9"When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. 10Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry:
" 'Woe! Woe, O great city,
O Babylon, city of power!
In one hour your doom has come!'
11"The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more— 12cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; 13cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men.
14"They will say, 'The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.' 15The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn 16and cry out:
" 'Woe! Woe, O great city,
dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet,
and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls!
17In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!'
"Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off. 18When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, 'Was there ever a city like this great city?' 19They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out: " 'Woe! Woe, O great city,
where all who had ships on the sea
became rich through her wealth!
In one hour she has been brought to ruin!
Dig Deeper
I remember one morning while I was teaching at an inner-city high school in which there was quite a stir through the halls. The night before there had been a big arrest in the neighborhood in which most of the kids lived. Five gang leaders from the dominant gang in that neighborhood, as well as at least twenty other members had been arrested in one night as the result of a long government investigation and subsequent sting. You would think that the response to such a group of criminals being taken off the streets would be jubilation but that was not the case. Many of the kids had known these people, tolerated or even participated in certain aspects of their activities, and profited in different ways from their control of the area. To see all of these young men go down in one night was not only a shock but it also elicited responses of fear among some who thought they might be next and mourning among others who knew that they would no longer profit from this gang.
In the same way, the kings of the earth, John says, will not look at God’s judgment on apostate Israel with praise for God, but rather with fear that they might be next and sadness that the party has come to an end. Rather than allowing this judgment to serve as a strong warning to them to change their behavior, they can only lament over what has been lost. As we will see in the next passage, this response is in sharp contrast to the response of the righteous who actually are told to rejoice over the destruction of Jerusalem.
18:9 - We will be told of three groups of people that will mourn the destruction of Jerusalem. The first is that of the kings of the earth, these are the same people that joined in with the Covenant people in their apostasy, and their destruction is a fearful sign to them of God’s judgment. They see the smoke of her burning, a symbol borrowed from the description of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:28) and the fall of Edom (Isa. 34:10), and are reminded that a similar fate for them might not be long in coming. And well they should as God had told Jeremiah that the nations of the earth would taste from His cup of wrath (Jer. 25:28-29). The lament of each group ends with the words woe, woe, O great city. This may have taken special significance for readers familiar with Jerusalem before her destruction. Josephus, in The Jewish Wars, wrote of a man called the son of Ananias who stood in the Temple courts beginning in 62 AD (when all was still prosperous and well) preaching and crying "woe, woe to Jerusalem."
18:11-17a - The second groups of mourners is that of the merchants. The wealth of Jerusalem was a direct result of the blessings that were part of the Covenant (Lev. 26; Deut. 28). God had blessed her with great wealth to demonstrate that they were His people, but she had abused that gift. A great deal could be said about the list of items (which are similar to a list in Ezek. 27:12-24 in a prophecy against Tyre), but suffice it to say that the list probably reflects the Temple and the commerce that surrounded it. Ancient sources confirm that Jerusalem had become a major hub in importing and exporting goods to and from the Roman world. What is perhaps the most shocking is the last line of this list: and souls of men. This phrase is borrowed from the description of Tyre’s slave traffic in Ezek. 27:13, but is applied to Jerusalem’s spiritual corruption of men’s souls. Paul used a similar allusion in contrasting the earthly, apostate Jerusalem with the heavenly City of God: "The present city of Jerusalem . . . . is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother" (Gal. 4:25-26). Rather than being the light of the world, Jerusalem had prostituted herself and led them into bondage to the Dragon.
By engaging in this apostasy, the fruit that Jerusalem had longed for is gone. The blessings of the Covenant that they had long desired had been forfeited by listening to the Serpent. Israel, like Adam and Eve, had failed as the representative of mankind and would now be barred from the Tree of Life; they would also forfeit their physical riches and splendor.
The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from Jerusalem are powerless to do anything more than stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will realize that the source of their great wealth will never be the same. They will weep and mourn and cry out for their partner in apostasy, the woman who was so seductive and beautiful in her fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. The description of the clothes confirm the identity of the city as Jerusalem, dressed in the glory of the Temple and the linen of the Bride (Rev. 19:8). Those who had partnered and profited from the prostitute city, will be amazed at the suddenness of her fall: In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin! This destruction that is being described is the promised desolation of Jerusalem (Matt. 23:38; 24:15, etc.). Like the previous use of day, the term hour is not a literal reference, but describes the unexpected suddenness of the destruction. John also uses the term hour quite often when referring to a particularly critical time (John 2:4; 5:25, 28; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23; 17:1; 1 John 2:18).
17b- 19 - The third group of mourner is the sea captains, those who travel by ship, sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea. John has already stressed the economic ruin brought by Jerusalem’s destruction, so although this class of people emphasizes that aspect, it likely also points to the nations of the world, symbolized by the people of the sea (He has already said that the many waters represents all the people of the earth). This also alludes to Ps. 107:23-32, where those in the ships are instructed in the ways of the Lord and give thanks to Him for His "unfailing love." Proclaiming God’s unfailing love was to be the purpose of Israel, but she had abandoned that vocation.
Devotional Thought
Israel’s vocation had been to proclaim God’s unfailing love to the world, but they had instead led the world into continued apostasy. What can you learn from that to apply to your own life? Do you more often proclaim God’s unfailing love to the lost souls around you, or do you quietly approve of their behavior by not saying anything? How can you proclaim God’s unfailing love to the lost souls in your life today?
No comments:
Post a Comment