Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 17

“One of the seven angels” connects this vision with the preceding bowl judgments, showing that it is a further expansion or appendix of the final bowl action. John sees a great prostitute (GK 4520) established on many waters. This verse forms a superscription for the chapter. The relationship between prostitution (GK 4518) and idolatry has already been discussed (see comments on 2:14, 20). The prevalence of cult prostitution throughout the ancient world makes this figure appropriate for idolatrous worship (cf. comments on “abominable things” in 17:4 and “magic spell” in 18:23). In the OT, the same figure of a harlot city is used of Nineveh (Nahum 3:4), of Tyre (Isaiah 23:16–17), and of idolatrous Jerusalem (Ezekiel 16:15ff.). The best background for understanding the language of the chapter is not the history of the Roman Empire or the pagan gods but the descriptions of Jerusalem as the harlot in Eze 16 and 23 and Babylon as the harlot in Jer 51. Amazingly, the harlot-city societies mentioned in Scripture have certain common characteristics that are also reflected in John’s description of the great Babylon. Royal dignity and splendor combined with prosperity, overabundance, and luxury (Jeremiah 51:13; Ezekiel 16:13, 49; Nahum 2:9; cf. Revelation 18:3, 7,16–17); self-trust or boastfulness (Isaiah 14:12–14; Jeremiah 50:31; Ezekiel 16:15, 50, 56; Jeremiah 27:3; Jeremiah 28:5; cf. Revelation 18:7); power and violence, especially against God’s people (Jeremiah 51:35, 49; Ezekiel 23:37; Nahum 3:1–3; cf. Revelation 18:10, 24); oppression and injustice (Isaiah 14:4; Ezekiel 16:49; Ezekiel 28:18; cf. Revelation 18:5, 20); and idolatry (Jeremiah 51:47; Ezekiel 16:17, 36; 23:7, 30, 49; Nahum 1:14; cf. Revelation 17:4–5; Nahum 18:3; Nahum 19:2) are all here. Wherever and whenever these characteristics have been manifested historically, there is the appearance of Babylon. The great prostitute “sits on many waters.” This goes back to Jeremiah’s oracle against historical Babylon, situated along the waterways of the Euphrates, with many canals around the city, greatly multiplying its wealth by trade (Jeremiah 51:13). This description has a deeper significance, as is explained in v.15 with “peoples, multitudes, nations and languages”—figurative for the vast influence of the prostitute on the peoples of the world.

Earth’s kings and inhabitants “committed adultery” with the prostitute. This language goes back to references to the harlot cities of the past (e.g., Jeremiah 51:7) and means that the peoples of the world have become drunk with abundance, power, pride, violence, and especially false worship. “Kings of the earth” may describe simply the rulers in contrast to the rest of the people.

John is carried in the Spirit (cf. 4:2; 21:10) into a “desert,” where he again sees ancient Babylon (Isaiah 14:23; Isaiah 21:1; cf. Revelation 18:2) as a prostitute seated on “a scarlet beast”—scarlet, presumably, because the color symbolizes the beast’s blasphemy in contrast to the white-horse rider and those dressed in white, who are faithful and true (19:8, 11, 14). Since this beast is a seven-headed monster, there is no cogent reason against identifying it with the first beast in ch. 13, which is also inseparable from the seven-headed dragon of ch. 12.

Dressed in queenly attire (Ezekiel 16:13; cf. Revelation 18:7), the woman rides the beast, swinging in her hand a golden cup full of her idolatrous abominations and wickedness. Note the contrast—beauty and gross wickedness. Her costly and attractive attire suggests the prostitute’s outward beauty and attraction (Jeremiah 4:30). The golden cup filled with wine alludes to Jeremiah’s description of Babylon’s worldwide influence in idolatry (Jeremiah 51:7). Her cup is filled with “abominable things” (GK 1007)—things most frequently associated with idolatry, which was abhorrent to Jews and Christians alike (21:27). Jesus used this word to refer to Daniel’s “abomination that causes desolation” standing in the temple (Mark 13:14 cf. Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11). “Filth” (lit., “uncleannesses”; GK 176) is associated in the NT with evil (unclean) spirits (e.g., Matthew 10:1; 12:43) and with idolatry (2 Corinthians 6:17), perhaps with cult prostitution (Ephesians 5:5).

The woman has a title written on her forehead, showing that in spite of all her royal glamour she is nothing but a prostitute. It was customary for Roman prostitutes to wear their names in the fillet that encircled their brows. The first word in the woman’s title is “ MYSTERY” (GK 3696; cf. 1:20; 10:7; 17:7). It seems best to see this word as a prefix to the actual name—i.e., “She has a name written on her forehead, which is a mystery, ‘Babylon. Elsewhere in Revelation John uses “mystery” as a word denoting a divine mystery or allegory that is now revealed (cf. also comment on 11:8). No doubt the specific mystery is that this prostitute is the mother of all earth’s idolatrous prostitutes. She is the reservoir or the womb that bears all individual cases of historical resistance to God’s will on earth; she is the unholy antithesis to the woman who weds the Lamb (19:7–8) and to the New Jerusalem (21:2–3). That is in part why she cannot be any particular historical city . While at its beginning Babel was associated with resisting and defying God (Genesis 11:1–11), it is probably the epoch of the Babylonian captivity of Israel that indelibly etched the proud, idolatrous, and repressive nature of Babylon on the memories of God’s people and thus provided the symbolic image that could be applied to the further manifestations of the mother prostitute.