Ecclesiastical Harlot vs. Commercial City?
City of Babylon (“Great Babylon”) vs. Mystery Babylon, the harlot woman, mother of whores...both under rule of the antichrist, filled with blasphemy, etc.
Sea port, destroyed by God (Rev 18:8-10, 19, 21) vs. City of seven hills, destroyed by political beast (Rev 17:16).
[1] “And after these things...”: Meta tauta: after what things?
[2] “And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen...”:
“...is fallen, is fallen”: Isa 21:9; Rev 14:8.
Sevenfold call : Isa 48:20; Isa 52:11; Jer 50:8-9; Jer 51:6, 8; Zech 2:6-7; 2Cr 6:17-18; Rev 18:4.
Repository of demons and unclean birds? Birds are associated with Satan in Mat 12:31-32. [Incarcerated during the Millennium?] Alien conjectures; Cf. Isa 13:19-22; Jer 50:38-40.
[4] “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues”: Remember, 144,000 all made it; none were lost. Remember also, the shepherd didn’t end up with just 99... Cf. Deu 4:30-31; Jer 51:5-6, 45; Isa 48:20.
Separation commanded (Rom 16:17-18; 2Cr 6:14-18; 2Cr 7:1).
[6] “Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double”: Psa 137.
[7] “Am no widow”? Cf. Israel, the widow of YHWH. Widow, non-virgin, unacceptable bride of priest (Lev 22:13). Jerusalem referred to as a “widow” (Lam 1:1; Cf. Isa 47).
[8] “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong [is] the Lord God who judgeth her”: Isa 47.
[9] “And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning...”: Note three groups of people singled out: kings, merchants, and those who trade by sea...
[12] “The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble...”
[13] “And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.”
28 (4 x 7) cargoes: literal, not symbolic.
“slaves”: In Rome, 1/3 population were slaves; 10,000 traded per day in the Empire; over 50 million estimated. Do we have slaves today? What about economic slavery? 60% in taxes; economic bondage to corporations, luxury, etc., unable to break loose from the “system.”
[14] “And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all”: Eze 26; Eze 27.
[20] “Rejoice over her, [thou] heaven, and [ye] holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her”: First time in this book the command to rejoice is given! Jer 51:56, 59-64. [What do you rejoice over? What is your heart fixed on today?]
[22] “And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft [he be], shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee”: Factories close. Lights are off. It’s over.
[24] “And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth”: Cf. Rev 17:6; Mat 23:35.
The strange vision in Zechariah 5 suggests that there will be an appropriate time when the commercial and religious power center of the Planet Earth will, once again, migrate back to its original site of the literal city of Babylon.
Note that the “ephah” and the “talent” were the standard commercial measures of volume and weight, respectively. The two carriers had the “wings of a stork” which is an unclean bird. The captive woman called “wickedness” may be a reference to the harlot of Revelation 17 and Revelation 18.
The broadly overlooked possibility is that there will yet be a global power shift from Rome to Babylon—to where it all began and where it will finally be judged.
Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1788: Gibbon offers five reasons why that great civilization withered and died:
Symbols encourage believers in any period of church history. In every age there has been a “harlot” who has persecuted God’s people; the end will culminate in a worldwide apostate religious system.