Revelation 17:1–18

Original Meaning

The Mother of Prostitutes (17:1–5)

AN ANGEL BIDS John to “come” so that he may “show” him the judgment of the prostitute (17:1). He then carries him “away in the Spirit” (17:3; cf. Ezek. 8:3; 11:1, 24), just as an angel will later show him the bride, the prostitute’s antithesis (21:9), and carries him “away in the Spirit” (21:10).1 Here he sees a high-class prostitute who has intoxicated the nations with her immorality (17:2), but is herself drunk with the blood of the saints (17:6). The image is calculated to put the evil empire’s true hideousness in perspective; the ancient horror of cannibalism was great, and imaginary creatures like Cyclops, thought to eat humans, were revolting even to pagans.2 The heads, horns, and blasphemous names link the beast with the dragon and an earlier vision of the beast (17:3; cf. 12:3; 13:1).

The Old Testament prophets often portrayed Israel as a woman, either God’s faithful bride when pure (e.g., Isa. 54:5–6; 62:5; Hos. 2:19–20) or an adulteress when unfaithful to him (e.g., Lev. 17:7; Isa. 1:21; Jer. 3:1; Ezek. 16:20).3 Revelation contrasts two cities, Jerusalem and Babylon, as a bride and prostitute respectively (17:5; 21:2). In two Old Testament instances, the “prostitute” is not Israel, Judah, or Jerusalem, but an evil world empire: Nineveh or Tyre. Nineveh will seduce the nations with her prostitution and witchcraft (Nah. 3:4; see comment on Rev. 18:23); Tyre will play the prostitute “with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth” (Isa. 23:17), yet her wealth will ultimately be laid up for the righteous (23:18).

Some background for the image of the queen here may be found in Jezebel’s pagan repression of God’s prophets; she is condemned for “immorality” in 2:20–22. But Babylon sits as queen in Isaiah 47:5–7. Literal Babylon also lived by “many waters” (Jer. 51:13), though most prosperous ancient cities (including Rome on the Tiber) had water; the “waters” representing the nations here probably imply Rome’s international power.4

Likewise, Gentile rhetoric often imagined one’s ancestors or homeland personified as a woman.5 Coins and other artwork typically depicted a city as a wealthy goddess enthroned beside a river.6 Thus, for example, a bronze coin from the rule of Domitian’s father included the goddess Roma (who personified Rome’s power) sitting on seven hills (cf. 17:9).7 Official state worship included not only worship of the emperor but also worship of the goddess Roma. Some scholars have proposed that Babylon here partly symbolizes Jerusalem.8 Others suggest it predicts a revived role for literal Babylon.9 But especially in view of its place on seven hills (17:9), most commentators recognize that Rome is in view, whether or not they believe the text also looks beyond Rome. As commentators often also recognize, Babylon the prostitute is a deliberate contrast with new Jerusalem as the bride.10 Others also contrasted Zion and Babylon, lamenting Babylon’s prosperity but anticipating its judgment (2 Bar. 11:1–3; 4 Ezra 3:29, 31).

The “kings of the earth” who have “committed adultery” with the prostitute (17:2) will suffer along with her. Some ancient writers used the term kings for any of the wealthy, but the expression was even more suitable for the client-rulers who ruled their people as local agents of Roman authority (cf. also 17:12, 16, 18).11 Thus Babylon is Rome here, but especially “as a corrupting influence on the peoples of the empire”; its economic and political power made Rome a vehicle of propagating international idolatry and immorality.12 This portrait of Rome would have been familiar to much of John’s audience; thus some Jewish Sibylline Oracles complain about Rome’s drunken weddings with her many suitors, probably the kings of the East she was seducing (Sib. Or. 3.356–59).

That the woman sits “on a scarlet beast” with “seven heads and ten horns” (17:3) identifies the beast with the seven-headed, ten-horned red dragon (12:3) as well as with Rome (13:1); this identification is something like calling Rome “Satan incarnate.” It also identifies this beast with the final evil empire destined to be destroyed by God himself (Dan. 7:7, 20, 24).13

In more ways than one, Babylon is “dressed to kill.” Her clothing in purple and scarlet (17:4) indicates her wealth, for purple dye was expensive, and entirely purple garments were associated especially with high-class prostitutes.14 Her gold, precious stones, and pearls (17:4) further contribute to this picture of wealth (18:12, 16), but also help underpin the impending contrast with the city of God, which was built of gold, had streets of gold and gates of pearls, and had precious stones on its foundations (21:18–21). The true and ultimate wealth comes not from trade with Babylon, not from buying and selling with the beast (13:17; cf. Ps. 73:6), but from relinquishing worldly wealth for the promises of Jesus (3:17–18).

No scarlet or gold adornments will protect this sexually unfaithful figure from ultimate rejection and murder by her own lovers (17:16 with Jer. 4:30). The name written on her forehead contrasts with the name written on Jesus in Revelation 19:12–13; presumably the name is on her forehead both to link her with the mark of 13:16 and (if the texts are correctly understood) to draw a parallel with Roman prostitutes wearing their names on their headbands.15 It is possible (though by no means certain) that John and his readers were aware of the ancient tradition that Rome had a “secret” name used by the priesthood, which at least some thought was Amor (Roma spelled backwards), “Love”—which Revelation could parody in the image of a prostitute.16 In any case, as the “mother of prostitutes” (17:5), she is the prototype for prostitutes, the prostitute par excellence after whom the entire profession is modeled—a world in rebellion against God.

Bridging Contexts

THE SYMBOLISM OF ROME. Given that Rome long ago fell, how do we apply a prophecy whose primary short-range target was Rome? That Revelation itself describes this destruction by borrowing familiar images first offered in Old Testament prophecies against earlier evil empires provides the clue: Human sinfulness and God’s consistent justice yield familiar patterns in his dealings over the long haul of history. Jacques Ellul states the matter as well as any: The great prostitute was “Rome, to be sure, for the given historical moment; but not she alone: in reality the summation of all that which is prostitution, as Babylon in her time, who became the symbol of it.” Rather than sexual prostitution per se, this prostitution involves unfaithfulness to God’s covenant, “being in communication (by sacred prostitution) with the religious and spiritual powers, with the satanic sources, and esotericism.”42 The spirit of Babylon and Rome (which John calls a new “Babylon”) outlasts both individual empires to represent evil empires as the world in its most tyrannical form.43

The issue in Revelation 17–18 is not simply that Rome is an evil empire; the issue is that its privileged position in international trade made it a prime exporter of immorality. Thus while we rightly might want to denounce evil empires that oppress their peoples by force, this passage allows us to apply Babylon’s model closer to home (see Contemporary Significance, below).

In seeking to apply this text, however, interpreters have handled it in strange ways. For many years it was customary for Protestants to associate Roman Catholicism with the beast by way of the Pope’s geographical proximity to Rome.44 After the rise of an ecumenical movement, some of whose representatives compromised historic Christian beliefs, one strain of conservative Protestant piety expected an apostate worldwide church including both Catholics and mainline Protestants.45 Those who needed to find an apostate end-time church after the Rapture of the true, Philadelphia church often located it here.46

Some of this unlikely thesis is related to the idea of “Babylonian” mystery religions purportedly mixed in with Roman Catholic practices.47 Yet whereas the church may have adapted some pagan Roman practices, most of the evidence for “Babylonian mystery religions” is a creation of recent centuries of speculation, not rooted in the hard data of history.48 More significantly, what in the text supports the view that the prostitute in chapter 17 is “ecclesiastical Babylon,” a false religion, in contrast to the “political” Babylon such interpreters find in chapter 18? John had in mind Rome, but if we are going to apply John’s principles today, we should not limit the application to all other groups besides ourselves. There are lessons for everyone seduced by the grandeur of the world, whether theologically or in our lifestyles.49 From my observations, this includes a warning for many modern North American evangelicals as well as other people.

Problems with John’s language. Some modern critical commentators have complained that John’s portrayal of Babylon or the world as a prostitute and new Jerusalem as a bride represents sexist stereotypes. To be sure, these are stereotypical roles, but Revelation is merely using images already current in its day (see Original Meaning section). He identifies all believers, male and female, with the faithful bride of 19:7–8 and 21:2 (cf. also 12:1–2). This revelation originally communicated the message effectively for a culture that readily grasped the import of these images. It is therefore appropriate to explain this background for those parts of Western culture today uncomfortable with the language; but to evaluate and condemn John for using such images of his day is culturally insensitive and anachronistic.50

Another problem may arise when we share the message of this text with new believers. Even though our strongest words usually target those with the hardest hearts, those who respond most sensitively are the softer hearts more prone to guilt. Even though the passage does not directly address physical immorality, one person I know bristled at the language of this passage and wondered if her past sins were forgivable. Just as when we preach against physical immorality, it is important to preach with such grace that those who have long since repented of immoral lifestyles are forgiven and welcome among God’s people (cf. Matt. 21:31).

Interpretations of John’s symbols. Many symbols have lent themselves to diverse interpretations through history. Granville Sharp (1735–1813), prominent Greek scholar and antislavery activist, “once gained an interview with the prominent statesman Charles Fox and proceeded to explain to him why Napoleon should be identified with the ‘little horn in Daniel 7.’ ”51 Such historical missteps may have warned subsequent generations to exercise greater caution, but alas, most of us rarely study history, and we quickly forget the lessons of the past. Our own lives are too brief to learn by experience all the lessons we need to know; it is a faithful saying that warns that those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat its mistakes.

Modern “pop” interpreters have had a field day reinterpreting the symbols in Revelation, many without much understanding of the original context or consistency in their interpretive methods. For instance, from the time of the Holy Roman Empire, many expected a literal revived Roman empire. When the European states agreed on a Common Market, prophecy buffs took this as the ten horns of Daniel and Revelation (although they do not correspond geographically to the broader Mediterranean empire of Rome). In the 1960s and 1970s the Common Market had fewer than ten member nations, but many prophecy teachers heralded the triumph of their interpretive tradition when the count reached ten in January 1981. Unfortunately, “by the 1990s the Common Market had fifteen members, which caused another problem.”52

As noted in our introduction, we should examine the Bible on its own terms and not read modern events into it. We should apply it to the events of our day, but—unless we have clear biblical indication that our time is somehow special (which usually comes only in retrospect)—we should apply it as we would to the events of every generation and to our own lives.

Contemporary Significance

THE HARD WORK of relevant application. John employs images of his day, which reminds us to contextualize and apply the biblical message for those with whom we share his message today. Normally, we have not done the work of application if we can only point the finger to figures in the distance, and in this case we have plenty of application potential close to home. Even from secular corners, some have called for repentance in our society. The editor of a widely read secular magazine remarked in the context of a readers’ poll on religious values:

When our federal government buys claw hammers for $250 each from defense contractors while cutting welfare payments to people who get blankets from charity and when a Wall Street crook can get a standing ovation from students at a prestigious business school by telling them that they have a right to be selfish, a return to basic moral values is long overdue.53

American immorality as one application of Revelation. An application of the image of the prostitute solely to military imperialism (which we usually apply to totalitarian societies rather than to ourselves) misses the connection in the text. Rome no longer needed to control the entire empire by troops since economic imperialism had rendered most of its empire dependent on it.

One writer epitomizes Babylon as “the essential version of the demonic in triumph in a nation,” whether in Nazi Germany or in the United States of America.54 The United States today is not an evil empire in the sense of totalitarian or politically repressive states like the Assyrians or Nazi Germany, or (at the time of this book’s writing) Iran, the Sudan, or Milosevic’s short-lived genocidal agendas in Serbia—all of which invite judgment unless they repent. But we can still apply the text’s principles in ways relevant to our society; we have become one of the world’s primary exporters of immorality. Is it any wonder some Muslim nations—who try to guard against public exposure at least for one gender—have regarded the United States as the “Great Satan” when the most widely watched television program in the world is Baywatch?55

At least we can gather that U.S. government priorities are clear; when the Saudi government demanded that the U.S. embassy close down both worship services and nightclubs for American citizens, the embassy “compromised: If they could keep the nightclubs open, they would close the worship services.”56 Sex scandals in the highest reaches of U.S. government are, not surprisingly, a cause of ridicule in the Muslim world, with major consequences for American foreign policy and American lives—hardly simply a “private” matter as some have insisted.57

The export of American democracy to some postcommunist countries has accompanied a dramatic rise in black market economies and Mafia-type crime, and popular songs in some of those countries glorify drugs or rape, courtesy of our nation’s entertainment industry.58 “Alarmed by divorce rates approaching 25 percent, what they see as rampant infidelity and a younger generation that gleans its values from Hollywood and MTV,” Chinese officials understandably have sought stricter laws governing public morality.59

Although the medium can also be used for good, the U.S. entertainment media has become largely an agent for propagating destructive values.60 Many children and some adults have copied crimes witnessed in a movie.61 Thus, for example, a nineteen-year-old man stabbed to death an eighteen-year-old college woman, then killed himself; police found in his room ninety horror movies, plus a machete and goalie mask modeled after those used in the Friday the Thirteenth movies.62 Thirty-one percent of teenagers say they have copied what they see; “according to the California Justice Department, 21% of teenage crime is directly copied after what the teenagers see in movies and on television right down to the minute gory details.”63

By the age of sixteen the average child raised in the United States has witnessed “26,000 overt sex acts and as many as 400,000 sexual references and innuendos, as well as 200,000 portrayals of violence, including 33,000 murders, on television and in movies.”64 One horror filmmaker admits that “often the murders are filmed from the point of view of the murderer,” but then amazingly protests that this does not lead horror fans to identify “with the psychopathic killers”!65 Statistical evidence is now clear that such entertainment media violence desensitizes us to real violence, helping to produce violence among a generation raised on it.66

One may object that the American church is not responsible for the behavior of its culture, but when buying and television viewing habits of Christians differ little from that of our secular neighbors, can we deny responsibility for supporting an industry that is killing the world?67 Early Christians refused to go into theaters to be “entertained” by watching other people suffer.68 It is said that in the fourth century an Asian monk named Telemachus visited Rome and was horrified by a gladiatorial fight in the Colosseum. Hurling himself between the gladiators he sought to prevent either of them from being killed, until he was killed instead. As he lay still on the ground, one spectator got up in disgust, followed by others, until everyone had gone. This marked the end of gladiatorial contests in Rome’s Coliseum.69 Unfortunately, what early Christians avoided in public, modern Christians invite into their living rooms.

Judgment on the nations of the world. Those who participate in others’ sin and allow themselves to be deluded by it must share their judgment, though the seducers will face harsher judgment than the seduced (17:2; 18:9). That the ten kings turn on the prostitute in the end (17:16) shows us something about the world’s loyalties. Even in Roman politics, it was understood that alliances were often a temporary measure to gain what one wanted, and one might shift loyalties if it proved in one’s own interests to do so. God often uses the wicked to destroy themselves (cf. Judg. 7:22; 2 Chron. 20:23). Such a “falling out,” a dividing of Satan against Satan, “is inevitable in ‘a moral universe.’ And the end for every evil power is internal strife, self-destruction, death.”70

Every empire in history, from the Assyrians to the Soviet Union, has collapsed, usually strangled by its own internal contradictions before being finished off by invaders. We need fear no empire and no repression, because history guarantees that every mere human or demonic empire will fall. God’s saints suffer for now, but God’s purposes in history will prevail. This truth encourages believers to stand firm, for the future lies with God, not with the mightiest empires on today’s horizon.

Evil rulers have their “hour” (17:12)—then they and ultimately their empires fade. From the short vantage point of our individual lives, justice seems delayed; from the long perspective of history, however, the power of oppressors is always brought to an end. This is certain because, as this passage also illustrates unambiguously (17:17), God remains sovereign even over choices made by evil empires. One might think of Hitler’s fateful decision to turn against Stalin and send troops to the Russian front. In terms of years of war preparation and strategy, Germany was ahead of the Allies; but toward the end Hitler made some severe strategic blunders, was forced to execute some brilliant tacticians like Rommel, and ultimately destroyed his own cause.

Original Meaning

Seven Heads As Mountains and Kings (17:6–11)

AS ROME MADE others drunk with her immorality (17:2), she also became drunk herself with the blood of the saints (17:6; cf. 18:20–24). Ancient writers sometimes portrayed prostitutes as drinkers, but “drunk with … blood” transforms this from a merely troublesome image into a horrifying one.17 The image of drinking blood was a hideous one for Jews (Lev. 17:14; Deut. 12:23), but not unprecedented in deliberately terrifying oracles (Deut. 32:42; Isa. 49:26; Ezek. 39:19).18 By John’s day many saints had been martyred under Nero but probably not many under Domitian (2:13); yet in the centuries that follow, many more will die martyrs’ deaths, especially to entertain Roman audiences.19 Visionaries sometimes asked angels or others to explain what they were seeing (e.g., Dan. 12:8; 2 Bar. 38:3), but John simply is astonished, inviting the angelic response (Rev. 17:6–7). The expression could suggest an appreciative marveling that requires correction (13:3; 15:1; 17:8); but given John’s knowledge of what she is drunk with, it is doubtful that his appreciation is positive.

As the angel explains the mystery of the woman and the beast (17:7–18), only the purest semblance of subtlety remains; in several different ways, the beast is identified with Rome (on “mystery,” see comment on 1:20).20 (1) The woman sits on seven mountains (17:9); Rome was regularly portrayed in this manner. (2) The leader of Babylon is apparently the new Nero (17:8–11); although Nero was associated also with the Parthians, as a ruler in the series of the seven he will rule Rome. (3) This empire rules over the other kings of the earth (17:18), who rules the nations gathered around the sea as a maritime power (17:15). (4) “Babylon” was a standard Jewish title for Rome by this period (see comment on 14:8; both empires destroyed the temple).

Rome regularly appears as a city on seven hills or mountains, as Caird points out:

From the time of her sixth king, Servius Tullius, Rome had been known as urbs Septicollis, and the festival of Septimontium was celebrated every year in December to commemorate the enclosure of the seven hills within her walls (Suetonius, Dom. 4). Latin literature is full of references to this well-known feature of Roman topography.21

Revelation’s symbolism is so transparent that non-Christian Romans would have immediately understood its import and regarded the document as subversive; “All the seers who announced the impending doom of Roman sovereignty were understandably viewed as enemies of the state.”22 But in addition to seeing Rome, many commentators also view the great prostitute as the evil world system that in principle continues beyond Rome’s fall.23

Most commentators also find an allusion to Nero in 17:8–11.24 The invitation to discern wisdom in 17:9 recalls the same formula in 13:18; while that does not necessarily imply a connection between the identities of the two mysterious kings, it draws attention to the connection between two passages that on other grounds seem to address the same revived ruler.25 That the seven heads can represent both seven mountains and seven kings suggests that Revelation freely reapplies as polyvalent its imagery. Perhaps John even expects hearers to smile at his application of seven heads to the “seven hills” of Rome.

Who are the seven kings (17:10)? Daniel’s beast had ten horns and another one that cast down three horns, which leaves seven (Dan. 7:20, 24); but even if this is part of John’s reason for numbering seven kings, Revelation probably wants seven of them anyway. Its scheme may be somewhat forced, because John has to maintain the “seven” scheme for his own literary patterns (the “ten” kings of 17:12, 16, are borrowed from Daniel); “To limit Satan’s messianic dynasty to seven Roman emperors is to impose upon John’s poetic imagery a literalism which it will not bear.”26 Or, as another commentator puts it, seven is one of John’s symbolic numbers, “and they would remain seven no matter how long the actual list happened to be.”27

Nevertheless, John can make his point fit into his seven schema; it is not at all difficult to find a pattern of rulers that accommodates the revived Nero image that John seems to employ here.28 The king who “is” (17:10) must be Domitian, if early church tradition correctly dates the book; five kings back from Domitian easily includes Nero if we skip the three interim usurpers who reigned for only a few months between Nero and Vespasian before their violent deaths (otherwise Nero misses the count by two emperors).29

The “eighth king” is one of the rulers from the first seven who returns, undoubtedly the head earlier mentioned as wounded as if to death but recovered (13:3). This constitutes a parody of Jesus’ resurrection—just as the phrase “[who] once was, now is not, and will come” (17:8) parodies the Lord “who is, and who was, and who is to come” (1:4, 8; cf. 4:8).30 Because some forms of the Nero myth expected his return to destroy Rome at the head of the Parthians, Bauckham argues that the return of Nero in 17:10–11 may refer not to his parody resurrection (as in 13:3) but to his parody parousia—the final king of Rome leading the Parthians to overthrow it.31 On this view, one could thus think of a “pagan messiah,” Satan’s last attempt to establish a kingdom, which would ultimately undermine his Roman power and show the futility of any universal human or satanic government opposed to God’s kingdom. The Parthian menace is not clear in this passage, so this proposal remains speculative. In any case, the thought of Nero’s return would be no less terrifying to the current Roman regime that had supplanted it than to the Christians, who had suffered under Nero’s purges before.