Chapter 18:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| McGee
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Jude Genesis
Revelation 18
Verse 1. And I saw another angel coming down out of heaven - Termed
another, with respect to him who "came down out of heaven,"
chap. x, 1. And the earth was enlightened with his glory - To
make his coming more conspicuous. If such be the lustre of the
servant, what images can display the majesty of the Lord, who has
"thousand thousands" of those glorious attendants "ministering to
him, and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him?"
Verse
2. And he cried, Babylon is fallen - This fall was mentioned
before, chap. xiv, 8; but is now declared at large. And is become
an habitation - A free abode. Of devils, and an hold - A prison. Of
every unclean spirit - Perhaps confined there where they had once
practiced all uncleanness, till the judgment of the great day. How
many horrid inhabitants hath desolate Babylon! of invisible
beings, devils, and unclean spirits; of visible, every unclean beast,
every filthy and hateful bird. Suppose, then, Babylon to mean
heathen Rome; what have the Romanists gained, seeing from the
time of that destruction, which they say is past, these are to be its
only inhabitants for ever.
Verse
4. And I heard another voice - Of Christ, whose people, secretly
scattered even there, are warned of her approaching destruction.
That ye be not partakers of her sins - That is, of the fruits of them.
What a remarkable providence it was that the Revelation was
printed in the midst of Spain, in the great Polyglot Bible, before
the Reformation! Else how much easier had it been for the Papists
to reject the whole book, than it is to evade these striking parts of
it.
Verse
5. Even to heaven - An expression which implies the highest guilt.
Verse
6. Reward her - This God speaks to the executioners of his
vengeance. Even as she hath rewarded - Others; in particular, the
saints of God. And give her double - This, according to the
Hebrew idiom, implies only a full retaliation.
Verse
7. As much as she hath glorified herself - By pride, and pomp, and
arrogant boasting. And lived deliciously - In all kinds of elegance,
luxury, and wantonness. So much torment give her -
Proportioning the punishment to the sin. Because she saith in her
heart - As did ancient Babylon, Isai xlvii, 8, 9. I sit - Her usual
style. Hence those expressions, "The chair, the seat of Rome: he
sat so many years." As a queen - Over many kings, "mistress of
all churches; the supreme; the infallible; the only spouse of Christ;
out of which there is no salvation." And am no widow - But the
spouse of Christ. And shall see no sorrow - From the death of my
children, or any other calamity; for God himself will defend "the
church."
Verse
8. Therefore - as both the natural and judicial consequence of this
proud security Shall her plagues come - The death of her children,
with an incapacity of bearing more. Sorrow - of every kind. And
famine - In the room of luxurious plenty: the very things from
which she imagined herself to be most safe. For strong is the Lord
God who judgeth her - Against whom therefore all her strength,
great as it is, will not avail.
Verse
10. Thou strong city - Rome was anciently termed by its
inhabitants, Valentia, that is, strong. And the word Rome itself, in
Greek, signifies strength. This name was given it by the Greek
strangers.
Verse
12. Merchandise of gold, &c. - Almost all these are still in use at
Rome, both in their idolatrous service, and in common life. Fine
linen - The sort of it mentioned in the original is exceeding costly.
Thyine wood - A sweet-smelling wood not unlike citron, used in
adorning magnificent palaces. Vessels of most precious wood -
Ebony, in particular, which is often mentioned with ivory: the one
excelling in whiteness, the other in blackness; and both in
uncommon smoothness.
Verse
13. Amomum - A shrub whose wood is a fine perfume. And
beasts - Cows and oxen. And of chariots - a purely Latin word is
here inserted in the Greek. This St. John undoubtedly used on
purpose, in describing the luxury of Rome. And of bodies - A
common term for slaves. And souls of men - For these also are
continually bought and sold at Rome. And this of all others is the
most gainful merchandise to the Roman traffickers.
Verse
14. And the fruits - From what was imported they proceed to the
domestic delicates of Rome; none of which is in greater request
there, than the particular sort which is here mentioned. The word
properly signifies, pears, peaches, nectarines, and all of the apple
and plum kinds. And all things that are dainty - To the taste. And
splendid - To the sight; as clothes, buildings, furniture.
Verse
19. And they cast dust on their heads - As mourners. Most of the
expressions here used in describing the downfall of Babylon are
taken from Ezekiel's description of the downfall of Tyre, Ezek.
xxvi, 1 - Ezek. xxviii, 19.
Verse
20. Rejoice over her, thou heaven - That is, all the inhabitants of
it; and more especially, ye saints; and among the saints still more
eminently, ye apostles and prophets.
Verse
21. And a mighty angel took up a stone, and threw it into the sea -
By a like emblem Jeremiah fore-showed the fall of the Chaldean
Babylon, Jer. li, 63, 64.
Verse
22. And the voice of harpers - Players on stringed instruments.
And musicians - Skilful singers in particular. And pipers - Who
played on flutes, chiefly on mournful, whereas trumpeters played
on joyful, occasions. Shall be heard no more in thee; and no
artificer - Arts of every kind, particularly music, sculpture,
painting, and statuary, were there carried to their greatest height.
No, nor even the sound of a mill-stone shall be heard any more in
thee - Not only the arts that adorn life, but even those
employments without which it cannot subsist, will cease from
thee for ever. All these expressions denote absolute and eternal
desolation. The voice of harpers - Music was the entertainment of
the rich and great; trade, the business of men of middle rank;
preparing bread and the necessaries of life, the employment of the
lowest people: marriages, in which lamps and songs were known
ceremonies, are the means of peopling cities, as new births supply
the place of those that die. The desolation of Rome is therefore
described in such a manner, as to show that neither rich nor poor,
neither persons of middle rank, nor those of the lowest condition,
should be able to live there any more. Neither shall it be repeopled
by new marriages, but remain desolate and uninhabited for ever.
Verse
23. For thy merchants were the great men of the earth - A
circumstance which was in itself indifferent, and yet led them into
pride, luxury, and numberless other sins.
Verse
24. And in her was found the blood of the prophets and saints -
The same angel speaks still, yet he does not say "in thee," but in
her, now so sunk as not to hear these last words. And of all that
had been slain - Even before she was built. See Matt. xxiii, 35.
There is no city under the sun which has so clear a title to catholic
blood-guiltiness as Rome. The guilt of the blood shed under the
heathen emperors has not been removed under the Popes, but
hugely multiplied. Nor is Rome accountable only for that which
hath been shed in the city, but for that shed in all the earth. For at
Rome under the Pope, as well as under the heathen emperors,
were the bloody orders and edicts given: and whereever the blood
of holy men was shed, there were the grand rejoicings for it. And
what immense quantities of blood have been shed by her agents!
Charles IX., of France, in his letter to Gregory XIII., boasts, that
in and not long after the massacre of Paris, he had destroyed
seventy thousand Hugonots. Some have computed, that, from the
year 1518, to 1548, fifteen millions of Protestants have perished
by the Inquisition. This may be overcharged; but certainly the
number of them in those thirty years, as well as since, is almost
incredible. To these we may add innumerable martyrs, in ancient,
middle, and late ages, in Bohemia, Germany, Holland, France,
England, Ireland, and many other parts of Europe, Afric, and
Asia.
Chapter 18:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| McGee
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Jude Genesis
This version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible is a derivative of an electronic version, Copyright 1997, by Sulu D. Kelley. All rights reserved. Used by permission. It may not be modified or used commercially without permission of Wesleyan Heritage Publishing and Sulu Kelley. A special thanks to Mr. Kelley and Wesleyan Heritage Publishing for permission to create and post this version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible.
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