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Whore of Babylon

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For the television episode, see The Whore of Babylon (Californication).
A 1800s Russian engraving depicting the Whore of Babylon riding the seven-headed Beast.

The Whore of Babylon is one of several Christian allegorical figures of supreme evil mentioned in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. The Whore is associated with the Antichrist and the Beast of Revelation by connection with an equally allegorical kingdom.

The Whore's apocalyptic downfall is prophesied to take place in the hands of the beast with seven heads and ten horns. There is much speculation within all religious perspectives on what the Whore and Beast symbolize as well as the possible implications for contemporary interpretations.

Symbolism

The “great whore” of the biblical book of Revelation is featured in chapters 17 and 18. Many passages define symbolic meanings inherent in the text:

17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
17:9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth (King James Version; the New International Version Bible uses "hills" instead of "mountains").
17:10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
17:12 And the ten horns which thou saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

— Revelation 17:4-18 (various))

Identity

Late 15th century German print from a woodcut.

Rome and the Roman Empire

Many Bible scholars agree that "Babylon" is an allegory of Rome; perhaps specifically at the time to some aspect of Rome's rule (brutality, greed, paganism), or even a servant people that does the bidding of Rome. The Roman Catholic commentary of the Jerusalem Bible, the evangelical Protestant commentary of the New International Version Study Bible, the Rastafarians and the liberal Protestant commentary of the Oxford Annotated Study Bible all concur that "Babylon is the symbolic name for Rome" and that (1st century) "Rome" is the "type of place where evil is supreme" (Jerusalem Bible, commentary to Rev. 17).

Elsewhere in the New Testament, in 1 Peter 5:13; "Babylon" is possibly used to refer to Rome. This is bolstered by the remark in Rev. 17:9 that she sits on "seven mountains"(the King James Version Bible-the New International Version Bible uses the words "seven hills"), which could be the seven hills of Rome. "Rome" would therefore be the 'new Babylon' and all of the symbolism characterizing Babylon as a wanton "whore," would be transferable to Rome, according to this view.

There are a number of smaller symbolic clues that some see as suggesting a link between Rome and Babylon — the Roman Empire in its military occupation of Israel, its repression of the Jewish nation and religion, its destruction of Jerusalem following Jewish revolts in 70 AD and 135 AD, and its persecution of Christians, would lend meaning to the imagery of the 'whore, drunk with the blood of martyrs,' as a wantonly violent and bloodthirsty entity.

In Rastafarian ideology both Babylon and Rome are also equated with this modern world in which we live. The Rastas have popularized the name Babylon to refer to what they see as the fundamentally evil modern society.

Earthly Jerusalem

The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem, by David Roberts (1850).

Many Biblical scholars[1] and theologians[2] point out that although Rome was the prevailing pagan power in the 1st century when the Book of Revelation was written, the symbolism of the whore of Babylon refers not to an invading infidel of foreign power, but to an apostate false queen, a former "bride" who has been unfaithful and who, even though she has been divorced and cast out because of unfaithfulness, continues to falsely claim to be the "queen" of the spiritual realm.[3][4] This symbolism did not fit the case of Rome at the time.

The first to see Jerusalem in Revelation's Babylon were the French Jesuit Jean Hardouin(1646-1729) and the French Calvinist Firmin Abauzit(1679-1767). Abauzit suggests that the "seven mountains" in Rev 17:9 are the seven hills on which Jerusalem stands[5] and the "fall of Babylon" in Rev 18 is the fall and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. [1]

Several Old Testament prophets referred to Jerusalem as being a spiritual harlot and a mother of such harlotry (Isaiah 1:21; Jeremiah 2:20; Jeremiah 3:1-11; Ezekiel 16:15-18; Ezekiel 23).[6] Some of the these Old Testament prophecies as well as the warnings in the New Testament concerning Jerusalem are in fact very close to the text concerning Babylon in Revelation, suggesting that John may well have actually been citing those prophecies in his description of Babylon.[6]

For example, in Matthew 23:34-37 and Luke 11:47-51, Jesus himself assigned all of the bloodguilt for the killing of the prophets and of the saints (of all time) to the Pharisees of Jerusalem, and, in Revelation 17:6 and 18:20,24, almost identical phrasing is used in charging that very same bloodguilt to Babylon. This is also bolstered by Jesus' statement that "it's not possible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem."(Luke 13:33, see also Rev 11:8). [6]

In Jeremiah 13, Judah is warned that because of her whoredom, the cups of all of the people will be "filled with wine," they will be "made drunk," and the nation will be suddenly destroyed. This is identical to the scenario in Revelation 17-18; it also correlates with the warning of Jesus that Jerusalem would be suddenly invaded and destroyed just prior to his return to earth in Luke 21:20-22. So, according to this view, John's prophecy about Babylon was merely a detailed repetition of warnings already given by many Old Testament prophets and by Jesus himself in Matthew 23:37-38 and Luke 19:41-44.

According to this view, "the great city, Babylon" in Rev. 17:18 which is also "the great city where their Lord was crucified" in Rev 11:8, the earthly Jerusalem is opposed(cf. Acts 8:1, Rev. 2:9-10,3:9) to the spiritual, heavenly, new Jerusalem, which is the Christian Church of the faithful of Jesus (the bride): "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."(Rev 21:2)

The scholars who defend this position believe that Earthly Jerusalem "riding the seven-headed beast" refers to Jerusalem being controlled and subjected to the overlordship of the scarlet beast Rome in the 1st century(cf John 19:15). Some see it as an evil relationship between the harlot, apostate Jerusalem and the scarlet beast Rome on whom she is seated to crucify Jesus and persecute the Christians. This evil alliance is confirmed in the Book of Acts (Acts 4:26-28, 12:1-3). The beast Rome later hated the harlot Jerusalem and burned her with fire in 70 AD. (see also abomination of desolation)

And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.

— Rev 17:16 NASB

Roman Catholic Church

Further information: Historicism (Christian eschatology)
The Apocalypse: The Woman of Babylon by Albrecht Dürer.

Historicist interpreters commonly used the phrase "Whore of Babylon" to refer to the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Church denies the claim that it is the being referred to by the Book of Revelation as the Whore of Babylon. Catholic apologists argue that in Rev 17:10, it states that the seven heads of the beast "are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come." If five of these kings had fallen in John’s day and one of them was still in existence, then the Whore must have existed in John’s day. Yet the Catholic Church and the Vatican City did not even exist at that time . [7]

At the height of the Reformation era tensions, Catholic authors often accused specific Protestant leaders of being potential Antichrists; these leaders, however, did not include St. Robert Bellarmine, who taught that a personal Antichrist would arise before the end of the world, as do most Protestants who take a position today.

The use of the idiom appears to have dwindled, along with the rise in secular terminology to replace religious symbolism. Among the explanations are that the term is contrary to evangelical methods and goals and socially unconstructive, and so the tradition is kept only internally if it is kept at all. The rise of dispensationalism as a school of interpretation of the end times has also caused many Protestants(with the exception of Seventh-day Adventist Church) to revise their interpretation of these passages in a way that diminishes the certainty of their identification of the Whore of Babylon with any present religion.

Protestant Reformation

Most Reformation writers and all Reformers themselves, from Martin Luther (who wrote On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church), John Calvin, and John Knox (who wrote The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women) identify the Roman Catholic Church with the Whore of Babylon.[8][9] This opinion influenced several generations in England and Scotland when it was put into the 1599 edition of the Geneva Bible.

Identification of the Pope as the Antichrist was written into Protestant creeds such as the Westminster Confession of 1646. The identification of the Roman Catholic Church with the Whore of Babylon is kept in the Scofield Reference Bible (whose 1917 edition identified "ecclesiastical Babylon" with "apostate Christendom headed by the Papacy") and pro-Reformation writings such as those of I.M. Haldeman, and it is kept alive by contemporary figures such as Ian Paisley and Jack Chick. The "drunkenness with the blood of saints and martyrs," by this interpretation, refers to the inquisition and the veneration of saints and relics and the Sunday sacredness, were viewed by Reformers as idolatry and apostasy.

The Protestant reformers were not the first people to call the Roman Catholic Church the Whore of Babylon. There was a fairly long tradition of this kind of name-calling by opponents of the Papacy. Frederick Barbarossa published missives that called the Papacy the Whore of Babylon, and the Pope the Antichrist, during the course of his protracted quarrel with Pope Alexander III. Dante equated the corruption and simony in the office of the Papacy with the Whore of Babylon in Canto 19 of his Inferno:

Di voi pastor s'accorse il Vangelista,
quando colei che siede sopra l'acque
puttaneggiar coi regi a lui fu vista. . .
("Shepherds like you the Evangelist had in mind when he saw the one that sits upon the waters committing fornication with the kings.")

When the Florentine religious reformer Girolamo Savonarola also called the Papacy the Whore of Babylon, he meant something closer to the Reformers' usage; these claims, however, were based chiefly on social and political disagreements with Roman Catholic policy, or, at their strongest, accuse the Papacy of moral corruption. The Protestant reformers, in contrast, seriously considered the Papacy to be at least potentially the apocalyptic figure mentioned in Bible prophecy, and included the claim in Bible commentaries as well as polemics. They meant something more than to accuse the Roman Catholic Church of political or moral corruption; they claimed that, as a church, it taught a Satanic counterfeit plan of salvation, one that would lead its faithful to Hell rather than to Heaven.

Swedenborgianism

According to Swedenborgian doctrine, the Whore of Babylon symbolizes the lust for power within the Roman Catholic Church. It is believed that the book of Revelation is a spiritual allegory for the downfall of traditional Christianity, and its revival into a New Church. Each symbol in Revelation is thought to have correspondence with some aspect of the spiritual state of the Christian Church. In the book "Apocalypse Explained" Swedenborg expounds an explanation of Revelation that includes judgement on the corrupted leadership of the Catholic Church, as the Whore of Babylon.

Latter Day Saint movement

Main article: great and abominable church

In the Latter Day Saint movement, which accepts the Bible as scripture, additional books within its canon describe the Whore of Babylon as a "great and abominable church". According to the religion's Book of Mormon, the great and abominable church was formed soon after the life of Jesus and is responsible for the Apostles' deaths and the Great Apostasy (1 Ne. 13:5-6). The church was said to be instrumental in corrupting the Bible and removing from it "the most plain and precious parts of the gospel of the Lamb" (1 Ne. 13:34).

Although some followers of the religion's founder Joseph Smith, Jr.—including prophets and apostles of the LDS faith—have understood the great and abominable church to refer to the Catholic church or Protestantism, the book states that there are "two churches only": one that follows Jesus, and another that follows the devil (1 Ne. 14:10-11); therefore, many adherents understand the references in the Book of Mormon to refer metaphorically to all followers of Satan.

Traditionalist Catholics

A handful of Traditionalist Catholics and sedevacantists(both either schismatics or heretics -- neither of whom are in perfect communion with the Holy See), who do not accept the 1969 revision of the rite of Mass and consider the recent popes to be heretics, believe that the official Catholic Church as it has existed since Vatican II or the election of Pope John XXIII is in fact the Whore of Babylon.[10] They differ from the Protestant view only in that they consider the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council to be the "real" Catholic Church, with which they claim continuity. In their eyes, the present-day Roman Catholic Church is a blasphemous mockery.

United States

The use of the "Great Satan" metaphor by some fundamentalist followers of Islam makes an implicit comparison of the United States to ancient Babylon and Rome. Those who equate the US with Mystery Babylon liken the United States to the Roman Empire — and therefore to Babylon — because of what they charge is its high-handed treatment of other countries as a military superpower. South American intellectuals from the 1960s and 1970's political movements have been known to use this metaphor as well. American religious right organizations like the American Family Association, see the United States as decadent, evil and anti-Christian; and 'drunk with the blood of the saints' due to its popular culture as well as its earthly military and technological superiority.

Not only is Mystery Babylon, in Revelation 17 and 18, described as a great consumer and superpower, but she is destroyed by the beast kingdom of the Antichrist with its seven heads and ten horns. The beast with seven heads and ten horns is a reference to Daniel's description of the kingdom of the Antichrist, in Daniel 7:23–25. Additionally, an online organization claims that the Statue of Liberty bears relatively close resemblance to the Whore; the statue was modeled after the Roman goddess Libertas, which they suppose had come from the chief Babylonian goddess Ishtar.[11] Babylon (or the Whore) is also described as sitting upon many waters (Revelation 17:1); this may apply to either the United States, which stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic and which has a trading empire across the oceans; or to the Statue of Liberty, which sits in New York Harbor. Furthermore, if the "beast" is identified as the United Nations, then the U.S. might be seen as being its rider, since it is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and hosts the UN headquarters in New York City. Another aspect of interest is that the United States has "conquered" the historical capital of Babylon in Iraq during the Iraq War. By virtue of tradition, this implies that America has taken up the mantle of the Babylonian Empire. Such an interpretation has been promulgated by individuals such as Texas preacher Texe Marrs.

Soviet Union

During the Cold War, United States popular culture was engendered to view the former Soviet Union as a "Babylon" of sorts — a monster to be defeated. Dispensationalist study Bibles and commentaries such as the Scofield Reference Bible and The Late Great Planet Earth typically identified the Soviet Union, or earlier Russia, with Gog, also an allegorical figure of evil that appears in Revelation and the Book of Ezekiel (although it is important to note that Gog and Magog are themselves defeated by the Beast who rules Babylon). A great many parallels could be drawn to the USSR, and for that matter, the British Empire, and Nazi Germany. The demise of the Soviet Union has led dispensationalists to revise their commentaries.

Resurgent Ottoman Empire

There is a theory linking the “whore of Babylon” to a resurgent Ottoman Empire and militant Islam. The belief in an Islamic link to the whore of Babylon is not new – Christian groups as theologically diverse as Eastern Orthodox believers (i.e., the Byzantine Emperor) and the Protestant English Puritans noted similarities between Revelation and medieval Islam. However, Constantinople, today known as Istanbul, has (like Rome) been known as the city built on seven hills. It also sits on "many waters" (Rev. 17:1), and was capital of both the Ottoman Empire and Roman Empire. This theory, which takes issue with the tendency in the United States and Western Europe to view the world through a Western perspective, is being promoted by publication of books, such as Walid Shoebat's book Why I Left Islam, and AntiChrist: Islam’s Awaited Messiah, by Joel Richardson.

Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the Whore of Babylon symbolizes the world empire of false religion,[12] including, but not limited to, Christendom, a term they use to refer to the part of the world that claims to be Christian.[13][14] Among John’s visions recorded in the book of Revelation appear pronouncements of judgment against “Babylon the Great,” as well as a description of her and of her downfall.[15]

Jehovah's Witnesses believe Babylon the Great must be viewed as a symbolic city, of which the literal city of Babylon was the prototype. Therefore, they look to the features of Babylon on the Euphrates, for clues as to the identity of the symbolic city of John’s vision. The Bible lists Babel first when giving the ‘beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom.’[16] Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures the ancient city of Babylon is positioned as the enemy of Jehovah God and his people.[citation needed][17][18][19]

Though Babylon became the capital of a political empire in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E., it was known during its entire history as a religious center from which religious influences radiated in many directions.

In the ancient world, prior to the rise of Christianity, Egypt, Persia, and Greece felt the influence of the Babylonian religion. . . . In Persia, the Mithra cult reveals the unmistakable influence of Babylonian conceptions; and if it be recalled what a degree of importance the mysteries connected with this cult acquired among the Romans, another link will be added connecting the ramifications of ancient culture with the civilization of the Euphrates Valley.” In conclusion he refers to “the profound impression made upon the ancient world by the remarkable manifestations of religious thought in Babylonia and by the religious activity that prevailed in that region.[20]

Babylon’s religious influence is traced eastward to India.[21]

The swastika and the cross, common on stamps and plaques, were religious or magical symbols as in Babylonia and Elam in the earliest prehistoric period, but preserve that character also in modern India as elsewhere.[21]

Thus, ancient Babylon’s religious influence spread out to many peoples and nations, much farther and with greater potency and endurance than did her political strength.

Like mystic Babylon, the ancient city of Babylon, in effect, sat on the waters, located, as it was, astride the Euphrates River and having various canals and water-filled moats.[22][23] These waters served as a defense to the city, and they provided the thoroughfares upon which ships brought wealth and luxuries from many sources. Notably, the water of the Euphrates is depicted as drying up prior to Babylon the Great’s experiencing the wrath of divine judgment.[24]

It is not sufficient to identify Rome and Babylon. Babylon embraces more than one empire or culture. It is defined rather by dominant idolatries than by geographical or temporal boundaries. Babylon is coextensive with the kingdom of that beast which has corrupted and enslaved mankind...[25][26]

In Pop Culture

  • The Mother Harlot makes several appearances in the Megami Tensei video games as both a boss and a recruitable character. She keeps her classic appearance as a woman riding a seven headed demon, but her face is replaced by a monstrous skull.
  • Lee Grant in Damien: Omen II became uncomfortable when a slideshow of expected artifacts for the Thorn Museum described her fate of being turned against, eaten and burned with fire, the later fate was what happened near the end to her Ann Thorn character.
  • The Avenged Sevenfold song "Beast and the Harlot" contains lyrics speaking of the fall of Babylon because of the Whore. The band was actually comparing Babylon to Hollywood, using Hollywood cliches such as young boys being corrupted and losing their souls.
  • In the 1927 German film, "Metropolis", the robot Maria is presented in a nightclub as the Whore.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Is the Babylon of Revelation Rome or Jerusalem?, G. Biguzzi
  2. ^ Kenneth Gentry, Scott Hahn, Ernest L. Martin
  3. ^ Hunting the Whore of Babylon
  4. ^ Ch 17: Babylon the whore.
  5. ^ The seven hills of Jerusalem are identified as: Scopus, Nob, Mount of Corruption, Old Mount Zion, Ophel, Rock and New Mount Zion source: Seven Hills of Jerusalem By Ernest L. Martin
  6. ^ a b c Babylon - The Great City of Revelation, Joseph Balyeat
  7. ^ Catholic Answers: Whore of Babylon
  8. ^ Bilhartz, Terry D. Urban Religion and the Second Great Awakening. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 115. ISBN 0-838-63227-0. {{cite book}}: line feed character in |publisher= at position 31 (help)
  9. ^ Edwards, Jr., Mark. Apocalypticism Explained: Martin Luther, PBS.org.
  10. ^ Is the Vatican II Church the Whore of Babylon?
  11. ^ The Idols Of America
  12. ^ The End of False Religion Is Near! - Jehovah's Witnesses Official Web Site
  13. ^ Watchtower 4/15/62 p. 229 par. 6 Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania | “Christendom Has Failed God! After Her End, What?”
  14. ^ Watchtower 10/15/61 p. 229 par. 6 “When All Nations Unite Under God’s Kingdom” Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania | Revelation 11:15-18:
  15. ^ —Re 14:8; 16:19; chaps 17, 18; 19:1-3.
  16. ^ Genesis 10:8-10
  17. ^ "Insight on the Scriptures"-1 p. 238 Babylon *** Israel’s Age-Old Enemy. The Bible makes many references to Babylon, beginning with the Genesis account of the original city of Babel. (Ge 10:10; 11:1-9) Included in the spoil taken by Achan from Jericho was “an official garment from Shinar.” (Jos 7:21) After the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel in 740 B.C.E., people from Babylon and other areas were brought in to replace the captive Israelites. (2Ki 17:24, 30) Hezekiah made the mistake of showing messengers from Babylon the treasures of his house; these same treasures as well as some of Hezekiah’s “sons” were later taken to Babylon. (2Ki 20:12-18; 24:12; 25:6, 7) King Manasseh (716-662 B.C.E.) was also taken captive to Babylon, but because he humbled himself, Jehovah restored him to his throne. (2Ch 33:11) King Nebuchadnezzar took the precious utensils of Jehovah’s house to Babylon, along with thousands of captives.—2Ki 24:1–25:30; 2Ch 36:6-20.
  18. ^ Awake01 4/8 p. 4 Cities—Why in Crisis? *** Babel, on the other hand, was a great city—a prominent center of false worship that featured a spectacular religious tower. However, Babel and its infamous tower stood in utter defiance of God. (Genesis 9:7) So according to the Bible, God intervened and confused the language of the builders, putting an end to their ambitious religious scheme. God “scattered them from there over all the surface of the earth,” says Genesis 11:5-9.
  19. ^ Watchtower 01 2/15 p. 25 par. 9 Jehovah’s Restored People Praise Him Earth Wide ***"The inhabitants of Judah had been taken captive by mighty Babylon, with no apparent hope of ever being freed. Moreover, their land lay desolate."
  20. ^ Professor Morris Jastrow, Jr., The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (1898, pp. 699-701)
  21. ^ a b "New Light on the Most Ancient East", by archaeologist V. Childe (1957, p. 185)
  22. ^ Jeremiah 51:1, 13
  23. ^ Revelations 17:1, 15
  24. ^ Revelations 16:12, 19.
  25. ^ (Revelations. 17:14)
  26. ^ The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible —Edited by G. Buttrick, 1962, Vol. 1, p. 338.

Bibliography

  • Harper's Bible Dictionary Paul J. Achtemeier, general editor (1985, Harper Collins), ISBN 0-06-069863-2
  • The Jerusalem Bible, Alexander Jones, general editor. (1966, Doubleday & Co.)
  • The NIV Study Bible, Kenneth Barker, general editor. (1995, Zondervan) ISBN 0-310-92589-4
  • The New Oxford Annotated Study Bible with Apocrypha, Bernhard W. Anderson, Bruce Metzger, general editors. (1991, Oxford University Press) ISBN 0-19-528356-2
  • John Coleman, Conspirators' Hierarchy, 4th ed., Carson City: Joseph Holding Corp., 2006.
  • R. A. Coombes, America, The Babylon: America’s Destiny Foretold In Biblical Prophecy, Leathers Pub, 1998.
  • Walter Wink, Engaging the Powers, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992.
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