John Gill Commentary Revelation 17

And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven
vials
It may be the first of them, since one of the four beasts designs the first of them, in (Revelation 6:1Revelation 6:3) though Brightman thinks the fifth angel is meant, because he poured out his vial on the seat of the beast, who is by this angel described; but rather this is the seventh and last angel, concerned in the utter destruction of antichrist: and therefore proposes to John to show him the judgment of the great whore:

and talked with me, saying to me, come hither :
he conversed with him in a friendly manner, see (Zechariah 1:9) and desires him to come nearer to him, and go along with him, adding,

I will show to you the judgment of the great whore ;
that noted and famous one, known before to John by the names of Jezabel and Babylon, who taught and caused many to commit fornication, (Revelation 2:20) (Revelation 14:8) and is no other than Rome Papal; for that a city or state is meant is clear from (Revelation 17:18) and it is usual for idolatrous or apostate cities to be called whores or harlots, see (Isaiah 1:21) (Ezekiel 23:2–4) (Nahum 3:4) and she is called a "great" one, because of the largeness of the Papal see; and because of the multitude of persons, the kings of the earth, and the inhabitants of it, with whom the Romish antichrist has committed spiritual fornication, or idolatry.

Her "judgment" signifies either her sin and wickedness; in which sense the word is used in (Romans 5:16) and which is exposed, (Revelation 17:5Revelation 17:6) namely, her idolatry and cruelty; or else her condemnation, and the execution of it, suggested in (Revelation 17:8Revelation 17:16) and more largely described in the following chapter:

that sitteth upon many waters ;
which in (Revelation 17:15) are interpreted of people, multitudes, nations, and tongues, subject to the jurisdiction of Rome; and so several antichristian states are in the preceding chapter signified by the sea, and by rivers and fountains of water: and this is said in reference to Babylon, an emblem of the Romish harlot, which was situated upon the river Euphrates, and is therefore said to dwell upon many waters, (Jeremiah 51:13)

Her sitting here may be in allusion to the posture of harlots plying of men; or may denote her ease, rest, and grandeur, sitting as a queen; and is chiefly expressive of her power and dominion over the kings and nations of the earth, (Revelation 17:18) .

With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication ,
&c.] These are the ten kings, who being of the same mind, and of one religion, the Popish religion, gave their power, strength, and kingdom to the beast, (Revelation 17:12Revelation 17:17) and have been enticed by the whore of Rome to commit spiritual fornication with her; that is, idolatry, to worship, as that church enjoins, idols of gold, silver, brass, and wood, the images of the virgin Mary, and other saints; hence this whore appears to be no mean strumpet, but one of great note, and in much vogue, being sought after and made use of by the great men of the earth;

and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine
of her fornication ;
that is, the inhabitants of the Roman empire, or earthly minded men, mere carnal persons, have been drawn into idolatrous practices by the allurements of the church of Rome; such as riches, honours, pleasures, lying miracles, and great pretensions to devotion and religion; whereby they have been intoxicated as men with wine, and have been filled with a blind zeal for that church, and the false doctrines and worship of it, and with madness and fury against the true professors of religion.

So he carried me away in the spirit
Not in body, as if he was removed from the isle of Patmos to some other place; but in a visionary way, just as Ezekiel was carried between earth and heaven, in the visions of God, to Jerusalem, (Ezekiel 8:3). It was represented to the mind of John, to his spirit, or soul, as if he had been taken up by the angel and carried through the air: into the wilderness; by which may be meant either the wilderness of the people, the world, the church hereafter described, being a worldly one, and consisting of worldly men; or Gentilism, the Gentile world is often in the prophecies of the Old Testament called a wilderness; the Romish church having much of Heathen worship, and Heathen customs and practices in it, hence its votaries are called Gentiles, (Revelation 11:2).

Or this circumstance may be mentioned, and the thing so represented to John, because that a wilderness is a solitary place, and fit for retirement and meditation; and where he might, without any interruption, take a full view of the following sight, and make proper observations upon it; and it is worth notice, that this is the place where the true church and became out of sight, in the room of which this apostate church appears: or, as others have thought, John is had into the wilderness, where the true church was hid and nourished, and the false one is there shown him, that seeing both together, he might compare them, and observe the difference between them; to all which may be added, that a wilderness is a fit place for such a beast as hereafter described to be seen in: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast; the beast is the same with that in (Revelation 13:1) as the description shows, and is no other than the Roman empire as Papal; the "scarlet" colour is expressive of its imperial dignity, its power and authority, it received from the dragon; and also of this beast's cruelty and tyranny, and of its shedding the blood of the saints.

The woman sitting upon it is the great city of Rome, as is manifest from (Revelation 17:18) or the Romish antichrist, the apostate church of Rome, represented by a woman, as the true church is, (Revelation 12:1) but in a very different form, and is the same with the second beast in (Revelation 13:11) and the false prophet; and as the two beasts respect the same, under different considerations, namely, the Papacy, in its civil and ecclesiastic capacity, so this strange phenomenon, a woman sitting on such a beast, means one and the same thing as the horse and his rider in the seals, though in different views; the woman designs the Romish church, with the pope at the head of it, and the beast the Roman Papal empire as civil, by which the former is supported and upheld, bore up on high, and exalted in the manner it has been: moreover, as purple and scarlet are the colours of garments wore by the pope, and cardinals, hence the woman in the next verse is said to be "arrayed in purple and scarlet colour", so even the very beasts on which they rode were covered with scarlet. Platina ^F8 says that Pope Paul the Second ordered by a public decree, on pain or punishment, that no man should wear a scarlet cap but cardinals; to whom also, in the first year of his popedom, he gave cloth of the same colour, to put upon their horses and mules when they rode; and besides, would have put into the decree, that the cardinals' hats should be of scarlet silk:'' upon which Du Maulin ^F9 makes this remark; ``Pope Paul the Second was the first that gave scarlet to the cardinals, as well for themselves as for their mules, to the end that this prophecy, which agreeth in general with the see of Rome, might likewise appertain particularly to everyone of the pillars of the said see, which is to be set upon a "scarlet coloured beast".''

It follows, full of names of blasphemy: that is, the beast, or Roman Papal empire, was full of them; in (Revelation 13:1Revelation 13:5) a name of blasphemy is said to be upon his head, and he to have a mouth speaking blasphemy; but here his whole body is represented as full of them, and may refer to the blasphemous doctrines of worshipping of images, of pardons and indulgences, of transubstantiation and to the multitude of images, of the virgin Mary, and other saints, in the antichristian state, in every part of it; and to those blaspheming persons, the cardinals, priests, and Jesuits, which abound in it; as well as to those blasphemous names and titles which are given to the pope, the head of it, or assumed by him; such as God on earth, the vicar of Christ, the head, and husband, and foundation of the church, with many others.

having seven heads, and ten horns: the seven heads are the seven mountains, on which the city of Rome, the metropolis of the empire, is seated; and the seven kings, or seven forms of government, under which it has been, as appears from (Revelation 17:9Revelation 17:10) (See Gill on Revelation 12:3), (See Gill on Revelation 13:1) and the "ten horns" signify the ten kings over the ten kingdoms, into which the empire was divided, when overrun by the Goths and Vandals; and which ten kings gave their kingdoms to the beast, the Romish antichrist; they gave their strength and power to him, being of his religion, and have been his horns, his defenders and supporters, ever since, as may be gathered from (Revelation 17:12Revelation 17:13Revelation 17:17).

FOOTNOTES:

• F8: De Vitis Pontiticum, p. 312.
• F9: Defence of the Catholic Faith c. 3. p. 38.

And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour
Which may be expressive of her grandeur, authority, and power, sitting as a queen, and sovereign in the empire, ruling over kingdoms and nations in it; and also of her bloody disposition to the saints, with whose blood she is afterwards said to be drunk;

and decked with gold and precious stones, and pearls ;
which may denote her hypocrisy, she being gilded with these things, as the word signifies, when she was inwardly rotten, corrupt, and filthy; and may point out the things by which persons have been enticed into the communion of the church of Rome, and to comply with her idolatrous worship and practices; and may also respect the prodigious riches, which have, by various methods, been brought into the pope's coffers; these, with other things, are reckoned among the merchandise of Babylon, (Revelation 18:12) and particularly this may have reference to the adorning of their temples, or churches, and the decking of their images, with those things; which gaudy pompous shows strike the minds of carnal men, amuse them, and engage their attention. So Philo ^F11 the Jew describes an whore as arrayed in purple, and adorned with gold and precious stones; see (Proverbs 7:10) .

Having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness
of her fornication ;
in allusion to Babylon, (Jeremiah 51:7) and also to harlots, who give philters or love potions to men, to excite lust, and draw their affections to them; and this being a golden cup may design the external lustre and splendour of the worship of the church of Rome, by which many have been drawn into a compliance with it, which is attended with many abominable, filthy, and idolatrous practices. Perhaps some regard may also be had to the golden chalice, in which, it is pretended, is the very blood of Christ, which the priests take as such, and worship and adore, and is no other than an abominable and filthy piece of idolatry. And such are the persons that partake of it; like the Pharisees of old, they make clean the outside of the cup and platter; glister, and make a great show of devotion, but within are full of extortion and excess.

FOOTNOTES:

• F11: De Mercede Meretricis non recip. p. 861.

And upon her forehead was a name written
As the high priest had on his mitre upon his forehead written, holiness to the Lord, (Exodus 28:36) only a different inscription from that; the allusion is thought to be to harlots, who not only used to put their names over their doors, but some of them upon their foreheads, that all might know who they were; of which Mr. Daubuz has given proofs out of Seneca, Martial, Juvenal, and Petronius; and such might be said to have an whore's forehead indeed: and this is expressive of the openness and impudence of the church of Rome, in her idolatrous worship; she openly declares it, and pleads for it, and invites and ensnares persons to join with her in it: the name follows,

mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations
of the earth ;
her name is "mystery"; not the mystery of godliness, that she dislikes and opposes, but the mystery of iniquity; which is the name antichrist went by in the Apostle Paul's time, when he was but in embryo, (2 Thessalonians 2:7) . Some reference may be had to the mystery of the Mass, in which the Papists pretend are the very body and blood of Christ; to their seven sacraments, for wherever almost they find the word mystery, they make a sacrament of that to which it is applied; and to their unwritten traditions, and the sense of the Scriptures, which are locked up in the pope's breast: and it is very remarkable what has been observed by some, that the word "mystery" was formerly upon the frontlet of the pope's mitre, and was removed by Pope Julius the Third, when it was observed that the Protestants made use of this passage of Scripture, and applied it to the Romish antichrist. Joseph Scaliger ^F12 affirms, that he saw mitres at Rome with this inscription on them.

Though others think that this is not any part of the name, but only signifies that this woman was, in a mysterious or mystical sense, called Babylon just as the great city is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, (Revelation 11:8) but to me it seems to be a part of the name, as well as what follows, "Babylon the great"; that is, the great city, (Revelation 14:8) by which name the church of Rome may well be called, because of the signification of it, confusion, (Genesis 11:9) its doctrine and worship being a confused mixture of Paganism, Judaism, and Christianity; and because of the pride and haughtiness of it, its tyranny and cruelty, and its sorceries and idolatry; see (Isaiah 14:12–14) (Isaiah 47:6Isaiah 47:7Isaiah 47:12Isaiah 47:13) (Jeremiah 50:38) .

And the mother of harlots ,
of all antichristian states and kingdoms; and is different from the heavenly Jerusalem, the Gospel church, which is the mother of true believers, (Galatians 4:26) or the "mother of fornications": as some copies read, and the Vulgate Latin and eastern versions render it; that is, the author and encourager of them, as the church of Rome has been; of corporeal fornication, by commanding celibacy, and forbidding marriage to priests, and setting up of brothel houses; and of spiritual fornication or idolatry, everywhere required and encouraged by it: and of "the abominations of the earth"; of abominable doctrines and practices; all manner of wickedness that is to be found in the earth, as murder, adultery, sodomy, perjury these, with everything that is vile and wicked, are practised and connived at by her.

FOOTNOTES:

• F12: In Scaligeran.