretation that we have been dealing all along, not with a single city, but with the representation of some universal ungodliness and opposition to Christ. Nor does any parallel lie so near as that contained in the words of our Lord addressed to the degenerate Jews, that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah the son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation (Mat 23:35). The slaughtering spoken of suggests the idea that like the slaughtered Lamb the children of God had been slain in sacrifice.
Before passing from this chapter we have to turn to the important inquiry, What does this woman, this Babylon, represent? Different answers have been given to the question, the most widely accepted of which are, that she is either pagan Rome, or a great world-city of the last days (the metropolis of the world-power symbolized by the beast upon which she rides), or the Romish Church. That there is not a little in the description (more especially in chap. Rev 17:9; Rev 17:15; Rev 17:18) to favour the idea of pagan Rome may be at once admitted. But the arguments against such an interpretation are decidedly preponderant. It supposes that the beast in its final form is controlled by the metropolis of the Roman Empire (chap. Rev 17:3). This is so far from being the case that the Roman Empire is fallen before the woman comes upon the stage. It has disappeared as completely as the other world-powers which had ruled before it. No doubt, the woman is mentioned at chap. Rev 17:1, while it is only at Rev 18:10 that we read, of the fall of the Roman power. But the beast upon which the woman sits at Rev 18:3 is the world-power in its last and highest manifestation, and is therefore subsequent to any of its earlier forms afterwards alluded to when the Seer carries his thoughts backward in order to trace its history. Again, pagan Rome was never turned round upon (in the manner rendered necessary by chap. Rev 17:16), and hated, and made desolate, and burned by any world-powers that preceded her Christian condition. Once more, various individual expressions employed in these chapters are unsuitable to pagan Romechap. Rev 16:19, because Babylon is to be in existence at the time when the last plagues are poured out; chap. Rev 17:2, because no relations of the kind here spoken of existed between pagan Rome and those kings of the earth over whom, in the language of Alford, she rather reigned with undisputed and crushing sway; chap, Rev 18:2, because pagan Rome fell without having been reduced to the condition there described; chap. Rev 18:11; Rev 18:19, because pagan Rome never was a great commercial city, or, (if it be said that only her purchasing is referred to), because she did not cease to purchase even after her pagan condition came to an end. On the other hand, the words of chap. Rev 18:24, obviously founded on Mat 23:35, cannot be applied to pagan Rome.
Alive to the force of such considerations, or others of a similar kind, the tendency of later expositors has been to abandon the idea of pagan Rome, and to resort to that of another city which they term the world-city of the last days;some indeed seeing such a city in all the great cities that have at any time directed persecution against the people of God, others confining it more strictly to a city yet to arise. The difficulties attending this interpretation are even greater than in the case of the former. The tone of the passage as a whole is unfavourable to the thought of any metropolis whether of the past, the present, or the future. It is not the manner of the Apocalypse to symbolize by its emblems such material objects as a city, however huge its site, splendid its palaces, or wide its rule. The Writer deals with spiritual truths; and to think that he would introduce this woman as the symbol of a city even far vaster than London or Paris or New York is to lose tight of the spirit in which he writes. If it be urged that it is the dominion, not the stone and lime, of the city that he has in view, the extent of this dominion is fatal to the explanation. No such rule has belonged to any city either of ancient or modern times. Or, if the reply again be that the city is not yet come, it is unnecessary to say more than that the existence of so great a city is as yet at least inconceivable, and that thus one of the most solemn and weighty parts of the Apocalypse has been for eighteen centuries without a meaning. In addition, the use of the word mystery in chap. Rev 17:5 is at variance with the supposition. That word points at once to something spiritual (comp. on chap. Rev 17:5), and cannot be applied to what is merely of the earth earthly. This interpretation, like the former, must be set aside.
The idea that we have before us in the woman papal Rome, either the Romish Church, or the papal spirit within that church, is of a different kind, and its fundamental principle may be accepted with little hesitation. The emblem employed leads directly to the idea of something connected with the Church. The woman is a harlot; and, with almost unvarying uniformity, that appellation and the sin of whoredom are ascribed in the Old Testament not to heathen nations which had never enjoyed a special revelation of the Almightys will, but only to those whom He had espoused to Himself, and who had proved faithless to their covenant relation to Him (Isa 1:21; Jer 2:20; Jer 3:1, etc.). No more than two passages can be adduced to which this observation seems at first sight inapplicable (Isa 23:15-17; Nah 3:4), and these exceptions may be more apparent than real. The mention of whoredom in what was obviously a symbolical sense immediately suggested to Jewish ears the sin of defection from a state of former privilege in God.
Again, the harlot here is so distinctly contrasted with the woman of chap. 12 and with the bride the Lambs wife of chap. 21, that it is difficult, if not impossible, to resist the conviction that there must be a much closer resemblance between them than exists between a woman and a city. Compared with the former she is a woman; she is in a wilderness (chaps. Rev 12:14, Rev 17:3); she is a mother (chaps. Rev 12:5, Rev 17:5). Compared with the latter she is introduced to us in almost precisely the same language (Rev 17:1, Rev 21:9); her garments suggest ideas which, however specifically different, belong to the same region of thought (chaps. Rev 17:4, Rev 19:8); she has the name of a city, Babylon, while the bride is named New Jerusalem (chaps. Rev 17:5, Rev 21:2): she persecutes, while the saints are persecuted (chaps. Rev 12:13, Rev 17:6); she makes all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, while the faithful are nourished by their Lord (chaps. Rev 14:8, Rev 12:14); she has a name of guilt upon her forehead, while the 144,000 have their Fathers name written there (chaps. Rev 17:5, Rev 14:1). When we call to mind the large part played in the Apocalypse by the principle of contrasts, it is hardly possible to resist the conviction that the conditions associated with Babylon are best fulfilled if we behold in her a spiritual system opposed to and contrasted with the true Church of God.
We are led to this conclusion also by the fact that both Jerusalem and Babylon have the same designation, that of the great city, given them. This epithet is applied in chap. Rev 11:8 to a city, which can be no other than Jerusalem (see note), and the same remark may be made of chap. Rev 16:19 (see note). In six other passages the epithet is applied to Babylon (chaps. Rev 14:8, Rev 18:10; Rev 18:16; Rev 18:18-19; Rev 18:21). The necessary inference is that there must be a sense in which Jerusalem is Babylon and Babylon Jerusalem. If it be not so we shall have to contend, in the interpretation of the Apocalypse, with difficulties of a kind altogether different from those that generally meet us. Interpretation indeed will become impossible, because the same word, occurring in different places of the book, will have to be applied to totally different objects. No doubt it may be urged that the two cities Jerusalem and Babylon have so little in common that it is unnatural to find in the latter a figure for the former. The objection is of little weight. In the first place, it may be observed that the description of the fall of Babylon in this chapter is in all probability taken as much from the prophecy of Hosea (chap. Rev 2:1-12) as from anything said expressly of that city in the Old Testament; and, as that prophecy applies to the house of Israel, we have a proof that in the mind of the Apocalyptic Seer there was a sense in which the Babylon of this chapter and a particular aspect of Israel (and therefore also Babylon and Jerusalem) were closely associated with each other. Nor does it seem unworthy of notice that, at the moment when Hosea utters his warnings, he has before him the thought of a change of name, Then said God, Call his name Loammi; for ye are not My people, and I will not be your God (chap. Rev 1:9). The change of name might easily be transferred from the people to the city representing them; and if so, no name would more naturally connect itself in the mind of St. John with the things spoken of in chap. 2 of Hosea than that of Babylon. In the second place, there is an aspect of Jerusalem which most closely resembles that aspect of Babylon for the sake of which the latter city is here peculiarly referred to. We cannot read the Fourth Gospel without seeing that in the view of the Evangelist there was a second Jerusalem to be added to the Jerusalem of old, that there was not only a Jerusalem the city of God, the centre of a Divine Theocracy, but a Jerusalem representing a degenerate Theocracy, out of which Christs people must be called in order that they may form His faithful Israel, a part of His one flock (see on Joh 10:1-10). At this point, then, it would seem that we are mainly to seek the ground of the comparison between Jerusalem and Babylon. In the latter city Gods people spent seventy years of captivity; and, at the end of that time, they were summoned out of it. Many of them obeyed the summons. They returned to their own land to settle under their vines and fig-trees, to rebuild their city and temple, and to enjoy the fulfilment of Gods covenant promises. All this was repeated in the days of Christ. The leaders of the old Theocracy had become thieves and robbers; they had taken possession of the fold that they might steal and kill and destroy; it was necessary that Christs sheep should listen to the Good Shepherd, and should leave the fold that they might find open pastures. Not only so. Repeated then, the same course of history shall be once more repeated. There shall again be a coming out of Christs sheep from the fold which has for a time preserved them; and that fold shall be handed over to destruction. The probability is that this thought is to be traced even at chap. Rev 11:8, where Jerusalem is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt. Not simply because of its sins did it receive these names, but because Sodom and Egypt afforded striking illustrations of the manner in which God summons His people out from among the wicked, Lot out of Sodom (Gen 19:12; Gen 19:16-17; Luk 17:28-32), Israel out of Egypt (Hos 11:1; Mat 2:15). Babylon, however, afforded the most striking illustration of such thoughts, and it thus became identified with the Jerusalem which we learn to know in the Fourth Gospel as the city of the Jews. Out of that Jerusalem Christs disciples are by His own lips exhorted to flee (Mat 24:15-20). The same command is given in the passage before us (chap. Rev 18:4).
On these grounds it appears to us that there need be no hesitation in so far adopting the interpretation of those who understand by Babylon the Romish Church as to see in it what is fundamentally and essentially correct. The great city is the emblem of a degenerate church. As in chap. 12 we have, under the guise of a woman, that true Church of Christ which is the embodiment of all good, so here, under the guise of a harlot, we have that false Church which has sacrificed its Lord for the sake of the honours, the riches, and the pleasures of the world. It is not necessary to think, with Auberlen, that the woman is changed into the harlot. Such an idea is opposed to the general teaching of the Apocalypse with regard to the Church of Christ; and the feeling that it is inconsistent with the promise of our Lord in Mat 16:18 has led many to reject who would otherwise have welcomed the view we have defended. But no such idea of change is necessary. Babylon is simply a second aspect of the Church. Just as there were two aspects of Jerusalem in the days of Christ, under the one of which that city was the centre of attraction both to God and Israel, under the other the metropolis of a degenerate Judaism, so there are two aspects of the Church of Christ, under the one of which we think of those who within her are faithful to their Lord, under the other of the great body of merely nominal Christians who in words confess but in deeds deny Him. The Church in this latter aspect is before us under the term Babylon; and it would appear to be the teaching of Scripture, as it is certainly that alike of Jewish and Christian history, that the longer the Church lasts as a great outward institution in the world the more does she tend to realize this picture. As her first love fails, she abandons the spirit for the letter, makes forms of one kind or another a substitute for love, allies herself with the world, and by adapting herself to it secures the ease and the wealth which the world will never bestow so heartily upon anything as upon a Church in which the Divine oracles are dumb. Beyond this point it is not possible to accompany those who understand by Babylon the Romish Church. Deeply that Church has sinned.
Not a few of the darkest traits of Babylon apply to her with a closeness of application which may not unnaturally lead us to think that the picture of these chapters has been drawn from nothing so much as her. Her idolatries, her outward carnal splendour, her oppression of Gods saints, her merciless cruelties with torture the dungeon and the stake, the tears and agonies and blood with which she has filled so many centuriesthese and a thousand circumstances of a similar kind may well be our excuse if in Babylon we read Christian Rome. Yet the interpretation is false. The harlot is wholly what she seems. Christian Rome has never been wholly what on one side of her character she was so largely. She has maintained the truth of Christ against idolatry and unchristian error, she has preferred poverty to splendour in a way that Protestantism has never done, she has nurtured the noblest types of devotion that the world has seen, and she has thrilled the waves of time as they passed over her with one constant litany of supplication and chant of praise. Above all, it has not been the chief characteristic of Rome to ally herself with kings. She has rather trampled kings beneath her feet; and, in the interests of the poor and the oppressed, has taught both proud barons and imperial tyrants to quail before her. For deeds like these her record is not with the beast but with the Lamb. Babylon cannot be Christian Rome; and nothing has been more injurious to the Protestant churches than the impression that she was so, and that they were free from participation in her guilt. Babylon embraces much more than Rome, and illustrations of what she is lie nearer our own door. Wherever professedly Christian men have thought the worlds favour better than its reproach; wherever they have esteemed its honours a more desirable possession than its shame; wherever they have courted ease rather than welcomed suffering, have loved self-indulgence rather than self-sacrifice, and have substituted covetousness in grasping for generosity in distributing what they had,there has been a part of the spirit of Babylon. In short, we have in the great harlot-city neither the Christian Church as a whole nor the Romish Church in particular, but all who anywhere within the Church profess to be Christs little flock and are not,denying in their lives the main characteristic by which they ought to be distinguished,that they follow Christ.
It may be well to remark, in conclusion, that the view now taken relieves us of any difficulty in accounting for the lamentation in chap. 18 of kings and merchants and shipmasters over the fall of Babylon, as if these persons had no interest in her fate. So far is this from being the case, that nothing has contributed more to deepen and strengthen the worldliness of the world than the faithlessness of those who ought to testify that the true inheritance of man is beyond the grave, and that the duty of all is to seek a better country, even an heavenly. A mere worldly and utilitarian system of Ethics may be better trusted to correct the evils of a growing luxuriousness, than a system which teaches that we may serve both God and Mammon, and that it is possible to make the best of both worlds.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
As Harkrider says, “There will ‘no more’ be the amusement life, business life, or even the home life which existed in the arrogant, rebellious” city of John’s revelation. The reason all this comes to an end is threefold. The merchants of the wicked, worldly city had made profit their sole ambition, the nations of the earth were deceived by her worldly ways and slew God’s spokesmen.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Rev 18:22-24. The voice of harpers Players on stringed instruments; and musicians Skilful singers in particular; and pipers Who played on flutes, chiefly on mournful, whereas trumpeters played on joyful occasions; shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman Greek, , no artificer, of whatever art. Arts of every kind, particularly music, sculpture, painting, and statuary, were there carried to their greatest height. No, nor even the sound of a mill-stone shall be heard any more in thee Not only the arts that adorn life, but even those employments without which it cannot subsist, will cease from thee for ever: all which expressions denote absolute and eternal desolation. There shall be no more musicians for the entertainment of the rich and great; no more tradesmen or artificers to employ those of the middle ranks, and to furnish the conveniences of life; no more servants or slaves to grind at the mill, prepare bread, and supply the necessaries of life. Nay, there shall be no more lights, no more bridal songs: that is, no more marriages, in which lamps and songs were known ceremonies; and therefore the city shall never be peopled again, but shall remain depopulated and desolate for ever. The desolation of Rome is therefore described in such a manner as to show that neither rich nor poor, neither persons of middle rank nor those of the lowest condition, should be able to live there any more. For thy merchants were the great men of the earth A circumstance which was in itself indifferent, and yet led them into pride, luxury and numberless other sins. For by thy sorceries were all nations deceived That is, poisoned by thy pernicious practices. So that the reasons assigned for her utter desolation are her pride and luxury, her superstition and idolatry, with various other vices; and especially her cruel persecutions of Gods saints and servants: for it is added, In her was found the blood of prophets, &c. These seem to be the words of St. John: and of all that were slain upon the earth As if he had said, Her punishment shall be as severe and exemplary as if she had been guilty of all the persecutions that ever were upon account of religion; for by her conduct she hath approved, and imitated, and surpassed them all. Certainly there is no city under the sun which has so clear a title to general blood-guiltiness as Rome. The guilt of the blood shed under the heathen emperors was not removed under the popes, but hugely multiplied. Nor is Rome accountable only for what hath been shed in the city, but for that shed in all the earth. For at Rome, under the popes, as well as under the heathen emperors, were the bloody orders and edicts given: and wherever the blood of holy men was shed, there were the grand rejoicings for it. And what immense quantities of blood have been shed by her agents! Charles IX. of France, in his letter to Gregory XIII., boasts that in, and not long after, the massacre of Paris, he had destroyed seventy thousand Huguenots. Some have computed that, from the year 1518 to 1548, fifteen millions of Protestants perished by war and the inquisition. This may be overcharged; but certainly the number of them in those thirty years, as well as since, is almost incredible. To these we may add innumerable martyrs in ancient, middle, and late ages, in Bohemia, Germany, Holland, France, England, Ireland, and many other parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Now this tyrannical cruelty exercised against Gods saints, apostles, and prophets being considered, we cannot wonder that the sentence of so terrible a desolation and destruction should be passed on this persecuting city. But the reader must observe, Rome hath never yet been depopulated and desolated in this manner. She hath been taken indeed and plundered by Alaric, king of the Visigoths, in the year 410; by Genseric, king of the Vandals, in the year 455; by Totilas, king of the Ostrogoths, in the year 546; and by others since that time: but yet she is still standing and flourishing, and is honoured by many nations as the metropolis of the Christian world; she still resounds with singers and musicians; she still excels in arts, which serve to pomp and luxury; she still abounds with candles, and lamps, and torches, burning even by day as well as by night: and consequently this prophecy hath not yet been, but remaineth still to be, fulfilled.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
18:22 {14} And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft [he be], shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
(14) The events are two, and one of them opposite to the other for amplification sake. There shall be no mirth nor joy at all in Babylon, he says in this and the next verse, Rev 18:23 but heavy and lamentable things, from the bloody slaughters of the righteous and the vengeance of God coming on it for this.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Many things will end with the destruction of this system. John mentioned the rejoicing of unbelievers, the work of producers of goods, the use of their tools, the light their activities produced (literally and figuratively), and the happiness that resulted. No music, trades, or industry will continue (cf. Jer 25:10). Where there had previously been hustle and bustle, there will then be silence.
The angel gave three reasons for this devastation, two in Rev 18:23 and one in Rev 18:24. The Greek word hoti, "because," appears twice in Rev 18:23. Each time it introduces a reason. First, men whom the world regards as great have enriched themselves and lifted themselves up in pride because of Babylon’s influence (cf. Isa 23:8). Second, as a result of the first reason Babylon has seduced all nations. She deceived all the nations into thinking that joy, security, honor, and meaning in life (i.e., "success") come through the accumulation of material wealth. She used sorcery (cf. Rev 9:21) to seduce the nations into following her (cf. 2Ki 9:22; Isa 47:9; Isa 47:12; Nah 3:4).