'BABYLON' in REVELATION is NOT the

MODERN WORLD TRADING SYSTEM!

..from the free commentary which you can download at
http://sites.google.com/site/freecommentary
(control+left click if left-click does nothing)

Summary:
'Babylon' symbolises the temple in Jerusalem, and the temple was a
storehouse where 'merchandise' was kept!
Even Revelation itself says that 'Babylon' is 'where our Lord was crucified'.
The holy tabernacle in the desert and the several temples in Jerusalem were
places where you would find all the 'trade' items mentioned in Revelation 18.
The use of the word 'merchants' is a figure of speech telling us that the temple
rulers had become money-oriented, and made their temple into a place of
merchandise, just as Jesus had once said:

'Joh 2:16 and to them that sold the doves he said, Take these things
hence; make not my Father's house a house of merchandise.'

In addition, Babylon slays the prophets. To say that the modern world trading
system is responsible for the murder of the prophets and saints is far-fetched.
Instead Jesus showed that the temple's religious elite had a well-established
record in killing the prophets Mat 23:31-34. The story of the fall of Babylon is
that it is the religious leaders who are being punished for persecuting the
saints. Any murderous religious authority who kills Christians fits the
'merchants' better than the world's trading centres.

The import of this is that we should not follow the speculative and widespread
theory about the end-times, that 'Babylon' is the modern world trading system.

Here is the passage which naturally leads people to think of capital trade...
Rev 18:11-13 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her,
for no man buyeth their merchandise any more; 12 merchandise of gold,
and silver, and precious stone, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and
silk, and scarlet; and all scented wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every
vessel made of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble;
13 and cinnamon, and spice, and incense, and ointment, and
frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and
sheep; and merchandise of horses and chariots and slaves; and souls of
men.

TEMPLE ITEMS

Most of the items that are listed in Rev 18:12-13 (a possible exception is the
human lives) could all have been readily found in a temple... and used for
temple worship. The spices were used to make the anointing oil, the cloth to
make garments for priests, the precious stones to adorn the temple, the wood
to make musical instruments for worship, the beasts for sacrifices etc. Stores
of these items were kept in the temple. In the Old Testament there have been
sufficient clues (see list below) for us to be able to confidently say 'This is
talking of what happens in the temple'.

COSTLY ITEMS used in THE HOLY TENT

Exo 25:2-8 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they take for me an
offering: of every man whose heart maketh him willing ye shall take my
offering. 3 And this is the offering which ye shall take of them: gold, and
silver, and brass, 4 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and
goats' hair, 5 and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, and acacia wood,
6 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense, 7
onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate.
8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.

Exo 28:6 And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and purple,
scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the skilful workman.

Exo 30:23 Take thou also unto thee the chief spices: of flowing myrrh five
hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred
and fifty, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty,... 26 And thou shalt
anoint therewith the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony,

Exo 29:40 and with the one lamb a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour
mingled with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a
hin of wine for a drink-offering.

Lev 2:2 and he shall bring it to Aaron's sons the priests; and he shall take
thereout his handful of the fine flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all
the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn it as the memorial
thereof upon the altar, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto
Jehovah:
Lev 6:15

Lev 14:21 And if he be poor, and cannot get so much, then he shall take
one he-lamb for a trespass-offering to be waved, to make atonement for
him, and one tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil for a
meal-offering, and a log of oil;

Other similar references: Exo 29:40, Lev 2:1, Lev 2:4-7, Lev 14:10

PRECIOUS GOODS used in SOLOMON'S TEMPLE

1Ch 9:29 Some of them also were appointed over the furniture, and over
all the vessels of the sanctuary, and over the fine flour, and the wine, and
the oil, and the frankincense, and the spices.

1Ch 23:29 for the showbread also, and for the fine flour for a meal-
offering, whether of unleavened wafers, or of that which is baked in the
pan, or of that which is soaked, and for all manner of measure and size;

1Ki 7:30 And every base had four brazen wheels [[possibly wheels of a
chariot], and axles of brass; and the four feet thereof had undersetters:
beneath the laver were the undersetters molten, with wreaths at the side
of each.

1Ch 29:2 Now I [David] have prepared with all my might for the house of
my God the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the things of
silver, and the brass for the things of brass, the iron for the things of iron,
and wood for the things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, stones
for inlaid work, and of divers colors, and all manner of precious stones, and
marble stones in abundance.

2Ch 3:6 And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and
the gold was gold of Parvaim.

2Ch 31:5-6 And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children
of Israel gave in abundance the first-fruits of grain, new wine, and oil, and
honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things
brought they in abundantly. 6 And the children of Israel and Judah, that
dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and
sheep, and the tithe of dedicated things which were consecrated unto
Jehovah their God, and laid them by heaps.

MORE MERCHANDISE in THE SECOND TEMPLE

Ezr 1:5-6 Then rose up the heads of fathers' houses of Judah and
Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, even all whose spirit God had
stirred to go up to build the house of Jehovah which is in Jerusalem. 6
And all they that were round about them strengthened their hands with
vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious
things, besides all that was willingly offered.

Ezr 6:9 And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams,
and lambs, for burnt-offerings to the God of heaven; also wheat, salt, wine,
and oil, according to the word of the priests that are at Jerusalem, let it be
given them day by day without fail;

Ezr 7:16-18 and all the silver and gold that thou shalt find in all the
province of Babylon, with the freewill-offering of the people, and of the
priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem;
17 therefore thou shalt with all diligence buy with this money bullocks,
rams, lambs, with their meal-offerings and their drink-offerings, and shalt
offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.
18 And whatsoever shall seem good to thee and to thy brethren to do with
the rest of the silver and the gold, that do ye after the will of your God.
 Ezr 7:22-23 unto a hundred talents of silver, and to a hundred measures
of wheat, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths of oil,
and salt without prescribing how much. 23 Whatsoever is commanded by
the God of heaven, let it be done exactly for the house of the God of
heaven; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and
his sons?

Neh 13:4 Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the
chambers of the house of our God, being allied unto Tobiah, 5 had
prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meal-
offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the grain, the
new wine, and the oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites,
and the singers, and the porters; and the heave-offerings for the priests.

HEROD'S TEMPLE

Joh 2:15-16 and he made a scourge of cords, and cast all out of the
temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers'
money, and overthrew their tables; 16 and to them that sold the doves
he said, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house a house of
merchandise.

'BABYLON' SLAYS THE PROPHETS!

Before we get to Revelation 18 describing Babylon as a centre of merchandise,

we have already been told that 'Babylon' slays the prophets...

Rev 17:5 and upon her forehead a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE
GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF
THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and
with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered
with a great wonder.

'The great city of Babylon' is an assumed name for the religious elite of
Jerusalem, those in charge of the temple:
Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies lie in the street of the great city, which
spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

Compare Jerusalem's well-established record in killing the prophets:

Mat 23:31-34 Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of
them that slew the prophets. 32 Fill ye up then the measure of your
fathers. 33 Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the
judgment of hell? 34 Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and
wise men, and scribes: some of them shall ye kill and crucify
; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute
from city to city:

The 'house of merchandise' is a religious centre.