Charles Ellicott Commentary Revelation 17:3

"And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness: and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns." — Revelation 17:3 (ASV)

So he carried. . . .—Better, And he carried me away into a wilderness in spirit: and I saw a woman sitting upon a wild beast of scarlet color, teeming with names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

We recognize the wild beast as that described in Revelation 13:1. Now the wild beast carries the woman, for she draws her support from the great world-power. The scene is the wilderness. The contrast between the desolation around her and the splendor of her appearance is striking and suggestive. The woman clothed with the sun (Revelation 12:1), persecuted by the dragon, finds a home in the wilderness into which she is driven.

She is persecuted, but not forsaken; she can joy in tribulation. The scarlet-clad woman, amid all her dazzling surroundings, is still in a wilderness. The fugitives continue in scarcity. Sansjoy is the brother of Sansloy.

The wild beast is scarlet in color. The dragon was red (Revelation 12:3); the woman is clothed in scarlet. Is it the emblem of lawlessness ending in violence? . It also has a show of sovereignty.

Full of names.—Teeming with names, etc.—The living creatures (Revelation 4:8) teemed (the same word as here) with eyes, the tokens of ready obedience and true intelligence. The wild beast teems with tokens of lawlessness and self-sufficiency.