Revelation 18:1-3 : an angelic proclamation of Babylon's fate (_cf._ Revelation 14:8) in terms of Isaiah 13:19-22; Isaiah 34:14 (demons of the desert, the Mazzikin of Jewish demonology, familiar to Babylonian magic), Jeremiah 50:30; Jeremiah 51:37; Zephaniah 2:15, etc. “Be of good cheer, O Jerusalem... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐξέλθατε (_cf._ Apoc. Bar 2:1), which in the source referred to the Jewish community at Rome, is an artistic detail, retained like several in ch. 21, although the historical meaning and application was lost in the new situation. _Cf._ the opening of Newman's essay on _The Benedictine Centuries_.... [ Continue Reading ]
A song of exulting in heaven, addressed first to the faithful (Revelation 18:4) and then (Revelation 18:6) to the enemies who execute God's vengeance.... [ Continue Reading ]
Plutarch (_de sera uindict_. 15) is strong upon the solidarity of a city, which is liable to be punished at any time for past offences. κολλᾶσθαι (“Heaped up to the sky are her sins”) in the familiar sense of _haerere_ = to follow close upon, or to cleave, the idea being that the mass of sins actual... [ Continue Reading ]
The foes of Rome (unless ἀπόδοτε κ. τ. λ., is a rhetorical apostrophe) are invited to serve her with the retribution promised to the first Babylon (see reff.). διπλώσατε, _cf. Oxyrh. Pap._ iii. 520 6. Ἐν τῷ ποτηρίῳ, κ. τ. λ. _Cf._ Apoc. Bar. xiii. 8 (to Romans), “Ye who have drunk the strained wine,... [ Continue Reading ]
It is probably at this point that the passage drifts over from the conception of a voice heard (Revelation 18:4) to that of direct utterance on the part of the prophet; unless we are to suppose that the voice speaks till the close of Revelation 18:20 (a similar instance in ch. 11). Imperial Rome is... [ Continue Reading ]
This drastic, ample punishment, though executed by subordinates in Revelation 17:16-17, is here (as in 5, 20) regarded on its divine side. God is strong, as well as guilty, glorious Rome (Revelation 18:10, _cf._ on Revelation 6:15); and his strength is manifested in the huge shocks of history, as we... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 18:9-20 : the wailing on earth, by kings (Revelation 18:9-10), merchants (at length, 11 16), and seafaring men (Revelation 18:17-20), imitated from the finer and more elaborate passages in Ezekiel 26-28, where kings (Ezekiel 26:15-18), traders (very briefly and indirectly, Ezekiel 27:36),... [ Continue Reading ]
βυσσίνου (sc. ἱματίου) = “of fine linen”; from βύσσος the delicate and expensive linen (or cotton) made out of Egypt an flax (Luke 16:19); σιρικοῦ = “silk,” muslin, or gauze, chiefly used for women's attire (Paus. iv. 110 f.); πᾶν ξύλον θύϊνον = “all citron (citrus)-wood,” a fragrant, hard, dark bro... [ Continue Reading ]
“Cinnamon,” an aromatic spice (the inner bark of the tree) exported from E. Asia and S. China; ἄμωμον, aromatic balsam for the hair, made from the seeds of some Fastern shrub (Verg. _Ecl._ iv. 25, “assyrium uolgo nascetur amomum; from Harran, Jos. _Ant._ xx. 2, 2) for the form, _cf._ Levy's _die Sem... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐργάζονται κ. τ. λ. = “whose business is on the sea”. The passage reflects the importance of Rome especially for the trade of the Levant. Pliny (_H. N._ vi. 101, xii. 84) gives the large figures of Oriental imports and their cost, adding sarcastically _tanti nobis deliciae et feminae constant_ (Frie... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse interrupts the sequence of 19 and 21 in which the ruin of Rome is illustrated by the dramatic action of the angel. The awkward shift from description to an apostrophe, and the evidently Christian tone of the cry, betray an editor's hand. His object is to render explicit the moral reasons... [ Continue Reading ]
Rome's fall will be irrevocable and sudden and violent, as a powerful angel shows dramatically by seizing a huge boulder and flinging it into the sea. _Cf._ the analogous description of Babylon's collapse in Sib. Or. ver. 158, 163, 174. The reiterated emphasis on Roman luxury is notable. Later liter... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 18:21-24 : a rhythmic song of doom, introduced by a symbolic action partly imitated from Jeremiah 51:63-64.... [ Continue Reading ]
μουσικῶν “minstrels or musicians” (1Ma 9:41); the occurrence of the generic term among the specific is certainly awkward and would favour the rendering “singers” (Bengel, Holtzm.) in almost any other book than this. On these musical epithets see Friedländer, iii. 238 f.; the impulses to instrumental... [ Continue Reading ]
Contrast the εὑρέθη of 24 with the εὑρήσουσιν of Revelation 18:14 which in its canonical position is an erratic boulder. φαρμακίᾳ, primarily in the figurative O.T. sense already noticed (harlotry and magic spells, as in Yasna ix. 32). But a literal allusion is not to be excluded, in view of the anti... [ Continue Reading ]
Again, as at Revelation 18:20, the change of style (here from an apostrophe to a description) and spirit (Revelation 17:6) marks an insertion by the final editor, unless the verse originally lay after Revelation 18:3. The triple rhythm corresponds to that of Revelation 18:20. Rome has now succeeded... [ Continue Reading ]