Revelation 18 - Introduction
The Judgement on Babylon... [ Continue Reading ]
The Judgement on Babylon... [ Continue Reading ]
Her Glory and Sudden Plagues. Chap. 18 Revelation 18:1-8 1. _another angel_ See on Revelation 14:6. _great power_ Apparently for destruction: see note on the use of the word in Revelation 9:19. _the earth was lightened with his glory_ Ezekiel 43:2, translated rather more literally than in the LXX... [ Continue Reading ]
_mightily with a strong voice_ We should read, WITH A MIGHTY VOICE. _Babylon … is fallen_ Revelation 14:8; Isaiah 21:9. _the habitation of devils_ Better, AN HABITATION. Similar vengeance is denounced on the literal Babylon, Isaiah 13:21-22, and on Edom, id. Isaiah 34:13-15. It is not quite certai... [ Continue Reading ]
_the wine of_ Should perhaps be omitted: it _may_have come in from the parallel passage, Revelation 14:8. _the kings of the earth_&c. Revelation 17:2. _the merchants of the earth_ Merchants are alluded to as frequenting the literal Babylon in Isaiah 47:15; but the prominence given to them suggests... [ Continue Reading ]
_Come out of her_ Isaiah 48:2; Isaiah 52:11; Jeremiah 50:8; Jeremiah 51:6; Jeremiah 51:9; Jeremiah 51:45, all referring to the flight of Israel from the literal Babylon. This passage is nearest to the last of those cited: but in the second there is also the suggestion, that the Lord's people _must_d... [ Continue Reading ]
_have reached_ Lit., HAVE CLEAVED TOGETHER.... [ Continue Reading ]
_rewarded you_ "You" should be omitted: a better translation would be, RENDER TO HER AS SHE HERSELF RENDERED. The thought is founded on Psalms 137:8; Jeremiah 50:15; Jeremiah 50:29, and the expression on the former passage. _double unto her_ See Jeremiah 16:18; where however the vengeance is on _je... [ Continue Reading ]
_for she saith in her heart_&c. Isaiah 47:7-8: in Revelation 18:8 we have a reminiscence of the next verse of Isaiah, but less verbally close.... [ Continue Reading ]
_she shall be utterly burnt with fire_ So Revelation 17:16. While literally true of the city, the doom may refer to that pronounced by the Law on certain cases of foul fornication, Leviticus 21:9, &c. _for strong is the Lord God_ Jeremiah 50:34. _that Judgeth_ Rather, THAT HATH JUDGED.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Lamentation over them on Earth, Revelation 18:9-19 9. _the kings of the earth_ Who bore a more or less immediately active part in her destruction, Revelation 17:16: see note there. _shall bewail her_ Read simply, SHALL WEEP. _the smoke of her burning_ Cf. Genesis 19:28.... [ Continue Reading ]
_for the fear_ i.e. because of _their_fear. Their regret for her destruction is sincere, but does not make them forget themselves. _Alas, alas_ The interjection is the same as is elsewhere rendered "Woe." So in Revelation 18:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
_shall weep and mourn_ Read, WEEP AND MOURN (in the present tense). _for no man buyeth_&c. Their sorrow is even more purely selfish than that of the kings. _merchandise_ Strictly, CARGO.... [ Continue Reading ]
This whole passage should be compared with Ezekiel 27, where the wealth and trade of Tyre is described in detail. _and scarlet_ Thus far the goods enumerated have been expressed by genitives, "merchandise of gold … and of scarlet." Here they cease to be so, as far as the word "sheep." _thyine wood... [ Continue Reading ]
_and cinnamon_ Add "and amomum," a precious oriental ointment. The word was accidentally omitted by copyists, from its likeness to the latter part of the preceding one. _and horses_ Lit., OF HORSES, the genitive dependent on "merchandise" is resumed. _chariots_ Not war-chariots like those mentione... [ Continue Reading ]
_fruits … lusted after_ Lit., THE FRUIT-HARVEST OF THE DESIRE OF THY SOUL. _thy … thee … thee … thou_ It seems as though the writer had forgotten the construction with which the long sentence, Revelation 18:11, began: this verse stands as if the lamentation of the merchants were being quoted. In th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Alas, alas_ See on Revelation 18:10. _decked_ Lit., GILDED, as at Revelation 17:4. _stones … pearls_ Both these words should be collective singulars.... [ Continue Reading ]
_is come to nought_ Lit., IS MADE DESOLATE. _all the company in ships_ Read with R. V., AND EVERYONE THAT SAILETH ANY WHITHER. The words will probably stand for the merchants travelling in ships with their own goods, which they intend to sell on arriving at their destination Lat. _vectores_. _sail... [ Continue Reading ]
_What city is like_&c. Ezekiel 27:32.... [ Continue Reading ]
_they cast dust_&c. _Ibid._30. _had ships_ Read, HAD THE SHIPS or THEIR SHIPS.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Rejoicing over them in Heaven, Revelation 18:20-24 20. _Rejoice over her_ Revelation 12:12. There may be a reminiscence of Jeremiah 51:48. We cannot tell if the words are those of the angel of Revelation 18:1, of the voice of Revelation 18:4, or of the seer himself: perhaps the second is most l... [ Continue Reading ]
_a mighty angel_ Lit., ONE STRONG ANGEL. _cast it into the sea_&c. Jeremiah 51:63-64. _with violence_ Lit., WITH A RUSH or DASH. R. V. "with a mighty fall.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the voice of harpers_&c. Isaiah 14:11, of Babylon, Ezekiel 26:13, of Tyre, are certainly parallels: compare also Isaiah 24:8, which is as similar as the passages of Jeremiah referred to on the following passage, and apparently, like them, spoken of the unfaithful Jerusalem. _the sound of a millsto... [ Continue Reading ]
_the voice of the bridegroom_&c. Jeremiah 7:34; Jeremiah 16:9. _for thy merchants_&c. Isaiah 23:8, of Tyre. Some read "for the great men of the earth were thy merchants", which makes the resemblance less close, but does not forbid our seeing a reference. _by thy sorceries_ Compare especially Nahum... [ Continue Reading ]
_And in her_ St John passes from recording the angel's denunciation to the impression made on his own mind by the judgement he witnessed. _of all that were slain upon the earth_ Cf. Jeremiah 51:49, where however, if the A. V. be right, the sense is rather different. "The slain of all the earth" _he... [ Continue Reading ]