B. The Judgment Of Babylon (18:1 - 19:5)
B. THE JUDGMENT OF BABYLON (18:1 - 19:5)
In vivid and unforgettable language John outlines the judgment of the great city. He describes her fall and its effect on those who were in sympathy with her. There are many coincidences of language with the description of the fall of Tyre (Ezk. 26 - 28) and that of Babylon (Is. 13; 14; 21; Je. 50; 51). But there is more than similarity of language. John has caught the spirit of the prophetic doom songs. As Kiddle puts it, ‘We cannot grasp anything like the full power of John’s words unless we are familiar with the passages to which he alludes. The song in REVELATION is a resounding echo of the passionate faith and stormy exulting in the doom songs of the great prophets ... chap. xviii is at once a “new song” in the sense that it has passed through the fire of the prophet’s imagination, and also a summary of all prophetic oracles on the doom of unrighteous peoples.’
We miss the point of it all if we conclude with many modern critics that John is concerned only to denounce contemporary Rome. Byron could say,
When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall;
And when Rome falls—the World.
It is something like this that John has in mind. He is catching up all that the prophets have said as they announce the doom of Tyre or Babylon or Nineveh. But he is thinking not of the fall of one city or empire but of the collapse of civilization. Final judgment means the overthrow of all that opposes itself to God.
i. The fall of Babylon (18:1-3)
An angel announces the fall of the great city. We already know that it will be the forces of evil that will bring this about (17:16) and the angel does not repeat this. He concentrates on the result.
1. Once again events are set in motion by an angel, this one having great authority. This is one of few places in Revelation where angels are said to have authority, though authority is often said to be ‘given’ to various forces of evil (they have none of their own). Clearly this angel is particularly important; in addition to having authority he has a splendour that shone like light over all the earth (cf. Ezk. 43:2). That the angel is seen coming down shows that John’s standpoint is now on earth.
2. He cried with a mighty voice. This is the only place in the book where this adjective (ischyros) is applied to a voice (though it is used of ‘the voice of mighty thunderings’, 19:6). It is applied to angels (5:2; 10:1; 18:21) and they speak in ‘great’ (megale) voices. The statement that Babylon is fallen is repeated (the same words occur in 14:8, where see note; cf. Is. 21:9). The city’s doom is still future but it is so certain that it can be spoken of as already accomplished. For Babylon see note on 14:8, and for ’the great city’ on 11:8.
The angel speaks of the complete desolation of the city under three heads. First, it has become a home for demons. It is deserted by men and regarded as a dwelling only by evil spirits. Secondly, it is a haunt for every evil spirit, the place where evil spirits have their being. Thirdly, it is a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. Such birds commonly choose deserted places and this will be the significance of the term. We should perhaps notice that the Old Testament says Babylon became the habitation of some curious creatures (Is. 13:21-22; Je. 51:37; cf. also Is. 34:10-15).
3. The reason for the city’s desolation is her sin in corrupting others. Not content with sinning herself she brought others to share in the maddening wine of her adulteries (see the note on 14:8). The kings of the earth may here include the people over whom they ruled. More probably the thought is that the kings themselves had become wealthy through their countries’ trade with the harlot. This is clearly the reason for mentioning the merchants of the earth. Strong words are used of both. The kings committed adultery with her, while the merchants grew rich from her excessive luxuries. This last word (str
nous) seems to contain the thoughts of self-indulgence and arrogance (Beckwith).
nous) seems to contain the thoughts of self-indulgence and arrogance (Beckwith).ii. A call to leave the city (18:4-5)
Persecuted and harried as they were, the people of God must have been sorely tempted to come to terms with the city. Then not only would their persecution cease, but the city would make them rich and comfortable. But it is important that they see the issues for what they really are and have nothing to do with unclean things. So they are called to come out of her. Such a call is frequent in the Old Testament from Abram on (Gn. 12:1; 19:12ff.; Nu. 16:23ff.; Is. 48:20; 52:11; Je. 50:8; 51:6,45; Zc. 2:6-7), and it is not lacking in the New (2 Cor. 6:14-15; Eph. 5:11; 1 Tim. 5:22). Compromise with worldliness is fatal. God’s people must, while playing their full role in the community, hold themselves aloof from what is involved in being worldly-minded.
4. Again John hears an unidentified voice from heaven, but from another speaker. The words my people seem to show that the voice is God’s, but the next verse can scarcely be from him, though the speaker appears to be the same. Charles suggests that it may be Christ who speaks. Perhaps better is the suggestion that an angel begins by quoting the command of God (Beasley-Murray). The voice calls on people to leave the city and not share in her sins (cf. Eph. 5:11; 1 Tim. 5:22). In this way they will ensure that they will not receive any of her plagues (cf. Je. 50:8-9; 51:6,45).
Some critics make much of the fact that the city is regarded as already destroyed in verse 2. They hold that John has made use of sources which contradict each other or is guilty of careless writing. No such hypothesis is needed. They fail to note that past, present and future tenses are all used of the destruction of the city. This is a song, not a piece of prose carefully arranged in chronological order. This verse follows quite naturally on verse
2. The call to God’s people is supremely important. John is writing to believers, some at least of whom did not perceive the urgency of the situation. They were ready to compromise with the vices of Babylon. In a sense this appeal is the key to the whole chapter. John is not gloating over the city’s downfall. He is appealing to Christians to see the realities of the situation and act accordingly.
5. In a vivid figure John depicts the sins of the city as heaped in a pile that reaches heaven (cf. Je. 51:9; the word rendered piled up means literally ‘were glued together’). Then the imagery changes and we are reminded that God does not forget the evils people do (cf. 16:19). From the standpoint of the persecuted church it might seem that evil men were getting away with their sins. From the standpoint of heaven it is plain that God is not mocked. He remembers.
iii. Judgment on the city (18:6-8)
The voice calls for the city to be destroyed completely. She has no notion of the fate that awaits her, but the speaker is sure that destruction is coming.
6. It is just possible that a new voice is to be understood here, a voice breaking in from the earth. John however does not say this and it is better to think of the same speaker. But there is certainly a change in those to whom the words are addressed. Verses 4—5 are addressed to the people of God, but this verse to God’s ministers of judgment. They are commanded to do to the city what she has done to others (cf. Je. 50:29). Give (apodote) has about it the idea of recompense. It denotes not revenge but just requital. A double portion means punishment in full measure (cf. Is. 40:2; Je. 16:18). There is tremendous depth of feeling against the guilty city. There is also the recognition that the simple ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ is not sufficient. In view of Babylon’s fuller culture and enlightenment, a more severe punishment is required. She has mixed a cup for others (mix is the verb translated ’poured’ in 14:10, where see note). So the voice calls ‘mix her a drink of double strength’ (Phillips).
7. The voice continues to call for condign punishment. It now looks for torment in proportion to the way the city gave herself glory and luxury (estreniasen; this verb is found only here and in v.9 in the New Testament; see the note on the cognate noun in v.3). She has acted irresponsibly. In her heart points to a deep-seated attitude and possibly one of which she is quite unconscious. She sees herself as a queen supreme over all, and does not envisage a change. It is curious that she says she is no widow, but this is possibly taken from old Babylon’s view of herself (Is. 47:7-8). I will never mourn looks for the happy state to continue, the illusion of the materially prosperous in every age. Cf. the church at Laodicea (3:17).
8. This is the reason (Therefore) for her sudden punishment, which will take place in one day (cf. Is. 47:9). There is no warning and no delay. Four plagues are singled out. Death, of course, should end everything. The meaning may be that, though some die in the city, the city continues for a time. Or we could translate the word as ‘pestilence’ (RSV). With this are linked mourning, famine and fire. Together this means disaster for the city and this will certainly happen, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her. The word mighty is specially emphatic. The power of the Lord must not be overlooked. And judges is important. This is not an arbitrary display of power. God inflicts on the city merited judgment.
iv. A lament over the city’s fall (18:9—19)
John proceeds to bring out the total destruction of the great city by picturing the lamentation of those who had cause to mourn her passing, the kings, the merchants, those whose trade was on the sea. None is depicted as loving the city for herself, but only for what they could get out of her. She might seduce and enrich people but there was nothing lovely in her. ‘With a touch of grim humour he paints them as standing at a safe distance from the conflagration, and contenting themselves with idle lamentations’ (Swete).
Rome was the centre of the world’s trade and during the first century engaged in unparalleled ostentation and extravagance. Barclay has a series of quotations from contemporary pagan authors which amply document the senseless waste practised in the city (e.g. Vitellius, emperor for less than a year, managed to spend £7,000,000, mainly on food. Barclay’s book was published in 1959, since when inflation would have increased the amount considerably, but even at today’s prices £7,000,000 is a colossal amount to spend on food.) Contemporary Rome formed a magnificent pattern for John’s Babylon. It shows that John was not a mere fanatic denouncing without cause. It also illustrates the way the whole world may depend on trade with one great centre.
9. Earth’s rulers will be exceedingly distressed at the city’s overthrow, for they have been closely associated with her in the sins that brought about her fate (for shared her luxury, strniasantes, see note on v.7). They gaze on the city as she burns.
niasantes, see note on v.7). They gaze on the city as she burns.10. But they keep their distance for fear lest they be caught up in her torment. The onomatopoeic word, ouai, ouai, doubled for emphasis, brings out their grief. The meaning is rather ‘Woe to the great city’ (cf. Is.5:8,11,20; etc.) than ’Alas! alas!’ (RSV). Babylon is characterized as powerful as well as great. The might of Babylon was all too obvious to the little church. But John wants believers to see that no might can stand against that of the Lord God. Even as he mentions Babylon’s might he speaks of her destruction. In verse 8 the suddenness of her destruction was emphasized as her plagues were seen coming ’in one day’. Now this is intensified, as her judgment (krisis; NIV, doom) is seen coming in one hour. That the kings speak of judgment shows that they recognize the justice of what is happening.
11.
The merchants (‘businessmen’, GNB) of the earth join in. They wail (klaiousin means a loud wailing, not silent weeping) and mourn (the verbs are present tense, as RSV). Their reason? No-one buys their cargoes any more. Financial loss, not esteem for the city, prompts their distress.
12. John gives a list of cargoes for which there will no longer be buyers. Gold and silver are obvious enough. Precious stones is singular and may possibly mean costly stone like granite. If precious stone in our sense, then pearls are singled out as specially important. Next comes fine clothing of various sorts. For purple and scarlet see note on 17:3—4. Citron wood is ‘hard, fragrant and prettily marked and therefore is much esteemed by cabinet makers ... the Romans ... liked it immensely’.95 The veining and colour seem both to have varied considerably, which may explain every sort. Ivory is included, as also costly wooden vessels.
13. The list continues with spices of various kinds, then items of drink and food. Rome’s wheat came largely from Egypt and so is appropriate in a list of what sea traders carried. Next come animals, and finally people. Bodies are slaves, an eloquent commentary on the way slave-traders approached their subject. Souls of men are also slaves (as in the Hebrew of Ezk. 27:13); the evil that was Rome included a profound disrespect for persons (contrast Jesus’ teaching, Mt. 16:26). And in various ways all the world’s great empires have had their traffic in ‘the souls of men’.
14. The city is addressed directly, and informed that her luxuries are things of the past. The fruit she longed for is gone. The riches (lipara) are the ‘oily’ or ’fat’ things, and thus luxuries; the splendour (lampra) are ’the splendid things’. The former refers primarily to exotic foodstuffs, the latter to clothing and decorative objects. People will no longer find them in the great city. The wealth of Rome, which clearly lies behind this passage, was proverbial. Thus the Talmud says, ’Ten kabs of wealth descended to the world: nine were taken by the early Romans and one by the rest of the world’ (Kidd. 49b).
15. It is those who have a vested interest in the city who bewail her passing (and the passing of their profits!). First are the merchants. Like the kings, they do not approach to help or to offer comfort. But they will stand at a distance for fear at her torment. They, too, wail and mourn (the same verbs as in v.11).
16. Now comes the content of their dirge. Like the kings, they begin with a doubled Woe and a reference to the great city. But whereas the kings went on to speak of her might, the merchants refer to her clothing and her wealth.
17. Once more they resemble the kings when they say in one hour. The suddenness and completeness of the destruction strikes them. Though the city had such great wealth all has been brought to ruin. It is the loss of the wealth, not any care for the people, that concerns the merchants.
Next it is the turn of seafarers to mourn (cf. Ezk. 27:28ff.). First to be mentioned is every sea captain (kybernetes), but it is not easy to be certain what the next expression means. All who travel by ship is literally ‘everyone who sails for a place’. This may be meant to cover all who travel by sea, or perhaps merchants who travel with their wares on board ship and transact their business when they reach port. If this be accepted we have references to captains, merchants and sailors, with the final expression, all who earn their living from the sea, comprehensive enough to cover all three. All these had secured their livelihood from the activities of the great city and accordingly all lament her passing. But, like the groups previously mentioned, they stand far off. No-one stretches out a hand to help. The great city has brought profit to many but affection to none.
18. We have had the future tense of the mourning of the kings (v.9), and both present (v.11, Gk.) and future (v.15) of the merchants. Now the seafarers stood (aorist, v.17) and ‘were crying out’ (imperfect). In this poetic section John has a variety of tenses. The first point in their dirge is the incomparableness of the great city. None was like her (the expression is like the Hebrew of Ezk. 27:32, though LXX differs).
19. The sailors carry their mourning further than the other groups. They throw dust on their heads (cf. Ezk. 27:30), they were crying out, wailing and mourning. For the third time we have the conjunction of these two latter verbs (cf. vv.“,15), for the third time the doubled Woe to the great city (10,16), and for the third time the suddenness of it all is expressed in the phrase in one hour (10,17). And, as with the merchants, what excites this distress is the loss of profits.
v. The destruction of the city (18:20—24)
From the forces of evil, attention switches to those of good. First there is a call to rejoicing on the part of the righteous, then an emphatic statement of the complete overthrow of the city, and finally a brief statement of the justification of this overthrow. NIV, RSV and others include verse 20 in the previous section, but these words are surely not from the seafarers. They are probably John’s own.
20. The call to rejoice at the destruction of the city appals some modern students. But we should notice in the first place that this is not a vindictive outcry. It is a longing that justice be done. And in the second, John and his readers were not armchair critics pedantically discussing rights and wrongs in an academic fashion. They were existentially committed. They had staked their lives on the truth of the Christian faith. Paul could point out that if Christians had nothing to look for other than the things of this life, they were more to be pitied than all men (1 Cor. 15:19).
But John wrote out of a passionate conviction that they were not to be pitied. Why should they be? They were on God’s side. This meant great suffering here and now. It meant that they were persecuted and despised. But it meant also ultimate vindication and it is this vindication for which John looks. These words are a passionate cry uttered out of the deep conviction that right must triumph and which eagerly welcomes that triumph.
Rejoice is in marked contrast with the mourning of the previous verses. The appeal is comprehensive, being addressed to heaven, the saints, apostles and prophets. Curiously angels are not listed, though they figure so prominently in this book. Perhaps they are included in the call to heaven. The cause of rejoicing is that God has judged the city. Wrongs had been done to the saints and these are now put right. Justice, not vengeance, has been done.
21. The expression a mighty angel (heis angelos ischyros) does not appear to be paralleled in this book. It is certainly unusual, but in a book concerned with power it emphasizes the might of this representative of heaven. The throwing of a great stone into the sea is a symbolic action like many recorded in the prophets. It recalls Jeremiah’s action in having a stone attached to a book thrown into the Euphrates, symbolizing the destruction of Babylon (Je. 51:63). Here it points to the complete and violent destruction of the city. Never to be found again is an emphatic expression for the complete and final overthrow of the city (cf. Ezk. 26:21; here an emphatic double negative, ou me, and the addition of eti drive the point home).
22. Now comes a list of things that will no longer be heard or done in the city. Previously the lament has been concerned with external relations, trade and politics; now John turns to internal affairs. The word rendered musicians (mousik
n) might be neuter, meaning ‘instruments of music’. But as it is preceded and followed by words meaning performers it is likely that this does too; it probably means ‘minstrels’ (RSV). The city had taken kindly to the arts, but their practice will cease. There is an air of finality about will never be heard in you again (there is a double negative ou me, reinforced by eti, and this continues throughout the lists). Like the arts, craftsmanship of all kinds had evidently flourished, but will be no more. The cessation of the sound of a millstone points to the disappearance of normal daily life with its routine activities such as preparation of food. Bit by bit John is picturing the stilling of all the life of the great city.
n) might be neuter, meaning ‘instruments of music’. But as it is preceded and followed by words meaning performers it is likely that this does too; it probably means ‘minstrels’ (RSV). The city had taken kindly to the arts, but their practice will cease. There is an air of finality about will never be heard in you again (there is a double negative ou me, reinforced by eti, and this continues throughout the lists). Like the arts, craftsmanship of all kinds had evidently flourished, but will be no more. The cessation of the sound of a millstone points to the disappearance of normal daily life with its routine activities such as preparation of food. Bit by bit John is picturing the stilling of all the life of the great city.23. Lamps will no longer shine. Marriage will cease (cf. Je. 7:34, etc.). ‘For’ before your merchants is difficult (NIV omits). It should introduce the reason for the foregoing, but it is hard to see the connection. Perhaps the thought is that Babylon’s very greatness has brought about her destruction. The city’s merchants were the earth’s grandees. Or the thought may be that they concentrated on greatness and interpreted it in terms of material prosperity. They forgot God. The point of the second ’for’ is plainer (before by your magic; again NIV omits). Mingled with their profit-making went all manner of evils. All the nations were deceived by the city’s magic.
24. Babylon was spoken of in the third person in verse 21. Then she was directly addressed in verses 22—23. Now we have the third person once more. In this city was found the blood of God’s people, specified as prophets and saints. To this is added all who have been killed on the earth. This is another indication that we must take ‘the great city’ symbolically. There is no one city on earth of which this can be said. Babylon is clearly a symbol for all earthly cities (cf. the similar statement about Jerusalem, Mt. 23:35).
vi. A thanksgiving for the judgment of Babylon (19:1—5)
The passage on the judgment of Babylon concludes with a mighty thanksgiving in heaven at the conclusion of God’s judgments.
1. John tells us that he heard ‘as a great voice’ (NIV paraphrases). This is somewhat puzzling, for there seems no doubt that he is telling us of the song of a heavenly host. It is a further example of his reserve in describing heavenly realities. The singers are not named, but they are probably angels, the throng of 5:11 (though Mounce thinks of the church). They sing a song of praise which begins, Hallelujah! This transliterates a Hebrew expression meaning ’Praise Jah‘, i.e. ’Praise God‘. It is the typical Hebrew note of praise. The word is found four times in this passage (vv.1,3,4,6), and not again in the New Testament. The Hebrew equivalent occurs a number of times in the Psalms, but it is always translated. This is thus the only passage in the English Bible where ’Hallelujah’ occurs. The song ascribes to God salvation, glory and power. The events just described form an illustration of all three.
2. The first for gives the justification for the outburst of praise in a general statement, the second (before he has condemned; NIV omits) justifies the first with a specific example, the overthrow of the great city. As often, her overthrow is described not in terms of sheer power, but as a judgment (ekrinen, ‘he has judged’). Moffatt misses the note of justice with ‘he has doomed the great Harlot’ and NIV obscures it with he has condemned. But there is more than doom. Justice is done. The great prostitute corrupted the earth with her adulteries, and all heaven rejoices accordingly at her overthrow.
We must bear in mind in all this our constant readiness to be corrupted. ‘The world likes a complacent, reasonable religion, and so it is always ready to revere some pale Galilean image of Jesus, some meagre anaemic Messiah, and to give Him a moderate rational homage.... The truth is that we have often committed adultery with alien ideologies, confounded the Gospel with the religions of nature, and imbibed the wine of pagan doctrines and false principles and deceitful practices. We have sought to bend the will of God to serve the ends of man, to alter the Gospel and shape the Church to conform to the fashions of the times’ (Torrance).
Ultimately this is of no avail. The great whore is judged. ‘The moral law can no more be broken than the law of gravitation; it can only be illustrated!’ (Kepler). Perhaps we should add a comment of Love: ‘We like to think of a Hallelujah chorus in the style of Handel, where the Hallelujah is the triumphant worship of the reigning Lord. And John comes eventually to such a chorus. But he is realistic enough to know that first there must be the equally triumphant rejoicing over the downfall of evil at the hand of God.’ The great whore corrupted the earth. But she did more; she shed the blood of God’s servants. She had to be called to account.
3. A second time the throng praised God. It is not clear whether on this occasion the song consists of one word, Hallelujah, with the information added that the smoke of the city ascended perpetually (cf. Is. 34:10), or whether the latter is part of the song. Either way we must not think of their attitude as negative. Their God is a Creator. The destruction of the great whore is but the prelude to the new era: ‘their hallelujah rings out the old, but it also rings in the new’ (Kiddle).
4. The inhabitants of heaven who are closest to God join in the praise. The twenty-four elders and the four living ones (the last time these are mentioned in Revelation) prostrate themselves and worship. The specific mention of the throne points us to God in his majesty. They utter two words, Amen, which indicates their assent to what has been said, and Hallelujah, the great word of praise (cf. Ps. 106:48 for the conjunction of these two words).
5. Yet once more John reports a voice whose speaker is not named. It came from the throne, and so must be thought of as emanating from God. But the words Praise our God (for ‘my God’ cf. 3:12) make it clear that the speaker is not God or Christ. The voice calls on all God’s people to join in the chorus of praise. The lowliness of men before God is suggested in the double description servants (douloi, ’slaves’ and you who fear him, while the universality of the appeal is sounded in the all and in the both small and great.