FIRST - THE CONTEXT OF REVELATION 17 IN REVELATION
All quotes below from here:
Revelation - ESV Reformation Study Bible - Bible Gateway. The ESV Reformation Study Bible is a great free resource. Basically - as a rough guide - Revelation is historically describing Rome but not prescribing her or history. It’s plucking at bits of contemporary history - but also speaking theologically about how to think about this period of history we live in between Christ’s Resurrection and his Return. These “Last Days” we’ve been in for 2000 years and counting. Anyway - The ESV RSB says:- -
17:1–19:10 Babylon the prostitute appears, representing the seductions of the world (17:4; 18:3; see Introduction: Characteristics and Themes: Other Features). “Babylon” is probably a symbol for the city of Rome (17:9 note, 17:18) with its immorality. Paganism made each of the cities of Asia Minor into a small manifestation of this Babylon. Full economic and social participation (13:17) involved attendance at pagan religious feasts and celebrations. Worship of the emperor was an expected expression of political allegiance. Pagans called Christians atheists because they did not worship the many gods, and called them haters of humankind because they withdrew from compromised forms of social life (1 Pet. 2:12; 4:3, 4). In reaction to this pressure, some professing Christians argued that participation in idolatrous feasts and sexual immorality were acceptable (2:12, 20; 1 Cor. 6:12–20). The woman Jezebel in 2:20–23 was a key seducer whose work is generalized and more deeply symbolized in Babylon the prostitute (2:21, 22; cf. 17:2).
A few interpreters favor identifying Babylon, “the great prostitute,” with Jerusalem. In refusing to accept the Messiah, she became a prostitute in the imagery of the Old Testament (Is. 1:21; Ezek. 16; 23; Hos. 2; cf. Luke 11:47–51; 21:9–18). But Jerusalem was only one instance of a society seducing people away from true worship. Ancient Babylon was another, and accordingly Revelation takes up the language of the prophetic condemnations of Babylon and Tyre (Jer. 50; 51; Ezek. 27). Modern cities with their false religions and sexual exploitation are also forms of Babylon. Thus the symbolism of Babylon is capable of many historical embodiments, including the final, climactic manifestation of this “Babylon” just before the Second Coming.
When the destruction of false worship is complete (17:1–18:24), the true worshipers, the bride of the Lamb, stand out in their splendor and joy (19:1–10).
SECOND - SOME SPECIFIC NOTES ON REV 17
17:8 was, and is not, and is about to rise. The description is a counterfeit of the sovereignty of God, which is proclaimed in 1:4, 8; 4:8. “And is not” indicates that persecution is at an ebb but will rise with renewed intensity in the future. The beast represents a repeated pattern of persecution, as did the four successive beasts of Dan. 7 (13:2 note).
17:9 seven mountains. Rome was built on seven mountains, or hills.
17:10 five of whom have fallen. If Revelation was written about a.d. 67, these five may be the first five Roman emperors, beginning with Julius Caesar. The sixth is Nero, the currently reigning emperor. But it might also be the case that five simply represents an indefinite number of previous persecuting states (such as the beasts of Dan. 7). The presence of the sixth indicates in symbolic fashion that Christians are near the end, but not quite there.
17:12 ten horns. The number “ten” goes back through v. 7 and 13:1 to Dan. 7:7, 24. But the beast of Revelation cannot simply be identified with the fourth beast of Daniel; rather, he is a combination of the characteristics of all four of Daniel’s beasts. In Revelation, the ten horns are kingly confederates of the beast. In view of 16:12, 14, 16; 19:19; 20:8, the political powers beyond the borders of the Roman Empire are most directly in mind. Rome was eventually overrun by barbarian tribes. But the picture rises beyond the limitations of Rome and opens up a picture of the final battle in which the beast will enlist large-scale assistance.