Who or what is Babylon the great? Study Revelation 17 with context, apologetic analysis, and cross-references.
Dr. Lucas D. Shallua Commentary · REVELATION 17 — THE GREAT PROSTITUTE AND THE SCARLET BEAST
Interpreters differ. Some see Rome, others the apostate church, others the Antichrist's religious and commercial system, and others Jerusalem or a rebuilt literal Babylon. This commentary sees a system of idolatrous religion and worldly power of which Rome was the historical type and which will have a final embodiment in the tribulation. It does not identify the woman with any denomination, and it holds that the identification should be left to the fulfillment.
Many Protestant interpreters in history have said so, based on the seven hills and the history of persecution. Roman Catholics reject this view, and many Protestants today avoid it. This commentary does not endorse that identification and notes that apostate religion, whether inside or outside the church, can be part of the system that the book condemns, and that the book condemns a system, not individual believers.
It mocks the description of God, and describes the beast as an empire or person who existed, ceased to exist, and will come again from the abyss. It speaks of a revival of the beast's power, empowered by Satan. It also parallels the mortal wound that is healed.
The seven kings are variously identified as Roman emperors or as successive world empires. The ten kings are a future confederation. The text says that the ten kings have not yet received royal power. This commentary understands them as a future group, in line with Daniel.
Because the beast ultimately wants exclusive worship for himself, and he uses religion as long as it is useful. God uses the beast's hatred to bring judgment on the corrupt system. It shows that evil powers turn on one another.
Chapters 17 and 18 describe the judgment of Babylon the great from two angles. Chapter 17 presents her as a religious prostitute, a corrupt and seductive system that leads the nations into spiritual unfaithfulness and persecutes the saints, and chapter 18 presents her as a commercial and political center whose fall causes mourning among merchants and kings. The two chapters are linked and together show the whole of the world system in opposition to God. The vision is explained by an angel, which is unusual in the book and shows that its meaning is intended to be understood. The names and images draw heavily on the Old Testament, especially on the oracles against Babylon and Tyre (Isaiah 13–14; 23; 47; Jeremiah 50–51; Ezekiel 26–28) and the image of Israel as an unfaithful wife (Ezekiel 16; 23; Hosea 2).
The identification of Rome with seven hills is well attested in ancient literature. Virgil, Martial, Cicero, and Varro all refer to Rome as the city of seven hills, and the Festival of the Septimontium was celebrated there. Coins of Vespasian and later emperors show the goddess Roma seated on seven hills, which gives point to John's imagery of a woman seated on seven hills. The cult of Roma had temples in Asian cities such as Smyrna and Pergamum, and the emperor was seen as her representative. The charge that Rome was drunk with the blood of the saints was also confirmed by history: Nero's persecution after the fire in AD 64 resulted in the execution of Christians, including Peter and Paul according to early tradition, and Tacitus described the cruelty with which they were put to death. The title "Babylon" for Rome is attested in Jewish and Christian writings after AD 70, including 1 Peter 5:13, 4 Ezra, and the Sibylline Oracles, which shows that John's usage was understood by his readers. The prophecy of the ten horns and the beast resembles Daniel's prophecy of the fourth kingdom, which Christian interpreters from Irenaeus and Hippolytus onward have connected with Rome.
This study preserves the hard questions, explanations, context, apologetic note, and references from Dr. Shallua's Commentary.