This chapter may be considered introductory to the eighteenth, or as a
digression in the narrative, to explain more fully the integral parts of
that complex, mystical moral person so often called "great Babylon,"
whose destruction was so awfully presented in the foregoing chapter.
1. And there came one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials,
and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee
the judgment of the great whore, that sitteth upon many waters;
2. With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the
inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her
fornication.
Vs. 1, 2.--The angel that "talked with the apostle" was probably the
seventh. "The great whore" is the symbol of the idolatrous church of
Rome, which broke her marriage covenant with Christ. Idolatry is
spiritual whoredom. (Hosea vi. 10.) Her "sitting upon many waters" is
explained, verse 15. "The kings of the earth" are her paramours, and
their subjects are partakers in the crime,--"made drunk."
3. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness; and I saw a
woman sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy,
having seven heads, and ten horns.
4. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet-colour, and decked
with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup in her
hand, full of abominations, and filthiness of her fornication.
5. And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS, AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Vs. 3-5.--The "scarlet-coloured beast" is the Roman empire professing
the Christian religion, modelled by the Romish church; for the "woman
sits upon the beast," guiding and controlling all its motions. (James
iii. 3.) The raiment of both is at once _imperial and bloody_,--"purple
and scarlet."--The raiment of this "woman" is decked with precious
metal, stones and pearls, after the usual "attire of a harlot." (Ezek.
xvi. 17.) The "cup" alludes to the practice of harlots giving
love-potions to their paramours, very expressive of the indulgences,
absolutions, preferments, etc., by which the church of Rome attracts
disciples to her idolatry. "The nations have drunken of her wine;
therefore the nations are mad." (Jer. li. 7.)--The inscription "upon her
forehead" is after the manner of shameless prostitutes, avowing Rome's
whoredoms of idolatry, monasticism, indulgences to sin, as essential to
religion, a "mystery of iniquity," by which the "man of sin thinks to
change times and laws." (Dan. vii. 24, 25; xi. 36, 37.)
6. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with
the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with
great admiration.
V. 6.--This "woman,"--_Christian church_,--was "drunken with the blood
of saints and martyrs." Of course, such a sight would give rise to the
apostle's astonishment. The attempt of popish writers to apply this to
_pagan_ Rome's persecutions is demonstrably false; for John could not
"wonder" at the persecution of the church when he was himself an actual
victim in Patmos, (ch. i. 9.)
7. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell
thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which
hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8. The beast that thou sawest, was, and is not; and shall ascend out of
the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the
earth shall wonder (whose names were not written in the book of life
from the foundation of the world,) when they behold the beast that was,
and is not, and yet is.
9. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven
mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10. And there are seven kings: five have fallen, and one is, and the
other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short
space.
11. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of
the seven, and goeth into perdition.
Vs. 7-11.--The angel explains the "mystery of the woman and of the beast
that carrieth her." The beast, the civil power, carrieth, sustains the
woman, the church; as the church controls the state, (v. 3; ch. xiii. 1,
11, 16.) The "beast that was, and is not, and yet is," is a mysterious
personage as well as the woman; therefore all who "dwell upon the
earth,"--not in "heaven, wonder," (ch. xiii. 3-6;)--that is, all the
vassals of Antichrist, distinguished from those whose "names are in the
book of life,"--the two witnesses.--"The seven heads" of the beast
signify seven mountains, on which Rome literally stands, namely,
Capitoline, Palatine, Aventine, Esquiline, Coelian, Viminal and
Quirinal. Here the woman and Rome are manifestly identical,--the
spiritual empire. But the heads of the beast have a double meaning; for
they also signify "seven kings" or successive forms of civil government.
At the time when John wrote, "five had fallen;" they had passed into
actual history. One was then existing, namely, the emperor, in the
person of Domitian, as is supposed. This is the imperial head, whose
"deadly wound was healed," (ch. xiii. 3.)--The "seventh head was not
come" in the apostles' time, but on his appearance, he was to "continue
a short space." The papacy is not the seventh head. _He_ is a horn.
(Dan. vii. 8, 20.) But a _horn_ of the beast cannot identify with the
_beast himself_. It is otherwise with a head, which is the form of
government over the _whole empire_. The _patriciate_ succeeded the
imperial, being the seventh head, and only of _short_ duration, about
fifty years. Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the Romans in the year
eight hundred; and so the patriciate terminated. This is the _eighth_,
which "is of the seven;" and goeth into perdition. This septimo-octave
head is so variable, sometimes acknowledged as residing in Austria, then
in France, etc., that for hundreds of years, the great republic of the
nations,--all _bestial_,--are at a loss to identify the visible head in
whom resides the precedency: hence the "balance of power" is so
perplexing and difficult to adjust. Were there an acknowledged imperial
and despotic head, this obvious difficulty could not exist. But the
beast is not. Nevertheless the arbitrary power of the horns of the beast
is sensibly felt in every part of the Roman empire.--The beast is, and
will continue till "the time of the end;" (Dan. xii. 9;) for the Roman
empire must be equal in duration with the life and actings of the two
witnesses, 1260 years.
12. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have
received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the
beast.
13. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto
the beast.
14. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome
them; for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they that are with
him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
Vs. 12-14.--"The ten horns" signify "ten kings" or regal or civil
sovereignties, into which the empire was to be partitioned after John's
time, and which we have seen was effected by the first four trumpets,
(ch. viii. 7-12.)--These "received power _one hour_ with the
beast,"--rather, at _one time_, or cotemporaneously with the beast; for
they are his horns, and are of "one mind, giving their power and
strength," all their resources, to him. These shall make war with the
Lamb," the Mediator, headed by the dragon, and instigated by the beast
and his image, (ch. xii. 7; xiii. 7.)
15. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore
sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
V. 15.--"The waters," controlled by "the whore," are the multitudes whom
the apostate church of Rome commands to volunteer in the wars of the
kings against the Lamb.
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. 16.--What a surprising change! yet how natural! (2 Sam. xiii. 15.)
The punishment is that which was adjudged in the case of a priest's
daughter. (Lev. xxi. 9.)--The "ten horns," here, are to be understood
generally, not universally, (ch. xviii. 9; xix. 19.) Some of those
princes that have contributed most to the aggrandizement of the Romish
church, and been most devoted to her religion, as the ruler of France,
"the eldest son of the church," their "catholic majesties" of Austria,
Spain, Portugal,--may be among the first in executing divine judgments
on Babylon.--"Make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh;" that is,
withdraw the lands, endowments, etc., which enriched her monasteries and
fattened her bishops, priests, etc.
17. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree,
and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be
fulfilled.
V. 17.--Here we are led into the secret cause of the wonderful change in
the policy of the horns: "God hath put into their hearts." They just do
to the "great whore, whatsoever God's hand and counsel determined before
to be done." (Acts iv. 28. See also Exod. vii. 3; Gen. xiv. 8; l. 20;
Ps. cv. 25.)
18. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth
over the kings of the earth.
V. 18.--This "woman is the great city;" not literally the city of Rome;
but the imperial ecclesiastical jurisdiction, to whose authority
intoxicated kings and their subjects bowed in slavish submission; and
whose bloody decrees they had executed for 1260 years upon many of their
best subjects and fellow-creatures.