And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
15. The waters &c.] Some compare Isa 8:7 for the use of waters as an emblem of multitudes.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And he saith unto me – The angel, Rev 17:7. This commences the more literal statement of what is meant by these symbols. See the Analysis of the chapter.
The waters which thou sawest – See the notes on Rev 17:1.
Are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues – For an explanation of these terms, see the notes on Rev 7:9. The meaning here is:
(a) that these waters represent a multitude of people. This is a common and an obvious symbol – for outspread seas or raging floods would naturally represent such a multitude. See Isa 8:7-8; Isa 17:12-13; Jer 47:2. Compare Iliad, v. 394. The sense here is, that vast numbers of people would be subject to the power here represented by the woman.
(b) They would be composed of different nations, and would be of different languages, It is unnecessary to show that this, in both respects, is applicable to the papacy. Nations have been, and are subject to its control, and nations speaking a large part of the languages of the world. Perhaps under no one government – not even the Babylonian, the Macedonian, or the ancient Roman – was there so great a diversity of people, speaking so many different languages, and having so different an origin.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.] “So many words,” Bishop Newton observes, “in the plural number, fitly denote the great extensiveness of her power and jurisdiction. She herself glories in the title of the Catholic Church, and exults in the number of her votaries as a certain proof of the true religion. Cardinal Bellarmin’s first note of the true Church is, the very name of the Catholic Church; and his fourth note is, amplitude, or multitude, and variety of believers; for the truly Catholic Church, says he, ought not only to comprehend all ages, but likewise all places, all nations, all kinds of men.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
John saw the great whore sitting upon seven mountains, Rev 17:9, and upon many waters, Rev 17:1; these signified her dominion and jurisdiction over many people.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. (Rev 17:1;Isa 8:7.) An impious parody ofJehovah who “sitteth upon the flood” [ALFORD].Also, contrast the “many waters” Re19:6, “Alleluia.”
peoples, and multitudes, andnations, and tonguesThe “peoples,” c., here mark theuniversality of the spiritual fornication of the Church. The”tongues” remind us of the original Babel, the confusion oftongues, the beginning of Babylon, and the first commencementof idolatrous apostasy after the flood, as the tower was doubtlessdedicated to the deified heavens. Thus, Babylon is the appropriatename of the harlot. The Pope, as the chief representative of theharlot, claims a double supremacy over all peoples, typifiedby the “two swords” according to the interpretation ofBoniface VIII in the Bull, “Unam Sanctam,” andrepresented by the two keys: spiritual as the universal bishop,whence he is crowned with the miter and temporal, whence he is alsocrowned with the tiara in token of his imperial supremacy. Contrastwith the Pope’s diadems the “many diadems” of Himwho alone has claim to, and shall exercise when He shall come, thetwofold dominion (Re 19:12).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he saith unto me,…. That is, the angel, who proposed to give John the interpretation of the vision, he went on with it as follows:
the waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth,
[See comments on Re 17:1],
are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues; denoting the vast multitude of people, of which the several kingdoms, of divers languages, consist, which belong to the jurisdiction of Rome Papal: it is an eastern way of speaking, and is particularly used to express the various kingdoms, and infinite number of people belonging to the Babylonish monarchy, which was an emblem of the antichristian state, Da 3:4 and these are compared to waters, to many waters; which phrase sometimes is used for the sea,
Ps 107:23 because of the vast numbers of them; the whole world wondered after the beast, and the kings and inhabitants of the earth have been subject to the see of Rome; and because of their overbearing force, carrying all before them; see Isa 8:7
Re 13:3 and because, like waters, they are continually upon the flux, one generation succeeding another; and because of their instability, fickleness, and inconstancy, as in religion, so in their constitution, they will hate the whore they love; and as they frequently change and alter in their form, at last they will utterly cease: so the Jews w interpret many waters, in So 8:7 of all people, and of the kings of the earth, and of the nations of the world; and they say, that many waters never signify any other than all the nations, and those that are appointed over them x. So, “he drew me out of many waters”, Ps 18:16 is by the Targum on the place explained, he delivered me from many people. And so Ps 46:4 is paraphrased by the Targumist;
“people, “as rivers”, and their streams, shall come, and make glad the city of the Lord;”
see the Targum on Isa 8:7 and in Eze 32:2 where it is observed kingdoms are compared to waters y.
w Targum in Cant. viii. 7. Shirhashirim Rabba fol. 26. 1. x Zohar in Gen. fol. 51. 3. & Raya Mehimna in ib. & in Numb. fol. 105. 3. Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 2. fol. 179. 4. y Yaikut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 93. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Where the harlot sitteth ( ). Relative adverb (where) referring to the waters () of verse 1 on which the harlot sits. Present middle indicative of .
Are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues ( ). The O.T. uses “waters” as symbol for “peoples” (Isa 8:7; Jer 47:2; Ps 29:10, etc.). “Rome’s greatest danger lay in the multitudes which were under her sway” (Swete).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The waters. The explanation of the symbol given here is in accordance with Isa 8:7; Psa 18:4, 16; Psa 124:14.
Peoples and multitudes, etc. See on 1Pe 2:9; Mr 12:37.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And he saith unto me,” (kai legei moi) “and he says
(explains) to me,” explains, summarizes the vision as follows:
2) “The waters which thou sawest,” (ta hudata ha eides) “the waters which thou didst see,” Rev 17:1.
3) “Where the whore sitteth,” (hou he porne kathetai) where the harlot sits of her own will, accord, or choosing;” Rev 17:3 the heathen, idolatrous, Gentile one world Empire over whom the antichrist ruled, Rev 13:1.
a) “Are peoples,” (laoi) “are peoples,” masses of subjects, slaves of the harlot woman and the beast, the antichrist, bearing in their foreheads and hands ownership identification marks of allegiance to the two, Rev 13:7; Rev 13:15-18.
b) “And multitudes,” (kai ochloi) “even crowds of people,” innumerable in numbers.
c) “And nation, (kai ethne) “and nations, even races,” aligned as the ten horns, mountains, kings, or satellite provincial governments of the antichrist which supported the whore woman in her fornication, Rev 17:4-7; Rev 17:9-13.
d) “And tongues,” (kai glossai) “and they are men with many languages; from various provinces that speak in confused, idolatrous languages, from which the history of Babel and Babylon originated, Gen 11:9; 1Co 14:23; For Babylon means confusion, Isa 13:1; Isa 13:4. The city Babylon is not to be built any more, Isa 13:19-22; Jer 51:24-26; Jer 51:62-64; But the Gentile world system like political Babylon, in confusion, is to rise again, as the beast, Rev 13:1-8.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(15) And he said unto me . . .Better, And he (i.e., the angel mentioned in Rev. 17:1) saith, &c. The waters on which the harlot sits are explained as multitudes. We have thus a key to the imagery employed here and elsewhere (Rev. 13:1). The wild beast and the harlot both draw much of their power from the people. The easily-moved passions or the fickle crowd, its generous, unreasoning impulses, are used by subtle and seductive enemies. Men never so much need to be theocratic as when they are most democratic, said De Tocqueville. They need to recognise God as their King, then, most when their new discovered strength is likely to be made the tool of unscrupulous ambition.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Exposition of the harlot, and her total destruction, Rev 17:15-18.
15. Peoples multitudes nations tongues Universal terms with the angel symbolic of the world-wide. Romanism claims to be catholic, that is, universal. She claims it as her proof of being a true Church. Cardinal Bellarmine asserts that the “first note of a true Church is the very same of the Catholic Church.” His fourth note, in words remarkably similar to the terms of this verse, is, “Amplitude, or multitude of believers. For a Church truly catholic ought not only to embrace all times, but all places, all nations, and races of all men.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And he says to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations and tongues. And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her utterly with fire”.’
Idolatry and its accompaniments will flourish among the nations, and indeed does so to the present time. Large portions of the earth are idolatrous, and idolatrous Temples are even now rising in so-called ‘Christian’ countries. Furthermore large portions of Christendom are idolatrous, for while they theoretically speak of venerating rather than worshipping, in actual fact many of the adherents do worship images and icons. And idolatry can lie as much in veneration of a flag or of famous persons or in riches as in worship of a graven image, when these things take an unhealthy control of a person’s life. Science has not disposed of idolatry, it has refined it. Thus the prostitute sits among the nations.
But in the end idolatry will be cast off and replaced directly with a monotheistic religion which consciously or unconsciously is a tool of Satan. He, acting through his Beastly leader and the unholy alliance, will brook no rivals even of his own devising. With the present situation in the Middle East this could well be militant Islam, which is closely associated with the area where Babylon was situated. Thus she who has so maltreated and persecuted others will herself be persecuted. His ‘ten kings’ will destroy the prostitute before they too meet their end. Thus they will fulfil the words of Jesus, ‘if Satan rises up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand but has an end’ (Mar 3:26).
The language here is reminiscent of Eze 16:39; Eze 23:25-29 where it was spoken of the harlot who represented faithless Jerusalem. Scripture there confirms that ‘eat her flesh and burn her utterly with fire’ refers to death and destruction resulting from war (Eze 23:25 see also Isa 49:26). Here in Revelation the destruction takes place even as preparations are being made for the final battle with the Lamb. It is deliberate irony that Great Babylon, established by man, is now to be destroyed by man, leaving the final confrontation to take place between God and Satan as in Genesis 3.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The conclusion of the explanation:
v. 15. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.
v. 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.
v. 17. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
v. 18. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. The angel here takes up his interpretation anew, in order to give the explanation of certain features of the picture shown above: And he says to me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot is sitting, peoples and multitudes they are, and nations and tongues. The angel fittingly describes the Church of the Pope as the great harlot sitting on many waters, that is, as one occupying a proud throne over many peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues, ruling them by her power and seducing them into the fornication of her idolatry.
And now a peculiar fact is noted: And the ten horns which thou sawest and the beast, these will hate the harlot, and they will lay her waste and strip her naked; and they will eat her flesh, and they will burn her with fire; for God has given into their hearts to carry out His intention, and to execute their single purpose, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. It is a strange fact, but one borne out sufficiently well by many pages of history, that the very rulers and prince; who received power and authority with the beast, at certain times turned against the rule of Anti-Christ, especially as to his meddling in temporal affairs. Even before the Reformation, for more than a century, complaints were lodged against the usurpation of the Roman hierarchy, and a number of councils attempted to adjust matters. And since the Reformation many of the rulers of the world, in spite of their outward adherence to the Church of Rome, have plundered her institutions, stripped her of her worldly power and goods, and left her comparatively destitute and helpless. Even the Pope’s own temporal kingdom, a strip of land in Italy, has been taken from him, and he now sits in his immense palace, the Vatican, calling himself a prisoner. That was one phase of God’s judgment upon the antichristian beast; these rulers carried out the intention and purpose which He put into their hearts.
But the power of Anti-Christ is by no means exhausted: And the woman which thou sawest is the great city which has regal authority over the kingdoms of the earth. So the final Judgment has not yet come upon the Church of Rome, upon the kingdom of Anti-Christ. Rome still is a very powerful empire, which must be reckoned with; she still has kingly authority over many rulers of the world; she is still able to bedeck herself with the ornaments of her idolatrous and adulterous traffic, and many thousands there are that are impressed by this pomp and yield to her entreaties. May God mercifully hold His sheltering hand over all true Christians!
Summary
The Church of Anti-Christ is described in full in the picture of a great harlot, combining temporal and spiritual power in an authority extending even over the rulers of the world, in. spite of the fact that these vassals have repeatedly stripped her of power and wealth.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Rev 17:15-18. The waters which thou sawest, &c. In the former part of this description, (Rev 17:1.) the whore is represented like ancient Babylon, sitting upon many waters, and these waters are here said expressly to signify peoples, and multitudes, &c. So many words in the plural number, fitly denote the great extensiveness of her power and jurisdiction; and it is a remarkable peculiarity of Rome, different from all other governments in the world, that her authority is not limited to her own immediate subjects, and confined within the bounds of her own dominions, butextends over all kingdoms and countries professing the same religion. She herself glories in the title of the Catholic church, and exults in the number of her votaries, as a certain proof of the true religion. But notwithstanding the general current in her favour, the tide shall turn against her; and the hands, which helped to raise her, shall pull her down. The ten horns shall hate the whore, (Rev 17:16.) that is, by a common figure of the whole for a part, some of the ten kings; for others, (ch. Rev 18:9.) shall bewail her, and lament for her, and (ch. Rev 19:19.) shall fight and perish in the cause of the beast. Some of the kings who formerly loved her, grown sensible of her exorbitant exactions and oppressions, shall hate her; shall strip, expose, and plunder her, and utterly consume her with fire. Rome therefore will be finally destroyed by some of the princes who are reformed, or shall be reformed from Popery: and as the reigning powers of France have contributed greatly to her advancement, it is not impossible, nor improbable, that some time or other they may also be the principal authors of her destruction. France has already shewn some tendency towards a reformation, and therefore may appear more likely to effect such a revolution. Portugal, in destroying the society of the Jesuits, notwithstanding the interposition of the papal power in their behalf, shews how possible such a revolution may be, even in the most bigoted countries: and such a revolution may reasonably be expected, because this infatuation of popish princes is permitted by divine Providence only for a certain period, until the words of God shall be fulfilled, Rev 17:17. and particularly the words of the prophet Dan 7:25-26; Dan 7:28 . They shall be given into his hand, until a time, and times, and the dividing of time; but then, as it immediately follows,the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end. Little doubt can remain after this, what idolatrous church can be meant by the whore of Babylon; but, for the greater certainty, it is added by the angel, Rev 17:18. The woman which thou sawest, is that great city. He had explained the mystery of the beast, and of his seven heads and ten horns; and his explanation of the mystery of the woman is, That great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. And what city, at the time of the vision, reigned over the kingdoms of the earth, but Rome? She has too, ever since, reigned over the kings of the earth, if not with temporal yet at least with spiritual authority. Rome therefore is evidently and undeniably this great city: and that Christian and not heathen, papal and not imperial Rome was meant, has appeared in several instances, and will appear in several more. See as above.
Inferences and REFLECTIONS.Easily might we have apprehended, that Rome had been here designed, though it had not been so particularly described by its situation on seven hills, or by the empire it then possessed over all the kingdoms of the world. The harlot might be sufficiently distinguished by her names of blasphemy, by her cup of enchantment, by her titles, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS, AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. Yea, she might be known by this single character, of having made herself drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And is it heathen Rome, to whom these characters are more remarkably applicable? The apostle would not then have wondered with so great admiration, that idolatry and persecution should prevail, where the former had raged for so many ages, and the latter almost from the very beginning of Christianity; and to such a degree, in the days of Nero, who, as their own historian tells us, had, thirty years before this, added mockeries and insults to torment; that Christians were dressed up in the skins of wild beasts, and so exposed to be worried on the theatre: a method which has, indeed, figuratively speaking, been every where practised, and must be practised, if Christianity is to be made ridiculous, or odious. But, the true occasion of the apostle’s astonishment was, that Rome professing Christianity, Rome setting up for the head of the Christian world, should have emulated and exceeded any pagan city, and even itself in its pagan state, in its idolatries, and in its cruelties. And it is a fact indeed wonderful, that God should suffer this. Nevertheless, the beauty and glory of his providences shall at length be apparent. The kings of the earth, though, like Nebuchadnezzar, (Isa 10:7 .) they meant it not, are now fulfilling the plan of divine Providence; a plan that shall at length appear wise and harmonious, though the permission of all these absurdities and horrors make a part of it. And when the words of God are fulfilled, they who with one mind have given their power and strength to the beast, in order to support the harlot, shall be as unanimous in hating her, and making her desolate and naked; shall be ready to devour her flesh, and consume her in her own fires. Fierce and savage as the beast may at present appear, its war with the Lamb shall be utterly in vain; for the Lamb is always victorious, and will assert his grand imperial titles, LORD OF LORDS, AND KING OF KINGS. May we all lift under his banner: may we be faithful, faithful even to death; since then all the rage of men, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues, if it were united against us, could not prevent his giving us a crown of victory, and a part in his everlasting triumphs!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 17:15-18 . By a continuation of his discourse ( . .), the angel interprets first of all the waters where John beheld the harlot, and announces then the judgment impending over the harlot, which, according to God’s decree, is to be executed by the ten kings in confederacy with the beast. Then, finally, the chief figure in the vision, ch 17, the harlot herself, is expressly explained.
, . . . The waters form the sum total of inhabitants of the earth, for they all belong to the dominion of the harlot, [3892] to which also corresponds the accumulation of the four expressions, , , , . [3893]
But in spite of her wide dominion [3894] and all her glory, the harlot is ruined in a manner the least to be expected, but which only the more clearly manifests the judgment of God: the ten kings, together with the beast, shall hate the harlot and annihilate all her glory. The ., as to its meaning, belongs to the kings to be understood among the horns (Rev 17:13-14 ); these are the decisive chief subject, so that the determination of subject, besides presented in the , does not come further into consideration with respect to the form of the expression.
. . . A striking antithesis to Rev 17:4 . [3895]
. . Here the idea of the form of woman is still maintained, [3896] while in the following expression, , the fundamental idea of the city is asserted.
Rev 17:17 explains what is announced in Rev 17:16 , by the reference to God who in this way will destroy the harlot: , . . . The view here presented is very similar to that of Rev 16:14 , Revelation 16 : there the spirits from hell bring the kings of the earth together for the day of judgment at Armagedon; in this passage, the purpose and work, on God’s part, are definitely expressed. He it is who has put it into their hearts to execute the will of, to make an alliance with, and to serve the beast. “The thought is blunted when the with . . . is referred to God, [3897] instead of to the beast. [3898] In the connection this determination of subject is not absolutely too remote. [3899]
To the . . . ., corresponds at the conclusion the ; the work intended by God, for the kings confederated with the beast, has in the fulfillment (cf. Rev 10:7 ) of the words, i.e., of the prophecies of God , not only its goal, but also its limits. When those kings have done what they are to do, they are done away with. [3900]
[3892] Rev 17:18 . Cf. Rev 13:3 ; Rev 13:8 ; Rev 13:12 ; Rev 13:16 .
[3893] Cf. Rev 5:9 ; Rev 7:9 .
[3894] Cf. Rev 17:1 : . . Rev 14:8 ; Rev 16:19 .
[3895] Cf. Rev 18:16 .
[3896] Cf. Psa 27:2 ; Mic 3:2 sqq.
[3897] Vulg., Hengstenb., etc.
[3898] Beng., De Wette, Ew. ii., Volkm, Luthardt.
[3899] Against Hengstenb.
[3900] Cf. Rev 17:12 .
Now (Rev 17:18 ), upon the basis of all preceding individual statements, the precise meaning of the harlot, which is treated of especially in Rev 17:1 , is given: the woman is “the great city,” which has royal dominion over the kings of the earth, i.e., Rome, the metropolis, lying on seven hills, of the heathen-Roman Empire symbolized by the beast.
This exegetical result so undoubtedly forces itself upon us, [3901] that neither the misunderstanding of Auberlen, who regards the harlot as the woman of ch. 12 degenerated, nor the old Protestant explanation, which, in a more direct way, found here a reference to the Pope and Papal Rome, [3902] nor the singular opinion of Zllig, who regards the city, Rev 17:18 , as Jerusalem, [3903] needs any further refutation than that furnished by the exposition of ch. 17 in connection with ch. 12 sqq. Especially, also, that Rev 17:12 sqq. cannot refer to the pressure of the Goths or other Germano-Sclavic nations, as Auberlen, in agreement this time with Grot., interprets, results already from the connection with Rev 17:11 . The ten kings, whom Ebrard regards as identified with the seven heads, even if our exposition of Rev 17:10 sqq. and Rev 13:3 be correct, can be understood neither of “the ten leaders of the Flavians,” [3904] nor of the Parthian confederates of Nero. [3905] But after, in Rev 17:3 ; Rev 17:7 , he has mentioned the ten horns, as in chs. 12 and 13, besides the seven heads of the beast, and has also designated thereby the identity of the beast, ch. 17, with that previously described, John now follows Dan 7:24 in his interpretation of the ten horns as ten “ future ” kings ( , ). But thereby every concrete historical relation is surrendered; just because the reference in ch. 13 to the tenfold number of the horns is actually historical, no other can enter, and, least of all, that which actually occurs in Daniel. What is said, therefore (Rev 17:12 sqq.), concerning the ten kings, forms a feature in the Apocalyptic picture, derived from the Danielian model, which divests the number ten of definite historical relation, as it makes it appear purely schematical, while the general historical presumption of John’s prophetic view with respect, on the other side, to the relative fulfilment of his prophecy lies in the fact that the emperors, usurping authority against and after one another, could gain possession of the government only through conflicts which turned to the ruin of the city: they were with the beast, and yet desolated the licentious city.
But “the rulers of the last time” [3906] are not so certainly the ten kings as the heathen-Roman world- empire and world- city are symbolized in the beast and the harlot; and it is impossible for sound exegesis to put under inspection a fulfilment of the prophecies in ch. 17 still to occur at the end of the world.
If the ten kings be regarded more definitely and in combination with the eight rulers, we may, with Weiss, [3907] refer them to the ten “regents “of the sovereign obtaining the government by the revolution of prefects (Rev 17:13 ; Rev 17:17 ).
[3901] Cf. also Hengstenb. on Rev 17:18 .
[3902] Coccejus, Calov., Vitr., Beng.
[3903] In ch. 17, Jerusalem is regarded as Babylon; while false Judaism, under the symbol of the beast, is stated to be Edom.
[3904] Wetst.
[3905] Eichh., Bleek, De Wette. Cf. Ewald, who understands the Roman provincial prefects as in alliance with the returned Nero.
[3906] Luthardt.
[3907] p. 52.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
Ver. 15. Are peoples ] Fitly called waters for their instability and impetuosity.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
15 18 .] Explanation of various particulars regarding the harlot, and of the harlot herself . And he saith to me, The waters which thou sawest , where ( , like in Rev 17:9 , = ) the harlot sitteth, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages (so in Isa 8:7 , the king of Assyria and his invading people are compared to the waters of the river, strong and many. There is also doubtless an impious parody intended in the position of the harlot to that of Him who sitteth above the water-flood and remaineth King for ever, Psa 29:10 ). And the ten horns which thou sawest, and the beast (viz. in that compact and alliance just now mentioned), these shall hate the harlot (we now enter upon prophetic particulars other than those revealed in the vision, where the harlot was sitting on the beast. Previous to these things coming to pass, she must be cast down from her proud position), and shall make her deserted and naked (contrast to Rev 17:4 . Her former lovers shall no longer frequent her nor answer to her call: her rich adornments shall be stripped off. She shall lose, at the hands of those whom she formerly seduced with her cup of fornication, both her spiritual power over them and her temporal power to adorn herself), and shall eat her flesh (batten upon her spoils; confiscate her possessions: or perhaps, as the same expression, Psa 27:2 ; Mic 3:2 ff., where it is used to indicate the extreme vengeance of keen hostility. So Xen. Hell. iii. 3. 6, says of the hatred between the Helots, Perici, &c., and the pure Spartans, (the Helots, &c.) , ), and shall consume her with (or, in ) fire (Dsterd. remarks that in the former clause the figure of a woman is kept: in this latter the thing signified, a city . But this need not absolutely be; the woman may be here also intended: and all the more probably, because the very words are quoted from the legal formula of the condemnation of those who had committed abominable fornications: cf. Lev 20:14 ; Lev 21:9 . The burning of the city would be a signal fulfilment: but we cannot positively say that that, and nothing else, is intended). For God put it (reff.: the aor. is proleptic) into their hearts to do His mind , [ and to make one mind ( is in the same sense each time to put in practice: this they do in regard both to God’s mind and their own common mind, the two being the same. The identity is not asserted, which would require , but implied),] and to give their kingdom (i. e., as above, the authority of their respective kingdoms) to the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled (the prophetic words or discourses, not , but , respecting the destruction of Babylon). And the woman whom thou sawest, is the great city, which hath kingdom over the kings of the earth (every thing here is plain. The “septem urbs alta jugis toto qu prsidet orbi,” Propert., can be but one, and that one ROME. The pres. part., , points to the time when the words were uttered, and to the dominion then subsisting. It has already been seen, that the prophecy regards Rome pagan and papal, but, from the figure of an harlot and the very nature of the predictions themselves, more the latter than the former. I may observe in passing, that the view maintained recently by Dsterd., after many others, that the whole of these prophecies regard Pagan Rome only, receives no countenance from the words of this verse, which this school of Commentators are fond of appealing to as decisive for them. Rather may we say that this verse, taken in connexion with what has gone before, stultifies their view entirely. If the woman, as these Commentators insist, represents merely the stone-walls and houses of the city, what need is there for on her brow, what appropriateness in the use of all the Scripture imagery, long familiar to God’s people, of spiritual fornication? And if this were so, where is the contest with the Lamb, where the fulfilment of any the least portion of the prophecy? If we understand it thus, nothing is left for us but to say, as indeed some of this school are not afraid to say, that only the Seer’s wish dictated his words, and that history has not verified them. So that this view has one merit: it brings us at once face to face with the dilemma of accepting or rejecting the book: and thereby, for us, who accept it as the word of God, becomes impossible. For us, who believe the prophecy is to be fulfilled, what was Rome then, is Rome now. Her fornications and abominations, as well as her power and pride, are matter of history and of present fact: and we look for her destruction to come, as we believe it is rapidly coming, by the means and in the manner here foretold).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rev 17:15 . The woman impiously rivals God ( , Psa 29:3 ; Psalms cf.10). is substituted for the more common , perhaps with an allusion (after Eze 16:15 ; Eze 16:25 ; Eze 16:31 ) to Rome’s imperial rapacity.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev 17:15-18
15And he said to me, “The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. 16And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire. 17For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled. 18The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.”
Rev 17:15 This verse shows the universal reign of the end-time anti-God leader and his empire. See note at Rev 10:11.
Rev 17:16 This is an allusion to Eze 16:39-40; Eze 23:25-27; Eze 28:18. It seems to refer to internal strife among the forces of evil, as in Rev 16:12. This infighting was a strategy of God (cf. Rev 17:17).
Rev 17:17 “hearts” See Special Topic at Rev 2:23.
Rev 17:18 This great city is mentioned in Rev 11:8; Rev 16:19 with allusions either to Jerusalem (dispensationalists) or Rome (preterists). The context of the literary unit suggests an anti-God power structure symbolized as a city. Which city is not the issue; the point is the existence of a governmental system totally apart from God, humans attempting to meet all of their own needs (atheistic humanism).
Revelation 18
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
15-18.] Explanation of various particulars regarding the harlot, and of the harlot herself. And he saith to me, The waters which thou sawest, where (, like in Rev 17:9, = ) the harlot sitteth, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages (so in Isa 8:7, the king of Assyria and his invading people are compared to the waters of the river, strong and many. There is also doubtless an impious parody intended in the position of the harlot to that of Him who sitteth above the water-flood and remaineth King for ever, Psa 29:10). And the ten horns which thou sawest, and the beast (viz. in that compact and alliance just now mentioned), these shall hate the harlot (we now enter upon prophetic particulars other than those revealed in the vision, where the harlot was sitting on the beast. Previous to these things coming to pass, she must be cast down from her proud position), and shall make her deserted and naked (contrast to Rev 17:4. Her former lovers shall no longer frequent her nor answer to her call: her rich adornments shall be stripped off. She shall lose, at the hands of those whom she formerly seduced with her cup of fornication, both her spiritual power over them and her temporal power to adorn herself), and shall eat her flesh (batten upon her spoils; confiscate her possessions: or perhaps, as the same expression, Psa 27:2; Mic 3:2 ff., where it is used to indicate the extreme vengeance of keen hostility. So Xen. Hell. iii. 3. 6, says of the hatred between the Helots, Perici, &c., and the pure Spartans, (the Helots, &c.) , ), and shall consume her with (or, in) fire (Dsterd. remarks that in the former clause the figure of a woman is kept: in this latter the thing signified, a city. But this need not absolutely be; the woman may be here also intended: and all the more probably, because the very words are quoted from the legal formula of the condemnation of those who had committed abominable fornications: cf. Lev 20:14; Lev 21:9. The burning of the city would be a signal fulfilment: but we cannot positively say that that, and nothing else, is intended). For God put it (reff.: the aor. is proleptic) into their hearts to do His mind, [and to make one mind ( is in the same sense each time-to put in practice: this they do in regard both to Gods mind and their own common mind, the two being the same. The identity is not asserted, which would require , but implied),] and to give their kingdom (i. e., as above, the authority of their respective kingdoms) to the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled (the prophetic words or discourses,-not , but ,-respecting the destruction of Babylon). And the woman whom thou sawest, is the great city, which hath kingdom over the kings of the earth (every thing here is plain. The septem urbs alta jugis toto qu prsidet orbi, Propert., can be but one, and that one ROME. The pres. part., , points to the time when the words were uttered, and to the dominion then subsisting. It has already been seen, that the prophecy regards Rome pagan and papal, but, from the figure of an harlot and the very nature of the predictions themselves, more the latter than the former. I may observe in passing, that the view maintained recently by Dsterd., after many others, that the whole of these prophecies regard Pagan Rome only, receives no countenance from the words of this verse, which this school of Commentators are fond of appealing to as decisive for them. Rather may we say that this verse, taken in connexion with what has gone before, stultifies their view entirely. If the woman, as these Commentators insist, represents merely the stone-walls and houses of the city, what need is there for on her brow,-what appropriateness in the use of all the Scripture imagery, long familiar to Gods people, of spiritual fornication? And if this were so, where is the contest with the Lamb,-where the fulfilment of any the least portion of the prophecy? If we understand it thus, nothing is left for us but to say, as indeed some of this school are not afraid to say, that only the Seers wish dictated his words, and that history has not verified them. So that this view has one merit: it brings us at once face to face with the dilemma of accepting or rejecting the book: and thereby, for us, who accept it as the word of God, becomes impossible. For us, who believe the prophecy is to be fulfilled, what was Rome then, is Rome now. Her fornications and abominations, as well as her power and pride, are matter of history and of present fact: and we look for her destruction to come, as we believe it is rapidly coming, by the means and in the manner here foretold).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rev 17:15-18
3. THE MYSTERY OF THE HARLOT
Rev 17:15-18
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues–In verse 3 the woman was represented as sitting on the scarlet-colored beast. That was explained in the preceding paragraph. Verse 1 says she was sitting upon the sea. This paragraph explains that. The waters refer to a multitude of peoples of various nations who supported the papacy.
For clearness we again mention the fact that the apostate church is represented by the beast in Rev 13:11-18, but by the drunken harlot in Rev 17:1-7. This distinction should be remembered. It is common in scriptural figures for the same thing to be represented by several different symbols. Christ is called both Lamb and Lion to describe different characteristics. Both are appropriate, but must not be confused. So of beast and harlot. The former is an emblem of the persecuting spirit of the apostasy; the latter, the seductive wiles by which people would be led into false religious practices, called a “golden cup full of abominations” and “unclean things of her fornication.” (Verse 4.)
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest, and the beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her utterly with fire.–This language indicates that political Rome (the beast) and the nations subject to it would hate the harlot (apostate church). This refers to a later period, for verses 3 and 14 show that their combined powers were engaged in war against the Lamb; at the time of this verse they were against the papacy, determined to make it desolate. This has been at least partly fulfilled in the fact that nations once subject to papal rule have become Protestant or rejected church rule in matters of state. Being despoiled of such glory and power is appropriately described as being made desolate and naked.
Eating her flesh and burning her with fire imply complete destruction, but are not to be taken literally. They probably indicate that when nations refused to be governed by papal authority the end of such rule over them was as complete as if a body had been eaten or a city burned.
17 For God did put in their hearts to do his mind, and to come to one mind, and to give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished.–This verse shows that in some way God was the moving cause (permitted or allowed) of these nations unitedly supporting the beast until the divine purpose was carried out in certain particulars. Then they became enemies of the harlot in accomplishing other purposes God had in view.
18 And the woman whom thou sawest is the great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.–In verse 5 the great city is described as Babylon. But this must be understood figuratively as meaning the papal church, which, like its proto-type, ancient Babylon, must finally be destroyed.
Commentary on Rev 17:15-18 by Foy E. Wallace
It is repeated in Rev 17:15 that the waters upon which the Harlot sat were the peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues, which represented, as previously explained, Jerusalems affiliations with the heathen world, and the intermingling with nations and people of all parts of the empire. This became a source of corruption and apostasy.
It is declared in Rev 17:16 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 Lords 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.
The accord of these kings with the emperor was described in Rev 17:17 as being in Gods plan to fulfill his words, spoken by his prophets, and by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, concerning the destruction of the once faithful but then harlot city of Jerusalem,
With Rev 17:18 the chapter closes with a significant declaration: And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. It is this passage that has been the basis of the interpretation and theory that Rome was the city that reigned over the kings of the earth, and was therefore the harlot city. But the conclusion does not follow. In Rev 11:8 Jerusalem is called the great city under the symbols of Sodom and Egypt, hence the term great city has been a mystic designation for Jerusalem. In the history of Josephus, Volume 7 of Wars, Section 8, 7, the historical term that great city was applied to Jerusalem. This was both the historical and symbolic designation for Jerusalem.
There are no such terms and titles employed to designate Rome. The appellation for Jerusalem comports further with the reference to the city as Babylon, the Great in Rev 11:8, symbolically called Sodom and Egypt, but identified as being Jerusalem by the statement where also our Lord was crucified.
The last statement of Rev 17:18 which reigneth over the kings of the earth did not refer to the empire of the Caesars, nor the city of the emperors. The word reign here denoted a dominion. The earth, as defined at the beginning of the visions and later repeated, referred to the land of Judea, inclusive of Palestine. The city of Jerusalem was the royal city where the kings of Judah reigned. The phrase the kings of the earth was used in the sense of Act 4:26-27 : The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast annointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together.
These kings of the earth were of Judah, and Jerusalem was the capital city of the land, standing in the same relation to these kings of the earth as Rome sustained to the emperors.
The second psalm represents Jerusalem as ruling with a rod of iron over the kings of the earth who had set themselves against the Lords annointed One. In the Wars, Book 3, Section 3, 5, Josephus adds that the royal city Jerusalem was supreme, and presided over all neighboring country as the head does over the body.
There is every contextual reason to apply the language of Rev 17:18, that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth, to Jerusalem in relation to the kings of Judah, as figuratively set forth in the second psalm, and quoted in fulfillment in the gospel of Matthew.
Beside these scriptural applications, it must be true in ordinary logic and common consistency that the beast being the Roman empire, the harlot city which the beast hated could not have been the city of Rome.
The entire vision is centered on the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, the demolition of the Jewish temple and the end of theocratic Judaism and of the Jewish state; and the devastation of the land of Judea, the homeland of the Jews. The persecution of the church was a consequence of such catastrophe, being considered by the Romans as a sect of the Jews. But the Roman empire and Rome, the city, were only collateral to the visions of Revelation as the instrument of the power of destruction and of persecution.
Commentary on Rev 17:15-18 by Walter Scott
INTERPRETATION OF THE WATERS.
Rev 17:15. – The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sits, are peoples, and multitudes, (Usually translated crowds. – New Translation.) and nations, and tongues. The woman sits upon the Beast (Rev 17:3). The harlot sits upon or beside many waters (Rev 17:1). Having the explanation of these many waters before us we can the more readily understand the immense and universal influence which the apostate Church then exercises. The peoples and nations, organized and unformed, specially outside the limits of the existing Roman world, are ensnared and captivated by the allurements of the harlot. She sits enthroned in greatness, and richly adorned with the glories of the world, but without the affections of her deluded followers. There is display, but no reality; no heart for Christ, whose bride she impiously professes to be. Her own exaltation, and that to the spiritual ruin of the deluded millions who received her favors and court her smile, is her sole aim. Her supreme regard is for gold (Rev 18:12); her least concern is for the souls of men (Rev 17:13). The four divisions of the human family are employed to set forth the far-reaching influence of the woman (Rev 7:9 : Rev 11:9).
DESTRUCTION OF THE HARLOT.
Rev 17:16-17. – And the ten horns which thou sawest, and the Beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her with fire. For God has given to their hearts to do His mind, and to act with one mind, and to give their kingdom to the Beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. The ten horns and the Beast (see R.V. for this important emendation). The ten kingdoms combine with the Beast in hatred to the whore. What a change! It is evident that the Beast and confederate kings exist after the destruction of Babylon, as they, i.e., the Beast and the horns, are the human instruments in inflicting the Lords vengeance on that guilty and apostate system. The secular power is reserved for destruction at the hands of the Lord in Person and at His Coming in power (Rev 19:1-21). The ten horns act in conjunction with the Beast in hatred to the whore. All were united in supporting the claims and pretensions of the woman, and now they are equally agreed in effecting her ruin.
The worlds glory and might is but a passing dream. All not founded on God withers, fades, and perishes. Babylon, when on the highest pinnacle of pride and greatness, in the zenith of her glory, is cut down. Her ruin is complete and final. In righteous retribution her partners in crime become the active instruments in her political overthrow and displacement from power over the nations.
There seems a gradation in the punishment meted out to the harlot. First, hated; this refers to the loathing and disgust with which her late confederates and supporters regard her. Second, made desolate; despoiled of her wealth, and utterly wasted (Rev 18:19). Third, naked; stripped of her purple and scarlet robes, she appears before all in her true character as a shameless and abandoned woman (Eze 23:29; Rev 3:18), her moral nakedness and shame apparent to all. Fourth, eat her flesh; there is significance in the fact that flesh is in the plural; the abundance of her wealth and all she gloried in is devoured by her late admirers, now her bitterest enemies (compare with Jas 5:3; Psa 27:2; Mic 3:2-3). Fifth burn her with fire; utter social and political ruin is here indicated. The main element in the destruction of the literal Babylon was water (Jer 51:1-64). The mystical city of that name shall be utterly burned with fire (Rev 18:8). Both Babylons are doomed to everlasting desolation. The one has fallen; the other is sure to follow. There is no healing of the bruise.
UNION OF THE POWERS IN MIND AND ACTION.
The powers who destroy Babylon glut their vengeance on the guilty system which had so long enslaved them. But here the veil is drawn aside, and we find that whatever they thought they were simply carrying out the divine will. God had decreed the destruction of the worst system on the face of the earth, and the Beast and his vassal kings are His instruments in doing so. God has given to their hearts to do His mind. Note the distinction, their hearts and His mind. Heartily they enter on the work of destruction, but, after all, they unknowingly accomplish the set purpose of God. The heart and mind of the destroying powers are united. They love the service to which, while they know it not, they have been divinely set apart, and they execute it with fixed determination. Such seems to be the thought conveyed in our text.
Rev 17:17. – Further, the ten kings give their kingdom to the Beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled. There is absolute subjection to the Beast. Unable to maintain separate and independent kingdoms the ten kings voluntarily place themselves and their kingdoms under the rule of the Beast, and from henceforth he becomes their master, allowing them but the shadow of royalty. The real power is in the hands of the Beast (Rev 13:2-7). What is attributed to the kings in verse 13 of our chapter is traced to God as the source in verse 17. All the movements amongst the powers of Europe are in the coming crisis an accomplishment of the prophetic words of God. We would further add that the complete subjection of the ten kings to the Beast, as indicated in verse 13, is a condition subsequent to the destruction of Babylon. They had previously given their power to the woman, now it is transferred to the Beast. The duration of the reign of the Beast in the last great crisis defines the length of time when the ten horns, or kings, exercise sovereignty (Receive power (authority) as kings one hour with the beast signifies at one and the same time; that is, the horns and Beast exist together, whether the time is limited or prolonged.) (v. 12). But that describes a state both previous and subsequent to the downfall of Babylon, whereas the abject slavery of the powers to the Beast is consequent upon and subsequent to the utter ruin of the Romish system.
God works unseen, but not the less truly, in all the political changes of the day. The astute statesman, the clever diplomatist, is simply an agent in the Lords hands. He knows it not. Self-will and motives of policy may influence in action, but God is steadily working towards one end, i.e., to exhibit the heavenly and earthly glories of His Son. Thus, instead of kings and statesmen thwarting Gods purpose they unconsciously forward it. God is not indifferent, but is behind the scenes of human action. The doings of the future ten kings in relation to Babylon and the Beast – the ecclesiastical and secular powers – are not only under the direct control of God, but all is done in fulfilment of His words.
ROME, THE SEAT AND CENTRE
OF THE WOMANS AUTHORITY.
Rev 17:18. – And the woman which thou sawest is the great city, which has kingship over the kings of the earth. The papacy and Rome cannot be dissociated. Babylon in the future is the full-blown development of the papal system, and finds her home naturally enough in Rome, where she has ever found it. There the most blasphemous doctrines have been taught, and there, too, claims more than human have been advanced. There will be a fuller development of papal error in the coming apostasy. Rome, therefore, is the city here referred to. The woman is the city, not Rome actually, but the system which has its seat in Rome, the Romish Church or system, the delegate of Satan in religious corruption (Rev 16:19), and from thence till her destruction she exercises her baneful influence over the peoples of Christendom. The last verse of this deeply interesting chapter states a truth simple, yet important withal.
An outline of the truths and subjects unfolded in the chapter may prove useful to some.
THE CHAPTER REVIEWED.
The immediate design of this and the next chapter is to supplement fully the two previous, but scant, notices of Babylon (Rev 14:8; Rev 16:19). Here a full and detailed description of her character and doom is given. But there is another subject of judgment besides that of Babylon. The Beast, the apostate secular power, occupies no unimportant place in this prophecy. The two main subjects then are Babylon, the religious system; and the Beast, the civil apostate power; the former occupying the chief place. The Beast, more prominent elsewhere (Rev 13:1-18), is here regarded as secondary in interest to Babylon, the harlot.
The chapter is divided into two parts: first, a vision beheld by the Seer (Rev 17:1-6); second, the interpretation of the vision by one of the Vial angels (Rev 17:7-18). We may here remark that the interpretation goes considerably beyond what was seen in the vision. The same principle obtains in Dan 2:1-49 and in Mat 13:1-58. The interpretation adds instruction to that found in dream, vision, or parable. The Seer first beheld the great whore ripe for judgment (v. 1). She is termed great Babylon because of the awful and widespread confusion of which she is the embodiment. She is also the great whore because of a frightful system of hypocrisy and lust over the souls and bodies of men. Her licentious character, moral of course, is indicated in the term whore. She is called a woman because thereby is implied subjection (1Co 11:3). She assumes to be subject to Christ, as the Church is and delights to be (Eph 5:23-25). But in the case of the woman, her pretensions are hollow and unreal. She really cares nothing for Christ, nor will she bow to His headship or own His authority.
She sits upon or beside many waters (Rev 17:1). These waters signify vast multitudes of the human race (Rev 17:15) over whom the woman has cast her spell, alluring them to everlasting ruin.
Then the kings and inhabitants of the earth are introduced in their respective relations to the whore (Rev 17:2). This seems a more intimate connection than is indicated in Rev 17:1. There the influence was universal; here is intimated direct intercourse with the whore. We gather, too, that the world at large is in view in the first verse of the chapter; in the second Christendom only. The kings of the earth are not the same as the ten kings of Rev 17:12; these latter are kings of the Roman empire, the former signify the chiefs and leaders of Christendom generally.
Next, the woman is seen sitting upon a scarlet Beast. This is the same Beast and the same power as that presented in chapter 13. The ancient empire of Rome, defunct for many centuries, is here witnessed on the scene of prophecy covered with the glory and government of the world, as indicated by the scarlet color. The woman, too, is arrayed in scarlet, and the dragon bears the same colour (Rev 12:3). How eagerly the pomp and glory of this world are sought after! The imperial power is subservient to the woman. The Beast, to whom the dragon commits universal authority, is the mere servant and tool of the woman. The secular power supports her arrogant pretensions.
But the Beast is further described as full of names of blasphemy. Bad as the woman is she is never guilty of this daring and open character of impiety. Deceit, corruption, violence, pride, and shameless evils of every kind are charged home upon ecclesiastical Babylon – the whore. Blasphemy and the public denial of God and of Christ are acts of which the Beast is guilty. The names of blasphemy on the heads of the Beast (Rev 13:1) stamp the executive, or governing authority, with this awful character of guilt, but evidently we have here the whole body politic – chiefs and people – characterized by it. Fear of God is gone. The empire in all its parts is wholly given up to this most horrible iniquity.
Then the Beast is said to have seven heads and ten horns, several times repeated. The mention of the Beast in Rev 13:1 is in similar terms to that of the dragon in Rev 12:3. In the case of the dragon the heads, not the horns, are crowned; in the notice of the Beast the horns are crowned, while the heads bear the names or public expressions of blasphemy; in chapter 17 neither heads nor horns are crowned (Rev 17:3). Such then is the general character and description of the Beast, the main supporter of the false and corrupt religious system dominating the empire, and extending her influence throughout Christendom. It does seem, at first sight, strange that the Beast – on which such a liberal grant of power is conferred by Satan (Rev 13:4-7) – should be found a willing slave at the feet of the woman, but her dazzling splendor and seductive influence are like silken cords binding even the potent chief of the empire to the footstool of her throne.
Having had the Beast before us, we are turned again to view the woman, clothed and adorned with all that the world esteems of highest value (Rev 17:4). She holds a golden cup in her hand; she should have been that in the Lords hand. The cup is full of abominations (idolatry) and the unclean things of her fornication. (Tyre, not Babylon, of old is charged with fornication; this at once shows what the character of the evil is, viewed morally.) All who drink of her cup, and millions do, are morally ruined. Then upon her forehead is stamped her name and character. She bears on her sacerdotal brow the name Mystery, of iniquity, surely! The second part of the title, Babylon the Great, speaks of the havoc the woman has wrought. She has filled Christendom with innumerable evils, and brought in hopeless confusion. The third part of the name, or title, of the woman is perhaps the worst of all: The mother of the harlots, and of the abominations of the earth. Every system which copies the ways and imitates the actions of the woman, imbibing her doctrines and adopting her liturgy, and generally borrowing from or conforming to the Romish Church, now or then, must be regarded as her offspring. She is the mother, or source, of every evil religious system.
But she is a bloody system, as well as a morally licentious one. I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus (Rev 17:6). Papal Rome far exceeded pagan Rome in cruelty and bloodshed; and, besides, she is far more guilty as knowing better. She professed to be the spouse of Christ, and yet murdered at will those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; no doubt the Romish Church believed that in killing the saints she was doing God service (Joh 16:2), but it just shows the awful delusion which had judicially overtaken her. The wonder of the Seer was not caused by the Beasts persecution (Rev 13:7), but by that of the woman, the professed spouse of Christ, although not she, but the Beast, actually puts the saints to death. But the woman is the power behind.
Then in the second part of the chapter the mystery of the woman and of the Beast which carries her is explained. It is a double mystery – the woman and the Beast; a travesty of the New Testament mystery concerning Christ and the Church. In the mystery of our chapter the woman is first named; in that of Ephesians Christ, and rightly so.
The mystery of the Beast is first explained and shown under four conditions (Rev 17:8). It was. The Beast existed as one vast consolidated empire under a long succession of imperial rulers. Is not. It has now no political existence; of course the countries and territories once within the empire remain, but the empire as such came to an inglorious end, A.D. 476. The ancient empire of world-wide fame and extent has for many centuries ceased to exist. Is about to come up out of the abyss. Its historical and yet future rise out of the sea (Rev 13:1) is not the point here; comes out of the abyss intimates the epoch at which we have arrived and of which the chapter treats. The Apocalypse gives the history of the last prophetic half week only. And go into destruction, or perdition. This is the final and everlasting doom of the Beast (Rev 19:20) – cast into the lake of fire alive with his fellow in crime the False Prophet; their master the devil will join them in the same awful place of misery a thousand years afterwards (Rev 20:10). The resurrection of the Beast is a cause of wonder to all save the elect (Rev 17:8). Twice the guilty and deluded world wonders, and both times in connection with the reappearance of the Beast on the platform of history (Rev 13:3; Rev 17:8).
The seven heads are seven mountains; these refer to the hills on which Rome reposes. (Palestine, Nierinal, Aventine, Caelian, Viminal, Esquiline, Janiculan.) The woman sits on the Beast, and on the seven mountains, i.e., the seven-hilled city of Rome. Rome is so closely interwoven with the life and growth of the papacy that to separate them would be to deal the Romish system a blow from which she could not well recover.
But, further, the seven heads also signify the various and successive forms of government beheld in the eternal city. The heads are seven kings, of which five are fallen. The five fallen heads have been applied to the successive kingdoms of Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Greece, and Persia; others consider the reference is to the first five emperors of Rome, as Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The first hypothesis cannot be right, for it is the Beast, i.e., the Roman empire – whose condemnation of Christ and dispersion of Judah makes her pre-eminently guilty – which is before us in the prophecy. Nor can the second theory be right, for the heads are different forms of government. There might have been some ground for terming these emperors horns, but heads they cannot be. They each and all represent one head or form of government, viz., the imperial. After the mention of the five fallen phases of civil and political government the Seer proceeds, one is. That is the imperial form of rule which existed in Johns day – the sixth head. But another has yet to come – the seventh. Its continuance is but for a brief season, as the eighth, or last, phase of the empire is the point of interest. Satans man and king is an eighth, having his rise out of the abyss. He is thus a distinctive object, and fully entitled to the appellation an eighth, yet he is of the seven (Rev 17:11), as the same character of rule under the seventh head will be continued. The outward forms of government will undergo but little change under the last two phases of the empire respectively arising from the sea and from the abyss. But the sure judgment of God overtakes the guilty and apostate power. It goes into destruction, twice repeated (Rev 17:8; Rev 17:11).
Next, the ten horns of the Beast are explained (v. 12). These horns are kings, who come within the scope of action only at the same time and along with the Beast; the duration of his existence and reign determines theirs. The whole mind and purpose of these ten sovereigns is to yield themselves entirely to the will and service of the Beast (v. 13).
Then follows the war with the Lamb. The Beast and his confederate kings and armies on the one side, as against the Lamb in His might as Lord and King (In Rev 19:16 the order in the titles is reversed. There it is King of kings and Lord of lords; here it is Lord of lords and King of kings.) of all, and His armies on the other side (Rev 17:14). It is the same war, the same conflict, that is grandly described in Rev 19:11-21. In our chapter (Revelation 17) the last act of the Beast and his vassal kings is anticipated, not actually come. Other events transpire between the account of the closing struggle (Rev 17:1-18) and its actual place in the history (Rev 19:1-21).
The waters beheld by the Seer (Rev 17:1) signify peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues (Rev 17:15). An immense moral influence extending far beyond the limits of the prophetic earth. The masses of mankind, organized and unformed, are brought under the influence of the harlot. The many waters (Rev 17:1) draws the attention to the large and multitudinous following of the whore.
The ten horns, or kings, are now seen roused into a state of unusual activity. They, with the Beast, turn round upon the woman, whom they had hitherto upheld, and destroy her. They reduce her to a state of desolation, and grasp at her wealth. Europe, or at least the western part of it, is carried away for a time by the dazzling and meretricious display of the woman, but ultimately snaps the fetters and makes an end of her. They act in vengeful feeling, but, after all, it is Gods will which they carry out (Rev 17:17). The ten kings are now free to give their united authority to the Beast, so that he alone occupies the scene and sphere of prophecy till destroyed by the Lord. This goes on till the words of God shall be fulfilled. In all this the ten kings are the prominent actors.
Then the Romish system, numbering more than 200,000,000 souls in her unholy communion, is identified with Rome itself, the city (Rev 17:18). The verse is a simple statement of a well-known and generally acknowledged fact.
In bringing this review to a close we would draw attention to the contrast between the harlot of Satan and the bride of the Lamb. The former occupies chapters 17 and 18; the latter is the main subject of the chapters which follow. The woman and a city in both portions, but set in sharp contrast.
The worldly, or purely secular side of the woman, is specially treated of in the next chapter. The system represented by Babylon is a combination of worldly pride and religious pretension. Union with the world, which is enmity with God, is the whoredom of the woman.
One in commenting on this chapter has well written: In the chapter he (the Seer) is awed by the contemplation of her splendor and her guilt, while in chapter 18 he describes the lamentation of the world over her fate in language of almost unparalleled sublimity and pathos.
Commentary on Rev 17:15-18 by E.M. Zerr
Rev 17:15. The angel now begins to give John the interpretation of the vision as was mentioned at Rev 17:7. The first verse says the corrupt woman sits upon many waters, and this verse explains it to mean peoples and nations, etc. That is because the Roman Empire was one of the “four world empires” which contained all the so-called civilized people of the earth.
Rev 17:16. The ten horns are the kings or kingdoms which are named in the comments at Rev_131. 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.”
Rev 17:17. God bath put in their hearts. God never directly causes any person to do wrong who wants to do right. But when a man or group of men shows a persistence toward wrong, then He gives them up to carry out their own ways until they have learned their lesson. (See the comments at 2Th 2:11.) It had been predicted (in such passages as that just cited) that such conduct would be practiced by these kings, hence in doing so they were carrying out the divine prediction. But they will be suffered to operate in that way only until the words of God shall be fulfilled. This means until the time for them to be enlightend by the work of the Reformation.
Rev 17:18. Since the Reformation has not occurred yet, at the point of the great drama applying to this verse, the woman and great city refers to Babylon as the union of church and state.
Commentary on Rev 17:15-18 by Burton Coffman
Rev 17:15
And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth … We must not lose sight of who this beast is; she is that gorgeously dressed whore riding the scarlet beast!
Peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues … The domain of the harlot-beast is the whole earth. The commentators who reject the Apostate Church interpretation of this, on the basis that it is too local and restricted, applying merely to a few countries in Europe, have simply failed to understand the universal dominion of the harlot-beast. Today, some nineteen centuries after John wrote, her domain includes practically every village and township on the face of the earth; and the number of her adherents is a larger percentage of earth’s total population than may be claimed by any other authority in the entire history of the human race! What is local and restricted about that? There is nothing little, narrow, local, restricted, or limited in any way whatever with the interpretation received here. This harlot-beast is now, and for centuries has continued to be, the biggest thing on the planet earth! If its peoples are indeed “the servants of God,” the golden age has already arrived!
Verse 16
And the ten horns which thou sawest, and the beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her utterly with fire.
And the horns … Ah yes, the horns! For ages, the whore would use these only for goring the saints, but another age is coming, when the horns shall be turned upon the wanton whore herself. The horns had always been on the beast, an essential element of his character; but the whore accommodated to these as long as they could be used in her selfish interests; but this verse prophesies a radical change.
They shall hate the harlot … Even Apostate Christianity has far too much truth and righteousness in it for the devil ever to love it. The beast hated the harlot even while they were using each other. The godless state can never willingly accept a rival.
And shall make her desolate and naked … Intermittently, here and there, since the Reformation, evil states have exhibited samplings of that phenomenon which is here prophesied to become general, as, for example, when all of the monasteries and religious institutions of France were plundered, confiscated, and liquidated during the French Revolution. The same thing took place during the current decade in China, and in Russia before that. However, the fulfillment of this will be on a far grander scale than these isolated occurrences.
And shall utterly burn her with fire … The ten final (understood as a symbolical indefinite number) kingdoms will at the time of fulfillment of this prophecy be finished with all religion, apostate or not, and they shall burn and eat their former paramour.
And they shall eat her flesh … The ultimate and final destruction of Apostate Christianity is prophesied here, an event that must be assigned to a time yet future. This coming destruction should not be the cause of any rejoicing on the part of the true Christian; because, in all probability, all of them will also perish (except perhaps a few) in the ensuing holocaust. One cannot help pondering the thought that if the harlot herself would repent, clean up her act, purge out the idols, give up the arrogance, and re-enthrone Christ instead of a man, and turn to the Lord, the ultimate disaster might be postponed; but it appears to be a vain thought.
Our interpretation of this happens to coincide with that of W. A. Criswell:
The prophecy is that the kingdoms of the world, some day, are going to get weary of the idolatrous church. They will get tired of being told by a Nuncio or a legate what they shall, or shall not, do. They will hate the whore, make her desolate, rob her of all her riches, make her naked and strip her of her scarlet robes, purple gowns, and of the pearls and precious stones; and they shall appropriate all of her riches.”[52]
Thus we see, as Plummer observed, that, “The fulfillment of this chapter lies in all time.”[53]
Moffatt actually wrote that what John prophesies here is that, “Rome perishes at the hands of Nero and his ruthless allies, a belief loudly echoed in the Talmud.”[54] This, of course, was to take place after Nero rises from the dead! This ridiculous conclusion is exactly what the Nero Redivivus theory means; and what does that say? It says that John here prophesied a lie. Satan has surely blinded the mind of any Christian who could swallow such a theory.
[52] W. A. Criswell, op. cit., III, p. 188.
[53] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 418.
[54] James Moffatt, op. cit., p. 454.
Verse 17
For God did put it into their hearts to do his mind, and to come to one mind, and to give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished.
For God did put it into their hearts … The God of heaven will direct evil men to do his will, as often exemplified in the Old Testament. It should be noted in connection with this that it is the will of God for the harlot-beast to continue on the earth until all of God’s words are accomplished. She does not exist a single day without God’s permission.
And to come to one mind … Here the prophecy is more specific. The hatred and plundering of the worldwide Apostate Church foretold in this passage is not limited to isolated instances in France, Russia, China, or anywhere else. All the kingdoms came to “one mind,” not merely in the period of their aiding and supporting the harlot-beast, but also at the time of their turning their fury and hatred against her. One may prayerfully hope that Catholic scholars themselves will believe this prophecy and accommodate to the eventualities revealed in it. She, along with many daughters, still rides the beast, but all are headed inevitably for an unbelievable disaster. Her true interests still lie within the area of the sacred truth which she has forgotten, perverted, and denied.
And to give their kingdoms to the beast … This is the eighth and final beast, the throne of the “Lawless One”; and, if there is any such thing in the New Testament as “THE Antichrist,” this eighth beast is he. He is the incarnation of lawlessness, the ruthless hater of God and of everything supernatural. He is MAN worshipping himself, having no more regard for Apostate Religion than for the True, the self-glorified impresario of that final orchestration and acceleration of all the evil on earth culminating in his sudden overthrow and destruction by the personal appearance of the Son of God in his Second Advent. See our “Excursus on The Man of Sin,” my Commentary on 2Thessalonians, pp. 106-117. In the light of the truth of this chapter, it would appear that he does not arise from within the apostasy, but independently of it, and as an enemy of the apostate form of Christianity, no less than of true Christianity.
Verse 18
And the woman whom thou sawest is the great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
The great city … This is Mystery Babylon, not literal Babylon, but still actually Rome. How so? The city of Rome is the capital of the pagan empire, and of the harlot-beast that succeeded her as the seventh head, the headquarters of her entire operation. She is still careful to preserve the name “Roman” in every particular of her worldwide operations. The view that makes this the literal city of Rome falls woefully short, requiring that the scope of the prophecy cannot extend beyond literal Rome’s rule as a world empire, an epoch that ended in 476 A.D. It also requires that the radical alteration of the symbol “Babylon” through changing it to “Mystery Babylon” must be ignored. Therefore, we cannot accept the view that only the literal city of Rome is meant.
Which reigneth over the kings of the earth … This was literally true in John’s day; but it is equally true historically, today, and ever since the words ceased to have any application at all to the literal city.
This verse takes us right up to the judgment day; but another view of final events will be given in Revelation 18, culminating in the final judgment recorded at the end of that chapter.
Commentary on Rev 17:15-18 by Manly Luscombe
15 Then he said to me, The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. This verse helps with some of the interpretation of this chapter. The waters represents people, nations and tongues. All the multitudes of people of all nations and cultures are included. She, immorality is not of any one nation, tribe, language, or group of people. Immorality is everywhere, in all nations, among all people.
16 And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. The ten horns are kings. See verse 12. Chapter 18 seems to be a commentary on this verse. The basic message is that the Roman Empire will collapse of its own weight. It will become so immoral and corrupt that it will collapse because of its weakness. The alliance will fall apart. The friendship between the beast and the harlot will end. They will hate each other and accuse each other. The beast will strip her of power, devour her and destroy her influence.
17 For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. Woodruff makes this comment, Since we cannot foresee the future, it is impossible to completely understand why God deals with the people of this world as he does in matters of civil governments. (1, 309) God has a purpose. He has a plan. We may not understand His plan. We do not understand why things are allowed to continue. Why doesnt God step in and intervene?
18 And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. The woman is described as that great city. Many assume that she represents Rome. However, remember, she was also called Babylon the great. (Rev 18:2) There are several different terms used to describe this immoral world. Harlot, whore, Babylon, fornication and other terms show that she is a symbol of immorality. She rides on the back of the beast. She is the real power behind the persecution. She has the persecuting governments and false religions under her control and power.
Sermon on Rev 17:1-18
The Great Prostitute
Brent Kercheville
Revelation 16 described the fall of Babylon the great. We noticed in chapter 13 that the beast called Babylon the great refers to the Roman Empire that ruled from approximately 27 BC to 476 AD. Chapters 17 and 18 of Revelation reveal the details of the collapse of the Roman Empire. The details concerning the pouring out of the seven bowls of wrath are now given and explained in chapters 17-18. This is the point of the first two verses of Revelation 17. One of the seven angels who had poured out one of the bowls tells John that he will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters.
The image of the great prostitute sitting on many waters immediately indicates for us what the great prostitute represents. The harlot/prostitute image is used of wicked cities by the Old Testament prophets. Ninevah (Nah 3:4), Tyre (Isa 23:16-17), and Jerusalem (Eze 16:15) are a few cities that are called harlots because of their great immoralities. This great harlot in Rev 17:1 is described as sitting on many waters. Rev 17:15 tells us what this image means. The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. The great harlot is the city that is ruling over the peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages of the earth. Therefore, the wicked city in view is Rome. This fits our context well. Remember that the angel is explaining the details of the judgment in the seven bowls of wrath. The seven bowls of wrath were judgments against the Roman Empire, the beast. It would not make sense to see the great prostitute as another worldly city. Rather, the city of Rome is the heart of the problem and the center of the immorality and idolatry. This is the image of Rev 17:2 concerning the great prostitute. She is the one whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk. We have noted throughout this study that sexual immorality is a symbol for the idolatry that is being committed (Hos 4:11-12; Eze 6:9; Eze 16:15-17; Rev 2:14; Rev 2:20). Notice that Rev 17:2 is the same description that was given in Rev 14:8. Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality (Rev 14:8 ESV). This is Rome that has been causing the world to worship the emperor and be involved in idolatry. Therefore, we know the great prostitute is the city of Rome and the beast is the empire that Rome ruled. The rest of this chapter is going to give us the details about these two entities and their coming judgment.
Describing The Prostitute and The Beast (Rev 17:3-6)
John is carried away in the Spirit. We noted this image back in Rev 1:10. Being in the Spirit means that John is seeing a vision, an inspired message from God (cf. Eze 2:2). The scarlet beast has the same description as the first beast in Revelation 13. The beast is full of blasphemous names (Rev 13:1) and has seven heads and ten horns (Rev 13:1). The woman in Rev 17:4 is dressed like a prostitute.
parAnd you, O desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in scarlet, that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, that you enlarge your eyes with paint? In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life. (Jer 4:30 ESV)
The same language used of Babylon of ancient times is applied to Rome. Notice the language that Jeremiah used of Babylon back in his day. Babylon was a golden cup in the LORDs hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine; therefore the nations went mad. Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail for her! (Jer 51:7-8 ESV) The descriptions emphasize the great immorality generated from this city. It is appropriate to describe Rome with similar language because of its great immoralities and idolatries. The name of the great prostitute is, Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earths abominations. The word mystery in front of this description shows that this name is a symbol for a worldly, wicked city. The great prostitute is drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. This is the same description given in Rev 16:6 and this is the reason for the judgment against Babylon the great, that is, Rome and her empire.
The Explanation (Rev 17:7-18)
The angel tells John in verse 7 that he will explain the mystery of the woman and the beast. We are not left to wonder what these things mean. It is important to keep in mind again that what we are told is not intended to conceal information but reveal information about the woman and the beast. Clarity is being given to the readers and to John.
The first explanation about the beast is given in Rev 17:8. The beast was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. This sounds like the description we first noted with the beast in Revelation 13. Remember that we saw this terrifying beast that has a fatal wound to one of its heads. But then the fatal wound heals and the earth marvels at the strength and power of the beast. I believe this fatal wound imagery is the same meaning as was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit. Both events result in the people of the earth marveling over the beast (Rev 13:4).
The focus of the last few chapters has been the persecution of the people of God by the beast. Judgment is coming upon the beast because it is killing the people of God. The people of God would be prevented from buying and selling and would suffer death for remaining faithful to the Lamb. The beast seems that it will collapse. But it only rises up with greater strength and continues the persecution of Gods people. It continues to be destined for destruction as it persecutes and its emperors call themselves divine, blaspheming the true and living God.
In Rev 17:9-11 John is receiving some details about this. The angel calls for wisdom. The last time we saw this call was in Rev 13:18. The meaning was for the people to have spiritual perception and insight about the deceptive nature of the beast. The angel begins with the seven heads. Remember that the beast has seven heads and ten horns. The angel is giving us an explanation about these images. When we first read the description of the beast in chapter 13 we noted that the heads, horns, and crowns represented the beasts great authority, strength, and power. The angel tells us much more about the seven heads and the ten horns now. The seven heads represent the seven mountains on which the woman is seated.
The Expositors Bible Commentary states, Most scholars have no doubt that the seven hills refer to the seven hills of Rome and the seven kings to seven successive emperors of that nation. Mounce states, There is little doubt that a first-century reader would understand this reference in any way other than as a reference to Rome, the city built upon seven hills (Revelation, pp. 313-14). History and literature refers to Rome repeatedly as the city on seven mountains. In fact, a Roman coin depicted the goddess Roma sitting on seven mountains. To know that we are right, notice that the end of Rev 17:9 tells us that the woman is seated on the seven mountains. Go back to Rev 17:1 and recall that the woman is the great prostitute, representing the city of Rome. Rome and its empire is in view. The seven heads represent Rome.
However, there is more meaning to the seven heads. The seven heads, we are told, are also seven kings. Throughout our study I have been adamant about the fact that these numbers and images are to be understood as symbols. Rev 1:1 told us that these things were put into signs. Rev 17:3 reminds us that John is seeing a vision as he is carried away by the Spirit. Everything we read in Revelation is a symbol for a historical reality unless the text demands otherwise. We have understood all the sevens in the book (seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls) as symbolically representing a complete judgment against a nation. However, there is one seven that we took literally. Back in chapter 1 we read about the seven churches of Asia. We understood these churches to be actual churches and not symbolic of all churches for all time because each church was named. The naming of each of the churches is the text demanding to understand the seven churches to refer to seven literal churches.
In the same way, we are told about the seven heads representing seven kings. If the angel had left the image at this we would be forced to understand the seven kings as a symbol representing all the kings of the Roman Empire and what they would do. However, the angel goes on and numbers the seven kings and gives details about them. The angel says of the seven kings, Five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. Verse 11 tells us more that the eighth king belongs to the seven and goes to destruction. These details do not make any sense in a generic, symbolic way. If seven king represents all the kings of the Roman Empire, then what does it mean that five have fallen, one is, and one is yet to come that must rule for a little while? These is no way to symbolically apply these images. We are forced to understand these kings as literal emperors of the Roman Empire and something about their rule is being told to the people of God. Since something is being told to us about the actual kings that ruled over the Roman Empire, it is important that we learn about the timeframe of the emperors of Rome. Below is a list of relevant rulers for our study.
Time of Reign
Julius (48-44 BC) as dictator
Augustus (27 BC-14 AD) as emperor
Tiberius (14-37 AD)
Caligula (37-41 AD)
Claudius (41-54 AD)
Nero (54-68 AD)
Galba (68-69 AD)
Otho (69 AD)
Vitellius (69 AD)
Vespasian (69-79 AD)
Titus (79-81 AD)
Domitian (81-96 AD)
There are a number of reasons to exclude Julius from the count. Julius was appointed as dictator over the Roman Republic, not emperor over the empire. There was a 17 year gap of time before Augustus was established as emperor. Also, if Julius is counted, then why wouldnt Sulla and Marius who also seized power to themselves to rule the republic also be counted? Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius state that Augustus was the first emperor. As we will see the counting of seven emperors only works properly if Julius is excluded. If we leave the list as is but with Julius removed, the five fallen kings would be from Augustus to Nero. The one king who is would be Galba and the one yet to come would be Otho. This would put the writing of the book of Revelation at 68-69 AD.
However, there are a couple of reasons to consider removing Galba, Otho, and Vitellius. While these three emperors were approved by the senate, their reigns would have been hardly known throughout the empire. Remember that the year 69 AD is the year of four emperors. It was a time of civil war as these emperors all laid claim to being emperor, yet were murdered or committed suicide. Each of their reigns is of no consequences. Further, it is possible that the prophet Daniel was speaking about these three emperors being uprooted quickly.
Then I desired to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying, with its teeth of iron and claws of bronze, and which devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet, and about the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn that came up and before which three of them fell, the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things, and that seemed greater than its companions. (Dan 7:19-20 ESV)
Daniel says that one horn uproots the other three horns because he is greater than them. Daniel may be speaking about the rise of emperor Vespasian who established his reign during the year of the four emperors. During this civil war it is his armies that are victorious as he successfully claims the title of emperor. If this is correct, then the counting of the seven emperors works well. Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero are the five who have fallen. The one who is reigning now is Vespasian because Daniel told us not to count those three emperors Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, who were of no consequence. Then the one to come who will remain only a little while is Titus who ruled only from 79-81 AD. After Titus is Domitian. He is the eighth emperor who is like the beast, belongs to the seven, and goes to destruction. Domitian will begin to carry out these prophecies that we have read about in the previous chapters. He will claim to be God and demand divine honors and sacrifices to be made toward him.
The ten horns in Rev 17:12-14 sound like the description to the second beast, also called the false prophet. These ten horns represent the localities and provinces that ruled within the Roman empire. Johnson rightly notes, The multiplicity of sovereignties in confederacy that enhance the power of the beast (Johnson, 560). Rome had given power to various regents and procurators, like the Herods, to rule over the regions and provinces. Yet their power was only from the Roman empire itself and was not their own. These rulers gave their allegiance to the Roman Empire (the beast) and would make war against God and his people who did not worship the beast.
Rev 17:16-17 show that the world is going to turn against Rome. The imagery is similar to Ezekiels prophecy against Jerusalem.
Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the LORD: Thus says the Lord GOD, Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your whorings with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. (Eze 16:35-37 ESV)
The description given is one of the primary reasons for Romes fall. The inner decadence and inner strife are a couple reasons why Rome fell. Daniel prophesied that this was the nature of Rome and would lead to its collapse. We read of the fourth kingdom (the Roman Empire) made of iron and clay so that is was partly strong and partly brittle. Notice verse 43, As you saw the iron mixed with clay, so will they mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.
The Roman Empire would not hold together but fall apart because of the way it was built. One of the greatest strengths of Rome was that it incorporated all the languages and nations of the world under it. However, this also was its weakness, leading to perpetual internal problems until it finally fell. Provinces and nations under the power of Rome will turn and fight against Rome. Rev 17:17 points out that this is Gods doing. God is the one who brought about the fall of Rome and its empire.
The chapter concludes definitely stating who the woman, the great prostitute, is. She is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth. It is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth (NRSV), reigns over the kings of the earth (NASB), and has an empire over the kings of the earth (HCSB). The only city that has an empire over the kings of the earth at the time of the writing of Revelation is the city of Rome. Rome is the great prostitute. Her demise will come when those nations and peoples under the empire turn against her and make her desolate.
Life Lesson
It is interesting to note that God declares his involvement in the affairs of the world. Too often we can think that God is not active in the rise and fall of nations or the affairs and events that occur on the earth. Rev 17:17 reminds us that God would put it in the hearts of the leaders of the earth to turn against Rome for its destruction. Our Lord is alive and active. He is involved in the affairs of this world and we should pray that God act for his glory and purpose. Consider that there was nothing miraculous about the fall of Rome, yet it was Gods purpose and Gods doing.
LESSON 21.
THE WOMAN ON THE SCARLET-COLORED BEAST
Read Revelation 17
1. What did one of the seven angels promise to show John? Ans. Rev 17:1.
2. Whom had this woman caused to sin? Ans. Rev 17:2.
3. Where did the angel take John? Ans. Rev 17:3.
4. Describe the beast on which the woman sat. Ans. Rev 17:3.
5. How was the woman dressed? Ans. Rev 17:4.
6. What name was written on her forehead? Ans. Rev 17:5.
7. On what was the woman drunken? Ans. Rev 17:6.
8. What mystery did the angel say he would reveal to John? Ans. Rev 17:7.
9. What was there peculiar about this beast’s existence? Ans. Rev 17:8.
10. Who would wonder at the peculiarity of this beast? Ans. Rev 17:8.
11. What do the seven heads of the beast represent? Ans. Rev 17:9.
12. What is said of the seven kings? Ans. Rev 17:10-11.
13. What do the ten horns represent? Ans. Rev 17:12-13.
14. Against whom would they wage war? Ans. Rev 17:14.
15. What will be the result of this war? Ans. Rev 17:14.
16. What do the waters “where the woman sitteth” represent? Ans. Rev 17:15.
17. How and by whom will the woman be destroyed? Ans. Rev 17:16.
18. Who put it in their hearts to do this? Ans. Rev 17:17.
19. Who is this woman? Ans. Rev 16:19; Rev 17:5; Rev 17:18; Rev 18:2; Rev 18:10.
E.M. Zerr
Questions on Revelation
Revelation Chapter Seventeen
1. Who came to John?
2. What did he do?
3. What was he going to shoot him?
4. Where was she sitting?
5. Who had committed fornication with her?
6. How had inhabitants of the earth been affected?
7. To where was John carried?
8. Whom did he see?
9. On what was she sitting?
10. Of what was it full?
11. What other parts did it have?
12. How was she arrayed?
13. In what way was she decked?
14. What was in her hand?
15. What did it contain?
16. Of whom was she the mother?
17. State her name.
18. Where was that name written?
19. On what was the woman drnnk?
20. State the impression made on John.
21. Who then spoke to him?
22. Tell what he promised to do.
23. What times of existence did the beast have?
24. From where will it ascend?
25. Into what will it go?
26. What will this cause earth dwellers to do?
27. What portion of them will be thus affected?
28. Tell what they will behold.
29. What do the seven heads represent?
30. How many kings are represented?
31. What had happened to them?
32. Which one is to be short lived?
33. Tell whieh beast is the eighth.
34. What will become of it?
35. Tell what the ten horns stood for.
36. What had not yet come to them?
37. What had come to them?
38. Were they in agreement with each other?
39. What do they give to the beast?
40. With whom shall they make war?
41. Which will be victor?
42. State the titles of the Lamb?
43. What are his associates called?
44. Tell what the waters represent.
45. What will the ten horns hate?
46. How will they make her to be?
47. What will be done with her flesh?
48. Then what will be done with her?
49. In so doing whose will is accomplished?
50. How long will they have this power?
51. What does the woman represent?
Revelation Chapter Seventeen
Ralph Starling
One of the 7 angels now says “more is in store”
With a government ruling like that of a whore.
A world empire, a beast with 7 heads and 10 horns.
Ruling the world & the saints with evil and scorn.
This “woman” wearing the name “Babylon the Great”,
For the blood of the saints she could hardly wait.
John was moved with great admiration
But the angel replied “it will be no celebration!”
The Empire was Rome on 7 mountainous terrain.
The 10 horns were 10 kings that would reign.
But they had no kingdom as yet to exhibit,
For they were under the power of the beast to prohibit.
The 10 kings of the beast came to hate the whore.
They made her desolate, powerless and more.
So, that great city that ruled the earth
The “woman”, the “whore,” “BIT THE DIRT!”
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The waters: Rev 17:1, Psa 18:4, Psa 65:7, Psa 93:3-4, Isa 8:7, Isa 8:8, Jer 51:13, Jer 51:42, Jer 51:55
are: Rev 10:11, Rev 11:9, Rev 13:7, Rev 13:8
Reciprocal: Num 24:7 – many waters 2Sa 22:5 – the floods 2Sa 22:17 – he drew Psa 18:16 – many waters Psa 29:3 – The voice Psa 46:3 – the waters Psa 69:1 – the waters Psa 124:4 – the waters Psa 144:7 – deliver me Isa 17:12 – mighty Isa 27:1 – in the sea Isa 28:18 – when Isa 59:19 – the enemy Jer 47:2 – waters Jer 50:38 – A drought Eze 26:19 – bring Eze 27:26 – great Eze 31:4 – waters Dan 7:2 – the great Nah 2:8 – like Rev 12:15 – cast Rev 16:12 – and the water Rev 19:2 – judged
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 17:15. The angel now begins to give John the interpretation of the vision as was mentioned at verse 7. The first verse says the corrupt woman sits upon many waters, and this verse explains it to mean peoples and nations, etc. That is because the Roman Empire was one of the “four world empires” which contained all the so-called civilized people of the earth.
Verse 15.
It is repeated in verse fifteen that the waters upon which the Harlot sat were the peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues, which represented, as previously explained, Jerusalem’s affiliations with the heathen world, and the intermingling with nations and people of all parts of the empire. This became a source of corruption and apostasy.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 17:15. The fourfold designation of those who constitute the waters spoken of in this verse is a clear proof that the harlot exercises her sway over the whole world, in travesty of Him who sitteth upon the flood, who sitteth King for ever (Psa 29:10).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Here the angel proceeds, and goes on farther in the explication of the vision. By the waters whereon the whore sat, he declares, are to be understood many and divers nations belonging to the Roman empire. Behold then of what church multitude is a note! Not of the church of Christ, his flock is a little flock; but of the antichristian synagogue which vaunts, that multitudes are on her side, The waters whereon the whore sat are multitudes, peoples, nations, and tongues. Alas, the multitude, or generality of persons, are prone to oppose that which is good, and those that do good.
Next, it is declared what instruments God will make use of as the executioners of this vengeance upon this great whore, the ten horns, that is, the ten kings which did before idolize her, and commit idolatry and spiritual whoredom with her, shall at length revolt from her, hate her, make her desolate, and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Lord! what a strange, sudden, and mighty change, doth the power of converting grace make! Behold these ten kings, who sometimes doated upon the painted beauty of this great whore, when once their eyes shall be opened, their hearts will soon be alienated. Babylon’s courts shall be crowded with suitors no longer; they shall make her desolate, by deserting her communion; make her naked, by withdrawing their former supplies afforded to her; they shall eat her flesh, feed themselves with spoils, and take her revenues to themselves; and burn her with fire, that is, shall utterly ruin and destroy her. The destruction of antichrist, once begun, shall hold on constantly, by degrees, till his final destruction.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
In verse 1, the angel had bid John to come see the whore that sat on many waters and now we learn the waters are nations.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Rev 17:15-18. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth are peoples, &c. In the former part of this description, (Rev 17:1,) the whore is represented like ancient Babylon, sitting upon many waters; and these waters are here, Rev 17:15, said expressly to signify peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. So many words in the plural number fitly denote the great extensiveness of her power and jurisdiction; and it is a remarkable peculiarity of Rome, different from all other governments in the world, that her authority is not limited to her own immediate subjects, and confined within the bounds of her own dominions, but extends over all kingdoms and countries professing the same religion. She herself glories in the title of the catholic church, and exults in the number of her votaries, as a certain proof of the true religion. But notwithstanding the general current in her favour, the tide shall turn against her; and the hands which helped to raise her shall also pull her down; the ten horns shall hate the whore, Rev 17:16 That is, by a common figure of the whole for a part, some of the ten kings; for others (Rev 18:9) shall bewail her and lament for her; and (Rev 19:19) shall fight and perish in the cause of the beast. Some of the kings, who formerly loved her, grown sensible of her exorbitant exactions and oppressions, shall hate her, shall strip, and expose, and plunder her, and utterly consume her with fire. Rome, therefore, will finally be destroyed by some of the princes who are reformed, or shall be reformed, from Popery; and as the kings of France have contributed greatly to her advancement, it is not impossible nor improbable that some time or other they may also be the principal authors of her destruction. And such a revolution may more reasonably be expected, because (Rev 17:17) this infatuation of Popish princes is permitted by Divine Providence only for a certain period, until the words of God shall be fulfilled And particularly the words of the Prophet Daniel, Dan 7:25-26, They shall be given into his hand until a time, and times, and the dividing of time; but then, as it immediately follows, the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume, and to destroy it unto the end. Little doubt can remain after this, what idolatrous church was meant by the whore of Babylon; but for the greater assuredness it is added by the angel, Rev 17:18, the woman which thou sawest is that great city, &c. He hath explained the mystery of the beast, and of his seven heads and ten horns; and his explanation of the mystery of the woman is, that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth And what city, at the time of the vision, reigned over the kings of the earth, but Rome? She hath, too, ever since reigned over the kings of the earth, if not with temporal, yet at least with spiritual authority. Rome, therefore, is evidently and undeniably this great city; and that Christian, and not heathen, Papal, and not imperial Rome was meant, hath appeared in several instances, and will appear in several more.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
17:15 {31} And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, {32} are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
(31) This is the other part of the narration, as I said in see Geneva “Rev 17:7” belonging to the harlot, showed in the vision, Rev 17:3 . In this history of the harlot, these three things are distinctly propounded, what is her magnificence, in this verse, what is her fall, and by whom it shall happen to her, in Rev 17:16-17 : and lastly, who that harlot is, in Rev 17:18 . This passage which by order of nature should have been the first, is therefore made the last, because it was more fit to be joined with the next chapter.
(32) That is, as changing and variable as the waters. Upon this foundation sits this harlot as queen, a vain person, on that which is vain.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The judgment of the harlot 17:15-18
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The angel next helped John understand the identity of the waters (Rev 17:1). Water is a common symbol for people in the Old Testament (e.g., Psa 18:4; Psa 18:16; Psa 124:4; Isa 8:7; Jer 47:2). The harlot exercises a controlling influence over the population of the world, both the faithful (cf. Rev 5:9; Rev 7:9) and the rebellious (cf. Rev 10:11; Rev 11:9; Rev 13:7; Rev 14:6). There will be one religious system that will encompass all nations and peoples during the Tribulation (cf. Rev 17:1-2), though there could be various local forms of it.