Revelation 17:1-7

The Woman and the Beast
1One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. 2With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries."
3Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. 5This title was written on her forehead:
MYSTERY
BABYLON THE GREAT
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.
When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. 7Then the angel said to me: "Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns.



17:1-2 - The vision of the seven angels continues in chapter 17. One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came to John and shows him the fall of the great prostitute. John has already told his readers about a harlot-city named Babylon the great (Rev. 14:8; 16:19). The resemblance of the prostitute to the original Babylon is emphasized by the fact that she is sitting on many waters, an image borrowed from Jeremiah’s description of Babylon in his declaration of judgment against her (Jer. 51:13). The term ultimately refers to the many blessings that God had given to Babylon, which she had prostituted for her own glory. John will give us further symbolic meaning to this phrase later in verse 15. The prostitute city has committed adultery with the inhabitants of the earth. This wording is taken from Isaiah’s prophecy against Tyre, where it primarily refers to her international commerce (Isa. 23:15-17). There are a few other examples of a pagan nation being accused of prostitution, most often, however, it is a charge leveled against Israel (Isa. 1:21; Jer. 2:20-24, 30-33; 3:1-3; Hos. 9:1).

This theme of harlotry is even more prominent in Ezekiel where Israel is charged with religious-political alliances with powerful Gentile kingdoms (Ezek. 16:26-29). God, through Ezekiel, charges Israel of adultery using language so graphic and shocking that most modern pastors wouldn’t dare to preach from these passages. Ezekiel accuses Israel of spreading her legs to ever passerby (Ezek. 16:25). He says that Israel lusts after the Egyptians, whose sex organs are the size of a donkey and who have the ability to produce semen in amounts that rivals horses (Ezek. 16:26; 23:30). She is so eager, says Ezekiel to commit adultery, that she is willing to pay strangers rather than the other way around (Ezek. 16:33-34). This same attitude of adultery was still evident in first-century Israel. The apostasy of Jerusalem led the whole nation into religious and political fornication as the inhabitants of the earth (Israel; see 3:10) were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

17:3 - Earlier, the woman that represented the Church went into the wilderness, but that was out of necessity and for a short time. In contrast, this woman is sitting in the desert, apparently in her element, as the wilderness is a sign of the curse, symbolically the habitation of demons (Matt. 12:43). She would prefer to say in the wilderness rather than follow the Spirit into the promised land. The wilderness is her destiny (cf. Num. 13-14; Zech. 5:5-11). She is sitting on a scarlet beast that has characteristics of both the Sea Beast, as it is full of blasphemous names (13:1), and the Dragon, as it has seven heads and ten horns (12:3). The most likely solution to this combined imagery is that John meant to depict Israel’s harlotry with both Satan and the Roman Empire. This is further support that the woman, the great harlot-city, is not Rome, because she is seen distinct here from the Beast that represents Rome.

17:4 - The woman is dressed in purple and scarlet, like royalty (Jud. 8:26; 2 Sam. 1:24; Dan. 5:7, 16, 29); She was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls like the glorious city of God (Isa. 54:11-12; 60:5-11; Rev. 21:18-21) and the garments of the high priest (Ex. 28:9-29) and the Throne of God (Rev. 4:3-4). These are not the clothes of a prostitute, these are originally the clothes of a righteous woman who was arrayed in glorious dress (cf. Ex. 3:22; Ezek. 16:11-14; Prov. 31:21-22). She is wearing the clothes of the people of God but has denigrated them with her adulterous behavior. She even takes a communion of sorts from a cup filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.

17:5 - In a familiar fashion in this book, The prostitute also has a name written on her forehead. She was called to be the true Babylon the Great, the gate of God, but has instead rejected God and become the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth. That her title begins with Mystery, which demonstrates further evidence that she is Jerusalem, the city which formed an integral party of the mystery of salvation which brought together Jews with the Gentiles.

17:6-7 - John tells us what the woman had in the cup: she was drunk with the blood of the saints. This is the ultimate unclean food (Lev. 17:10-14). While Rome did become a great persecutor of the church, we must remember that this came about only at the instigation of the Jews. Jerusalem’s whole history was engaged in persecution of the godly, especially the prophets (Matt. 21:33-44; 23:29-35; acts 7:51-53). The word astonished actually says "wondered with great admiration." The point John is making that is lost in the NIV translation is that John sees that the prostitute is extremely attractive as most prostitutes are. The angel wonders why John, and his readers might be so attracted to this whore. In order that they will not be fooled by her, John will now reveal the true nature of the prostitute and the Beast.