Revelation 18
DOYLYVer. 1—3. And after these things I saw &c.] After this account of the state and condition of spiritual Babylon, there follows a description of her fall and destruction, in the same sublime and figurative style which Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, have employed to foretell the fall of ancient Babylon and Tyre, the types and emblems of this spiritual Babylon. A mighty and glorious angel descends from heaven, and proclaims as before, chap. xiv. 8. the fall of Babylon, and, together with her punishment, the crimes which deserved it, her idolatry and wickedness. Bp. Newton.
—and the merchants of the earth &c.] As the destruction of Rome is here compared to the destruction of Tyre, we easily see how proper it is to describe the sins of Rome by figures taken from the sins of Tyre. The profit of trade created a commerce between that city, then the chief mart of the world, and all nations; so that Tyre spread her luxury and superstition far and wide through all parts of the world, with her trade. Rome in like manner corrupted distant nations, by rewarding her votaries with considerable wealth, encouraging their ambition and luxury; and thus, like Tyre of old, made her corruptions general, and almost universal. Lowman.
Revelation 18:2
2.—the habitation of devils.] This expression seems taken from Isai. xiii. 21. “Satyrs shall dance there;” the word “satyrs” there being, in the Greek, demons or devils. Bp. Newton.
Revelation 18:3
- For all nations have drunk &c.] The cause of her judgment or fall is here assigned. She who, as a church of Christ, should have been the teacher and preserver of pure religion and morality, had become
Revelation 18:4
4.—Come out of her, my people.] In similar terms the Prophets called upon God’s people to flee from Babylon, Isai. xlviii. 20; lii. 11; Jer. l. and li. Pyle.
Revelation 18:6
- Reward her even as she &c.] By the laws of the Jews, some offences were punished by retaliation. In the case of theft, the law required the thief to restore double. It is in allusion to this, that the punishment of Rome for her idolatry and persecution is here represented. Lowman. This command is rather to be considered as a prediction, that the evil she had done to others will be returned upon her. Daubus.
The language of prophecy often seems to authorise what it only foretells, and to command that which it barely permits: thus in many passages, and in this amongst others, nothing more is intended to be expressed than the certainty of the event. Bp. Hurd.
Revelation 18:7
7.—I sit a queen.] The same imagery is used in Isai. xlvii. 7; which prophecy contains the Divine judgment on the literal Babylon. Dean Woodhouse.
Revelation 18:8
8.—she shall be utterly burned] Fire, in prophetic language, implies utter destruction. It is the corruption, the superstition, and usurped dominion of Rome which is to be utterly destroyed. Dean Woodhouse.
Revelation 18:9
- And the kings—shall bewall &c.] After the solemn The kings of the earth, &c. lament over Babylon. Anno DOMINI 94.
have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Revelation 18:12
12, 13. The merchandise, &c.] The enumeration of the articles of trade, by which this Babylon is described as making an iniquitous traffick, has something in it very peculiar and striking. It proceeds by a gradation from one article to another, till it rises to the bodies and then to the souls of men. Can we avoid recalling to memory the purgatory, the penances, the commutations, the indulgences, made saleable in the corrupt Papal Church? Dean Woodhouse.
Revelation 18:20
- Rejoice over her, &c.] The same rejoicing is announced upon the prophesied fall of ancient Babylon, Jer. li. 48, and her eternal desolation is represented under the same imagery. Dean Woodhouse.
Revelation 18:21
21.—took up a stone like a—milstone, &c.] Yet further to confirm the sudden fall and irrecoverable destruction of Rome, an emblem is copied and improved from Jeremiah, Jer. li. 63, 64, of a mighty angel casting “a milstone into the sea,” thus declaring that with the same violence “this great city shall be thrown down,” and shall never rise again. Bp. Newton.
Revelation 18:22
22, 23, &c. And the voice of harpers, &c.] Muzick was the entertainment of the rich and great; trade, the business of men of middle rank; preparing the necessaries of life, the employment of the lowest people; marriages, in which lamps and songs were employed, were required for peopling cities. Thus the desolation of Rome is described in such a manner, that neither
God is praised for judging the great whore. Anno DOMINI 26.
Revelation 18:24
- And in her was found the blood &c.] She is found full of blood and cruelty, as being guilty of the effusion of the blood of God’s faithful Prophets and Apostles, and of all His saints and holy martyrs upon earth. Bp. Hall.
Chap. XIX. The prophecies which have preceded have concluded with a severe punishment of Rome for her pride, luxury, superstition, and idolatry, and especially for her cruel persecution of all who were found faithful to their duty, in preserving the purity of the Christian doctrines and worship. When Rome thus fell, as ancient Babylon, to rise no more, the heavenly church is introduced as a chorus or choir to praise God for His righteous judgments and faithfulness. This excellent hymn of praise, sung by the united voices of angels and saints, the whole assembly of heaven, strongly represents to all Christians, and to every
church on earth, what grateful sense they ought to have of God’s faithfulness in their protection, and of His righteous judgments in punishing the persecutors of truth and religion. Lowman.
Ver. 1.—much people—saying, &c.] In the 20th verse of the last chapter, the saints who are stationed in grand chorus before the throne, are exhorted to rejoice over the fall of Babylon. The representation of this fall being completed, we bear the choral song. Dean Woodhouse.
—Alleluia.] This is a Hebrew word, which signifies, “Praise ye the Lord.” It occurs at the beginning and at the end of many Psalms. See Ps. cv. 45; Ps. cvi. 1; also Tohit xiii. 18.