Revelation 17

Revelation 17:1

And another vision I saw to the same purpose. One of those executioners of God’s wrath came unto me, saying, I will shew thee the vengeance that is ready to befall the imperial dignity of Rome, fitly entitled the great whore, (great in itself, and whore for their impieties against God, their worship of many heathen gods, directly owning that title, as an harlot is she that takes in many others instead of the one husband,) sitting, that is, ruling, over many waters, that is, much people, having many nations under her dominion.

Revelation 17:2

From the power and authority whereof, many other kingdoms (see ch. xiii. 14.) have been confirmed and fortified in their idolatrous courses, and had

Revelation 17:3

And in this vision methought I was in a desert, (fit to represent the desolation that was to be expressed in that vision,) and there I saw what he had promised me, ver. 1, a woman, that great whore mentioned there, the imperial power of Rome heathen, seated on an emperor in a scarlet robe, a great blasphemer against the true God, and advance of idolatry, and he had seven heads, (the city of Rome built on seven hills,) and ten horns, that is, so many other kings that ruled over divers countries, and were confederate with the Roman emperor.

[a] a woman sit upon a scarlet—] That the beast here must signify the idolatrous heathen worship, may be thought, by comparing this verse with ch. xiii. 1. There the beast, whereby that is acknowledged to be represented, is said to have seven heads and ten horns, and upon the heads the name of blasphemy: and so here, much to the same purpose, the beast is full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. But it must be observed, first, that there are more beasts than one mentioned in these visions, and not all signifying the same, but visibly divers things, and that difference observable from other circumstances. As, first, here is the addition of κόκκινον, scarlet-coloured, which refers to the colour of the imperial robe, which was such, saith Pliny, Nat. Hist. l. 22. 2. And so that inclines it to signify the emperor in this place: and though θηρίον, a beast, may seem a mean title to represent so great a person, yet when it is considered that rage and cruelty, and all manner of uncleanness, may be found in an heathen idolatrous emperor, all these being so fit to be represented by a θηρίον, or wild beast, such an emperor as this may well own that title. And so when Julian introduceth C. Caligula, it is in this style, μετεσέρχεται θηρίον πονηρὸν, an evil beast succeeds, in his Satire against the Cæsars; and in like manner of Vindex, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, ταντὶ τὰ θηρία, these beasts; and of Domitian, with a peculiar epithet, to denote his cruelty, (such as was proverbially observed in Phalaris,) τὸ Σικελικὸν θηρίον, the Sicilian beast; and again, φονικὸν θηρίον, the bloody beast, exactly parallel to the scarlet-coloured beast in this place. Secondly, here is a woman sitting upon that beast, which makes it differ again from that representation, ch. xiii. And this woman appears to be the whore, in the first verse of this chapter: for being there told by the

ᵉ Annot. in Festum.

ʰ Id. cont. Leptir.

ᶠ Od. 10. 1. 2

ⁱ Cont. Lept.

ᵍ Demosth. κατ’ Ἀνδρωτίανος.

[b] ten horns] That these ten horns, or kings, were those barbarous nations that lay on the north of the Euxine sea, and of Danubius, and the Rhine, (which were the ordinary bounds of the Roman empire on that side,) the number of them will sufficiently evince. Procopius reckons them up to that number of ten, Ostrogothi, Wisigothi, Vandali, Gepidæ, Longobardi, Heruli, Burgundions, Huns, Franks, Saxons. Of these it is said, ver. 12, that they were ten kings, οἵτινες βασιλείαν οὔπω ἔλαβον, which had not yet received the kingdom. This cannot be understood that they had as yet (in that point of time to which the vision belonged) no dominions of their own, for they are called δίκα βασιλεῖς, ten kings; and it is evident in story, that those barbarous nations had their several kings in that time. The meaning then must be, that they had as yet no dominion within the Roman territory, (but only made sudden incursions into it,) their receiving the kingdom being when they shared the empire among them. So the fathers in the time of persecution interpreted it, Romani imperii abscessio in decem reges dispersa, saith Tertullian, “The departure of the Roman empire dispersed into ten kings:” et decem regibus, in quos dividetur quod nunc regnat imperium, saith Irenæus, “The ten kings, into which the empire which now reigns shall be divided.” And then, before they came to this having a kingdom, dominion in the Roman territories, it is said of them, that as kings they receive power with the beast, that is, join and comply, and act with the beast, assist heathen Rome in persecuting the Christians, (but that only μίαν ὅραν, one hour, a small short while,) which is further expressed by having one mind, and giving their strength

Revelation 17:4

And this Roman power was in great prosperity, much sumptuousness was bestowed upon their idol-worship, and all manner of abominable filthiness was committed therein.

Revelation 17:5

Which being so frequent, and acknowledged in their secreter devotions, are best described by the word mystery, which was the word which the Greeks used for their uncleanest meetings, and by Babylon, (see note [c] ch. xiv, and note [a] ch. xviii,) which of old was famous for these, and so destroyed. From hence came all the idolatry of the other cities: (see ver. 2.)

[c] MYSTERY] The word μυστήριον signifies a secrecy. It is also an unclean word, set by Achilles Tatius to signify the nakedness of a woman. Among the Gentiles it was used to denote their secretest idol worships, their τελεταί and ἐποπτεῖαι, which being for the most part very unclean and abominable, as in their Eleusinia sacra, &c., they were generally styled μυστήρια, and divided into μεγάλα and μικρὰ, their greater and lesser mysteries. These, saith Tertullian, the Gnostics imitated, and had in their worships curtains drawn, and silence strictly kept to veil and keep secret what they did. Hence is it that this word is here thought fit to express the idolatry and heathen worship of this city, which had generally this of uncleanness joined with it.

Revelation 17:6

And beside her idolatries and uncleanness, she was represented as a great persecutor of Christians, (see note [d] ch. i.) At this sight of a woman thus represented in all glory, and then drunk with blood, and vomiting it out, I was much astonished.

Revelation 17:7

And the angel that shewed it me, ver. 1, told me the interpretation of it, viz. that it was designed by God to represent the Roman heathen power, the seven hills on which it was built, and the ten kings confederate with it.

Revelation 17:8

And the scarlet beast, ver. 3, on whom this power is seated, and which blasphemeth and defieth the God of heaven, that is, the person of the emperor, in whom this power is vested, at the time to which this part of the vision refers, (see note [a],) is one which was in power, but at this point of time, that is, after Vespasian’s return out of Judæa, was out of it, but shall come to it again, sent, as it were, out of hell, to persecute the Christians. And when he, that is, Domitian,

¹ embroidered, κεχρωσωμένη. Latin. ² Or, whoredoms, πορνειών: so Arethas and the ancient

[d] that was, and is not] That Domitian had and exercised all power at Rome in his father Vespasian’s time whilst he was employed abroad in Syria, &c., appears by Tacitus, who saith of him distinctly, Domitianum Cæsarem consulutatum, &c., " that Domitian was saluted by the name of Cæsar," Hist. l. 3, in fine; and, nomen sedemque Cæsaris Domitianus acceperat, " Domitian had received the name and throne of Cæsar," l. 4, in initio; and by all other writers of those times. At the return of Vespasian he was divested of his power; and so though he had been emperor, and still continued alive at that point of time to which this part of the vision refers, yet it is true of him, οὐκ ἴστι, he is

Revelation 17:9

This is the meaning of the riddle; The seven heads are the seven hills, which are so famously known in Rome.

Revelation 17:10

And beside, they denote the seven kings or emperors thereof, (that have had any thing to do with the Christians,) which are here to be numbered from the time of the beginning of these visions till this of the writing of them: of them five are dead, all of violent deaths, poisoned, or killed by themselves or others, viz. Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius; one then reigned, viz. Vespasian; and a seventh was not yet come to the kingdom, viz. Titus, who, when he should come to it, should reign but two years and two months.

Revelation 17:11

And Domitian, described ver. 8. as he that was, and is not; that is, one that in Vespasian’s time, while he was busy in other parts, exercised all power at Rome, and was called emperor, is the eighth, that is, comes to the empire after those seven, being the son of one of them, to wit, of Vespasian, (in whose time also he held the government of Rome,) and this a wretched, accursed person, a cruel, bloody persecutor of the Christians, and shall be punished accordingly.

Revelation 17:12

As for the ten kings of the barbarous nations, noted by the ten horns, ver. 3, those which (though after, ver. 16, they shared the Roman empire, yet) as yet had not done so, had no kingdom as yet within the Roman territory, they for a small time complied with the Roman power.

Revelation 17:13

And did as the emperor did, persecuted the Christians in their territories.

Revelation 17:14

And having done so, they shall ere long be subdued to the Christian faith, according to God’s promise, that Christ should be King of kings, &c. ³ although it be, salveo devir. ⁴ sense, voiz. ⁵ they are, clair.

[e] war with the Lamb] Warring with the Lamb signifies opposing and persecuting Christianity; not as if there were set battles between them and Christians, but such as are supposable against those whose principle was to suffer, not to resist the persecuting emperors, (under whom they were;) for this is the condition of the Lamb here, to endure, to be slaughtered, but not to fight again. This is here said of these ten kings, (confederate with the Romans,) that they should thus war, that is, be used as soldiers to execute the Romans’ bloodiness upon Christians: and this is true of the Goths and others, while they were confederate with heathen Rome; though soon after they themselves came over to Christianity, (though most to Arianism,) (Gothi per legatos supplices poposcerunt, ut illis episcopi, a quibus Christianæ fidei regulam discerent, mitterentur. Valens imperator doctores Ariani dogmatis misit. Gothi primæ fidei rudimentum, quod accepere, tenuerunt: “The Goths desired by their ambassadors that bishops might be sent them, from whom they might learn the rule of faith. Valens the emperor sent them Arian doctors. The Goths retained those rudiments which they first received,” Oros. l. 7. c. 33,) no doubt much forwarded therein by seeing the patience and constancy of Christian martyrs, who have no other way to overcome their enemies, and so in that only respect are said to conquer them here, that is, to bring them to Christianity, and subject them to Christ’s kingdom. For of Alaricus it is clear that he was then a Christian, and sent embassies to Honorius by bishops, (see Sozomen, l. 9. c. 8,) and that Attalus was baptized by Sigesarius, a Gothish bishop, and by that was the dearer to Alaricus and all the Goths, c. 9. And that in reverence to St. Peter Alaricus gave mercy to all those that fled to his temple for sanctuary, and restored all that was taken out of the church, (by a Gothish soldier, who, astonished with the richness of the sight, told Alaricus of it,) and at the putting

Revelation 17:16

[f] make her desolate] The Goths and Vandals overrunning Italy and Rome itself, (Alaricus the Goth and Gensericus the Vandal kings, and divers others, πολλῶν ἐπανισταμένων τυράννων, many kings making insurrections, saith Sozomen,) is famously known in story. See Socrat. l. 7. c. 10, Sozom. l. 9. c. 6. Of the spoils also that were made by them historians are plentiful, especially Procopius. Of Alaricus and his, that they left nothing behind them, either of private or public treasure, the commander giving order to his soldiers, saith Sozomen, l. 6, 9, ἱκάστῳ τῶν Ῥωμαίων πλοῦτον ἁρπάζειν, to plunder all the wealth of the city, and ὡς ἂν δύναιτο πάντας τοὺς οἴκους ληξίεσθαι, as near as was possible to spoil every house. Of Gensericus, that he brought by sea to Carthage a vast deal of gold and silver; and that he robbed the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, or Olympius. So Socrates of Alaricus, that they took the city and rifled it, and τὰ πολλὰ τῶν θαυμαστῶν ἱκείνων θεαμάτων κοτίκουσαν, burnt many of those admirable spectacles. So also that they conquered many provinces of the Romans, and possessed them as their own, as Dacia, Pannonia, Thrace, Illyricum, France, Spain, Afric, Italy, and Dalmatia, which is here called the eating of the flesh of the whore. As for their burning of the city, (though that signify not their burning it all down to the ground, but only πολλὰς τῆς πόλεως οἰκοδομὰς, many buildings of the city, and in Socrates, the many admirable spectacles there,) that is known to be done by Totilas at the first entering the city, though Belisarius was a means that it was not all burnt down; see Procopius Goth. 4. and Sozomen l. 9. c. 6. This being done in the time of Honorius the emperor, and Innocentius bishop of Rome, and so in time of Christianity, may be thought not to belong to heathen Rome. But then it is observable, first, that by the providence of God not only Honorius himself was out of the city, but

k L. 11. c. 10. l Hist. Raven. l. 2. p. 64.

Revelation 17:17

[i] It is done] It is usual in prophecies to set down the sad events most covertly. Thus ᵉ Scaliger observes, Augures sedentes in templo abstinebant vocibus male ominatis, ideoque Alteram avem potius quam Aversam dicebant, “The augurs, sitting in the temple, abstained from the sadder expressions; and therefore when they meant to signify any ill abode, they called it not the Averse but the Other Augury. Accordingly is that style of Horace,

ᶠ *Sperat infestis, metuit secundis,

This the Grecians call ᵍ μηδέν εἰπείν φλαῦρον, and ʰ μὴ βλασφημεῖν, not to deliver any sad thing, not to speak any hard or evil saying. And their name for this figure is εὐφημισμός. Agreeable to this is the ordinary style of fuit, or vixit, he hath been, or he hath lived, for mortuus est, he is dead; fuimus Troes, fuit Ilium—we have been Trojans, Troy hath been: and in ⁱ Demosthenes, νῦν δὲ εὐπορήσει, now it shall be rich, to signify that it hath been, and is yet poor. Δεὶ γὰρ οὕτω λέγειν, καὶ μὴ βλασφημεῖν, saith he, “for thus I must speak, and not use gross or harsh expressions.” And just such is γέγονε here, it hath been, that is, now it ceaseth to be, it is destroyed, by this figure, εὐφημισμός, fit for prophecies.

Revelation 17:18

And methought there were thunders and lightnings and an earthquake, such as never had been known before, denoting this vast change, (the greatest of any,) that now was by this means wrought in the world.

Revelation 17:19

And Rome being at this time of Honorius divided into three parties; one, heathen; a second, orthodox; a third, heretical, impure, (see note [c] ch. xvii,) wicked Christians; this brought in Alaricus, and by that means destruction on all heathen Rome. And thus was God’s just vengeance executed upon them.

Revelation 17:20

And as it is ordinary for islands and hills to be removed by earthquakes, so now the maritime towns and strongholds were destroyed by this incursion of the Goths.

Revelation 17:21

And this judgment fell upon them most visibly and discernibly from heaven, and withal in a most heavy, unsupportable manner; and yet, after this, such obduration of heart possessed them of the heathens that survived these judgments, that they were the more obstinate in their idolatrous, heathen courses, and still railed at the Christians as the authors of all these miseries that befell them.

CHAP. XVII.

AND there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, 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: