INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION 17 This chapter contains a vision of a beast, and a woman on it, and the interpretation of it; one of the seven angels that had the seven vials proposes to John to show him the whore of Babylon, the Jezabel before spoken of, who sits on many waters, with whom the kings an... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE CAME ONE OF THE SEVEN ANGELS THAT HAD THE SEVEN VIALS,.... It may be the first of them, since one of the four beasts designs the first of them, in Revelation 6:1 though Brightman thinks the fifth angel is meant, because he poured out his vial on the seat of the beast, who is by this angel... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH WHOM THE KINGS OF THE EARTH HAVE COMMITTED FORNICATION,.... These are the ten kings, who being of the same mind, and of one religion, the Popish religion, gave their power, strength, and kingdom to the beast, Revelation 17:12 and have been enticed by the whore of Rome to commit spiritual fornic... [ Continue Reading ]
SO HE CARRIED ME AWAY IN THE SPIRIT,.... Not in body, as if he was removed from the isle of Patmos to some other place; but in a visionary way, just as Ezekiel was carried between earth and heaven, in the visions of God, to Jerusalem, Ezekiel 8:3. It was represented to the mind of John, to his spiri... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE WOMAN WAS ARRAYED IN PURPLE AND SCARLET COLOUR,.... Which may be expressive of her grandeur, authority, and power, sitting as a queen, and sovereign in the empire, ruling over kingdoms and nations in it; and also of her bloody disposition to the saints, with whose blood she is afterwards sai... [ Continue Reading ]
AND UPON HER FOREHEAD WAS A NAME WRITTEN,.... As the high priest had on his mitre upon his forehead written, holiness to the Lord, Exodus 28:36 only a different inscription from that; the allusion is thought to be to harlots, who not only used to put their names over their doors, but some of them up... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I SAW THE WOMAN DRUNKEN WITH THE BLOOD OF THE SAINTS,.... To see a woman drunk is a shameful sight; but to see one drunk, not with wine, but with blood, is monstrous, cruel, and shocking; the sword, when it devours, and is satiate, is said to be drunk with blood, Jeremiah 46:10 but for a woman t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE ANGEL SAID UNTO ME,.... The same as in Revelation 17:1 WHEREFORE DIDST THOU MARVEL? which is not said by way of reproof, as questions of this kind sometimes are, Acts 3:12 for John did not wonder at her with a sinful admiration, so as to have her in great veneration, and to do homage and wo... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BEAST WHICH THOU SAWEST WAS, AND IS NOT,.... It is added at the end of the verse where the same description is given, "and yet is"; this beast is to be understood not of the devil, who "was" the god of this world, "is not", being cast out by Christ, and yet is in being; for he, the dragon, is di... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HERE IS THE MIND WHICH HATH WISDOM,.... This refers either to what goes before, concerning the beast, his various states, rise, and ruin, and his admirers; or to what follows after, concerning the meaning of his heads and horns, or to both; and the sense is, that notwithstanding the interpretati... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE ARE SEVEN KINGS,.... The Arabic version renders it, "who are seven kings"; and it should be rendered, as it is by the Vulgate Latin, Syriac and Ethiopic versions, "and they are seven kings"; that is, the seven heads signify seven kings also, for they have in them a double representation, f... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE BEAST THAT WAS, AND IS NOT, EVEN HE IS THE EIGHTH,.... That was in embryo in John's time, and yet was not come to its power and grandeur, is the eighth king; and this is the Papacy, which takes the name of the beast, because it is the head of the beast, and the only surviving head of the bea... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE TEN HORNS WHICH THOU SAWEST ARE TEN KINGS,.... Not ten Christian emperors, which are reckoned up by Brightman from Constantine to Theodosius; for these did not reign with the beast, or give their kingdoms to him, and much less did they make war with the Lamb; they are rather the angels of Mi... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE HAVE ONE MIND,.... The princes of these kingdoms, and their subjects, become, in time, of one religion; first they were Arians, and then Papists; and for a long series of time there was great unity between them, with respect to religious sentiments, being zealously attached to the church of Ro... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE SHALL MAKE WAR WITH THE LAMB,.... The Lord Jesus Christ, so often spoken of in this book under this character, Revelation 5:6. And this war is not to be understood of a war with him personally, or of that last and decisive, battle at Armageddon, in which will be the kings of the earth; but of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAITH UNTO ME,.... That is, the angel, who proposed to give John the interpretation of the vision, he went on with it as follows: THE WATERS WHICH THOU SAWEST, WHERE THE WHORE SITTETH, Revelation 17:1, ARE PEOPLES, AND MULTITUDES, AND NATIONS, AND TONGUES; denoting the vast multitude of pe... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE TEN HORNS WHICH THOU SAWEST UPON THE BEAST,.... Revelation 17:3 and which are interpreted of ten kings, Revelation 17:12. The Alexandrian copy, the Complutensian edition, and the Syriac Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, read, "and the beast"; and then the sense is, that the ten kings and state... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR GOD HATH PUT IN THEIR HEARTS TO FULFIL HIS WILL,.... By doing the preceding things to the whore of Rome, whose destruction is according to the will of God; it is his approving will, what he likes of, and will be well pleased with; it is his will of command, what he will order to be done, Revelat... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE WOMAN WHICH THOU SAWEST,.... Revelation 17:3 as there described, IS THAT GREAT CITY, often mentioned in this book; great Babylon, the city of Rome, Revelation 11:8 which reigneth over the kings of the earth; which then reigned in John's time over the kings of the earth; and this clearly poi... [ Continue Reading ]