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Rev_17:15-18. By a continuation of his discourse ( καὶ λεγ . μ .), the angel interprets first of all the waters where John beheld the harlot, and announces then the judgment impending over the harlot, which, according to God’s decree, is to be executed by the ten kings in confederacy with the beast. Then, finally, the chief figure in the vision, ch 17, the harlot herself, is expressly explained.
τὰ ὕδατα , κ . τ . λ . The waters form the sum total of inhabitants of the earth, for they all belong to the dominion of the harlot,[3892] to which also corresponds the accumulation of the four expressions, ΛΑΟΊ , ὌΧΛΟΙ , ἜΘΝΗ , ΓΗῶΣΣΑΙ .[3893]
But in spite of her wide dominion[3894] and all her glory, the harlot is ruined in a manner the least to be expected, but which only the more clearly manifests the judgment of God: the ten kings, together with the beast, shall hate the harlot and annihilate all her glory. The οὖτοι μισ ., as to its meaning, belongs to the kings to be understood among the horns (Rev_17:13-14); these are the decisive chief subject, so that the determination of subject, besides presented in the καὶ τὸ θηρίον , does not come further into consideration with respect to the form of the expression.
ἠρημωμένην ποιήσ . αὐτ . καὶ γυμνὴν . A striking antithesis to Rev_17:4.[3895]
κ . τὰς σάρκας αὐτῆς φἀγονται . Here the idea of the form of woman is still maintained,[3896] while in the following expression, καὶ αὐτὴν κατακαύσουσιν ἐν πυρί , the fundamental idea of the city is asserted.
Rev_17:17 explains what is announced in Rev_17:16, by the reference to God who in this way will destroy the harlot: ὁ γὰρ θεὸς ἔδωκεν , κ . τ . λ . The view here presented is very similar to that of Rev_16:14, Revelation 16 : there the spirits from hell bring the kings of the earth together—for the day of judgment—at Armagedon; in this passage, the purpose and work, on God’s part, are definitely expressed. He it is who has put it into their hearts to execute the will of, to make an alliance with, and to serve the beast. “The thought is blunted when the αὐτοῦ with ποιήσ . τ . γνώμ . is referred to God,[3897] instead of to the beast.[3898] In the connection this determination of subject is not absolutely too remote.[3899]
To the ὁ γὰρ θεὸς ἔδωκεν . κ . τ . λ ., corresponds at the conclusion the ἄχρι τελεσθήσονται οἱ λόγοι τοῦ θεοῦ ; the work intended by God, for the kings confederated with the beast, has in the fulfillment (cf. Rev_10:7) of the words, i.e., of the prophecies of God, not only its goal, but also its limits. When those kings have done what they are to do, they are done away with.[3900]
[3892] Rev_17:18. Cf. Rev_13:3; Rev_13:8; Rev_13:12; Rev_13:16.
[3893] Cf. Rev_5:9; Rev_7:9.
[3894] Cf. Rev_17:1 : τ . μεγάλης . Rev_14:8; Rev_16:19.
[3895] Cf. Rev_18:16.
[3896] Cf. Psa_27:2; Mic_3:2 sqq.
[3897] Vulg., Hengstenb., etc.
[3898] Beng., De Wette, Ew. ii., Volkm, Luthardt.
[3899] Against Hengstenb.
[3900] Cf. Rev_17:12.
Now (Rev_17:18), upon the basis of all preceding individual statements, the precise meaning of the harlot, which is treated of especially in Rev_17:1, is given: the woman is “the great city,” which has royal dominion over the kings of the earth, i.e., Rome, the metropolis, lying on seven hills, of the heathen-Roman Empire symbolized by the beast.
This exegetical result so undoubtedly forces itself upon us,[3901] that neither the misunderstanding of Auberlen, who regards the harlot as the woman of ch. 12 degenerated, nor the old Protestant explanation, which, in a more direct way, found here a reference to the Pope and Papal Rome,[3902] nor the singular opinion of Züllig, who regards the city, Rev_17:18, as Jerusalem,[3903] needs any further refutation than that furnished by the exposition of ch. 17 in connection with ch. 12 sqq. Especially, also, that Rev_17:12 sqq. cannot refer to the pressure of the Goths or other Germano-Sclavic nations, as Auberlen, in agreement this time with Grot., interprets, results already from the connection with Rev_17:11. The ten kings,—whom Ebrard regards as identified with the seven heads,—even if our exposition of Rev_17:10 sqq. and Rev_13:3 be correct, can be understood neither of “the ten leaders of the Flavians,”[3904] nor of the Parthian confederates of Nero.[3905] But after, in Rev_17:3; Rev_17:7, he has mentioned the ten horns, as in chs. 12 and 13, besides the seven heads of the beast, and has also designated thereby the identity of the beast, ch. 17, with that previously described, John now follows Dan_7:24 in his interpretation of the ten horns as ten “future” kings ( καὶ τὰ δέκα κέρατα αὐτοῦ , δέκα βασιλεῖς ἀναστήσονται ). But thereby every concrete historical relation is surrendered; just because the reference in ch. 13 to the tenfold number of the horns is actually historical, no other can enter, and, least of all, that which actually occurs in Daniel. What is said, therefore (Rev_17:12 sqq.), concerning the ten kings, forms a feature in the Apocalyptic picture, derived from the Danielian model, which divests the number ten of definite historical relation, as it makes it appear purely schematical, while the general historical presumption of John’s prophetic view—with respect, on the other side, to the relative fulfilment of his prophecy—lies in the fact that the emperors, usurping authority against and after one another, could gain possession of the government only through conflicts which turned to the ruin of the city: they were with the beast, and yet desolated the licentious city.
But “the rulers of the last time”[3906] are not so certainly the ten kings as the heathen-Roman world-empire and world-city are symbolized in the beast and the harlot; and it is impossible for sound exegesis to put under inspection a fulfilment of the prophecies in ch. 17 still to occur at the end of the world.
If the ten kings be regarded more definitely and in combination with the eight rulers, we may, with Weiss,[3907] refer them to the ten “regents “of the sovereign obtaining the government by the revolution of prefects (Rev_17:13; Rev_17:17).
[3901] Cf. also Hengstenb. on Rev_17:18.
[3902] Coccejus, Calov., Vitr., Beng.
[3903] In ch. 17, Jerusalem is regarded as Babylon; while false Judaism, under the symbol of the beast, is stated to be Edom.
[3904] Wetst.
[3905] Eichh., Bleek, De Wette. Cf. Ewald, who understands the Roman provincial prefects as in alliance with the returned Nero.
[3906] Luthardt.
[3907] p. 52.