Apocalisse 18:6 Commento

We have here, I. An angel proclaiming the fall of Babylon (Rev 18:1, Rev 18:2). II. Assigning the reasons of her fall (Rev 18:3). III. Giving warning to all who belonged to God to come out of her (Rev 18:4, Rev 18:5), and to assist in her destruction (Rev 18:6-8). IV. The great lamentation made for her by those who had been large sharers in her sinful pleasures and profits (Rev 18:9-19). V. The great joy that there would be among others at the sight of her irrecoverable ruin (Rev 18:20, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION 18 This chapter gives an account of the fall of Babylon, and of the lamentation of many, and of the joy of others, by reason of it; which account is published by several angels: the first that declares her fall is described by his original, descending from heaven; by the great power he had; by his resplendent glory, and by his mighty cry in publishing her destruction; which is illustrated by the desolate condition she will be in upon her fall; the reasons of which are given, became the nations and kings of the earth had committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth were enriched by her luxury, Rev 18:1. Another voice is heard from heaven, calling upon the people of God, first to come out of her, lest partaking of her sins they should share in her plagues, seeing her iniquities had reached to heaven, and were remembered before God; and next to take full vengeance on her, because she had glorified herself, lived deliciously, and in great security, Rev 18:4. And then follows a continuation of the account of her destruction, what her plagues would be, death, mourning, famine, and fire; and which would be sudden, in one hour, and certain, from the power and justice of God, Rev 18:8. Next follow the lamentations of the kings, merchants, and masters of ships, because of her greatness, riches, and merchandise, which are all come to nothing, Rev 18:9. And then the church; the saints, apostles, and prophets, are called upon to rejoice at the vengeance taken on her, Rev 18:20 upon which a mighty angel appears, who by an action signifies the manner of her destruction, and the irrecoverableness of her state and condition, Rev 18:21 and declares her utter ruin, by affirming that nothing that was either delightful or profitable, or necessary or comfortable, should any more be found in her; giving the reasons of it, because of her luxury, idolatry, and bloodshed, Rev 18:22.

Reward her even as she rewarded you,.... This is spoken to the people of God, who are before called out of Babylon; and the chief of them are the seven angels with the seven last plagues of the wrath of God, and the same with the ten kings that will burn the whore with fire; these are called upon to take vengeance, by way of retaliation, for what she had done to them, in allusion to what is said of old Babylon, Jer 1:15 and must be understood not of what she will have done to them personally, but to their predecessors in the faith of Christ in former ages; that as she had hated them, and made war with them, so now they should hate her, and make war with her; and as she had stripped them naked of their clothes, and spoiled them of their worldly goods and substance, so now they should strip her naked of her harlot's attire, of her gold, silver, and precious stones, and make her and her territories desolate; and as she has burnt many of the precious saints in the flames, as here in England, and elsewhere, so now they shall utterly burn her with fire; and as she has shed the blood of the righteous, and drank it, and been drunk with it, they shall give her blood to drink; and as she hath killed multitudes with the sword, so now shall they kill her and her children; see Rev 13:12 nor is this contrary to the doctrine of Christ and his apostles, and the spirit of Christianity, which will not admit of revenge, Mat 5:38 Rom 12:17 since this will not be private, but public revenge, inflicted by Christian princes and magistrates, who are ministers of God, and revengers to execute wrath on them that do evil: and double unto her double according to her works: the meaning is not to inflict upon her a punishment doubly greater than her sins, for this would be contrary to the justice of God; nor does ever God punish men in this life more, but less, than their iniquities deserve; nor can any temporal punishment be doubly greater than sin, which deserves eternal death; and with this she will be punished hereafter, and therefore will not have her full punishment now, and much less a greater than her sins required; to which may be added, that this will be according to her works, her wicked works, and therefore will not exceed the demerit of her sins: but the sense is, that if it was possible to be done, they should use her with double severity to that she had used them with; seeing her sins deserved a severer treatment than even they had had from her; the phrase signifies an abundant and utter destruction, a punishment which was suitable and sufficient; see Isa 40:2 and it suggests that they should not spare her, nor pity her, but use her with the greatest severity imaginable, it being not possible to exceed her due deserts, or what her works required: in the cup which he hath filled, fill to her double: not in the cup of her abominations, her errors, idolatries, and wickedness; but in the cup of afflictions and trouble, which she wrung out to the people of God, in that give her double portion: the sense is the same as before.

Now, brothers, you see the saints armed. Observe the slaughter, observe their glorious battles.… What have these done who had in their hands swords sharpened on both sides? "To do vengeance on the nations." See whether vengeance has not been done on the nations. Daily is it done; we do it ourselves by speaking. Observe how the nations of Babylon are slain. She is repaid twofold.… How is she repaid double? The saints wage war, they draw their "swords twice sharpened." From there come defeats, slaughters, severances. How is she repaid double? When she had the power to persecute the Christians, she slew the flesh indeed, but she crushed not God. Now she is repaid double, for the pagans are extinguished and the idols are broken.… And lest you should think that people are really smitten with the sword, blood really shed, wounds made in the flesh, he goes on and explains "chastisements on the peoples." What is "chastisements"? Reproof. Let the two-edged sword go forth from you. Do not delay. Say to your friend, if you have yet a friend [among the pagans] left to whom to say it, "What kind of man are you, who have abandoned him by whom you were made, and worship what he made? Better is the workman than that which he makes." When he begins to blush, when he begins to feel compunction, you have made a wound with your sword, it has reached his heart, he is about to die that he may live.

Therefore he says that God, having been very patient, has now risen for retribution. He therefore tells her to render sins double, although through the all-wise Moses God commanded us that "one should not exact vengeance twice for the same thing." (see Deut. 32.41; Nahum 1:9) How then does he himself repay twice? Double [διπλᾶ] does not mean double in the numerical sense, but that, being loving toward mankind and good, and far less inclined to punish to the extent deserved, God considers that he has repaid twice even when he gives back a portion; and not only twice, but sevenfold. And knowing this the prophet said, "Return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom their reproach which they reproached you with, O Lord." (Ps. 78:12) From the petition for sevenfold vengeance he is asking God concerning the deserved punishment of the enemies, instead of which, he says, having been glorified and having squandered the providence of this present life, he has not fulfilled the divine will. Render to her.

All of these future events are appropriate for the second advent, when upon the inquiry of the final judgment the society of the impious will be excluded and will suffer its just reward, so that those who sinned in time might be punished in perpetuity. This is what is meant when it says, “Repay her double” and “a double draught is mixed for her,” that whoever took pleasure in transient delights might suffer eternal torments. By way of the psalm the Lord foretells that he frees his own from such payments: “From usury and injustice he will redeem their souls.” In addition, they are said to burn in a perpetual fire and to be afflicted by a famine, namely, then when those who now hunger and thirst after righteousness shall receive an incorruptible abundance. Moreover, they suffer death, since God has abandoned them. For just as when the soul leaves, the body dies, so when God abandons the soul, it is thought to die. This mourning is that of which Christ speaks in the Gospel, “Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.” To show that God desires to keep his followers unharmed by these plagues, it says, “Lest you share in her plagues.” This is as though it said, since you were turned away from their will and were not like them in their sins, you will not receive an equal punishment. Nor can we by our own strength avoid these plagues, since this can be granted to us only by the goodness of God. But keeping to the proper order, the Holy Spirit declares that those who were not made captive in their heart by an assent to impiety would in no way suffer the torments of the impious, saying, “The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them.”

These words may refer to those who, although innocent in [Babylon], yet suffered the most terrible things at the hands of those who ruled her and through their endurance of these agonies were the reason for the punishment of their tormentors. Or these words may refer to a change of persons and circumstances, from those who were tormented to certain holy powers that have acquired the power of punishment and through love of God exercise those torments that had been done by her against their fellow servants. He speaks of the cup as “double,” either because sinners and transgressors are punished both here and in the age to come, or because both the soul and the body are punished for their common deeds, or because of the depth of divine benevolence that is reckoned as double which is lacking of pure justice on account of sin, and punishment is often endured in the conscience.

Repay her as she has repaid you. For visible and invisible plagues come forth from the Church into the world.

And repay her double according to her works. So that she who enjoyed temporal pleasures may be tormented with eternal pains.

A luminous angel proclaims the fall of Babylon, and the cause of it, Rev 18:1-3. The followers of God are exhorted to come out of it, in order to escape her approaching punishment, Rev 18:4-8. The kings of the earth lament her fate, Rev 18:9, Rev 18:10. The merchants also bewail her, Rev 18:11. The articles in which she trafficked enumerated, Rev 18:12-16. She is bewailed also by shipmasters, sailors, etc., Rev 18:17-19. All heaven rejoices over her fall, and her final desolation is foretold, Rev 18:20-24.

Reward her even as she rewarded you - These words are a prophetic declaration of what shall take place: God will deal with her as she dealt with others.

BABYLON'S FALL: GOD'S PEOPLE CALLED OUT OF HER: THE KINGS AND MERCHANTS OF THE EARTH MOURN, WHILE THE SAINTS REJOICE AT HER FALL. (Rev. 18:1-24) And--so Vulgate and ANDREAS. But A, B, Syriac, and Coptic omit "And." power--Greek, "authority." lightened--"illumined." with--Greek, "owing to."

Addressed to the executioners of God's wrath. Reward--Greek, "repay." she rewarded--English Version reading adds "you" with none of the oldest manuscripts. But A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic omit it. She had not rewarded or repaid the world power for some injury which the world power had inflicted on her; but she had given the world power that which was its due, namely, spiritual delusions, because it did not like to retain God in its knowledge; the unfaithful Church's principle was, "Populus vult decipi, et decipiatur." "The people like to be deceived, and let them be deceived." double--of sorrow. Contrast with this the double of joy which Jerusalem shall receive for her past suffering (Isa 61:7; Zac 9:12); even as she has received double punishment for her sins (Isa 40:2). unto her--So Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS. A, B, and C omit it. in the cup-- (Rev 18:3; Rev 14:8; Rev 17:4). filled--literally "mixed." fill to her double--of the Lord's cup of wrath.