Revelation 16
DOYLYRevelation 16:3
- — I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast.] A woman sitting on a beast is a lively and significative emblem of a church or city, directing and governing an empire. Cities, it is well known, in painting and sculpture, as well as in prophetic language, are often represented in the form of women: and Rome herself is exhibited in ancient coins, as a woman sitting on a lion. Here the beast is scarlet coloured, for the same reason that the dragon was, chap. xii. 3, “a red dragon,” to denote his cruelty, and in allusion to the distinguishing colour of the Roman emperors and magistrates. The beast is also “full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns,” so that this is the very same beast which was described in the former part of chap. xiii.; and the woman in some measure answers to the two-horned beast or false prophet: consequently the woman is not Pagan but Christian Rome, because Rome was become Christian, before the beast had completely seven heads and ten horns, that is, before the Roman empire experienced its last form of government, and was divided into ten kingdoms. The woman is arrayed too in “purple and scarlet colour,” ver. 4, this being the colour of the popes and cardinals, as well as the emperors and senators of Rome. She is also “decked with gold and precious stones and pearls;” and who can sufficiently describe the pride and grandeur and magnificence of the church of Rome in her vestments and ornaments of all kinds? She has further “a golden cup in her hand,” &c., to signify the specious and alluring arts, by which she bewitches and incites men to idolatry, which is abomination and spiritual fornication. Bp. Newton.
Revelation 16:5
- And upon her forehead was &c.] Lewd women used to have their names written on their doors, and sometimes on their foreheads. Lowman.
— MYSTERY, BABYLON &c.] This is a mys- Anno DOMINI 96.
Revelation 16:10
- And the fifth angel poured out &c.] This is some great calamity which shall fall upon Rome itself, “the seat of the beast,” and shall darken and confound the whole antichristian empire. But still the consequences of this plague are much the same as those of the foregoing one; for the sufferers, instead of “repenting of their deeds,” are hardened like Pharaoh, and still persist in their blasphemy and idolatry, and obstinately withstand all attempts at reformation. Bp. Newton.
Revelation 16:12
12.—upon the great river Euphrates:] The punishment figuratively represented by this sixth vial is drying up the river Euphrates, so famous as a boundary against the invasions of the Eastern nations, that they might have an easy passage to invade their neighbours; signifying that a way should be prepared for the enemies of this antichristian kingdom, to break in upon it. Lowman.
Whether by Euphrates he meant the river so called, or only a mystical Euphrates, as Rome is a mystical Babylon: and, whether by the kings of the East he meant the Jews in particular, or any Eastern potentates in general, can be matter only of conjecture, and not of certainty or assurance, till the event shall make the determination. Whoever they be, they appear to threaten the destruction of the kingdom of the beast; and therefore, the agents and emissaries of popery, ver. 13, 14, “of the dragon,” the representative of the devil, “and of the beast,” the representative of the antichristian empire, “and of the false prophet,” the representative of the antichristian church, “unclean spirits like frogs,” are employed to oppose them, and stir up the princes and potentates of their communion to make their united and last effort in a religious war. Bp. Newton.
Revelation 16:13
13.—like frogs] Frogs, in ancient authors, are symbols of impurity, vainglory, imposture, flattery, and impudence, as Pliny, Philo, and many others observe. Pyle.
Revelation 16:15
- Behold, I come &c.] As these must of necessity be times of great trouble and affliction, an exhortation is here inserted, by way of parenthesis, of the suddenness of these judgments, and of the blessedness of watching and of being clothed and prepared for all events. Bp. Newton.
Revelation 16:16
16.—into a place called—Armageddon.] The meaning of this name has been variously conjectured. According to some, it is compounded of two words which signify ’the mountain of Mageddo or Megiddo;’ a place which was famous in the history of God’s people for several memorable slaughters, Judg. v. 19; 2 Kings ix. 27; and which therefore became a proverbial expression for a place of destruction and mourning. Lowman, Pyle. Others conjecture that the name Armageddon means a dry, barren, mountainous, desert country, such as was thought by the Jews to be the abode of unclean spirits. This meaning of the word accords with what is said at ver. 12—14. Schleumer.
Revelation 16:17
17.—poured out his vial into the air; &c.] The seventh vial is poured out “into the air,” the seat of Satan’s residence, who is emphatically styled, Eph. ii. 2, “the prince of the power of the air;” so that this period shall not only complete the ruin of the kingdom of the beast, but will also shake the kingdom of Satan every where. Of this vial, as indeed of all the former, the completion is gradual; and the immediate effects and consequences are “voices and thunders,” &c., these portend great calamities. “And there was a great earthquake:” great earthquakes in prophetick language signify great changes and revolutions; and this is such an one, as men never felt or experienced before. Bp. Newton.
Revelation 16:19
- And the great city was divided &c.] Not only “the great city is divided into three parts” or factions,
John’s vision of the great whore; Anno DOMINI 96. ber. 25. 15.
the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Revelation 16:21
- — great hail—about the weight of a talent.] Great hail often denotes the judgments of God: and the weight of it, here represented, “about the weight of a talent,” or about 100lbs, is a strong figure to denote the greatness and severity of God’s judgments. But still the men continue obstinate, and “blaspheme God because of the plague of the hail;” they remain incorrigible under the Divine judgments, and shall be destroyed before they will be reformed. Bp. Newton.
Chap. XVII. As the seventh seal and the seventh trumpet contained many more particulars than any of the former seals, and former trumpets, so the seventh vial contains more than any of the former vials; and the more we consider, the more we shall admire the structure of this book in all its parts. The destruction of the antichristian empire is a subject of such importance that the Holy Spirit has thought fit to represent it under a variety of images. It was declared before, in general, (chap. xiv. 8,) “Babylon is fallen;” but this is a catastrophe deserving of a more particular description, both for a warning to some and a consolation to others. But, before the description of her fall, there is given an account of her state and condition, that there may be no mistake in the application. Bp. Newton.
Ver. 1. — I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore &c.] Thus ancient Babylon, which was seated on the great river Euphrates, is described by Jeremiah, Jer. ii. 13, as “dwelling upon many waters;” and hence the phrase is borrowed, and signifies, according to the angel’s own explanation, ver. 15, ruling over many peoples and nations. Neither was this an ordinary prostitute; for with her “the kings of the earth have committed fornication,” ver. 2, as Tyre, Iasi. xxiii. 17,
and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: