The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 390

EXPOSITION. Tim. v. 11. It llignifles overweening pride CIIAPTER.Xvtn. and insolence and wantonness, arising flOIII Ver. ].-And after these thinge l nw auperfluity of wealth and gifts. Of. the another angel. come down from heaven; warning 1io ihe Church of I..a.odicM (oh. after ~omiitfag u and ") . • • oomiflg datDn, ill. 17). eto. rhe usual form of introduction to Vet• ._'-And I heard another votca from a new vision (of, oh. iv. l; ,vii. 1, eto.). heaven,_.nying. Probably the voice of The "mystery " of the beHt and the harlot another angel in suooeaaion t.o the one having been declared, the angel now mentioned in ver. 1. Another anil'81 takes deecribee .the doom in at.ore for them. The up the theme, becaUBe the meesa.ge is now angel ill from heatlffl, as carrying the news of directly addressed to Christiana. CODl8 11ut the judgment which is sent from heaven (of. of her, my people, that ye be not partaken oh.x.l; xix.6,Hi,17; xv.l,etc.). Having of her sina, and that ye receive not of her great power i and the earth was lightened plagtles. The angel says, " my pei>ple," . with hil glory. The great "authority " beca.uae he is representil!g God. These refers to the judgment which follows, words, resembling Isa. xlviii. 20 : lii. 11 ; ·which, however, ia not acted out before the Jer. I. 8; and especially Jer. Ii. 6 (of. also seer, but only described. The last olalll!tl ver. 8), 45, recall also the warning of. our records the visible manifestion of the great Lord µi Matt. uiv. 16 (cf. also Gen. m. power (cf. the description in Ezek. xJiii. 2). 22, "I cannot do anything till then be oom, Ver. 2.-And he cried mightily with a thither"). Since the harlot, who is identiea.l •~nr, voice, saying ; and he cried with a with Babylon, is representative of the faith- ,trong 1H1ice, ,aying. Thill " ~ g voioe" less part of the Churoh of God, the11e wor<ia ia oha.ra.cteristic of the beavenlv utterances form a direct warning to Christiaua. The (cf. oh. \'ii. 2; xiv. 7, etc.). Babylon the departure which is commanded is not neoes• great ia fa.llen, is fallen. The event, though sa.rily a literal, visible one ; but the com• fntU1'e, is described ll8 past, being predeter- ma.nd implies a dissociation from, and mined in the counsels of God. The words oondemnatjon of, the works of Babylon. here are a reproduction of Isa. xxi. 9. And Lot's wife literally departed from Sodom, ii become the habitation of devils, anti the but was overtabn with pu11ishment. hold of every foul apirit;-and a C!'-ge of every because her heart was not dissevered from. uno~ and hateful bird• a habitation • • . the wickedness or the city. a hold of 6f16f'1I unclean ,pint, and a hold of · Ver. 5.-J'or her 1ina have rea.ebed unto. - , unclean and hated bird. " Devils" heaven; and God bath remembered la.er (Greek, 6a&µov,ii), inferior evil spirits. The illiquitiee. That is, the aooumiila.tiori. Qf three phrases expreas . the same idea, viz. sin is so great as to reach up to the heaven. the loathsome and hateful state t.o whim Exactly the description of the judgmenf of Babylon is reduced. The la.ngua~ ia Babylon given in Jer. li. 9, "Forsake her, and deri1'ed ~rom the prophets (ef. ~ xiii. 21, let ua go every one into hia own oouni;ry ; 22; XXXIV. 11-15; Jer. I. 39: 11. 87). .A for her judgment reaoheth unto heaven, ·and' hold {Gftlek, <1>vM1<11," a strong ple.oe "): the i1 lifted up even to the skies." The la.et part aatural and fitting stronghold of the devils, of the verse ia a repetition of eh. xn. 19. rather than a place to which the7 are in• Ver. 6.-Rewardherevenas ahe rewarded· voluntarily oon1ined. 7ou, and double unto her double a.coording: ,Ver. S.-l!'or all natiou have drunk of to her workl: in the eup which she"hathr the oe of the wrath of her fornieatl.on. filled fill to her double. '' You " ill omitted' "The wine " is omitted fn A, C, but it is in !ill the beat manuscripts. The aeoond inlierted in ~. B, and retained in the~ Revised "llDto her," though supported by P, Syria.o, Version. "The wrath" is omitted (cf. the Coptic, is omitted in N, A, B, C, eto.: Bcm- expression in oh. xiv. 8 and xvii. 2). And def- to her ae ihe ol,o r ~ afld daub~ -the kings of the earth have committed for- thB doubled tkinga ~ing. to 1uw u,orka, Dieation with her. (On the figure employed, etc. The description of God's jud.gment is· u well as the identical language, eee oh. still founded on tli,e denunciations against xvii. 2.) And the merohants of. the earth Babylon in. Jeremiah (see Jer. l la--29; are wued rich t.hrough the abun.danl!e of li. 24; .s.vi. 18: of. also IM. lxi. 7 ; Zech. ix.; ~ delieaeiel. The .. abundance" (Greek, 12; and the l11gal retribution ordered in 36vaµu, which Vitringa renden by ~ . Exod. ~ii. 4-7). The ®P vinich a1ae AatA referring to Job llxi. 25; Ezek. nvfu. 4, fiUed is that containing "the wine of her. ~ . ) . "Delioa.cies." (G~k, trrpijvos, fornication" (cf. var. 3); she iB oow to OOCllJ'8 in th! New Testament onl7 here, and recei:re a doable 1118B8Ure of 1he eap ~ ~••· ua yerbin yera. 7,9, and (oompouuded)in l wrath (ef. 1'11, 8). 432 THE REVELATION 011' BT. JOHN THE DMNE. [CJI. xvm. 1--ff.