Rome is regarded as Babylon a) because it had been the means by which God had judged apostate Israel, and b) because like Babylon it too would be subject to divine judgment. This is entirely coherent. 10. The “song of Moses” sung by those who have conquered the beast is the song of Exodus 15, which celebrates the overthrow of Pharaoh.
There is patently nothing like this in the non-Christian Jewish writings that call Rome Babylon. The Jewish writings, in many instances, call Rome Babylon because of Rome’s destruction of Jerusalem. (The Qumran community being an exception). I believe it is critical to honor this nuance, this difference, of perspective.
Although evidence for the identification of Babylon with Rome may initially appear convincing, upon careful examination it becomes clear that Babylon cannot mean Rome. Those who propose that Babylon be understood as a code name for Rome often point to evidence of such use in early extra-biblical writings: 1Pe.
But, if we identify Babylon as Rome, this is disjunctive with not only the Song, but, with Matthew 23 as well. It places the fulfillment of the Song far beyond Israel’s last end, far beyond Jesus’ words. If in fact Revelation 19 is proclaiming the imminent fulfillment of the Song, it is untenable to identify Babylon as Rome.
Most judicious interpreters, by the great city here, understand Rome, which is seven or eight times (under the name of Babylon) so called in this hook, Revelation 14:8; 16:19; 18:10,16,18-19,21; nor is any other city but that so called.
Augustine, a Catholic, proclaimed Rome as Babylon; “ Rome, the second Babylon, and the daughter of the first, to which it pleased God to subject the whole world, and bring it all under the sovereignty, was not founded. ” (City of God, book xviii., chapt. xxii) Next Revelation Timeline Decoded Study: Revelation 17 – Mystery Babylon.
The woman in Revelation 17 represents an apostate church, which points to the Roman Catholic Church, which resides in the Vatican . And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Just as with the Roman Emperors had both civil and ecclesiastical power, the Popes of Rome had that power for 1,260 years from 538-1798 A.D. And with the Lateran Treaty, the Popes of Rome, who are now covertly controlled by the Jesuit Generals, have both civil and ecclesiastical power.
All who are devoted to the Catholic “Mother” Church as priests, bishops, cardinals and Popes are forbidden to marry because they are married to the “Great Whore, Mystery Babylon, and the Mother of Harlots”.
Interestingly, the word anus in Latin also means “ old woman “, so Vaticanus is a combination two words that also result in The Old Woman of Prophecy, this woman being symbolic of the Catholic Church .
John could not openly identify Rome because that would have invited more persecution from the Romans. So he coded Revelation with the word Babylon, which the Early Church understood was Rome, the great city of their time. Every time that the name Babylon is mentioned in Revelation, it is followed by ‘the great’.
One of the most comment views in the commentaries is that when Peter sent greetings to the churches from “Babylon” he was cryptically saying that he was in Rome. (Some say he was in literal Babylon, but, that is untenable). Was Peter in Rome referring to that city under the cryptic appellation of Babylon?
Peter wrote to the same churches as did John in Revelation. He wrote about the same issue– persecution. In fact, note that in Revelation 3:9f Jesus told the Philadelphian church – being persecuted by the false Jews – that he would spare them from the fiery trial that was coming (about to come) on the whole world. In 1 Peter, the apostle said: “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.” This is not a happy translation. It should be, as the NASV renders it: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.” What Jesus predicted in the Apocalypse was occurring in 1 Peter. This strikes me as a powerful argument for the early dating of Revelation as well as positing the conflict as one springing from Jerusalem as the persecutor.
This is the idea of Matthew 23– “fill up then the measure of your father’s guilt.”. It is the thought of 1 Thessalonians 2:15f where Paul said the Jews were filling the measure of their sin by persecuting the saints.
We hardly need to state that Rome was never in any such covenant relationship with the Lord, for Him to “remember” her actions as violation of covenant. I think this plays into 1Peter very well, because Peter is saturated with concern about the fulfillment of God’s Old Covenant promises made to Israel.
Babylon is Jerusalem. Tertullian, Irenaeus, and Jerome use Babylon as representing the Roman Empire. In the Middle Ages Rome is frequently styled “the Western Babylon.”. The sect of the Fraticelli, an eremitical organization from the Franciscans in the fourteenth century, who carried the vow of poverty to the extreme and taught ...
Because literature of the ancient world contains dozens of references to the seven hills of Rome, the ancient city of Rome was universally known as the city of the seven hills. Thus, such a topographical reference would immediately suggest Rome in the minds of John’s original audience. This suggestion is especially true given the fact ...
This suggestion is especially true given the fact that the seven hills were the nucleus of the city on the left bank of the Tiber River and given the fact that an unusual festival called the septimontium received its name because of this topographical feature.
In both cases, the goddess and the harlot are seated on seven hills and are seated either on or by the waters (Rev. Rev. 17:1 + ). In addition, the name of the goddess was thought by many Romans to be Amor, which is Roma spelled backwards. Amor was the goddess of love and sexuality.
Many good scholars hold to this view, among them Weiss and Thayer; but there is no evidence that Peter was ever in Babylon, or that there was even a church there during the 1st century. Mark and Silvanus are associated with Peter in the letter and there is no tradition that connects either of them with Babylon.
The Jewish writings, in many instances, call Rome Babylon because of Rome’s destruction of Jerusalem. (The Qumran community being an exception). I believe it is critical to honor this nuance, this difference, of perspective.
Eusebius claimed that Peter “composed it in Rome itself, which… he himself indicates, referring to the city metaphorically as Babylon” ( HE 2.15.2). 14. Conversely, there is no good precedent for identifying Jerusalem with Babylon in Jewish literature.
The Thessalonians abandoned their idols to serve the living and true God, and to “wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thess. 1:10). This is the wrath that was to come on the idolatrous pagan oikoumenē that Paul spoke about in Athens. 9.
In Revelation, the destruction of Babylon was imminent, “at hand” and coming soon. If, therefore, we identify Babylon as Rome, these temporal delimations become meaningless. The destruction of Rome was 400 years away, and that simply does not fit the linguistic demands of “behold, I come quickly.”.
11:8). This great city is not to be confused with the second great city in Revelation, which is symbolically called “Babylon”.
Revelation 16 is clearly Revelation 6 recapitulated. Thus, there is one Great and Terrible Day of the Lord. Revelation 6 was against Jerusalem. Revelation 16 was against “Babylon,” but, it is the same Great and Terrible Day of the Lord as in Revelation 6. Therefore, Babylon was Old Covenant Jerusalem.
Therefore, Babylon was Old Covenant Jerusalem. There are not two Great and Terrible Days of the Lord in Revelation, in vindication of the Old Covenant saints and prophets. So, to reiterate and emphasize, since Rome was never accused of killing Old Covenant saints / prophets, then Babylon cannot be Rome.
70—In a similar way that Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Temple under Titus. This established Rome as a key enemy of Israel and Jerusalem prior to ...
Some assert that Peter’s use of the term Babylon ( 1 Pe. 5:13) must point to Rome. But this is an argument from silence. It is also possible to take Peter’s mention of Babylon as denoting the city on the banks of the Euphrates, which served as a center of Jewry beyond the time of Peter’s writing (see Babylon’s Historic Fall ).
17:18 ). She is also said to be the “mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth” ( Rev. 17:5 ). She is the source and origin of harlotry ( spiritual idolatry) and abominations.
In addition, the notion that John’s audience would have understood the imagery of Revelation 17 as referring to the topography of Rome seems strengthened by the discovery of the Dea Roma Coin minted in A.D. 71 in Asia Minor. One side of the coin contains the portrait of the emperor.
The sect of the Fraticelli, an eremitical organization from the Franciscans in the fourteenth century, who carried the vow of poverty to the extreme and taught that they were possessed of the Holy Spirit and exempt from sin —first familiarized the common mind with the notion that Rome was the Babylon, the great harlot of the Book of Revelation.
Perhaps the most popular view concerning the identity of Babylon is that she represents the city of Rome. Tertullian, Irenaeus, and Jerome use Babylon as representing the Roman Empire. In the Middle Ages Rome is frequently styled "the Western Babylon.". The sect of the Fraticelli, an eremitical organization from the Franciscans in ...
This suggestion is especially true given the fact that the seven hills were the nucleus of the city on the left bank of the Tiber River and given the fact that an unusual festival called the septimontium received its name because of this topographical feature.