Babylon and Her Fall
April 29, 2007
(Updated 24 April 2007)

Course Review.Thus far, we have covered five sections of Revelation (Slides 2 and 3; )

• The (then) present situation of the Churches in Asia Minor (The Letters to the Seven Churches; Class 1)
• The future of the Church based on the actions of the Roman Empire (the seven seals; Class 2 and Class 3)
• God's warnings to Rome and Domitian, the emperor (the seven trumpets; Class 4)
• The seven scenes leading up to the final judgment (Class 5)
• The seven bowls of God's wrath (Class 5)

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Last Class Review (Class 5). In the last class, we discussed John's imagery of God's wrath upon the world - especially Rome and her emperor Domitian.John painted seven scenes (Slide 4; ). The first, following ancient Greek and Egyptian mythologies, was of the woman, the child and the dragon. The woman was first a metaphor for the BVM who gave birth to Jesus, and then the woman was a metaphor for the church which was being attacked by the dragon. The first and second beasts were metaphors for the power of Rome and her navy and armies (Slide 5; ). The second beast is famous for its number, 666, which is coded language for Nero Caesar, transliterated into Hebrew. An images of the Lamb with the 144,000 was painted preceding an announcement by angels in heaven of the nearness of judgment day (Slide 6; ). The Son of Man was portrayed as a heavenly reaper taking in the harvest of the earth. 

God's wrath upon the earth was then released in the form of seven bowls of plagues visited upon the inhabitants of the earth. These were (Slides 7 and 8; ):

1.              Festering and painful sores

2.              Sea turns to black coagulated blood like that found in a corpse

3.              Fresh water turns to blood

4.              Sun scorches people

5.              The throne of the beast (i.e., Rome herself) is plagued by darkness

6.              The Euphrates was dried to prepare the way for the kings from the east

7.              It is done! The wrath of God is completed against Babylon (Rome) and the other nations that cooperate with her, and 100 pound hailstones fall upon the earth (like the 7^th plague on Egypt)

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Babylon (Rome) and her Fall (17:1-6a) (Slide 9; )

In this section of Revelation, John describes his vision provided by one of the angels who held the bowls. He borrows imagery from the Old Testament, and compares Babylon with Rome. To people familiar with geography, the text provides clues to the identity of the city - including the reference to the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Babylon was also a city famous for its hanging gardens. In her day, Babylon was the center of the world.

In John's day, Rome was seen as the center of the world, the magna mater (great mother) (Slide 10; ). Except John does not see Rome as a mother, he sees her as a harlot, and describes her in terms that contrast with the woman in Chapter 12 who gave birth to Jesus and who was pursued by the dragon.

John is clear about Rome as a harlot: She wears purple and is adorned with gold and pearls (Slide 11; ). Carrying the imagery of being marked on the forehead (marked as God's own like the 144,000, or marked as a worshiper of the beast), the harlot was marked on her forehead like the prostitutes of Rome (see Chapman, 107). 

John's harlot that had had illicit relationships with many nations, and he condemned those nations for compromising their faith in order to remain under the Roman protectorate and to share in Rome's riches (Slides 12 and 13; ). The only nation that Rome did not require its citizens to worship the Roman gods was Judea. Check out http://www.revelationillustrated.com/shop/image23.asp for an image of the harlot riding the back of the beast.

The language and style of John here is very reminiscent of Hosea. The table below illustrates this (Slide 14; ).

Hosea (1:1-5)

Revelation (17:1-4)

The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri, in the days of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah, and in the days of King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel. When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. And the Lord said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.” (NRSV)

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great whore who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and with the wine of whose fornication the inhabitants of the earth have become drunk.” So he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication (NRSV)

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The Beast and the Harlot (17:6b-18)

The harlot sits on seven mountains. Rome is a city of seven hills, and this is a way of John making it clear to his readers his opinion of Rome known (and in case you miss it, he tells you it's Rome in 17:18).

The next series of verses (17:7-11) refer to the emperors of Rome (Slide 15; ). One listing of the emperors (there are others) is as follows:

Name	Year	Comments
Augustus	13 B.C.E. - 14 C.E.
Tiberius	14 - 37 CE	Jesus died under Tiberias
Caligula	37 - 41 CE
Claudius	41 - 54 CE
Nero	54 - 68 CE
Galba, Otho, Vitellus	68 - 69 CE	These were military pretenders to the throne. Vespasian was conquering Jerusalem when he was recalled to put down this rebellion.
Vespasian	69 - 79 CE
Titus	79 - 81 CE	Titus was the general (served under Vespasian) who finally conquered Jerusalem.
Domitian	81 - 96 CE	John's nemesis

John's reference to the fallen five are those through Nero. The one who remains for a short time is Titus, and the one who exists no longer is an eighth king who really belongs to the seven is a reference to the revived Nero (Nero Redivivus), Emperor Domitian (see Class 4). 

Johns description of his vision of the beast rising from the sea in Ch. 13 (see Class 4) included 10 horns and seven heads (Slide 16; ). In 17:12 and again in 17:16 John details what the angel told him about these 10 horns. The ten horns likely represent the provincial governors of the Roman Empire (the beast) (Slide 17; ).

In 17:16, John sees the provincial rulers finally seeing Rome for the whore that she is and they rise up against her - exposing her, eating her flesh, and destroying her with fire.John sees Rome burned.

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The Fall of Babylon (18:1-19:4)

This section has two parts (Slide 18; ). The first part is a series of laments from kings, merchants, and ship's captains over her destruction.It is interesting that she is mourned by people of power and commerce (political and financial power being Rome's base). The second section is a second description of Rome's collapse.

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Next week, we will meet the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

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Artistic Renderings of John's Visions

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