CHAPTER 18

18:124. THE DOOM OF BABYLON .

1. .] The Vision of Babylon on the Beast is followed by (1) the
descent of an angel who repeats and enhances the sentence of 14:8 (vv. 13); (2) a voice
from heaven, which passes into a succession of dirges chaunted over the doomed city
(vv. 419); (3) a call to Heaven and the Church to rejoice (v. 20); (4) the fall of Babylon,
symbolically executed, and its effects described (vv. 2124).
.] The Angel of the Doom is not the angel
who acted as the Seers guide (17:1, 17:7, 17:15). He comes down from heaven
expressly charged with this mission (cf. 10:1, 20:1); he possesses great authority (13:2),
to enable him to enforce his sentence; so recently has he come from the Presence that in
passing he flings a broad belt of light across the dark Eartha phrase used of the Vision
of God in Ez. 43:2 f. (
... ((

(
) ). For
, by reason of, see 8:13, 16:10 f., notes.
2. .] A strong voice (cf. Ps. 28. (29.) 4
, Heb. 5:7 ), like the voice of the spheres which,
inaudible to the ear, appeals to the universal conscience (Ps. 19:3 f.); for the cry itself
see c. 14:8, note. is still anticipatory, for the actual fall is not yet, but in the
Seers thought the purpose of God has been accomplished already.
.] So Isaiah writes of Babylon (13:21 f.
...

), and of Edom in the very similar passage 34:14 f. Cf. Jer. 27. (50.) 39

(of Babylon); Zeph. 2:14
,
(of Nineveh); Baruch 4:35 (of the
cities of the Exile). The O.T. prophets fill the ruins of cities hostile to Judah with satyrs (

) and the lilith; the N.T. Apocalyptist, while he takes over both the conception
and the word , thinks doubtless of the demon-powers represented by the idols
of paganism (cf. 19:20, 16:14) which will haunt the wrecked temples of Rome, the
scene of their old magnificence. The resonant may be purposely chosen;
contrast with . St Pauls . (Eph. 2:22). ,
refugium (Prim.), custodia (Vg.), is here perhaps rather a watch-tower or stronghold (as
in Hab. 2:1 , Bar. 3:34
), than a prison or cage (20:7); the evil spirits, watching over fallen
Rome like night-birds or harpies that wait for their prey, build their eyries in the broken
towers which rise from the ashes of the city. : Prim., Vg., odibilis.
3. .] Cf. 14:10, 16:19, notes; and
on the accumulation of genitives see Blass, Gr. p. 99. has overwhelming
Vg. The Latin Vulgate.

external support, but can scarcely be more than an early and widespread error, due
perhaps to the proximity of (v. 2); both the general sense and the prophetic usus
loquendi (cf. Jer. 28. (51.) 7, 39, 32. (25.) 14 f.) require .
Two classes would be more especially affected by the fate of Babylon. The ruling
class had committed fornication with her, i.e. were deeply and often guiltily involved
in the sins of Rome; cf. 17:2, note. The mercantile class would suffer yet more severely
by the fall of the city, and the rest of the chapter is largely occupied with the effect of
the event on commerce and trade. The writer has in view the graphic description of the
collapse of the trade of Tyre given by Ezekiel (2628.); cf. also Isaiahs reference to
Babylon (47:15). Allusions to trade in the N.T. are fairly frequent (cf. Mt. 13:45, 22:5,
25:14, Jac. 4:13), but it is only in this passage that we catch sight of the vast traffic
which carried the produce of the East and of Egypt to Italy, and found its centre in
Rome. The merchants of the world had grown rich (, cf. 3:17, note) by
reason of (cf. , v. 1) the might of her wanton luxury. in 4 Regn.
19:28 is the self-satisfied, complacent, arrogance (,

, cf. Gwynn p. 80) of

Sennacherib, while in Isa. 61:6 Symm. uses for

; cf. 1 Tim. 5:11,
where means apparently to grow restive under the
restrictions imposed by Christian discipline. In the present context (vv. 7, 9) is
probably, as Hesychius says, , and is little more than
insolent luxury (deliciae, Prim., Vg.). It was by ministering to the heartless luxury of
the capital that the traders of the Empire made their money. On the extravagant
expenditure of the Roman Emperors and aristocracy see Dill, Roman Society from Nero
to M. Aurelius, pp. 20, 32 f., 55 f., 66 ff., 128 ff., 177 f.
4. .] The Angels cry is
followed by another voice which comes from heaven itself (10:4, 10:8, 11:12, 14:2,
14:13), whether the Voice of God, as at first sight suggests (cf. 16:1), or that
of one of the angels of the Presence, as the character of the whole utterance that follows
renders more probable. . is modelled on several passages in the Prophets
which relate to Babylon, e.g. Isa. 48:20
; Jer. 27. (50.) 8
; 28. (51.) 6 ,
; ib. 45 (the last cited
words, however, are not in codd. B A Q*). Cf. also Isa. 52:11 , ,
, , . But the cry
, , rings through the Hebrew history; we hear it in the Call of Abram
(Gen. 12:1) in the rescue of Lot (Gen. 19:12 ff.), in the Exodus, in the call to depart
from the neighbourhood of the tents of Dathan and Abiram (Num. 16:26); an echo has
been heard in the command of Mc. 13:14. In this context the sauve qui peut is to be
regarded partly as a feature borrowed from the O.T. models cited above, partly as a
warning to Christians at Rome and elsewhere to shun entanglement in the sin and
punishment of the new Babylon; cf. 2 Cor. 6:14 ,
Eph. 5:11 , 1 Tim. 5:22
. There is no occasion to look for any single fulfilment in

history, such as an actual exodus of members of the Roman Church: such a precept is
sufficiently obeyed by aloofness of spirit maintained in the very heart of the worlds
traffic. As Augustine writes (de civ. Dei, 18:18): qued praeceptum propheticum ita
spiritualiter intellegitur ut de huius saeculi civitate fidei passibus quae per
dilectionem operatur in Deum vivum proficiendo fugiamus.
5. ... ] A reminiscence of Jer. 28. (51.) 9
, ; this conception is
already in Hom. Od. 15:329 .
. ., Vg. pervenerunt usque ad caelum; joined one another till they reached heaven,
till the ever-growing mass rose sky-high; for a somewhat similar use of cf.

Deut. 28:60 (
) [sc. ], Bar.
1:20 , Lc. 10:11
, Acts 9:26 ; the exact construction occurs in Zech. 14:5,
.
: cf. 16:19
. For followed by the acc. see Blass, Gr. p. 104.
6. .] The command is addressed of course
not to the people of God, but to the ministers of Divine justice, the yet untrained and
unknown forces which the Seer saw gathering for the work of destruction: cf. 17:16 ff.
Several O.T. denunciations of Babylon are in view, e.g. Ps. 136. (137.) 8
, ;
Jer. 27. (50.) 29
. The principle of a Divine lex talionis runs through the O.T., and asserts
itself even in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 7:2
). Even for there is abundant support; see the legislation of Ex.
22:4, 22:7, 22:9, and cf. Isa. 40:2
; Jer. 16:18 (*, ) . The same
thought, that good and evil return upon the doer with interest which may reach an
hundredfold, finds a place in Greek poetry; cf. Aesch. Ag. 537
. On the vindictive spirit sometimes displayed by Christians under
persecution, and its relation to such passages as this, see 6:10 note.
, Vg. duplicare duplicia, to pay double, is perhaps unique, but it
follows the analogy of (16:9), being the acc. of content.
.: cf. 14:8, 14:10, notes, and 17:4, 18:3.
7. .] Let her share of misery be
proportionate to her arrogant self-glorification. Cf. Isa. 3:16 ff.
... . The general
principle is affirmed continually, e.g. Prov. 29:23 ; Lc. 1:51
...
, ib. 14:11 ; here the humiliating loss of
wealth and place is aggravated by acute suffering (, cf. 9:5, note) and
sorrow; the ease of luxury is exchanged for pain, and its light-hearted laugh for the
gloom of bereavement; cf. Lc. 6:25 , , ; Jac. 4:9

 . The same sharp contrast is seen in the parable of

Lc. 16:19 ff.: ,
... ... .
.] After Isa. 42:7 ff.
(
, cf. v. 6



) ... , a passage applied to
Rome also in Orac. Sibyll. 5:167 ff. | ...
| . A similar boast is ascribed
to Tyre by Ezekiel (27:3). Cf. Andreas: (
) .
8. .] The elation and selfconfidence induced by luxury would be the direct cause ( ... ) of sudden and
utter ruin. The writer still has in mind Isaiah l.c.; the prophet proceeds
, , , ... [
, ] ... ... ... .
adds to the pathos of the downfall; cf. Seneca, ep. 91 una nox fuit inter
urbem maximam et nullam; cf. Lucret. 3:911 omnia ademit | una dies infesta tibi tot
praemia vitae. The plagues of Babylon, when they come, will make a dire antithesis
to her present condition; death, mourning, dearth will reign where life at its gayest and
fullest has long prevailed. Fire will complete the work of destruction: cf. 17:16, note.
Incredible as all this may seem, the Seer is assured that it will be realized; Babylon had
already been doomed, and the Judge who pronounced the sentence ( , qui
iudicavit, Prim.) is strong to execute it; cf. Jer. 27. (50.) 34
... . is the O. T.

((, or the like.

9 f. .] The Voice now describes the

effects of the great catastrophe, in the form of a series of dirges chanted over the dead
city by the kings (910), merchants (1117), and ship-owners (1719) of the world. The
whole passage seems to have been suggested by Ezekiels dirge over Tyre (Ez. 27).
The is begun by the kings of the earth, i.e. the subordinate and allied princes
who had flourished under the protection of Rome: for . see 1:5, 6:15, and for
their relation to the Empire, 17:2, 17:18, 18:3, notes. As in Ezekiel Tyre is bewailed by
the princes of the sea (Ez. 26:16 f.
... .), so St John
represents the vassals of the Empire as assembling themselves to deplore the fate of
Rome. With a touch of grim humour he paints them as standing at a safe distance from
the conflagration, and contenting themselves with idle lamentations. Romes subjects
and allies have shared her favours and her luxury (
), but cannot help her in the time of need, and are careful not to be drawn
into her doom. Their is sincere enough, for in Rome they have lost a
protectress, but it avails nothing to the dead city.
is for the Attic , as in Lc. 6:21, Jo. 16:20; cf. Jo.
5:25, Jo. 10:28, Lc. l.c. (W. Schm. p. 107). For the combinations .
cf. Lc. 8:52 ; similarly, 23:27

 . For see 1 Pet. 4:12, and cf. 2 Pet. 3:12 for

; for , Mc. 5:6, note. ,
that seemed so strong: contrast Isa. 26:1 ,
... . ., cf. v. 8 ;
the thought recurs in vv. 16, 19.
11. .] The kings of the earth are succeeded by
the merchants of the earth, who take up the dirge, weeping and mourning for their
dead mistress; for cf. Mc. 16:10, Lc. 6:25, Jac. 4:9, and below, v.
15. The second lamentation over Babylon is even more frankly self-interested than the
first; the merchants mourn because they have lost their market, and there is no longer
any demand for their shiploads of costly wares. may be used of a load on the back
of horse or camel or ass (cf. Ex. 23:5 ... ,
but the more usual sense ships burden, cargo (cf. Acts 21:3
) is in better keeping with the present context. Merchandize
came to Rome by sea direct from such ports as Seleucia, Ephesus, Smyrna, Corinth,
Alexandria, Carthage, which tapped the resources of the East and of Africa, and on the
West from Marseilles and Spain. How vast the traffic was appears from hints dropped
by contemporary writers, e.g. Pliny H. N. 12:41 minima computatione millies centena
millia sestertium annis omnibus India et Seres peninsulaque illa imperio nostro
adimunt; Galen, antid. 1:4 ... ...
. Aristides, cited by Wetstein:
(at Rome) ...
, , , , ,
... ,
. Such words reveal the extent of the loss which the commerce of the world
might be expected to suffer from a sudden collapse of its chief market.
12. .] A list of the imports which
flowed into the port of Rome(1) precious metals, marbles and gems, (2) textile
materials for costly clothing, (3) choice woods, articles of vertu, cosmetics, (4) food
stuffs, (5) live stock, from sheep and cattle to slaves and other human ministers to the
wants or the vices of the rich.
Only a few of these articles of commerce call for separate notice. , Seric
fabric, i.e. silk, is . . in Biblical Greek, for in Prov. 31:22 is rendered by
and
in Ez. 16:10, 16:13 by ; but is freely used by Greek
writers after the Macedonian conquest, when silk found its way to the West; how
abundant the material was at Rome in the first century appears from a statement of
Josephus (B. J. 7. 5. 4) that at the triumph of Vespasian and Titus ...
. The form
(Prim. sirici) which is attested here by all the uncials, has some external support; see
W.H.2 Notes, p. 158, W. Schm. p. 46. (lignum citreum, Prim. l. thyinum,
Vg.), wood of the tree known to the Greeks as , , or and to the Romans as
citrus, probably the Thuia articulata of botany. This wood, which was imported from
North Africa, where it grew freely in the neighbourhood of the Atlas, was much prized

for its veining, which in the best specimens simulated the eyes of the peacocks tail
(Mart. 14:85), or the stripes of the tiger and spots of the panther (Plin. H. N. 13:96), or
the seeds of the parsley; the colour also varied in different specimens; hence .
. At Rome citrus wood was much sought after for dining tables: Seneca, Dio
61:10, 3, had 300 tables of citrus wood with ivory feet (Mayor on Juv. 1:137); but
it was also used for veneering, and for small works of art, which were made out of the
hard roots of the tree (Theophrast. H. P. 5:5 (sc. )
). (LXX. = , ;)ivory was used by the Hebrews for
boxes (Cant. 5:14), beds (Am. 6:4), and even in building (3 Regn. 22:39
, cf. Ps. 44. (45.) 9, Cant. 7:4, Am. 3:15). It is mentioned by Ezekiel
(27:15) among the imports of Tyre. By wealthy Romans under the Empire it was largely
used in the decoration of furniture such as beds, couches, tables: thus Juvenal complains
(11:120 ff.): cenandi nulla voluptas | latos nisi sustinet orbes | grande ebur et magno
sublimis pardus hiatu | dentibus ex illis quos mittit porta Syenespeople cannot enjoy
their supper unless their table rests on a leopard carved in ivory.
13. (,

) , according to Herodotus (3:111) a word of Phoenician
origin, was among the ingredients of the holy anointing oil (Ex. 30:24 ff.), and is
named with other spices in Prov. 7:17, Cant. 4:14, Sir. 24:15. Probably it was not the
Ceylon spice now known by that name, but the product of the Cinnamon cassia from
South China (Enc. Bibl. 828 f.). In Roman life it supplied one of the cosmetics of the
banquet; Plaut. Curc. 1:2. 6, tu mihi stacte, tu cinnamomum, Lucan, 10:165,
multumque madenti | infudere comae quod nondum evanuit aura | cinnamon.
, amormum (Theophrast. H. P. 9:7. 2, Plin. H. N. 12:28) is another Eastern
perfume familiar to Roman writers: cf. Ovid, Cydipp. 21:266 spissaque de nitidis tergit
amoma comis; Martial, 8:77 si sapis, Assyrio semper tibi crinis amomo | splendeat.
As to its place of origin, Theophrastus (9:7) can only say
; Enc. Bibl. 145 suggests that it came from the cissus vitigena, a native of
Armenia. On see 5:8, note, on , Mc. 14:3, note; on , c. 8:3,
note. (here only in N.T., but frequent in LXX. =
) , the fine flour
imported for the use of the wealthy: Plin. H. N. 13:21 similago ex tritico fit
laudatissimo. The wheat supply of Rome () came largely from Egypt and was
brought in large cornships from Alexandria; see Blass on Acts 27:6.
, sc. , though it is not easy to see why the
construction should at this point revert to that of ., to return almost
immediately to the accusative in . Mr Anderson Scott suggests
that we should see here additional items which distinguish Rome from her O.T.
representative, Tyre; but Tyre, too, had dealings in horses and human flesh (Ez. 27:13
f.). It would seem as if the writer merely wished to relieve the monotony of the long
sentence and perhaps at. the same time to throw greater solemnity into the last clause.
according to Isid. etym. 20:12, is a genus vehiculi quattuor rotarum, and
according to Quintilian (1:5. 5) came from Gaul; it became fashionable at Rome, and in
Enc. T. K. Cheyne and J. S. Black, Encyclopaedia Biblica (London, 1899
1903).

the third century, according to Lampridius, Senators acquired the privilege of plating
their rhedae with silver. , mancipiorum, slaves, a use which is familiar to the
LXX. (Gen. 36:6 , Tob. 10:10 , Bel 32
, 2 Macc. 8:11 ), who, as the papyri
shew (Deissmann, Bible Studies, page 160) found it in the Egyptian Greek of the Delta.
It was repudiated by the Atticists (e.g. Pollux 3:78
), but established itself in the later language; the slave merchant
was known as a (Eustath. in Od. 1.), and as late as the end of the fourth
century Epiphanius could write: .
(Prim. strangely, diversi generis animalia) is from Ez. 27:13 ,
, , (

) . Though in itself this old Hebrew phrase means little more than human live
stock, it serves to draw attention to the serious side of the Roman slave trade. The
world of St Johns day ministered in a thousand ways to the follies and vices of its
Babylon, but the climax was reached in the sacrifice of human life which recruited the
huge familiae of the rich, filled the lupanaria, and ministered to the brutal pleasures of
the amphitheatre.
14. .] And the ripe fruit of the desire of thy soul
is gone from thee, and all thy rich and bright things have perished from thee. is
the autumn fruit, ripe for ingathering; see Jer. 47. (40.) 10, 12
.; and cf. Jude 12 , trees in late
autumn when the fruit is past. Just when the fruit of the labour of many generations
seemed ready to fall into the mouth, it had vanished like a dream; the long desired
consummation never came. The first may be taken with (Prim. pomorum
tuorum concupiscentia animae), or with (Vg. poma desiderii animae tuae);
its position in the latter case is not necessarily emphatic (WM. p. 193; Blass, Gr p. 288).
For , nitidus, in the wider sense see Isa. 30:23
(,
;) 2 Esdr. 19:35
((

(
) . Of the two adjectives to be distinguished here,
is perhaps the rich and dainty food, the gay attire and costly
furniture, which were the fruits of Roman conquests and policy. The Seer sees them all
gone, and gone for ever; another summer, another ingathering, is not to be hoped for;
never again will be found ( ... , nicht mehr wird man finden) in the
city on the Tiber the extravagant luxury, the inhuman selfishness, of the age of the
Caesars.
15. , .] The writer comes back to
the merchants dirge from which he had turned aside in v. 11 in order to describe the
nature of their traffic with Rome. The merchants, he resumes, who deal in these wares
( . , comp. v. 23 ) and have gotten their wealth from Rome
(cf. v. 3 ) will do as the kings did;
WM. Winer-Moulton, Grammar of N. T. Greek, 8th Engl. ed. (Edinburgh,
1877).

they will stand at a safe distance from the city (v. 10), and pay their tribute of respect in
similar terms.
16. .] The second dirge begins as the first did (v. 10), and
ends similarly ( .). But there is an apposite change in the description of
the city; while to the kings Rome is simply , the merchants naturally measure
her by her opulence and splendour. For ... see 17:4,
note; , which finds no place in the earlier description, has perhaps been
suggested by v. 12; it comes in merely as an article used in the attire of the very rich (cf.
Lc. 16:19), and clearly has not the symbolical significance which it bears in 19:8, 19:14.
] This corresponds to
in the dirge of the kings. might be more properly used to describe
the condition of the city itself, as in 17:16 and below, v. 19; cf. Mt. 12:25
. But the merchants still think of the wealth of Rome;
it is Romes money they miss and deplore, not the city and its people.
17. .] One other class finds its
interests gravely affected by the fall of Romethe shipmasters and seafaring people in
general; and from these there comes a third dirge. Compare Ezekiels lamentation over
Tyre, 27:28 f.
, ,
. If Rome was not like Tyre a seaport, and had no
direct business on the sea, the sea-going population of the shores of the Mediterranean
were not less interested in her fate than they had once been in that of Tyre. Ostia was
doubtless the destination of most of the merchant vessels of the Empire; cf. Florus 1:4
Ostiam coloniam posuit, iam tum videlicet praesagiens animo futurum ut totius mundi
opes et commeatus illo veluti maritimae urbis hospitio exciperentur.
(Ez. =
) are shipmasters, in contrast with on the one
hand and on the other; cf. Acts 27:11
, where Blass cites Plut. mor. 807 B
. It is not quite so clear who is meant by . The
rendering of Prim. omnis super mare navigans gives some colour to Nestles ingenious
correction ( for |, an easy change; see Text. Criticism of N.T., p.
168); but it is perhaps unnecessary to depart from the well-attested . He who sails
for (any) part is the merchantman who goes with his goods, or the chance passenger
(vector); if the exact phrase does not occur elsewhere, it is approached in Mc. 13:8
, Acts 27:2
, Strab. 3:230 B ...
. , and all who make their
living by the sea, not only sea captains and their crews, but the whole
(Philostr. vit. Apoll. 4:32); the phrase
the correlative of . (Gen. 3:5)is abundantly illustrated by Wetstein, ad
loc.; on the construction cf. WM., p. 279.
19. ;] In Isa. 47:10 Babylon boasts ,
, while in Ez. 27:32 the exact phrase here used occurs in the Heb. though not

in the LXX:





comes from the preceding verse in Ezekiel (
); the exact words used by the Apocalyptist occur in Jos. 7:6
(LXX.). For =

see Gen. 2:7, Lev. 14:41, etc., and in N.T. Mc. 6:11
=Mt. 10:14 . , by reason of her
valuableness, i.e. her great wealth, which gave her unrivalled spending power; the word
is . . in LXX. and N.T., but occurs ccasionally in the later literary Greek, e.g.
Arist. eth. Nic. 10:7 , 20:7
, Lib. ep. 1557 . Compare the
use of in 1 Pet. 2:7 (see Horts note).
20. .] While the kings and merchants of the earth and its
mariners bewail Babylon, Heaven and its friends rejoice over her doom: the reverse of
the picture drawn in 11:10, where upon the death of the Two Witnesses
: see notes there. There is perhaps a
reference to Deut. 32:43, LXX. (cf. Intr. to the O. T. in Greek, p. 243)
... ...
, ; cf. Isa. 44:23
, , , and Lc. 15:7, 15:10
. Andreas: ,
. , the Church
and her two highest ministries (1 Cor. 12:28 , );
in 16:6, 18:24, the Prophets alone are mentioned. It is not clear whether in the present
passage the Apostles are the College of the Twelve, as in 21:14, or whether the word is
used in the wider sense (2:2, note); but probably the title is inclusive. The absence of
any reference to a local ministry is remarkablecontrast Phil. 1:1 ...
but it is characteristic of a book which emanates from
prophetic circles and is charismatic throughout.
] is here, not as in 17:1, a sentence
pronounced by a judge, but a case for trial, as in Ex. 18:22
1 Cor. 6:7, . God has judged the case of Heaven and the
Church, for in this instance their cause is oneagainst Babylon, with the result
which the vision has revealed; the Church is at last avenged upon her enemy. ,
at her expense; the trial has issued injustice being exacted from her. On the whole verse
Andreas well remarks: ,
. Cf. 6:10, 18:6,
notes.
21. .] In the silence which follows the Voice from
Heaven (vv. 420), a single angel (for cf. 8:13, 9:13, 19:17; the numeral approaches
the force of an indefinite article, but has not yet quite lost its proper meaning) represents
the fall of Babylon by a symbolical action. He takes what appears to be () a great
millstone and with all his might () hurls it into the sea, which in this chapter (v.
17) as throughout the book (e.g. 7:1, 8:8 f., 10:2 ff., 12:12, 12:18, 13:1, 16:3 f.) belongs
to the scenery of the Apocalyptic drama. A (cf. . , Lc. 17:2; the

former adj. lays stress upon the purpose to which the stone is put, the latter upon its
fitness for the work) or (Mc. 9:42) might be one of the stones of a hand-mill such
as women could work (Ex. 11:5 , Mt. 24:41
), or one which needed an ass to turn it ( , Mc. l.c.);
the latter or even a stone of greater weight () is intended here. The Seer has in his
mind Jer. 28. (51.) 63 ,
,
, , and perhaps also an earlier passage, Ex. 15:5
(cf. 2 Esdr. 19:11). Compare also Herod. 1:165
,
.
] As this stone is flung into the deep, so shall
Babylon vanish. , impetu, with a rush, like a stone whizzing through the air;
cf. Deut. 28:49 ; Hos. 5:10
(Symm. ), 1 Macc. 6:33
. The action symbolizes the complete submergence, the final
disappearance of pagan Imperial Rome; she is to vanish, as Babylon
had vanished in the time of St John; cf. Strabo, 16:1073: []
, ...
; Lucian, contempl. 23 ... ... ...
.
22. .] No sounds of rejoicing, or of
industrial life or even of domestic work shall be heard in Babylon again. For the first
compare what is said of Tyre by Ezekiel (26:13
(
) , ), and of Jerusalem
by Isaiah and Jeremiah (Isa. 24:8 ...
; Jer. 7:34 ... ,
, cf. 25:10, 40. (33.) 9. On , , see 5:8,
14:2, note; the (Mt. 9:23) is the player on the flute (

, ), who
performed, often with the , at the festivities of Hebrew life (2 Regn. 6:5, Isa.
5:12, 30:29, 30:32 (A), Sir. 40:21, 1 Macc. 3:45. , a later form of ,
founded on the analogy of , (8:6 ff.) is . . in Biblical Greek. The
trumpet proper ((

) was in Jewish use nearly limited to religious services, but at
Rome the tuba was heard at the games (Juv. 6:249) and in the theatre (ib. 10:214, with
Mayors note), and even at funerals (Pers. 3:103). may be songs (Gen. 31:27,
Ez., l.c.) or instruments of music (Dan. 3:5 f.=

) , but the analogy of ,
, is in favour of the masc., and by must be intended either
performers on (other) instruments, or vocalists, R.V. minstrels; cf. 1 Macc. 9:39,
9:41, where the same ambiguity exists: ...
... ... .
.] The industries of the great city will be swept
away as well as its festivities. A may be an artist in metal (Deut. 27:15, Cant.
7:1, Acts 19:24, 19:38), in stone (1 Chr. 22:15), or even in textile fabrics (Sir. 45:11). All

the arts of civilized life are at an end in the new Babylon; one will hear no more among
its ruins the stroke of the hammer or the whir of the loom; even domestic sounds such as
may be heard in the merest hamlet, e.g. the creaking and droning of the upper millstone
as it turns upon the lower, are hushed for ever; there is no hope that they will be revived
in a restored city. is here apparently the mill, i.e. the whole apparatus as
distinguished from the (v. 21); cf. Num. 11:8 ,
Mt. 24:41. The is best explained as the sound made by the mill, and not
the singing of the women who turn it, though the , as Wetstein shews,
was traditional in Greece.
23. .] Whether the streets of Rome were
regularly lit after dark is doubtful: Juvenal (3:285) speaks of the brilliant lights carried
by the rich, contrasting his own dependence on the moon or on the breve lumen
candelae; at a festival in A.D. 32 the spectators were escorted home by torchlight,
provided by an army of slaves; on the other hand Ammianus writes (14:1, 9): in urbe
pernoctantium luminum claritudo dierum solet imitari fulgorem; see Mayors note
on Juv. l.c. Certainly the houses of the wealthy were not wanting in means of
illumination; lucernae and candelabra of artistic forms abounded; even bed chambers
were provided with lamps (lucernae cubiculares) which sometimes were burnt all night
(Mart. 10:38, 14:39). But in the Seers forecast the lights of Rome have gone out in utter
darkness. Even the occasional flash of the torches carried by bridal processions (Mt.
25:1 ff.) is seen no more, and with it has ceased the voice of the bridegroom and the
bride, a phrase which is frequent in Jeremiah (7:34, 16:9, 25:10, 40. (33.) 11, cf. Bar.
2:23); for see also Jo. 3:29.
.] The connexion of thought is difficult.
Are the two clauses introduced by parallel, or is the second dependent on the first?
For other examples of the writers use of ... see 15:4, 16:6 (note). In the present
instance it seems best to take the first as controlling the whole sentence, and the
second as explaining the first. Babylon has been submerged by her very greatness, for
her greatness has been used to bewitch and mislead the world, and not to raise and
purify it. . rests upon Isa. 23:8 ,
(



) , and Ez. 27:21 ,
; for see 6:15, note. Traders who could make Rome their market
rose to the first rank, became merchant princes (vv. 3, 15), while Rome on her part
acquired a worldwide influence which she used for evil; through their traffic with her all
nations had learnt to adopt her false standards of life and worship. On see
9:21 note. Like Nineveh (Nah. 3:4 ,
), and Babylon (Isa. 47:12
),
Rome was full of professors of the black art; for the authorities see Mayors note on Juv.
3:77, and cf. Orac. Sibyll. 5:163 ...
, . But the word is probably used by St John in the
wider sense of the witchery of gay and luxurious vice and its attendant idolatries, by
which the world was fascinated and led astray. See 21:8, 22:15, notes.

24. .] A further reason for the overthrow of Rome

was her bloodguiltiness ( is to be carried on from v. 23). Cf. Jer. 28. (51.) 35
, (see also v. 49, Heb.); Ez. 24:6
. The blood shed by Rome was not simply that of gladiators
butchered to make a Roman holiday, many of whom may have deserved their fate (cf.
Dill, Roman Society, p. 242), but that also of Saints and Prophets: cf. 16:6, 17:6, notes.
The massacre of 64, and recent troubles under Domitian sufficiently explain
(cf. Clem. Cor. 1, 5 ff.); among the martyred at Rome may have been such
prominent Roman Christians as Andronicus and Junias (Rom. 16:7
), or possibly the writer may have in view St Peter and St
Paul, who were prophets as well as Apostles. But the responsibility of Rome was not
limited to martyrdoms which occurred within the city; the world was under her rule, and
the loss of all lives sacrificed (, cf. 5:9, 5:12, 13:8) throughout the Empire
lay at her door. It is remarkable that the same is said of Jerusalem before her fall (Mt.
23:35 ). On see
c. 16:6, note.
1

1The Apocalypse of St. John ( ed. Henry Barclay Swete;, 2d. ed.; New York:
The Macmillan company, 1907), 223.