Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition)
Thz Victory of the Lamb. REVELATION XVI II. 27.C Fall of BahijUl iht Grbat.
Church. The "tongues" lemitid uf5 of the original Babel, the eonfusiou of tongues, the l)eginniiig of Baltyloii, and the first coinmenceruent of idolatrous apostisy after tlie flood, as the tower was doubtless dedicated to the deified heavens. Thus, Babylon is the appropriate name of the harlot. The Pope, as the chief representative of tlie harlot, claims a double supremacy over all peopfex, typified by the '-two swords" according to the interpretation of Boniface VIII. tn the Bull, "Unani Sanetam," and represented by the two keys, ttz., spiritual as the universal bishop, whence he is crowned with the raitre; and temporal, whence lie is also crowned with the tiara in token of his imperial supremacy. Contrast with the Pope's diademn the " many diadems" of Him who alone lias olrtiin to, and shall exercise wiien He ^ome, the twofold dominion (ch. 19. lli). 16. <ipon tlie beast—But A, B, Vulgale, a,\\ii Sj/riac read, "And the beast." sUall make her Uesulate—liaving first dismounted her from lier seat cannot represent a f jiritual p. wer, but a world-power In this verse the hai lot is presented before us ripe foi judgment. The ISlh ciiapter details that judgmeuu
CHAPTER XVin. Ver. 1-21. Cabylon's fall: God's Peovle Cali-kd OUT OK hek: the Kings and Mekchants of the Earth MOUKN, WHILST THE SAINTS REJOICE AT HKK FALL. 1. And—So Vulgale and Andiieas. But A, B, Sijriac, and Coptic omit "and;" power— GrccA-, "authority." lightened-" illumined." ^vith—G'^•ce^-, "owing to." a. ntightily . . . seroujf—Not supported by MSS. But A, B, Vulgale, .SyruK, x:u\ Coptic read, "with (lit., in; a mighty voice." is fallen, is fallen—So A, Vulgate, Syriac, and Andreas. But B and Coptic omit the second " is fallen" (Isaiah 21. 9; Jeremiah 51. S). This pin-ase is here prophetical of her fall, still future, as v. i proves, devils— OreeA;, "demons. " the hold—a keep or prison. 3. the wineSo B, Syriac and Coptic. But A, C, and Vulgate omit, drunk—Ch. 14. S, from which perhaps "the wine" may have been interpolated. Tiiey have drunk of her fornication, the consequence of wJiich will be tvrath to themselves. But A, U, and C read, "(owing to the wrath of her foniicutioii all nati Diis) have /a«f»(." Vulgale and most versions r id as English Version, which may be the right reiuliiig .lougli not supported by the oldest MSS. Babylon, tlie whore, is destroyed, before the beast slays the two witnesses (eli. 11.), and then the beast is destroyed himself, ahnndimcc—ifjV., "power." delicaciesGr'ree/fc, "luxury." Hee Note, 1 Tiiaotliy 5. 11, where the Greek verb " wax wanton" is akin to the noun here. Translate, "wanton luxury." The refeience is not to earthly merchand'se, but to spiritual wares, indulgences, idolatries, superst'tions, worldly comproiuises, wherewith the har? lot, t. e., the apostate Church, has made Vierchan4ise of men. This applies especially to Rome; but the Greek, and even iu a less degree Protestant churches, are not guiltless. However, the principle of evangelical Protestantism is pure, but the principle ot Rome and the Greek church is not so. 4:. Come out of her, my people Quoted froni Jeremiah 50. 8 ; 51. ti, 45. Even in the Romish Church God has a people: but they are in great danger
the beast (v. 3). naked—stripped of all her gaud {v. i). As Jerusalem used the world-power to crucify her Saviour,and then was destroyed by that very power. Home; iSO the Church, having apostatized to the world, shall nave judgment executed on her first by the world-power, the beast and his allies; and these afterwards shall have judgment txecuted on them by Christ Himself in person. So Israel leaning on Egypt, a broken reed, is pierced by it, and then Egypt itself is punished. So Israel's whoredom with Assyria and Babylon was punished by the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. So the Church when
It goes a-whoring after the word as if ii were the reality, instead of witnessing against its apostasy from God, is false to its profession ; being no longer a reality itself, but a sham, the Church is rightly judged by that world which for a time had used the Church to further its own ends, whilst all the while "hating" Christ's unworldly religion, but which now no longer wants the Church's aid. eat her flesh Greek plural, "masses of flesh," i. e., "carnal possessions;" implying the fulness of carnality into which the Church is sunk. The judgment on the harlot is again and again described (ch. IS. 1; 19. 5); first by an "angel Uaving great power" (ch. IS. 1), then by "another voice from heaven" (cli. IS. 4-20), then by "a mighty angel"' (ch. 18.21-24). Cf. Ezekiel 16. 37-44, originally said of Israel, but further applicable to the New Testament Church when fallen into spiritual fornication. On the phrase, "eat . . . flesh" for prey upon one's property, and injure the character and person, cf. Psalm 14. 4; 27. 2; Jeremiah
their only safety is in coming out of her at once. So also in every apostate or world-conforming Church there are some of God's invisible and true Church, who, if they would be safe, must come out. Especially at the eve of God's judgment on apostate Christendom: as Lot was warned to come out of Sodom just before its destruction, and Israel to come from about the tents of Dathan and Abirani. So the first Christians came out of Jerusalem when the apostate Jewish Church was judged. "State and Church are precious gifts of God. But the State being desecrated to a difl Terentend from what God designed it,
10. 25; Mieah 3. 3. The First Napoleon's edict published at Borne in 1S09, confiscating the Papal dominions and joining them to France, and lately the severance of large portions of the Pope's territory from his sway, and the union of them to the dominions of the king of Italy, virtually through Louis Napoleon, are a first instalment of the full realization of this prophecy of the whore's destruction. "Her flesh" seems to point to her temporal dignities and lesources, as distinguished from " herself" (Greek). How striking a retribution, that having obtained her first temporal dominions, the exarchate of Ravenna, the kingdom of the Lombards, and the state of Rome, by recognizing the vxtirper Pepiu as lawful king of France, she should be stripped of her dominions by another usurper of France, the Napoleonic dynasty ! burit . . . with fli-e —the legal punishment of an abominable fornication. 17. liaUt put—the prophetical past t«nse for the future, fulfil Greek, "do," or "accomplish." The Greek poiemi, viz., to govern for, and as under, God, becomes beast-like; the Church apostatizing becomes the harlot. The true woman is the kernel: beast and harlot are the shell; whenever the kernel is mature, the shell is thrown away." [Aubeklen.] "The harlot is not Rome alone (though she is pre-eminently so), but every Cliurch that has not Christ's mind and spirit. False Christendom, dix ided into very many sects, is truly Babylon, t. e., confusion. However, in all Christendom the true Jesuscongregation, the woman clothed with the sun, lives and is hidden. Corrupt, lifeless Christendom is the harlot, whose great aim is the pleasure of the flesh, and which is governed by the spirit of nature and the world." [Hahn in Aubeklen.] The first justification of the woman is in her being called out of Babylon the harlot, as the culminating stage of tlie latter's sin, when judgment is about to fall: for apostate Christendom, Babylon, is not to be converted, but to he destroyed. Secondly, she has to pass through an ordeal of persecution from the beast, which purifies and prepares her for the transfiguration-glory at Christ's coming (cli. 20. 4; Luke 21. 28). be not partakers — Greek, "have no felloii'ship with her sins." lliat ye re-i celve not of lier plnsues—as Lot's wife, by lingering too near the polluted and doomed city 5. her sins—as a 693 is distinct from that which is Irannluled " fulfilled," Greek leleslhevmtai, below. hl» will Greek, his mind, or purpose; whilst they think only of doing their own purpose, to agree—'fiV., "to do (or accomplish) one mind" or " purpose." A and Vulgate omil this clause, but B supports it. the words of Go<1—foretelling the rise and downfall of the beast; Greek hoi logoi in A, B, and Andreas. English Version reading is Greek la rhcmaia, which is not well supported. No mere articulate utterances, but the edicieiit word* of Him who is llie Word, Greek logos. fiilfille<I (Ch. 10. 7.) 18. reifpieth lit., "hath kingslnx> over tlie kings." The harlot cannot be a mere city literally, but Is
Balled so in a spiritual senae (ch, 11. 8). Also the beast