Revelation 14:8

And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) And there followed . . .—The gospel angel is followed by the angel that proclaims the downfall of Babylon. Better, And another, a second, angel followed, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who has given all the nations to drink of, &c. The second angel follows on the first: the doom of the world-city, the metropolis of the empire of the world-power, follows the proclamation of the gospel. The principles of Christ’s gospel must undermine the world-power; the fall of some Babylon principle has almost always succeeded the age of spiritual revival. Pagan Rome goes down before the gospel. Civil freedom follows the wake of religious freedom, for Babylon belongs not to one age. Pagan Rome was Babylon to St. John; papal Rome was often Babylon to a later age. Dante, Savanarola, Tauler, Luther, felt her to be so in the days when their eyes were enlightened; but Babylon was not on the Euphrates alone: she has reared palaces on the Seine, and on the Thames, Tiber, and on the Bosphorus. She may yet erect her power in more imposing form; but faith in that gospel which is the power of God, will cast her down along with everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. The influence of Babylon is declared in this: that she has given all nations to drink of deadly wine—the wine alike of her sin and of her doom, of her fornication and of the wrath which will overtake it. Babylon, then, is clearly an emblem of some principles which have been more or less accepted by all nations, and which will more or less involve all in the consequences of her fall. (Comp. Revelation 16:19; Revelation 16:17, where the features of this Babylon are more fully developed.)

Benson Commentary

Revelation 14:8. And there followed another angel — As the admonitions of the first angel had not the proper effect upon the kingdom of the beast, a second angel is commissioned to proclaim the fall of the capital city, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city — By Babylon is meant Rome, including the antichristian kingdom, the papal hierarchy seated there. Rome, considered in this light, is called Babylon, upon many accounts. Babylon was magnificent, strong, proud, powerful. So was Rome also. Babylon was first, Rome afterward, the residence of the emperors of a great part of the world. What Babylon was to Israel of old, Rome hath been both to the literal and spiritual Israel of God. Hence the liberty of the ancient Jews was connected with the overthrow of the Babylonish empire. And when Rome is finally overthrown, then the people of God will be at liberty. Whenever Babylon is mentioned in this book, the great is added, to teach us that Rome then commenced Babylon when it commenced the great city; when it swallowed up the Grecian monarchy and its fragments, Syria in particular; and, in consequence of this, obtained dominion over Jerusalem, about sixty years before the birth of Christ. Then it began, but it will not cease to be Babylon, till it is finally destroyed. Its spiritual greatness began in the fifth century, and increased from age to age. It seems it will come to its utmost height just before its final overthrow. Her fornication is her idolatry, invocation of saints and angels, worship of images, human traditions, with all that outward pomp, yea, and that fierce and bloody zeal, wherewith she pretends to serve God. But with spiritual fornication, as elsewhere, so in Rome, fleshly fornication is joined abundantly. Witness the stews there, licensed by the pope, which are no inconsiderable branch of his revenue. This is fitly compared to wine, because of its intoxicating nature. Of this wine she hath, indeed, made all nations drink — More especially by her later missions. We may observe, this making them drink is not ascribed to the beast, but to Babylon. For Rome itself, the Roman inquisitions, congregations, and Jesuits, continually propagate their idolatrous doctrines and practices, with or without the consent of this or that pope, who himself is not secure from their censure. But, as Bishop Newton observes, though Rome, with the antichristian power above described, was evidently here intended, it would not have been prudent to predict and denounce its destruction in open and direct terms; it was for many wise reasons done thus covertly under the name of Babylon, the great idolatress of the earth, and enemy of the people of God in former times. By the same figure of speech that the first angel cried, that the hour of his judgment is come, this second angel proclaims that Babylon is fallen; the sentence is as certain as if it was already executed. For greater certainty too it is repeated twice, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; as Joseph said, Genesis 41:32, that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice, because the thing was established by God. The reason then is added of this sentence against Babylon; because she made all nations drink of the wine of her wrath, or rather, of the inflaming wine, of her fornication — Hers was a kind of Circean cup with poisoned liquor, to intoxicate and inflame mankind to spiritual fornication. St. John, in these figures, copies the ancient prophets. In the same manner, and in the same words, did Isaiah foretel the fate of ancient Babylon, (Isaiah 21:9,) Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and Jeremiah hath assigned much the same reason for her destruction, (Jeremiah 51:7,) Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. As by the first angel calling upon men to worship God, we understand the opposers of the worship of images in the eighth and ninth centuries, so by this second angel proclaiming the fall of mystic Babylon or Rome we understand particularly Peter Valdo, and those who concurred with him among the Waldenses and Albigenses; who were the first heralds, as I may say, of this proclamation, as they first of all, in the twelfth century, pronounced the Church of Rome to be the apocalyptic Babylon, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth; and for this cause not only departed from her communion themselves, but engaged great numbers also to follow their example, and laid the first foundation of the Reformation. Rome then began to fall; and as the ruin of Babylon was completed by degrees, so likewise will that of Rome; and these holy confessors and martyrs first paved the way to it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:6-13 The progress of the Reformation appears to be here set forth. The four proclamations are plain in their meaning; that all Christians may be encouraged, in the time of trial, to be faithful to their Lord. The gospel is the great means whereby men are brought to fear God, and to give glory to him. The preaching of the everlasting gospel shakes the foundations of antichrist in the world, and hastens its downfal. If any persist in being subject to the beast, and in promoting his cause, they must expect to be for ever miserable in soul and body. The believer is to venture or suffer any thing in obeying the commandments of God, and professing the faith of Jesus. May God bestow this patience upon us. Observe the description of those that are and shall be blessed: such as die in the Lord; die in the cause of Christ, in a state of union with Christ; such as are found in Christ when death comes. They rest from all sin, temptation, sorrow, and persecution; for there the wicked cease from troubling, there the weary are at rest. Their works follow them: do not go before as their title, or purchase, but follow them as proofs of their having lived and died in the Lord: the remembrance of them will be pleasant, and the reward far above all their services and sufferings. This is made sure by the testimony of the Spirit, witnessing with their spirits, and the written word.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And there followed another angel - That is, in the vision. It is not necessary to suppose that this would, in the fulfillment, succeed the other in time. The chapter is made up of a number of representations, all designed to illustrate the same general thing, and to produce the same general effect on the mind - that the gospel would be finally triumphant, and that, therefore, the hearts of the troubled and the afflicted should be comforted. The representation in this verse, bearing on this point, is, that Babylon, the great enemy, would fall to rise no more.

Babylon - This is the first time that the word "Babylon" occurs in this book, though it is repeatedly mentioned afterward, Revelation 16:19; Revelation 17:5; Revelation 18:2, Revelation 18:10, Revelation 18:21. In reference to the literal Babylon, the word is used, in the New Testament, in Matthew 1:11-13; Acts 7:43; 1 Peter 5:13. See Intro. to 1 Peter, section 2. Babylon was a well-known city on the Euphrates (for a full description of which see the notes on Isaiah, analysis of chapters 13 and 14), and was, in the days of its pride and glory, the head of the pagan world. In reference to the meaning of the word in this place, it may be remarked:

(1) That the general characteristics of Babylon were, that it was proud, haughty, insolent, oppressive. It was chiefly known and remembered by the Hebrew people as a power that had invaded the Holy Land; that had reduced its capital and temple to ruins; that had destroyed the independence of their country, subjecting it to the condition of a province, and that had carried away the inhabitants into a long and painful captivity. It became, therefore, the emblem of all that was haughty and oppressive, and especially of all that persecuted the church of God.

(2) the word must be used here to denote some power that resembled the ancient and literal Babylon in these characteristics. The literal Babylon was no more; but the name might be properly used to denote a similar power. We are to seek, therefore, in the application of this, for some power that had the same general characteristics which the literal Babylon had.

(3) in inquiring, then, what is referred to here by the word "Babylon," we may remark:

(a) that it could not be the literal Babylon on the Euphrates, for the whole representation here is of something future, and the literal Babylon had long since disappeared, never, according to the prophecies, to be rebuilt. See the notes on Isaiah 13:20-22.

(b) All the circumstances require us to understand this of Rome, at some period of its history: for Rome, like Babylon, was the seat of empire, and the head of the pagan world; Rome was characterized by many of the same attributes as Babylon, being arrogant, proud, oppressive; Rome, like Babylon, was distinguished for its conquests, and for the fact that it made all other nations subject to its control; Rome had been, like Babylon, a desolating power, having destroyed the capital of the Holy Land, and burnt its beautiful temple, and reduced the country to a province. Rome, like Babylon of old, was the most formidable power with which the church had to contend. Yet.

(c) it is not, I suppose, Rome considered as pagan that is here meant, but Rome considered as the prolongation of the ancient power in the papal form. Alike in this book and in Daniel, Rome, pagan and papal, is regarded as one power, standing in direct opposition to the gospel of Christ, resisting its progress in the world, and preventing its final prevalence. See the notes on Daniel 7. When that falls, the last enemy of the church will be destroyed, and the final triumph of the true religion will be speedy and complete. See Daniel 7:26-27.

(d) So it was understood among the early Christians. Mr. Gibbon, speaking of the expectations of the early Christians about the end of the world, and the glory of the literal reign of the Messiah, says, "While the happiness and glory of a temporal reign were promised to the disciples of Christ, the most dreadful calamities were denounced against an unbelieving world. The edification of the New Jerusalem was to advance by equal steps with the destruction of the mystic Babylon; and as long as the emperors who reigned before Constantine persisted in the profession of idolatry, the epithet of Babylon was applied to the city and to the empire of Rome," vol. i. p. 263.

Is fallen - That is, an event appeared in vision as if a mighty city fell to rise no more.

Is fallen - This is repeated to give emphasis to the declaration, and to express the joyousness of that event.

That great city - Babylon in its glory was the largest city of the world. Rome, in its turn, also became the largest; and the expression used here denotes that the power here referred to would be properly represented by cities of their magnitude.

Because she made all nations drink of the wine - This language is probably taken from Jeremiah 51:7; "Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of the wine, therefore the nations are mad." Babylon here, in accordance with the usual custom of the sacred writers when speaking of cities (see the notes on Isaiah 1:8), is represented as a female - here a female of abandoned character, holding in her hand a cup of wine to attract her lovers; that is, she allures and intoxicates them. This is a beautiful image to denote the influence of a great and corrupt city, and especially a city corrupt in its religion and devoted to idolatry and superstition, and may well be applied either to Babylon or Rome, literal or mystical.

Of the wrath - There seems an incongruity in the use of this word here, and Prof. Stuart proposes to render it "the inflammatory wine of her fornication"; that is, inebriating wine - wine that excited the passions and that led to uncleanness. He supposes that the word here used - θυμός thumos - means "heat, inflammation," corresponding to the Hebrew חמה chēmaah There are no instances, however, in the New Testament in which the word is used in this sense. The common and proper meaning is mind, soul, then mind agitated with passion or under the influence of desire - a violent commotion of mind, as wrath, anger, indignation (Robinson, Lexicon). The ground of the representation here seems to be that Yahweh is often described as giving to the nations in his wrath an intoxicating cup so that they should reel and stagger to their destruction. Compare Jeremiah 25:15; Jeremiah 51:7. The meaning here is, that the nations had drunk of that cup which brought on the wrath of God on account of her "fornication." Babylon is represented as a harlot, with a cup of wine in her hand, and the effect of drinking that cup was to expose them to the wrath of God, hence, called "the wine of the wrath of her fornication" - the alluring cup that was followed by wrath on account of her fornication.

continued...

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. another—So Vulgate. But A, B, Syriac, and Andreas add, "a second"; "another, a second angel."

Babylon—here first mentioned; identical with the harlot, the apostate Church; distinct from the beast, and judged separately.

is fallen—anticipation of Re 18:2. A, Vulgate, Syriac, and Andreas support the second "is fallen." But B, C, and Coptic omit it.

that great city—A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic omit "city." Then translate, "Babylon the great." The ulterior and exhaustive fulfilment of Isa 21:9.

because—So Andreas. But A, C, Vulgate, and Syriac read, "which." B and Coptic omit it. Even reading "which," we must understand it as giving the reason of her fall.

all nations—A, B and C read, "all the nations."

the wine of the wrath of her fornication—the wine of the wrath of God, the consequence of her fornication. As she made the nations drunk with the wine of her fornication, so she herself shall be made drunk with the wine of God's wrath.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The apostle is shown, that other messengers of God should come forth, during the reign of antichrist, that should declare his ruin as certainly as if it were already effected.

Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city: these words are taken from Isaiah 21:9, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath brokers unto the ground. So Jeremiah 51:8, Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed. There is no doubt but both the prophets spake of that Babylon into which the Jews were carried captive; but that Babylon was typical of another Babylon, called here the

great city, and great Babylon, Revelation 16:19 17:5 18:10,21; and the mother of harlots, Revelation 17:5. There neither is, nor ever was, any city in the world to whom these things could agree, but to Rome, rightly enough called the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth, Revelation 17:5, both in respect of carnal filthiness there tolerated to make the bishop of Rome a revenue, and spiritual whoredom, which is idolatry: called also Sodom and Egypt, Revelation 11:8, the former of which was famous for beastly lusts, the latter for idolatry, and oppression of God’s Israel. The ruin of old Babylon is denounced by the prophet, Isaiah 21:9, because of her idolatry in image worship, for which the new Babylon is every whit as famous.

Because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication: the word translated wrath, though it oft so signifies, yet should rather be here translated poison, as we translate it, Deu 32:33 Job 20:16. The LXX. in those texts use the same word that is here used, yumov; so the sense is, with the poisonous wine of her idolatry, intimating to us the venomous condition of Romish superstitions and idolatries, to entice ignorant people to be in love with them; as harlots use with their philters, or poisoned cups, to make men in love with them. If we better approve of our translation of the term wrath, the wine of the wrath of her fornication signifieth her fornication which brings wrath upon them that join with her in it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And there followed another angel,.... A "second", as the Alexandrian copy, the Complutensian edition, and the Syriac version add; and the Arabic version reads, "and the second angel followed"; another set of Gospel ministers, who will immediately follow upon the former, proclaiming the fall of Babylon, which will be brought about through the preaching of the everlasting Gospel. Some think the Waldenses and Albigenses are here designed, who gave a great blow to Babylon, and laid a foundation for her ruin. Others have thought that Luther, and the reformers of his times, are intended, who gave a deadly blow to Babylon, and she has been falling ever since: but to me it appears, that a set of ministers in the spiritual reign of Christ are meant, who will not only signify the fall of Babylon to be certain, and near at hand, but will live to see and declare her actual fall, as follows:

saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city; which is to be understood not of the world in general, which will not now be come to an end, for all nations of the world are distinguished from this Babylon in the next clause, and is only represented as a city, though a great one; nor of Babylon in Chaldea, which was fallen many hundreds of years before this vision; nor is there any likelihood of its being restored, nor any reason to believe that it will ever more be the seat of empire over all the nations and kings of the earth, as the Babylon mentioned in this book is, Revelation 17:5 though undoubtedly the allusion is to that Babylon, and the very words are used which express the fall of it, and are taken from it; see Isaiah 21:9 but this is to be understood of Rome, which all along in this book is called the great city; see Revelation 11:8 and not of Rome Pagan, for that is fallen already; and the account of the fall of that is given before, at the opening of the sixth seal, and the casting the dragon out of heaven, upon the war there, between Michael and him, though Mr. Daubuz is of opinion that this is here meant; but of Rome Papal, called Babylon the great, Revelation 16:5 and so the Alexandrian copy, the Vulgate Latin, Syriac and Arabic versions, read here; and the Romish antichrist is so called, because that city was famous for its pride and haughtiness, for its tyranny and cruelty, and for its idolatry; and indeed its name, which signifies "confusion", well agrees with the Papacy, which is a confused mixture of Judaism, Paganism, and Christianity: so Rome is called Babel in some ancient writings of the Jews (o), where some copies read "Babel", others read "Rome"; and Tertullian, who wrote long before the appearance of the Romish antichrist, says (p), with our John, Babylon is a figure of the Roman city: and of this it is said, that it "is fallen, is fallen"; which words are repeated for the certain confirmation of it, as matter of fact; for the fall of antichrist will certainly be in the spiritual reign of Christ, in the Philadelphian church state; See Gill on Revelation 3:9 now will Babylon come in remembrance before God, and he will pour out the vials of his wrath upon her, and will give men an aversion to her; and through the preaching of the Gospel she will fall, just as the walls of Jericho fell at the sounding of the rams' horns: the reason of which fall will be,

because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication: by her "fornication" is meant the idolatry of the church of Rome; so the idolatry of Israel and Judah is often expressed in the Old Testament by fornication and whoredoms; see Jeremiah 3:6 and the wine of it designs the alluring methods used to draw into it; such as the riches and honours, and pleasures of this world, promised to men, and the great appearances of holiness and religion, the deceivableness of unrighteousness, the miracles, signs, and lying wonders done by them, by which men are made sottish and stupid, and induced to believe a lie; just as wine intoxicates, and inclines and excites to lust: and by "the wrath" of it is meant either the heat of lust unto it, or the wrath of God against them which is stirred up by it; and now the aggravation of her sin is, that she not only drinks of this wine herself, or commits idolatry, being instigated to it by the allurements of it, though she hereby incurs the displeasure and wrath of God, but she draws all nations into the same idolatrous practices.

(o) Zohar in Numb. fol. 103. 4. & Raya Mchimna, apud ib. in Exod. fol. 49. 3.((p) Adv. Judaeos, c. 9. & Adv. Marcion. l. 3. c. 13.

Geneva Study Bible

And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the {a} wrath of her fornication.

(a) Of her fornication, by which God was provoked to wrath.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Revelation 14:8. It is a characteristic of the dramatic vividness of the scene, that every new point, which is to be proclaimed, is committed to a special angel.[3487] The angel now coming forward is distinguished by the compound formula ἌΛΛΟς ΔΕΎΤΕΡΟς from the ἌΛΛΟς ἌΓΓ. mentioned in Revelation 14:6.[3488]

ἜΠΕΣΕΝ, ἜΠΕΣΕΝ ΒΑΒΥΛΏΝ Ἡ ΜΕΓΆΛΗ. The cry,[3489] in a prophetical way, represents the sure and near impending judgment as already fulfilled.[3490] The name of the O. T. secular power is transferred to that of the N. T.,[3491] i.e., to Rome,[3492] by not only indicating by means of this name its ungodly nature,[3493] but also by the adjective Ἡ ΜΕΓΆΛΗ, especially emphasizing how extent and fulness of power[3494] are powerless for the protection of the vain foundation of self-assertion[3495] from complete overthrow.[3496]

Ἣ ἘΚ ΤΟῦ ΟἽΝΟΥ, Κ.Τ.Λ. As in the ancient prophets, alongside of the threatenings of punishment, the precise charges on which those threats rest are generally presented, so also here the guilt of great Babylon is established. The view portrayed in Revelation 17:2; Revelation 17:4, Revelation 18:3, lies here already at the foundation. Babylon-Rome appears as a harlot who has seduced all the dwellers on earth to commit fornication with her: “She made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” The expression in Revelation 18:3 is incorrectly explained, if the θυμοῦ be regarded otherwise than in the firmly established sense of “wrath,” Revelation 14:10.[3497] According to the linguistic usage of the Apoc., it is the glow and rage of wrath,[3498] and not any other passion, which is designated by θυμός. But it is impossible to seek this wrath in the harlot Babylon herself, and then to understand the πορνεία of cunning arts, dissembling love, with which wrathful Babylon destroys the nations.[3499] With perfect correctness, De Wette says that the entire expression depends upon a combination of two ideas: the wine of fornication,[3500] wherewith Babylon has intoxicated the nations, is at the same time characterized as a οἰνος τοῦ θυμοῦ (viz., of the Divine wrath), and it is, consequently, represented[3501] how the wine offered by the harlot Babylon to the nations, with which she has intoxicated them and led them to fornication with her, is also a wine which, because of the Divine wrath, has caused that drunkenness in the nations. It is analogous to what is instructively said in Romans 1:21. The πορνεία is the idolatry practised with great Babylon, the all-ruling secular power.[3502]

[3487] “Quot res nunciandæ, totidem nuncii” (Grot.).

[3488] Cf. examples in Wetst.

[3489] Revelation 18:2; Isaiah 21:9; cf. Jeremiah 50:2; Jeremiah 51:8.

[3490] Cf. Revelation 11:18.

[3491] Revelation 13:1 sqq., Revelation 18:10.

[3492] So remarks on ch. Revelation 13:17.

[3493] Cf. Revelation 11:8.

[3494] Cf. Revelation 13:2; Revelation 13:4.

[3495] Daniel 4:27.

[3496] Klief. understands “the metropolis of the last heathen secular power.”

[3497] Against Wetst., Grot., who make θυμ., “poison;” cf. also Eichh.; and against Ewald, Züll.: “Burning wine, intoxicating wine.”

[3498] Revelation 16:19, Revelation 19:15. Cf. Revelation 15:7, Revelation 16:1; also Revelation 13:2.

[3499] Hengstenb.

[3500] Cf. Revelation 17:2; Revelation 17:4; Jeremiah 51:7.

[3501] Cf. Jeremiah 25:15 sqq., 27. sqq.

[3502] Revelation 14:9; Revelation 13:4; Revelation 13:12. Grot., Ew., De Wette, etc.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Angels of Warning, Revelation 14:8-118. another angel] The correct text is another angel a second.

Babylon … that great city] Read Babylon the great as in Revelation 17:5. See also Revelation 18:10; Revelation 18:18; Revelation 18:21 where we have “Babylon the great city,” “the great city” (meaning Babylon), and “the great city Babylon.” The omission of city here makes the presumption less that “the great city” of Revelation 11:8, Revelation 16:19 is the same.

is fallen, is fallen] Isaiah 21:9.

because she made] Read, which hath made.

the wine of the wrath of her fornication] There is a blending of the two views: she makes them drink of the cup of her fornication, Revelation 17:2, and she is made, and they are made with her, to drink of the cup of God’s wrath: Revelation 14:10, Revelation 16:19. In Revelation 18:6, as in Jeremiah 51:7, from which the image is taken, there is, as here, a combination of the two.

Bengel's Gnomen

Revelation 14:8. Ἔπεσεν ἔπεσε) See on ch. Revelation 18:2.—Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη) Thus all the MSS.; thus also Copt. Thus ch. Revelation 16:19, Revelation 17:5, Revelation 18:2, and LXX., Daniel 4:27. But ἡ πόλις[159] is inserted between by Erasmus, from ch. Revelation 18:10; Revelation 18:21. An epithet is often added to a proper name, without an appellative substantive. Babylon the great, put absolutely, has a somewhat grander sound, than Babylon the great city.—ἐκ, of) Asyndeton.—τοῦ οἴνου) This is the reading of a few, but ancient witnesses, of the Greek and Latins, to whom is added Cassiodorus. Because in those passages, where the wrath of God is treated of, ὁ οἶνος τοῦ θυμοῦ is usually said; for that reason here, and in ch. Revelation 18:3, where the fornication of Babylon is treated of, Ὁ ΟἾΝΟς ΤΟῦ ΘΥΜΟῦ has also been inserted by the copyists.[160] But see App. Crit. Ed. ii. on this passage. Under the figure of a draught is often described the anger of God, and often the impurity of [spiritual] whoredom. It is in the former draught, and not the latter, that the word τοῦ θυμοῦ is used.—πεπότικε, hath made to drink) Luther says in the preface to Robert Barns’ Lives of the Pontiffs, “I indeed at first, who am not greatly versed or skilled in histories, attacked the Papacy, a priori, as the saying is, that is, from the Sacred Scriptures. Now I wonderfully rejoice, that others do the same a posteriori, that is, from histories. And I seem to myself altogether to triumph, when, as the light appears, I understand that histories are in agreement with the Scriptures.” And thus the history of the affairs of Rome, which is more and more brought forward into the light, serves to confirm the preaching of this second angel. But, laying aside party zeal, it is right that we should here especially weigh the things which were carried on in the East at the beginning of this century, by missions sent from Rome, rather than the Pontiff; and, on the other hand, the things which began to be carried on by evangelical missions. The impure draught given to the nations is followed by a purer draught.

[159] ABCh Vulg. reject ἡ πόλις, which Rec. Text has without good authority.—E.

[160] Lachm. and Tisch., with the oldest authorities, retain θυμοῦ. Fuld. MS. of Vulg. omits it; but better MSS. retain it.—E.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - And there followed another angel, saying; and another, a second angel, followed. That is, of course, the second of the three who here make their appearance in close connection. Each new scene is unfolded by its own special messenger. Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication; fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, which made, etc. The second "is fallen" is omitted in א, C, etc., but is inserted in A, P, some cursives, versions, and Fathers. Omit "city." Babylon is the type of the world power. Like so much of the Apocalypse, the image is supplied by the Book of Daniel. There the kingdom is spoken of as great (Daniel 4:30; cf. also Isaiah 14.). In its oppression of the Jewish nation, Babylon is a type of the world power which persecutes the Church of God. At the time when St. John wrote, this power was preeminently possessed and wielded by Rome, and that empire may thus be intended as the immediate antitype of Babylon. But the description is also applicable to the persecuting power of the world in all ages, and its denial of and opposition to God. Babylon is representative of the world, as Jerusalem is of the true Church of God. Alford observes, "Two things are mingled:

(1) the wine of her fornication, of which all nations have drunk (Revelation 17:2); and

(2) the wine of the wrath of God, which he shall give her to drink (ver. 10 and Revelation 16:19). The latter is the retribution for the former; the former turns into the latter; they are treated as one and the same." The description seems taken from Jeremiah 51:7, 8, "Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed." Again is the figure of fornication used to depict idolatry and general unfaithfulness towards God (see on ver. 4). Revelation 14:8

Vincent's Word Studies

Another

Add δεύτερος a second.

Is fallen (ἔπεσεν)

Lit., fell. The prophetic aorist expressing the certainty of the fall. Compare Isaiah 21:9; Jeremiah 51:7, Jeremiah 51:8.