Revelation 18
Irwin1 come. Rather, “coming.” Power, i.e., “authority.”
2. Babylon the great is fallen, etc. The phraseology of the following denunciations and warnings is derived in great part from the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah against ancient Babylon: cp. Isa. xiii.; xiv.; xlvii.; Jer. l., li.
the habitation of devils. See Isa. xiii. 21, 22, and note; see also Matt. xii. 43, where the unclean spirit is represented as wandering through “dry” or desert “places.”
3. For all nations have drunk of the wine, etc. See xiv. 8.
the abundance of her delicacies. Rather, as R.V., “the power of her wantonness.”
4. Come out of her, my people. The same command is found in Jer. li. 6, 45.
5 her sins have reached unto heaven. Cp. Jer. li. 9. They cry to God for vengeance.
6. Reward her, etc. Cp. Jer. l. 15, 29.
7. For she saith, etc. Cp. Isa. xlvii. 7-11, and notes.
9. Shall bewail her, etc. The following dirge resembles the lamentation over Tyre in Ezek. xxvii.
12 thyine wood. A precious, sweet-scented wood brought from Africa; perhaps citron; much used for inlaying, especially of tables. The French version has “bois odoriférant” (“odoriferous wood”).
13. And horses, and chariots, etc. Rather, “And [merchandise] of horses and of chariots, and of bodies (i.e., men sold as slaves), and souls of men.”
14 thou shalt find them no more at all. “They (i.e., men) shall find them no more at all.
17 and all the company in ships. Literally, “and every one sailing to a place”; i.e., every passenger.
19 they cast dust on their heads. A common Oriental sign of grief; see Ezek. xxvii. 30.
20 ye holy apostles and prophets. R.V., “ye saints, and ye apostles, and ye prophets”: see ver. 24.
21 cast it into the sea. To rise no more: cp. Jer. li. 63, 64.
22,23. These verses contain a picture of utter desolation: cp. Jer. xxv. 10 and note.
24. And in her was found, etc. Cp. Matt. xxiii. 35. The foregoing picture of the doom of this system of evil combines the prophetic denunciations on ancient Babylon, Tyre, and Jerusalem; as if all their sins and all their punishments were here accumulated in one.