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■ 요한계시록 17장
1. 또 일곱 대접을 가진 일곱 천사 중 하나가 와서 내게 말하여 가로되 이리 오라 많은 물 위에 앉은 큰 음녀의 받을 심판을 네게 보이리라
And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials , and talked with me , saying unto me , Come hither ; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters :
2. 땅의 임금들도 그로 더불어 음행하였고 땅에 거하는 자들도 그 음행의 포도주에 취하였다 하고
With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication , and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication .
3. 곧 성령으로 나를 데리고 광야로 가니라 내가 보니 여자가 붉은 빛 짐승을 탔는데 그 짐승의 몸에 참람된 이름들이 가득하고 일곱 머리와 열 뿔이 있으며
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness : and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast , full of names of blasphemy , having seven heads and ten horns .
4. 그 여자는 자주빛과 붉은빛 옷을 입고 금과 보석과 진주로 꾸미고 손에 금잔을 가졌는데 가증한 물건과 그의 음행의 더러운 것들이 가득하더라
And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour , and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls , having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication :
5. 그 이마에 이름이 기록되었으니 비밀이라, 큰 바벨론이라, 땅의 음녀들과 가증한 것들의 어미라 하였더라
And upon her forehead was a name written , MYSTERY , BABYLON THE GREAT , THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH .
6. 또 내가 보매 이 여자가 성도들의 피와 예수의 증인들의 피에 취한지라 내가 그 여자를 보고 기이히 여기고 크게 기이히 여기니
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 great admiration .
7. 천사가 가로되 왜 기이히 여기느냐 내가 여자와 그의 탄 바 일곱 머리와 열 뿔 가진 짐승의 비밀을 네게 이르리라
And the angel said unto me , Wherefore didst thou marvel ? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman , and of the beast that carrieth her , which hath the seven heads and ten horns .
8. 네가 본 짐승은 전에 있었다가 시방 없으나 장차 무저갱으로부터 올라와 멸망으로 들어갈 자니 땅에 거하는 자들로서 창세 이후로 생명책에 녹명되지 못한 자들이 이전에 있었다가 시방 없으나 장차 나올 짐승을 보고 기이히 여기리라
The beast that thou sawest was , and is not ; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit , and go into perdition : and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder , whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world , when they behold the beast that was , and is not , and yet is .
9. 지혜 있는 뜻이 여기 있으니 그 일곱 머리는 여자가 앉은 일곱 산이요
And here is the mind which hath wisdom . The seven heads are seven mountains , on which the woman sitteth .
10. 또 일곱 왕이라 다섯은 망하였고 하나는 있고 다른 이는 아직 이르지 아니하였으나 이르면 반드시 잠간 동안 계속하리라
And there are seven kings : five are fallen , and one is , and the other is not yet come ; and when he cometh , he must continue a short space .
11. 전에 있었다가 시방 없어진 짐승은 여덟째 왕이니 일곱 중에 속한 자라 저가 멸망으로 들어가리라
And the beast that was , and is not , even he is the eighth , and is of the seven , and goeth into perdition .
12. 네가 보던 열 뿔은 열 왕이니 아직 나라를 얻지 못하였으나 다만 짐승으로 더불어 임금처럼 권세를 일시 동안 받으리라
And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings , which have received no kingdom as yet ; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast .
13. 저희가 한 뜻을 가지고 자기의 능력과 권세를 짐승에게 주더라
These have one mind , and shall give their power and strength unto the beast .
14. 저희가 어린 양으로 더불어 싸우려니와 어린 양은 만주의 주시요 만왕의 왕이시므로 저희를 이기실 터이요 또 그와 함께 있는 자들 곧 부르심을 입고 빼내심을 얻고 진실한 자들은 이기리로다
These shall make war with the Lamb , and the Lamb shall overcome them : for he is Lord of lords , and King of kings : and they that are with him are called , and chosen , and faithful .
15. 또 천사가 내게 말하되 네가 본 바 음녀의 앉은 물은 백성과 무리와 열국과 방언들이니라
And he saith unto me , The waters which thou sawest , where the whore sitteth , are peoples , and multitudes , and nations , and tongues .
16. 네가 본 바 이 열 뿔과 짐승이 음녀를 미워하여 망하게 하고 벌거벗게 하고 그 살을 먹고 불로 아주 사르리라
And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast , these shall hate the whore , and shall make her desolate and naked , and shall eat her flesh , and burn her with fire .
17. 하나님이 자기 뜻대로 할 마음을 저희에게 주사 한 뜻을 이루게 하시고 저희 나라를 그 짐승에게 주게 하시되 하나님 말씀이 응하기까지 하심이니라
For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will , and to agree ,and give their kingdom unto the beast , until the words of God shall be fulfilled .
18. 또 내가 본 바 여자는 땅의 임금들을 다스리는 큰 성이라 하더라
And the woman which thou sawest is that great city , which reigneth over the kings of the earth .
■ 주석 보기
【계17:1 JFB】계17:1-18. The Harlot Babylon's Gaud: The Beast on Which She Rides, Having Seven Heads and Ten Horns, Shall Be the Instrument of Judgment on Her.
As 계16:12 stated generally the vial judgment about to be poured on the harlot, Babylon's power, as the seventeenth and eighteen chapters give the same in detail, so the nineteenth chapter gives in detail the judgment on the beast and the false prophet, summarily alluded to in 계16:13-15, in connection with the Lord's coming.
1. unto me—A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic omit.
many—So A. But B, "the many waters" (렘51:13); 계17:15, below, explains the sense. The whore is the apostate Church, just as "the woman" (계12:1-6) is the Church while faithful. Satan having failed by violence, tries too successfully to seduce her by the allurements of the world; unlike her Lord, she was overcome by this temptation; hence she is seen sitting on the scarlet-colored beast, no longer the wife, but the harlot; no longer Jerusalem, but spiritually Sodom (계11:8).
【계17:1 CWC】[THE SEVEN DOOMS]
The seven dooms are those of Babylon, the beast, the false prophet, the kings, the dragon, Gog, and the dead. This lesson will be limited to chapters 17 and 18, both of which speak of Babylon but in different ways, and to understand which, it is necessary to keep in mind that every city may be conceived of from two points of view, material and moral. The streets and parks, the buildings, the docks and market places, these are Chicago; but her politics and government, her commerce and industry, her educational and religious systems, these things which have made her what she is, constitute Chicagoism. The one is the city materially, and the other the city morally considered. This distinction is seen in Babylon and Babylonianism; chapter 15:3 revealing the doom of the city material, and chapter 17 that of the city moral.
1. Introduction (The Harlot and the Beast) 17.
The "Harlot" is Babylon from the moral side, i. e., Babylonianism, or in other words, the summing up in that figure of the prevailing worldly systems that enter into the final federation of the Gentile nations. The "waters" represent those nations, cf. verses 1 and 18. The "beast" we have already identified as the federated Roman Empire, though sometimes the personal head of that empire himself, verses 3 and 8. The "mystery" is interpreted in the sense that the nations contribute to the supremacy of the "harlot," i. e., to Babylonianism, and benefit by it, and yet do not recognize it. "Drunken" is explained by the circumstance that the latitudinarianism, the breadth, the laxness of Babylonianism tolerates all schools and theories of religion inimical to God and the Bible like Romanism, Mohammedanism, Hinduism, &c., which have shed the blood of the saints in all the centuries. The "seven mountains" are related to the woman as the "seven heads" are to the beast, i. e., the systems of authority or power, the politics, government, commerce, industry, education, religion, etc., making the one totality. The "seven kings" is explained by Newton by the remark that God has allowed "executive power" in the prophetic earth to be exhibited in seven different forms, although there will be yet an eighth form before the end comes. By the "prophetic earth" is meant the nations clustering around the Mediterranean which, with their allies and dependencies, constitute the Roman Empire of the Caesars, and will constitute the federation at the end under the "beast." The history of this "executive power" commenced with Nimrod and concludes with the "beast," both of whom stand connected with Babel or Babylon. The whole of these seven forms of "executive power" include, "the native Monarchy of Nimrod, the theocracy of Israel, the despotism of Nebuchadnezzar; the aristocracy of Persia, the military monarchy of Alexander, the empire of the Caesars, and the constitutional monarchies of modern Europe. The sixth, that of the Caesars, was existent when this revelation was given ("one is," verse 11), the seventh is now in vogue, and the eighth (verse ii) will be that of the "beast." The teaching of verses 16 and 17 seems to be that the kings reigning over the ten kingdoms that will form the federation at the end, will find "Babylonianism," i. e., the systems which control in their several kingdoms, to be a hard yoke upon them, especially so as these systems increase in influence with the increase of democracy which is always hateful to kings. It is to be rid of "Babylonianism" that they temporarily unite to "give their power and strength unto the "beast." As Newton says, "Gladly will they take refuge under the arm of one whom Satan strengthens for dominion, and join in destroying a system which has really made them its slaves." The system of Babylon will be destroyed (chapter 17), but the city itself with all its wealth of greatness will for a time continue, (chapter 18), the "beast" reigning over it until the hour of its dooms and his doom shall come together.
2. Progression (18), the Doom of the Material City.
But a pause should be made here to prove the application to a literal city of Babylon rebuilt on the plain of Shinar. This is necessary when so respected an authority as the Scofield Bible says, "The notion of a literal Babylon to be rebuilt on the site of ancient Babylon is in conflict with 사13:19-22." Those who have studied that chapter in this commentary will have seen reasons for the opposite view. The language of Isaiah chapters n and 14 seems to demand the rebuilding of Babylon for their fulfillment. But the reason the Scofield Bible holds this view, IS partly explained by its interpretation of the preceding chapter. "Two Babylons are to be distinguished in the Revelation," it says, "ecclesiastical Babylon which is apostate Christendom, headed up under the papacy; and political Babylon, which is the beast's confederated empire, the last form of Gentile world-dominion. Ecclesiastical Babylon is 'the greatest harlot' and is destroyed by political Babylon." This commentary agrees that two Babylons are to be distinguished, and that the Babylon of chapter 17 is "apostate Christendom." But it holds that "apostate Christendom" includes Protestantism as well as the papacy, and is in fact, the sum of the seven systems already indicated, one of which is ecclesiastical. It may be that ere the "beast" comes into power, Protestantism will become effaced and the papacy be the only ecclesiastical system to be reckoned with, but as to this we have no light. "The language of Revelation 18," the Scofield Bible goes on to say, "seems beyond question to identify 'Babylon' the 'city' with 'Babylon' the ecclesiastical centre, viz: Rome"; but we do not see it that way, and are inclined to agree with another, that there will be "a certain logical conclusion of the history of the times of the Gentiles. The civilization and culture of the world will again become atheistic and man centered, and having described a circle, its cradle (Babylon) will become its grave."
In the study of chapter 18 one is impressed with the large place commerce is to hold in the greatness of that city. The merchants and ship masters are her chief mourners (compare 슥5:5-11).
【계17:1 MHCC】Rome clearly appears to be meant in this chapter. Pagan Rome subdued and ruled with military power, not by art and flatteries. She left the nations in general to their ancient usages and worship. But it is well known that by crafty and politic management, with all kinds of deceit of unrighteousness, papal Rome has obtained and kept her rule over kings and nations. Here were allurements of worldly honour and riches, pomp and pride, suited to sensual and worldly minds. Prosperity, pomp, and splendour, feed the pride and lusts of the human heart, but are no security against the Divine vengeance. The golden cup represents the allurements, and delusions, by which this mystical Babylon has obtained and kept her influence, and seduced others to join her abominations. She is named, from her infamous practices, a mother of harlots; training them up to idolatry and all sorts of wickedness. She filled herself with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus. She intoxicated herself with it; and it was so pleasant to her, that she never was satisfied. We cannot but wonder at the oceans of Christian blood shed by men called Christians; yet when we consider these prophecies, these awful deeds testify to the truth of the gospel. And let all beware of a splendid, gainful, or fashionable religion. Let us avoid the mysteries of iniquity, and study diligently the great mystery of godliness, that we may learn humility and gratitude from the example of Christ. The more we seek to resemble him, the less we shall be liable to be deceived by antichrist.
【계17:2 JFB】2. drunk with—Greek, "owing to." It cannot be pagan Rome, but papal Rome, if a particular seat of error be meant, but I incline to think that the judgment (계18:2) and the spiritual fornication (계18:3), though finding their culmination in Rome, are not restricted to it, but comprise the whole apostate Church, Roman, Greek, and even Protestant, so far as it has been seduced from its "first love" (계2:4) to Christ, the heavenly Bridegroom, and given its affections to worldly pomps and idols. The woman (계12:1) is the congregation of God in its purity under the Old and New Testament, and appears again as the Bride of the Lamb, the transfigured Church prepared for the marriage feast. The woman, the invisible Church, is latent in the apostate Church, and is the Church militant; the Bride is the Church triumphant.
【계17:3 JFB】3. the wilderness—Contrast her in 계12:6, 14, having a place in the wilderness-world, but not a home; a sojourner here, looking for the city to come. Now, on the contrary, she is contented to have her portion in this moral wilderness.
upon a scarlet … beast—The same as in 계13:1, who there is described as here, "having seven heads and ten horns (therein betraying that he is representative of the dragon, 계12:3), and upon his heads names (so the oldest manuscripts read) of blasphemy"; compare also 계17:12-14, below, with 계19:19, 20, and 계17:13, 14, 16. Rome, resting on the world power and ruling it by the claim of supremacy, is the chief, though not the exclusive, representative of this symbol. As the dragon is fiery-red, so the beast is blood-red in color; implying its blood-guiltiness, and also deep-dyed sin. The scarlet is also the symbol of kingly authority.
full—all over; not merely "on his heads," as in 계13:1, for its opposition to God is now about to develop itself in all its intensity. Under the harlot's superintendence, the world power puts forth blasphemous pretensions worse than in pagan days. So the Pope is placed by the cardinals in God's temple on the altar to sit there, and the cardinals kiss the feet of the Pope. This ceremony is called in Romish writers "the adoration." [Historie de Clerge, Amsterd., 1716; and Lettenburgh'sNotitia Curiæ Romanæ, 1683, p. 125; Heidegger, Myst. Bab., 1, 511, 514, 537]; a papal coin [Numismata Pontificum, Paris, 1679, p. 5] has the blasphemous legend, "Quem creant, adorant." Kneeling and kissing are the worship meant by John's word nine times used in respect to the rival of God (Greek, "proskunein"). Abomination, too, is the scriptural term for an idol, or any creature worshipped with the homage due to the Creator. Still, there is some check on the God-opposed world power while ridden by the harlot; the consummated Antichrist will be when, having destroyed her, the beast shall be revealed as the concentration and incarnation of all the self-deifying God-opposed principles which have appeared in various forms and degrees heretofore. "The Church has gained outward recognition by leaning on the world power which in its turn uses the Church for its own objects; such is the picture here of Christendom ripe for judgment" [Auberlen]. The seven heads in the view of many are the seven successive forms of government of Rome: kings, consuls, dictators, decemvirs, military tribunes, emperors, the German emperors [Wordsworth], of whom Napoleon is the successor (계17:11). But see the view given, see on 계17:9, 10, which I prefer. The crowns formerly on the ten horns (계13:1) have now disappeared, perhaps an indication that the ten kingdoms into which the Germanic-Slavonic world [the old Roman empire, including the East as well as the West, the two legs of the image with five toes on each, that is, ten in all] is to be divided, will lose their monarchical form in the end [Auberlen]; but see 계17:12, which seems to imply crowned kings.
【계17:4 JFB】4. The color scarlet, it is remarkable, is that reserved for popes and cardinals. Paul II made it penal for anyone but cardinals to wear hats of scarlet; compare Roman Ceremonial [3.5.5]. This book was compiled several centuries ago by Marcellus, a Romish archbishop, and dedicated to Leo X. In it are enumerated five different articles of dress of scarlet color. A vest is mentioned studded with pearls. The Pope's miter is of gold and precious stones. These are the very characteristics outwardly which Revelation thrice assigns to the harlot or Babylon. So Joachim an abbot from Calabria, about A.D. 1200, when asked by Richard of England, who had summoned him to Palestine, concerning Antichrist, replied that "he was born long ago at Rome, and is now exalting himself above all that is called God." Roger Hoveden [Annals, 1.2], and elsewhere, wrote, "The harlot arrayed in gold is the Church of Rome." Whenever and wherever (not in Rome alone) the Church, instead of being "clothed (as at first, 계12:1) with the sun" of heaven, is arrayed in earthly meretricious gauds, compromising the truth of God through fear, or flattery, of the world's power, science, or wealth, she becomes the harlot seated on the beast, and doomed in righteous retribution to be judged by the beast (계17:16). Soon, like Rome, and like the Jews of Christ's and the apostles' time leagued with the heathen Rome, she will then become the persecutor of the saints (계17:6). Instead of drinking her Lord's "cup" of suffering, she has "a cup full of abominations and filthinesses." Rome, in her medals, represents herself holding a cup with the self-condemning inscription, "Sedet super universum." Meanwhile the world power gives up its hostility and accepts Christianity externally; the beast gives up its God-opposed character, the woman gives up her divine one. They meet halfway by mutual concessions; Christianity becomes worldly, the world becomes Christianized. The gainer is the world; the loser is the Church. The beast for a time receives a deadly wound (계13:3), but is not really transfigured; he will return worse than ever (계17:11-14). The Lord alone by His coming can make the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. The "purple" is the badge of empire; even as in mockery it was put on our Lord.
decked—literally, "gilded."
stones—Greek, "stone."
filthiness—A, B, and Andreas read, "the filthy (impure) things."
【계17:5 JFB】5. upon … forehead … name—as harlots usually had. What a contrast to "Holiness to the Lord," inscribed on the miter on the high priest's forehead!
mystery—implying a spiritual fact heretofore hidden, and incapable of discovery by mere reason, but now revealed. As the union of Christ and the Church is a "great mystery" (a spiritual truth of momentous interest, once hidden, now revealed, 엡5:31, 32), so the Church conforming to the world and thereby becoming a harlot is a counter "mystery" (or spiritual truth, symbolically now revealed). As iniquity in the harlot is a leaven working in "mystery," and therefore called "the mystery of iniquity," so when she is destroyed, the iniquity heretofore working (comparatively) latently in her, shall be revealed in the man of iniquity, the open embodiment of all previous evil. Contrast the "mystery of God" and "godliness," 계10:7; 딤전3:16. It was Rome that crucified Christ; that destroyed Jerusalem and scattered the Jews; that persecuted the early Christians in pagan times, and Protestant Christians in papal times; and probably shall be again restored to its pristine grandeur, such as it had under the Cæsars, just before the burning of the harlot and of itself with her. So Hippolytus [On Antichrist] (who lived in the second century), thought. Popery cannot be at one and the same time the "mystery of iniquity," and the manifested or revealed Antichrist. Probably it will compromise for political power (계17:3) the portion of Christianity still in its creed, and thus shall prepare the way for Antichrist's manifestation. The name Babylon, which in the image, 단2:32, 38, is given to the head, is here given to the harlot, which marks her as being connected with the fourth kingdom, Rome, the last part of the image. Benedict XIII, in his indiction for a jubilee, A.D. 1725, called Rome "the mother of all believers, and the mistress of all churches" (harlots like herself). The correspondence of syllables and accents in Greek is striking; "He porne kai to therion; He numphe kai to arnion." "The whore and the beast; the Bride and the Lamb."
of harlots—Greek, "of the harlots and of the abominations." Not merely Rome, but Christendom as a whole, even as formerly Israel as a whole, has become a harlot. The invisible Church of true believers is hidden and dispersed in the visible Church. The boundary lines which separate harlot and woman are not denominational nor drawn externally, but can only be spiritually discerned. If Rome were the only seat of Babylon, much of the spiritual profit of Revelation would be lost to us; but the harlot "sitteth upon many waters" (계17:1), and "ALL nations have drunk of the wine of her fornication" (계17:2; 계18:3; "the earth," 계19:2). External extensiveness over the whole world and internal conformity to the world—worldliness in extent and contents—is symbolized by the name of the world city, "Babylon." As the sun shines on all the earth, thus the woman clothed with the sun is to let her light penetrate to the uttermost parts of the earth. But she, in externally Christianizing the world, permits herself to be seduced by the world; thus her universality or catholicity is not that of the Jerusalem which we look for ("the MOTHER of us all," 계21:2; 사2:2-4; 갈4:26), but that of Babylon, the world-wide but harlot city! (As Babylon was destroyed, and the Jews restored to Jerusalem by Cyrus, so our Cyrus—a Persian name meaning the sun—the Sun of righteousness, shall bring Israel, literal and spiritual, to the holy Jerusalem at His coming. Babylon and Jerusalem are the two opposite poles of the spiritual world). Still, the Romish Church is not only accidentally and as a matter of fact, but in virtue of its very PRINCIPLE, a harlot, the metropolis of whoredom, "the mother of harlots"; whereas the evangelical Protestant Church is, according to her principle and fundamental creed, a chaste woman; the Reformation was a protest of the woman against the harlot. The spirit of the heathen world kingdom Rome had, before the Reformation, changed the Church in the West into a Church-State, Rome; and in the East, into a State-Church, fettered by the world power, having its center in Byzantium; the Roman and Greek churches have thus fallen from the invisible spiritual essence of the Gospel into the elements of the world [Auberlen]. Compare with the "woman" called "Babylon" here, the woman named "wickedness," or "lawlessness," "iniquity" (Z전5:7, 8, 11), carried to Babylon: compare "the mystery of iniquity" and "the man of sin," "that wicked one," literally, "the lawless one" (살후2:7, 8; also 마24:12).
【계17:6 JFB】6. martyrs—witnesses.
I wondered with great admiration—As the Greek is the same in the verb and the noun, translate the latter "wonder." John certainly did not admire her in the modern English sense. Elsewhere (계17:8; 13:3), all the earthly-minded ("they that dwell on the earth") wonder in admiration of the beast. Here only is John's wonder called forth; not the beast, but the woman sunken into the harlot, the Church become a world-loving apostate, moves his sorrowful astonishment at so awful a change. That the world should be beastly is natural, but that the faithful bride should become the whore is monstrous, and excites the same amazement in him as the same awful change in Israel excited in Isaiah and Jeremiah. "Horrible thing" in them answers to "abominations" here. "Corruptio optimi pessima"; when the Church falls, she sinks lower than the godless world, in proportion as her right place is higher than the world. It is striking that in 계17:3, "woman" has not the article, "the woman," as if she had been before mentioned: for though identical in one sense with the woman,계12:1-6, in another sense she is not. The elect are never perverted into apostates, and still remain as the true woman invisibly contained in the harlot; yet Christendom regarded as the woman has apostatized from its first faith.
【계17:7 MHCC】The beast on which the woman sat was, and is not, and yet is. It was a seat of idolatry and persecution, and is not; not in the ancient form, which was pagan: yet it is; it is truly the seat of idolatry and tyranny, though of another sort and form. It would deceive into stupid and blind submission all the inhabitants of the earth within its influence, except the remnant of the elect. This beast was seven heads, seven mountains, the seven hills on which Rome stands; and seven kings, seven sorts of government. Five were gone by when this prophecy was written; one was then in being; the other was yet to come. This beast, directed by the papacy, makes an eighth governor, and sets up idolatry again. It had ten horns, which are said to be ten kings who had as yet no kingdoms; they should not rise up till the Roman empire was broken; but should for a time be very zealous in her interest. Christ must reign till all enemies be put under his feet. The reason of the victory is, that he is the King of kings, and Lord of lords. He has supreme dominion and power over all things; all the powers of earth and hell are subject to his control. His followers are called to this warfare, are fitted for it, and will be faithful in it.
【계17:8 JFB】8. beast … was, and is not—(Compare 계17:11). The time when the beast "is not" is the time during which it has "the deadly wound"; the time of the seventh head becoming Christian externally, when its beast-like character was put into suspension temporarily. The healing of its wound answers to its ascending out of the bottomless pit. The beast, or Antichristian world power, returns worse than ever, with satanic powers from hell (계11:7), not merely from the sea of convulsed nations (계13:1). Christian civilization gives the beast only a temporary wound, whence the deadly wound is always mentioned in connection with its being healed up the non-existence of the beast in connection with its reappearance; and Daniel does not even notice any change in the world power effected by Christianity. We are endangered on one side by the spurious Christianity of the harlot, on the other by the open Antichristianity of the beast; the third class is Christ's little flock."
go—So B, Vulgate, and Andreas read the future tense. But A and Irenæus, "goeth."
into perdition—The continuance of this revived seventh (that is, the eighth) head is short: it is therefore called "the son of perdition," who is essentially doomed to it almost immediately after his appearance.
names were—so Vulgate and Andreas. But A, B, Syriac, and Coptic read the singular, "name is."
written in—Greek, "upon."
which—rather, "when they behold the beast that it was," &c. So Vulgate.
was, and is not, and yet is—A, B, and Andreas read, "and shall come" (literally, "be present," namely, again: Greek, "kai parestai"). The Hebrew, "tetragrammaton," or sacred four letters in Jehovah, "who is, who was, and who is to come," the believer's object of worship, has its contrasted counterpart in the beast "who was, and is not, and shall be present," the object of the earth's worship [Bengel]. They exult with wonder in seeing that the beast which had seemed to have received its death blow from Christianity, is on the eve of reviving with greater power than ever on the ruins of that religion which tormented them (계11:10).
【계17:9 JFB】9. Compare 계13:18; 단12:10, where similarly spiritual discernment is put forward as needed in order to understand the symbolical prophecy.
seven heads and seven mountains—The connection between mountains and kings must be deeper than the mere outward fact to which incidental allusion is made, that Rome (the then world city) is on seven hills (whence heathen Rome had a national festival called Septimontium, the feast of the seven-hilled city [Plutarch]; and on the imperial coins, just as here, she is represented as a woman seated on seven hills. Coin of Vespasian, described by Captain Smyth [Roman Coins, p. 310; Ackerman, 1, p. 87]). The seven heads can hardly be at once seven kings or kingdoms (계17:10), and seven geographical mountains. The true connection is, as the head is the prominent part of the body, so the mountain is prominent in the land. Like "sea" and "earth"and "waters … peoples" (계17:15), so "mountains" have a symbolical meaning, namely, prominent seats of power. Especially such as are prominent hindrances to the cause of God (시68:16, 17; 사40:4; 41:15; 49:11; 겔35:2); especially Babylon (which geographically was in a plain, but spiritually is called a destroying mountain,렘51:25), in majestic contrast to which stands Mount Zion, "the mountain of the Lord's house" (사2:2), and the heavenly mount; 계21:10, "a great and high mountain … and that great city, the holy Jerusalem." So in 단2:35, the stone becomes a mountain—Messiah's universal kingdom supplanting the previous world kingdoms. As nature shadows forth the great realities of the spiritual world, so seven-hilled Rome is a representative of the seven-headed world power of which the dragon has been, and is the prince. The "seven kings" are hereby distinguished from the "ten kings" (계17:12): the former are what the latter are not, "mountains," great seats of the world power. The seven universal God-opposed monarchies are Egypt (the first world power which came into collision with God's people,) Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Medo-Persia, Rome, the Germanic-Slavonic empire (the clay of the fourth kingdom mixed with its iron in Nebuchadnezzar's image, a fifth material, 단2:33, 34, 42, 43, symbolizing this last head). These seven might seem not to accord with the seven heads in 단7:4-7, one head on the first beast (Babylon), one on the second (Medo-Persia), four on the third (Greece; namely, Egypt, Syria, Thrace with Bithynia, and Greece with Macedon): but Egypt and Greece are in both lists. Syria answers to Assyria (from which the name Syria is abbreviated), and Thrace with Bithynia answers to the Gothic-Germanic-Slavonic hordes which, pouring down on Rome from the North, founded the Germanic-Slavonic empire. The woman sitting on the seven hills implies the Old and New Testament Church conforming to, and resting on, the world power, that is, on all the seven world kingdoms. Abraham and Isaac dissembling as to their wives through fear of the kings of Egypt foreshadowed this. Compare 겔16:1-63; 23:1-49, on Israel's whoredoms with Egypt, Assyria, Babylon; and 마7:24; 24:10-12, 23-26, on the characteristics of the New Testament Church's harlotry, namely, distrust, suspicion, hatred, treachery, divisions into parties, false doctrine.
【계17:10 JFB】10. there are—Translate, "they (the seven heads) are seven kings."
five … one—Greek, "the five … the one"; the first five of the seven are fallen (a word applicable not to forms of government passing away, but to the fall of once powerful empires: Egypt, 겔29:1-30:26; Assyria and Nineveh, 나3:1-19; Babylon, 계18:2; 렘50:1-51:64; Medo-Persia, 단8:3-7, 20-22; 10:13; 11:2; Greece, 단11:4). Rome was "the one" existing in John's days. "Kings" is the Scripture phrase for kingdoms, because these kingdoms are generally represented in character by some one prominent head, as Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, Medo-Persia by Cyrus, Greece by Alexander, &c.
the other is not yet come—not as Alford, inaccurately representing Auberlen, the Christian empire beginning with Constantine; but, the Germanic-Slavonic empire beginning and continuing in its beast-like, that is, HEATHEN Antichristian character for only "a short space." The time when it is said of it, "it is not" (계17:11), is the time during which it is "wounded to death," and has the "deadly wound" (계13:3). The external Christianization of the migrating hordes from the North which descended on Rome, is the wound to the beast answering to the earth swallowing up the flood (heathen tribes) sent by the dragon, Satan, to drown the woman, the Church. The emphasis palpably is on "a short space," which therefore comes first in the Greek, not on "he must continue," as if his continuance for some [considerable] time were implied, as Alford wrongly thinks. The time of external Christianization (while the beast's wound continues) has lasted for centuries, ever since Constantine. Rome and the Greek Church have partially healed the wound by image worship.
【계17:11 JFB】11. beast that … is not—his beastly character being kept down by outward Christianization of the state until he starts up to life again as "the eighth" king, his "wound being healed" (계13:3), Antichrist manifested in fullest and most intense opposition to God. The "he" is emphatic in the Greek. He, peculiarly and pre-eminently: answering to "the little horn" with eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things, before whom three of the ten horns were plucked up by the roots, and to whom the whole ten "give their power and strength" (계17:12, 13, 17). That a personal Antichrist will stand at the head of the Antichristian kingdom, is likely from the analogy of Antiochus Epiphanes, the Old Testament Antichrist, "the little horn" in 단8:9-12; also, "the man of sin, son of perdition" (살후2:3-8), answers here to "goeth into perdition," and is applied to an individual, namely, Judas, in the only other passage where the phrase occurs (요17:12). He is essentially a child of destruction, and hence he has but a little time ascended out of the bottomless pit, when he "goes into perdition" (계17:8, 11). "While the Church passes through death of the flesh to glory of the Spirit, the beast passes through the glory of the flesh to death" [Auberlen].
is of the seven—rather "springs out of the seven." The eighth is not merely one of the seven restored, but a new power or person proceeding out of the seven, and at the same time embodying all the God-opposed features of the previous seven concentrated and consummated; for which reason there are said to be not eight, but only seven heads, for the eighth is the embodiment of all the seven. In the birth-pangs which prepare the "regeneration" there are wars, earthquakes, and disturbances [Auberlen], wherein Antichrist takes his rise ("sea," 계13:1; 막13:8; Lu 21:9-11). He does not fall like the other seven (계17:10), but is destroyed, going to his own perdition, by the Lord in person.
【계17:12 JFB】12. ten kings … received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings … with the beast—Hence and from 계17:14, 16, it seems that these ten kings or kingdoms, are to be contemporaries with the beast in its last or eighth form, namely, Antichrist. Compare 단2:34, 44, "the stone smote the image upon his feet," that is, upon the ten toes, which are, in 단2:41-44, interpreted to be "kings." The ten kingdoms are not, therefore, ten which arose in the overthrow of Rome (heathen), but are to rise out of the last state of the fourth kingdom under the eighth head. I agree with Alford that the phrase "as kings," implies that they reserve their kingly rights in their alliance with the beast, wherein "they give their power and strength unto" him (계17:13). They have the name of kings, but not with undivided kingly power [Wordsworth]. See Auberlen's not so probable view, see on 계17:3.
one hour—a definite time of short duration, during which "the devil is come down to the inhabitant of the earth and of the sea, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." Probably the three and a half years (계11:2, 3; 13:5). Antichrist is in existence long before the fall of Babylon; but it is only at its fail he obtains the vassalage of the ten kings. He in the first instance imposes on the Jews as the Messiah, coming in his own name; then persecutes those of them who refuse his blasphemous pretensions. Not until the sixth vial, in the latter part of his reign, does he associate the ten kings with him in war with the Lamb, having gained them over by the aid of the spirits of devils working miracles. His connection with Israel appears from his sitting "in the temple of God" (살후2:4), and as the antitypical "abomination of desolation standing in the Holy place" (단9:27; 12:11; 마24:15), and "in the city where our Lord was crucified" (계11:8). It is remarkable that Irenæus [Against Heresies, 5:25] and Cyril of Jerusalem [Rufinus, Historia Monachorum, 10.37] prophesied that Antichrist would have his seat at Jerusalem and would restore the kingdom of the Jews. Julian the apostate, long after, took part with the Jews, and aided in building their temple, herein being Antichrist's forerunner.
【계17:13 JFB】13. one mind—one sentiment.
shall give—So Coptic. But A, B, and Syriac, "give."
strength—Greek, "authority." They become his dependent allies (계17:14). Thus Antichrist sets up to be King of kings, but scarcely has he put forth his claim when the true King of kings appears and dashes him down in a moment to destruction.
【계17:14 JFB】14. These shall … war with the Lamb—in league with the beast. This is a summary anticipation of 계19:19. This shall not be till after they have first executed judgment on the harlot (계17:15, 16).
Lord of lords, &c.—anticipating 계19:16.
are—not in the Greek. Therefore translate, "And they that are with Him, called chosen, and faithful (shall overcome them, namely, the beast and his allied kings)." These have been with Christ in heaven unseen, but now appear with Him.
【계17:15 JFB】15. (계17:1; 사8:7.) An impious parody of Jehovah who "sitteth upon the flood" [Alford]. Also, contrast the "many waters" 계19:6, "Alleluia."
peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues—The "peoples," &c., here mark the universality of the spiritual fornication of the Church. The "tongues" remind us of the original Babel, the confusion of tongues, the beginning of Babylon, and the first commencement of idolatrous apostasy after the flood, as the tower was doubtless dedicated to the deified heavens. Thus, Babylon is the appropriate name of the harlot. The Pope, as the chief representative of the harlot, claims a double supremacy over all peoples, typified by the "two swords" according to the interpretation of Boniface VIII in the Bull, "Unam Sanctam," and represented by the two keys: spiritual as the universal bishop, whence he is crowned with the miter; and temporal, whence he is also crowned with the tiara in token of his imperial supremacy. Contrast with the Pope's diadems the "many diadems" of Him who alone has claim to, and shall exercise when He shall come, the twofold dominion (계19:12).
【계17:15 MHCC】God so ruled the hearts of these kings, by his power over them, and by his providence, that they did those things, without intending it, which he purposed and foretold. They shall see their folly, and how they have been bewitched and enslaved by the harlot, and be made instruments in her destruction. She was that great city which reigned over the kings of the earth, when John had this vision; and every one knows Rome to be that city. Believers will be received to the glory of the Lord, when wicked men will be destroyed in a most awful manner; their joining together in sin, will be turned to hatred and rage, and they will eagerly assist in tormenting each other. But the Lord's portion is his people; his counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure, to his glory, and the happiness of all his servants.
【계17:16 JFB】16. upon the beast—But A, B, Vulgate, and Syriac read, "and the beast."
shall make her desolate—having first dismounted her from her seat on the beast (계17:3).
naked—stripped of all her gaud (계17:4). As Jerusalem used the world power to crucify her Saviour, and then was destroyed by that very power, Rome; so the Church, having apostatized to the world, shall have judgment executed on her first by the world power, the beast and his allies; and these afterwards shall have judgment executed on them by Christ Himself in person. So Israel leaning on Egypt, a broken reed, is pierced by it; and then Egypt itself is punished. So Israel's whoredom with Assyria and Babylon was punished by the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. So the Church when it goes a-whoring after the word as if it were the reality, instead of witnessing against its apostasy from God, is false to its profession. Being no longer a reality itself, but a sham, the Church is rightly judged by that world which for a time had used the Church to further its own ends, while all the while "hating" Christ's unworldly religion, but which now no longer wants the Church's aid.
eat her flesh—Greek plural, "masses of flesh," that is, "carnal possessions"; implying the fulness of carnality into which the Church is sunk. The judgment on the harlot is again and again described (계18:1; 19:5); first by an "angel having great power" (계18:1), then by "another voice from heaven" (계18:4-20), then by "a mighty angel" (계18:21-24). Compare 겔16:37-44, originally said of Israel, but further applicable to the New Testament Church when fallen into spiritual fornication. On the phrase, "eat … flesh" for prey upon one's property, and injure the character and person, compare 시14:4; 27:2; 렘10:25; 미3:3. The First Napoleon's Edict published at Rome in 1809, confiscating the papal dominions and joining them to France, and later the severance of large portions of the Pope's territory from his sway and the union of them to the dominions of the king of Italy, virtually through Louis Napoleon, are a first instalment of the full realization of this prophecy of the whore's destruction. "Her flesh" seems to point to her temporal dignities and resources, as distinguished from "herself" (Greek). How striking a retribution, that having obtained her first temporal dominions, the exarchate of Ravenna, the kingdom of the Lombards, and the state of Rome, by recognizing the usurper Pepin as lawful king of France, she should be stripped of her dominions by another usurper of France, the Napoleonic dynasty!
burn … with fire—the legal punishment of an abominable fornication.
【계17:17 JFB】17. hath put—the prophetical past tense for the future.
fulfil—Greek, "do," or "accomplish." The Greek, "poiesai," is distinct from that which is translated, "fulfilled," Greek, "telesthesontai," below.
his will—Greek, "his mind," or purpose; while they think only of doing their own purpose.
to agree—literally, "to do" (or accomplish) one mind" or "purpose." A and Vulgate omit this clause, but B supports it.
the words of God—foretelling the rise and downfall of the beast; Greek, "hoi logoi," in A, B, and Andreas. English Version reading is Greek, "ta rhemata," which is not well supported. No mere articulate utterances, but the efficient words of Him who is the Word: Greek, "logos."
fulfilled—(계10:7).
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