by her, shall stand afar off, for | riches is come to nàught. the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 16 And saying, Alas, alas! that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! 17 For in one hour so great 16. Alas, alas! that great city. It was the imperial city. It was decked in great magnificence. The imperial colors, purple and scarlet, added to her beauty, and she was ornamented with gold and precious stones and pearls, precisely like the woman who sat on the beast, xvii. 4. But in one hour so great riches came to nought. That a raiment of purple and fine linen was a sign of great wealth, is evident from Luke xvi. 19. Speaking of the purple, scarlet, &c., Professor Stuart very justly remarks, "Correspondencies to each of these articles, in the spiritual meaning of the whole passage, will hardly be sought for by any one, excepting by him who is ignorant of the true nature and design of tropical and symbolical language." And every ship-inaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, 18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! cities of antiquity, the richest and most important commercial mart of Phoenicia. It was renowned for its commerce; and was the place through which almost all the commodities of the west and the east passed to a market. It was at the eastern limit of the Mediterranean. Rome was not so much of a maritime city as Tyre, but still it had much trade by sea, sufficient, considering the license taken by ancient writers, to justify the application of the language of Ezekiel respecting Tyre. The men of the sea are represented as lamenting the fall of Rome. 18. Smoke of her burning. - The smoke of a conflagration continues to ascend after the flames are extinguished. It is a proof, to distant beholders, of the ruin or judgment. 17. For in one hour. The first Hence, when the divine judgments are section of the 17th verse evidently spoken of under the metaphor of fire, belongs to the preceding subject. the smoke is said to be a warning to And every ship-master, &c.— We after generations. It is spoken of as have now come to the lamentation a monument of the justice of God. of the seamen, the captains of ships, See Gen. xix. 28; Josh. viii. 20; Isa. the sailors, and all who trade by sea. xxxiv. 10. In the last passage named, These terms embrace all who do the smoke of Idumea is said to go up business on the mighty waters, whe- forever. The meaning is, that the ther in ships of war, merchant ves- judgment would be a perpetual warnsels, or the smaller craft used for pur-ing to the nations. From this came poses of fishing. Rome lay on the river Tiber, not far from the Mediterranean. Her commerce was considerable; but this description is taken from Ezekiel's account of the fall of Tyre. See xxvii. 27-29. It will not apply exactly to Rome. It is poetical and hyperbolical; and is intended to apply only in the outline. Tyre was one of the most celebrated the figure in the Apocalypse. The Roman persecutors were said to be tormented in fire and brimstone, and the smoke thereof was said to ascend up forever and ever; that is, it was intended as a perpetual evidence, rising up to the observation of men, of the retributive justice of God. See, also, xviii. 9, and xix. 3. Among the plagues that fell upon Rome, it 19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas! that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in was said, "she shall be utterly burned with fire;" xviii. 8. There is a mingling here of fact and metaphor. Fire did the work in part; but she also had war, and pestilence, and famine. 19. Cast dust on their heads. It was an ancient custom for persons to cast dust on their heads in seasons of great anguish and sorrow. We know not how the custom originated; but it is sufficient to the explanation of the passage, to show that it was an ancient custom. "And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the even-tide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, Alas! O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan;" Joshua vii. 6, 7. This proves conclusively that in ancient times persons put dust on their heads in times of great sorrow. Again, "And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven;" Job ii. 12. But it should be remarked, that this reference to the custom of casting dust on the head is taken, like the most of the imagery of this chapter, from Ezekiel's account of the destruction of Tyre. It is the seamen who cast dust on their heads in Ezekiel's description, and it is the seamen who do the same thing in the revelator's account. "And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land; and shall cause their voice to be heard the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. 20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles against thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads; they shall wallow themselves in the ashes; and they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing;" Ezek. xxvii. 29-31. The seafaring men are said to weep and wail for the destruction of the city, because her immense trade contributed so much to their advantage. They were made rich by her; and they were deeply grieved to have the sources of their wealth cut off. ¶ For in one hour. That is, in a short time. Paul said to the Galatians that he did not give place to the false teachers, not even for an hour; (Gal. ii. 5;) that is, not even for the shortest space of time. Such language occurs repeatedly in the Apocalypse. The four angels of the Euphrates (or the military commanders there) were prepared for "an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year;" i. e., for any length of service, whether short or long; Rev. ix. 15. The Roman kings, or subordinate monarchs, were said to "receive power as kings one hour with the beast ;" xvii. 12; meaning for a short time. their surprise that a judgment so great should be inflicted in a time comparatively so brief, the people said: "Her plagues come in one day;" xviii. 8; "In one hour, is thy judgment come;" 10; "In one hour so great riches is come to nought;" 17; "In one hour is she made desolate;" 19. To express 20. Rejoice over her, thou heaven. Heaven is here personified, and signifies the same as the church. The opposite party to heathen Rome is meant. It is the heavenly Jerusalem that is intended-the spirits of just and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. men made perfect; Heb. xii. 22, 23. Heaven is joined with the holy apostles and prophets, who stood at the head of the church; and would seem by this to intend the body of the church to which they were joined. The word heaven is used in a variety of senses in the Bible. It sometimes means the region of air, as when we say, the fowls of heaven, the clouds of heaven, the dews of heaven, &c. &c. It sometimes stands for God himself, as "I have sinned against Heaven;" Luke xv. 18. It would seem sometimes to stand for the highest order of created beings, as "The heav ens are not clean in his sight;" Job xv. 15. It is a word of wide signification. The Christians were called upon to rejoice at the fall of Rome. This is put in opposition to the parties mentioned in the preceding parts of the chapter, who lamented for that cause. That which produced lamentation on the one side, also produced exultation on the other. The Christians were not called upon to rejoice at the misery of their fellow-creatures; this would have been contrary to the spirit of the Lord Jesus. They would rejoice that the power of the oppressor was broken; that he could do no more harm; that he could put no more obstacles in the way of the advancement of the kingdom of Christ; that he could oppress the saints no more. This is the only view we can take of it; for to suppose that the Christians were called on to rejoice in the miseries of their fellow-men, even of their greatest enemies, would set the sense of the passage against the whole tenor of the New Testament. Jesus mourned and wept over Jerusalem. Behold his beautiful apostrophe to that city: "And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. 21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millFor the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee: and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knowest not the time of thy visitation;" Luke xix. 41-44. All the afflictions that God sends upon men will be overruled for wise and holy purposes. When a man is condemned for crime on earth, we hope his good will be promoted thereby; and nothing is permitted in the way of punishment that would counteract his reformation. All those influences are thrown around him, by the wise, and the good, which will result, it is hoped, in his reformation. His punishment is acquiesced in, only as we acquiesce in the amputation of a limb, or the extraction of a tooth, because it will tend ultimately, if our intentions are fulfilled, in the benefit of the patient. God is a being of unerring wisdom. He can commit no error in the choice of means; and he has full power to carry out his will. His means, unlike those of man, will not, cannot, fail. They may appear to us to fail; but there can be no actual failure with God. On these principles, and on no other, can a truly benevolent man, who has the spirit of the Lord Jesus, rejoice in the punishment of men; and in the pouring out of God's wrath and vengeance upon them. On these principles heaven was called on to rejoice, to exult at the fall of Rome. The church was afterwards to have peace; and, the power of the oppressor being broken, the truth would have free course and be glorified. The persecutors would have no rest day nor night; but the Christians would rest from their labors and toils, and their works of success would accompany them everywhere. 21. Mighty angel took up a stone. · 1 saying, Thus with violence shall the great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. stone, and cast it into the sea, | and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee. 22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, To add force to the prediction of the fall of Rome, an angel is represented as taking up a stone, like a great millstone, and casting it into the sea, saying, "After this manner shall that great city Babylon (spiritually bearing that name) be thrown down." This custom of describing the coming destruction of a place, or a people, by some such formality, is a very ancient one. Thus, when Jeremiah was about to describe the desolation of the Jews, he was commanded to "go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests, and go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee;" Jer. xix. 1, 2. And afterwards it is said, "Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee, and shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury;" 10, 11. Here we must repeat again, what we have so frequently been called on to say, that the revelator draws his figure from Jeremiah's description of the fall of Babylon. He had been a diligent student of the prophetic writings. See Jer. li. 63, 64: "And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates and thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her." : 22. Voice of harpers and musicians. - This is but a part of the imagery. The sounds of joy shall all die away; no harp, no pipe, or trumpet shall be heard. Rome shall be filled with mourning. "The daughters of music shall be brought low." It was the revelator's intent to describe a time of great sorrow. So saith Jeremiah in his Lamentations : "The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music. The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned! For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim;" Lam. v. 14-17. So when king Darius was in trouble, we are told, that "The king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of music brought before him and his sleep went from him;" Dan. vi. 18. To describe, therefore, the desolateness, dulness and misery of Rome, it is said, "And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee." And no craftsman shall be found any more in thee. In addition to the musicians, her mechanics shall desert her; the craftsmen of every kind shall be found no more within her borders. Great allowance must be made here for sake of the imagery. The mere scenic representations must not be misunderstood for facts. It is still the figures of the prophet Jeremiah that the revelator is copying. See Jer. xxv. 10. "Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bride 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. 23 And the light of a candle | men of the earth; for by thy sorshall shine no more at all in ceries were all nations deceived. thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great groom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle." : 11. ¶ Merchants were the great men. - The merchants of Rome, like those of Tyre, lived like princes; Isaiah xxiii. 8. By thy sorceries. — Rome 23. Light of a candle shall shine no more. This is but an extended is said to have deceived all nations by representation of the cheerlessness her sorceries. There is no doubt that and gloom that were to spread over her influence for evil was widely felt; the city. There shall be no illumina- and sorceries are put for the enchanttions, no places for business shall be ing and bewitching nature of all her lighted up. The object is to describe crime. The wickedness of Nineveh is desolateness. Voice of the bride- described in a similar manner by the groom. And this is further carried prophet Nahum ; iii. 4. Very early did out by saying, "The voice of the the eastern nations begin to practise bridegroom and of the bride shall be divination and magic, which are incluheard no more." In the same man-ded under the general name of sorcener Jeremiah described the desolate- ries. They taught the art of interness of Judah and Jerusalem. "Then preting dreams, and of acquiring the will I cause to cease from the cities knowledge of futurity. Sorcery was of Judah, and from the streets of Je-known in Egypt before the time of Morusalem, the voice of mirth, and the ses, and he forbid the Jews from convoice of gladness, the voice of the sulting those who practised it; Deut. bridegroom, and the voice of the xviii. 9, 10. Everywhere in the Scripbride for the land shall be desolate ;"tures such are condemned. Pharaoh Jer. vii. 34. See, also, xvi. 9, and and Nebuchadnezzar both had their xxv. 10. And let it be noticed, that sorcerers; Exod vii. 11, and Dan. ii. the return of prosperity to a people or 2. It is possible that the passage a place is represented as the return before us is to be understood in two of the voice of the bridegroom and the senses, viz., for sorcery itself, by bride, and the renewal of the voice of which Rome may have deceived the praise. "Again there shall be heard in nations, and also for the bewitching this place, which ye say shall be deso- and deceiving effect of her example. late without man and without beast, In either sense, by her sorceries, even in the cities of Judah, and in the "were all nations deceived." streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, revelator condemns sorcerers, and without man, and without inhabitant, places them in the catalogue of those and without beast, the voice of joy, on whom the judgments were to fall; and the voice of gladness, the voice xxi. 8; xxii. 15. of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that say Praise the Lord of hosts; for the Lord is good; for his mercy endureth forever; and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the Lord;" Jer. xxxiii. 10, The 24. In her was found the blood. — As when a city is captured, the evidences of her former oppressions are expected to be found-stolen treasures buried in her vaults- prisoners of war shut up in her dungeons; so here it is said, "In her was found the blood of prophets," &c. These were the evidences of her guilt. And might not |
